66 who had reputation in the old Comedy, Eupolis*, Cratinust, and Aristophanes, of whom he says, "That they, and others who wrote in the same way, re"prehended the faults of particular persons with ex"cessive liberty." These are probably the poets of the greatest reputation, though they were not the first, and we know the names of many others. Among these three we may be sure that Aristophanes had the greatest character, since not only the king of Persia || expressed a high esteem of him to the Grecian ambassadors, as of a man extremely useful to his country, and Plato § rated him so high, as to say, that the graces resided in his bosom; but likewise because he is the only writer of whom any comedies have made their way down to us, through the confusion of times. There are not indeed any proofs that he was the inventor of comedy, properly so called, especially since he had not only predecessors who wrote in the same kind, but it is at least a sign, that he had contributed more than any other to bring comedy to * Eupolis was an Athenian; his death, which we shall mention presently, is represented differently by authors, who almost all agree that he was drowned. Elian adds an incident which deserves to be mentioned: he says (book x. Of Animals), that one Augeas of Eleusis, made Eupolis a present of a fine mastiff, who was so faithful to his master as to worry to death a slave who was carrying away some of his comedies. He adds, that when the poet died at Egene, his dog staid by his tomb till he perished by grief and hunger. + Cratinus of Athens, who was son of Callimedes, died at the age of 97. He composed 20 comedies, of which 9 had the prize: he was a daring writer, but a cowardly warrior. Hertelius has collected the sentences of 50 Greek poets of the different ages of comedy. ||Interlude of the second act of the comedy, intitled The Acharniens. § Epigram attributed to Plato. the perfection in which he left it. We shall, therefore, not inquire farther, whether regular comedy was the work of a single mind, which seems yet to be unsettled, or of several contemporaries, such as these which Horace quotes. We must distinguish three forms which comedy wore, in consequence of the genius of the writers, or of the laws of the magistrates, and the change of the government of many into that of few. The Old, Middle, and New Comedy. That comedy, which Horace calls the ancient, and which, according to his account, was after Eschylus, retained something of its original state, and of the licentiousness which it practised, while it was yet without regularity, and uttered loose jokes and abuse upon the passers-by from the cart of Thespis. Though it was now properly modelled, as might have been worthy of a great theatre and a numerous audience, and deserved the name of a regular comedy, it was not yet much nearer to decency. It was a representation of real actions, and exhibited the dress, the motions, and the air, as far as could be done in a mask, of any one who was thought proper to be sacrificed to public scorn. In a city so free, or to say better, so licentious as Athens was at that time, nobody was spared, not even the chief magistrate, nor the very judges, by whose voice comedies were allowed or prohibited. The insolence of those performances reached to open impiety, and sport was made equally with men * This history of the three ages of comedy, and their different characters, is taken in part from the valuable fragments of Platonius. and gods*. These are the features by which the greatest part of the compositions of Aristophanes will be known. In which it may be particularly observed, that not the least appearance of praise will be found, and therefore certainly no trace of flattery or servility. T This licentiousness of the poets, to which in some sort Socrates fell a sacrifice, at last was restrained by* a law. For the government, which was before shared by all the inhabitants, was now confined to a settled number of citizens. It was ordered, that no man's name should be mentioned on the stage; but poetical malignity was not long in finding the secret of defeating the purpose of the law, and of making themselves ample compensation for the restraint laid upon authors, by the necessity of inventing false names. They set themselves to work upon known and real characters, so that they had now the advantage of giving a more exquisite gratification to the vanity of poets, and the malice of spectators. One had the refined pleasure of setting others to guess, and the other that of guessing right by naming the masks. When pictures are so like, that the name is not wanted, nobody inscribes it. The consequence of the law, therefore, was nothing more than to make that done with delicacy, which was done grossly before; and the art, which it was expected would be confined within the limits of duty, was only partly transgressed with more ingenuity. Of this Aristophanes, who was comprehended in this law, gives us good examples in some ' of his poems. Such was that which was afterwards called the middle comedy. It will be shewn how and in what sense this was allowed. The new comedy, or that which followed, was again an excellent refinement, prescribed by the magistrates, who, as they had before forbid the use of real names, forbad afterwards real subjects, and the train of choruses too much given to abuse: so that the poets saw themselves reduced to the necessity of bringing imaginary names and subjects upon the stage, which at once purified and enriched the theatre; for comedy from that time was no longer a fury armed with torches, but a pleasing and innocent mirror of human life. Chacun peint avec art dans ce nouveau miroir The comedy of Menander and Terence is, in propriety of speech, the fine comedy. I do not repeat all this after so many writers but just to recal it to memory, and to add to what they have said something which they have omitted, a singular effect of public edicts appearing in the successive progress of the art. A naked history of poets and of poetry, such as has been often given, is a mere body without soul, unless it be enlivened with an account of the birth, progress, and perfection of the art, and of the causes by which they were produced. *Perhaps the chorus was forbid in the middle age of the comedy. Platonius seems to say so. + Despreaux, Art, Poet, chant. 8. The Latin Comedy. VI. To omit nothing essential which concerns this part, we shall say a word of the Latin Comedy. When the arts passed from Greece to Rome, comedy took its turn among the rest: but the Romans applied themselves only to the new species, without chorus or personal abuse; though perhaps they might have played some translations of the old or the middle comedy, for Pliny gives an account of one which was represented in his own time. But the Roman comedy, which was modelled upon the last species of the Greek, hath nevertheless its different ages, according as its authors were rough or polished. The pieces of Livius Andronicus*, more ancient and less refined than those of the writers who learned the art from him, may be said to compose the first age, or the old Roman comedy and tragedy. To him you must join Nevius his contemporary, and Ennius, who lived some years after him. The second age comprises Pacuvius, Cecilius, Accius, and Plautus, unless it shall be thought better to, reckon Plautus with Terence, to make the third and highest age of the Latin comedy, which may properly be called the new comedy, especially with regard to Terence, who was the friend of Lelius, and the faithful copier of Menander. But the Romans, without troubling themselves with this order of succession, distinguished their comedies by the dresses† of the players. The robe, called prætexta, with large borders of purple, being the formal dress of magistrates in their dignity, and in the * The year of Rome 514, the first year of the 135th Olympiad. + Prætexte, Togata, Tabernaria. 1 |