Chapter 5

Roman Theatres--Description--"Deadheads"--Pantomime in Italy--Livius Andronicus--_Fabulae Atellanae_--Extemporal Comedy--Origin of the Masque, Opera, and Vaudeville--Origin of the term Histrionic--Etruscans--Popularity of Pantomime in Italy--Pantomimists banished by Trajan--Nero as a Mime--Pylades and Bathyllus--Subjects chosen for the Roman Pantomimes--The Ballet--The _Mimi_ and _Pantomimi_--_Archimimus_--Vespasian--Harlequin--"Mr. Punch"--Zany, how the word originated--Ancient Masks--Lucian, Cassiodorus, and Demetrius in praise of Pantomime--A celebrated _Mima_--Pantomimes denounced by early writers--The purity of the English stage contrasted with that of the Grecian and Roman--Female parts on the Grecian and Roman stages--The principal Roman _Mimas_--The origin of the Clown of the early English Drama