651 
PLAYHOUSE. 
thofe of Terence. They are a!fo of a ruder caft, and 
more extravagant, retaining, perhaps, a larger portion of 
the rough horfe-play peculiar to the Fabulce Atellance. 
Terence, on the contrary, is elegant, refined, and fenten- 
tious ; decorous and regular in the conftrudlion of his 
plots; exhibiting more of wit in his dialogue than of 
comic force in his fituations; grave often and moral ; 
fometimes even pathetic ; and furnifhing, upon the whole, 
the mod perfedl fpecimens of the Grecian comedy, both 
in a£lion and character. 
The alterations which the Romans made in the 
practice of the theatrical art do not feem to have been of 
great confequence. One circumftance, however, deferves 
notice. The orcheftra, or, as we fliould fay, the pit of the 
theatre, was no longer left vacant for the occafional oc¬ 
cupation of the chorus, but was filled with the fenators, 
knights, and other more refpeftable citizens. The ftage 
was thus brought more near to the eye of the higher clafs 
of the audience. It would alfo feem that the theatres 
were fmaller; for we read of two fo conftruCted, that 
each turned upon a pivot, fo that, when placed back to 
back, they were feparate theatres, yet were capable of 
being wheeled round, with all the audience, fo as to bring 
their oblong ends together, then forming a fingle amphi¬ 
theatre, in which the games of the circus fucceeded to 
dramatic reprefentation. It is not eafy to conceive the 
exigence of fuch machinery, (though the fpedlators are 
wheeled round at our modern Diorama;) but the ftory, 
at any rate, feems to (how, that their theatres mud have 
been much fmaller than thofe of Greece, to admit the 
fuppofition of fuch an evolution as being in any degree 
practicable. This diminution in the fize of the houfe, 
and the occupation of the orcheftra by the moft dignified 
part of the audience, may have afforded areafon why maflcs 
were, at lead occalionally, difufed on the Roman ftage. 
That they were fometimes difufed is certain; for Cicero 
mentions Rofcius Gallus as ufing a mafk to conceal a 
deformity arifing from the inequality of his eyes, which 
implies plainly that other comedians played with their 
faces difclofed. It is therefore probable, that the im¬ 
perfections of the mafk were felt, fo foon as the diftance 
was diminiftied between the performer and the fpedtators ; 
and we may hazard a conjecture, that this difguife was 
firft laid afide in the fmaller theatres. 
But the principal change introduced by the Romans 
into the drama, and which continues to aff'eCt it in every 
country of Europe, refpeCted the ftatus or rank of the 
aClors in fociety. We have feen that Athens, enthufiaftic 
in her attachment to the fine arts, held no circumftances 
degrading which were connected with them. Efchylus 
and Sophocles were foldiers and ftatefmen, yet loft nothing 
in the opinion of their countrymen, by appearing on the 
public ftage. Euripides, who was alfo a perfon of confe¬ 
quence, proved that “love efteems no office mean;” for 
he danced in a female difguife in his own drama, and 
that not as the princefs Nauticlea, but as one of her hand¬ 
maidens, or, in modern phrafe, as a figurante. The Gre¬ 
cians, therefore, attached no difhonour to the perfon of 
the aftor, nor efteemed that he who contributed to giving 
the amufement of the theatre was at all degraded beneath 
thofe who received it. It was otherwife in Rome. The 
contempt which the Romans entertained for players 
might be founded partly upon their confounding this 
elegant amufement with the games of the Circus and 
Amphitheatre, performed by gladiators and (laves, the 
meaneft, in (hort, of mankind. .Hence, to ufe the words 
of St. Auguftin, “ the ancient Romans, accounting the 
art of ftage-playing and the whole fcene infamous, or¬ 
dained that this (ort of men (hould not only want the 
honour of other citizens, but alfo be disfranchifed and 
thruft out of their tribe, by a legal and difgraceful cenfure, 
which the cenfors were to execute; becaufe they would 
not fuft'er their vulgar fort of people, much lefs their 
fenators, to be defamed, difgraced, or defiled with ftage- 
playerswhich adt of theirs he ftyles “ an excellent true 
Roman prudence, to be enumerated among the Romans’ 
praifes.” Accordingly, an edict of the praetor ftigmatized 
as infamous all who appeared on the ftage, either to 
fpeakoradt; but it is remarkable that from this general 
profcription the Roman youth were excepted; and they 
continued to enadt the Fabulce Atellance, namely, the 
farces or drolleries of ancient Italian origin, without 
incurring any ftigma. This exception feems to indicate, 
that the edidt originated in the national pride of the 
Romans, and their contempt for Grecian literature, and 
for foreigners of every defcription. Under any other 
view it is impoffible they lhould have preferred the adfors 
in thefe coarfe farces, who, by the bye, are fuppofed to 
have been the originals of no lefs perfons than Harlequin 
and Punchinello, to thofe who polfefted tafte and talents 
fufficient to execute the mafterly fcenes borrowed from 
the Grecian drama. 
