Λυκῖνος καὶ περὶ μὲν αὐτῆς ὀρχήσεως τοσαῦτα· τὸ γὰρ πάντα ἐπεξιόντα μηκύνειν τὸν λόγον ἀπειρόκαλον. ἃ δὲ τὸν ὀρχηστὴν αὐτὸν ἔχειν χρὴ καὶ ὅπως δεῖ ἠσκῆσθαι καὶ ἃ μεμαθηκέναι καὶ οἷς κρατύνειν τὸ ἔργον, ἤδη σοι δίειμι, ὡς μάθῃς οὐ τῶν ῥᾳδίων καὶ τῶν εὐμεταχειρίστων οὖσαν τὴν τέχνην, ἀλλὰ πάσης παιδεύσεως ἐς τὸ ἀκρότατον ἀφικνουμένην, οὐ μουσικῆς μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ῥυθμικῆς καὶ μετρικῆς, καὶ τῆς σῆς φιλοσοφίας μάλιστα, τῆς τε φυσικῆς καὶ τῆς ἠθικῆς· τὴν γὰρ διαλεκτικὴν αὐτῆς περιεργίαν ἄκαιρον αὑτῇ νενόμικεν. οὐ μὴν οὐδὲ ῥητορικῆς ἀφέστηκεν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ταύτης μετέχει, καθʼ ὅσον ἤθους τε καὶ πάθους ἐπιδεικτική ἐστιν, ὧν καὶ οἱ ῥήτορες γλίχονται. οὐκ ἀπήλλακται δὲ καὶ γραφικῆς καὶ πλαστικῆς, ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν ἐν ταύταις εὐρυθμίαν μάλιστα μιμουμένη φαίνεται, ὡς μηδὲν ἀμείνω μήτε Φειδίαν αὐτῆς μήτε Ἀπελλῆν εἶναι δοκεῖν.
Λυκῖνος πρὸ πάντων δὲ Μνημοσύνην καὶ τὴν θυγατέρα αὐτῆς Πολύμνιαν ἵλεων ἔχειν αὐτῇ πρόκειται, καὶ μεμνῆσθαι πειρᾶται ἁπάντων. κατὰ γάρ τοι τὸν Ὁμηρικὸν Κάλχαντα τὸν ὀρχηστὴν εἰδέναι χρὴ τά τʼ ἐόντα τά τʼ ἐσσόμενα πρό τʼ ἐόντα, ὡς μηδὲν αὐτὸν διαλανθάνειν, ἀλλʼ εἶναι πρόχειρον τὴν μνήμην αὐτῶν. καὶ τὸ μὲν κεφάλαιον τῆς ὑποσχέσεως, μιμητική τίς ἐστιν ἐπιστήμη καὶ δεικτικὴ καὶ τῶν ἐννοηθέντων ἐξαγορευτικὴ καὶ τῶν ἀφανῶν σαφηνιστική, καὶ ὅπερ ὁ Θουκυδίδης περὶ τοῦ Περικλέους ἔφη ἐπαινῶν τὸν ἄνδρα, τοῦτο καὶ τὸ τοῦ ὀρχηστοῦ ἀκρότατον ἂν ἐγκώμιον εἴη, γνῶναί τε τὰ δέοντα καὶ ἑρμηνεῦσαι αὐτά· ἑρμηνείαν δὲ νῦν τὴν σαφήνειαν τῶν σχημάτων λέγω. ἡ δὲ πᾶσα τῷ ἔργῳ χορηγία ἡ παλαιὰ ἱστορία ἐστίν, ὡς προεῖπον, καὶ ἡ πρόχειρος αὐτῆς μνήμη τε καὶ μετʼ εὐπρεπείας ἐπίδειξις·
Of dancing then, in the strict sense of the word, I have said enough. To enlarge further upon its history would be pedantic. And now I come to the pantomime. What must be his qualifications? what his previous training? what his studies? what his subsidiary accomplishments? You will find that his is no easy profession, nor lightly to be undertaken; requiring as it does the highest standard of culture in all its branches, and involving a knowledge not of music only, but of rhythm and metre, and above all of your beloved philosophy, both natural and moral, the subtleties of dialectic alone being rejected as serving no useful purpose. Rhetoric, too, in so far as that art is concerned with the exposition of human character and human passions, claims a share of its attention. Nor can it dispense with the painter’s and the sculptor’s arts; in its close observance of the harmonious proportions that these teach, it is the equal of an Apelles or a Phidias. But above all Mnemosyne, and her daughter Polyhymnia, must be propitiated by an art that would remember all things. Like Calchas in Homer, the pantomime must know all ‘that is, that was, that shall be’; nothing must escape his ever ready memory. Faithfully to represent his subject, adequately to express his own conceptions, to make plain all that might be obscure;—these are the first essentials for the pantomime, to whom no higher compliment could be paid than Thucydides’s tribute to Pericles, who, he says, ‘could not only conceive a wise policy, but render it intelligible to his hearers’; the intelligibility, in the present case, depending on clearness of gesticulation.
