We have another curious instance about this date of an earnest-minded
man being above the humour of the day, (which, no doubt, consisted
principally of gesticulation), and he was probably voted an unsociable,
old-fashioned fellow. Anacharsis, the great Scythian philosopher, when
jesters were introduced into his company maintained his gravity, but
when afterwards a monkey was brought in, he burst into a fit of
laughter, and said, "Now this is laughable by Nature; the other by Art."
That amusement should be thus excited by natural objects denotes a very
eccentric or primitive perception of the ludicrous, seldom now found
among mature persons, but it is such as Diodorus, quoting no doubt from
earlier histories, attributed to Osiris--"to whom," he says, "when in
Ethiopia, they brought Satyrs, (who have hair on their backs,) for he
was fond of what was laughable."

But a further development of humour was in progress. As people were at
that time easily induced to regard sufferings as ludicrous, the idea
suggested itself of creating mirth by administering punishment, or by
indulging in threats and gross aspersions. A very slight amount of
invention or complexity was here necessary. The origin of the comic
drama furnishes an illustration of this. It commenced in the harvest
homes of Greece and Sicily--in the festivals of the grape-gatherers at
the completion of the vintage. They paraded the villages, crowned with
vine-leaves, carrying poles and branches, and smeared with the juice of
grapes. Their aim was to provoke general merriment by dancing, singing,
and grotesque attitudes, and by giving rein to their coarse and
pugnacious propensities. Spectators and passers by were assailed with
invectives, pelted with missiles, and treated to all that hostile humour
which is associated with practical joking. So vile was their language
and conduct that "comedy" came to signify abuse and vilification. As the
taste for music and rhythm became general in that sunny clime, even