§ 1. Rise of the Actor’s Profession.
Before proceeding to give an account of the actors in the ancient Greek drama, there are one or two points which ought to be made clear, in order to avoid possible misconceptions. In the first place the actors and the chorus were entirely distinct from one another. The chorus was chosen and paid by the choregus, and performed in the orchestra. The actors were hired by the state, and their proper place was upon the stage. The term ‘hypokrites’, or ‘actor’, was never applied to the members of the chorus. It was not even applied to all the performers upon the stage, but only to such of them as took a prominent part in the dialogue. The various mute characters, such as the soldiers and attendants, and also the subordinate characters who had only a few words to say, were not dignified with the title of ‘actor’. In the second place it should be remembered that the Greek actors invariably wore masks, and were consequently able to appear in several parts in the course of the same performance. When, therefore, it is said that in the early history of Greek tragedy only a single actor was employed in each play, this does not imply that the number of characters was limited to one. All it implies is that only one character could appear at a time. The number of actors in a Greek play never exceeded three, even in the latest period. But the effect of this regulation upon the capacities of the Greek drama was less cramping and restrictive than might have been supposed. There was no limitation to the number of mute and subordinate characters which might be introduced at any time upon the stage. There was no restriction upon the number of the more prominent characters, provided they were not brought upon the stage simultaneously. The only limitation was this—that not more than three of the more prominent characters could take part in the dialogue in the course of the same scene.
The principal function of the actors was to carry on the dialogue and work out the action of the play. The principal function of the chorus was to sing the odes which filled up the pauses in the action. Of course very frequently the chorus took part in the dialogue; but, speaking in general terms, the dialogue was the business of the actors. Such was the condition of things during the best period of the Attic drama. But in former times the case had been very different. At first the whole performance was a choral one, and consisted simply of the songs and hymns chanted at the festivals of Dionysus. There were no actors and there was no dialogue. The history of the early development of the drama is in other words the history of the gradual introduction of actors and dialogue into a choral entertainment, and the gradual increase in the importance of the dialogue, until eventually it overshadowed the choral part altogether. The first step in the process by which a lyrical performance was converted into a dramatic one was as follows. The custom arose of filling up the intervals between the different portions of the choral songs with recitations by the leader of the chorus, and dialogues between him and the other members. For this purpose the leader of the chorus used to mount upon a small table. The subject of the recitations and the dialogues would be the same as the subject of the ode, and would in most cases refer to the adventures of the god Dionysus. In these interludes by the leader of the chorus lay the germ of the drama. The performance as a whole was still essentially lyrical, but the practice of inserting dialogue had been established.[670] In the case of tragedy the next step forward was taken by Thespis. He introduced a single actor, who took the part which had previously been taken by the leader of the chorus, and filled up the pauses in the choral odes either with monologues or with dialogues between himself and the leader.[671] Not much is known about the drama of Thespis except that it was still essentially lyrical. But as he is said to have employed masks, it is clear that the single actor might appear in different characters in successive scenes, and in this way some approach might be made to a dramatic representation of a story.[672] The decisive innovation was due to Aeschylus. He introduced a second actor, and effected a total change in the character of the performance. Henceforward the intervals between the choral odes were filled with dialogues between the two actors upon the stage, instead of dialogues between the single actor and the leader of the chorus. At the same time Aeschylus cut down the length of the choral odes, and made the dialogue the essential and prominent feature of the performance.[673] The result was a radical change in the nature of tragedy: it became a dramatic instead of a lyrical form of art. During the greater part of his career Aeschylus was contented with two actors. Three at least out of his seven extant plays are written for performance by two actors only.[674] This limitation upon the number of the performers necessitated great simplicity in the construction of the play, since it was impossible for more than two personages to take part in the dialogue at the same time. Hence the earlier plays of Aeschylus, though essentially dramatic in comparison with anything which preceded them, are simple in plot and lyrical in tone when compared with the tragedies of his successors. The different scenes rather serve to unfold a series of pictures than to develop a complicated plot. Descriptive speeches take the place of animated dialogue. Sophocles added greatly to the capacities of the drama by introducing a third actor.[675] He was thus enabled to give much greater variety and spirit to the dialogue. In his hands for the first time tragedy became completely dramatic, and the lyrical element was thrust still further into the background. The innovation of Sophocles was adopted by Aeschylus in his later years, and the Orestean trilogy—the last and most elaborate of his works—requires three actors. Under Sophocles tragedy received its full development. The number of actors in tragedy was henceforward limited to three.