Λυκῖνος ἀπὸ γὰρ χάους εὐθὺς καὶ τῆς πρώτης τοῦ κόσμου γενέσεως ἀρξάμενον χρὴ αὐτὸν ἅπαντα εἰδέναι ἄχρι τῶν κατὰ τὴν Κλεοπάτραν τὴν Αἰγυπτίαν.
τούτῳ γὰρ τῷ διαστήματι περιωρίσθω ἡμῖν ἡ τοῦ ὀρχηστοῦ πολυμαθία καὶ τὰ διὰ μέσου μάλιστα ἴστω, Οὐρανοῦ τομήν, Ἀφροδίτης γονάς, Τιτάνων μάχην, Διὸς γένεσιν, Ῥέας ἀπάτην, λίθου ὑποβολήν, Κρόνου δεσμά, τὸν τῶν τριῶν ἀδελφῶν κλῆρον.
Λυκῖνος εἶτα ἑξῆς Γιγάντων ἐπανάστασιν, πυρὸς κλοπήν, ἀνθρώπων πλάσιν, Προμηθέως κόλασιν, Ἔρωτος ἰσχὺν ἑκατέρου, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα Δήλου πλάνην καὶ Λητοῦς ὠδῖνας καὶ Πύθωνος ἀναίρεσιν καὶ Τιτυοῦ ἐπιβουλὴν καὶ τὸ μέσον τῆς γῆς εὑρισκόμενον πτήσει τῶν ἀετῶν.
Λυκῖνος Δευκαλίωνα ἐπὶ τούτοις, καὶ τὴν μεγάλην ἐπʼ ἐκείνου τοῦ βίου ναυαγίαν, καὶ λάρνακα μίαν λείψανον τοῦ ἀνθρωπίνου γένους φυλάττουσαν, καὶ ἐκ λίθων ἀνθρώπους πάλιν. εἶτα Ἰάκχου σπαραγμὸν καὶ Ἥρας δόλον καὶ Σεμέλης κατάφλεξιν καὶ Διονύσου ἀμφοτέρας τὰς γονάς, καὶ ὅσα περὶ Ἀθηνᾶς καὶ ὅσα περὶ Ἡφαίστου καὶ Ἐριχθονίου, καὶ τὴν ἔριν τὴν περὶ τῆς Ἀττικῆς, καὶ Ἁλιρρόθιον καὶ τὴν πρώτην ἐν Ἀρείῳ πάγῳ κρίσιν, καὶ ὅλως τὴν Ἀττικὴν πᾶσαν μυθολογίαν·
Λυκῖνος ἐξαιρέτως δὲ τὴν Δήμητρος πλάνην καὶ Κόρης εὕρεσιν καὶ Κελεοῦ ξενίαν καὶ Τριπτολέμου γεωργίαν καὶ Ἰκαρίου ἀμπελουργίαν καὶ τὴν Ἠριγόνης συμφοράν, καὶ ὅσα περὶ Βορέου καὶ ὅσα περὶ Ὠρειθυίας καὶ Θησέως καὶ Αἰγέως. ἔτι δὲ τὴν Μηδείας ὑποδοχὴν καὶ αὖθις ἐς Πέρσας φυγὴν καὶ τὰς Ἐρεχθέως θυγατέρας καὶ τὰς Πανδίονος, ἅ τε ἐν Θρᾴκῃ ἔπαθον καὶ ἔπραξαν. εἶτα ὁ Ἀκάμας καὶ ἡ Φυλλὶς καὶ ἡ προτέρα δὲ τῆς Ἑλένης ἁρπαγὴ καὶ ἡ στρατεία τῶν Διοσκούρων ἐπὶ τὴν πόλιν καὶ τὸ Ἱππολύτου πάθος καὶ Ἡρακλειδῶν κάθοδος· Ἀττικὰ γὰρ καὶ ταῦτα εἰκότως ἂν νομίζοιτο.
