A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

360 PHRYNICH US. PHRYNICHUS.
of tragedy, the chief place after Thespis is assigned Sympos. iii. 9). Suidas also says that he composed
to Phrynichus. The external and mechanical im- pyrrhic dances (s.tv.).
provements in the drama are indeed ascribed to In the drama of Phrynichus, however, the chorus
each of the great tragedians who lived at the end still retained the principal place, and it was reof the sixth and beginning of the fifth centuries served for Aeschylus and Sophocles to bring the
B. C., namely, Choerilus, Phrynichus, Pratinas, and dialogue and action into their due position. Thus
Aeschylus; and there might well be doubts on Aristophanes, while attacking Aeschylus for this
such matters, as every formal improvement made very fault, intimates that it was a remnant of the
by either of these poets must, of necessity, have drama of Phrynichus (Ran. 906, &c.); and one of
been adopted by the others; so that the tragedy the problems of Aristotle is, " Why were the poets
which Phrynichus exhibited in B. C. 476, after of the age of Phrynichus more lyric than the later
the introduction of those improvements which are tragedians?" to which his answer is that the lyric
usually ascribed to Aeschylus, must have been parts were much more extensive than the narrative
altogether a different kind of drama from that with in their tragedies. (Prob. xix. 31.)
which he gained his first prize in B. c. 511. Of' Of the several plays of Phrynichus we have very
such inventions, the one ascribed to Phrynichus is little information. Suidas, who (as in other inthe introduction of masks representing female stances) has two articles upon him, derived, no
persons in the drama. But those improvements doubt, from different sources, gives the following
which are ascribed specially to Phrynichus affect titles: —Ihevp'li[aL (or nAsdpwcv, Paus. x. 31. ~
the internal poetical character of the drama, and 2), AiyS/?rrTto'Aic-aiwv, "AAK0l7rLis,'AvYaioS r
entitle him to be considered as the real inventor of AivL'e, AlicaLo 1 rI''poMar' dv0wKoi, Aava6&sE,
tragedy, an honour which the ancients were in'Av3pous3a,'Hpiydve, and "AAwois MlAshl'Cv (or
doubt whether to assign to him or to Thespis (Plato, MLA'Tou ivrIs). The last of these plays, which
Aflinos, p. 321). For the light, ludicrous, Baccha- has already been referred to, must have been acted
nalian stories of the latter, he substituted regular after B. c. 494, the year in which Miletus was
and serious subjects, taken either from the heroic taken by the Persians. Suidas omits one of his
age, or the heroic deeds which illustrated the nmost celebrated, and apparently one of his best
history of his own time. In these he aimed, not plays, namely, the Phoenissae, which had for its
so much to amuse the audience as to move their subject the defeat of the Persian invaders, and to
passions; and so powerful was the effect of his which Aeschylus is said by an ancient writer to
tragedy on the capture of Miletus, that the audience have been greatly indebted in his Per-sae (Aryqum.
burst into tears, and fined the poet a thousand in Aesch. Pers.). The conjecture of Bentley seems
drachmae, because he had exhibited the sufferings very probable, that this was the play with which
of a kindred people, and even passed a law that no Phrynichus gained his last recorded victory, with
one should ever again make use of that drama Themistocles for his choragus. Phrynichus had a
(Herod. vi. 21). It has been supposed by some son, Polyphradmon, who was also a tragic poet.
that the subjects chosen by Phrynichus, and his (Fabric. Bibl. Graec. vol. ii. p. 316; Bentley, Anmode of treating them, may have been influenced swer to Boyle; Welcker, Die Griech. Tray. pp. 18,
by the recent publication, under the care of Peisis- 127; Miiller; Bode; Bernhardy.)
tratus, of the collected poems of Homer; which 2. A tragic actor, son of Chorocles, whom Suidas
poems, in fact, Aristotle regards as the source of confounds with the great tragic poet, but who is
the first idea of tragedy. Aeschylus, the great distinguished from him by a scholiast on Arissuccessor of Phrynichus, used to acknowledge his tophanes (Av. 750), who mentions four Phrvnichi,
obligations to Homer, by saying that his tragedies the tragic poet, the tragic actor, the comic poet, and
were only eaiXc1'rC0yV porJAPOu Ey1dhWY uerpy.s, a general. This actor is no doubt the person
(Ath. viii. p. 348.) whose dancing is ridiculed by Aristophanes, in pasIn the poetry of the drama, also, Phrynichns sages which Bentley erroneously referred to the
made very great improvements. To the light mi- tragic poet (Vesp. 1481, 1515). He is also menmetic chorus of Thespis he added the sublime tioned by Andocides as,pv'vtXos J dpXracduieos
music of the dithyrambic chorusses; and the effect (De Myst. p. 24); and an attack in the Clouds of
of this alteration must have been to expel from the Aristophanes (1092), on the tragic actors of the
chorus much of the former element, and to cause a day is explained by the scholiast as referring to
better arrangement of the parts which were assigned Phrynichus. (See Meineke, Ilist. Crit. Cosn. Graec.
respectively to the chorus and the actor. We have pp. 148, 149.)
several allusions to the sublime grandeur, and the 3. A comic poet of the Old Comedy (Tcv 7resuvsweet harmony of his choral songs. Aristophanes'ipwv -r S apXafas ic/ytltias), was, according to
more than once contrasts these ancient and beauti- the most probable statement, the son of Eunomides
ful melodies with the involved refinements of later (Schol. ad Aristoph. Ran. 14). He first exhibited,
poets (Acv. 748, Vesp. 219, 269, Ran. 911, 1294, according to Suidas, in 01. 86, B.c. 435, where,
Thlesin. 164; comp. Schol. ad loc. and ad Ran. 941); however, we should perhaps read 01. 87, for the
some writers ascribe to Phrynichus the ancient anonymous writer on Comedy (p. 29) places him,
hymn to Pallas which Aristophanes refers to as a with Eupolis, at Oi. 87. 3, B. c. 429 (Clinton, F. H.
model of the old poetry (Nub. 964; comp. LAe- sub ann.). Nothing more is known of the life of
PROCULS); and his were among the paeans whllich Phrynichus, for the statement of the anonymous
it was customary to sing at the close of banquets writer, that he died in Sicily, refers, in all probaand of sacrifices (Bode, Gesch. d. Huellen. Dichltkunst, bility, to the tragic poet (see above), and the story
vol. ii. pt. 1, p. 70). of a scholiast (ad.lristopls. Ran. 700) about his
Phrynichus appears moreover to have paid being elected a general, is an error which has been
particular attention to the dances of the chorus; sufficiently exposed by Bentley and Meineke.
and there is al epigram ascribed to him, cele- Phrynicbus was ranked by the grammarians
brating his skill in the invention of figures (Plut. among the most distinguished poets of the Old