_Traxitque vagus per pulpita vestem._
"This expresses not only the improvement arising from the ornament of
proper dresses, but from the grace of motion: not only the _actor_,
whose peculiar office it was, but the _minstrel_ himself, as appears
from hence, conforming his gesture in some sort to the music.
"Of the use and propriety of these gestures, or dances, it will not be
easy for us, who see no such things attempted on the modern stage, to
form any very clear or exact notions. What we cannot doubt of is,
1. That the several theatrical dances of the antients were strictly
conformable to the genius of the different species of composition, to
which they were applied. 2. That, therefore, the tragic dance, which
more especially accompanied the Chorus, must have been expressive of
the highest gravity and decorum, tending to inspire ideas of what is
_becoming, graceful, and majestic;_ in which view we cannot but perceive
the important assistance it must needs lend to virtue, and how greatly
it must contribute to set all her graces and attractions in the fairest
light. 3. This idea of the ancient tragic dance, is not solely formed
upon our knowledge of the conformity before-mentioned; but is further
collected from the name usually given to it, which was [Greek
transliteration: Emmeleia] This word cannot well be translated into our
language; but expresses all that grace and concinnity of motion, which
the dignity of the choral song required. 4. Lastly, it must give us a
very high notion of the moral effect of this dance, when we find the
severe Plato admitting it into his commonwealth. _Notes on the Art of
Poetry._"
326--he who the prize, a filthy goat, to gain,
at first contended in the tragick strain.
_Carmine qui tragico, vilem certavit ob bircum._
If I am not greatly deceived, all the Editors, and Commentators on this
Epistle, have failed to observe, that the _historical_ part of it,
relative to the Graecian Drama, commences at this verse; all of them
supposing it to begin, 55 lines further in the Epistle, on the mention
of Thespis; whom Horace as early, as correctly, describes to be the
first _improver_, not _inventor_ of Tragedy, _whose_ original he marks
_here._ Much confusion has, I think, arisen from this oversight, as I
shall endeavour to explain in the following notes; only observing this
place, that the Poet, having spoken particularly of all the parts of
Tragedy, now enters with the strictest _order_, and greatest propriety,
into its general history, which, by his strictures on the chorus, he
most elegantly, as well as forcibly, connects with his subject, taking
occasion to speak _incidentally_ of other branches of the Drama,
particularly the satyre, and the Old Comedy
323--_Soon too--tho' rude, the graver mood unbroke,_
Stript the rought satyrs, _and essay'd a joke.
Mox etiam_ agrestes saytros, &c.
"It is not the intention of these notes to retail the accounts of
others. I must therefore refer the reader, for whatever concerns the
history of the satiric, as I have hitherto done of the tragic and comic
drama, to the numerous dissertators on the ancient stage; and, above
all, so the case before us, to the learned Casaubon; from whom all that
hath been said to any purpose, by modern writers, hath been taken. Only
it will be proper to observe one or two particulars, which have been
greatly misunderstood, and without which if will be impossible, in any
tolerable manner, to explain what follows.
"I. The design of the poet, in these lines, is not to fix the origin of
the satyric piece, in ascribing the invention of it to Thespis. This
hath been concluded, without the least warrant from his own words, which
barely tell us, 'that the representation of tragedy was in elder Greece
followed by the _satires;_' and indeed the nature of the thing, as well
as the testimony of all antiquity, shews it to be impossible. For the
_satire_ here spoken of is, in all respects, a regular drama, and
therefore could not be of earlier date than the times of Aeschylus,
when the constitution of the drama was first formed. It is true indeed,
there was a kind of entertainment of much greater antiquity, which by
the antients is sometimes called _satyric,_ out of which (as Aristotle
assures us) tragedy itself arose, [Greek: *illegible] But then
this was nothing but a chorus of satyrs [Athenaeus, 1. xiv.] celebrating
the festivals of _Bacchus,_ with rude songs and uncouth dances; and had
little resemblance to that which was afterwards called _satiric;_ which,
except that it retained the chorus of satyrs, and turned upon some
subject relative to Bacchus, was of a quite different structure, and, in
every respect, as regular a composition as tragedy itself."
"II. There is no doubt but the poem, here distinguished by the name of
satyri, was in actual use on the Roman stage. This appeals from the turn
of the poet's whole criticism upon it. Particularly, his address to the
Pisos, 1. 235 and his observation of the offence which a loose dialogue
in this drama would give to a _Roman_ auditory, 1. 248, make it evident
that he had, in fact, the practice of his own stage in view."
