ACT 



11 fed for tlie advocate of the church ; ador tJomhiicus for the 

 lord's attorney ; aSor vida, the flcward or liead bailiff of a 

 village. 



Actor, in tlie Drama, one who rcprefents fome pcrfon 

 or character upon the theatre. The drama, in its original, 

 only conlifted of a (imple chorus, who lung hvnins in honour 

 ■of Bacchus ; fo that the primitive aftors were no more than 

 fingers and mutlcians. Thefpis was the iirft who took upon 

 -him to introduce a perfona, or atlor, who wa^ to cafe the 

 chorus by reciting the adventures of fome of the heroes. 

 Thus came the recitation or declamation in ufe. iEfchyhis, 

 finding a Ihigle perfon tirel'ome, thought to entertain the 

 audience more agreeably by the introduction of a fccond 

 perfon, who Ihould converfe and condudt dialogues with tlie 

 Jirll. He likcwife drefTcd his aftors more decently than 

 they had been before, and put on them the uuskin and tlie 

 MASK. Sophocles, finding the two perfons of iEscnYi-us 

 too fevir for the variety of incidents, added a third ; and 

 here the Greeks (lopped : at leaft, we feldom lind in any of 

 their tragedies above three perfons in the fame fcene. 

 They might probably think it wrong to admit more than 

 three fpeakcrs at the fame time op. the llage ; a rule which 

 Horace has cxpreffed in the following verfe of his Art. 

 Poet: 



" Nee quarta loqui perfona laboret." 



In their comedies they took a greater hberty. The mo- 

 derns have introduced a much greater luimber of aftors upon 

 the ftage. This heightens the trouble and diftreis that 

 Ihould reign there, and makes a diveriity, in which the 

 fpertator is fure to be iiiterelled. Horace fpeaks of a kind 

 of fecondary adlors in his time, wliofe concern it was to 

 imitate tlie iirft, and degrade themfelves in order to become 

 better foils to their principals. The proper bullnefs of 

 thefe fubaltern ailors is unknown to us. 



The acl.-,rs wore habits and fymbols fuited to their re- 

 fpeftive polls. Kings bore the regal appendages, as the 

 diadem and Iceptre ; and their garments were long robes of 

 purple and other colours, ornamented with gold. Heroes 

 were often covered with the ficin of a lion or tyger, and 

 armed with fwords, fpears, quivers, and chibs. The age, 

 fex, and condition, of every perionage of the drama were 

 almoft always indicated by the colours of the drefs. The 

 fame adlors fometimes performed both in tragedy and 

 comedy ; but they feldom excelled in both. In order to 

 acquire greater vigour and fupplenefs of body, they exer- 

 cifed in the palellra; ; and others, to render their voices 

 more duftile and fonorous, carefully obferved a ilnct ''''g'- 

 mcn. Cicero, Orat. cap. iv. torn. i. p. 423. Ed. Olivet. 

 Plato, de Leg. 1. ii. torn. ii. p. 665. Ed. Serrani. 



Befides confiderable pay which was given to aftors who 

 had acquired great reputation, e. g. a talent in two days, 

 (Plutarch in X Rhet. Vet. torn. ii. p. 348. Ed. Xylandri.) 

 they enjoyed all the privileges of citizens : and as it was re- 

 quired that they ihould be free from all the ilignias of in- 

 famy, with which the laws puniflied ofl'enees, they arrived at 

 the moil honoursble employments. A famous atlor, named 

 Ariftodemus, was fent on an cmbafTy to Philip, king of 

 Macedon. Others pofleffed great influence in the public 

 .jiflemblies. iEfchylus, Sophocles, and Ariftophancs, did 

 not blufh to aft a part in their own pieces. Allien. Deip- 

 nos. 1. i. c. 17. p. 20. c. i^. p. 21. Ed. Cafaub. At 

 Athens, aftors were thus highly honoured. But at Rome, 

 they were defpifed, and degraded from their rank as citi- 

 7.ens, expelled from their tribe, and deprived of the right of 

 luffrage by cenfors. The French have adopted the ideas 

 of the Romans, and the Englilh thofe of the Greeks. 

