, though disapproved of, maintained itself. The tragic actors
wore the _crepida_, corresponding to the _cothurnus_, and a heavy toga,
which in the _praetexta_ had the purple border giving its name to the
species. The conventional costumes of the various kinds of comedy are
likewise indicated by their names. The comparative nearness of the
actors to the spectators encouraged the growth of that close criticism
of acting which has always been dear to an Italian public, and which in
ancient days manifested itself at Rome in all the ways familiar to
modern audiences. Where there is criticism, devices are apt to spring up
for anticipating or directing it; and the evil institution of the
_claque_ is modelled on Roman precedent, typified by the standing
conclusion "plaudite!" in the epilogues of the _palliatae_.

Roscius and Aesopus.

In fine, though the art of acting at Rome must have originally formed
itself on Greek example and precept, it was doubtless elaborated with a
care unknown to the greatest Attic artists. Its most famous
representatives were Gallus, called after his emancipation Q. Roscius
Gallus (d. c. 62 B.C.), who, like the great "English Roscius," excelled
equally in tragedy and comedy, and his younger contemporary Clodius
Aesopus, a Greek by birth, likewise eminent in both branches of his art,
though in tragedy more particularly. Both these great actors are said to
have been constant hearers of the great orator Hortensius; and Roscius
wrote a treatise on the relations between oratory and acting. In the
influence of oratory upon the drama are perhaps to be sought the chief
among the nobler features of Roman tragedy to which a native origin may
be fairly ascribed.

9. DOWNFALL OF THE CLASSICAL DRAMA

Pantomimus.

Mimus.

The ignoble end of the Roman--and with it of the ancient
classical--drama has been already foreshadowed. The elements of dance
and song, never integrally united with the dialogue in Roman tragedy,
were now altogether separated from it. While it became customary simply
to recite tragedies to the small audiences who continued (or, as a
matter of courtesy, affected) to appreciate them, the _pantomimus_
commended itself to the heterogeneous multitudes of the Roman theatre
and to an effete upper class by confining the performance of the actor
to gesticulation and dancing, a chorus singing the accompanying text.
The species was developed with extraordinary success already under
August