1. LYCINUS Well, Crato, this is a truly forceful indictment that you have brought, after long preparation, I take it, against dances and the dancer’s art itself, and besides against us who like to see that sort of show, accusing us of displaying great interest in something unworthy and effeminate; but now let me tell you how far you have missed the mark and how blind you have been to the fact that you were indicting the greatest of all the good things in life. For that I can excuse you if, having been wedded to a rude creed from the first and considering only what is hard to be good, through unacquaintance with it all you have thought that it deserved indicting.
1. Λυκῖνος: ἐπεὶ τοίνυν, ὦ Κράτων, δεινήν τινα ταύτην κατηγορίαν ἐκ πολλοῦ, οἶμαι, παρεσκευασμένος κατηγόρηκας ὀρχήσεών τε καὶ αὐτῆς ὀρχηστικῆς, καὶ προσέτι ἡμῶν γε τῶν χαιρόντων τῇ τοιαύτῃ θέᾳ ὡς ἐπὶ φαύλῳ καὶ γυναικείῳ πράγματι μεγάλην σπουδὴν ποιουμένων, ἄκουσον ὅσον τοῦ ὀρθοῦ διημάρτηκας καὶ ὡς λέληθας σεαυτὸν τοῦ μεγίστου τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ ἀγαθῶν κατηγορῶν. καὶ συγγνώμη σοι εἰ ἐξ ἀρχῆς βίῳ αὐχμηρῷ συζῶν καὶ μόνον τὸ σκληρὸν ἀγαθὸν ἡγούμενος ὑπʼ ἀπειρίας αὐτῶν κατηγορίας ἄξια εἶναι νενόμικας.
2. CRATO Who that is a man at all, a life-long friend of letters, moreover, and moderately conversant with philosophy, abandons his interest, Lycinus, in all that is better and his association with the ancients to sit enthralled by the flute, watching a girlish fellow play the wanton with dainty clothing and bawdy songs and imitate love-sick minxes, the most erotic of all antiquity, such as Phaedra and Parthenope and Rhodope, every bit of this, moreover, accompanied by strumming and tootling and tapping of feet?? —a ridiculous business in all truth, which does not in the least become a freeborn gentleman of your sort. So for my part, when I learned that you give your time to such spectacles, I was not only ashamed on your account but sorely distressed that you should sit there oblivious of Plato and Chrysippus and Aristotle, getting treated like people who have themselves tickled in the ear with a feather, and that too when there are countless other things to hear and see that are worth while, if one wants them—flute-players who accompany cyclic choruses, singers of conventional compositions for the lyre, and in especial, grand tragedy and comedy, the gayest of the gay; all these have even been held worthy to figure in competitions.
2. Κράτων: ἀνὴρ δὲ τίς ὢν ὅλως, καὶ ταῦτα παιδείᾳ σύντροφος καὶ φιλοσοφίᾳ τὰ μέτρια ὡμιληκώς, ἀφέμενος, ὦ Λυκῖνε, τοῦ περὶ τὰ βελτίω σπουδάζειν καὶ τοῖς παλαιοῖς συνεῖναι κάθηται καταυλούμενος, θηλυδρίαν ἄνθρωπον ὁρῶν ἐσθῆσι μαλακαῖς καὶ ᾄσμασιν ἀκολάστοις ἐναβρυνόμενον καὶ μιμούμενον ἐρωτικὰ γύναια, τῶν πάλαι τὰς μαχλοτάτας, Φαίδρας καὶ Παρθενόπας καὶ Ῥοδόπας τινάς, καὶ ταῦτα πάντα ὑπὸ κρούμασιν καὶ τερετίσμασι καὶ ποδῶν κτύπῳ, καταγέλαστα ὡς ἀληθῶς πράγματα καὶ ἥκιστα ἐλευθέρῳ ἀνδρὶ καὶ οἵῳ σοὶ πρέποντα; ὥστε ἔγωγε πυθόμενος ὡς ἐπὶ τοιαύτῃ θέᾳ σχολάζοις, οὐκ ᾐδέσθην μόνον ὑπὲρ σοῦ ἀλλὰ καὶ ἠνιάθην εἰ Πλάτωνος καὶ Χρυσίππου καὶ Ἀριστοτέλους ἐκλαθόμενος κάθησαι τὸ ὅμοιον πεπονθὼς τοῖς τὰ ὦτα πτερῷ κνωμένοις, καὶ ταῦτα μυρίων ἄλλων ὄντων ἀκουσμάτων καὶ θεαμάτων σπουδαίων, εἰ τούτων τις δέοιτο, τῶν κυκλίων αὐλητῶν καὶ τῶν κιθάρᾳ τὰ ἔννομα προσᾳδόντων, καὶ μάλιστα τῆς σεμνῆς τραγῳδίας καὶ τῆς φαιδροτάτης κωμῳδίας, ἅπερ καὶ ἐναγώνια εἶναι ἠξίωται.
3. “You will need, therefore, to do a great deal of pleading in your own defence, my fine fellow, when you confront the enlightened, if you wish to avoid being eliminated absolutely and expelled from the fold of the serious-minded. And yet the better course for you, I suppose, is to mend the whole matter b pleading not guilty and not admitting at all that you have committed any such misdemeanour. Anyhow, keep an eye to the future and see to it that you do not surprise us by changing from the man that you were of old to a Lyde or a Bacche. That would be a reproach not only to you but to us, unless, follow- ing the example of Odysseus, we can pull you away from your lotus and fetch you back to your wonted pursuits before you unwittingly fall quite under the spell of these Sirens in the theatre. But those other Sirens assailed only the ears, so that wax alone was needed for sailing past them; you, however, seem to have been subjugated from top to toe, through the eyes as well as the ears.
3. Κράτων: πολλῆς οὖν, ὦ γενναῖε, τῆς ἀπολογίας σοι δεήσει πρὸς τοὺς πεπαιδευμένους, εἰ βούλει μὴ παντάπασιν ἐκκεκρίσθαι καὶ τῆς τῶν σπουδαίων ἀγέλης ἐξεληλάσθαι. καίτοι τό γε ἄμεινον ἐκεῖνό ἐστιν, οἶμαι, ἀρνήσει τὸ πᾶν ἰάσασθαι καὶ μηδὲ τὴν ἀρχὴν ὁμολογεῖν τι τοιοῦτον παρανενομῆσθαί σοι. πρὸς δʼ οὖν τοὐπιὸν ὅρα ὅπως μὴ λάθῃς ἡμῖν ἐξ ἀνδρὸς τοῦ πάλαι Λυδή τις ἢ Βάκχη γενόμενος, ὅπερ οὐ σὸν ἂν ἔγκλημα εἴη μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἡμῶν, εἰ μή σε κατὰ τὸν Ὀδυσσέα τοῦ λωτοῦ ἀποσπάσαντες ἐπὶ τὰς συνήθεις διατριβὰς ἐπανάξομεν πρὶν λάθῃς τελέως ὑπὸ τῶν ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ Σειρήνων κατεσχημένος. καίτοι ἐκεῖναι μὲν τοῖς ὠσὶν μόνοις ἐπεβούλευον καὶ διὰ τοῦτο κηροῦ ἐδέησεν πρὸς τὸν παράπλουν αὐτῶν· σὺ δὲ καὶ διʼ ὀφθαλμῶν ἔοικας ὅλος δεδουλῶσθαι.
4. LYCINUS Heavens, Crato, what sharp teeth there are in this dog of yours that you have let loose on us! But as for your parallel, the simile of the Lotus-Eaters and the Sirens, it seems to me quite unlike what I have been through, since in the case of those who tasted the lotus and heard the Sirens, death was the penalty for their eating and listening, while in my case not only is the pleasure more exquisite by a great deal but the outcome is happy; I am not altered into forgetfulness of things at home or ignorance of my own concerns, but—if I may speak my mind without any hesitancy—I have come back to you from the theatre with far more wisdom and more insight into life. Or rather, I may well put it just as Homer does: he who has seen this spectacleGoes on his way diverted and knowing more than aforetime.CRATO Heracles, Lycinus! How deeply you have been affected! You are not even ashamed of it all but actually seem proud. In fact, that is the worst part of it: you do not show us any hope of a cure when you dare to praise what is so shameful and abominable.
4. Λυκῖνος: παπαῖ, ὦ Κράτων, ὡς κάρχαρόν τινα ἔλυσας ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς τὸν σαυτοῦ κύνα. πλὴν τό γε παράδειγμα„ τὴν τῶν Λωτοφάγων καὶ Σειρήνων εἰκόνα, πάνυ ἀνομοιοτάτην μοι δοκεῖς εἰρηκέναι ὧν πέπονθα, παρʼ ὅσον τοῖς μὲν τοῦ λωτοῦ γευσαμένοις καὶ τῶν Σειρήνων ἀκούσασιν ὄλεθρος ἦν τῆς τε ἐδωδῆς καὶ τῆς ἀκροάσεως τοὐπιτίμιον, ἐμοὶ δὲ πρὸς τῷ τὴν ἡδονὴν παρὰ πολὺ ἡδίω πεφυκέναι καὶ τὸ τέλος ἀγαθὸν ἀποβέβηκεν· οὐ γὰρ εἰς λήθην τῶν οἴκοι οὐδʼ εἰς ἀγνωσίαν τῶν κατʼ ἐμαυτὸν περιίσταμαι, ἀλλʼ εἰ χρὴ μηδὲν ὀκνήσαντα εἰπεῖν, μακρῷ πινυτώτερος καὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ βίῳ διορατικώτερος ἐκ τοῦ θεάτρου σοι ἐπανελήλυθα. μᾶλλον δέ, τὸ τοῦ Ὁμήρου αὐτὸ εἰπεῖν καλόν, ὅτι ὁ τοῦτο ἰδὼν τὸ θέαμα τερψάμενος νεῖται καὶ πλείονα εἰδώς. Κράτων: Ἡράκλεις, ὦ Λυκῖνε, οἷα πέπονθας, ὃς οὐδʼ αἰσχύνῃ ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς, ἀλλὰ καὶ σεμνυνομένῳ ἔοικας. τὸ γοῦν δεινότατον τοῦτό ἐστιν, ὅτι μηδὲ ἰάσεώς τινα ἡμῖν ὑποφαίνεις ἐλπίδα, ἐπαινεῖν τολμῶν τὰ οὕτως αἰσχρὰ καὶ κατάπτυστα.