ταῦτα μὲν τὰ Ἀθηναίων ὀλίγα πάνυ δείγματος ἕνεκα ἐκ πολλῶν τῶν παραλελειμμένων διῆλθον.
For his materials, he must draw continually, as I have said, upon his unfailing memory of ancient story; and memory must be backed by taste and judgement. He must know the history of the world, from the time when it first emerged from Chaos down to the days of Egyptian Cleopatra. These limitations we will concede to the pantomime’s wide field of knowledge; but within them he must be familiar with every detail:—the mutilation of Uranus, the origin of Aphrodite, the battle of Titans, the birth of Zeus, Rhea’s deception, her substitution of a stone for her child, the binding of Cronus, the partition of the world between the three brothers. Again, the revolt of the Giants, Prometheus’s theft of fire, his creation of mankind, and the punishment that followed; the might of Eros and of Anteros, the wanderings of the island Delos, the travail of Leto, the Python’s destruction, the evil design of Tityus, the flight of eagles, whereby the earth’s centre was discovered. He must know of Deucalion, in whose days the whole world suffered shipwreck, of that single chest wherein were preserved the remnants of the human race, of the new generation born of stones; of the rending of Iacchus, the guile of Hera, the fiery death of Semele, the double birth of Dionysus; of Athene and Hephaestus and Erichthonius, of the strife for the possession of Athens, of Halirrhothius and that first trial on the Areopagus, and all the legendary lore of Attica. Above all, the wanderings of Demeter, the finding of Persephone, the hospitality of Celeus; Triptolemus’s plough, Icarius’s vineyard, and the sad end of Erigone; the tale of Boreas and Orithyia, of Theseus, and of Aegeus; of Medea in Greece, and of her flight thereafter into Persia, and of Erechtheus’s daughters and Pandion’s, and all that they did and suffered in Thrace. Acamas, and Phyllis, and that first rape of Helen, and the expedition of Castor and Pollux against Athens, and the fate of Hippolytus, and the return of the Heraclids,—all these may fairly be included in the Athenian mythology, from the vast bulk of which I select only these few examples.
Λυκῖνος ἑξῆς δὲ τὰ Μέγαρα καὶ Νῖσος καὶ Σκύλλα καὶ πορφυροῦς πλόκαμος καὶ Μίνωος πόρος καὶ περὶ τὴν εὐεργέτιν ἀχαριστία. οἷς ἑξῆς ὁ Κιθαιρὼν καὶ τὰ Θηβαίων καὶ Λαβδακιδῶν πάθη καὶ Κάδμου ἐπιδημία καὶ βοὸς ὄκλασις καὶ ὄφεως ὀδόντες καὶ Σπαρτῶν ἀνάδοσις καὶ αὖθις τοῦ Κάδμου εἰς δράκοντα μεταβολὴ καὶ πρὸς λύραν τείχισις καὶ μανία τοῦ τειχοποιοῦ καὶ τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ τῆς Νιόβης ἡ μεγαλαυχία καὶ ἡ ἐπὶ τῷ πένθει σιγὴ καὶ τὰ Πενθέως καὶ Ἀκταίωνος καὶ τὰ Οἰδίποδος καὶ Ἡρακλῆς σὺν τοῖς ἄθλοις αὐτοῦ ἅπασιν καὶ ἡ τῶν παίδων σφαγή.
