Chap. 10.] INSTANCES OF EESEMBLANCE. 147 



her as the successor to the crown. Yibius, a member of the 

 plebeian order/^ and Publicius as well, a freedman who had 

 formerly been a slave, so strongly resembled Pompeins Magnus 

 in appearance as to be scarcely distinguishable from him ; they 

 both had that ingenuous countenance^* of his, and that fine 

 forehead, ^^ which so strongly bespoke his noble descent. It 

 was a similar degree of resemblance to this, that caused the 

 surname of his cook, Menogenes, to be given to the father 

 of Pompeius Magnus, he having already obtained that of 

 Strabo, on account of the cast in his eye,^ a defect which he 

 had contracted through imitating a similar one in his slave. 

 Scipio, too, had the name of Serapion given him, after the vile 

 slave of a pig-jobber : and after him, another Scipio of the 

 same family was surnamed Salvitto, after a mime^" of that 

 name. In the same way, too, Spinther and Pamphilus, who 

 were respectively actors of only second and third rate parts, 

 gave their names to Lentulus and Metellus, who were at that 

 time colleagues in the consulship ; so that, by a very curious 

 but disagreeable coincidence, the likenesses of the two consuls 

 were to be seen at the same moment on the stage. 



On the other hand again, L. Plancus, the orator, bestowed 

 his sumamfe on the actor Rubrius : the player, Burbideius, 

 again, gave his name to the elder Curio, and the player, Meno- 

 genes, to Messala, the censor.^® There was a certain fisher- 

 man, too, a native of Sicily, who bore a strong resemblance to 

 the proconsul, Sura, not only in his features, but in the mode even 



^^ This circumstance is related by Valerius Maximus, but he speaks of 

 Vibius as being "ingenuse stirpis," "of good family." — B. 



^•^ Hardouin expands the Avords " os probum," into " liberale, venus- 

 tum, gratum, venerandum, probandum," B. xxxvii. c. 6. — B. 



65 See B. xxxvii. c. 6. 



66 The Latin word "strabo," means "squinting," or "having a cast" or 

 " defect in the eye." 



6' The word " mimus" was applied by the Eoraans to a species of dra- 

 matic performance, as weU as to the persons who acted in them. The 

 Eoman mimes were imitations of trivial and sometimes indecent occur- 

 rences in life, and scarcely differed from comedy, except in consisting more 

 of gestures and mimicry than of spoken dialogue. Sylla was very fond 

 of these performances, and they had more charms for the Eoman populace 

 than, the regular drama. As to the mime Salvitto, here mentioned, see 

 B. XXXV. c. 2. 



63 This anecdote, and the one respecting Spinther and Pamphilus, are 

 mentioned also by Val. Maximus, B, ix. c. 2-1. — B. 



