The Egyptians possessed no regular type of drama, yet in both the Books of Job and Ruth the dramatic element is strongly marked.  At the rustic festivals of the native gods, as in Greece and Italy, there was, however, the dramatic elements of the union of song, dance, and Pantomime, and we are told that the priests not only studied music, but also taught the art to others.  Again in the rites of the dead the Mysteries of the sepulture over the transmigration of souls, the dramatic element entered largely into these mystic rites and celebrations.  Amongst the Pagan Greeks, as I have previously stated, and the Romans, we learn of similar celebrations, carried out with great pomp and ceremony, such as the apotheosis of the soul departing from its earthly to its heavenly abode.

CHAPTER IV.

“Dancing,” i.e. Pantomime—­Grecian Dancing and Pantomimic Scenes—­Aristotle—­Homer—­Dances common to both Greeks and Romans.

In tracing the History of Pantomime it becomes a matter of considerable difficulty, and, as Baron, in his Lettres sur la Danse, observes that when the word Dancing occurs in an old author, that it should always be translated by “gesticulation,” “declamation,” or “Pantomime.”  When we read that an actress “danced” her part well in the tragedy of Medea, that a carver cut up food dancing, that Heligobalus and Caligula “danced” a discourse for an audience of state, we are to understand that they—­actress, carver, and emperor—­declaimed, gesticulated, made themselves understood in a language without words.  Acting is also oftentimes confounded with dancing, and it is, therefore, manifestly impossible to distinguish now one from the other.

“The Greeks,” mentions Butteux, applied the term “Dancing” to all measured movements, even to military marching.  They danced anywhere and everywhere; and we are told that both their limbs and bodies spoke.

Cybele was supposed by the Greeks to have taught dancing on Mount Ida to the Corybantes, and they also say that it was in their country that Apollo revealed the Terpsichorean Art, and that of Music and Poetry.

After all this, it is not very surprising that they make claim for the innovation of Pantomime.  This, of course, we know is different, as we have seen that, from time immemorial Pantomimic scenes and dances have been represented.  Cassiodorus attributes its institution to Philistion; Athenaens assigns it to Rhodamanthus, or to Palamedes.

With the Greeks, Pantomimes became very popular, and they were distinguished by various names.  Before they began their Tragedies the Greeks used to give a Pantomimic display.  The principal Pantomimists were known as Ethologues, meaning painters of manners.  One of the most celebrated of these Mimes was Sophron of Syracuse.  In depicting the conduct of man so faithfully, the Pantomimes of the Greek Mimes served to teach and inculcate useful moral lessons.  The moral philosophy of the Mime, Sophron, was so pure that Plato kept a book of his poems under his pillow when on his death-bed.  Besides these Moralities, as they were termed, there were, in addition, light pieces of a farcical kind, in the portrayal of which the Mimes were equally as successful as in the other species.