Λυκῖνος εἶθʼ ἡ Κόρινθος πλέα καὶ αὕτη μύθων, τὴν Γλαύκην καὶ τὸν Κρέοντα ἔχουσα, καὶ πρὸ αὐτῶν τὸν Βελλεροφόντην καὶ τὴν Σθενέβοιαν καὶ Ἡλίου μάχην καὶ Ποσειδῶνος, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα τὴν Ἀθάμαντος μανίαν καὶ τῶν Νεφέλης παίδων ἐπὶ τοῦ κριοῦ τὴν διαέριον φυγήν, […] Ἰνοῦς καὶ Μελικέρτου ὑποδοχήν.
Λυκῖνος ἐπὶ τούτοις τὰ Πελοπιδῶν καὶ Μυκῆναι καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐταῖς καὶ πρὸ αὐτῶν, Ἴναχος καὶ Ἰὼ καὶ ὁ φρουρὸς αὐτῆς Ἄργος καὶ Ἀτρεὺς καὶ Θυέστης καὶ Ἀερόπη, καὶ τὸ χρυσοῦν ἀρνίον καὶ Πελοπείας γάμος καὶ Ἀγαμέμνονος σφαγὴ καὶ Κλυταιμήστρας τιμωρία· καὶ ἔτι πρὸ τούτων ἡ τῶν ἑπτὰ λοχαγῶν στρατεία καὶ ἡ τῶν φυγάδων γαμβρῶν τοῦ Ἀδράστου ὑποδοχὴ καὶ ὁ ἐπʼ αὐτοῖς χρησμὸς καὶ ἡ τῶν πεσόντων ἀταφία καὶ Ἀντιγόνης διὰ ταῦτα καὶ Μενοικέως ἀπώλεια.
Λυκῖνος καὶ τὰ ἐν Νεμέᾳ δέ, ἡ Ὑψιπύλη καὶ Ἀρχέμορος, ἀναγκαιότατα τῷ ὀρχηστῇ μνημονεύματα. καὶ πρὸ αὐτῶν εἴσεται τὴν Δανάης παρθένευσιν καὶ Περσέως γένεσιν καὶ τὸν ἐπὶ τὰς Γοργόνας ἆθλον αὐτῷ προῃρημένον, ᾧ οἰκεία καὶ ἡ Αἰθιοπικὴ διήγησις, Κασσιέπεια καὶ Ἀνδρομέδα καὶ Κηφεύς, οὓς καὶ ἄστροις ἐγκατέλεξεν ἡ τῶν μετὰ ταῦτα πίστις. κἀκεῖνα δὲ τὰ ἀρχαῖα τὰ Αἰγύπτου καὶ Δαναοῦ εἴσεται καὶ τὴν ἐπιθαλάμιον ἐπιβουλήν.
Then in Megara we have Nisus, his daughter Scylla, and his purple lock; the invasion of Minos, and his ingratitude towards his benefactress. Then we come to Cithaeron, and the story of the Thebans, and of the race of Labdacus; the settlement of Cadmus on the spot where the cow rested, the dragon’s teeth from which the Thebans sprang up, the transformation of Cadmus into a serpent, the building of the walls of Thebes to the sound of Amphion’s lyre, the subsequent madness of the builder, the boast of Niobe his wife, her silent grief; Pentheus, Actaeon, Oedipus, Heracles; his labours and slaughter of his children.
