Francisci Porti Cretensis... In omnes Sophoclis tragoedias prolegomena, ut vulgo vocantur

dramas, acts, and plays. Aristotle in his Poetics says that tragedy drew its origin from the dithyrambs. Aristotle's words are these: original Greek: "It arose, then, from an improvisational beginning, both it and comedy; and it from those who led the dithyramb, and it from those of the phallic, which even now, etc. and it was increased a little." I correct that "born" referring to a textual corruption in the Greek source and read "having been born." But enough of the origin of tragedy. Thespis then transferred it elsewhere from divine matters and performed it throughout the villages, towns, and crossroads on carts. Horace is the author:

Thespis is said to have invented the unknown genre of Tragic Muses,
And to have carried his poems on carts,
Which they might sing, etc.

Plato, in that dialogue which is inscribed Minos, or On Law, reports that tragedy had been cultivated by another Athenian long before Thespis. This matters little: Aristotle in his Poetics testifies that tragedy underwent many changes, finally having attained an absolute form, and thus ceased to be changed. In this genre of absolute tragedy, he praises our Sophocles. The parts into which tragedy is divided are four: Prologue, epeisodion episode, exodos exit, and chorikon choric part. The prologue is the part of the tragedy before the arrival of the chorus. The epeisodion is the part of the tragedy between the continuous songs of the chorus. The exodos is the part of the tragedy after which there is no further song of the chorus. Aristotle divides the chorikon into parodos entrance song, stasimon stationary song, and kommos lament. He defines the parodos, that is, the approach or entrance onto the stage, as the first utterance of the entire chorus. The stasimon is a song without trochaic and anapestic meter. The kommos is a lament, or mourning, common to the chorus with those who are on the stage.

Between tragedy and comedy, while there are other differences, this one is the first: in comedy, the fortunes of men are mediocre, the fears are small, the dangers are small, and the endings are happy. In tragedy, on the contrary, the persons are great, the fears are great, and the endings are fatal. In the former, the beginning is turbulent and the end is tranquil; in tragedy, on the contrary, the beginnings are happy and peaceful, and the endings are turbulent and fatal. In tragedy, a life to be fled is expressed; in comedy, a life to be sought. Finally, comedy invents its plots. Tragedy often draws from historical truth. It uses iambic verse, since this meter seems most apt for alternating conversations. original Greek: "For the iambic is most conversational of the meters."

meters