A few particulars respecting several Laconian dances have been preserved by a grammarian,(1610) whose account we will insert at full, adding only some remarks of our own. “_The Deimalea was danced by Sileni and Satyrs waltzing in a circle_,” its name being perhaps derived from the cowardice (δεῖμα) of these “useless and worthless fellows,” as Hesiod calls them.(1611) “_The Ithymbi was danced to Bacchus, the dance of the Caryatides to Artemis; the Bryallicha was so called after its inventor Bryallichus; it was danced by women to Apollo and Artemis._” The following dances also, as appears from the conclusion, were Laconian. The Hypogypones imitated old men with sticks. The Gypones danced on wooden stilts, and wearing transparent Tarentine dresses. The Menes was danced by Charini,(1612) and took its name from the flute-player who invented it. There was a Bacchanalian dance called “_Tyrbasia_,” probably resembling the Argive Tyrbè, and deriving its name from its intricate mazes. “_A dance in which they mimicked those who were caught stealing the remains of meals was called Mimelic. But the Gymnopœdia, danced with jests and merriment, was more splendid._” The merry spirit, and the love for comic exhibition, which produced all these mimic dances, is shown in these imperfect notices, the deficiencies of which we can only supply in one instance, viz. in the account of the Deicelictæ (or Mimeli). There was at Sparta an ancient play, but it was probably acted only by the common people, and quite extempore, nor ever by regular players.(1613) From the account of Nepos it may be also conjectured that it was performed by unmarried women. The name Deicelictæ (or Mimeli) merely means “imitators;”(1614) but it came to signify only _comic_ imitators.(1615) In this play there was not (according to Sosibius)(1616) any great art; for Sparta in all things loved simplicity. It represented in plain and common language either a foreign physician or stealers of fruit (probably boys), who were caught with their stolen goods;(1617) that is, it was an imitation of common life, probably alternating with comic dances. 10. In Laconia it was chiefly the lower orders who had any decided love for comedy and buffoonery; for with the Dorians we only now and then discover a ray of levity or mirth piercing the gravity of their nature. I have already mentioned,(1618) that from the Helots, who dwelt in the houses of the Spartans, and were called Mothones, or Mothaces, a kind of riotous dance took its name, in which drunken persons were probably represented; whence perhaps was derived the story that the Spartans intoxicated their slaves as a warning to their children. Other dances may perhaps have been common among the peasants, and particularly among the shepherds of remote regions.