The satyric drama was intimately connected with tragedy, and the number of actors was apparently the same. Thus the Cyclops of Euripides, the only extant satyric play, requires three actors. In the Naples vase-painting, which represents the performers in a satyric play, three actors are depicted.[676] It is true that the Alcestis of Euripides, which was performed in place of the usual satyric drama, only requires two actors. But the number in this case was probably due to the choice of the poet, and not to any official regulation. In regard to comedy, very little is known as to the steps by which it was developed. The source of comedy lay in the phallic songs performed at the festivals of Dionysus. The dramatic element originated in the interludes by the leader of the chorus. The process of development must have been much the same as in tragedy; but the names of the persons who introduced actors and dialogue into comedy were forgotten even in Aristotle’s time. The only piece of information upon the subject is to the effect that Cratinus was the first to limit the number of actors to three, and that before his time there was no regulation as to the number of persons introduced upon the stage. After the time of Cratinus there were no further innovations, and the number of the actors in comedy was permanently fixed at three.[677]
This number was never exceeded either in comedy or in tragedy. All the extant Greek plays could be performed by three actors. It is sometimes said that the Oedipus Coloneus of Sophocles requires four actors; but this is not the case. Although there are several occasions on which Ismene appears upon the stage simultaneously with three other personages, still on each of these occasions she does not say a word, but is merely a mute figure. It is evident therefore that during this portion of the play her part was taken by a ‘super’, while at the beginning and end of the play, where she had speeches to make, the part was acted by the tritagonist.[678] It might at first sight appear that the comedies of Aristophanes require more than three actors; but investigations have shown that there is not one of his plays which could not be performed by this number, assisted by a supply of ‘supers’.[679]
The smallness of the number of the actors necessarily limited the capacities of the Greek drama. The realistic effect produced by a promiscuous conversation between a large group of persons was impossible upon the Greek stage. Sometimes a certain awkwardness was caused by the limitation in the number of the performers. For instance, at the end of the Orestes of Euripides, Orestes is seen upon the roof of the palace threatening to kill Hermione, and Pylades is standing beside him. Menelaus from below makes a piteous appeal to Pylades, but Pylades says not a single word in reply, but leaves Orestes to answer for him. His silence is very unnatural, and is only to be accounted for by the fact that there was no actor to spare, and therefore the poet could not put any words in his mouth. Two of the actors were already employed in playing the parts of Orestes and Menelaus, and the third was required for Apollo, who comes on the scene immediately afterwards. Consequently the part of Pylades had to be taken by a mute personage. Again there is the scene at the end of the Electra of Euripides. Orestes has heard his fate, and as he leaves the stage he bids farewell to Pylades, and urges him to marry his sister Electra. Pylades maintains a stolid silence, and the Dioscuri reply on his behalf. Here again his silence is due to the necessities of the case. The three actors with whom the poet was supplied were all employed, and Pylades was merely a dumb figure. Similar instances of awkward and almost ludicrous silence on the part of certain characters will occur to all readers of the Greek drama. But they are not so numerous as might have been expected, and it is astonishing to find how successfully the Greek drama, keeping within its own peculiar limits, was able to accomplish its ends with three actors only.
There were several advantages in the smallness of the number. In the first place the dialogue gained in clearness and simplicity, owing to the fewness of the persons taking part in it. This simplicity was especially well suited to the severe and statuesque character of Greek tragedy, in which the rapid movement of a dialogue between a large number of persons would have been altogether inappropriate. In the extant Greek tragedies even the three actors permitted by custom are used with considerable reserve. In most cases one of them stands by in silence, while the other two carry on the dialogue. The two change from time to time, but it is only on rare occasions and for brief periods that all three converse promiscuously together. There was another obvious advantage in the restriction. As only three actors were needed, it was easy to ensure that they should all be performers of first-rate excellence. In modern times the large number of actors required constitutes a great difficulty. It is rare to see the subordinate characters in a play of Shakespeare even tolerably performed. The effect of the piece is spoiled by the feebleness of the princes, dukes, lords, and ladies who crowd the stage. In the Greek drama, owing to the limitation upon the number of the performers, this difficulty was avoided, and a high standard of excellence maintained throughout the play. It was all the more necessary, among the Greeks, to take some precaution of this kind, since the size of the theatre demanded unusual powers in the actor. In a modern theatre an actor, however poor, can at any rate usually be heard. But in the vast open-air theatre at Athens it required a man with an exceptionally clear and powerful voice to make himself audible to the vast multitude of spectators. It cannot have been an easy task to find actors who combined histrionic talent with voices of sufficient power, and if a large number had been required, there would have been great difficulty in meeting the demand.