"III. For the absolute merit of these satires, the reader will judge
of it himself by comparing the Cyclops, the only piece of this kind
remaining to us from antiquity, with the rules here delivered by Horace.
Only it may be observed, in addition to what the reader will find
elsewhere [_n._ 1. 223.] apologized in its favour, that the double,
character of the satires admirably fitted it, as well for a sensible
entertainment to the wise, as for the sport and diversion of the vulgar.
For, while the grotesque appearance and jesting vein of these fantastic
personages amused the one, the other saw much further; and considered
them, at the same time, as replete with science, and informed by a
spirit of the most abstruse wisdom. Hence important lessons of civil
prudence, interesting allusions to public affairs, or a high, refined
moral, might, with the highest probability, be insinuated, under the
slight cover of a rustic simplicity. And from this instructive cast,
which from its nature must be very obscure, if not impenetrable, to us
at this day, was, I doubt not, derived the principal pleasure which the
antients found in this species of the drama. If the modern reader would
conceive any thing of the nature and degree of this pleasure, he may
in part guess at it, from reflecting on the entertainment he himself
receives from the characters of the clowns in Shakespeare; _who_, as the
poet himself hath characterized them, _use their folly, like a stalking
horse, and, under the presentation of that, shoot their wit._" [_As you
like it._]--_Notes on the Art of Poetry._ [Footnote: This, and all the
extracts, which are quoted, _Notes on the Art of Poetry_, are taken from
the author of the English Commentary. ]
This learned note, I think, sets out with a misapprehension of the
meaning of Horace, by involving his _instructions_ on the Satyrick
drama, with his account of its _Origin_. Nor does he, in the most
distant manner, insinuate, tho' Dacier has asserted the same thing, that
_the_ satyrs owed their first introduction to _Thespis_; but relates,
that the very Poets, who contended in _the Goat-Song_, to which tragedy
owes its name, finding it too solemn and severe an entertainment for
their rude holiday audience, interspersed the grave strains of tragedy
with comick and _satyrical_ Interludes, producing thereby a kind of
medley, something congenial to what has appeared on our own stage, under
the name of Tragi-comedy. Nor, if I am able to read and comprehend the
context, so the words of Horace tell us, "that the representation of
Tragedy was, in 'elder Greece,' _followed_ by _the_ satyrs." The Satyrs
composed a part of the Tragedy in its infancy, as well as in the days
of Horace, if his own words may be quoted as authority. On any other
construction, his directions, concerning* the conduct of the _God_ or
_Hero_ of the piece, are scarcely reconcilable to common sense; and it
is almost impossible to mark their being incorporated with the Tragedy,
in more expressive terms or images, than by his solicitude to prevent
their broad mirth from contaminating its dignity or purity._Essutire
leves indigna_ tragaedia _versus ut sestis matrona moveri jussa diebus,_
intererit satyris _paulum pudibunda_ protervis.
_The_ cyclops of Euripides, the only Satyrick drama extant, written at
a much later period, than that of which Horace speaks in this place,
cannot, I think, convey to us a very exact idea of _the Tragick
Pastorals_, whose _origin_ he here describes. _The_ cyclops, scarce
exceeding 700 lines, might be played, according to the idea of some
criticks, after another performance: but that cannot, without the
greatest violence to the text, be supposed of the Satyrick piece here
mentioned by Horace. The idea of _farces_, or _after-pieces_, tho' an
inferior branch of the Drama, is, in fact, among the refinements of
an improved age. The writers of an early period throw their dramatick
materials, serious and ludicrous, into one mass; which the critical
chymistry of succeeding times separates and refines. The modern stage,
like the antient, owed its birth to the ceremonies of Religion. From
_Mysteries_ and _Moralities_, it proceeded to more regular Dramas,
diversifying their serious scenes, like _the_ Satyrick poets, with
ludicrous representations. This desire of _variety_ was one cause of the
agrestes satyros. _Hos autem loco chori introductor intelligit, non, us
quidam volunt, in ipsa tragoedia, cum praesertim dicat factum, ut grata
novitate detinerentur spectatores: quod inter unum & alterum actum sit,
chori loco. in tragoedia enim ipsa, cum flebilis, severa, ac gravis sit,
non requiritur bujusmodi locorum, ludorumque levitas, quae tamen inter
medios actus tolerari potest, & boc est quod ait, incolumi gravitate.
