The Golden Verses of Pythagoras — with commentary (1917)
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A singular coincidence, Messieurs, which will not escape your sagacity, is that dramatic art, whose origin is lost in India in the night of time, has likewise had its birth in the mysteries of religion. It is during the Ram-Jatra, a fSte celebrated annually in honour of Rama, the same as Dionysus of the Greeks, or Bacchus of the Latins, that one still sees theatrical representations which have served as models for the more regular works that have been made in the course of time. ^ These representations, which run through nearly all the exploits of Rama and through the victory that this beneficent god gained over Rawhan, the principle of evil, are mingled with chants and recitations exactly as were those of the ancient Greeks. You understand, Messieurs, that the first efforts of tragedy were to celebrate the conquests of Bacchus and his triumph, of which that of Apollo over the serpent Python, celebrated by the Pythian games, was the emblem. ' Those of the Indians who appear to have preserved the most ancient traditions, since the sacred books were written in the Pali language, considered as anterior to the Sanskrit by some savants, the Burmans, have from time immemorial recorded the mysteries of Rama in scenic dramas which are still performed in public on the itte day of this god. * I do not consider it amiss to mention here that the name of Rama, which in Sanskrit signifies
' See Asiatic Researches, v. iii., p. 427-431, and 465-467. Also Grammar of the Bengal Language, preface, p. v.
' See Interesting Historical Events, by Holwell, ch. 7. 3 Aristot., Prohl., 15, c. 19; Pausan., 1. i., c. 7. < See Asiatic Researches, vol. vi., p. 300-308. 4
50 The Golden Verses of Pythagoras that which is dazzling and beautiful, that which is sublime and protective, has had the same signification in Phoenician,* and that it is from this same name to which is joined a demonstrative article common to Aramaic, Chaldean, and Syriac, that the word drama** is formed, and which being adopted by the Greek tongue, has passed afterwards into the Latin tongue and into ours. This word has expressed an action, because, in truth, it depicts one in the mysteries and besides its primitive root refers to regular movement in general.
But as my purpose is not to follow at present dramatic art in all its ramifications and as it suffices me to have indicated clearly the origin, I return to Greece.
The spectacle of which I have spoken, effect of a Bacchic enthusiasm, and at first abandoned to the caprice of certain rustic grape-gatherers whose indiscretions did not appear formidable, struck so forcibly by its novelty and produced such a marvellous effect upon the people, that it was not long before certain men of most cultivated minds were seen desirous of taking part either from liking or from interest. Thespis and Susarion appeared at the same time and each seized, according to his character, one the noble and serious side and the other the ridiculous and amusing side of the mythological fables; dividing thus from its birth, dramatic
* Rama is, in Sanskrit, the name of that which is dazzling, elevated, white, sublime, protective, beautiful, excellent. This word has exactly the same sense in the Phoenician m {ram). Its primitive root, which is universalized by the hSmantique letter a (m), is Kl ( ra), which has reference to the harmonic movement of good, of light, and of sight. The name of the adversary of Rama, Sawhan, is formed from the root V^ (rawh) which expresses, on the contrary, the disordered movement of evil and of fire, and which, becoming united with the augmentative syllable \\ {dn), depicts whatever ravages and ruins; this is the signification which it has in Sanskrit.
** Prom the word »n"i {rama) is formed in Phoenician the word KBIT {drama) by the adjunction of the demonstrative article T {d') ; that is to say, a thing which comes from Rama : an action well ordered, beautiful, sublime, etc. Notice that the Greek verb Spaeiv, to act, whence is drawn very inappropriately the word Sftâim, is always attached to the same root «1 {ra) which is that of harmonic movement.
The Essence and Form of Poetry 51 art and distinguishing it by two kinds, tragedy and comedy : that is, the lofty and austere chant, and the joyous and lascivious chant. ' *
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