Injuftice, however, and we call that law unjuft which 
devotes to general infamy any profeffion of which it 
neverthelefs tolerates the practice, is ufually inconfiftent. 
Several individual play-adtors at Rome rofe to high public 
efteem, and to the enjoyment of great wealth. Rofcius 
was the friend and companion ot Pifo and Sylla, and, 
what was ftill more to his credit, of Cicero himfelf, who 
thus eulogifes the fcenic art, while commemorating the 
merit of his deceafed friend : “ Quis noftrum tarn animo 
agrefti ac duro fair, ut Rofcii morte nuper non commo- 
veretur ? qui quum eflet Cenex mortuus, tamen, propter 
excellentem artem ac venuftatem, videbatur omnino mori 
non debuiffe.” Paris, another Roman aflor, reached a 
height of celebrity as diftinguiffied as Rofcius, and exer- 
cifed, as many of his profeffion have fince done, an arbi¬ 
trary authority over the unfortunate dramatic authors. 
It is recorded by the fatirift, that Statius the epic poet 
might have ftarved, had he not given up to this favourite 
of the public, upon 1A own terms doubtlefs, the manu- 
fcript of an unacfed performance. Paris was put to 
death by Domitian out of jealoufy. If theadlors rofe to be 
perfons of importance in Rome, the dramatic critics were 
no lefs fo. They formed a code of laws for the regula¬ 
tion of dramatic authors, to which the great names of 
Ariftotle and Horace both contributed their authority. 
At Rome, for many ages, the theatres were temporary 
ftrudtures of wood, raifedat the expenfeof the cediles, or 
other candidates for popular favour, and renewed asocca- 
fion required. Even the permanent theatres of Pompey, 
Balbus, and Marcellus, feem to have been conftrudfed for 
the exhibitions of the gladiators, rather than for the ufe 
of the ftage. Suetonius, in the life of Auguftus, relates, 
that when the emperor affigned to each order its place, 
the women were allowed to fee the games only from the 
upper portico; and that afterwards they were abfolutely 
prohibited from entering the theatre; it not being decent 
for them to alftft at fuch reprefentations. Th^fe regula¬ 
tions were however foon laid afide. Juvenal in his fixth 
fatire fpeaks of the ardour with which the women in his 
time crowded to the gymnaftic exercifes : 
Utfpedlet ludos, conducit Ogulnia veftern, 
Conducit comites, fellam, cervical, arnicas, 
Nutricem, et flavam, cui det mandata, puellam. 
Calphurnius Siculus, in an eclogue which has been pre- 
ferved entire, introduces a countryman, who for the firft 
time having been prefent at the games; on his return 
from Rome relates to a neighbour the wonderful fights 
with which he had been entertained. Many particulars 
worthy of notice, and explanatory of thefe ftrudtures, are 
to be met with in this poem ; the defcriptive part of which, 
as well as the following account of the (trudture of the 
amphitheatre, is here inferred : 
Vidimus in ccelum trabibus fpedtacula textis 
Surgere, Tarpeium prope delpedtantia culmen, 
Immenfofque gradus, et clivos lene jacentes. 
Venimus ad fedes, ubi pulla fordida vefte 
Inter fcemineas fpedlabat turba cathedras, 
3 
Nam 
