so said the Pythoness at Delphi, "the wisest man in Greece"-sage, metaphysician, humourist, warrior, patriot, martyr-for his name is _Socrates_.
All are in their dresses of office; for this is not merely a day of amus.e.m.e.nt, but of religious ceremony; sacred to Dionysos-Bacchus, the inspiring G.o.d, who raises men above themselves, for good-or for evil.
The evil, or at least the mere animal aspect of that inspiration, was to be seen in forms grotesque and sensuous enough in those very festivals, when the gayer and coa.r.s.er part of the population, in town and country, broke out into frantic masquerade, of which that silly carnival of Rome is perhaps the last paltry and unmeaning relic. "When," as the learned O. Muller says, "the desire of escaping from self into something new and strange, of living in an imaginary world, broke forth in a thousand ways; not merely in revelry and solemn, though fantastic songs, but in a hundred disguises, imitating the subordinate beings-satyrs, pans, and nymphs, by whom the G.o.d was surrounded, and through whom life seemed to pa.s.s from him into vegetation, and branch off into a variety of beautiful or grotesque forms-beings who were ever present to the fancy of the Greeks, as a convenient step by which they could approach more nearly to the presence of the Divinity." But even out of that seemingly bare chaos, Athenian genius was learning how to construct, under Eupolis, Cratinus and Aristophanes, that elder school of comedy, which remains not only unsurpa.s.sed, but unapproachable, save by Rabelais alone, as the ideal cloudland of masquerading wisdom, in which the whole universe goes mad-but with a subtle method in its madness.
Yes, so it has been, under some form or other, in every race and clime-ever since Eve ate of the magic fruit, that she might be as a G.o.d, knowing good and evil, and found, poor thing, as most have since, that it was far easier and more pleasant to know the evil than to know the good.
But that theatre was built that men might know therein the good as well as the evil. To learn the evil, indeed, according to their light, and the sure vengeance of Ate and the Furies which tracks up the evil-doer.
But to learn also the good-lessons of piety, patriotism, heroism, justice, mercy, self-sacrifice, and all that comes out of the hearts of men and women not dragged _below_, but raised _above_ themselves; and behind all-at least in the n.o.bler and earlier tragedies of aeschylus and Sophocles, before Euripides had introduced the tragedy of mere human pa.s.sion; that sensation tragedy, which is the only one the world knows now, and of which the world is growing rapidly tired-behind all, I say, lessons of the awful and unfathomable mystery of human existence, of unseen destiny; of that seemingly capricious distribution of weal and woe, to which we can find no solution on this side the grave, for which the old Greek could find no solution whatsoever.
Therefore there was a central object in the old Greek theatre, most important to it, but which does not exist in our theatres, and did not in the old Roman; because our tragedies, like the Roman, are mere plays concerning love, murder, and so forth, while the Greek were concerning the deepest relations of man to the Unseen.
The almost circular orchestra, or pit, between the benches and the stage, was empty of what we call spectators-because it was destined for the true and ideal spectators-the representatives of humanity; in its centre was a round platform, the ??e??-originally the altar of Bacchus-from which the leader of these representatives, the leader of the Chorus, could converse with the actors on the stage and take his part in the drama; and round this thymele the Chorus ranged, with measured dance and song, chanting, to the sound of a simple flute, odes such as the world had never heard before or since, save perhaps in the temple-worship at Jerusalem. A chorus now, as you know, means merely any number of persons singing in full harmony on any subject. The Chorus was then in tragedy, and indeed in the higher comedy, what Schlegel well calls "the ideal spectator,"-a personified reflection on the action going on, the incorporation into the representation itself of the sentiments of the poet, as the spokesman of the whole human race. He goes on to say (and I think truly), "that the Chorus always retained among the Greeks a peculiar national signification, publicity being, according to their republican notions, essential to the completeness of every important transaction." Thus the Chorus represented idealised public opinion: not of course, the shifting, hasty public opinion of the moment-to that it was a conservative check, and it calmed to soberness and charity-for it was the matured public opinion of centuries; the experience, and usually the sad experience, of many generations; the very spirit of the Greek race.
