And for this reason the Dorians claim as their own both tragedy and comedy—comedy is claimed both by the Megarians here in Greece, who say that it originated in the days of their democracy, and by the Megarians in Sicily,The inhabitants of Megara Hyblaea. for it was from there the poet EpicharmusEpicharmus of Cos wrote in Sicily burlesques and mimes depicting scenes of daily life. He and Phormis were originators of comedy in that they sketched types instead of lampooning individuals (cf. Aristot. Poet. 5.5): of Chionides and Magnes we only know that they were early comedians, i.e., in the first half of the fifth century B.C. came, who was much earlier than Chionides and Magnes; and tragedy some of the Peloponnesians claim. Their evidence is the two names.

Their name, they say, for suburb villages is κῶμαι—the Athenians call them Demes—and comedians are so called not from κωμάζειν, to revel, but because they were turned out of the towns and went strolling round the villages( κῶμαι). Their word for action, they add, is δρᾶν, whereas the Athenian word is πράττειν. So much then for the differences, their number, and their nature.

Speaking generally, poetry seems to owe its origin to two particular causes, both natural.

From childhood men have an instinct for representation, and in this respect, differs from the other animals that he is far more imitative and learns his first lessons by representing things. And then there is the enjoyment people always get from representations.

What happens in actual experience proves this, for we enjoy looking at accurate likenesses of things which are themselves painful to see, obscene beasts, for instance, and corpses.