it is a small step to the _fabula saltica,_ which was at once nearer the
legitimate drama and further from it. It was nearer in that the scenes
were not isolated, but formed part of a more or less carefully
constructed whole. It was further inasmuch as the actor disappeared,
only the dancer remaining upon the stage. The words of the play were
relegated to a chorus, while the character, actions, and emotions of the
person represented by the words of the chorus were set forth by the
dress, gesticulation, and dancing of the _pantomimus_. How the various
scenes were connected is uncertain; but it is almost a necessary
inference that the connexion was provided by the chorus or, as in modern
oratorio, by recitative. To us the mimetic posturing of the _pantomimus_
appears an almost ridiculous substitute for drama; but the dancing of
the actors seems to have been extraordinarily artistic and at times to
have had a profound effect upon the emotions of the audience,[104] while
the brilliant success in our own time of plays in dumb show, such as the
famous _Enfant Prodigue,_ should be a warning against treating the
_pantomimus_ with contempt.

This form of entertainment was first introduced at Rome in 22 B.C. by
the actors Pylades and Bathyllus,[105] the former being famed for his
tragic dancing, the latter for a broader and more comic style, whose
dramatic counterpart would seem to have been the satyric drama.[106] The
satyric element seems, however, never to have become really popular, the
_fabula saltica_ as we know it dealing mainly with tragic or highly
emotional themes. Indeed, to judge from Lucian's disquisition on the art
of dancing, the subjects seem to have been drawn from almost every
conceivable source both of history and mythology.[107] Many of these
_salticae fabulae_ must have been mere adaptations of existing
tragedies. Their literary value was, according to Plutarch, by no means
high;[108] it was sacrificed to the music and the dancing, for the