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the Athenian republic.* And so partial was he to the compositions of Sophron the actor, that his Moral Sentences were found under the pillow of the philosopher when he died.

The wise Solon, though he expressed indignation at some parts of the tragedies of Thespis, and was startled at their novelty, was fond of the theatre, and frequented it in his old age. Lælius, surnamed "the wise," and Scipio Africanus the younger, were the friends and patrons of Terence, and are said to have assisted him in his comedies; Julius Cæsar was a poet and orator, as well as a statesman and warrior; he thought the first title an additon to his honour, and ever named Menander and Terence with respect and delight; Brutus, the virtuous, the moral Brutus, thought his time not misemployed in a journey from Rome to Naples, only to see an excellent troop of comedians, and was so pleased with their performance that he sent them to Rome with letters of recommendation to Cicero, to take them under his patronage; this too was at a time when the city was under no small confusion from the murder of Cæsar; yet amidst the tumult of those times, and the hurry of his own affairs, he thought the having a good company of actors of too much

* Brumoy's Dissertation on Greek Comedy. Dr. Johnson's Translation.

consequence to the public to be neglected.* The stern moralist and philosopher, Seneca, is reported, on the authority of Quintilian and Erasmus, to have been the author of the tragedies usually ́ called his. The pious emperor, Marcus Aurelius, attests the utility of the Stage in the following passage. "Tragedies were first brought in and instituted to put men in mind of worldly chances and casualties. That these things, in the ordinary course of nature, did so happen; that men that were so much pleased and delighted by such accidents upon the Stage, might not by the same things upon a greater stage be grieved or afflicted; for here you see what is the end of all such matters. And in very truth many good things are spoken by these poets." Then follow some quotations from Euripides, after which he resumes: "After the tragedy, the comœdia vetus, or ancient comedy, was brought in, which had the liberty to inveigh against personal vices; being therefore through this her freedom and liberty of speech, of very good use

* Introduc. to Biog. Dramatica, by Isaac Reed-Cumberland.-Rise and Progress of the English Stage, prefixed to Cooke's Select British Drama.

† Quintilian supposes "The Medea" to have been the

composition of Seneca; other authorities attribute to him "The Troas" and "Hippolytus," and suppose the "Agamemnon," "Hercules Furens," "Thyestes," and "Hercules in Eta," to have been written by his father, Seneca "the declaimer."

and effect to restrain men from pride and arrogance to which end it was that Diogenes took also the same liberty.'

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Among the Greeks, the profession of an actor was not thought a degrading one. Æschylus held a command at Marathon, and was an officer of distinction; Sophocles was a person of the highest rank, and both these authors, as well as Euripides, performed in their own plays. The actors Neoptolemus and Aristodemus were employed in important embassies. The latter, at the proposal of Demosthenes himself, was honoured with a golden crown, the usual reward of those who had

* Rev. Dr. Meric Casaubon's translation, 1673. The original is as follows. (6 Πρωτον αἱ τραγῳδίαι παρήχθησαν ὑπομνήςικαὶ των συμβαινόντων, καὶ ὅτι ταῦτα οὕτω πέφυκε γίνεαθαι, καὶ ὅτι οἷς ἐπὶ τῆς σκηνής ψυχαγωγεῖαθε τού τοις μὴ αχθεαθ ἐπὶ της μείζονος σκηνης. ὁρᾶτε γὰρ, ὅτι οὕτω δεῖ παντα περαίνεαθαι—καὶ λέγεται δέ τινα ὑπὸ τον τα δράματα ποιούντων χρησίμως.-Μετὰ δε την τραγῳδίαν ἡ ἀρχαία κωμωδία παρήχθη, παιδαγωγικην παῤῥησίαν ἔχεσα, καὶ τῆς ἀτυφίας οὐκ αχρήστως δι αυτῆς τῆς ἐυθυῤῥημοσύνης ὑπομιμνήσκουσα. πρὸς διόν τι καί Διογένης ταυτὶ παρελάμβανε.”M. Antoninus de Rebus Suis, Lib. xi. s. 6.

+" "This Neoptolemus, was also a great tragic poet, though the orator only mentions the less honourable distinction. Not that the profession of a player was held in disesteem in Greece. Players were the favourites of princes, and were raised to the highest employments in the State. This very man was nominated, the year before, one of the ten ambassadors that went to conclude a peace with Philip."-Tourreil, Note on the Orat. de Pace.

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acquitted themselves with credit in the administration of public affairs.* With the Romans, it is true, the actor was viewed in a different light; but the law which stigmatized him proclaimed its own injustice, by tolerating the art, while it degraded the artist, and various individuals vindicated by their characters the dignity of their calling. Roscius was the companion of Sylla and Piso, and what was a greater honour, the tutor and friend of Cicero; he lived in the highest esteem of the public, and Cicero, on his death, thus highly eulogizes the scenic art, while commemorating the merits of his deceased friend. "Which of us was possessed of a bosom so rude, and so devoid of feeling, as not to have been moved by the recent death of Roscius? who, although he died advanced in years, yet seemed on account of his surpassing skill and grace to have been worthy of living for ever."+

On another occasion, when defending Roscius against Fannius, he expresses himself in even higher terms of panegyric, and speaking of the actor's private character, rather than his professional talent.

* Leland's Life of Philip, Book III. Sect. 1, ad finem. † Quis nostrum tam animo agresti ac duro fuit, at Roscii morte nuper non commoveretur? Qui quum esset senex mortuus, tamen propter excellentem artem, ac venustatem, videbatur omnino mori non debuisse.-Cic. Orat. pro Archia Poeta.

"Roscius has committed a fraud! This must indeed appear absurd to the ears and minds of all men ; but however, let us consider whom it is he has defrauded. Roscius has defrauded Caius Fannius Chærea! What can this mean? An honest man defraud a dishonest one! a modest man, an impudent one! an untainted character, a perjurer! an inexperienced person, a knowing one! a liberal hand, a miser!"* Cicero carried his opinion of Roscius and his art still higher when he said, "The excellencies of Roscius became proverbial, and the greatest praise that could be given to men of genius in any particular profession was, "that each was a RosCIUS in his art."+ Publius Syrus, another Roman actor and writer of mimes, patronized by Cæsar when Laberius displeased him,

* Fraudavit Roscius! Est hoc quidem auribus animisque hominum absurdum. Veruntamen quem fraudavit videamus. C. Fannium Chæream Roscius fraudavit! Quid est hoc? probus, improbum; pudens impudentum; perjurium, castus; callidum imperitus; liberalis, avidum."-Cic. Orat.pro.Q. Roscio Comodo.

† Jamdiu consecutus est, ut in quo quisquis artifex excel. leret, is in suo genere Roscius diceretur."-Cic. de Orat. Lib. 1.

The incident of Laberius appears to be a favourite one with the enemies of the Stage. He was a Roman knight, a writer of mimes, (an inferior kind of farces,) and was compelled by Cæsar to exhibit in his old age in one of his own compositions. On this occasion he spoke a prologue, from which Dr. Bennett, Mr.James, and Dr. Styles, quote the following passage: "After

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