Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-01-22

CANT youth VINO WISHES 10 marry a
chambermaid always princess In dis
Ruise>. and the rollicking clown with
! the gayly colored patches, long and bag
gy trousers, doiblet of mighty sleeves
and shaver head. The Romans called
him Sannio t'Zany'D: We call him. in
his later avatars, Pulcinello, or Poll
chinellc.
The audience Is Of piece with the
play. rough and simple and dull; comic
lines and situations must be repeated
! frequently to reach their comprehen-
sion Terence tries TO be subtle, and
the audience walks out. calling for more
violent humor A rich Roman arranges
for them program of music: they
stop the performance and call upon the
musicians to lay down their instru-
ments and give boxing match. The
! prologucS reveal the nature of the audi
ence! mothers are requested to leave
their babies at home hereafter: wives
are asked not to disturb the play with
their chatter; children are warned what
will happen to them If they make noise
and slaves are reminded not to occupy
the seats. since these are only for free
men.
The actors are called hiStriones. ie.,
they are tellerS of story thistoria)
They are nearly all slaves and nearly
all Greeks any citizen who acts OH the
stages loses his civic rights mot till
the DAYS of Voltaire will this indignity
be withdrawn: even the great Molicre
will suffer from it, If the play is un-
successful. the slave may BE- soundly
beaten: if he does especially well. he
may win his freedom Roscius. great
est OF Roman actors. began as a slave;
! Plautus and Terence. greatest of Roman
playwrights. rose from slavery.
PlautuS was at first a scene shifter
like Will Shakespeare. then a merchant
learning the world. then a factory
hand. interstit ally dramatist His
style, his plots and his humor reveal
/ his life: he uses the speech of. the peo-
/ pie. INDUCES them In that obscenity
which Is the poor mans Solace against
monogamy, makes his Wit simple and
wastes no time in polishing his lines.
Horace will suggest that he writes in
such haste in order to be sooner paid.
/ His scenes his characters his stories
/ are Greek; 1t Is unwise to satirize the
Romans. NaeviuS tried 1t and was
| Jailed. There is the old story OF the
mistaken identity of twins tthe Men,
aechmi. which Plautus steals from,
Menander. and Shakespeare from
Plautus. there Is the Auiularia. or moi
Of gold. which Molicre will appropri-
ate as the m.Ser. transcribing entire
scenes without acknowledgment. there
Is the captive. which tells again the
tale of the slave who is really the heir
10 ereat fortune, you know, and
there is the braggart captain. who
! boasts of his success with ladies in
every quarter Of the globe His servant
falling in with his humor. feeds him
| lies.
"Servsnt-You see those girls tina,
stopped me yesterday?
"Captain-What did they say?
Servant--Why. when you passed
they asked me. What. is the erea,
Achilles here? | answered. No. il Is
qls brother, Then says t'other one
Troth. he is handsome, What noble
/ mani What splendid hair!'
'Captain~Now. did they really say
so? -
Serrant-They did indeed. and beg.
geo me. both OF them. 10 make vol,
take walk again today. that the,
might get better sight of you.
captain 's!ghine complaccntly,-
las great nuisance being so yer,
handsome!"
Terence ia a little ioftier. having
ofeh more fortunate In his slavery
captured at Carthage, he is brouph,
up as slave teacher In the cI,tnrsd
home Of Tcrentius. whose name he
taxes. and wins the friendship OF thr
learned Laclius and Scipio. To please
: them nn writes comedies of some re-
nnement and subtlety. venturine such
nooIe lines as Homo sum: humani nihiI
q me ahenum puto 81 am a man. I
MINK mat nothing human is alien r.
me ,. HIS plays are praised by the
aristocracy. but they fail with the
masses: and Terence. disguised leaves
rome IN huff and dies in shinwrerk
while still youth.
snail We listen to his dramas
Phormio" and The Eunuch" ana
mat one OF the monstrous title
Heautont!moroumenoS t"Thr SELF.
Tormentor"J? No: there IA no prn,us
mere We must pass on. The Romans
did not deserve 10 have finer drama
IMAM this: their hearts were In the
colosseum rather than In the theatrr
they wished TO see starving lions ten,
10 pieces living and quivering human
ncsn. They we're barbarians and
tner masters. In feeding them with
tne scenes OF slaughter which the,
furnished proved themselves barbarians
100. unworthy OF the empire which
Iaehat ana augustus had placed In
I'LL s,en na'us. When the church put a
sop 10 these brutal spectarIes ana
closed the Roman thea,ers "a ds,. "' y.
ooSeenity, II was lust MS well msn ,,,,, =.
be civilized before they can rrsa a,s
comedy. "" create