The original Greek word for an actor was ‘hypokrites’. Etymologically the word seems to have meant ‘one who answers’.[680] In the times before Aeschylus, when there was only one actor, all the dialogue was necessarily carried on between the actor and the chorus. It is therefore not improbable that the duty of replying to the questions and remarks of the chorus may have been regarded as the salient feature in the performance of the actor, and have given rise to his name, as the old grammarians assert. In the course of the fourth century the old Attic word for an actor went out of use, and a new one was substituted. Henceforward actors were generally called ‘artists’, or ‘artists of Dionysus’.[681]
As far as tragedy is concerned, the art of acting may be said to have commenced in the time of Thespis. But actors did not come into existence as a separate class until many years afterwards. Before the period of Aeschylus, when only a single actor was required, his part was taken by the poet. It is expressly said that Thespis was ‘himself acting, according to ancient custom’, at that performance which excited the disapproval of Solon.[682] But when a second actor was introduced by Aeschylus, then the actor’s profession became of necessity distinct from that of the poet. For some time afterwards the poets continued to act occasionally in their own tragedies, side by side with the professional actors. But the practice went gradually out of fashion in the course of the earlier part of the fifth century. Aeschylus appears, from the statement in his Life, to have abandoned the stage even before the introduction of a second actor.[683] Sophocles was prevented from appearing as an actor by the weakness of his voice. It is true that he sometimes performed in public. In the Thamyris he played the harp, and in the Nausicaa he delighted the spectators by his skill with the ball. But it is not likely that on either of these occasions he took a regular actor’s part. He probably appeared upon the scene merely as a mute character, in order to show his skill with the harp and the ball.[684] After the time of Sophocles there are no further instances of tragic poets performing in their own plays.[685] As to the early history of comic acting very little is known. Cratinus is mentioned as one of the old poets who were called ‘dancers’, and it is therefore probable that he acted in his own comedies. Crates is said to have begun his career as an actor of Cratinus.[686] But after his time there is no certain instance of a comic poet appearing upon the stage. The professional actor was universally employed. The statement that Aristophanes acted the part of Cleon in the Knights is due to a misconception on the part of the scholiast.[687]
It appears then that it was in the beginning of the fifth century that the profession of the actor came into existence as a distinct occupation. It grew very rapidly in importance. At first the actors who took part in the competitions were regarded as mere subordinates, and had no share in the honours and rewards. But towards the middle of the century a change was made, and prizes began to be instituted for the best actors, as well as for the best poets. The names of the actors began to be recorded in the official lists of victors, side by side with those of the poets and choregi.[688] In the fourth century the actors sprang into still greater prominence. The art of acting tended to outshine the art of dramatic writing. An age of great actors succeeded to an age of great poets. The same phenomenon is not uncommon in the theatrical history of other nations. In England, for instance, a period of dramatic productiveness was followed by a period of sterility and insignificance, and from the time of Garrick downwards the names of the great actors, who have made themselves famous by interpreting the masterpieces of Shakespeare, are more conspicuous than the names of dramatic authors. In Athens the fourth century was the period when acting was brought to the greatest perfection. To such an extent had the importance of the actor’s profession increased, that in Aristotle’s time a play depended more for its success upon the skill of the actor than upon the genius of the poet. The effect upon dramatic writing was most pernicious. The poets began to write their plays with a view to exhibiting the capacities of the actors. Scenes which had no connexion with the plot were introduced for the sole purpose of enabling an actor to make a display of his talents.[689] Sophocles is said by one of the old grammarians to have been guilty of the same sort of practice. But if there is any truth in the statement, the evil effects are not very apparent in the extant tragedies.[690] The charge might be brought with more plausibility against the monodies of Euripides, which are often feeble from a literary point of view, but would enable an actor with a fine voice to make a great impression. However, it was not until the fourth century that the influence of the actors became so universal as to inflict distinct injury upon the art of dramatic writing.
