Lucian Volume V by Lucian Of Samosata

Author:Lucian Of Samosata [Lucian Of Samosata]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, History, Humor, Philosophy
Goodreads: 50712235
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 1961-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

If what Plato says about the soul is true, the three parts of it are excellently set forth by the dancer —the orgillous part when he exhibits a man in a rage, the covetous part when he enacts lovers, and the reasoning part when he bridles and governs each of the different passions; this last, to be sure, is disseminated through every portion of the dance just as touch is disseminated through the other senses.[85] And in planning for beauty and for symmetry in the figures of the dance, what else does he do but confirm the words of Aristotle, who praised beauty and considered it to be one of the three parts of the chief good ?[86] Moreover, I have heard a man express an excessively venturesome opinion about the silence of the characters in the dance, to the- effect that it was symbolic of a Pythagorean tenet.[87]

Again, some of the other pursuits promise to give pleasure and others profit, but only the dance has both; and indeed the profit in it is far more beneficial for being associated with pleasure. How much more delightful it is to see than young men boxing, astream with blood, and other young men wrestling in the dust! Why, the dance often presents them in a way that is less risky and at the same time more beautiful and pleasurable. As to the energetic movement of the dance, its twists and turns and leaps and back-flung poses, they are really not only pleasurable to the spectators, but highly healthful for the performers themselves. I should call it the most excellent and best balanced of gymnastic exercises, since besides making the body soft, supple and light, and teaching it to be adroit in shifting, it also contributes no little strength.

Then why is not dancing a thing of utter harmony, putting a fine edge upon the soul, disciplining the body, delighting the beholders and teaching them much that happened of old, to the accompaniment of flute and cymbals and cadenced song and magic that works its spell through eye and ear alike ? If it is felicity of the human voice that you seek, where else can you find it or what can you hear that is more richly vocal or more melodious ? If it is the high-pitched music of the flute or of the syrinx, in the dance you may enjoy that also to the full. I forbear to mention that you will become better in character through familiarity with such a spectacle, when you see the assembly detesting misdeeds, weeping over victims of injustice, and in general schooling the characters of the individual spectators. But let me tell you in conclusion what is particularly to be commended in our dancers: that they cultivate equally both strength and suppleness of limb seems to me as amazing as if the might of Heracles and the daintiness of Aphrodite were to be manifested in the same person.

I wish now to depict for you in words what a good dancer should be like in mind and in body.

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