represented the actions of the god. The leader of the chorus played
Dionysos, the chorus itself the satyrs, his companions. Little by
little they came to represent also the life of the other gods and the
ancient heroes. Then some one (the Greeks call him Thespis) conceived
the idea of setting up a stage on which the actor could play while the
chorus rested. The spectacle thus perfected was transferred to the
city near the black poplar tree in the market. Thus originated
Tragedy.

The other dance was comic. The masked dancers chanted the praises of
Dionysos mingled with jeers addressed to the spectators or with
humorous reflections on the events of the day. The same was done for
the comic chorus as for the tragic chorus: actors were introduced, a
dialogue, all of a piece, and the spectacle was transferred to Athens.
This was the origin of Comedy. This is the reason that from this time
tragedy has been engaged with heroes, and comedy with every-day life.

Tragedy and comedy preserved some traces of their origin. Even when
they were represented in the theatre, they continued to be played
before the altar of the god. Even after the actors mounted on the
platform had become the most important personages of the spectacle,
the choir continued to dance and to chant around the altar. In the
comedies, like the masques in other days, sarcastic remarks on the
government came to be made; this was the Parabasis.

=The Theatre.=--That all the Athenians might be present at these
spectacles there was built on the side of the Acropolis the theatre of
Dionysos which could hold 30,000 spectators. Like all the Greek
theatres, it was open to heaven and was composed of tiers of rock
ranged in a half-circle about the orchestra where the chorus performed
and before the stage where the play was given.

Plays were produced only at the time of the festivals of the god, but
then they continued for several days in succession. They began in the
morning at sunrise and occupied all the time till torch-light with the
production of a series of three tragedies (a trilogy) followed by a
satirical drama. Each trilogy was the work of one author. Other
trilogies were presented on succeeding days, so that the spectacle was
a competition between poets, the public determining the victor. The
most celebrated of these competitors were AEschylus, Sophocles, and
Euripides. There were also contests in comedy, but there remain to us
only the works of one comic p