Book 14
28
Now all satyric poetry formerly consisted of choruses, as also did tragedy, such as it existed at the same time; and that was the chief reason why tragedy had no regular actors. Arid there are three kinds of dance appropriate to dramatic poetry, —the tragic, the comic, and the satyric; and in like manner, there are three kinds of lyric dancing,—the pyrrhic the gymnopædic, and the hyporchematic. And the pyrrhic dance resembles the satyric; for they both consist of rapid movements; but the pyrrhic appears to be a warlike kind of dance, for it is danced by armed boys. And men in war have need of swiftness to pursue their enemies, and also, when defeated, To flee, and not like madmen to stand firm, Nor be afraid to seem a short time cowards. But the dance called Gymnopædica is like the dance in tragedy which is called Emmelea; for in each there is seen a degree of gravity and solemnity. But the hyporchematic dance is very nearly identical with the comic one which is called Cordax. And they are both a sportive kind of figure.
