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[2] He said they were three,—
φορά, σχῆμα, and
δεῖξις. For dancing is made up of motion and manner (
σχέσις), as a song of sounds and stops; stops are the ends of motion. Now the motions they call
φοραί, and the gestures and likeness to which the motions tend, and in which they end, they call
σχήματα: as, for instance, when by their own motions they represent the figure of Apollo, Pan, or any of the raging Bacchae. The third,
δεῖξις, is not an imitation, but a plain downright indication of the things represented. For the poets, when they would speak of Achilles, Ulysses, the earth, or heaven, use their proper names, and such as the vulgar usually understand. But for the more lively representation, they use words which by their very sound express some eminent quality in the thing, or metaphors; as when they say that streams do
babble and flash; that arrows fly
desirous the flesh to wound; or when they describe an equal battle by saying
the fight had equal heads. They have likewise a great many significative compositions in their verses. Thus Euripides of Perseus,
and Homer of a race,
So in dancing, the
σχῆμα represents the shape and figure, the
φορά shows some action, passion, or power; but by the
δεῖξις are properly and significatively shown the things themselves, for instance, the heaven, earth, or the company. Which, being done in a certain order and method, resembles the proper names used in poetry, decently clothed and attended with suitable epithets. As in these lines,
2
And in these,
3
For if poets did not take this liberty, how mean, how grovelling and flat, would be their verse! As suppose they wrote thus,
He that Medusa slew, and flies in air;
and Pindar of a horse,
When by the smooth Alpheus’ banks
He ran the race, and never felt the spur;
Themis the venerable and admired,
And Venus beauteous with her bending brows,
Dione fair, and Juno crowned with gold.
From Hellen kings renowned for giving laws,
Great Dorus and the mighty Xuthus, sprang,
And Aeolus, whose chief delight was horse.
From this came Hercules, from the other Iphitus.
Her father, husband, and her son were kings,
Her brother and forefathers were the same;
And she in Greece was called Olympias.
I fear lest, losing fame amongst the Gods,
I shall receive respect from men alone.
These, my Sossius Senecio, were almost the last discourses which we had at Ammonius’s house during the festival of the Muses.
Quaestiones Convivales. Plutarch. Boston. 1874.
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