The selection of the necessary number of actors for each dramatic performance was, except in very early times, undertaken by the state. The details in connexion with this arrangement have already been discussed in a previous chapter.[691] The main points may be recapitulated here. During the early part of the fifth century the poets chose their own actors. Certain poets and certain actors were permanently associated together. But as the actors increased in importance, they were placed on the same footing as the poets and choregi, and were appointed by the state. They were then distributed among the poets by lot. In the course of the fourth century the use of the lot was discontinued in the case of tragedy, and a new arrangement was adopted, which was rendered possible by the fact that each tragic poet exhibited several tragedies at the same time. Under the new system each tragedy was performed by a different actor, and in this way all the competing poets enjoyed in turn the services of all the actors. In comedy, as each poet exhibited only a single play, the old system of distribution by lot was retained. If an actor was engaged for one of the great Athenian festivals, and failed to put in an appearance, he was fined by the state. On one occasion Athenodorus, the great tragic actor, was hired to perform at the City Dionysia. But he failed to keep his engagement, as he preferred to be present and perform at the festivities held by Alexander the Great in Phoenicia, after his return from Egypt. A heavy fine was inflicted upon him in consequence, and was paid by Alexander.[692]
§ 2. The distribution of the Parts among the Actors.
It has been shown that the number of the actors in a Greek play was limited to three. The principal actor was called the protagonist; next in importance came the deuteragonist; the tritagonist played the inferior characters.[693] The importance of the protagonist on the Greek stage has been pointed out already.[694] In the ordinary theatrical language of the time a play was said to be ‘acted by’ the protagonist, as if the other actors were of no account. The protagonist was publicly appointed by the state, but was allowed to choose the second and third actors at his own discretion. In the same way the prize for acting at each festival was confined to the protagonists. In tragedy more especially the protagonist was a person of the greatest importance. The whole structure of a Greek tragedy was designed with the object of fixing the interest upon some grand central figure. The significance of the other characters consisted mainly in their capacity to excite the passions and draw forth the sentiments of the leading personage. This being so, it was essential that the protagonist should concentrate the interest upon himself; otherwise the harmony and balance of the play would have been destroyed. Hence the subordinate actors were strictly forbidden to attempt to outshine the protagonist. Even if they had finer voices than the protagonist, they were made to moderate and restrain their powers, so as to allow the protagonist to retain the superiority, and rivet the attention of the spectators upon the central character.[695] The jealousy of protagonists towards their fellow-actors is well exemplified by the story about Theodorus, who had a theory that the first speaker in a play always attracted the sympathies of the audience, and therefore would never allow any other actor, however inferior, to appear upon the stage before himself.[696]
The distribution of the different parts among the actors was undertaken by the poet if the play was a new one.[697] But if an old play was being reproduced, the matter would be arranged by the protagonist who had the management of the performance. The three actors between them filled all the parts in a play, appearing in various characters successively. Such a practice was rendered possible by the use of masks. An actor had only to change his mask and his dress, and he could then reappear in a new character. Changes of this kind could be effected in a very few moments, as is shown by the one or two traditions on the subject which have been preserved by the ancient scholiasts. For example, in the opening scene of the Phoenissae Jocasta speaks the prologue, and then leaves the stage. Thereupon Antigone and an old attendant mount by a staircase on to the roof of the palace, in order to view the Argive army encamped outside the walls. The scholiast tells us that the protagonist played the parts both of Jocasta and of Antigone. It was necessary, therefore, after Jocasta had left the stage, that there should be a slight interval before Antigone appeared upon the palace roof, to give the actor time to change his mask and dress. Euripides managed this by making the attendant come out alone upon the roof at first, and look about him to see that the coast is clear, while he addresses a few words to Antigone, who is still inside the palace. When he sees that all is safe, he calls on Antigone to follow after him, and she thereupon mounts the staircase, and appears to the spectators. The speech of the attendant, while he is looking about upon the roof, consists of only fifteen iambic lines. Thus the space of time required to speak fifteen lines was enough to enable an actor to change from one character to another.[698] There is a further instance which shows that even less time was necessary. In the Choephori, when Aegisthus is murdered, a servant rushes out upon the stage and calls to Clytaemnestra. As Clytaemnestra comes out, he apparently runs back into the palace. Clytaemnestra speaks five lines, and then Orestes hastens out of the palace, followed by Pylades. In the scene which ensues Pylades has three lines to speak; and the scholiast says that his part was taken by the servant who had just left the stage, so as to avoid the necessity of four actors. The servant must therefore have changed his mask in a very few moments.[699]
