couragement of the Emperor.

A theatre was built for them: the Romans flocked to it, and saw,
with surprise, a complete tragedy; all the passions painted with
the most vigorous strokes of representation: the exposition,
plot, catastrophe expressed in the clearest and most pathetic
manner, without any other means or assistence but that of
dancing, executed to the simphonies the best adapted, and far
superior to any that had been before heard in Rome.

Their surprise was not to end here. To this a second
entertainment succeeded; in which an ingenious action, without
needing the voice or speech, presented all the characters, all
the pleasant strokes, and humorous pictures of a good comedy.

And in both these kinds, the executive talents of Pilades and
Bathillus corresponded to the boldness and beauty of the kind of
compositions they had ventured to bring on the stage.

Pilades especially, who was at the head of this project, was the
most singular man that had till then appeared on the theatre.
His fertile imagination constantly supplied him with new means
of perfecting his art and embellishing his entertainments.
Athenaeus mentions his having written a book much esteemed on the
depths and principles of his art.

Before him, some flutes composed the orchestra of the Romans. He
reinforced it with all the known instruments. He added choruses
of dances to his representations, and took care that their steps
and figures, should always have some relation or affinity to the
principal action. He provided them with dresses in the highest
taste of propriety, and omitted nothing towards producing,
keeping up, and pushing to the highest pitch, the charm of the
theatrical illusion.

The actions on the Roman theatres were tragic, comic, or
satirical; these last pretty nearly answering to what we
understand by grotesque or farcical.

Esopus and Roscius had been, from their excellence in
declamation, the delight and admiration of Rome. But on their
leaving no successors to their degree of merit; the taste for
dramatic poetry which was no longer supported by actors equal to
them, began to decline; and the theatrical dances under such
great masters as Pilades and Bathillus, either by their novelty,
or by their merit, or by both, made the Romans the less feel
their loss of those incomparable actors. The gestual language
took place of that which was declaimed; and produced regular
pieces acted in the three kinds of tragedy, comedy,