members, disciplined its ranks, heightened its effect, and supplied new
lyrics for its use.

Another exemplification of singular coincidence and diversity between
the two nations appears in this, that the goat was common in the
religious observances of both; a similar ritual required the sacrifice
of this animal: but with the Jews the creature was an emblem of
solemnity, while with the Greeks he was significant of joy; the Jews
sacrificed him on their fasts,--the Greeks in their feasts. And here we
may observe, that tragedy, the most dignified and the primitive form of
the drama, deduces its origin from the goat,--being, literally, the song
of the goat, that is, the song accompanying the sacrifice of the goat.

Let us now endeavor to answer the question, Why, since the drama was
generally introduced among surrounding nations, and Jewish customs and
life comprised so many initial dramatic materials, this art was not
known among that people?

It was owing to the earnestness and solemnity of their religious faith.
We find the cause in the simple, exalted, and comparatively spiritual
ideas they had of the Supreme Being; in a word, we shall state the whole
ground to be this,--that the Greeks were polytheists, and the Jews
monotheists.

Let us bear in mind that the chorus, and the drama that was built upon
it, had a religious association, and were employed in religious
devotion. We may add, moreover, that the Greeks introduced their gods
upon the stage; this the Jews could not do. The Greeks, of course, had a
great deal of religious feeling, but they could not cherish that
profound reverence for the object of their worship which the Jews