tragedies, before the chorus came on. His connexion with the rhapsode is also a reason for the narrative character of the speeches and dialogues, and for the general absence of the abrupt and vehement conversations which are so common in our own plays. The great size of the theatre' gave occasion to another remarkable difference between their exhibitions and ours. Every one of the actors wore the thick-soled hunting-boot (kólopvos, apßúλn'); this gave additional height to his person, while his body and limbs were also stuffed and padded to a corresponding size, and his head was surmounted by a colossal mask suited to the character which he bore.

This mask, probably suggested by the oscilla or heads of Bacchus (fig. 2) suspended in the vineyards, was made of bronze or copper, and so constructed as to give greater power to the voice, and enable the actor to make himself heard by the most distant spectators. This was effected by connecting it with a

periwig (nvíkn, peváкn'), which covered the head, and left only one passage for the voice, which was generally circular (the os rotundum), so that the voice might be said to sound through it-hence the Latin name for a mask, persona a personando. The greatest possible care was bestowed upon the manufacture of masks, and there was a dif

8 The Supplices and Persæ of Eschylus, which are the only two plays that begin with an anapastic march, were not the first plays of the Trilogies to which they belonged.

9 See Dr. Wordsworth's remarks, " Athens and Attica," p. 92.

See Rich, Companion to the Dictionary and Lexicon, s. vv. cothurnus; pero. The thickness of the sole is shown in the choragic monument (above, fig. 1), and the ornamented upper leather in the Bacchanalian costume (below, fig. 7).

2 Hence pevaristu "to deceive." See Hemsterhuis on Julius Pollux, x. § 170. 3 Gabius Bassus, apud Aul. Gell. v. 7. Barth derives the word from Tepi owμa, Voss from πρόσωπον, Döderlein from παρασαίνω, Mr. Talbot from Persephone, and an English theologian from περιζώνιον !

ferent kind for almost every character. Julius Pollux divides the Tragic masks alone into twenty-six classes; the Comic masks were much more numerous. He specifies only four or five kinds of Satyric masks. We subjoin some specimens from the British museum.

Most of the male wigs were collected into a foretop (oуkos), which was an angular projection above the forehead, shaped like a A', and was probably suggested by the Kowẞúλov of the old Athenians. The female masks, however, were often surmounted in a similar manner".

4 iv. § 133, seqq.

5 ὄγκος δέ ἐστι τὸ ὑπὲρ τὸ πρόσωπον ἀνέχον εἰς ὕψος, λαβδοειδεῖ τῷ σχήματι.

Jul. Poll. iv. § 133.

6 Thucyd. i. c. 6.

7 See the female mask in the British Museum, third room, No. 25* (Fig. 6).

The male mask in the British Museum (Fig. 5) has a foretop nearly as high as all the rest of the mask. It appears from Pollux that the masks were coloured'; and the art of enamelling or painting bronze seems to have been one of great esteem in the time of Æschylus'. It has been already remarked that the dress of the tragic actors was derived from the gay festal costume of the worshippers of Bacchus, of which an example is here given.

The performers wore "long striped garments reaching to the ground (χιτῶνες ποδήρεις, στολαί), over which were thrown upper robes (ἱμάτια, χλαμύδες) of purple or some other brilliant colour, with all sorts of gay trimmings and gold ornaments, the ordinary dress of Bacchic festal processions and choral dances. Nor was the Hercules of the stage represented as the sturdy athletic hero whose huge limbs were only concealed by a lion's hide; he appeared in the rich and gaudy dress we have described, to which his distinctive attributes, the club and the bow, were merely added'." The dress of the chorus was not

8 J. Pollux, iv. § 141.

See Eschyl. Agam. 623, and Welcker's admirable explanation, Nachtrag, p. 42, note.

1 Müller, Hist. Lit. Gr. I. p. 296. For the details and minutiae of the Geeek theatrical costume, we must refer the reader to Müller's Eumeniden, § 32, to Schön

different in kind from that of the actors, and the choragus took care that it was equally splendid. But as the actors represented heroic characters, whereas the chorus was merely a deputation from the people at large, and in fact stood much nearer to the audience, the mask was omitted, and while the actors wore the cothurnus, the chorus appeared in their usual sandals. The comic actors for the same reason were content with the soccus or thin-soled buskin (Fig. 8), and their mask had no oykos.

They often wore harlequinade dresses, with trowsers fitting close to the leg, and with protuberances and indecent appendages, indicating clearly enough the phallic origin of Greek Comedy'. The choruses of Aristophanes were arrayed in

(De Personarum in Euripidis Baccha bus Habitu scenico Commentatio, Lips. 1831), and to Millin's Description of the Pio-Clementine Mosaic. The figure in the text (fig. 7), which is taken from Filippo Buonarroti, Osservazioni sopra alcuni Medaglioni antichi, p. 427, foll. represents the state-dress of a follower of Bacchus, which contained all the main elements of the tragic costume. On the different styles of dress adopted by the different characters, see Jul. Pollux, iv. 18, and for examples, compare the Introduction to the Antigone, p. xxxii. seqq.

2 See Müller, Denkmäler d. alt. Kunst, II. i. 49. The most accessible specimen of the old comic costume is furnished by the puppet "Punch." It has not been

fantastic costumes more or less expressive of the allegorical caricature which they represented. Thus the "Birds" had masks with huge open beaks; and the "Wasps" flitted about the orchestra protruding enormous stings. A very beautiful mosaic found at Pompeii

introduces us to one of the parascenia or green-rooms of an ancient theatre, at the moment when the comedian is giving the last instructions to his actors before the commencement of the piece. Seated on a chair, he is addressing an actor, who is about to appear as Davus or Sosia in a new Comedy, and is showing him how to manage his hands. This performer has raised his mask that he may the better observe his teacher. Another actor, who, from the mask on the pedestal near him, is destined to be the Simo or Chremes of the play, has received his last instructions, and is putting on a thick shaggy tunic, part of his dress as an old man. The third actor, who will probably receive one of the masks for Pamphilus or Charinus, which are lying on the stool at the author's feet,

noticed that his name, as well as his form may be traced to a classical origin. "Punch" and "Punchinello" are corruptions of the Italian Pulcino and Pulcinello, which are representatives of the contemptuous diminutive pulchellus. This epithet may be applied to little figures (Cic. Fam. vii. 23), and our own phrase "pretty Poll," addressed to the parrot, may show how easily such a Tokóρioμа may be suggested by the pleasure which results from petty imitations. In the same way, the Greeks called the ape raλós, or kaλλíaç (Böckh ad Pind. P. II. v. 72), and it is not improbable that the same or a similar epithet was given to the masked and padded actors in the pantomimic shows of ancient Greece and Italy.

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