PLAY 
Two flute-players performed a prelude to the choral 
hymns, or diredted the movement of the dances ; which, 
in tragedy, were a folemn, flow, modulated fucceflion of 
movements, very little refembling anything termed 
dancing among the moderns. 
The ftage itfelf was well contrived for the purpofe of 
the Greek drama. The front was called the logeum, and 
occupied the full width of the fiat termination of the 
theatre, contradfed, however, at each extremity by a wall, 
which ferved to conceal the machinery nec eft's ry for the 
piece. The ftage narrowed as it retired backwards, and 
the fpace fo reftridled in breadth was called the profcenium. 
It was terminated by a flat decoration, on which was re- 
prefented the front of a temple, palace, or whatever elfe 
the poet had chofen for his fcene. Suitable decorations 
appeared on the wings, as in our theatres. There were 
feveral entrances, both by the back fcene and in front. 
Thefe were not uled indifcriminately, but fo as to 
indicate the ftory of the piece, and render it more clear 
to apprehenfion. Thus, the perfons of the drama, who 
were fuppofed to belong to the palace or temple in the 
fiat fcene, entered from the fide or the main door, as befitted 
their fuppofed rank ; tliofe who were inhabitants of the 
place reprefented, entered through a door placed at the 
fide of the logeum ; while thofe fuppofed to come from a 
diftance were feen to traverfe the orcheftra, and to afcend 
the ftage by a flair of communication, fo that the audience 
were made fpeijtators, as it were, of his journey. The 
profcenium was fcreened by a curtain, which was with¬ 
drawn when the piece commenced. The decorations 
could be in fome degree altered, fo as to change the 
fcene; though this, we apprehend, was feldom prafitifed. 
But machinery for the afcent of phantoms, the defcent 
of deities, and fimilar exhibitions, were as much in fafhion 
among the Greeks as on our own modern ftage ; with 
better reafon, indeed; for we fliall prefently fee that the 
themes which they held moft proper to the ftage called 
frequently for the afliftance of thefe mechanical con¬ 
trivances. 
It may be obferved in the larger theatres' of Greece, 
as in that of Laodicea, that the leats were feparated by 
one or fometimes two divjfions., broader and higher than 
the reft. Thefe prce'citiRioues or xepy.ih;, together with the 
fteps for afcendnig to the feats, which tended to the 
centre of the circular area, formed,the cunei ; eachcuneus 
being diftinguifhed by its refpedfive mark; the number 
on which, correfpor.ding to that on the teflera, cr ticket 
of admiflion, pointed out to the fpedlator the place 
affigned. The civil magiftrates, the colleges of priefts, 
and thofe who were diftinguifhed by offices they had held, 
or the honours they had received from the republic, 
were entitled to the front rows neareft to the cavea. The 
women and ftrangers being confined to the covered 
portico or gallery which furrounded the upper divifion of 
the theatre, above the feats, at fuch a diftance from the 
ftage, that in the greater ftruftures even the found of the 
voice could with difficulty be heard. Ariftophanes re- 
fiefts on the Athenians for tumultuoufly crowding and 
puffiing each other to obtain a feat on the front rows 
or places neareft to the orcheftra, which in the Grecian 
theatre was the place for the chorus; and adjoining to 
this, fomewhat elevated, the 'profcenium, anfwenng to our 
ftage, on which in early times a platform was raifed, 
where the refponfes of the adtors replying to the chorus 
were delivered. This part of the theatre was covered. 
Beyond the ftage was the fcene itfelf, richly decorated 
with ornaments of architecture, bas-relievos, and paint¬ 
ing. Near to the theatre were ufually porticoes, temples, 
and bafilicas. 
On the drefs and coftume of their perfonages, the 
Greeks beftowed much trouble and expenfe. It was 
their objedi to difguife, as much as poffible, the mortal 
adior who was to reprefent a divinity or an hero; and 
while they hid his face, and augmented his height, they 
failed not to aflign him a mafk and drefs in exadt confor- 
HOUSE. 647 
mity to the popular idea of the character reprefented ; fo 
that, feen acrofs the orcheftra, he might appear the exadt 
relemblance of Hercules or of Agamemnon. 
