ius Pollux is still more ample in his account of theatrical masks
used in Tragedy, Satyr, and Comedy. Niobe weeping, Medea furious, Ajax
astonished, and Hercules enraged. In Comedy, the slave, the parasite,
the clown, the captain, the old woman, the harlot, the austere old man,
the debauched young man, the prodigal, the prudent young woman, the
matron, and the father of a family, were all constantly characterised by
particular masks.

Lucian and the other writers of the Augustan era, have handed down to us
sufficient information to show how Pantomime in Rome was so highly
thought of. Cassiodorous, speaking of them, says:--"Men whose eloquent
hands had a tongue, as it were, on the tip of each finger--men who spoke
while they were silent, and knew how to make a recital without opening
their mouths--men, in short, whom Polyhymnia had formed in order to show
that there was no necessity for articulation in order to convey our
thoughts." Demetrius, a cynic philosopher, laughed at the Romans for
permitting so strange an entertainment; but having been, with much
difficulty, prevailed upon to be present at the representation of one of
them, he was confounded with wonder. The story represented was that of
Mars and Venus, the whole performed by a single actor, who described the
fable in _dumb show_. At length the philosopher, wrought up to the
highest pitch of admiration, exclaimed, "That the actor _had no occasion
for a tongue, he spoke so well with his hands_."

Of one Pontus, who had come on a visit to Nero, we are told that he was
present at a performance, in the course of which a favourite Mime gave a
representation of the Labours of Hercules. The Mime's gestures were so
precise that he could follow the action without the slightest
hesitation. Being struck by the performance, on taking leave he begged
Nero to give him the actor, explaining that there was a barbarous tribe
adjoining his dominions, whose language no one could learn, and that
Pantomime could express his intentions to them so faithfully by gestures
that they would at once understand.

The dress of the performers of Pantomime was made to reveal, and not to
conceal, their figures. After the second century women began to act in
their representations, and even down to the sixth century we find them
associating themselves with Pantomime, and mention is made of a
celebrated _Mima_, who was ultimately raised to the imperial throne.
Through the lewdness of the _Mimis_