The Chorus might be composed of what the poet would. Of ancient citizens, waiting for their sons to come back from the war, as in the _Agamemnon_ of aeschylus; of sea-nymphs, as in his _Prometheus Bound_; even of the very Furies who hunt the matricide, as in his _Eumenides_; of Senators as in the _Antigone_ of Sophocles; or of village farmers as in his _dipus at Colonos_-and now I have named five of the greatest poems, as I hold, written by mortal man till Dante rose. Or it may be the Chorus was composed-as in the comedies of Aristophanes, the greatest humourist the world has ever seen-of birds, or of frogs, or even of clouds. It may rise to the level of Don Quixote, or sink to that of Sancho Panza; for it is always the incarnation of such wisdom, heavenly or earthly, as the poet wishes the people to bring to bear on the subject-matter!
But let the poets themselves, rather than me, speak awhile. Allow me to give you a few specimens of these choruses-the first as an example of that practical, and yet surely not un-divine wisdom, by which they supplied the place of our modern preacher, or essayist, or didactic poet.
Listen to this of the old men"s chorus in the _Agamemnon_, in the spirited translation of my friend Professor Blackie:-
"Twas said of old, and "tis said to-day, That wealth to prosperous stature grown Begets a birth of its own: That a surfeit of evil by good is prepared, And sons must bear what allotment of woe Their sires were spared.
But this I refuse to believe: I know That impious deeds conspire To beget an offspring of impious deeds Too like their ugly sire.
But whoso is just, though his wealth like a river Flow down, shall be scathless: his house shall rejoice In an offspring of beauty for ever.
The heart of the haughty delights to beget A haughty heart. From time to time In children"s children recurrent appears The ancestral crime.
When the dark hour comes that the G.o.ds have decreed And the Fury burns with wrathful fires, A demon unholy, with ire unabated, Lies like black night on the halls of the fated; And the recreant Son plunges guiltily on To perfect the guilt of his Sires.
But Justice shines in a lowly cell; In the homes of poverty, smoke-begrimed, With the sober-minded she loves to dwell.
But she turns aside From the rich man"s house with averted eye, The golden-fretted halls of pride Where hands with lucre are foul, and the praise Of counterfeit goodness smoothly sways; And wisely she guides in the strong man"s despite All things to an issue of RIGHT.
Let me now give you another pa.s.sage from the _Eumenides_-or _Furies_, of aeschylus.
Orestes, prince of Argos, you must remember, has avenged on his mother Clytemnestra the murder of his father, king Agamemnon, on his return from Troy. Pursued by the Furies, he takes refuge in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, and then, still Fury-haunted, goes to Athens, where Pallas Athene the warrior-maiden, the tutelary G.o.ddess of Athens, bids him refer his cause to the Areopagus, the highest court of Athens, Apollo acting as his advocate, and she sitting as umpire in the midst. The white and black b.a.l.l.s are thrown into the urn, and are equal; and Orestes is only delivered by the decision of Athene-as the representative of the nearer race of G.o.ds, the Olympians, the friends of man, in whose likeness man is made. The Furies are the representatives of the older and darker creed-which yet has a depth of truth in it-of the irreversible dooms which underlie all nature; and which represent the _Law_, and not the Gospel, the consequence of the mere act, independent of the spirit which has prompted it.
They break out in fury against the overbearing arrogance of these younger G.o.ds. Athene bears their rage with equanimity, addresses them in the language of kindness, even of veneration, till these so indomitable beings are unable to withstand the charm of her mild eloquence. They are to have a sanctuary in the Athenian land, and to be called no more Furies (Erinnys), but Eumenides-the _well-conditioned_-the kindly G.o.ddesses.
And all ends with a solemn procession round the orchestra, with hymns of blessing, while the terrible Chorus of the Furies, clothed in black, with blood-stained girdles, and serpents in their hair, in masks having perhaps somewhat of the terrific beauty of Medusa-masks, are convoyed to their new sanctuary by a procession of children, women, and old men in purple robes and torches in their hands, after Athene and the Furies have sung, in response to each other, a chorus from which I must beg leave to give you an extract or two.
_Eldest Fury_ (_Leader of the Chorus_).
Far from thy dwelling, and far from thy border, By the grace of my G.o.dhead benignant I order The blight which may blacken the bloom of the trees.
Far from thy border, and far from thy dwelling, Be the hot blast which shrivels the bud in its swelling, The seed-rotting taint, and the creeping disease.
