(), to whom the origin of the Attic Comedy is
ascribed, is said to have been the son of Philinus, and a native of Tripodiscus, a village in
the Megaric territory, whence he removed into Attica, to the village of Icaria, a place
celebrated as a seat of the worship of Dionysus. (Ath. ii. p. 40b.; Schol. ad Aristot.
Eth. Nic. 4.2; Dict. of Antiq. art. Comoedia,
p. 342, 2d ed.) Before the time of Susarion there was, no doubt, practised, at Icaria and the
other Attic villages, that extempore jesting and buffoonery which formed a marked feature of
the festivals of Dionysus; but Susarion was the first who so regulated this species of
amusement, as to lay the foundation of Comedy, properly so called. The time at which this
important step was taken can be determined within pretty close limits. The Megaric comedy
appears to have flourished, in its full developement, about Ol. 45 or 46, Sol. 10; Marm. Par. Ep. 39; Meineke, Hist. Crit. Com.
Graec. pp. 19, 20.)
The Megaric comedy appears to have consisted chiefly in coarse and bitter personal jests,
and broad buffoonery, and this character it retained long after its offspring, the Attic
comedy, had be come more refined. (Meineke, pp. 20-24.) That the comedy of Susarion partook of
a like rudeness and buffoonery might reasonably be supposed, even if it were not expressly
asserted by ancient writers (Anon. de Com. p. xxxii.; Diomed. Grammat.
iii. p. 486); but there can be no doubt that. in his hands, a great and decided advance was
made in the character of the composition, which now in fact, for the first time, deserved that
name. One change, which he introduced, is alone sufficient to mark the difference between an
unregulated exercise of wit and an orderly composition; he was the first who adopted the
metrical form of language for comedy (Dion. Thrac. p. 748; Tzetzes, apud
Cramer. Anecd. vol. iii. p. 336; Schol. Hermog. ap. Reisk. Orat. Graec. vol. viii. p. 959;
Bentley, Phal.) It is not, however, to be inferred that the comedies of
Susarion were written; Bentley has shown that the contrary is probably true. They were brought
forward solely through the medium of the chorus, which Susarion, doubtless, subjected to
certain rules. (Marm. Par. vv. 54, 55, as restored by Böckh, Corp. Inscr. vol ii. p. 301.) It seems most probable that his plays were not
acted upon waggons. (Meineke, p. 25.) Of the nature of his subjects we know nothing for
certain; but it can hardly be conceived that his comedies were made up entirely of the mere
jests which formed the staple of the Megaric comedy; although there could only have been a
very imperfect approach to anything like connected argument or plots, for Aristotle expressly
tells us that Crates was the first who made Poet. 5.6; CRATES.) The
improvements of Susarion, then, on the Megaric comedy, which he introduced into Attica, may be
said to have consisted in the substitution of premeditated metrical compositions for irregular
extemporaneous effusions. and the regulation of the chorus to some extent. It was long before
this new species of composition took firm root in Attica ; for we hear nothing more of it
until eight years after the time of Susarion, where the art revived in the hands of Euetes,
Euxenides, and Myllus, at the very time when the Dorian comedy was developed by Epicharmus in
Sicily. (Meineke. Hist. Crit. Com. Graec. pp. 18-26.)