優美演技論の起源と韻文劇の論理

―パナイティオス演技論をめぐる試論―

抄録

“Modern theatre,” excluding chant and dance, was not necessarily born from a demand for ‘real’. In fact, until the mid-eighteenth century in Western Europe, where non-musical verse drama was developed, the most important notion in acting theories was ‘grace.’ This ambiguous notion suited the acting in this form of theatre, which, on the one hand, didn't rely on obvious musicality but rather appreciated its subtle form generated by verse. In this essay, I seek to prove that this notion was elaborated on by the mid-Stoic philosopher Panaetius (c.185-c.109 BCE), who associated Platonic and Aristotelian thoughts with Stoic philosophy.

In the Ancient corpus, the most detailed explanation of ‘grace’ in acting can be found in the Rhetoric of Longinus, who declares that “without an appropriate acting form, the discourse lacks grace,” and that “when it comes to expressing lament, one must do so in a voice between ordinary conversation and chant”. We can ascertain the source of Longinus' statement to be On Appropriate Actions of Panaetius, which was a model of Cicero's De Officiis. Therefore, we can assume that the notion of ‘grace’ in acting was associated with the Stoic “life is acting” discourse, Platonic musical acting theory, and Aristotelian ethics of moderation, made by Panaetius.