Corinth, again, abounds in legends: of Glauce and of Creon; in earlier days, of Bellerophon and Stheneboea, and of the strife between Posidon and the Sun; and, later, of the frenzy of Athamas, of Nephele’s children and their flight through the air on the ram’s back, and of the deification of Ino and Melicertes. Next comes the story of Pelops’s line, of all that befell in Mycenae, and before Mycenae was; of Inachus and Io and Argus her guardian; of Atreus and Thyestes and Aerope, of the golden ram and the marriage of Pelopeia, the murder of Agamemnon and the punishment of Clytemnestra; and before their days, the expedition of the Seven against Thebes, the reception of the fugitives Tydeus and Polynices by their father-in-law Adrastus; the oracle that foretold their fate, the unburied slain, the death of Antigone, and that of Menoeceus.
Nor is any story more essential to the pantomime’s purpose than that of Hypsipyle and Archemorus in Nemea; and, in older days, the imprisonment of Danae, the begetting of Perseus, his enterprise against the Gorgons; and connected therewith is the Ethiopian narrative of Cassiopea, and Cepheus, and Andromeda, all of whom the belief of later generations has placed among the stars. To these must be added the ancient legend of Aegyptus and Danaus, and of that guilty wedding-night.
Λυκῖνος οὐκ ὀλίγα δὲ καὶ ἡ Λακεδαίμων τοιαῦτα παρέχεται, τὸν Ὑάκινθον καὶ τὸν τοῦ Ἀπόλλωνος ἀντεραστὴν Ζέφυρον καὶ τὴν ὑπὸ τῷ δίσκῳ τοῦ μειρακίου σφαγὴν καὶ τὸ ἐκ τοῦ αἵματος ἄνθος καὶ τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ αἰάζουσαν ἐπιγραφήν, καὶ τὴν Τυνδάρεω ἀνάστασιν καὶ τὴν Διὸς ἐπὶ τούτῳ κατʼ Ἀσκληπιοῦ ὀργήν· ἔτι δὲ καὶ τὸν Πάριδος ξενισμὸν καὶ τὴν Ἑλένης ἁρπαγὴν μετὰ τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ μήλῳ κρίσιν.
Λυκῖνος νομιστέον γὰρ τῇ Σπαρτιατικῇ ἱστορίᾳ καὶ τὴν Ἰλιακὴν συνῆφθαι, πολλὴν οὖσαν καὶ πολυπρόσωπον· καθʼ ἕκαστον γοῦν τῶν ἐκεῖ πεσόντων δρᾶμα τῇ σκηνῇ πρόκειται· καὶ μεμνῆσθαι δὲ τούτων δεῖ μάλιστα, ἀπὸ τῆς ἁρπαγῆς εὐθὺς ἄχρι τῶν ἐν τοῖς νόστοις γεγενημένων καὶ τῆς Αἰνείου πλάνης καὶ Διδοῦς ἔρωτος.
ὧν οὐκ ἀλλότρια καὶ τὰ περὶ τὸν Ὀρέστην δράματα καὶ τὰ ἐν Σκυθίᾳ τῷ ἥρωϊ τετολμημένα. οὐκ ἀπῳδὰ δὲ καὶ τὰ πρὸ τούτων, ἀλλὰ τοῖς Ἰλιακοῖς συγγενῆ, Ἀχιλλέως ἐν Σκύρῳ παρθένευσις καὶ Ὀδυσσέως μανία καὶ Φιλοκτήτου ἐρημία, καὶ ὅλως ἡ πᾶσα Ὀδύσσειος πλάνη καὶ Κίρκη καὶ Τηλέγονος καὶ ἡ Αἰόλου τῶν ἀνέμων δυναστεία καὶ τὰ ἄλλα μέχρι τῆς τῶν μνηστήρων τιμωρίας· καὶ πρὸ τούτων ἡ κατὰ Παλαμήδους ἐπιβουλὴ καὶ ἡ Ναυπλίου ὀργὴ καὶ ἡ Αἴαντος μανία καὶ ἡ θατέρου ἐν ταῖς πέτραις ἀπώλεια.
Λυκῖνος ἔχει πολλὰς καὶ Ἦλις ἀφορμὰς τοῖς ὀρχεῖσθαι πειρωμένοις, τὸν Οἰνόμαον, τὸν Μυρτίλον, τὸν Κρόνον, τὸν Δία, τοὺς πρώτους τῶν Ὀλυμπίων ἀγωνιστάς.
