aceful lack of success of his
chariots, some of which were overturned and broken to pieces. As for the
poems, they were received with a ridicule which caused the deepest
humiliation and shame to their proud composer.

[Illustration: THE THEATRE OF BACCHUS, ATHENS.]

The people of Greece, and particularly those of Athens, did not,
however, restrict their public enjoyments to athletic exercises.
Abundant provision for intellectual enjoyment was afforded. They were
not readers. Books were beyond the reach of the multitude. But the loss
was largely made up to them by the public recitals of poetry and
history, the speeches of the great orators, and in particular the
dramatic performances, which were annually exhibited before all the
citizens of Athens who chose to attend.

The stage on which these dramas were performed, at first a mere
platform, then a wooden edifice, became finally a splendid theatre,
wrought in the sloping side of the Acropolis, and presenting a vast
semicircle of seats, cut into the solid rock, rising tier above tier,
and capable of accommodating thirty thousand spectators. At first no
charge was made for admission, and when, later, the crowd became so
great that a charge had to be made, every citizen of Athens who desired
to attend, and could not afford to pay, was presented from the public
treasury with the price of one of the less desirable seats.

Annually, at the festivals of Dionysus, or Bacchus, and particularly at
the great Dionysia, held at the of March and beginning of April, great
tragic contests were held, lasting for two days, during which the
immense theatre was filled with crowds of eager spectators. A play
seldom lasted more than an hour and a half, but three on the same
general subject, called a trilogy, were often presented in succession,
and were frequently followed by a comic piece from the same poet. That
the actors might be heard by the vast open-air audiences, some means of
increasing the power of the voice was employed, while masks were worn to
increase the apparent size of the head, and thick-soled shoes to add to
the height.

The chorus was a distinctive feature of these dramas,--tragedies and
comedies alike. As there were never more than three actors upon the
stage, the chorus--twelve to fifteen in number--represented other
characters, and often took part in the action of the play, though their
duty was usually to diversify the movement of the play by hymns and
dirges, app