In the distribution of parts the protagonist took the principal character. The parts of Oedipus, Electra, and Antigone, in the plays of the same name by Sophocles, are specially mentioned as having been acted by celebrated protagonists. Orestes in the play of Euripides is also described as the part of the protagonist.[700] Usually, as in the above instances, the chief personage gave the name to the piece. But this was not always the case. In the Oenomaus of Sophocles the part of Oenomaus was played by the tritagonist Aeschines. In the Cresphontes of Euripides the principal character was Merope, and was taken by Theodorus. The part of Cresphontes fell to Aeschines as tritagonist.[701] In the Agamemnon of Aeschylus most likely the protagonist played the part of Clytaemnestra, as this is certainly the most impressive character in the play, though not the one with which the spectators are in sympathy. The protagonist had also to take his share of the subordinate characters when he could be spared. It has already been mentioned that in the Phoenissae of Euripides the protagonist appeared in the part of Antigone as well as in that of Jocasta. At times he took even the smallest characters if the necessities of the play demanded it. Plutarch states that the protagonist, in the part of a messenger or an attendant, often gained more applause than the actor who bore the sceptre and the crown.[702] It was, in fact, the chief advantage of the Greek system that even the subordinate characters were played with as much excellence as the more important ones. The tritagonist took what in modern times would be called the ‘heavy’ parts. It was his special privilege, as Demosthenes remarks, to play the tyrant and the sceptred monarch.[703] Aeschines, in his career as tritagonist, often had to act gloomy tyrants of this kind, such as Creon, Cresphontes, and Oenomaus. Such characters did not require great powers in the actor. There was no pathos to be excited, no play of conflicting emotions to be exhibited. All that was necessary was a powerful voice, and a capacity for declaiming verses. Most likely for the same reason the tritagonist usually spoke the prologues, which also did not require much more in the actor than good powers of elocution. Thus the ghost of Polydorus, which speaks the prologue in the Hecuba of Euripides, was acted by Aeschines as tritagonist.[704] The deuteragonist took the parts which, in point of interest, were intermediate between the leading characters and the heavy parts which fell to the tritagonist. There are not, however, any traditions as to particular characters having been played by the deuteragonist. Attempts have been made in modern times to assign the characters in the extant Greek dramas to the protagonist, deuteragonist, and tritagonist respectively.[705] Such speculations are interesting, in so far as they show that all the existing plays could be perfectly well performed by three actors. Otherwise they are not of very great value. There is generally no difficulty in deciding which was the leading character. But it is obvious that the subordinate parts might be distributed in various ways; and no doubt the arrangement differed at different periods. There are no traditions on the subject in addition to those already mentioned. Any attempt, therefore, to reproduce the exact arrangement adopted at a particular period must depend more or less upon conjecture.
§ 3. Extra Performers.
For every Greek play a chorus was provided by the choregus, and three actors were supplied by the state. But in most plays a certain number of additional performers was required. The parts which these extra performers had to fill may be divided, roughly speaking, into three classes. In the first place there were the various mute personages, who simply appeared upon the stage, and did nothing more. The second class consisted of minor characters with only a few words to say. In these cases extra performers were required, either because the regular actors were already occupied, or because the part was that of a boy or girl, which the regular actor would be unable to take. Thirdly, in many cases a small subordinate chorus was required, in addition to the ordinary one. The general name for the persons who undertook these parts was ‘parachoregemata’.[706] This word obviously means something which is supplied by the choregus in addition to his ordinary expenditure. It follows, therefore, that the cost of the extra performers was borne by the choregus. Properly he was only responsible for the chorus; but if additional men were required, he had to supply them. This conclusion is confirmed by Plutarch’s story of a certain tragic actor who was going to appear as a queen, but refused to proceed with the part, unless the choregus provided him with a train of female attendants.[707] Extra performers were especially necessary in the Old Comedy, in which a great number of characters appear upon the stage.
