DANCING IN THE ROMAN EMPIRE
Æsthetic subservience to Greece; Pylades and Bathyllus; the
_Bellicrepa saltatio_; the Ludiones; the Roman pantomime; the
Lupercalia and Floralia; Bacchantic orgies; the Augustinian age;
importations from Cadiz; famous dancers.
As with all their arts, the ancient Romans borrowed their dancing from
the Greeks. A nation raised in adoration of military and aristocratic
ideals, conceited, and with a strong tendency to materialism and
formalities, the Romans contributed little to choreography. Their
civilization was imitative rather than creative. Their art is void
of ethnographic characteristics and a kind of artificial stiffness
breathes from their best achievements. The only conspicuous
contribution of the Roman dancers to the evolution of dance lies in
their unique dramatic and ecclesiastic pantomimes and their celebrated
masque dances. But it seems surprising that dancing was far more highly
developed and esteemed in the earlier period of Roman history than
in those days of luxury and vice which preceded the downfall of the
empire. Under the republic, dancing was considered one of the foremost
factors in education, and the children of patricians and statesmen were
obliged to take lessons in Greek dancing. But of the social views of
later centuries we read from Quintilian that ‘it disgraced the dignity
of a man,’ or as Cicero said, ‘No sober man dances, unless he is mad.’
Horace rebukes the Romans for dancing as for an infamy. Various other
Roman writers tell us how much the women of standing were criticized
for their lack of virtue if they entertained a dancer at their house or
shook hands with him.
On the other hand, we have an eloquent proof of the Roman frenzy for
the stage dance in the exciting intrigues of Pylades and Bathyllus,
which set the whole Republic in a ferment. De Jaulnaye, the great
historian, writes that the rivalries of Pylades and Bathyllus occupied
the Romans as much as the gravest affairs of state. Every citizen
was a Bathyllian or a Pyladian. Glancing over the history of the
disturbances created by these two mummers, we seem to be reading that
of the volatile nation whose quarrels about music were so prolonged, so
obstinate, and, above all, so senseless that no one knew what were the
real points of dispute, when the philosopher of Geneva wrote the famous
letter to which no serious reply was ever made. Augustus (the Emperor)
reproved Pylades on one occasion for his perpetual quarrels with
Bathyllus. ‘Cæsar,’ replied the dancer, ‘it is well for you that the
people are engrossed by our disputes; their attention is thus diverted
from your actions!’ While Pylades is described as a great tragic actor
and dancer, Bathyllus is represented as having been endowed not only
with extraordinary talent, but also with great personal beauty, and
is said as having been the idol of the Roman ladies. It is said that
the banishment of Pylades from Rome almost brought about a serious
revolution, that was prevented by the recall of the imperial decree.
One of the most interesting ancient dances practised by the Romans
was _Bellicrepa saltatio_, a military dance, instituted by Romulus
after the seizure of the Sabine women, in order that a similar
misfortune might never befall his own country. To Numa Pompilius, the
gentle Sabine, who became king after the mysterious disappearance of
Romulus, is ascribed the origin of Roman religious dances. Especially
celebrated were the dancing priests of Mars, and the order of Salien
priests, numbering twelve, who were selected from citizens of first
rank. Their mission was to worship the gods by dances. As a sign of
special distinction they wore in their ceremonials richly embroidered
purple tunics, brazen breastplates and their heads covered with gilded
helmets. In one hand they held a javelin, while the other carried the
celestial shield called the _ancilia_. They beat the time with their
swords upon this _ancilia_, and marched through the city singing hymns
to the time of their solemn dancing.
According to Livy, pantomimes were invented to please the gods and to
distract the people, horrified by the plague that created havoc in the
sacred city of Rome. The _Ludiones_, the celebrated Roman bards, are
said to have performed their dances first before the houses of the
rich to the music of the flute, but later appeared in the circuses and
in special show tents. Their example found followers among the Roman
youth. All the Roman dancers gave performances masqued, and it was the
custom that in the sacred, as well as in the great dramatic pantomimes
women were excluded, though during the later period of the Empire,
particularly during the reign of Nero, women dancers appeared.
