nnesus that these
choral dithyrambic songs prevailed. Hence, even in attic tragedy, the
chorus, which was the foundation of the drama, was written in the Doric
dialect, thus clearly betraying the source from which the Athenians
derived it.

In Attica an important alteration was made in the old tragedy in the
time of Pisistratus, in consequence of which it obtained a new and
dramatic character. This innovation is ascribed to THESPIS, a native
of the Attic village of Icaria, B.C. 535. It consisted in the
introduction of an actor for the purpose of giving rest to the chorus.
Thespis was succeeded by Choerilus and Phrynichus, the latter of whom
gained his first prize in the dramatic contests in 511 B.C. The Dorian
Pratinas, a native of Philius, but who exhibited his tragedies at
Athens, introduced an improvement in tragedy by separating the Satyric
from the tragic drama. As neither the popular taste nor the ancient
religious associations connected with the festivals of Dionysus would
have permitted the chorus of Satyrs to be entirely banished from the
tragic representations, Pratinas avoided this by the invention of what
is called the Satyric drama; that is, a species of play in which the
ordinary subjects of tragedy were treated in a lively and farcical
manner, and in which the chorus consisted of a band of Satyrs in
appropriate dresses and masks. After this period it became customary
to exhibit dramas in TETRALOGIES, or sets of four; namely, a tragic
trilogy, or series of three tragedies, followed by a Satyric play.
These were often on connected subjects; and the Satyric drama at the
end served like a merry after-piece to relieve the minds of the
spectators.

The subjects of Greek tragedy were taken, with few exceptions, from the
national mythology. Hence the plot and story were of necessity known
to the spectators, a circumstance which strongly distinguished the
ancient tragedy from the modern. It must also be recollected that the
representation of tragedies did not take place every day, but only,
after certain fixed intervals, at the festivals of Dionysus, of which
they formed one of the greatest attractions. During the whole day the
Athenian public sat in the theatre witnessing tragedy after tragedy;
and a prize was awarded by judges appointed for the purpose to the poet
who produced the best set of dramas.

Such was Attic tragedy when it came into the hands of AESCHYLUS, who,
from the great improvements w