5. LYCINUS Tell me, Crato, do you pass this censure upon dancing and what goes on in the theatre after having seen it often yourself, or is it that without being acquainted with the spectacle, you nevertheless account it shameful and abominable, as you put it? If you have seen it, you have put yourself on the same footing with us; if not, take care that your censure does not seem unreasonable and overbold when you denounce things of which you know nothing. CRATO Why, is that what was still in store for me—with beard so long and hair so grey, to sit in the midst of a parcel of hussies and a frantic audience like that, clapping my hands, moreover, and shouting very unbecoming words of praise to a noxious fellow who doubles himself up for no useful purpose? LYCINUS This talk is excusable in your case, Crato. But if you would only take my word for it and just for the experiment’s sake submit, with your eyes wide open, T know very well that you could not endure not to get ahead of everyone else in taking up an advantageously placed seat from which you could see well and hear everything. CRATO May I never reach ripeness of years if I ever endure anything of the kind, as long as my legs are hairy and my beard unplucked! At present I quite pity you; to the dismay of the rest of us, you have become absolutely infatuated!
5. Λυκῖνος: εἰπέ μοι, ὦ Κράτων, ταυτὶ δὲ περὶ ὀρχήσεως καὶ τῶν ἐν τῷ θεάτρῳ γινομένων ἰδὼν πολλάκις αὐτὸς ἐπιτιμᾷς, ἢ ἀπείρατος ὢν τοῦ θεάματος ὅμως αἰσχρὸν αὐτὸ καὶ κατάπτυστον, ὡς φής, νομίζεις; εἰ μὲν γὰρ εἶδες, ἐξ ἴσου ἡμῖν καὶ σὺ γεγένησαι· εἰ δὲ μή, ὅρα μὴ ἄλογος ἡ ἐπιτίμησις εἶναί σου δόξῃ καὶ θρασεῖα, κατηγοροῦντος ὧν ἀγνοεῖς. Κράτων: ἔτι γὰρ τοῦτό μοι τὸ λοιπὸν ἦν, ἐν βαθεῖ τούτῳ τῷ πώγωνι καὶ πολιᾷ τῇ κόμῃ καθῆσθαι μέσον ἐν τοῖς γυναίοις καὶ τοῖς μεμηνόσιν ἐκείνοις θεαταῖς, κροτοῦντά τε προσέτι καὶ ἐπαίνους ἀπρεπεστάτους ἐπιβοῶντα ὀλέθρῳ τινὶ ἀνθρώπῳ ἐς οὐδὲν δέον κατακλωμένῳ. Λυκῖνος: συγγνωστά σου ταῦτα, ὦ Κράτων. εἰ δέ μοι πεισθείης ποτὲ καὶ ὅσον πείρας ἕνεκα παράσχοις σεαυτὸν ἀναπετάσας τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς, εὖ οἶδα ὡς οὐκ ἀνάσχοιο ἂν μὴ οὐχὶ πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων θέαν ἐν ἐπιτηδείῳ καταλαμβάνων ὅθεν καὶ ὄψει ἀκριβῶς καὶ ἀκούσῃ ἅπαντα. Κράτων: μὴ ὥρας ἄρα ἱκοίμην, εἴ τι τοιοῦτον ἀνασχοίμην ποτέ, ἔστʼ ἂν δασύς τε εἴην τὰ σκέλη καὶ τὸ γένειον ἀπαράτιλτος· ὡς νῦν γε καὶ σὲ ἤδη ἐλεῶ τελέως ἡμῖν ἐκβεβακχευμένον.
6. LYCINUS Then are you willing to leave off your abuse, my friend, and hear me say something about dancing and about its good points, showing that it brings not only pleasure but benefit to those who see it; how much culture and instruction it gives; how it imports harmony into the souls of its beholders, exercising them in what is fair to see, entertaining them with what is good to hear, and displaying to them joint beauty of soul and body? That it does all this with the aid of music and rhythm would not be reason to blame, but rather to praise it. CRATO I have little leisure to hear a madman praise his own ailment, but if you want to flood me with nonsense, I am ready to submit to it as a friendly service and lend you my ears, for even without wax I can avoid hearing rubbish. So now I will hold my peace for you, and you may say all that you wish as if nobody at all were listening.
6. Λυκῖνος: βούλει οὖν ἀφέμενος, ὦ ἑταῖρε, τῶν βλασφημιῶν τούτων ἀκοῦσαί μού τι περὶ ὀρχήσεως λέγοντος καὶ τῶν ἐν αὐτῇ καλῶν, καὶ ὡς οὐ τερπνὴ μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ὠφέλιμός ἐστιν τοῖς θεωμένοις, καὶ ὅσα παιδεύει καὶ ὅσα διδάσκει, καὶ ὡς ῥυθμίζει τῶν ὁρώντων τὰς ψυχάς, καλλίστοις θεάμασιν ἐγγυμνάζουσα καὶ ἀρίστοις ἀκούσμασιν ἐνδιατρίβουσα καὶ κοινόν τι ψυχῆς καὶ σώματος κάλλος ἐπιδεικνυμένη; τὸ γὰρ καὶ μετὰ μουσικῆς καὶ ῥυθμοῦ ταῦτα πάντα ποιεῖν οὐ ψόγος ἂν αὐτῆς ἀλλʼ ἔπαινος μᾶλλον εἴη. Κράτων: ἐμοὶ μὲν οὐ πάνυ σχολὴ μεμηνότος ἀνθρώπου ἀκροᾶσθαι τὴν νόσον τὴν αὑτοῦ ἐπαινοῦντος· σὺ δὲ εἰ βούλει λῆρόν τινα κατασκεδάσαι μου, ἕτοιμος φιλικὴν ταύτην λειτουργίαν ὑποστῆναι καὶ παρασχεῖν τὰ ὦτα, καὶ ἄνευ κηροῦ παρακούειν τῶν φαύλων δυνάμενος. ὥστε ἤδη σιωπήσομαί σοι, καὶ λέγε ὁπόσα ἐθέλεις ὡς μηδὲ ἀκούοντός τινος.
7. LYCINUS Good, Crato; that is what I wanted most. You will very soon find out whether what I am going to say will strike you as nonsense. First of all, you appear to me to be quite unaware that this practice of dancing is not novel, and did not begin yesterday or the day before, in the days of our grandfathers, for instance, or in those of their grandfathers. No, those historians of dancing who are the most veracious can tell you that Dance came into being contemporaneously with the primal origin of the universe, making her appearance together with Love—the love that is age-old. In fact, the concord of the heavenly spheres, the interlacing of the errant planets with the fixed stars, their rhythmic agreement and timed harmony, are proofs that Dance was primordial. Little by little she has grown in stature and has obtained from time to time added embellishments, until now she would seem to have reached the very height of perfection and to have become a highly diversified, wholly harmonious, richly musical boon to mankind.
7. Λυκῖνος: εὖ γε, ὦ Κράτων, καὶ τούτου ἐδεόμην μάλιστα· εἴσῃ γὰρ μετʼ ὀλίγον εἰ λῆρος εἶναί σοι δόξει τὰ λεχθησόμενα. καὶ πρῶτόν γε ἐκεῖνο πάνυ ἠγνοηκέναι μοι δοκεῖς, ὡς οὐ νεώτερον τὸ τῆς ὀρχήσεως ἐπιτήδευμα τοῦτό ἐστιν οὐδὲ χθὲς καὶ πρῴην ἀρξάμενον, οἷον κατὰ τοὺς προπάτορας ἡμῶν ἢ τοὺς ἐκείνων, ἀλλʼ οἵ γε τἀληθέστατα ὀρχήσεως πέρι γενεαλογοῦντες ἅμα τῇ πρώτῃ γενέσει τῶν ὅλων φαῖεν ἄν σοι καὶ ὄρχησιν ἀναφῦναι, τῷ ἀρχαίῳ ἐκείνῳ Ἔρωτι συναναφανεῖσαν. ἡ γοῦν χορεία τῶν ἀστέρων καὶ ἡ πρὸς τοὺς ἀπλανεῖς τῶν πλανήτων συμπλοκὴ καὶ εὔρυθμος αὐτῶν κοινωνία καὶ εὔτακτος ἁρμονία τῆς πρωτογόνου ὀρχήσεως δείγματά ἐστιν. κατʼ ὀλίγον δὲ αὐξανομένη καὶ τῆς πρὸς τὸ βέλτιον ἀεὶ προσθήκης τυγχάνουσα, νῦν ἔοικεν ἐς τὸ ἀκρότατον ἀποτετελέσθαι καὶ γεγενῆσθαι ποικίλον τι καὶ παναρμόνιον καὶ πολύμουσον ἀγαθόν.