The best known of the ancient Roman pantomimes were those performed
at the festival of Pallas, of Pan and of Dionysus or Bacchus. Juvenal
writes that Bathyllus, having composed a pantomime on the subject of
Jupiter, performed it with such realism that the Roman women were
profoundly moved. The same is said of the dances invented and performed
by Pylades, some of which were later given by the priests of Apollo.
The art of Roman pantomime developed gradually to classic standards and
ranged over the whole domain of mythology, poetry and drama. Dancers,
called _Mimii_, like Bathyllus and Pylades, translated the most subtle
emotions by gestures and poses of extreme graphic power so that their
audiences understood every meaning of their mute language. This plastic
form of mute drama made the dancing of the Romans a great art. The
Emperor Augustus is said to have been a great admirer of Bathyllus, and
so also was Nero. It is said that an African ruler, while the guest
of Nero, was so impressed by the dancer that he said to Nero that he
would like to have such an artist for his court. ‘And what would you
do with him?’ asked the Emperor. ‘I have around me,’ said the other,
‘several neighboring tribes who speak different languages, and as they
are unable to understand mine, I thought, if I had this man with me, it
would be quite possible for him to explain by gesture all that I wished
to express.’
Very unusual was the Roman festival of Pan, or the _Lupercalia_, at
which half-naked youths danced about the streets with whips in their
hands, lashing freely everyone whom they chanced to meet. The Roman
women liked to be lashed on this occasion, as they believed it would
keep them young. Another kind of Pan festival was celebrated by the
peasants in the spring at which the young men and maidens joined in
the dances, which took place in the woods or on the fields. They wore
garlands of flowers and wreaths of oak on their heads. Similar dances,
only more solemn and magnificent, were performed at the festival of
Pallas by shepherds. Dancing and singing around blazing bonfires in
a circle they worshipped the goddess of fruitfulness. Frequently the
officiators were disreputable women who appeared dressed in long white
robes, symbolic of chastity. Then there were the great _Floralia_
or May Day festivals which in the beginning were of sufficiently
decent manner but eventually degenerated into scenes of unbounded
licentiousness. Still wilder than these were the orgies of Bacchus,
which contributed greatly to the demoralization of the people until
the consuls Albinus and Philippus banished them from Rome by a decree
of the Senate.
On account of their sensuous character the Romans were unable to keep
their art of dancing in such poetic and yet simple æsthetic frames
as did the Greeks, for which reason all the Roman women characters
in a pantomime were disguised young men. They lacked the ability of
self-control in the stage art which in Greece had reached a standard of
classic perfection. It is sufficient to say that they must have been
wicked enough when a ruler like Tiberius commanded the dancers to be
expelled from Rome. But Tacitus relates that, while publicly Tiberius
reprimanded Sestius Gallus for the elaborate balls given at his house,
privately he made arrangements to be his guest on the condition that he
should himself be entertained in the usual manner. Of his successor,
Caligula, Suetonius writes: ‘So fond was the emperor of singing and
dancing that he could not refrain from singing with the tragedians and
imitating the gestures of the dancers either by way of applause or
correction.’
During the reign of Augustus the art of pantomime reached its zenith.
The dances of this time were more spectacular and impressive on
account of their carefully executed stage effects. As far as music
was concerned, this was produced by flutes and harps, sometimes by
singing voices. The Romans never cared for dancing itself, but they
were fond of it as a spectacle. A great rôle in Roman life at this
juncture was played by the female dancers from Cadiz, which were said
to be so brilliant and passionate that poets declared it impossible to
withstand the great charm these women exercised over the spectators.
Some one says ‘they were all poetry and voluptuous charm.’ An English
writer maintains that the famous Venus of Cailipyge was modelled from a
Caditian dancer in high favor at Rome. Another noted writer calls the
_delicias caditanas_ the most fascinating performances that ever could
be seen, and calls all other dances of the Romans and even the Greeks
amateurish puerilities.
Of great Roman female dancers we know by name Lucceia, who was said to
give performances when she was one hundred years old; Stephania, ‘the
first to dance on the stage in comedy descriptive of Roman manners’;
Galeria Copiola, who danced before Emperor Augustus ninety-one years
after her first appearance; and Alliamatula, who danced before Nero
at the age of one hundred and twenty. The most known of all the great
women dancers in ancient Rome was Telethusa, a fascinating girl from
Cadiz, to whose extraordinary beauty and art the poet Martial dedicated
many of his songs.