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In the drama of Thespis we find the satyric drama confounded with tragedy, and the persons of the chorus frequently representing satyrs. The dances of the chorus were still a principal part of the performance; the ancient tragedians, in general, were teachers of dancing, as well as poets and musicians.
We must not, then, suppose, misled by the vulgar accounts of the Athenian drama, that the contest for the goat, and the buffooneries of Thespis, were its real origin; born of the epic and the lyric song, Homer gave it character, and the lyrists language. Thespis and his predecessors only suggested the form to which the new-born poetry should be applied.
Generally speaking, we are not warranted in ascribing the more elevated views of religion entertained by the best minds to the mass of the people. The custom followed of mingling speeches and dramatic action with these lyrics. Thespis is said to have brought in the stage for the performers. The Greek theaters were large, open to the sky, and sometimes on sites which commanded fine views.
The world hath been often compared to the theatre; and many grave writers, as well as the poets, have considered human life as a great drama, resembling, in almost every particular, those scenical representations which Thespis is first reported to have invented, and which have been since received with so much approbation and delight in all polite countries.
There are some rather good stories told of his attachment to the Temple of Thespis, of which, while in Edinburgh, he had always been a regular attender.
The receipts of the previous evening for there had been some money taken in, as well as plentiful stores of edibles added to Bellombre's pistoles, made a good round sum, and the chariot of Thespis, so deplorably bare of late, was now amply provisioned.
They would err greatly, who should regulate their ideas of this dramatic exhibition upon those derived from a modern theatre; for the rude shows of Thespis were far less different from those exhibited by Euripides on the stage of Athens, with all its magnificent decorations and pomp of dresses and of scenery.
Thespis The Progress of Tragedy and Comedy Aeschylus The Epopée Homer Sophocles Euripides Grecian Mimes The First Athenian Theatre Scenery and Effects. All that the actors repeated between the songs of the chorus was called an episode, or additional part, consisting often of different adventures, which had no connexion with each other.
Greece stood in need of the chariot of Thespis, France stands in need of the hackney-coach of Vade. Everything can be parodied, even parody.
Awed by the Furies' chorus dread, Murder draws down upon its head The doom of death from their wild sound. Long e'er the wise to give a verdict dared, An Iliad had fate's mysteries declared To early ages from afar; While Providence in silence fared Into the world from Thespis' car.
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