Λυκῖνος πολλὴ δὲ καὶ ἡ κατʼ Ἀρκαδίαν μυθολογία, Δάφνης φυγή, Καλλιστοῦς θηρίωσις, Κενταύρων παροινία, Πανὸς γοναί, Ἀλφειοῦ ἔρως καὶ ὕφαλος ἀποδημία.
Λυκῖνος ἀλλὰ κἂν εἰς τὴν Κρήτην ἀφίκῃ τῷ λόγῳ, πάμπολλα κἀκεῖθεν ἡ ὄρχησις ἐρανίζεται, τὴν Εὐρώπην, τὴν Πασιφάην, τοὺς ταύρους ἀμφοτέρους, τὸν λαβύρινθον, τὴν Ἀριάδνην, τὴν Φαίδραν, τὸν Ἀνδρόγεων, τὸν Δαίδαλον, τὸν Ἴκαρον, τὸν Γλαῦκον, τὴν Πολυΐδου μαντικήν, τὸν Τάλω, τὸν χαλκοῦν τῆς Κρήτης περίπολον.
Λυκῖνος κἂν εἰς Αἰτωλίαν μετέλθῃς, κἀκεῖ πολλὰ ἡ ὄρχησις καταλαμβάνει, τὴν Ἀλθαίαν, τὸν Μελέαγρον, τὴν Ἀταλάντην, τὸν δαλόν, καὶ ποταμοῦ καὶ Ἡρακλέους πάλην καὶ Σειρήνων γένεσιν καὶ Ἐχινάδων ἀνάδοσιν καὶ μετὰ τὴν μανίαν Ἀλκμαίωνος οἴκησιν· εἶτα Νέσσον καὶ Δηϊανείρας ζηλοτυπίαν, ἐφʼ ᾗ τὴν ἐν Οἴτῃ πυράν.
Λυκῖνος ἔχει καὶ Θρᾴκη πολλὰ τῷ ὀρχησομένῳ ἀναγκαῖα, τὸν Ὀρφέα, τὸν ἐκείνου σπαραγμὸν καὶ τὴν λάλον αὐτοῦ κεφαλὴν τὴν ἐπιπλέουσαν τῇ λύρᾳ, καὶ τὸν Αἷμον καὶ τὴν Ῥοδόπην, καὶ τὴν Λυκούργου κόλασιν.
Lacedaemon, too, supplies him with many similar subjects: Hyacinth, and his rival lovers, Zephyr and Apollo, and the quoit that slew him, the flower that sprang up from his blood, and the inscription of woe thereon; the raising of Tyndareus from the dead, and the consequent wrath of Zeusagainst Asclepius; again, the reception of Paris by Menelaus, and the rape of Helen, the sequel to his award of the golden apple. For the Spartan mythology must be held to include that of Troy, in all its abundance and variety. Of all who fell at Troy, not one but supplies a subject for the stage; and all—from the rape of Helen to the return of the Greeks—must ever be borne in mind: the wanderings of Aeneas, the love of Dido; and side by side with this the story of Orestes, and his daring deeds in Scythia. And there are earlier episodes which will not be out of place; they are all connected with the tale of Troy: such are the seclusion of Achilles in Scyrus, the madness of Odysseus, the solitude of Philoctetes, with the whole story of Odysseus’s wanderings, of Circe and Telegonus, of Aeolus, controller of the winds, down to the vengeance wreaked upon the suitors of Penelope; and, earlier, Odysseus’s plot against Palamedes, the resentment of Nauplius, the frenzy of the one Ajax, the destruction of the other on the rocks.
Elis, too, affords many subjects for the intending pantomime: Oenomaus, Myrtilus, Cronus, Zeus, and that first Olympian contest. Arcadia, no less rich in legendary lore, gives him the flight of Daphne, the transformation of Callisto into a bear, the drunken riot of the Centaurs, the birth of Pan, the love of Alpheus, and his submarine wanderings.