It remains to consider more in detail the three classes of ‘parachoregemata’[708]. The mute personages appeared most frequently in the shape of attendants, body-guards, crowds of people, and so on. The Oedipus Rex opens with a number of suppliants kneeling at the altar before the palace of the king. In the Choephori Orestes and Pylades are accompanied by attendants. The judgement scene in the Eumenides requires twelve performers to play the parts of the members of the Areopagus. In the Agamemnon, when the king and Cassandra arrive in the chariot, servants stand ready to spread carpets beneath their feet.[709] Probably in many other instances great personages were accompanied by attendants, although there is no special reference to them in the play. Not infrequently more prominent characters appeared upon the stage as mute figures. Pylades says nothing throughout the Electra of Sophocles and the Electra of Euripides. In the latter play one of the Dioscuri must also have been a dumb figure, since two actors were already upon the stage when the Dioscuri make their appearance. The person of Force in the Prometheus Vinctus is another example. A very frequent occasion for the employment of mute characters was in pathetic scenes between parents and their children. The children appear as silent figures, but give occasion for touching speeches by their parents. There is an example in the Ajax of Sophocles, where Ajax addresses his son Eurysaces. But the instances in Euripides are much more frequent. There is the celebrated scene in the Medea, where Medea half relents at the sight of her children. There is the address of Megara to her children in the Hercules Furens. Other examples are to be found in the introduction of Manto, the daughter of Teiresias, in the Phoenissae, and of Polymestor’s children in the Hecuba.[710] Mute figures were also very useful in occasionally personating one of the regular characters of the play, when the actor of the character was temporarily required for another purpose. It has already been pointed out that in the middle of the Oedipus Coloneus the part of Ismene is played by a dumb personage, to enable the previous actor of the part to appear in another character. In the final scene of Orestes, most of the prominent characters are brought upon the stage together, after the fashion of a modern drama. But only three of them can speak: Helen, Hermione, Electra, and Pylades are all mute figures. The silence of Pylades is especially unnatural. In cases of this kind an attempt is made to produce effects which were hardly compatible with the limited resources of Greek tragedy.
The second class of extra performers took all those minor parts in which there was a certain amount of speaking or singing, but which it was impossible for the regular actors to take. In tragedy such performers were mostly required for the boys’ parts, which were unsuitable for grown-up actors. Euripides was especially fond of introducing boys upon the stage. In the Alcestis Eumelus bewails his mother’s death in a short ode. Another example is the mournful dialogue between Andromache and her little son Molossus.[711] In the Old Comedy these additional actors were frequently needed to perform small parts at times when the three regular actors were already on the stage. Examples are very numerous. There are the daughters of Trygaeus in the Peace, and the daughters of the Megarian in the Acharnians. The herald and Pseudartabas are additional examples from the Acharnians.[712]
In the third place an extra chorus was sometimes required. The Propompi in the Eumenides, and the chorus of boys in the Wasps, both appear side by side with the regular chorus, and must therefore have been personated by extra performers. An additional chorus, consisting of shepherds, was also required in the Alexander of Euripides.[713] Sometimes the extra chorus was not visible to the spectators, but sang behind the scenes. In such cases the singing might be done by members of the regular chorus, if they had not yet entered the orchestra. Examples are to be found in the chorus of frogs in the Frogs of Aristophanes, and Agathon’s chorus in the Thesmophoriazusae.[714] Their part would be taken by members of the regular chorus. In the opening scene of the Hippolytus a band of huntsmen sing a short ode to Artemis upon the stage. Immediately after their disappearance the regular chorus, consisting of women of Troezen, enters the orchestra. In this case the huntsmen cannot have been personated by members of the regular chorus; but it is possible that the singing was done by the chorus behind the scenes, while the huntsmen were represented by mute figures.[715]
§ 4. Costume of the Tragic Actors.