The Grecians, but in particular the Athenians, became 
moft paffionately attached to the fafcinating and fplen- 
did amufement which Efchylus thus regulated, which 
Sophocles and Euripides improved, and which all three, 
with other dramatifts of inferior talents, animated by the 
full vigour of their genius. The delightful climate of 
Greece permitted the fpedtators to remain in the open air 
(as there was no roof to their huge theatres) for whole 
days, during which feveral plays, high monuments of 
poetical talent, were fucceffively performed before them. 
The enthuflafm of their attention may be judged of by 
what happened during the reprefentation of a piece written 
by Hegemon. It was while the Athenians were thus engag¬ 
ed that there fuddenly arrived theaftounding intelligence 
of the total defeat of their army before Syracufe. The 
theatre was filled with the relations of thofe who had 
fallen; there w r as fcarce a fpedlator who, befides harrow¬ 
ing as a patriot,was not called to mourn a friend or relative. 
But, fpreading their mantles before their faces, they com¬ 
manded the reprefentation to proceed, and, thus veiled, 
continued to gave it their attention to the conclufion. 
National pride, doubtlefs, had its fhare in this Angular 
conduct, as weil as fondnefs for the dramatic art. 
The price of admiflion was at firft one drachma, but 
Pericles, defirous of propitiating the ordinary clafs of 
citizens, caufed the entrance-money to be lowered to two 
oboli, fo that the meaneft Athenian had the ready means 
of indulging in this luxurious mental banquet. As it 
became difficult to fupport the expenfe of the ftage, for 
which fuch cheap terms of admiflion could form no adequate 
fund, the fame ftatefman, by an indulgence yet more 
perilous, caufed the deficiency to be fupplied from Mie 
treafure deftined to fuftain the expenfe of the war. It is 
a fufficient proof of the devotion of the Athenians to the 
ftage, that not even the eloquence of Demofthenes could 
tempt them to forego this pernicious fyftem. He touched 
upon the evil in two of his orations; but the Athenians 
were refolved not to forego the benefits of an abufe which 
they were aware could not be juftified; they parted a law 
making it death to touch upon that article of reforma¬ 
tion. 
It 11111ft be forgotten, that the Grecian audience en¬ 
joyed the exercife of critical authority as well as of claf- 
fical amufement at their theatre. They applauded and 
cenfured, as at the prefent day, by clapping hands and 
hiding. Their fuffrage, at thofe tragedies afted upon the 
folemn feafts of Bacchus, adjudged a laurel crown to the 
moft fuccefsful dramatic author. This faculty was fre¬ 
quently abufed; but the public, on fober reflexion, 
ieldom failed to be afnamed of fuch acls of injuftice, and 
faithful, upon the whole, to the rules of criticifm, evinced 
a finenefs and corredlnefs of judgment, which never de¬ 
fended to the populace of any other nation. 
The Grecian drama, it mull be remembered, derived 
its origin from a religious ceremony; and, amid all its re¬ 
finement, never loft its devotional character, unlefs it 
fliall be judged to have done fo in the department of 
fatirical comedy. When the audience was aflembled they 
underwent a religious luftration ; and the archons, or 
chief magiftrates, paid their public adoration to Bacchus, 
If ill regarded as the patron of the theatrical art, and whole 
altar was always placed in the theatre. 
It was in confiitence with this connexion betwixt the 
drama and religion, that the principal Grecian tragedians 
thought themlelves entitled to produce upon the ftage 
the moft facred events of their mythological hiftory. It 
might have been thought that, in doing fo, they injured 
the effedt of their fable and aftion, fince fufpenfe and un¬ 
certainty, fo effential to the intereft of a play, could not 
be fuppofed to exift where the immortal gods, beings con¬ 
trolling all others,and theinfelves uncontrolled, werefeleift- 
ed as the agents in the piece. But it mull be remembered, 
that 
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