Extending our view, we find that Crete, too, may be laid under contribution: Europa’s bull, Pasiphae’s, the Labyrinth, Ariadne, Phaedra, Androgeos; Daedalus and Icarus; Glaucus, and the prophecy of Polyides; and Talos, the island’s brazen sentinel.
It is the same with Aetolia: there you will find Althaea, Meleager, Atalanta, and the fatal brand; the strife of Achelous with Heracles, the birth of the Sirens, the origin of the Echinades, those islands on which Alcmaeon dwelt after his frenzy was past; and, following these, the story of Nessus, and of Deianira’s jealousy, which brought Heracles to the pyre upon Oeta. Thrace, too, has much that is indispensable to the pantomime: of the head of murdered Orpheus, that sang while it floated down the stream upon his lyre; of Haemus and of Rhodope; and of the chastisement of Lycurgus.
Λυκῖνος καὶ Θεσσαλία δὲ ἔτι πλείω παρέχεται, τὸν Πελίαν, τὸν Ἰάσονα, τὴν Ἄλκηστιν, τὸν τῶν πεντήκοντα νέων στόλον, τὴν Ἀργώ, τὴν λάλον αὐτῆς τρόπιν,
Λυκῖνος τὰ ἐν Λήμνῳ, τὸν Αἰήτην, τὸν Μηδείας ὄνειρον, τὸν Ἀψύρτου σπαραγμὸν καὶ τὰ ἐν τῷ παράπλῳ γενόμενα, καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα τὸν Πρωτεσίλαον καὶ τὴν Λαοδάμειαν.
Λυκῖνος κἂν εἰς τὴν Ἀσίαν πάλιν διαβῇς, πολλὰ κἀκεῖ δράματα· ἡ γὰρ Σάμος εὐθὺς καὶ τὸ Πολυκράτους πάθος καὶ τῆς θυγατρὸς αὐτοῦ μέχρι Περσῶν πλάνη, καὶ τὰ ἔτι ἀρχαιότερα, ἡ τοῦ Ταντάλου φλυαρία καὶ ἡ παρʼ αὐτῷ θεῶν ἑστίασις καὶ ἡ Πέλοπος κρεουργία καὶ ὁ ἐλεφάντινος ὦμος αὐτοῦ.
Λυκῖνος καὶ ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ δὲ ὁ Ἠριδανὸς καὶ Φαέθων καὶ αἴγειροι ἀδελφαὶ θρηνοῦσαι καὶ ἤλεκτρον δακρύουσαι.
Λυκῖνος εἴσεται δὲ ὁ τοιοῦτος καὶ τὰς Ἑσπερίδας καὶ τὸν φρουρὸν τῆς χρυσῆς ὀπώρας δράκοντα καὶ τὸν Ἄτλαντος μόχθον καὶ τὸν Γηρυόνην καὶ τὴν ἐξ Ἐρυθείας ἔλασιν τῶν βοῶν.
Λυκῖνος οὐκ ἀγνοήσει δὲ καὶ τὰς μυθικὰς μεταμορφώσεις ἁπάσας, ὅσοι εἰς δένδρα ἢ θηρία ἢ ὄρνεα ἠλλάγησαν καὶ ὅσαι ἐκ γυναικῶν ἄνδρες ἐγένοντο, τὸν Καινέα λέγω καὶ τὸν Τειρεσίαν καὶ τοὺς τοιούτους.
Λυκῖνος καὶ ἐν Φοινίκῃ δὲ Μύρραν καὶ τὸ Ἀσσύριον ἐκεῖνο πένθος μεριζόμενον, καὶ ταῦτα εἴσεται, καὶ τὰ νεώτερα δὲ ὅσα μετὰ τὴν Μακεδόνων ἀρχὴν ἐτολμήθη ὑπό τε Ἀντιπάτρου καὶ παρὰ Σελεύκῳ ἐπὶ τῷ Στρατονίκης ἔρωτι.