8. In the beginning, they say, Rhea, charmed with the art, ordered dances to be performed not only in ‘Phrygia by the Corybantes but in Crete by the Curetes, from whose skill she derived uncommon benefit, since they saved Zeus for her by dancing about him; Zeus, therefore, might well admit that he owes them a thank-offering, since it was through their dancing that he escaped his father’s teeth. They danced under arms, clashing their swords upon their shields as they did so and leaping in a frantic, warlike manner. Thereafter, all the doughtiest of the Cretans practised it energetically and became excellent dancers, not only the common sort but the men of princely blood who claimed leadership. For example, Homer calls Meriones a dancer, not desiring to discredit but to distinguish him; and he was so conspicuous and universally known for his dancing that not only the Greeks but the very Trojans, though enemies, were aware of this about him. They saw, I suppose, his lightness and grace in battle, which he got from the dance. The verses go something like this:Meriones, in a trice that spear of mine would have stopped you,Good as you are at the dance.Nevertheless, it did not stop him, for as he was well versed in dancing, it was easy for him, I suppose, to avoid the javelins they launched at him.
8. Λυκῖνος: πρῶτον δέ φασιν Ῥέαν ἡσθεῖσαν τῇ τέχνῃ ἐν Φρυγίᾳ μὲν τοὺς Κορύβαντας, ἐν Κρήτῃ δὲ τοὺς Κουρῆτας ὀρχεῖσθαι κελεῦσαι, καὶ οὐ τὰ μέτρια ὤνατο τῆς τέχνης αὐτῶν, οἵ γε περιορχούμενοι διεσώσαντο αὐτῇ τὸν Δία, ὥστε καὶ σῶστρα εἰκότως ἂν ὁ Ζεὺς ὀφείλειν ὁμολογοίη αὐτοῖς, ἐκφυγὼν διὰ τὴν ἐκείνων ὄρχησιν τοὺς πατρῴους ὀδόντας. ἐνόπλιος δὲ αὐτῶν ἡ ὄρχησις ἦν, τὰ ξίφη μεταξὺ κροτούντων πρὸς τὰς ἀσπίδας καὶ πηδώντων ἔνθεόν τι καὶ πολεμικόν. Μετὰ δέ, Κρητῶν οἱ κράτιστοι ἐνεργῶς ἐπιτηδεύσαντες αὐτὸ ἄριστοι ὀρχησταὶ ἐγένοντο, οὐχ οἱ ἰδιῶται μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ βασιλικώτεροι καὶ πρωτεύειν ἀξιοῦντες. ὁ γοῦν Ὅμηρος τὸν Μηριόνην, οὐκ αἰσχῦναι βουλόμενος ἀλλὰ κοσμῆσαι, ὀρχηστὴν προσεῖπεν, καὶ οὕτως ἄρα ἐπίσημος ἦν καὶ γνώριμος ἅπασιν ἐπὶ τῇ ὀρχηστικῇ ὥστε οὐχ οἱ Ἕλληνες μόνον ταῦτα ἠπίσταντο περὶ αὐτοῦ ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ Τρῶες αὐτοί, καίτοι πολέμιοι ὄντες· ἑώρων γάρ, οἶμαι, καὶ τὴν ἐν τῷ πολεμεῖν αὐτοῦ κουφότητα καὶ εὐρυθμίαν, ἣν ἐξ ὀρχήσεως ἐκέκτητο. φησὶν δὲ τὰ ἔπη ὧδέ πως·Μηριόνη, τάχα κέν σε καὶ ὀρχηστήν περ ἐόνταἔγχος ἐμὸν κατέπαυσε.καὶ ὅμως οὐ κατέπαυσεν αὐτόν· ἅτε γὰρ ἠσκημένος ἐν τῇ ὀρχηστικῇ, ῥᾳδίως, οἶμαι, διεδίδρασκεν τὰς ἐπʼ αὐτὸν ἀφέσεις τῶν ἀκοντίων.
9. Although I could mention many others among the heroes who were similarly trained and made an art of the thing, I consider Neoptolemus sufficient. Though the son of Achilles, he made a great name for himself in dancing and contributed to it the variety which is most beautiful, called Pyrrhic after him; and upon hearing this about his son, Achilles was more pleased, I am sure, than over his beauty and all his prowess. So, though till then Troy had been impregnable, his skill in dancing took it and tumbled it to the ground.
9. Λυκῖνος: πολλοὺς δὲ καὶ ἄλλους τῶν ἡρώων εἰπεῖν ἔχων τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἐγγεγυμνασμένους καὶ τέχνην τὸ πρᾶγμα πεποιημένους, ἱκανὸν ἡγοῦμαι τὸν Νεοπτόλεμον, Ἀχιλλέως μὲν παῖδα ὄντα, πάνυ δὲ διαπρέψαντα ἐν τῇ ὀρχηστικῇ καὶ εἶδος τὸ κάλλιστον αὐτῇ προστεθεικότα, Πυρρίχιον ἀπʼ αὐτοῦ κεκλημένον· καὶ ὁ Ἀχιλλεύς, ταῦτα ὑπὲρ τοῦ παιδὸς πυνθανόμενος, μᾶλλον ἔχαιρεν, οἶμαι, ἢ ἐπὶ τῷ κάλλει καὶ τῇ ἄλλῃ ἀλκῇ αὐτοῦ. τοιγαροῦν τὴν Ἴλιον, τέως ἀνάλωτον οὖσαν, ἡ ἐκείνου ὀρχηστικὴ καθεῖλεν καὶ εἰς ἔδαφος κατέρριψεν.
10. The Spartans, who are considered the bravest of the Greeks, learned from Pollux and Castor to do the Caryatic, which is another variety of dance exhibited at Caryae in Lacedaemon, and they do everything with the aid of the Muses, to the extent of going into battle to the accompaniment of flute and rhythm and well-timed step in marching; indeed, the first signal for battle is given to the Spartans by the flute. That is how they managed to conquer everybody, with music and rhythm to lead them. Even now you may see their young men studying dancing quite as much as fighting under arms. When they have stopped sparring and exchanging blow for blow with each other, their contest ends in dancing, and a flute-player sits in the middle, playing them a tune and marking time with his foot, while they, following one another in line, perform figures of all sorts in rhythmic step, now those of war and presently those of the choral dance, that are dear to Dionysus and Aphrodite.
10. Λυκῖνος: Λακεδαιμόνιοι μέν, ἄριστοι Ἑλλήνων εἶναι δοκοῦντες, παρὰ Πολυδεύκους καὶ Κάστορος καρυατίζειν μαθόντες (ὀρχήσεως δὲ καὶ τοῦτο εἶδος, ἐν Καρύαις τῆς Λακωνικῆς διδασκόμενον) ἅπαντα μετὰ Μουσῶν ποιοῦσιν, ἄχρι τοῦ πολεμεῖν πρὸς αὐλὸν καὶ ῥυθμὸν καὶ εὔτακτον ἔμβασιν τοῦ ποδός· καὶ τὸ πρῶτον σύνθημα Λακεδαιμονίοις πρὸς τὴν μάχην ὁ αὐλὸς ἐνδίδωσιν. τοιγαροῦν καὶ ἐκράτουν ἁπάντων, μουσικῆς αὐτοῖς καὶ εὐρυθμίας ἡγουμένης. ἴδοις δʼ ἂν νῦν ἔτι καὶ τοὺς ἐφήβους αὐτῶν οὐ μεῖον ὀρχεῖσθαι ἢ ὁπλομαχεῖν μανθάνοντας· ὅταν γὰρ ἀκροχειρισάμενοι καὶ παίσαντες καὶ παισθέντες ἐν τῷ μέρει παύσωνται, εἰς ὄρχησιν αὐτοῖς ἡ ἀγωνία τελευτᾷ, καὶ αὐλητὴς μὲν ἐν τῷ μέσῳ κάθηται ἐπαυλῶν καὶ κτυπῶν τῷ ποδί, οἱ δὲ κατὰ στοῖχον ἀλλήλοις ἑπόμενοι σχήματα παντοῖα ἐπιδείκνυνται πρὸς ῥυθμὸν ἐμβαίνοντες, ἄρτι μὲν πολεμικά, μετʼ ὀλίγον δὲ χορευτικά, ἃ Διονύσῳ καὶ Ἀφροδίτῃ φίλα.
11. That is why the song which they sing while dancing is an invocation of Aphrodite and of the Loves, that they may join their revel and their dances. The second of the songs, moreover—for two are sung—even contains instruction how to dance: “Set your foot before you, lads,” it says, “and frolic yet more featly,” that is, dance better. The same sort of thing is done by those who dance what is called the String of Beads.
