each individual wanted to express his
own thoughts and wishes; and the third is the drama, which can only be
born in a period of civilization, and which, it has been said, implies
a nation.

Hence Greek drama arose at the height of Grecian civilization and
splendor. It originated in the natural love of imitation, of dancing
and singing, especially at the Bacchic feasts. The custom at these
feasts of taking the guise of nymphs and satyrs, and of wearing masks
while they danced and sang in chorus, seems to have been the beginnings
of the Greek drama.

Ancient tragedy was ideal, and had nothing to do with ordinary life; it
arose from the winter feasts of Bacchus, while comedy was the outcome
of the harvest feasts, and the accompanying Bacchanalian processions,
which were more in the nature of a frolic than of real acting. The
influence of the Middle and New Greek comedy, especially, that of
Menander, on the Roman comedy of Terence is well defined. Under Ennius
and Plautus the Roman comedy was fairly original; but Terence wrote for
the fashionable set, like Caecilius and Scipio Africanus, and
consequently imitated Greek models very carefully. The drama in Rome
never attained any noteworthy height although the French tragic poets
took Seneca for their model.

In the time of Lorenzo the Magnificent there was a great revival in
Italy of the ancient classic drama, of which Poliziano was the most
successful exponent. Both he and the later writers, however, made no
attempt to found any National Italian drama--their works are entirely
an imitation of the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides, and the
comedies of Plautus and Terence.

The Melodrama, which arose in the seventeenth century, is distinctly
Italian and national, and has been extensively produced all over the
civilized world. Alfieri, in the eighteenth century, is the greatest
and most patriotic of the Italian tragedians, and he did as much to
revive the national character in modern times as Dante did in the
fourteenth century.

In France we have the dramatic representation of the Mysteries in the
twelfth and thirteenth centuries, introduced by the pilgrims who had
returned from the Crusades. At first these performances were given in
the street, but later a company was formed, called the "Confraternity
of the Passion," the suffering of Christ being its chief
representation. This Mystery is the most ancient dramatic work of
modern Europe, and gives the whole Gospel