itual monotony and the _dromenon_. It is not so much
the old that dies as the new that kills.

* * * * *

AEschylus himself is reported to have said that his tragedies were
"slices from the great banquet of Homer." The metaphor is not a very
pleasing one, but it expresses a truth. By Homer, AEschylus meant not
only our _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_, but the whole body of Epic or Heroic
poetry which centred round not only the Siege of Troy but the great
expedition of the _Seven Against Thebes_, and which, moreover, contained
the stories of the heroes before the siege began, and their adventures
after it was ended. It was from these heroic sagas for the most part,
though not wholly, that the _myths_ or plots of not only AEschylus but
also Sophocles and Euripides, and a host of other writers whose plays
are lost to us, are taken. The new wine that was poured into the old
bottles of the _dromena_ at the Spring Festival was the heroic saga. We
know as an historical fact, the name of the man who was mainly
responsible for this inpouring--the great democratic tyrant
Peisistratos. We must look for a moment at what Peisistratos found, and
then pass to what he did.

He found an ancient Spring _dromenon_, perhaps well-nigh effete. Without
destroying the old he contrived to introduce the new, to add to the old
plot of Summer and Winter the life-stories of heroes, and thereby arose
the drama.

Let us look first, then, at what Peisistratos found.

The April festival of Dionysos at which the great dramas were performed
was not the earliest festival of the god. Thucydides[37] expressly tells
us that on the 12th day of the month Anthesterion, that is in the quite
early spring, at the turn of our February and March, were celebrated
_the more ancient Dionysia_. It was a three-days' festival.[38] On the
first day, called "Cask-opening," the jars of new wine were broached.
Among the Boeotians the day was called not the day of Dionysos, but the
day of the Good or Wealthy Daimon. The next day was called the day of
the "Cups"--there was a contest or _agon_ of drinking. The last day was
called the "Pots," and it, too, had its "Pot-Contests." It is the
ceremonies of this day that we must notice a little in detail; for they
are very surprising. "Casks," "Cups," and "Pots," sound primitive
enough. "Casks" and "Cups" go well with the wine-god, but the "Pots"
call for explanation.

The second day of the "Cups," joyful t