11. Λυκῖνος: τοιγαροῦν καὶ τὸ ᾆσμα ὃ μεταξὺ ὀρχούμενοι ᾄδουσιν Ἀφροδίτης ἐπίκλησίς ἐστιν καὶ Ἐρώτων, ὡς συγκωμάζοιεν αὐτοῖς καὶ συνορχοῖντο. καὶ θάτερον δὲ τῶν ᾀσμάτων — δύο γὰρ ᾄδεται — διδασκαλίαν ἔχει ὡς χρὴ ὀρχεῖσθαι. πόρρω γάρ, φασίν, ὦ παῖδες, πόδα μετάβατε καὶ κωμάξατε βέλτιον, τουτέστιν ἄμεινον ὀρχήσασθε. ὅμοια δὲ καὶ οἱ τὸν ὅρμον καλούμενον ὀρχούμενοι ποιοῦσιν.
12. That is a dance of boys and girls together who move in a row and truly resemble a string of beads. The boy precedes, doing the steps and postures of young manhood, and those which later he will use in war, while the maiden follows, showing how to do the women’s dance with propriety; fence the string is beaded with modesty and with manliness. In like manner their Bareskin Plays are dancing.
12. Λυκῖνος: ὁ δὲ ὅρμος ὄρχησίς ἐστιν κοινὴ ἐφήβων τε καὶ παρθένων, παρʼ ἕνα χορευόντων καὶ ὡς ἀληθῶς ὅρμῳ ἐοικότων· καὶ ἡγεῖται μὲν ὁ ἔφηβος τὰ νεανικὰ ὀρχούμενος καὶ ὅσοις ὕστερον ἐν πολέμῳ χρήσεται, ἡ παρθένος δὲ ἕπεται κοσμίως τὸ θῆλυ χορεύειν διδάσκουσα, ὡς εἶναι τὸν ὅρμον ἐκ σωφροσύνης καὶ ἀνδρείας πλεκόμενον. καὶ αἱ γυμνοπαιδίαι δὲ αὐτοῖς ὁμοίως ὄρχησίς ἐστιν.
13. Taking it that you have read what Homer has to say about Ariadne in “The Shield,” and about the chorus that Daedalus fashioned for her, I pass it by; as also the two dancers whom the poet there calls tumblers, who lead the chorus, and again what he says in that same “Shield”: ‘Youthful dancers were circling”; which was worked into the shield by Hephaestus as something especially beautiful. And that the Phaeacians should delight in dancing was very natural, since they were people of refinement and they lived in utter bliss. In fact, Homer has represented Odysseus as admiring this in them above all else and watching “the twinkling of their feet.””
13. Λυκῖνος: ἃ δὲ Ὅμηρος ὑπὲρ Ἀριάδνης ἐν τῇ ἀσπίδι πεποίηκεν καὶ τοῦ χοροῦ ὃν αὐτῇ Δαίδαλος ἤσκησεν ὡς ἀνεγνωκότι σοι παρίημι, καὶ τοὺς ὀρχηστὰς δὲ τοὺς δύο οὓς ἐκεῖ ὁ ποιητὴς κυβιστητῆρας καλεῖ, ἡγουμένους τοῦ χοροῦ, καὶ πάλιν ἃ ἐν τῇ αὐτῇ ἀσπίδι λέγει· κοῦροι δʼ ὀρχηστῆρες ἐδίνεον, ὥς τι κάλλιστον τοῦτο τοῦ Ἡφαίστου ἐμποιήσαντος τῇ ἀσπίδι. τοὺς μὲν γὰρ Φαίακας καὶ πάνυ εἰκὸς ἦν ὀρχήσει χαίρειν, ἁβρούς τε ὄντας καὶ ἐν πάσῃ εὐδαιμονίᾳ διατρίβοντας. ὁ γοῦν Ὅμηρος τοῦτο αὐτῶν μάλιστα θαυμάζοντα πεποίηκε τὸν Ὀδυσσέα καὶ τὰς μαρμαρυγὰς τῶν ποδῶν θεώμενον.
14. In Thessaly the cultivation of dancing made such progress that they used to call their front-rank men and champions “fore-dancers.”” This is demonstrated by the inscriptions upon the statues which they dedicated in honour of those who showed prowess in battle. “The citie,” they say, “hath esteemed him fore-dancer;” and again, “To Eilation the folk hath sett up thys ymage for that he danced the bataille well.”
14. Λυκῖνος: ἐν μέν γε Θεσσαλίᾳ τοσοῦτον ἐπέδωκεν τῆς ὀρχηστικῆς ἡ ἄσκησις, ὥστε τοὺς προστάτας καὶ προαγωνιστὰς αὐτῶν προορχηστῆρας ἐκάλουν· καὶ δηλοῦσι τοῦτο αἱ τῶν ἀνδριάντων ἐπιγραφαὶ οὓς τοῖς ἀριστεύουσιν ἀνίστασαν· προὔκρινεν γάρ, φασίν, προορχηστῆρα ἁ πόλις. καὶ αὖθις, Εἰλατίωνι τὰν εἰκόνα ὁ δᾶμος εὖ ὀρχησαμένῳ τὰν μάχαν.
15. I forbear to say that not a single ancient mysterycult can be found that is without dancing, since they were established, of course, by Orpheus and Musaeus, the best dancers of that time, who included it in their prescriptions as something exceptionally» beautiful to be initiated with rhythm and dancing. To prove that this is so, although it behoves me to observe silence about the rites on account of the uninitiate, nevertheless there is one thing that everybody has heard; namely, that those who let out the mysteries in conversation are commonly said to “dance them out.”
15. Λυκῖνος: ἐῶ λέγειν, ὅτι τελετὴν οὐδεμίαν ἀρχαίαν ἔστιν εὑρεῖν ἄνευ ὀρχήσεως, Ὀρφέως δηλαδὴ καὶ Μουσαίου καὶ τῶν τότε ἀρίστων ὀρχηστῶν καταστησαμένων αὐτάς, ὥς τι κάλλιστον καὶ τοῦτο νομοθετησάντων, σὺν ῥυθμῷ καὶ ὀρχήσει μυεῖσθαι. ὅτι δʼ οὕτως ἔχει, τὰ μὲν ὄργια σιωπᾶν ἄξιον τῶν ἀμυήτων ἕνεκα, ἐκεῖνο δὲ πάντες ἀκούουσιν, ὅτι τοὺς ἐξαγορεύοντας τὰ μυστήρια ἐξορχεῖσθαι λέγουσιν οἱ πολλοί.
16. At Delos, indeed, even the sacrifices were not without dancing, but were performed with that and with music. Choirs of boys came together, and while they moved and sang to the accompaniment of flute and lyre, those who had been selected from among them as the best performed an interpre- tative dance. Indeed, the songs that were written for these choirs were called Hyporchemes (interpretative dances), and lyric poetry is full of them.
16. Λυκῖνος: ἐν Δήλῳ δέ γε οὐδὲ αἱ θυσίαι ἄνευ ὀρχήσεως ἀλλὰ σὺν ταύτῃ καὶ μετὰ μουσικῆς ἐγίγνοντο. παίδων χοροὶ συνελθόντες ὑπʼ αὐλῷ καὶ κιθάρᾳ οἱ μὲν ἐχόρευον, ὑπωρχοῦντο δὲ οἱ ἄριστοι προκριθέντες ἐξ αὐτῶν. τὰ γοῦν τοῖς χοροῖς γραφόμενα τούτοις ᾄσματα ὑπορχήματα ἐκαλεῖτο καὶ ἐμπέπληστο τῶν τοιούτων ἡ λύρα.
17. Yet why do I talk to you of the Greeks? Even the Indians, when they get up in the morning and pray to the sun, instead of doing as we do, who think that when we have kissed our hand the prayer is complete, face the sunrise and welcome the God of Day with dancing, posturing in silence and imitating the dance of the god; and that, to the Indians, is prayer and dance and sacrifice all in one. So they propitiate their god with those rites twice each day, when it begins and when it declines.
17. Λυκῖνος: καὶ τί σοι τοὺς Ἕλληνας λέγω, ὅπου καὶ Ἰνδοὶ ἐπειδὰν ἕωθεν ἀναστάντες προσεύχωνται τὸν Ἥλιον, οὐχ ὥσπερ ἡμεῖς τὴν χεῖρα κύσαντες ἡγούμεθα ἐντελῆ ἡμῶν εἶναι τὴν εὐχήν, ἀλλʼ ἐκεῖνοι πρὸς τὴν ἀνατολὴν στάντες ὀρχήσει τὸν Ἥλιον ἀσπάζονται, σχηματίζοντες ἑαυτοὺς σιωπῇ καὶ μιμούμενοι τὴν χορείαν τοῦ θεοῦ· καὶ τοῦτʼ ἐστιν Ἰνδῶν καὶ εὐχὴ καὶ χοροὶ καὶ θυσία. διὸ καὶ τούτοις ἱλεοῦνται τὸν θεὸν δίς, καὶ ἀρχομένης καὶ δυομένης τῆς ἡμέρας.
18. The Ethiopians, moreover, even in waging war, do it dancing, and an Ethiopian may not let fly the shaft that he has taken from his head (for they use the head in place of a quiver, binding the shafts about it like rays) unless he has first danced, menacing the enemy by his attitude and terrifying him in advance by his prancing.
18. Λυκῖνος: Αἰθίοπες δέ γε καὶ πολεμοῦντες σὺν ὀρχήσει αὐτὸ δρῶσιν, καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἀφείη τὸ βέλος Αἰθίοψ ἀνὴρ ἀφελὼν τῆς κεφαλῆς — ταύτῃ γὰρ ἀντὶ φαρέτρας χρῶνται περιδέοντες αὐτῇ ἀκτινηδὸν τὰ βέλη — εἰ μὴ πρότερον ὀρχήσαιτο καὶ τῷ σχήματι ἀπειλήσειε καὶ προεκφοβήσειε τῇ ὀρχήσει τὸν πολέμιον.