The dress of the actors in tragedy was always entirely distinct from that of the chorus. The chorus consisted originally of satyrs, the half-human followers of Dionysus. Later on it came to be composed in most cases of ordinary citizens, and was dressed accordingly. But the actors represented from the first the gods and heroes of the old mythology. For them a different costume was required. The practice of the Greeks in regard to this costume was totally opposed to all modern notions upon the subject. Historical accuracy and archaeological minuteness in the mounting of a play were matters of complete indifference to the Greeks. Accordingly, when bringing these heroic characters upon the stage, they never made any attempt to produce an accurate imitation of the costume of the Homeric period. At the same time they were not content that the heroes and gods of their tragedy should appear upon the scene in the garments of ordinary life. Such an arrangement would have been inconsistent with the ideal character of Greek tragedy. A special dress was therefore employed, similar to that of common life, but more flowing and dignified. The garments were dyed with every variety of brilliant colour. The bulk of the actor was increased by padding his chest and limbs, and placing huge wooden soles under his feet. Masks were employed in which every feature was exaggerated, to give superhuman dignity and terror to the expression. In this way a conventional costume was elaborated, which continued for centuries to be the regular dress of the tragic actors. All the leading characters in a Greek tragedy were dressed in this fashion, with only such slight variations and additions as the particular case required.
The origin of this tragic costume is a subject about which very little is known. According to the later Greek tradition it was invented almost entirely by Aeschylus.[716] But this is probably an exaggeration. Aeschylus was no doubt mainly instrumental in developing and improving the costume, and giving it a definite shape. But that the whole idea of it was his own creation is hardly credible. Most likely it had existed, though in a less elaborate form, long before his time. As for its origin, the most plausible view seems to be that it was derived from the old traditional garb of the Bacchic cultus, worn by Dionysus himself and by his chief attendants.[717] Several indications point in this direction. In early works of art Dionysus and his followers often appear in a long flowing robe, not unlike that of the tragic stage. They also wear a tall hunting boot, which was sometimes called the cothurnus, and which may have been the prototype from which the tragic cothurnus was developed. The custom of disguising the features with a mask or some similar device was always a regular institution in the mummeries connected with the Bacchic worship. The old comic actors, before the invention of the theatrical mask, used to smear their faces with wine, or cover them with fig-leaves. Masks were regularly worn in the processions of Dionysus down to the latest times. The Latin peasantry, at their Bacchic festivals, used to cover their faces with masks made out of the bark of trees.[718] All these facts are in favour of the conclusion that the tragic dress, with its mask, its cothurnus, and its flowing robe, was not so much the invention of the fifth century as a development from the old festal costume.[719] This theory has also the advantage of ascribing a parallel origin to the dresses of the chorus and those of the actors. While the chorus, in the older drama, appeared in the guise of satyrs or rustic votaries of Dionysus, the actors, whose part was more dignified, assumed the garb of Dionysus himself and of his chief attendants. One ancient tradition asserts that the tragic dress was copied in later times by the hierophants and torch-bearers at the Eleusinian mysteries.[720] Some scholars have twisted this tradition round, and suggested that it was from the hierophants and torch-bearers that the first notion of the tragic dress was borrowed. But neither view can be regarded as probable. That the two costumes were not dissimilar seems to be proved by the existence of the tradition referred to. But it is unlikely that the garb used at the performances in honour of one deity should have been borrowed from the cultus of another. The resemblance may be better explained by the supposition that both costumes were ancient religious dresses, used in the worship of Dionysus and Demeter respectively.
Fig. 15.
