But before proceeding I must distinguish the dancing about which thereis any doubt, from that about which there is no doubt. Which is thedoubtful kind, and how are the two to be distinguished? There aredances of the Bacchic sort, both those in which, as they say, theyimitate drunken men, and which are named after the Nymphs, and Pan,and Silenuses, and Satyrs; and also those in which purifications aremade or mysteries celebrated-all this sort of dancing cannot berightly defined as having either a peaceful or a warlike character, orindeed as having any meaning whatever and may, I think, be mosttruly described as distinct from the warlike dance, and distinctfrom the peaceful, and not suited for a city at all. There let it lie;and so leaving it to lie, we will proceed to the dances of war andpeace, for with these we are undoubtedly concerned. Now theunwarlike muse, which honours in dance the Gods and the sons of theGods, is entirely associated with the consciousness of prosperity;this class may be subdivided into two lesser classes, of which oneis expressive of an escape from some labour or danger into good, andhas greater pleasures, the other expressive of preservation andincrease of former good, in which the pleasure is less exciting;-inall these cases, every man when the pleasure is greater, moves hisbody more, and less when the pleasure is less; and, again, if he bemore orderly and has learned courage from discipline he waves less,but if he be a coward, and has no training or self-control, he makesgreater and more violent movements, and in general when he is speakingor singing he is not altogether able to keep his body still; and soout of the imitation of words in gestures the whole art of dancing hasarisen. And in these various kinds of imitation one man moves in anorderly, another in a disorderly manner; and as the ancients may beobserved to have given many names which are according to nature anddeserving of praise, so there is an excellent one which they havegiven to the dances of men who in their times of prosperity aremoderate in their pleasures-the giver of names, whoever he was,assigned to them a very true, and poetical, and rational name, when hecalled them Emmeleiai, or dances of order, thus establishing two kindsof dances of the nobler sort, the dance of war which he called thePyrrhic, and the dance of peace which he called Emmeleia, or the danceof order; giving to each their appropriate and becoming name. Thesethings the legislator should indicate in general outline, and theguardian of the law should enquire into them and search them out,combining dancing with music, and assigning to the several sacrificialfeasts that which is suitable to them; and when he has consecrated allof them in due order, he shall for the future change nothing,whether of dance or song. Thenceforward the city and the citizensshall continue to have the same pleasures, themselves being as faras possible alike, and shall live well and happily.
I have described the dances which are appropriate to noble bodiesand generous souls. But it is necessary also to consider and knowuncomely persons and thoughts, and those which are intended to producelaughter in comedy, and have a comic character in respect of style,song, and dance, and of the imitations which these afford. For seriousthings cannot be understood without laughable things, nor opposites atall without opposites, if a man is really to have intelligence ofeither; but he can not carry out both in action, if he is to haveany degree of virtue. And for this very reason he should learn themboth, in order that he may not in ignorance do or say anything whichis ridiculous and out of place-he should command slaves and hiredstrangers to imitate such things, but he should never take any seriousinterest in them himself, nor should any freeman or freewoman bediscovered taking pains to learn them; and there should always be someelement of novelty in the imitation. Let these then be laid down, bothin law and in our discourse, as the regulations of laughableamusements which are generally called comedy. And, if any of theserious poets, as they are termed, who write tragedy, come to us andsay-"O strangers, may we go to your city and country or may we not,and shall we bring with us our poetry-what is your will about thesematters?"-how shall we answer the divine men? I think that ouranswer should be as follows:-Best of strangers, we will say to them,we also according to our ability are tragic poets, and our tragedyis the best and noblest; for our whole state is an imitation of thebest and noblest life, which we affirm to be indeed the very truthof tragedy. You are poets and we are poets, both makers of the samestrains, rivals and antagonists in the noblest of dramas, which truelaw can alone perfect, as our hope is. Do not then suppose that weshall all in a moment allow you to erect your stage in the agora, orintroduce the fair voices of your actors, speaking above our own,and permit you to harangue our women and children, and the commonpeople, about our institutions, in language other than our own, andvery often the opposite of our own. For a state would be mad whichgave you this licence, until the magistrates had determined whetheryour poetry might be recited, and was fit for publication or not.
Wherefore, O ye sons and scions of the softer Muses, first of all showyour songs to the magistrates, and let them compare them with our own,and if they are the same or better we will give you a chorus; but ifnot, then, my friends, we cannot. Let these, then, be the customsordained by law about all dances and the teaching of them, and letmatters relating to slaves be separated from those relating tomasters, if you do not object.
Cle. We can have no hesitation in assenting when you put thematter thus.
Ath. There still remain three studies suitable for freemen.