19. Since we have spoken of India and of Ethiopia, it will repay us to make an imaginary descent into Egypt, their neighbour. For it seems to me that the ancient myth about Proteus the Egyptian means nothing else than that he was a dancer, an imitative fellow, able to shape himself and change himself into anything, so that he could imitate even the liquidity of water and the sharpness of fire in the liveliness of his movement; yes, the fierceness of a lion, the rage of a leopard, the quivering of a tree, and in a word whatever he wished. Mythology, however, on taking it over, described his nature in terms more paradoxical, as if he became what he imitated. Now just that thing is characteristic of the dancers to-day, who certainly may be seen changing swiftly at the cue and imitating Proteus himself. And we must suppose that in Empusa, who changes into countless forms, some such person has been handed down by mythology.
19. Λυκῖνος: ἄξιον δέ, ἐπεὶ τὴν Ἰνδικὴν καὶ τὴν Αἰθιοπίαν διεξεληλύθαμεν, καὶ ἐς τὴν γείτονα αὐτῶν Αἴγυπτον καταβῆναι τῷ λόγῳ. δοκεῖ γάρ μοι ὁ παλαιὸς μῦθος καὶ Πρωτέα τὸν Αἰγύπτιον οὐκ ἄλλο τι ἢ ὀρχηστήν τινα γενέσθαι λέγειν, μιμητικὸν ἄνθρωπον καὶ πρὸς πάντα σχηματίζεσθαι καὶ μεταβάλλεσθαι δυνάμενον, ὡς καὶ ὕδατος ὑγρότητα μιμεῖσθαι καὶ πυρὸς ὀξύτητα ἐν τῇ τῆς κινήσεως σφοδρότητι καὶ λέοντος ἀγριότητα καὶ παρδάλεως θυμὸν καὶ δένδρου δόνημα, καὶ ὅλως ὅ τι καὶ θελήσειεν. ὁ δὲ μῦθος παραλαβὼν πρὸς τὸ παραδοξότερον τὴν φύσιν αὐτοῦ διηγήσατο, ὡς γιγνομένου ταῦτα ἅπερ ἐμιμεῖτο. ὅπερ δὴ καὶ τοῖς νῦν ὀρχουμένοις πρόσεστιν, ἴδοις τʼ ἂν οὖν αὐτοὺς πρὸς τὸν καιρὸν ὠκέως διαλλαττομένους καὶ αὐτὸν μιμουμένους τὸν Πρωτέα. εἰκάζειν δὲ χρὴ καὶ τὴν Ἔμπουσαν τὴν ἐς μυρίας μορφὰς μεταβαλλομένην τοιαύτην τινὰ ἄνθρωπον ὑπὸ τοῦ μύθου παραδεδόσθαι.
20. Next in order, it is proper that we should not forget that Roman dance which the best-born among them, called Salii (which is the name of a priesthood), perform in honour of Ares, the most bellicose of the gods—a dance which is at once very majestic and very sacred.
20. Λυκῖνος: ἐπὶ τούτοις δίκαιον μηδὲ τῆς Ῥωμαίων ὀρχήσεως ἀμνημονεῖν, ἣν οἱ εὐγενέστατοι αὐτῶν τῷ πολεμικωτάτῳ τῶν θεῶν Ἄρει, οἱ Σάλιοι καλούμενοι (ἱερωσύνης δὲ τοῦτο ὄνομα), ὀρχοῦνται, σεμνοτάτην τε ἅμα καὶ ἱερωτάτην.
21. And a Bithynian story, not very divergent, moreover, from those current in Italy, says that Priapus, a warlike deity, one of the Titans, I suppose, or one of the Idaean Dactyls who made a business of giving lessons in fencing, had Ares put into his charge by Hera while Ares was still a boy, though hard-muscled and immoderately virile; and that he did not teach him to handle weapons until he had made him a perfect dancer. Indeed, for this he even got a pension from Hera, to receive from Ares in perpetuity a tenth of all that accrued to him in war.
21. Λυκῖνος: Βιθυνὸς δὲ μῦθος, καὶ οὗτος οὐ πάνυ τῶν Ἰταλιωτικῶν ἀλλότριος, φησὶν τὸν Πρίαπον δαίμονα πολεμιστήν, τῶν Τιτάνων οἶμαι ἕνα ἢ τῶν Ἰδαίων Δακτύλων τοῦτο ἔργον πεποιημένον, τὰ ἐνόπλια παιδεύειν, παραλαβόντα παρὰ τῆς Ἥρας τὸν Ἄρη, παῖδα μὲν ἔτι, σκληρὸν δὲ καὶ πέρα τοῦ μετρίου ἀνδρικόν, μὴ πρότερον ὁπλομαχεῖν διδάξαι πρὶν τέλειον ὀρχηστὴν ἀπειργάσατο. καὶ ἐπὶ τούτῳ καὶ μισθὸς αὐτῷ παρὰ τῆς Ἥρας ἐγένετο, δεκάτην ἀεὶ τῶν ἐκ πολέμου περιγιγνομένων τῷ Ἄρει παρʼ αὐτοῦ λαμβάνειν.
22. As to the Dionysiac and Bacchic rites, I expect you are not waiting for me to tell you that every bit of them was dancing. In fact, their most typical dances, which are three in number, the Cordax, the Sicinnis, and the Emmeleia, were invented by the attendants of Dionysus, the Satyrs, who named them all after themselves, and it was by the exercise of this art, they say, that Dionysus subdued the Tyrrhenians, the Indians, and the Lydians, dancing into subjection with his bands of revellers a multitude so warlike.
22. Λυκῖνος: τὰ μὲν γὰρ Διονυσιακὰ καὶ Βακχικὰ οἶμαί σε μὴ περιμένειν ἐμοῦ ἀκοῦσαι, ὅτι ὄρχησις ἐκεῖνα πάντα ἦν. τριῶν γοῦν οὐσῶν τῶν γενικωτάτων ὀρχήσεων, κόρδακος καὶ σικιννίδος καὶ ἐμμελείας, οἱ Διονύσου θεράποντες οἱ Σάτυροι ταύτας ἐφευρόντες ἀφʼ αὑτῶν ἑκάστην ὠνόμασαν, καὶ ταύτῃ τῇ τέχνῃ χρώμενος ὁ Διόνυσος, φασίν, Τυρρηνοὺς καὶ Ἰνδοὺς καὶ Λυδοὺς ἐχειρώσατο καὶ φῦλον οὕτω μάχιμον τοῖς αὑτοῦ θιάσοις κατωρχήσατο.
23. Therefore, you amazing fellow, take care that it isn’t impious to denounce a practice at once divine and mystic, cultivated by so many gods, performed in their honour, and affording at once amusement and profitable instruction in such degree! Another thing surprises me in you, since I know that you are a great lover of Homer and Hesiod—I am going back, you see, to the poets once more— how you dare contradict them when they praise dancing above all things else. When Homer enumerated all that is sweetest and best—sleep, love, song, and dance —it was this alone that he called “blameless,” and what is more, he ascribes sweetness to song; but both these things pertain to the dancer’s art, both dulcet song and blameless dancing—which you now take it into your head to blame! And again, in another part of his poetry:One man getteth from God the gift of achievement in warfare,One, the art of the dance, and song that stirreth the heart-strings.Singing combined with dancing does in truth stir the heart-strings, and it is the choicest gift of the gods. Also, it appears that in classifying all activities under two heads, war and peace, Homer has set off against those of war these, and: these only, as peerless.
23. Λυκῖνος: ὥστε, ὦ θαυμάσιε, ὅρα μὴ ἀνόσιον ᾖ κατηγορεῖν ἐπιτηδεύματος θείου τε ἅμα καὶ μυστικοῦ καὶ τοσούτοις θεοῖς ἐσπουδασμένου καὶ ἐπὶ τιμῇ αὐτῶν δρωμένου καὶ τοσαύτην τέρψιν ἅμα καὶ παιδείαν ὠφέλιμον παρεχομένου. θαυμάζω δέ σου κἀκεῖνο, εἰδὼς Ὁμήρου καὶ Ἡσιόδου μάλιστα ἐραστὴν ὄντα σε (αὖθις γὰρ ἐπὶ τοὺς ποιητὰς ἐπάνειμι), πῶς ἀντιφθέγγεσθαι ἐκείνοις τολμᾷς πρὸ τῶν πάντων ὄρχησιν ἐπαινοῦσιν. ὁ μὲν γὰρ Ὅμηρος τὰ ἥδιστα καὶ κάλλιστα καταλέγων, ὕπνον καὶ φιλότητα καὶ μολπὴν καὶ ὄρχησιν, μόνην ταύτην ἀμύμονα ὠνόμασεν, προσμαρτυρήσας νὴ Δία καὶ τὸ ἡδὺ τῇ μολπῇ, ἅπερ ἀμφότερα τῇ ὀρχηστικῇ πρόσεστιν, καὶ ᾠδὴ γλυκερὰ καὶ ὀρχησμὸς ἀμύμων, ὃν σὺ νῦν μωμᾶσθαι ἐπινοεῖς. καὶ πάλιν ἐν ἑτέρῳ μέρει τῆς ποιήσεως·ἄλλῳ μὲν γὰρ ἔδωκε θεὸς πολεμήϊα ἔργα,ἄλλῳ δʼ ὀρχηστύν τε καὶ ἱμερόεσσαν ἀοιδήν.ἱμερόεσσα γὰρ ὡς ἀληθῶς ἡ μετʼ ὀρχήσεως ᾠδὴ καὶ δῶρον θεῶν τοῦτο κάλλιστον. καὶ ἔοικεν εἰς δύο διῃρηκὼς ὁ Ὅμηρος τὰ πάντα πράγματα, πόλεμον καὶ εἰρήνην, τοῖς τοῦ πολέμου μόνα ταῦτα ὡς κάλλιστα ἀντιτεθεικέναι.