Whatever may have been the origin of the tragic costume, there is no doubt that the form of it which eventually prevailed upon the Greek stage dates from the time of Aeschylus. His creative genius revolutionized every department of Greek tragedy. It was he who transformed it into an essentially dramatic species of art, and gave it the characteristics of grandeur and terror. It was necessary to make a corresponding improvement in the dresses of the actors, and this reform also was effected by Aeschylus. The type of costume which he gradually developed was so well adapted to its purpose, that it continued unchanged in its principal characteristics throughout the remaining history of Greek tragedy. Subsequent generations, while making various small additions and alterations, never altogether abandoned the original design. Our knowledge of the subject is derived partly from the descriptions of Pollux and others, partly from works of art. Few of these works, unfortunately, are of early date. There is the Naples vase, belonging to the end of the fifth century, and depicting the performers in a satyric play. The two actors who take the heroic parts in this performance (Fig. 22) are dressed more or less closely in the tragic style. There is also a votive relief (Fig. 15) from the Peiraeeus, of the early fourth century, in which three tragic actors are depicted in stage costume, two of them with their masks in their hands.[721] But the work in this relief is so bare and devoid of detail, that it adds little to our knowledge. The Andromeda vase, of the same date, exhibits Andromeda chained to a rock, with Perseus and other figures on each side of her, and dressed in a costume which was evidently suggested by that of tragedy, though it is not a complete theatrical dress.[722] Numerous vases from Magna Graecia, belonging mostly to the fourth century, represent scenes out of tragedies.[723] But these too are not portrayed as theatrical scenes; and the costumes of the characters, though often resembling those of the tragic stage, cannot be regarded as regular actors’ costumes. Still, all these paintings are valuable, as exhibiting in a general way some of the main features of the tragic dress. Apart from examples of the above kind, the works of art on which we have to depend are all of late date, and mostly of Italian origin.[724] But Greek tragedies were commonly performed in Italy even in imperial times; and Roman tragedy was in all respects a mere reproduction of the Greek. Hence delineations of tragic scenes and figures, though Italian in origin, present the characteristics of the Greek stage. It would be unsafe to depend upon them for points of minute detail. But they correspond in the main with the descriptions of Pollux, and it is possible to obtain from them a fairly trustworthy picture of the general appearance of the Greek actors. The accompanying figure of a tragic actor (Fig. 16) is copied from an ivory statuette found in the ruins of a villa near Rieti.[725] On comparing together these various representations, which range in date over a period of five or six hundred years, it is interesting to find that they all bear a strong family resemblance to one another. The pictures of the tragic actor, whether found on Greek vases, Etruscan mosaics, or wall-paintings of Cyrene and Pompeii, obviously belong to one common type. In spite of considerable differences in point of detail they portray the same general conception. This fact confirms the ancient tradition, that the costume of the tragic stage, in all its more important features, was definitely settled by Aeschylus in the course of the fifth century.
The contrast between the ancient and the modern actor is marked by nothing so conspicuously as by the use of masks. These masks, or similar devices, were a regular feature in the old Dionysiac worship, and were probably inherited as such by the tragic stage, and not invented of set purpose. With the growth of tragedy they soon acquired a new character. Thespis, the earliest of tragic actors, is said at the commencement of his career to have merely painted his face with white lead or purslane. Later on he employed masks; but these were of a very simple character, consisting merely of linen, without paint or colouring. Choerilus introduced certain improvements which are not specified. Phrynichus set the example of using female masks.[726] Aeschylus was the first to employ painted masks, and to portray features of a dreadful and awe-inspiring character. Though not the inventor of the tragic mask, as some ancient writers assert, he was the first to give it that distinctive character from which in later times it never varied except in detail.[727] After the time of Aeschylus there is no further mention of any radical alterations or improvements in the manufacture of masks.
The use of masks is indissolubly connected with the style and character of Greek tragedy. It is said to have added resonance to the actor’s voice; and this was a point of great importance in the vast theatres of the ancients.[728] Also without masks it would have been impossible for one actor to play several parts, or for men to play the parts of women. At the same time the practice had its inconvenient side. The Greek actor was deprived of any opportunity for displaying those powers of facial expression which are one of the chief excellences in modern acting. It was only by his gestures that he could emphasize the meaning of what he had to say: his features remained immovable. But niceties of facial expression would have been scarcely visible in the huge expanse of a Greek theatre. The tragic mask, on which were depicted in bold and striking lines the main traits in the character represented, was really much more effective, and could be seen by the most distant spectator. Then again it must have been difficult, if not impossible, for a Greek actor to delineate finely drawn shades of individual character. The masks necessarily ran in general types, such as that of the brutal tyrant, the crafty statesman, the suffering maiden, and so on. The acting would have to correspond. It would be difficult to imagine the part of Hamlet acted in a mask. But the characters of Greek tragedy were mostly types rather than individuals. The heroes and heroines were drawn in broad general outlines, and there was little attempt at delicate strokes of character-painting. The use of masks no doubt helped to give this particular bent to Greek tragedy.