* * * * * The Greek word for a _rite_ as already noted is _dromenon_, "a thing done"--and the word is full of instruction. The Greek had realized that to perform a rite you must _do_ something, that is, you must not only feel something but express it in action, or, to put it psychologically, you must not only receive an impulse, you must react to it. The word for rite, _dromenon_, "thing done," arose, of course, not from any psychological analysis, but from the simple fact that rites among the primitive Greeks were _things done_, mimetic dances and the like. It is a fact of cardinal importance that their word for theatrical representation, _drama_, is own cousin to their word for rite, _dromenon_; _drama_ also means "thing done." Greek linguistic instinct pointed plainly to the fact that art and ritual are near relations. To this fact of crucial importance for our argument we shall return later. But from the outset it should be borne in mind that in these two Greek words, _dromenon_ and _drama_, in their exact meaning, their relation and their distinction, we have the keynote and clue to our whole discussion. * * * * * For the moment we have to note that the Greek word for rite, _dromenon_, "thing done," is not strictly adequate. It omits a factor of prime importance; it includes too much and not enough. All "things done" are not rites. You may shrink back from a blow; that is the expression of an emotion, that is a reaction to a stimulus, but that is not a rite. You may digest your dinner; that is a thing done, and a thing of high importance, but it is not a rite. One element in the rite we have already observed, and that is, that it be done collectively, by a number of persons feeling the same emotion. A meal digested alone is certainly no rite; a meal eaten in common, under the influence of a common emotion, may, and often does, _tend_ to become a rite. Collectivity and emotional tension, two elements that tend to turn the simple reaction into a rite, are--specially among primitive peoples--closely associated, indeed scarcely separable. The individual among savages has but a thin and meagre personality; high emotional tension is to him only caused and maintained by a thing felt socially; it is what the tribe feels that is sacred, that is matter for ritual. He may make by himself excited movements, he may leap for joy, for fear; but unless these movements are made by the tribe together they will not become rhythmical; they will probably lack intensity, and certainly permanence. Intensity, then, and collectivity go together, and both are necessary for ritual, but both may be present without constituting art; we have not yet touched the dividing line between art and ritual. When and how does the _dromenon_, the _rite done_, pass over into the _drama_?