24. As for Hesiod, who was not told by someone else about the dancing of the Muses but saw it himself at break of day, he begins his poem? by saying about them as the highest possible praise that they “dance with delicate footfall about the violet waters,” circling round the altar of their sire. In spite of this, my high-spirited friend, you insult dancing almost to the point of quarrelling with the wade and yet Socrates (the wisest of men, if we may believe Apollo, who said so) not only commended it but wanted to learn it, attributing the greatest value to observance of rhythm and music, to harmonious movement and to gracefulness of limb; and he was not ashamed, aged as he was, to consider it one of the most important subjects of study.
24. Λυκῖνος: ὁ δὲ Ἡσίοδος, οὐ παρʼ ἄλλου ἀκούσας ἀλλʼ ἰδὼν αὐτὸς ἕωθεν εὐθὺς ὀρχουμένας τὰς Μούσας, ἐν ἀρχῇ τῶν ἐπῶν τοῦτο περὶ αὐτῶν τὸ μέγιστον ἐγκώμιον διηγεῖται, ὅτι περὶ κρήνην ἰοειδέα πόσς’ ἁπαλοῖσιν ὀρχεῦνται, τοῦ πατρὸς τὸν βωμὸν περιχορεύουσαι. ἀλλὰ σὺ μέν, ὦ γενναῖε, μονονουχὶ θεομαχῶν ὑβρίζεις εἰς τὴν ὀρχηστικήν·
25. He would, of course, be uncommonly enthusiastic over dancing, since he did not hesitate to study even what was trivial, and not only used to attend the schools of the flute-girls, but did not disdain to listen to serious discourse from Aspasia, a courtesan. Yet the art was just beginning when he saw it then, and had not yet been elaborated to such a high degree of beauty. If he could see those who now have advanced it to the utmost, that man, I am sure, dropping everything else, would have given his attention to this spectacle alone; and he would not have had his young friends learn anything else in preference to it.
25. Λυκῖνος: ὁ Σωκράτης δέ, σοφώτατος ἀνήρ, εἴ γε πιστευτέον τοῦτο περὶ αὐτοῦ λέγοντι τῷ Πυθίῳ, οὐ μόνον ἐπῄνει τὴν ὀρχηστικὴν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκμαθεῖν αὐτὴν ἠξίου, μέγιστον νέμων εὐρυθμίᾳ καὶ εὐμουσίᾳ καὶ κινήσει ἐμμελεῖ καὶ εὐσχημοσύνῃ τοῦ κινουμένου· καὶ οὐκ ᾐδεῖτο γέρων ἀνὴρ ἓν τῶν σπουδαιοτάτων μαθημάτων καὶ τοῦτο ἡγούμενος εἶναι. καὶ ἔμελλέν γε ἐκεῖνος περὶ ὀρχηστικὴν οὐ μετρίως σπουδάσεσθαι, ὅς γε καὶ τὰ μικρὰ οὐκ ὤκνει μανθάνειν, ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰς τὰ διδασκαλεῖα τῶν αὐλητρίδων ἐφοίτα καὶ παρʼ ἑταίρας γυναικὸς οὐκ ἀπηξίου σπουδαῖόν τι ἀκούειν, τῆς Ἀσπασίας. καίτοι ἐκεῖνος ἄρτι ἀρχομένην ἑώρα τότε τὴν τέχνην καὶ οὐδέπω εἰς τοσοῦτον κάλλος διηρθρωμένην. εἰ δὲ τοὺς νῦν ἐπὶ μέγιστον αὐτὴν προαγαγόντας ἐθεᾶτο, εὖ οἶδα, πάντων ἂν ἐκεῖνός γε ἀφέμενος μόνῳ τῷ θεάματι τούτῳ τὸν νοῦν ἂν προσεῖχεν καὶ τοὺς παῖδας οὐκ ἂν ἄλλο τι πρὸ αὐτοῦ ἐδιδάξατο.
26. Again, it seems to me that when you praise comedy and tragedy, you have forgotten that in each of them there is a special form of dance; that is to say, the tragic is the Emmeleia and the comic the Cordax, though sometimes a third form, the Sicinnis, is included also. But since at the outset you gave greater honour to tragedy and comedy and cyclic fluteplayers and singing with the lyre than to the dance, calling these competitive and therefore grand— come, let us now compare each one of them with the dance. And yet, suppose we omit the flute, if you do not mind, and the lyre, since they are parts of the dancer’s paraphernalia.
26. Λυκῖνος: δοκεῖς δέ μοι, ὅταν κωμῳδίαν καὶ τραγῳδίαν ἐπαινῇς, ἐπιλελῆσθαι ὅτι καὶ ἐν ἑκατέρᾳ ἐκείνων ὀρχήσεως ἴδιόν τι εἶδός ἐστιν, οἷον τραγικὴ μὲν ἡ ἐμμέλεια, κωμῳδικὴ δὲ ὁ κόρδαξ, ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ τρίτης, σικιννίδος, προσλαμβανομένης. ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐν ἀρχῇ καὶ προετίμησας τῆς ὀρχήσεως τὴν τραγῳδίαν καὶ κωμῳδίαν καὶ αὐλητὰς κυκλίους καὶ κιθαρῳδίαν, ἐναγώνια ταῦτα καὶ διὰ τοῦτο σεμνὰ προσειπών, φέρε νῦν ἀντεξετάσωμεν τῇ ὀρχήσει ἕκαστον αὐτῶν. καίτοι τὸν μὲν αὐλόν, εἰ δοκεῖ, καὶ τὴν κιθάραν παρῶμεν· μέρη γὰρ τῆς τοῦ ὀρχηστοῦ ὑπηρεσίας καὶ ταῦτα.
27. As far as tragedy is concerned, let us form our first opinion of its character from its outward semblance. What a repulsive and at the same time frightful spectacle is a man tricked out to disproportionate stature, mounted upon high clogs, wearing a mask that reaches up above his head, with a mouth that is set in a vast yawn as if he meant to swallow up the spectators! I forbear to speak of pads for the breast and pads for the paunch, wherewith he puts on an adscititious, counterfeit corpulence, so that the disproportion in height may not betray itself the more conspicuously in a slender figure. Then too, inside all this, you have the man himself bawling out, bending forward and backward, sometimes actually singing his lines, and (what is surely the height of unseemliness) melodising his calamities, holding himself answerable for nothing but his voice, as everything else has been attended to by the poets, who lived at some time in the distant past. To be sure, as long as he is an Andromache or a Hecuba, his singing can be tolerated; but when he enters as Heracles in person and warbles a ditty, forgetting himself and taking no shame either for the lion-skin that he is wearing or for the club, a man in his right mind may properly term the thing a solecism.
27. Λυκῖνος: τὴν τραγῳδίαν δέ γε ἀπὸ τοῦ σχήματος πρώτου καταμάθωμεν οἵα ἐστίν, ὡς εἰδεχθὲς ἅμα καὶ φοβερὸν θέαμα εἰς μῆκος ἄρρυθμον ἠσκημένος ἄνθρωπος, ἐμβάταις ὑψηλοῖς ἐποχούμενος, πρόσωπον ὑπὲρ κεφαλῆς ἀνατεινόμενον ἐπικείμενος καὶ στόμα κεχηνὸς πάμμεγα ὡς καταπιόμενος τοὺς θεατάς. ἐῶ λέγειν προστερνίδια καὶ προγαστρίδια, προσθετὴν καὶ ἐπιτεχνητὴν παχύτητα προσποιούμενος, ὡς μὴ τοῦ μήκους ἡ ἀρρυθμία ἐν λεπτῷ μᾶλλον ἐλέγχοιτο· εἶτʼ ἔνδοθεν αὐτὸς κεκραγώς, ἑαυτὸν ἀνακλῶν καὶ κατακλῶν, ἐνίοτε καὶ περιᾴδων τὰ ἰαμβεῖα καί, τὸ δὴ αἴσχιστον, μελῳδῶν τὰς συμφοράς, καὶ μόνης τῆς φωνῆς ὑπεύθυνον παρέχων ἑαυτόν· τὰ γὰρ ἄλλα τοῖς ποιηταῖς ἐμέλησεν πρὸ πολλοῦ ποτε γενομένοις. καὶ μέχρι μὲν Ἀνδρομάχη τις ἢ Ἑκάβη ἐστίν, φορητὸς ἡ ᾠδή· ὅταν δὲ Ἡρακλῆς αὐτὸς εἰσελθὼν μονῳδῇ, ἐπιλαθόμενος αὑτοῦ καὶ μήτε τὴν λεοντῆν αἰδεσθεὶς μήτε τὸ ῥόπαλον ὃ περίκειται, σολοικίαν εὖ φρονῶν εἰκότως φαίη ἄν τις τὸ πρᾶγμα.
