United Colleges - Vox Yearbook (Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada)

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20 VOX by lot from the first one. At the end of the contest a third list of five Judges was selected by lot from the second list and these five Judges decided the result of the compe¬ tition. The object of this elabor¬ ate scheme of the election of Judges was to avoid a prejudiced decision on the part of the Judges, although many a time the audience had the deciding vote. During the Dionysia Greeks from all parts of the then known world flocked into the city of Athens, and thus the audience was cosmopolitan in appearance. Actors, Chorus and Costumes The chorus, usually of fifteen, was chosen by the Choregus, any prominent and wealthy citizen who would undertake to meet the cost of the wages, training and cos¬ tumes of the chorus. They per¬ formed in the orchestra. The ac¬ tors, hired by the State, performed on the stage. The number of actors never ex¬ ceeded three, but each actor, owing to the fact that he wore a mask, could take more than one part. There was no limitation to the number of mute and subordinate characters which might be intro¬ duced at any time upon the stage. The only restriction was that no more than three of the more pro¬ minent characters could take part in the dialogue in the course of the same scene. The dress of the actors, always entirely distinct from that of the chorus, was similar to that of or¬ dinary life, but more dignified and flowing. The garments were dyed in every variety of brilliant color. The bulk of the actor was in¬ creased by padding his chest and limbs, and placing hugh wooden soles under his feet. Masks were employed in which every feature was exaggerated, to give super¬ human dignity and terror to the expression. In the earliest period of the Greek drama the chorus, chosen from the general body of citizens, was the sole performer. Gradually it began to dwindle in importance until at length either disappeared altogether, or sank to the position of the band in a modern theatre. Originally the principal part of the training was done by the poet himself. He was assisted by a sub¬ ordinate who looked after the rou¬ tine work and was called Hypodi- daskalos. But towards the end of the 5th and the beginning of the 4th century, a class of men came into existence who made choral in¬ struction their regular business. These professional teachers were paid by the Choregus. When the contest was ended and the decision of the Judges pro¬ nounced, the names of the victori¬ ous poet and of his Choregus were publicly proclaimed by the herald, and they were crowned with gar¬ lands of ivy in the presence of the spectators. As to the rewards for the poets, the tradition was that in the earli¬ est times the prize for Tragedy was a goat, and the prize for Comedy a basket of figs and a jar of wine. Later, when the dramatic con¬ tests were organized, each of the competing poets received payment of money from the State. The value of these prizes is un¬ known. It is apparent, however, that the rewards were sufficiently large to cover the expenses of the old dramatists, who had not only to write the plays, but also to sup¬ erintend their production. (Continued on page 59)

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vox 19 ters, and in the nature of his plots, he differed much from his two great predecessors. Among his contemporaries the tragedies of Euripides were not generally popular. This is attested by the small number of victories he won. Very likely this unpopu¬ larity is to be accounted for by the fact that the peoples of that time were not ready for the realism of his plays. They preferred the lofty poetical language and the ideal characters of Sophocles to the every-day language and more real characters of Euripides. Aristotle tells a story to the effect that So¬ phocles once said that he made men as they ought to be, and Euri¬ pides as they were. This describes well the difference between the two poets. After the death of Euripides Greek Tragedy declined. At Ath¬ ens, during the 5th century, there had been other tragic poets besides the three great masters, and some¬ times one of these less known poets won a victory over his most fam¬ ous rivals, but none of them were writers of the first rank, and their works have perished. The same is true of the tragic poets of the 4th century. In the third century there was a revival of Tragedy and for a time it flourished at Alexan¬ dra, but after this its decline was rapid and cannot be easily traced. This, then, is how Tragedy de¬ veloped from a rude Dithvrambic song to the masterpieces of the great dramatists. And now let us visit the place in which these fully developed tragedies were performed and how they were performed. The Tragedies were performed during the festival of Dionysus, the Lensea or Vine Festival at the city Dionysia and at the theatre of Dionysus, in Athens. The Theatre The theater of Dionysus at Athens during the 6th century con¬ sisted of a round dancing place, the Orchestra and the Thymele or Al¬ ter, in the center of Orchestra, for sacrifices to the god. There was no stage. During the 5th century a green room was provided for changes of dress, the tent of Skene (modern English tent) which was used as the background of the play. All these, like the seats of the spectators, were apparently of wood and were constructed for temporary use only, until in the 4th century Lucourgus built a scene of stone and erected stone seats for the spectators. There is a dispute whether there was a raised stage before the pro- scepium for the actors or were they on the same level as the chorus in the Orchestra. From my own local observations, I am rather inclined to believe that there was a raised stage. Competition and Judges The poet who wished to bring out a play sent in his application to the Archon. The plays offered for exhibition were carefully ex¬ amined by the Archon, who pro¬ ceeded to select from among the various applicants the three best poets, and afterwards to assign the choruses. The number of Judges for a Comedy were five, for a Tragedy probably the same. The selection of Judges was an elaborate affair, consisting of a combination of two principles, that of the election by a vote, and that of the appointment by lot. A large preliminary list of Judges was first elected by vote. At the beginning of the contest a second list of the Judges was chosen

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vox 21 Young Manitoba Lurking somewhere in these halls there may be a future premier of Manitoba, not to mention a host of prospective cabinet ministers. For their sakes as well as our own, for we are all Young Manitobans, we should like to point out a few facts which suggest that we have a job on our hands. In the first place, it is distressing to find that a man, or men, in high public office in Manitoba may have their integrity assailed on evidence which is confessedly too slight to admit of such charges in private life. Thus we have, in Manitoba, the paradox that the more neces¬ sary and vital one ' s reputation may be to a successful career, the more lightly may it be impugned. If Manitoba is to have in its public life men of culture and ideals, who value their good name, then this must be changed. There must be no lower standard when one is “speaking politically.” And, let Young Manitoba say, the best and and indeed only final assurance of honest government in Manitoba, or anywhere, is the value placed upon personal honor and integrity by the men who are in the business of gov¬ ernment. There are other things which concern us Young Manitobans. We want to know if ever we can escape from the sinister influences which may arise from the custom of all parties (with the possible exception of Labor) accepting se¬ cret gifts from interested corpora¬ tions. In the case which is at pres¬ ent so notorious, we do not know what the influence of these contri¬ butions may have been. But we want no such ready way of cor¬ ruption to remain open. We do not believe that it adds to the dig¬ nity and soundness of public life in Manitoba. It is an incubus which works in the dark, and may brood foully. Because we value our democratic institutions and the liberties which our fathers won for us, we young Manitobans are going to ask if any man will dare to tell us that the ancient dignities and salutary rights of our elected representative body are to be measured by a few dollars, or tens of dollars, gained per horse or any other power, on a commer¬ cial contract. Young Manitobans believe that what has been so dearly bought should not be lightly bar¬ tered. If bureaucracy, even if it is financially thrifty, is going to re¬ fuse to minorities the right of ob¬ taining information and the oppor¬ tunity to discuss important public measures, then young Manitoba is going to check bureaucratic ten¬ dencies. Young Manitobans are idealistic (we confess it), and we desire to be practical. Hence, believing it is bad both ideally and practically, we deplore the mistaken notions or doubtful ethics which could lead cabinet ministers, who are con¬ cerned with the disposition of pub¬ lic measures, to involve themselves in personal interests which might prejudice their action. Scripture to the contrary, we cannot prevent our left hand from knowing what our right is doing. Let it be said, how¬ ever, that we are hopeful that henceforth this difficult maxim will not be attempted by our public men. Among us young Manitobans there are those who believe that it is of more advantage to conserve