icacy in all the
refinements of language. A poor woman, who sold herbs at Athens,
discovered Theophrastus to be a stranger, by a single word which he
affectedly made use of in expressing himself.(173) The common people got
the tragedies of Euripides by heart. The genius of every nation expresses
itself in the people's manner of passing their time, and in their
pleasures. The great employment and delight of the Athenians were to amuse
themselves with works of wit, and to judge of the dramatic pieces, that
were acted by public authority several times a year, especially at the
feasts of Bacchus, when the tragic and comic poets disputed for the prize.
The former used to present four of their pieces at a time; except
Sophocles, who did not think fit to continue so laborious an exercise, and
confined himself to one performance, when he disputed the prize.

The state appointed judges, to determine upon the merit of the tragic or
comic pieces, before they were represented in the festivals. They were
acted before them in the presence of the people; but undoubtedly with no
great preparation. The judges gave their suffrages, and that performance,
which had the most voices, was declared victorious, received the crown as
such, and was represented with all possible pomp at the expense of the
republic. This did not, however, exclude such pieces, as were only in the
second or third class. The best had not always the preference; for what
times have been exempt from party, caprice, ignorance, and prejudice?
AElian(174) is very angry with the judges, who, in one of these disputes,
gave only the second place to Euripides. He accuses them of judging either
without capacity, or of suffering themselves to be bribed. It is easy to
conceive the warmth and emulation, which these disputes and public rewards
excited amongst the poets, and how much they contributed to the
perfection, to which Greece carried dramatic performances.

The dramatic poem introduces the persons themselves, speaking and acting
upon the stage: in the epic, on the contrary, the poet only relates the
different adventures of his characters. It is natural to be delighted with
fine descriptions of events, in which illustrious persons and whole
nations are interested; and hence the epic poem had its origin. But we are
quite differently affected with hearing those persons themselves, with
being the confidents of their most secret sentiments, and auditors and
spectators of their re