THEATRE OF THE GREEKS.

Evening Star, Issue 7361, 5 November 1887, Page 2 (Supplement)

THEATRE OF THE GREEKS.

(Given before the Institute of Otago, October 14, 1887.)

[By Rev. Henry Belcher, LL.D., Rector of Boys' High School, Otago.]

(Concluded.)

In a well-known passage (II: xiii., 685) Homer speaks of the lonians with their trailing robes, and it seems traditional with tho Athenians to have worn a flowing garb. So Thucydides (L, C) remarks: "It is not long since the older men of the better class wore linen robes, and fastened back their hair in a knot with golden clasps like grasshoppers, and the same customs long prevailed among the older lonian men. . . . On the other hand, the plain dress now so common was first worn at Sparta." When the change may have taken place in favor of the shorter and more handy Dorian garb, I am not aware that there is any means of determining ; but it is clear that in the days of /Esjchylus the old-fashioned gentlemen wore clothes of, Oriental amplitude, and that as fashions changed such robes were retained for the use of the stage and of the ministers of the national religion. It is mentioned in so many words (Eustathius ad II: loc: cit:), as a matter of common knowledge, that down to the ago of Pericles this vestige of antiquated gentility was still in evidence in Athenian streets, just as a few years ago might have been seen in a quiet English town some venerable gentleman in the blue coat, brass buttons, frill and gaiters of Pickwick's times (1837). Under the pressure of the military revival of 431 (8.C.) the scantier, smarter, and more serviceable costume of the Southern men may have displaced from the usage of ordinary life these robes of peace. The exact date, however, is unimportant; the noticeable fact being that the change took place. I gather, therefore, that from this period forward the stage cos- | tume, like that of the hierophants, is purely ! conventional. We are to regard the tragic garment, then, a3 being singularly splendid, and embroidered in the Greek stitch. There is mentioned a special robe adorned with conventional devices of flowers, fruit, and animals, very much similar to the opus Anglicanum, for which English ladies used to be so famous. Since the decline of this once famous English work, owing to the decadence of English taste subsequent to the Reformation, there has been nothing to afford immediate comparison so readily as the Japanese work with which many persons are very familiar. This work is distinctly ! poikilic in character, highly conventional in device, and very splendid in broad effects. : As a most successful attempt to present Japanese court dresses and the old English work in costume is still recent, I am inclined to think that those who have seen Princess Ida and the Mikado presented handsomely have little to learn in the way of comprehending the general effect of the ancient tragic dress. The shape and set of the robe were stereotyped. Whether a man was acting the part of Medea, or of Jason, there is, however, a considerable variety of color, which was utilised to indicate different sorts and conditions of life. Medea, the Princess, enters the scene, clad in a dress of thick white stuff, embroidered in colors with figures; Tecmessa, the spoil of Ajax's bow and spear, appears in deep purple; Hecuba, the bereaved and enslaved mother, is robed either in black, or soft grey, apple green, or quince yellow; Eurydice the Queen in a fine white robe, edged with broad purple. Dionysus is always dressed in saffron yellow, while of other colors may be noticed that called batrachis, the green tint of the small frog found in the meres of Attica; and a color of extreme delicacy, the hue belonging to fine oil.

I believe the materials to have been of Milesian wool (velhra Milesia), byssus, and silk. Of byssus not much is clearly known or understood; nor is it necessary, in this context, to raise the questions involved. The silken garments expressly mentioned by Herodotus as gifts of honor may have been imported. They were ruinously expensive, but the mounting of a Greek play seems to have been a very costly matter, if we are to attach any importance to a saying of Ari'stophanep (Schol: in Av : 100). The preceding remarks apply only to the garment which flows from throat to ankle, and trails on the marble floor of the stage. Over this robe there is a drapery dependent from one shoulder, and fastened by a clasp or brooch. Its texture was fine, perhaps transparently fine, while the brooch is large and furnished with heavy clasps. It plays a ghastly part in tragedy: Polymegtor is blinded by Hecuba, blinds him. self with this implement. With regard to the dresses and draperies belonging to comedy, vase-paintings tell us so much that it is beyond the scope of these remarks to expatiate on this topic. It would, in fact, involve us in a general investigation of the whole question of Hellenic costume. Conventionalities are confined to the tragic stage. The slaves, working men, agriculturists, street merchants, and policemen of Aristophanes were dreßsed for the stage in much the same garb as the actual personages would have been dressed for the street. Consequently the subject presents no features essential to a consideration of the drama, however interesting in connection with a general review of Hellenic life and manners.

