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--- home:texts_and_library:dialogues:of-pantomime [2022/01/12 22:30] – [15] frank
+++ home:texts_and_library:dialogues:of-pantomime [2022/01/12 22:44] (current) – [22] frank
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-Having dealt with India and Ethiopia, let us now consider the neighbouring country of Egypt. If I am not mistaken, the Egyptian Proteus of ancient legend is no other than a dancer, whose mimetic skill enables him to adapt himself to every character: in the activity of his movements, he is liquid as water, rapid as fire; he is the raging lion, the savage panther, the trembling bough; he is what he will. The legend takes these data, and gives them a supernatural turn,— for mimicry substituting metamorphosis. Our modern pantomimes have the same gift, and Proteus himself sometimes appears as the subject of their rapid transformations.
+Having dealt with India and Ethiopia, let us now consider the neighbouring country of Egypt. If I am not mistaken, the Egyptian Proteus of ancient legend is no other than a dancer, whose mimetic skill enables him to adapt himself to every character: in the activity of his movements, he is liquid as water, rapid as fire; he is the raging lion, the savage panther, the trembling bough; he is what he will. The legend takes these data, and gives them a supernatural turn,— for mimicry substituting metamorphosis. Our modern pantomimes have the same gift, and Proteus[1] himself sometimes appears as the subject of their rapid transformations.
+>[1] Proteus | Lucian laughs out loud here. Proteus has been turned into a dancing-master shows that Lucian cannot be in earnest.((Select Dialogues: Of Lucian, Translated from the Greek by Thomas Franklin, D.D. The Sungraphein, by G. W. Vernon, Esq. William M’Kenzie, 1792.))
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-Our attention is next claimed by the Roman dance of the Salii, a priesthood drawn from the noblest families; the dance is performed in honour of Mars, the most warlike of the Gods, and is of a particularly solemn and sacred character. According to a Bithynian legend, which agrees well with this Italian institution, Priapus, a war-like divinity (probably one of the Titans, or of the Idaean Dactyls, whose profession it was to teach the use of arms), was entrusted by Hera with the care of her son Ares, who even in childhood was remarkable for his courage and ferocity. Priapus would not put weapons into his hands till he had turned him out a perfect dancer; and he was rewarded by Hera with a tenth part of all Ares’s spoils.
+Our attention is next claimed by the Roman dance of the Salii[1], a priesthood drawn from the noblest families; the dance is performed in honour of Mars, the most warlike of the Gods, and is of a particularly solemn and sacred character. According to a Bithynian legend, which agrees well with this Italian institution, Priapus, a war-like divinity (probably one of the Titans, or of the Idaean Dactyls[2], whose profession it was to teach the use of arms), was entrusted by Hera with the care of her son Ares, who even in childhood was remarkable for his courage and ferocity. Priapus would not put weapons into his hands till he had turned him out a perfect dancer; and he was rewarded by Hera with a tenth part of all Ares’s spoils.
+>[1] Salii | The Salii were Roman priests, and so called from Latin for dance, //salio//. First appointed by Numa, their office was to celebrate the rites of Mars with songs and dances. They were clothed in a short scarlet cassock, having round the a broad belt, clasped with brass buckles, on their heads they wore a sort of copper helmet, short swords by their sides, a javelin in their right hand, and the ancele (target) on the other. They were twelve in number and always chosen from the patrician class.((Select Dialogues: Of Lucian, Translated from the Greek by Thomas Franklin, D.D. The Sungraphein, by G. W. Vernon, Esq. William M’Kenzie, 1792.))
+>[2] Idaean Dactyls | Priests of Cybele, who was worshipped on Mount Ida, called dactyli, from the word for finger, in allusion to their number. In the beginning there were ten of them.((Select Dialogues: Of Lucian, Translated from the Greek by Thomas Franklin, D.D. The Sungraphein, by G. W. Vernon, Esq. William M’Kenzie, 1792.))
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-As to the rites of Dionysus, you know, without my telling you, that they consisted in dancing from beginning to end. Of the three main types of dance, the cordax, the sicinnis, and the emmelia, each was the invention and bore the name of one of the Satyrs, his followers. Assisted by this art, and accompanied by these revellers, he conquered Tyrrhenians, Indians, Lydians, dancing those warlike tribes into submission.
+As to the rites of Dionysus, you know, without my telling you, that they consisted in dancing from beginning to end. Of the three main types of dance, the cordax[1], the sicinnis[2], and the emmelia[3], each was the invention and bore the name of one of the Satyrs, his followers. Assisted by this art, and accompanied by these revellers, he conquered Tyrrhenians, Indians, Lydians, dancing those warlike tribes into submission.
+>[1] Cordax | This was a joyful, brisk dance accompanied sometimes, we are told, with wanton gestures, and this type of dance belonged properly to comedy. The Bacchanalian dances were of thie kind.((Select Dialogues: Of Lucian, Translated from the Greek by Thomas Franklin, D.D. The Sungraphein, by G. W. Vernon, Esq. William M’Kenzie, 1792.))
+>[2] Sicynnis | This was a satirical dance, wherein the grave and brisk are intermixed.((Select Dialogues: Of Lucian, Translated from the Greek by Thomas Franklin, D.D. The Sungraphein, by G. W. Vernon, Esq. William M’Kenzie, 1792.))
+>[3] Emmeleia | This was a grave and solemn dance.((Select Dialogues: Of Lucian, Translated from the Greek by Thomas Franklin, D.D. The Sungraphein, by G. W. Vernon, Esq. William M’Kenzie, 1792.))
+Franklin pp42
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