28. And by the way, the charge you were bringing against the dance, that men imitate women, would be a common charge against both tragedy and comedy. Indeed, in them the female parts outnumber the male!
28. Λυκῖνος: καὶ γὰρ αὖ ὅπερ ἐνεκάλεις τῇ ὀρχηστικῇ, τὸ ἄνδρας ὄντας μιμεῖσθαι γυναῖκας, κοινὸν τοῦτο καὶ τῆς τραγῳδίας καὶ τῆς κωμῳδίας ἔγκλημα ἂν εἴη· πλείους γοῦν ἐν αὐταῖς τῶν ἀνδρῶν αἱ γυναῖκες.
29. Moreover, comedy accounts the ridiculousness of the masks themselves as part of what is pleasing in her; for example, the masks of Davuses and Tibiuses, and of cooks. On the other hand, that the appearance of the dancer is seemly and becoming needs no assertion on my part, for it is patent to all who are not blind. His mask itself is most beautiful, and suited to the drama that forms the theme; its mouth is not wide open, as with tragedy and comedy, but closed, for he has many people who do the shouting in his stead.
29. Λυκῖνος: ἡ κωμῳδία δὲ καὶ τῶν προσώπων αὐτῶν τὸ καταγέλαστον μέρος τοῦ τερπνοῦ αὑτῇ νενόμικεν, οἷα Δάων καὶ Τιβείων καὶ μαγείρων πρόσωπα. τὸ δὲ τοῦ ὀρχηστοῦ σχῆμα ὡς μὲν κόσμιον καὶ εὐπρεπὲς οὐκ ἐμὲ χρὴ λέγειν, δῆλα γὰρ τοῖς μὴ τυφλοῖς ταῦτα· τὸ δὲ πρόσωπον αὐτὸ ὡς κάλλιστον καὶ τῷ ὑποκειμένῳ δράματι ἐοικός, οὐ κεχηνὸς δὲ ὡς ἐκεῖνα ἀλλὰ συμμεμυκός· ἔχει γὰρ πολλοὺς τοὺς ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ βοῶντας.
30. In the past, to be sure, they themselves both danced and sang; but afterwards, since the panting that came of their movement disturbed their singing, it seemed better that others should accompany them with song.
30. Λυκῖνος: πάλαι μὲν γὰρ αὐτοὶ καὶ ᾖδον καὶ ὠρχοῦντο· εἶτʼ ἐπειδὴ κινουμένων τὸ ἆσθμα τὴν ᾠδὴν ἐπετάραττεν, ἄμεινον ἔδοξεν ἄλλους αὐτοῖς ὑπᾴδειν.
31. The themes of tragedy and the dance are common to both, and there is no difference between those of the one and those of the other, except that the themes of the dance are more varied and more unhackneyed, and they contain countless vicissitudes.
31. Λυκῖνος: αἱ δὲ ὑποθέσεις κοιναὶ ἀμφοτέροις, καὶ οὐδέν τι διακεκριμέναι τῶν τραγικῶν αἱ ὀρχηστικαί, πλὴν ὅτι ποικιλώτεραι αὗται καὶ πολυμαθέστεραι καὶ μυρίας μεταβολὰς ἔχουσαι.
32. If the dance does not feature in contests, I maintain that it is because the governors of the games thought the thing too important and too grand to be called into competition. I forbear to mention that a city in Italy, the fairest that belongs to the Chalcidian race, has added it, by way of embellishment, to the games that are held there.
32. Λυκῖνος: εἰ δὲ μὴ ἐναγώνιος ἡ ὄρχησις, ἐκείνην εἶναί φημι αἰτίαν, τὸ δόξαι τοῖς ἀγωνοθέταις μεῖζον καὶ σεμνότερον τὸ πρᾶγμα ἢ ὥστε εἰς ἐξέτασιν καλεῖσθαι. ἐῶ λέγειν ὅτι πόλις ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ, τοῦ Χαλκιδικοῦ γένους ἡ ἀρίστη, καὶ τοῦτο ὥσπερ τι κόσμημα τῷ παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἀγῶνι προστέθεικεν.
33. At this point I should like to defend the numerous omissions in my account, that I may not create an impression that I lack sense or learning. I am not unaware that many before our time who have written about the dance have made it the chief matter of their essays to enumerate all its forms and list their names, telling what each is like and by whom it was discovered, thinking to make a display of wide learning thereby. But for my own part, first and foremost, I think that to be zealous about these things is tasteless, pedantic, and as far as I am concerned, out of place, and for that reason I pass them over.
33. Λυκῖνος: ἐθέλω δέ σοι ἐνταῦθα ἤδη ἀπολογήσασθαι ὑπὲρ τῶν παραλελειμμένων τῷ λόγῳ παμπόλλων ὄντων, ὡς μὴ δόξαν ἀγνοίας ἢ ἀμαθίας παράσχωμαι. οὐ γάρ με λέληθεν ὅτι πολλοὶ πρὸ ἡμῶν περὶ ὀρχήσεως συγγεγραφότες τὴν πλείστην διατριβὴν τῆς γραφῆς ἐποιήσαντο πάντα τῆς ὀρχήσεως τὰ εἴδη ἐπεξιόντες καὶ ὀνόματα αὐτῶν καταλέγοντες καὶ οἵα ἑκάστη καὶ ὑφʼ ὅτου εὑρέθη, πολυμαθίας ταύτην ἐπίδειξιν ἡγούμενοι παρέξειν. ἐγὼ δὲ μάλιστα μὲν τὴν περὶ ταῦτα φιλοτιμίαν ἀπειρόκαλόν τε καὶ ὀψιμαθῆ καὶ ἐμαυτῷ ἄκαιρον οἴομαι εἶναι καὶ διὰ τοῦτο παρίημι·
34. Besides, I want you to understand and remember that the topic which I have proposed for myself at present is not to give the history of every form of the dance, and I have not taken it upon myself as the aim of my discussion to enumerate names of dances, except for the few that I mentioned at the outset, in touching upon the more characteristic of them. No, at present anyhow, the chief object of my discussion is to praise the dance as it now exists and to show how much that is pleasurable and profitable it comprises in its embrace, although it did not begin to attain such a height of beauty in days of old, but in the time of Augustus, approximately. Those early forms were roots, so to speak, or initial stages, of the dance; but the flowering of it and the consummate fruition, which precisely at this moment has been brought to the highest point of perfection—that is what our discussion treats of, omitting the Tongs and the Crane-dance and so forth as no longer having anything to do with the dancing of to-day. And as to that “Phrygian” form of the dance, the one that accompanied wine and revelry, performed amidst drunkenness, generally by peasants who executed, to the music of flutes played by women, violent and trying gambols still prevalent in the country districts, that too I have not omitted out of ignorance but because those gambols have nothing to do with our present dance. As you know, Plato in the Laws praises certain forms of the dance, but strongly condemns certain others, dividing them with reference to what is pleasurable and profitable and rejecting the more unseemly sorts, but valuing and admiring the rest.
34. Λυκῖνος: ἔπειτα δὲ κἀκεῖνό σε ἀξιῶ ἐννοεῖν καὶ μεμνῆσθαι, ὅτι μοι νῦν οὐ πᾶσαν ὄρχησιν πρόκειται γενεαλογεῖν, οὐδὲ τοῦτον τὸν σκοπὸν ὑπεστησάμην τῷ λόγῳ, ὀρχήσεων ὀνόματα καταριθμήσασθαι, πλὴν ὅσων ἐν ἀρχῇ ὀλίγων ἐπεμνήσθην τὰς γενικωτέρας αὐτῶν προχειρισάμενος· ἀλλὰ τό γε ἐν τῷ παρόντι μοι κεφάλαιον τοῦ λόγου τοῦτό ἐστιν, τὴν νῦν ὄρχησιν καθεστῶσαν ἐπαινέσαι καὶ δεῖξαι ὅσα ἐν αὑτῇ τερπνὰ καὶ χρήσιμα περιλαβοῦσα ἔχει, οὐ πάλαι ἀρξαμένη ἐς τοσοῦτο κάλλος ἐπιδιδόναι, ἀλλὰ κατὰ τὸν Σεβαστὸν μάλιστα. αἱ μὲν γὰρ πρῶται ἐκεῖναι ὥσπερ τινὲς ῥίζαι καὶ θεμέλιοι τῆς ὀρχήσεως ἦσαν, τὸ δὲ ἄνθος αὐτῆς καὶ τὸν τελεώτατον καρπόν, ὅσπερ νῦν μάλιστα ἐς τὸ ἀκρότατον ἀποτετέλεσται, τοῦτον οὖν ὁ ἡμέτερος λόγος διεξέρχεται, παρεὶς τὸ θερμαυστρίζειν καὶ γέρανον ὀρχεῖσθαι καὶ τὰ ἄλλα ὡς μηδὲν τῇ νῦν ταύτῃ ἔτι προσήκοντα. οὐδὲ γὰρ ἐκεῖνο τὸ Φρύγιον τῆς ὀρχήσεως εἶδος, τὸ παροίνιον καὶ συμποτικόν, μετὰ μέθης γιγνόμενον ἀγροίκων πολλάκις πρὸς αὔλημα γυναικεῖον ὀρχουμένων σφοδρὰ καὶ καματηρὰ πηδήματα, καὶ νῦν ἔτι ταῖς ἀγροικίαις ἐπιπολάζοντα, ὑπʼ ἀγνοίας παρέλιπον, ἀλλʼ ὅτι μηδὲν ταῦτα τῇ νῦν ὀρχήσει κοινωνεῖ. καὶ γὰρ ὁ Πλάτων ἐν τοῖς Νόμοις τὰ μέν τινα εἴδη ἐπαινεῖ ταύτης, τὰ δὲ πάνυ ἀπαξιοῖ, διαιρῶν αὐτὰ ἔς τε τὸ τερπνὸν καὶ τὸ χρήσιμον καὶ ἀπελαύνων αὐτῶν τὰ ἀσχημονέστερα, προτιμῶν δὲ καὶ θαυμάζων θάτερα.
