ETRUSCAN-SOUTH ITALIAN, ROMAN DANCING, ETC.
One of the most important nations of antiquity was the Etruscan,
inhabiting, according to some authorities, a dominion from Lombardy to
the Alps, and from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic.
Etruria gave a dynasty to Rome in Servius Tullius, who originally was
Masterna, an Etruscan.
[Illustration: Fig. 20.--Etruscan dancer. From a painting in the
Grotta dei Vasi dipinti--Corneto.]
It is, however, with the dancing that we are dealing. There is little
doubt that they were dancers in every sense; there are many ancient
sepulchres in Etruria, with dancing painted on their walls. Other
description than that of the pictures we do not possess, for as yet
the language is a dead letter. There is no doubt, as Gerhardt
[Footnote: "Ann. Institut.": 1831, p. 321.] suggests, that they
considered dancing as one of the emblems of joy in a future state,
and that the dead were received with dancing and music in their new
home. They danced to the music of the pipes, the lyre, the castanets
of wood, steel, or brass, as is shown in the illustrations taken from
the monuments.
[Illustration: Fig. 21.--Etruscan dancing and performances. From
paintings in the Grotta della Scimia Corneto, about 500 B.C.]
That the Phoenicians and Greeks had at certain times immense influence
on the Etruscans is evident from their relics which we possess (fig.
20).
A characteristic illustration of the dancer is from a painting in the
tomb of the _Vasi dipinti_, Corneto, which, according to Mr. Dennis,
[Footnote: "Etruria," vol. i., p. 380.] belongs to the archaic period,
and is perhaps as early as 600 B.C. It exhibits a stronger Greek
influence than some of the paintings. Fig. 21, showing a military
dance to pipes, with other sports, comes from the _Grotta della
Scimia_, also at Corneto; these show a more purely Etruscan character.
[Illustration: Fig. 22.--Etruscan Dancing. From the Grotta del
Triclinio.--Corneto.]
The pretty dancing scene from the _Grotta del Triclinio_ at Corneto
is taken from a full-sized copy in the British Museum, and is of the
greatest interest. It is considered to be of the Greco-Etruscan
period, and later than the previous examples (fig. 22).
There is a peculiarity in the attitude of the hands, and of the
fingers being kept flat and close together; it is not a little curious
that the modern Japanese dance, as exhibited by Mme. Sadi Yacca, has
this peculiarity, whether the result of ancient tradition or of modern
revival, the writer cannot say.
Almost as interesting as the Etruscan are the illustrations of dancing
found in the painted tombs of the Campagna and Southern Italy, once
part of "Magna Grecia"; the figure of a funeral dance, with the double
pipe accompaniments, from a painted tomb near Albanella (fig. 23) may
be as late as 300 B.C., and those in figs. 24, 25 from a tomb near
Capua are probably of about the same period. These Samnite dances
appear essentially different from the Etruscan; although both Greek
and Etruscan influence are very evident, they are more solemn and
stately. This may, however, arise from a different national custom.
That the Etruscan, Sabellian, Oscan, Samnite, and other national
dances of the country had some influence on the art in Rome is highly
probable, but the paucity of early Roman examples renders the evidence
difficult.
[Illustration: Fig. 23.--Funeral dance in the obsequies of a female.
From a painted tomb near Albanella.]
Rome as a conquering imperial power represented nearly the whole world
of its day, and its dances accordingly were most numerous. Amongst the
illustrations already given we have many that were preserved in Rome.
In the beginning of its existence as a power only religious dances
were practised, and many of these were of Etruscan origin, such as the
Lupercalia, the Ambarvalia, &c. In the former the dancers were
demi-nude, and probably originally shepherds; the latter was a serious
dancing procession through fields and villages. [Illustration: Fig.
24.--Funeral dance. From Capua.]
A great dance of a severe kind was executed by the Salii, priests of
Mars, an ecclesiastical corporation of twelve chosen patricians. In
their procession and dance, on March 1, and succeeding days, carrying
the Ancilia, they sang songs and hymns, and afterwards retired to a
great banquet in the Temple of Mars. That the practice was originally
Etruscan may be gathered from the circumstance that on a gem showing
the armed priests carrying the shields there are Etruscan letters.
There were also an order of female Salii. Another military dance was
the _Saltatio bellicrepa_, said to have been instituted by Romulus in
commemoration of the Rape of the Sabines. The Pyrrhic dance (fig. 13)
was also introduced into Rome by Julius Caesar, and was danced by the
children of the leading men of Asia and Bithynia.
As, however, the State increased in power by conquest, it absorbed
with other countries other habits, and the art degenerated often, like
that of Greece and Etruria, into a vehicle for orgies, when they
brought to Rome with their Asiatic captives even more licentious
practices and dances.
[Illustration: Fig. 25.--Funeral dance from the same tomb.]
As Rome, which never rose to the intellectual and imaginative state of
Greece in her best period, represented wealth, commerce, and conquest,
in a greater degree, so were her arts, and with these the lyric. In
her best state her nobles danced, Appius Claudius excelled, and
Sallust tells us that Sempronia "psaltere saltare elegantius"; so that
in those days ladies played and danced, but no Roman citizen danced
except in the religious dances. They carried mimetic dances to a very
perfect character in the time of Augustus under the term of _Musica
muta_. After the second Punic war, as Greek habits made their way into
Italy, it became a fashion for the young to learn to dance. The
education in dancing and gesture were important in the actor, as masks
prevented any display of feature. The position of the actor was never
recognized professionally, and was considered _infamia_. But the
change came, which caused Cicero to say "no one danced when sober."
Eventually the performers of lower class occupied the dancing
platform, and Herculaneum and Pompeii have shown us the results.
[Illustration: Fig. 26.--Bacchante leading the Dionysian bull to the
altar. Bas-relief in the Vatican.]
In the theatre the method of the Roman chorus differed from that of
the Greeks. In the latter the orchestra or place for the dancing and
chorus was about 12 ft. below the stage, with steps to ascend when
these were required; in the former the chorus was not used in comedy,
and having no orchestra was in tragedies placed upon the stage. The
getting together of the chorus was a public service, or liturgia, and
in the early days of Grecian prosperity was provided by the choregus.
Tiberius by a decree abolished the Saturnalia, and exiled the dancing
teachers, but the many acts of the Senate to secure a better standard
were useless against the foreign inhabitants of the Empire accustomed
to sensuality and licence.
[Illustration: Fig. 27--Bacchante. From a fresco, Pompeii, 1st century
B.C.]
[Illustration: Fig. 28.--Dancer. From a fresco in the Baths of
Constantine, 4th century A.D.]
Perhaps the encouragement of the more brutal combats of the Coliseum
did something to suppress the more delicate arts, but historians have
told us, and it is common knowledge, what became of the great Empire,
and the lyric with other arts were destroyed by licentious
preferences.