Thy flocks be still doubled, thy seasons be steady, And when Hermes is near thee, thy hand be still ready The Heaven-dropt bounty to seize.
_Athene_.
Hear her words, my city"s warders- Fraught with blessings, she prevaileth With Olympians and Infernals, Dread Erinnys much revered.
Mortal faith she guideth plainly To what goal she pleaseth, sending Songs to some, to others days With tearful sorrows dulled.
_Furies_.
Far from thy border The lawless disorder That sateless of evil shall reign; Far from thy dwelling, The dear blood welling, That taints thine own hearth with the slain.
When slaughter from slaughter Shall flow like the water, And rancour from rancour shall grow.
But joy with joy blending, Live, each to all lending; And hating one-hearted the foe.
When bliss hath departed; From love single-hearted, A fountain of healing shall flow.
_Athene_.
Wisely now the tongue of kindness Thou hast found, the way of love.
And these terror-speaking faces Now look wealth to me and mine.
Her so willing, ye more willing, Now receive. This land and city, On ancient right securely throned, Shall shine for evermore.
_Furies_.
Hail, and all hail, mighty people, be greeted, On the sons of Athena shines sunshine the clearest.
Blest people, near Jove the Olympian seated.
And dear to the maiden his daughter the dearest.
Timely wise "neath the wings of the daughter ye gather, And mildly looks down on her children the Father.
Those of you here who love your country as well as the old Athenians loved theirs, will feel at once the grand political significance of such a scene, in which patriotism and religion become one-and feel, too, the exquisite dramatic effect of the innocent, the weak, the unwarlike, welcoming among them, without fear, because without guilt, those ancient snaky-haired sisters, emblems of all that is most terrible and most inscrutable, in the destiny of nations, of families, and of men:
To their hallowed habitations "Neath Ogygian earth"s foundations In that darksome hall Sacrifice and supplication Shall not fail. In adoration Silent worship all.
Listen again, to the gentler patriotism of a gentler poet, Sophocles himself. The village of Colonos, a mile from Athens, was his birthplace; and in his _dipus Coloneus_, he makes his Chorus of village officials sing thus of their consecrated olive grove:
In good hap, stranger, to these rural seats Thou comest, to this region"s blest retreats, Where white Colonos lifts his head, And glories in the bounding steed.
Where sadly sweet the frequent nightingale Impa.s.sioned pours his evening song, And charms with varied notes each verdant vale, The ivy"s dark-green boughs among, Or sheltered "neath the cl.u.s.tering vine Which, high above him form a bower, Safe from the sun or stormy shower, Where frolic Bacchus often roves, And visits with his fostering nymphs the groves.
Bathed in the dew of heaven each morn, Fresh is the fair Narcissus born, Of those great G.o.ds the crown of old; The crocus glitters, robed in gold.
Here restless fountains ever murmuring glide, And as their crisped streamlets play, To feed, Cephisus, thine unfailing tide, Fresh verdure marks their winding way.
Here oft to raise the tuneful song The virgin band of Muses deigns, And car-borne Aphrodite guides her golden reins.
Then they go on, this band of village elders, to praise the G.o.ds for their special gifts to that small Athenian land. They praise Pallas Athene, who gave their forefathers the olive; then Poseidon-Neptune, as the Romans call him-who gave their forefathers the horse; and something more-the ship,-the horse of the sea, as they, like the old Norse Vikings after them, delighted to call it.-
Our highest vaunt is this-Thy grace, Poseidon, we behold.
The ruling curb, embossed with gold, Controls the courser"s managed pace.
Though loud, oh king, thy billows roar, Our strong hands grasp the labouring oar, And while the Nereids round it play, Light cuts our bounding bark its way.
What a combination of fine humanities! Dance and song, patriotism and religion, so often parted among us, have flowed together into one in these stately villagers; each a small farmer; each a trained soldier, and probably a trained seaman also; each a self-governed citizen; and each a cultured gentleman, if ever there were gentlemen on earth.
But what drama, doing, or action-for such is the meaning of the word-is going on upon the stage, to be commented on by the sympathizing Chorus?
