Evening star., 1911-01-22

have been decorated with orders and in
vested with knighthood The Greek and
Roman actors of the early days achieved
greater distinction and honors by far than
any that have been won by players of our
times. Aristodemus and Neaptolem is were
favorites of Philip of Macedon and his son
Alexander the Great, and both actors were
frequent guests at the courts of the two
monarchs. Philip appointed Aristodemus
and Neaptolemus Ambassadors to the
Persians, and they were active in concluding
the Peace of Philocrates. At later period
Roscius, one of the greatest figures connected
with the drama in any age, was made Roman
Senator. Roscius was friend of Ciceros,
and the latter acknowledges in his works
that he learned a great deal from Roscius
which he incorporated into his own rhetoric.
Cicero conducted law case for Roscius,
the papers of which are still extant. 1t seems
that Roscius gave some lessons in acting to
the protege Of wealthy Roman, and the
said wealthy Roman disputed the bill.
Doesn't that sound like the nineteenth CEN
tury and New York?
Roscius, by the way, earned salary that
few of our modern stars would receive. For
one performance he is said to have been paid
as much as one hundred and seventy dol
lars; and his income is said to have been
equal to twenty-one thousand two hundred
and-ffty dollars annually.
Polus, Greek player, who tried to make
an actor out of Demosthenes and gave it up
as bad job, received stipend that would
not be sneered at by any modern artist, ex-
cepting Caruso or Tetrazzini. Polus re-
ceived one thousand dollars for two per-
formances. Besides this he must have re-
ceived tidy sum from Demosthenes and
other stagestruck poets and orators for
tuition in his dramatic school.
The Roman theaters of about IS B. G.
probably surpassed in magnifcence anything
that the world has ever seen, not excepting
the New Theater already referred to. One
of these theaters contained three colonnades,
in each of which were one hundred and twen-
ty pillars. The pillars of the first colonnade
were of marble, those of the second were of
glass (the most expensive material of the
time) and those of the third were of gilded
wood. The auditorium is said to have held
eighty thousand people, and the cost of the
structure was four million dollars.
There was another theater of this period
that challenges anything of the kind that has
come after it was built in So B. c. 1t was
really two theaters in one, in which two
separate performances were given in the
morning. By system of casters and immense
pivots the two theaters could be swung round
side to side and thus form one great circus
in which games were held in the evening. The
mechanical feat was accomplished without
the audience leaving their seats. Modem
engineers have examined the plans of this
structure and have pronounced the scheme
entirely feasible. Is the revolving stage of
the New Theater to be compared with the
revolving theater of Scribonius Curio?
Romans invented the stage curtain. It
differed from our theater curtain in that it
rose from the bottom to the top of stage, in
stead of the reverse, just as the New York
Hippodrome curtain does. And we thought
the Hippodrome the most up to date theat-
rical structure in the world!
From the Romans we obtained the re-
served-seat plan and the three-sheet poster.
Many reserved-seat checks, of ivory or metal,
are to be seen in the museums of Europe to-
day, while poster on which we're scenes
from play was found on the front of thea
ter at Pompeii, the scenes supposed to have
referred to the play being performed on the
day of the eruption.
That the theatrical business was as specu-
lative in early Roman days as it is now is
proved by the experience of Plautus, one of
the most famous authors and actors of his
time. Plautus was evidently manager as
we'll as actor and author. (Have we any
author-actor- manager now?) Having made
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