[Illustration: Fig. 25.--Funeral dance from the same tomb.] As Rome, which never rose to the intellectual and imaginative state of Greece in her best period, represented wealth, commerce, and conquest, in a greater degree, so were her arts, and with these the lyric. In her best state her nobles danced, Appius Claudius excelled, and Sallust tells us that Sempronia "psaltere saltare elegantius"; so that in those days ladies played and danced, but no Roman citizen danced except in the religious dances. They carried mimetic dances to a very perfect character in the time of Augustus under the term of _Musica muta_. After the second Punic war, as Greek habits made their way into Italy, it became a fashion for the young to learn to dance. The education in dancing and gesture were important in the actor, as masks prevented any display of feature. The position of the actor was never recognized professionally, and was considered _infamia_. But the change came, which caused Cicero to say "no one danced when sober." Eventually the performers of lower class occupied the dancing platform, and Herculaneum and Pompeii have shown us the results. [Illustration: Fig. 26.--Bacchante leading the Dionysian bull to the altar. Bas-relief in the Vatican.] In the theatre the method of the Roman chorus differed from that of the Greeks. In the latter the orchestra or place for the dancing and chorus was about 12 ft. below the stage, with steps to ascend when these were required; in the former the chorus was not used in comedy, and having no orchestra was in tragedies placed upon the stage. The getting together of the chorus was a public service, or liturgia, and in the early days of Grecian prosperity was provided by the choregus. Tiberius by a decree abolished the Saturnalia, and exiled the dancing teachers, but the many acts of the Senate to secure a better standard were useless against the foreign inhabitants of the Empire accustomed to sensuality and licence. [Illustration: Fig. 27--Bacchante. From a fresco, Pompeii, 1st century B.C.] [Illustration: Fig. 28.--Dancer. From a fresco in the Baths of Constantine, 4th century A.D.] Perhaps the encouragement of the more brutal combats of the Coliseum did something to suppress the more delicate arts, but historians have told us, and it is common knowledge, what became of the great Empire, and the lyric with other arts were destroyed by licentious preferences. CHAPTER IV. THE "EARLY ENGLISH" AND "MEDIAEVAL" DANCE TO THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. The last illustration from the Baths of Constantine brought us into the Christian era, although that example was not of Christian sentiment or art. It is possible that the dance of Salome with its diabolical reward may have prejudiced the Apostolic era, for we find no example of dancing, as exhibiting joy, in Christian Art of that period. The dance before Herod is historical proof that the higher classes of Hebrews danced for amusement.