Festivals, Games, and Amusements, Ancient and Modern
by Horace Smith
Format: Paperback
ISBN13: 9780217831055
Paperback|9780217831055
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Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 41 CHAPTER IV. ANCIENT GREEK AND ROMAN DRAMA. ll.xc de comoedu te consnlit; ilia tragcedum. Jurin. MS. In the festivals and sports of which we have thus attempted a brief outline, originated the Drama, too prominent in the list of Grecian amusements to be passed over unnoticed, although we are compelled to treat it in a cursory and superficial manner, as it is our purpose to give a fuller history of the theatre in connexion with the more interesting subject of the English stage. The performers in the different Grecian games being compelled by law to represent the life and exploits of the deity or hero in whose honour they were instituted, had already laid the basis of the Drama, long before Thespis, improving upon the hint thus afforded, conceived the idea of introducing other actors to relieve the chorus, and render the progress of the story more intelligible and vivid. This founder of the stage, who flourished about 536 years before Christ, took for his subjects the historical traditions of Greece, which he embellished by appropriate fictions, an innovation highly displeasing to Solon the legislator of Athens. Ifwe applaud falsehood in our public exhibitions, said he to Thespis, we shall soon find that it will insinuate itself into our most sacred engagements. .SJschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, not only increased the number of characters, one of which became the hero of the piece, but perfected the dresses and scenic illusions, banished murders from the stage, and restricted the functions of the chorus, which now only occupied a subordinate station. The first of these writers has been censured for having admitted mute characters into his Drama. Achilles after the death of his friend, and Niobe after the destruction of her children, appear on the stag...
| ISBN-13 | 9780217831055 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 0217831052 |
| Weight | 0.80 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 9.00 x 6.00 x 0.55 In |
| List Price | $19.94 |
| Format | Paperback |
|---|---|
| Pages | 242 pages |
| Publisher | |
| Published On | 2009-08-01 |
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