the numerous sculptures which
ornamented the city, and the general impulse he gave to art. Other great
artists labored in generous competition,--sculptors, painters, and
architects,--to make Athens the most beautiful city in the world.

(M481) "It was under the administration of Pericles that Greek literature
reached its culminating height in the Attic drama, a form of poetry which
Aristotle justly considers as the most perfect; and it shone with
undiminished splendor to the close of the century. It was this branch of
literature which peculiarly marked the age of Pericles--the period between
the Persian and Peloponnesian wars. The first regular comedies were
produced by Epicharmus, who was born in Cos, B.C. 540, and exhibited at
Syracuse. Comedy arose before tragedy, and was at first at the celebration
of Dionysus by rustic revelers in the season of the vintage, in the form
of songs and dances. But these were not so appropriate in cities, and the
songs of the revelers were gradually molded into the regular choral
dithyramb, while the performers still preserved the wild dress and
gestures of the satyrs--half goat and half man--who accompanied Dionysus."
The prevalence of tales of crime and fate and suffering naturally
impressed spectators with tragic sentiments, and tragedy was thus born and
separated from comedy. Both forms received their earliest development in
the Dorian States, and were particularly cultivated by the Megarians.
"Thespis, a native of Icaria, first gave to tragedy its dramatic
character, in the time of Pisistratus, B.C. 535. He introduced the
dialogue, relieved by choral performances, and the recitation of
mythological and heroic adventures. He traveled about Attica in a wagon,
which served him for a stage; but the art soon found its way to Athens,
where dramatic contests for prizes were established in connection with the
festivals of Dionysus. These became State institutions. Choerilus, B.C.
523, and Phrynichus followed Thespis, and these ventured from the regions
of mythology to contemporaneous history."

(M482) It was at this time that AEschylus, the father of tragedy, exhibited
his dramas at Athens, B.C. 500. He added a second actor, and made the
choral odes subordinate to the action. The actors now made use of masks,
and wore lofty head-dresses and magnificent robes. Scenes were painted
according to the rules of perspective, and an elaborate mechanism was
introduced upon the stage. New figures we