Λυκῖνος τὰ γὰρ Αἰγυπτίων, μυστικώτερα ὄντα, εἴσεται μέν, συμβολικώτερον δὲ ἐπιδείξεται· τὸν Ἔπαφον λέγω καὶ τὸν Ὄσιριν καὶ τὰς τῶν θεῶν εἰς τὰ ζῷα μεταβολάς.
πρὸ πάντων δὲ τὰ περὶ τοὺς ἔρωτας αὐτῶν καὶ αὐτοῦ τοῦ Διὸς καὶ εἰς ὅσα ἑαυτὸν μετεσκεύασεν εἴσεται,
Λυκῖνος καὶ τὴν ἐν Ἅιδου ἅπασαν τραγῳδίαν καὶ τὰς κολάσεις καὶ τὰς ἐφʼ ἑκάστῃ αἰτίας καὶ τὴν Πειρίθου καὶ Θησέως ἄχρι τοῦ Ἅιδου ἑταιρείαν.
Λυκῖνος συνελόντι δὲ εἰπεῖν, οὐδὲν τῶν ὑπὸ τοῦ Ὁμήρου καὶ Ἡσιόδου καὶ τῶν ἀρίστων ποιητῶν καὶ μάλιστα τῆς τραγῳδίας λεγομένων ἀγνοήσει.
Ταῦτα πάνυ ὀλίγα ἐκ πολλῶν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἀπείρων τὸ πλῆθος, ἐξελὼν τὰ κεφαλαιωδέστερα κατέλεξα, τὰ ἄλλα τοῖς τε ποιηταῖς ᾄδειν ἀφεὶς καὶ τοῖς ὀρχησταῖς αὐτοῖς δεικνύναι καὶ σοὶ προσεξευρίσκειν καθʼ ὁμοιότητα τῶν προειρημένων, ἅπερ ἅπαντα πρόχειρα καὶ πρὸς τὸν καιρὸν ἕκαστον τῷ ὀρχηστῇ προπεπορισμένα καὶ προτεταμιευμένα κεῖσθαι ἀναγκαῖον.
Thessalian story, richer still, tells of Pelias and Jason; of Alcestis; and of the Argo with her talking keel and her crew of fifty youths; of what befell them in Lemnos; of Aeetes, Medea’s dream, the rending of Absyrtus, the eventful flight from Colchis; and, in later days, of Protesilaus and Laodamia.
Cross once more to Asia, and Samos awaits you, with the fall of Polycrates, and his daughter’s flight into Persia; and the ancient story of Tantalus’s folly, and of the feast that he gave the Gods; of butchered Pelops, and his ivory shoulder.
In Italy, we have the Eridanus, Phaethon, and his poplar-sisters, who wept tears of amber for his loss.
The pantomime must be familiar, too, with the story of the Hesperides, and the dragon that guarded the golden fruit; with burdened Atlas, and Geryon, and the driving of the oxen from Erythea; and every tale of metamorphosis, of women turned into trees or birds or beasts, or (like Caeneus and Tiresias) into men. From Phoenicia he must learn of Myrrha and Adonis, who divides Assyria betwixt grief and joy; and in more modern times of all that Antipater and Seleucus suffered for the love of Stratonice.
The Egyptian mythology is another matter: it cannot be omitted, but on account of its mysterious character it calls for a more symbolical exposition;—the legend of Epaphus, for instance, and that of Osiris, and the conversion of the Gods into animals; and, in particular, their love adventures, including those of Zeus himself, with his various transformations.
Hades still remains to be added, with all its tragic tale of guilt and the punishment of guilt, and the loyal friendship that brought Theseus thither with Pirithous. In a word, all that Homer and Hesiod and our best poets, especially the tragedians, have sung,—all must be known to the pantomime. From the vast, nay infinite, mass of mythology, I have made this trifling selection of the more prominent legends; leaving the rest for poets to celebrate, for pantomimes to exhibit, and for your imagination to supply from the hints already given; and all this the artist must have stored up in his memory, ready to be produced when occasion demands.
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