Ea enim quae funt, quaeve dicuntur inter medios actus, extra tragordiam
esse intelligentur, neque imminuunt tragoedioe gravi*tem._--DE NORES.
The distinction made by _De Nores_ of _the satyrs_ not making a part of
the tragedy, but barely appearing between the acts, can only signify,
that the Tragick and Comick Scenes were kept apart from each other. This
is plain from his laying that they held the place of the Chorus; not
sustaining their continued part in the tragick dialogue, but filling
their chief office of singing between the acts. The antient Tragedy was
one continued representation, divided into acts by the Chant of _the
CHORUS_; and, otherwise, according to modern ideas, forming _but one
act_, without any interruption of the performance.
These antient Satyrick songs, with which the antient Tragedians
endeavoured to enliven the Dithyrambicks, gave rise to two different
species of poetry. Their rude jests and petulant raillery engendered
_the Satire_; and their sylvan character produced _the Pastoral_.
328.--THO' RUDE, THE GRAVER MOOD UNBROKE--
Stript the rough Satyrs, and ESSAYED A JOKE
--Agrestes Satyros nudavis, & asper,
INCOLUMI GRAVITATE, jocum tentavit.
"It hath been shewn, that the poet could not intend, in these lines, to
_fix the origin of the satiric drama_. But, though this be certain, and
the dispute concerning that point be thereby determined, yet it is to
be noted, that he purposely describes the satire in its ruder and less
polished form; glancing even at some barbarities, which deform the
Bacchic chorus; which was properly the satiric piece, before Aeschylus
had, by his regular constitution of the drama, introduced it under a very
different form on the stage. The reason of this conduit is given in
_n._ on l. 203. Hence the propriety of the word _nudavit_, which
Lambin rightly interprets, _nudos introduxit satyres,_ the poet hereby
expressing the monstrous indecorum of this entertainment in its first
unimproved state. Alluding also to this ancient character of the
_satire,_ he calls him _asper,_ i.e. rude and petulant; and even adds,
that his jests were intemperate, and _without the least mixture of
gravity._ For thus, upon the authority of a very ingenious and learned
critic, I explain _incolumi gravitate,_ i. e. rejecting every thing
serious, bidding _farewell,_ as we may say, _to all gravity._ Thus [L.
in. O. 5.].
_Incolumi Jove et urbe Româ:_
i.e. bidding farewell to Jupiter [Capitolinus] and Rome; agreeably to
what is said just before,
_Anciliorum et neminis et togae
OBLITUS, aeternaeque Vestae._
or, as salvus is used more remarkably in Martial [I. v. 10.]
_Ennius est lectus salvo tibi, Roma, Marone:
Et sua riserunt secula Maeonidem._
"_Farewell, all gravity, is as remote from the original sense of the
words _fare well,_ as _incolumi gravitate_ from that of _incolumis, or
salvo Morona_ from that of _salvas._"
Notes on the Art of Poetry.
The beginning of this note does not, I think, perfectly accord with what
has been urged by the same Critick in the note immediately preceding; He
there observed, that the "satyr here spoken of, is, _in all respects,_
a regular Drama, and therefore _could not be of earlier date,_ than the
times of Aeschylus.
Here, however, he allows, though in subdued phrase, that, "though this
be certain, and the dispute concerning that point thereby determined,_
yet it is to be noted, _that he purposely describes the satyr_ in its
ruder and less polished form; _glancing even at some barbarities, which
deform_ the bacchic chorus; which was properly the Satyrick piece,
_before_ Aeschylus had, by his regular constitution of the Drama,
introduced it, _under a very different form,_ on the stage." In
a subsequent note, the same learned Critick also says, that "the
connecting particle, _verum, [verum ita risores, &c.]_ expresses the
opposition intended between the _original satyr_ and that which the Poet
approves." In both these passages the ingenious Commentator seems, from
the mere influence of the context, to approach to the interpretation
that I have hazarded of this passage, avowedly one of the most obscure
parts of the Epistle. The explanation of the words incolumi gravitate,
in the latter part of the above note, though favourable to the system of
the English Commentary, is not only contrary to the construction of all
other interpreters, and, I believe, unwarranted by any acceptation of
the word _incolumis,_ but, in my opinion, less elegant and forcible
than the common interpretation.
The line of the Ode referred to,