the others all crowd round him, doing the same with their weapons. The choragus then puts the two swords which he holds one on each shoulder; the others place theirs upon them, and thus all the swords are crossed round his neck in a horizontal position. The dancers, when thus all grouped round the choragus, make several turns or movements to the left, and jump about in time to the music. The choragus then brings his two swords down in front of him, and stands with his arms crossed, holding always the point of the one and the hilt of the other weapon; the rest follow his example, and return to their positions as in the eighth figure.
Figure 11.—Five of the dancers perform the first figure, and three others, including the choragus, make a kind of frame with their blades; a trio opposite to them do the same, and all their swords are balanced on each other. The two frames are then separated, and the position, as in the eighth figure, once more adopted, with this difference, that one man belonging to each set takes up his position, as in figure 1, and six men, forming two groups of three persons, make a triangle with their blades, advancing and retiring; a third trio is formed which does the same, turning alternately towards the other two sets.
Figure 12.—All return to the position of the first figure, raising their hands above their heads, pirouetting on the left heel, and still continuing to hold the hilt of their own sword and the point of their neighbour's weapon, and winding up with a Pyrrhic salute. They preserve a grave demeanour during the whole ceremony, a great contrast to the impetuous movements and the noises which accompanied the Pyrrhic dances of the Greeks, in which they simulated real battles.[1]
- ↑ The Principal of Elizabeth College, Guernsey (a distinguished classical scholar), is of opinion "that the Pyrrhic dance was a martial dance, into which, at a later period, acrobats were introduced, and that it was imported into Rome by the Emperors, and was performed by gladiators, when, no doubt, it finally ended in a real sanguinary combat." "The Pyrrhic salute must have been" (he continues) "the same as that of the ordinary gladiators, who, before fighting, used to parade before the imperial chair, crying 'Ave! Cæsar, morituri te salutant' (Hail, Cæsar! those devoted to death salute thee). They presented arms as they marched past."
