Combination of religion and drama. Syncretism.+ The interest of
all this for our present purpose is the combination of religious ideas
with dramatic representation. Processions of all kinds easily turn into
such representations. Rites and ceremonies are but a form of drama.
Symbols and emblems have the same character. The old religions were
subjected to criticism, which means that they had lost their authority.
They did not verify when the attempt was made to use them for societal
needs. Slaves, merchants, soldiers, etc., afloat in the world,
associated from choice and contributed traditions from the whole known
world. Then syncretism began, and a body of sectarian notions was
formed. There was a new totemism, a breaking down of national religion,
a spirit of propaganda, and a setting forth of the whole in all dramatic
forms.[2007] In the sects women were admitted, a fact of double
significance. It was an emancipation for the women and a peril for the
sect. The doubt with which the mysteries are now regarded is due to the
uncertainty as to the relations of the sexes in them. The word "orgy"
originally meant worship, or rites, then secret rites, that is,
mysteries. The sense in which the word has come down to us shows the
notion about secret meetings which became commonly accepted.

The customs which had grown out of religious interest had reached the
desire for entertainment and pleasure. They satisfied it and stimulated
it, and the religious element might be forgotten.

+623. Beginnings of the theater at Rome.+ The Floralia were instituted
at Rome in 240 B.C. They were celebrated by courtesans with processions,
lascivious pantomimes, etc. They are said to have come from
Greece.[2008] In the same year Livius Andronicus presented at Rome the
first play translated from the Greek. In 154 the first permanent theater
was established there against great opposition. In 146 the first theater
outside the circus, with seats, was provided.[2009] All mimic actions
were foreign to the austere mores of the early Romans, but in the second
century B.C. the mores changed through the growth of wealth and contact
with other nations. Young Romans learned from actors to sing and dance,
acts which their ancestors thought unworthy of free persons. The
earliest plays were called _saturae_, because they were mixed
dialogues, music, and dances. The sense of the word was closely that of
"farce" in the Middle Ages,[2010] i.e. an episode or interm