35. About the dance itself, let this suffice; for it would be tasteless to prolong my discussion by taking up everything. What qualifications the dancer on his part ought to have, how he should have been trained, what he should have studied, and by what means he should strengthen his work, I shall now set forth for you, to show you that Dance is not one of the facile arts that can be plied without pains, but reaches to the very summit of all culture, not only in music but in rhythm and metre, and especially in your own favourite, philosophy, both physics and ethics. To be sure, Dance accounts philosophy’s inordinate interest in dialectics inappropriate to herself. From rhetoric, however, she has not held aloof, but has her part in that too, inasmuch as she is given to depicting character and emotion, of which the orators also are fond. And she has not kept away from painting and sculpture, but manifestly copies above all else the rhythm that is in them, so that neither Phidias nor Apelles seems at all superior to her.
35. Λυκῖνος: καὶ περὶ μὲν αὐτῆς ὀρχήσεως τοσαῦτα· τὸ γὰρ πάντα ἐπεξιόντα μηκύνειν τὸν λόγον ἀπειρόκαλον. ἃ δὲ τὸν ὀρχηστὴν αὐτὸν ἔχειν χρὴ καὶ ὅπως δεῖ ἠσκῆσθαι καὶ ἃ μεμαθηκέναι καὶ οἷς κρατύνειν τὸ ἔργον, ἤδη σοι δίειμι, ὡς μάθῃς οὐ τῶν ῥᾳδίων καὶ τῶν εὐμεταχειρίστων οὖσαν τὴν τέχνην, ἀλλὰ πάσης παιδεύσεως ἐς τὸ ἀκρότατον ἀφικνουμένην, οὐ μουσικῆς μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ῥυθμικῆς καὶ μετρικῆς, καὶ τῆς σῆς φιλοσοφίας μάλιστα, τῆς τε φυσικῆς καὶ τῆς ἠθικῆς· τὴν γὰρ διαλεκτικὴν αὐτῆς περιεργίαν ἄκαιρον αὑτῇ νενόμικεν. οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ ῥητορικῆς ἀφέστηκεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταύτης μετέχει, καθʼ ὅσον ἤθους τε καὶ πάθους ἐπιδεικτική ἐστιν, ὧν καὶ οἱ ῥήτορες γλίχονται. οὐκ ἀπήλλακται δὲ καὶ γραφικῆς καὶ πλαστικῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἐν ταύταις εὐρυθμίαν μάλιστα μιμουμένη φαίνεται, ὡς μηδὲν ἀμείνω μήτε Φειδίαν αὐτῆς μήτε Ἀπελλῆν εἶναι δοκεῖν.
36. Before all else, however, it behoves her to enjoy the favour of Mnemosyne and her daughter Polymnia, and she endeavours to remember everything. Like Calchas in Homer, the dancer must know “what is, and what shall be, and was of old,” so thoroughly that nothing will escape him, but his memory of it all will be prompt. To be sure, it professes in the main to be a science of imitation and portrayal, of revealing what is in the mind and making intelligible what is obscure. What Thucydides said of Pericles in praising the man would also be the highest possible commendation of a dancer, “to know what is meet and express it;” and by expressing I mean the intelligibility of his postures. But his whole accoutrement for the work is ancient story, as I have said, and the prompt recollection and graceful presentation of it.
36. Λυκῖνος: πρὸ πάντων δὲ Μνημοσύνην καὶ τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτῆς Πολύμνιαν ἵλεων ἔχειν αὐτῇ πρόκειται, καὶ μεμνῆσθαι πειρᾶται ἁπάντων. κατὰ γάρ τοι τὸν Ὁμηρικὸν Κάλχαντα τὸν ὀρχηστὴν εἰδέναι χρὴ τά τʼ ἐόντα τά τʼ ἐσσόμενα πρό τʼ ἐόντα, ὡς μηδὲν αὐτὸν διαλανθάνειν, ἀλλʼ εἶναι πρόχειρον τὴν μνήμην αὐτῶν. καὶ τὸ μὲν κεφάλαιον τῆς ὑποσχέσεως, μιμητική τίς ἐστιν ἐπιστήμη καὶ δεικτικὴ καὶ τῶν ἐννοηθέντων ἐξαγορευτικὴ καὶ τῶν ἀφανῶν σαφηνιστική, καὶ ὅπερ ὁ Θουκυδίδης περὶ τοῦ Περικλέους ἔφη ἐπαινῶν τὸν ἄνδρα, τοῦτο καὶ τὸ τοῦ ὀρχηστοῦ ἀκρότατον ἂν ἐγκώμιον εἴη, γνῶναί τε τὰ δέοντα καὶ ἑρμηνεῦσαι αὐτά· ἑρμηνείαν δὲ νῦν τὴν σαφήνειαν τῶν σχημάτων λέγω. ἡ δὲ πᾶσα τῷ ἔργῳ χορηγία ἡ παλαιὰ ἱστορία ἐστίν, ὡς προεῖπον, καὶ ἡ πρόχειρος αὐτῆς μνήμη τε καὶ μετʼ εὐπρεπείας ἐπίδειξις·
37. Beginning with Chaos and the primal origin of the world, he must know everything down to the story of Cleopatra the Egyptian. Let this be the range we prescribe for the dancer’s learning, and let him know thoroughly all that lies within it: the castration of Uranus, the begetting of Aphrodite, the battle of the Titans, the birth of Zeus, the stratagem of Rhea, the substitution of the stone, the fetters of Cronus, the casting of lots among the three brothers.
37. Λυκῖνος: ἀπὸ γὰρ χάους εὐθὺς καὶ τῆς πρώτης τοῦ κόσμου γενέσεως ἀρξάμενον χρὴ αὐτὸν ἅπαντα εἰδέναι ἄχρι τῶν κατὰ τὴν Κλεοπάτραν τὴν Αἰγυπτίαν. τούτῳ γὰρ τῷ διαστήματι περιωρίσθω ἡμῖν ἡ τοῦ ὀρχηστοῦ πολυμαθία καὶ τὰ διὰ μέσου μάλιστα ἴστω, Οὐρανοῦ τομήν, Ἀφροδίτης γονάς, Τιτάνων μάχην, Διὸς γένεσιν, Ῥέας ἀπάτην, λίθου ὑποβολήν, Κρόνου δεσμά, τὸν τῶν τριῶν ἀδελφῶν κλῆρον.
38. Then, in order, the revolt of the Giants, the theft of fire, the fashioning of man, the punishment of Prometheus, the power of the two Erotes; and after that, the errancy of Delos, the travail of Leto, the killing of Pytho, the plot of Tityus, and the discovery of earths’ central point by the flight of the eagles.
38. Λυκῖνος: εἶτα ἑξῆς Γιγάντων ἐπανάστασιν, πυρὸς κλοπήν, ἀνθρώπων πλάσιν, Προμηθέως κόλασιν, Ἔρωτος ἰσχὺν ἑκατέρου, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα Δήλου πλάνην καὶ Λητοῦς ὠδῖνας καὶ Πύθωνος ἀναίρεσιν καὶ Τιτυοῦ ἐπιβουλὴν καὶ τὸ μέσον τῆς γῆς εὑρισκόμενον πτήσει τῶν ἀετῶν.
39. Next comes Deucalion, with the great shipwreck of life in his time, and the single ark conserving a remnant of the human race, and men created afresh from stones. Then the dismemberment of Iacchus, the trick of Hera, the burning of Semele, the double birth of Dionysus, the story of Athena and the story of Hephaestus and Erichthonius, the rivalry for Attica, Halirrhothius and the first trial on the Areopagus, and in a word, Attic mythology complete;
39. Λυκῖνος: Δευκαλίωνα ἐπὶ τούτοις, καὶ τὴν μεγάλην ἐπʼ ἐκείνου τοῦ βίου ναυαγίαν, καὶ λάρνακα μίαν λείψανον τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου γένους φυλάττουσαν, καὶ ἐκ λίθων ἀνθρώπους πάλιν. εἶτα Ἰάκχου σπαραγμὸν καὶ Ἥρας δόλον καὶ Σεμέλης κατάφλεξιν καὶ Διονύσου ἀμφοτέρας τὰς γονάς, καὶ ὅσα περὶ Ἀθηνᾶς καὶ ὅσα περὶ Ἡφαίστου καὶ Ἐριχθονίου, καὶ τὴν ἔριν τὴν περὶ τῆς Ἀττικῆς, καὶ Ἁλιρρόθιον καὶ τὴν πρώτην ἐν Ἀρείῳ πάγῳ κρίσιν, καὶ ὅλως τὴν Ἀττικὴν πᾶσαν μυθολογίαν·