There is very little to say about dancing among the Greeks; in spite of its importance in religious observances and plays or choruses, it was of little account in daily life. We do not find it mentioned among the usual subjects of instruction, except, indeed, at Sparta. Dancing was a popular amusement, especially as an entertainment during banquets and drinking feasts; but the guests did not dance themselves, but contented themselves with looking on at professional performers. Still, no doubt, it sometimes happened that when the revellers had drunk a good deal of wine, they felt inspired to join the dance; there were certainly opportunities for learning it, since we are expressly told that Socrates took lessons in dancing at an advanced age. It is almost always solo dancing that is in question; this consisted chiefly in rhythmic movements of hands and feet in a variety of well-chosen postures, and was essentially connected with gymnastics, in which the training in dancing was sometimes included. Dancing together by people of different sexes, such as is customary with us, was unknown in the social life of antiquity, and would in any case have been impossible in Greece, owing to the separation which existed in ordinary life between men and women. The chief use of the dance was for religious purposes. In the most ancient times solemn dances were always a part of worship; merry dances were part of the service of Dionysus; and sometimes both sexes took part in these choric dances, but even here there was no question of round dancing, but only of a series of movements regulated by music, and of a dignified and rhythmical character. The dances in armour which were popular in the Doric states, and were, of course, only performed by men, were of a livelier character. The dancers were equipped with helmet, shield, and sword, and went through a number of choregraphic evolutions; the dances at country festivals, which very often had a pantomimic character, were also of a lively nature. Here, as well as in the solemn religious dances, it was very common for the dancers to sing as they danced, and sometimes even accompany themselves on some instrument; in fact, this distinction holds good between dancing in ancient and in modern times, that in antiquity it was not an object in itself, but was always closely connected with the other musical arts. The ancient dance attained its highest development and perfection in the drama, where dancing, music, and pantomime were most perfectly combined; but we shall have occasion to refer to this later on, in discussing the theatre of the Greeks. CHAPTER X. RELIGIOUS WORSHIP. Greek Religion--The Functions of the Priest--Forms of Worship, Prayer, and Sacrifice--Purification--Holy Water--Two Forms of Sacrifice, Bloody and Bloodless--Libations--Prophecy and Divinations--The Oracles.