Tragedy, then, is said to be an
art of this order--to be in fact just what the later actors were in
the eyes of their predecessors; for Myrmiscus used to call Callippides
'the ape', because he thought he so overacted his parts; and a similar
view was taken of Pindarus also. All Tragedy, however, is said to
stand to the Epic as the newer to the older school of actors. The one,
accordingly, is said to address a cultivated 'audience, which does not
need the accompaniment of gesture; the other, an uncultivated one. If,
therefore, Tragedy is a vulgar art, it must clearly be lower than the
Epic.
The answer to this is twofold. In the first place, one may urge (1)
that the censure does not touch the art of the dramatic poet, but only
that of his interpreter; for it is quite possible to overdo the
gesturing even in an epic recital, as did Sosistratus, and in a
singing contest, as did Mnasitheus of Opus. (2) That one should not
condemn all movement, unless one means to condemn even the dance, but
only that of ignoble people--which is the point of the criticism
passed on Callippides and in the present day on others, that their
women are not like gentlewomen.
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