a.

"Both tragedy and comedy," says Aristotle, "originated in a rude and
unpremeditated manner--the first from the leaders of the dithyramb, and
the second from those who led off the phallic songs." This diversity of
origin, and the distinction jealously maintained down to the latest
times between the two branches of the dramatic art, even where they
might seem to come into actual contact with one another, necessitate a
separate statement as to the origin and history of either.

Origin of tragedy.

The dithyramb.

Lyrical tragedy.

The custom of offering thanks to the gods by hymns and dances in the
places of public resort was first practised by the Greeks in the Dorian
states, whose whole system of life was organized on a military basis.
Hence the dances of the Dorians originally taught or imitated the
movements of soldiers, and their hymns were warlike chants. Such were
the beginnings of the _chorus_, and of its songs (called _paeans_, from
an epithet of Apollo), accompanied first by the phorminx and then by the
flute. A step in advance was taken when the poet with his trained
singers and dancers, like the Indian _s[)u]tra-dh[=a]ra_, performed
these religious functions as the representative of the population. From
the Doric _paean_ at a very early period several styles of choral
dancing formed themselves, to which the three styles of dance in scenic
productions--the tragic, the comic and the satyric--are stated
afterwards to have corresponded. But none of these could have led to a
literary growth. This was due to the introduction among the Dorians of
the _dithyramb_ (from [Greek: dios ], descended from Zeus, and [Greek:
thriambos], the Latin _triumphus_), originally a song of revellers,
probably led by a flute-player and accompanied by the music of other
Eastern instruments, in which it was customary in Crete to celebrate the
birth of Bacchus (the doubly-born) and possibly also his later
adventures. The leader of the band (_coryphaeus_) may be supposed to
have at times assumed the character of the wine-god, whose worshippers
bore aloft the vineclad _thyrsus_. The dithyramb was reduced to a
definite form by the Lesbian Arion (fl. 610), who composed regular
poems, turned the moving band of worshippers into a standing or "cyclic"
chorus of attendants on Dionysus--a chorus of satyrs, a _tragic_ or goat
chorus--invented a style of music adapted to the character of the
chorus, and called these songs "tragedies