One drama, at least, was acted in Athens in that year-440 B.C.-which you, I doubt not, know well-that _Antigone_ of Sophocles, which Mendelssohn has resuscitated, in our own generation, by setting it to music, divine indeed, though very different from the music to which it was set, probably by Sophocles himself, at its first, and for ought we know, its only representation. For pieces had not then, as now, a run of a hundred nights and more. The Athenian genius was so fertile, and the Athenian audience so eager for novelty, that new pieces were demanded, and were forthcoming, for each of the great festivals, and if a piece was represented a second time it was usually after an interval of some years.
They did not, moreover, like the moderns, run every night to some theatre or other, as a part of the day"s amus.e.m.e.nt. Tragedy, and even comedy, were serious subjects, calling out, not a pa.s.sing sigh, or pa.s.sing laugh, but all the higher faculties and emotions. And as serious subjects were to be expressed in verse and music, which gave stateliness, doubtless, even to the richest burlesques of Aristophanes, and lifted them out of mere street-buffoonery into an ideal fairy land of the grotesque, how much more stateliness must verse and music have added to their tragedy!
And how much have we lost, toward a true appreciation of their dramatic art, by losing almost utterly not only the laws of their melody and harmony, but even the true metric time of their odes! music and metre, which must have surely been as n.o.ble as their poetry, their sculpture, their architecture, possessed by the same exquisite sense of form and of proportion. One thing we can understand-how this musical form of the drama, which still remains to us in lower shapes, in the oratorio, in the opera, must have helped to raise their tragedies into that ideal sphere in which they all, like the _Antigone_, live and move. So ideal and yet so human; nay rather, truly ideal, because truly human. The G.o.ds, the heroes, the kings, the princesses of Greek tragedy were dear to the hearts of Greek republicans, not merely as the founders of their states, not merely as the tutelary deities, many of them, of their country: but as men and women like themselves, only more vast; with mightier wills, mightier virtues, mightier sorrows, and often mightier crimes; their inward free-will battling, as Schlegel has well seen, against outward circ.u.mstance and overruling fate, as every man should battle, unless he sink to be a brute. "In tragedy," says Schlegel-uttering thus a deep and momentous truth-"the G.o.ds themselves either come forward as the servants of destiny and mediate executors of its decrees, or approve themselves G.o.dlike only by a.s.serting their liberty of action and entering upon the same struggles with fate which man himself has to encounter." And I believe this, that this Greek tragedy, with its G.o.dlike men and manlike G.o.ds, and heroes who had become G.o.ds by the very vastness of their humanity, was a preparation, and it may be a necessary preparation, for the true Christian faith in a Son of man, who is at once utterly human and utterly divine. Man is made in the likeness of G.o.d-is the root-idea, only half-conscious, only half-expressed, but instinctive, without which neither the Greek Tragedies, nor the Homeric Poems, six hundred years before them, could have been composed. Doubtless the idea that man was like a G.o.d degenerated too often into the idea that the G.o.ds were like men, and as wicked. But that travestie of a great truth is not confined to those old Greeks. Some so-called Christian theories-as I hold-have sinned in that direction as deeply as the Athenians of old.
Meanwhile, I say, that this long acquiescence in the conception of G.o.dlike struggle, G.o.dlike daring, G.o.dlike suffering, G.o.dlike martyrdom; the very conception which was so foreign to the mythologies of any other race-save that of the Jews, and perhaps of our own Teutonic forefathers-did prepare, must have prepared, men to receive as most rational and probable, as the satisfaction of their highest instincts, the idea of a Being in whom all those partial rays culminated in clear, pure light; of a Being at once utterly human and utterly divine; who by struggle, suffering, self-sacrifice, without a parallel, achieved a victory over circ.u.mstance and all the dark powers which beleaguer man without a parallel likewise.
Take, as an example, the figure which you know best-the figure of Antigone herself-devoting herself to be entombed alone, for the sake of love and duty. Love of a brother, which she can only prove, alas! by burying his corpse. Duty to the dead, an instinct depending on no written law, but springing out of the very depths of those blind and yet sacred monitions which prove that the true man is not an animal, but a spirit; fulfilling her holy purpose, unchecked by fear, unswayed by her sisters" entreaties. Hardening her heart magnificently till her fate is sealed; and then after proving her G.o.dlike courage, proving the tenderness of her womanhood by that melodious wail over her own untimely death and the loss of marriage joys, which some of you must know from the music of Mendelssohn, and which the late Dean Milman has put into English thus-
Come, fellow-citizens, and see The desolate Antigone.