The tragio buskin has been so often referred to in the course of our own English literature that it requires some special notice. From a well-known passage in the Hellenics we arrive at a clear notion of the size of this magistral shoe. Theramenes, a notorious trimmer in the stirring times of Athenian politics, contemporaneous with the termination of the Peloponnesian War, is called by his enemies " the Stage Shoe," because he fits himself to either political side. As the passage would be meaningless if the buskin had not been made large and shapeless enough to fit either foot, we get at a clear proof of the liberal dimensions of this famed article of dress. la Herodotus, vi., 125, there is a passage bearing on the question, which shows clearly that the buskin was a name applied to a high widetopped boot, such as was worn by men generally in the seventeenth century in Europe. Crflesus made Alcmaeon a present of' as: much gold as he should be able to carry at one time about his person. " Finding that this was the gift assigned to him, Alcmaeon took his measures and prepared himself to receive it in the following way. He clothed himself in a loose tunic, which he made to bag greatly at the waist, and, placing upon his feet the widest buskins that he could anywhere find, followed his guides into the treasure-house. Here he fell to upon a heap of gold dust, and in the first place packed as much as he could inside his buskins, between them and his legs, after which he filled the breast of his tuuic quite full of gold, and then, sprinkling some among his hair, taking some likewise in his mouth, he came forth from the treasure-house, scarcely able to drag his legq, along—like anything rather than a 'man, with his mouth crammed full and his bulk increased every way. On seeing him Croesus burst into a laugh." As a bigboot witha thick sole is very useful in muddy streets, and as in times past streets and roads have for the most part been either muddy or dusty, I am of opinion i that buskin is a genuine name for any big, thick-soled boot. If we are to accept the evidence of the Pio-Clementine Mosaic, the buskin sole becomes a kind of stilt; and, as Luciaa mentions that catastrophes on the stage of a ludicrous kind were not uncommon, the pictures of the Mosaic may be taken as a sufficiently accurate device of the facts. There is, however, no reason to suppose that such enhancements of stature were necessary or could be convenient in every case. Indeed, little reflection is required to show that the Hellenic actor, fully arrayed for the tragic boards and filling a grand rfile, must have been condemned to relative immobility. With his mask and wig and coronet; puffed out here, padded there ; with his gloves of State, his trailing costly robes, and his stilted shoes the actor was compelled to retain a constrained, almost statuesque, position. His movements, few and slow; his gestures, grave; his voice, sustained to one pitoh—he presented the appearance of a gigantio effigy, who was also, like Memnon in Egypt, occasionally vocal. Hence, with the exception of the great heroes and divinties, whose size was magnified in keeping with the dignity of the character represented, few

actors appeared arrayed in the grand style. It is certain that neither the chorus nor any executant of choice metres could have performed in an apparel of puffa and stilts, and such like gear. lam inclined, therefore, to limit the application of the preceding remarks to leading parts and title rules. I may conclude these remarks by drawing attention to the obvious contrast between the ancient and modern stage with regard to such matters as have already been mentioned. A line of great length defines the front of the ancient stage; the depth is small, and by perspective rendered visually small. Along this line are ranged at even distances gorgeously attired figures of commanding stature; behind them rises a wall of dazzling whiteness, broken in the elevation by a few doors in conventional positions; above is a sky of unvarying brilliancy and splendor. The whole effect is that of a frieze, in which the human ngures occasionally move and form shifting patches of bright color against a glistening background. Voioes slightly inaeoting, and sustained from time to time by a pipe, speak continuous iambics; it is noticed that the words come now from this figure, now from that, in stately dialogue; but it is also observed that the number of persons actually engaged in the development of the drama is never at any time more than three. The time is broad morning, and a flood of sunlight, with an eastern slant in it still visible, is pouring down into auditorium and sceue. The whole effect suggests that Hellenic eye is but dimly sensible bt perspective, and sees no incongruity in this grouping of actors in one plane. To accentuate the contrast, let us consider the very great depth of the modern stage and its restricted front line, the crowd of actors, the dialogue tossed between six or seven persons, the rapid movements, the acceleration of feeling in every channel, the by-play, the absence of poetic rhythm in the utterances, the artificial light, the enclosed building, the late evening hour, and the presence o.f women in preponderating numbers.

Perhaps the sentiments of Hellene and Englishman with regard to the drama may be fitly summed up, and contrasted by the reflection that while there are still many men and women who, with regard to theatres, think it wrong to go, the Greek was certain that it was wrong to stay away.