 Actors, in Romaii /Intiqiiiiy, See Accusation. 



ACT 



ACTOR ICUM, in /Indent Ccgraf-hy, a tcrritoiy of 

 Epirus, according to Suidas, which he lays was aftciwards 

 called Leucadla, belonging more properly to Acaniania. 



ACTORION, or AcrORis, in Enlcmolo^y, two fptcici 

 of PAPiLio, found in Surinam ; one with fnbcaiidated brown 

 wings ; the anterior marked with a yellowiih fafcia, and the 

 hinder with a blue fjiot and an oeellum underiKath ; th<: 

 other, with wings of an uniform colour, marked with brown 

 and white. 



ACTORUM Talulr, were tables inftitutcd by Sei-vius 

 TuUius, in which the births of children were regiiltrcd. 

 They were kept in the treafury of Saturnus. 



ACTRESS, AcTRix, a female who afts, or does the 

 office of an aftor. 



ArticfTes, or women aftors, were unknown to the an- 

 cients, among whom men always performed the part ot wo- 

 men ; and hence one reafon for the ufe of maflis aniong 

 them. Mem. Acad. Infcrip. torn. vii. p. iKH. Among 

 the Greeks, the women only danced ; and their place in 

 tragedies and comedies was fupplied by tumichj, whole 

 voice refemblcd theirs. 



Artred'es are laid not to have been introduced on the 

 Englilh ftage till after the reftoration of king Charles H. 

 who has been charged with contributing to the corruption 

 of our manners, by importing this ulagc from abroad. 

 But this can be but paitly true: the queen of James I. 

 afted a part in a paltoral ; and Prynn, in his Hillriomaftix, 

 fpeaks of women aftors in his lime as whore:; ; which was 

 one occafion of the fevere profecution brought againll him 

 for that book. Whitlock, Mem. 1632. Wood's Athen. 

 Oxon. tom. ii. p. 434. 



ACTRIDA, in Ancktil Geography, a town placed by 

 Phny in Arabia Felix. 



ACTUAL, fomething that is real and effcftive ; or that 

 cxiils truly and abfolutely. The philofophers ufe aSiial 

 heat, or cold ; in oppolition to f':rtual or potential. 



Aftual heat, confidered aftively, is the aft of producinjf 

 heat : paffively taken, it is the qu.ality whereby a body i» 

 denominated hot. — Virtual or potential heat, aftively taken, 

 is the power or faculty of producing heat ; paffively taken, 

 it lliould be the power or faculty of being heated, or re- 

 ceiving aftual heat. 



In medicinal language, aftual is alfo oppofed to fntentia!, 

 and is applied to any thing endued with a quality whicK 

 operates by an immediate power inherent in it. For ex- 

 ample : a red-hot iron, or tire, is called an aftual cauteiy, 

 in contradiftinftion to cauteries, whicli have a power of 

 producing the fame effefts on animal folids, as aftual (ire ; 

 and which are called potential cauteries or caullics. Boiling 

 water is aftually hot, and brandy is potentially hot. 



ABual iln is that committed knowingly, by a perfon ar- 

 rixed at the years of difcretion : in contradiftinftion to what 

 Tiieologians have culled Original sin. 



Ailiuil poffelhon and actual right of poffeflion are tci-ms 

 ufed in Jmiv, for the meaning of which fee Possession. 



ACTUARIjE naves, in yintiquity, a fort of long and 

 light (hips, thus denominated as being particularly con- 

 trived for fwifinefs and expedition ; they anfwer to what the 

 French call hrigantines. 



Cicero, in an epiille to Atticus, calk a fiiip decern fcalmt' 

 rum, of ten banks of rowers, atiuariola. 



ACTLIARIUS, or AcTARivs, primarily denotes a no- 

 tary, or officer appointed to write down the afts or proceed- 

 ings of a court, aftembly, or the like. 



In the eallcrn empire, the aftuarii were properly officeri 



who kept the militai-y accounts, received the corn from the 



fifceptores, or ilore-keepers, and diftributed it to tlie lol- 



13 b 2 diatr 



