Fig. 20.—Terracotta Statuette of Comic Actor (Money-Lender?) (No. 60). Ht. 7⅞ in.
The Gallo-Roman medallion (No. 55; fig. 18) is from a vase. It gives a picture of a Roman tragedy. On a high stage sits Jupiter enthroned, with Victory and Minerva on his right and left hand respectively. Before the stage stand Hercules and Mars, disputing. Hercules has slain Cycnus, the son of Mars, and the irate father stands exclaiming: "Be assured that I am come as the avenger of my son." To which Hercules replies: "Unconquered valour can ne'er be terrified."[14] The characters speak in iambic verse.
Fig. 21.—Terracotta Statuette of Comic Actor (Slave?) (No. 61). Ht. 8½ in.
(b) Figures of actors and masks.—In tragedy the actors probably wore a dress differing from that of the spectators only in a certain richness of material and colour, and in an adherence to the fashion of an earlier period. Two features, however, distinguished them in appearance from ordinary men, the buskin (κόθορνος) or high-soled boot, and the tragic mask. The use of the former (which increased in height as time went on) was due to a desire to enhance the wearer's dignity by raising him somewhat above the common height of men. The wearing of the mask was brought about chiefly by tradition, partly by the great size of ancient theatres, which rendered some easily recognized type of face a practical necessity. The tragic mask (fig. 22 below, right) was usually surmounted by a high projection over the forehead, called the onkos, on which the hair was raised to a height varying with the social position of the character. The mask illustrated (No. 56) is of ivory and finely worked. It is a mask such as would have been worn by some king in tragedy, an Agamemnon or a Kreon. The general appearance of a tragic actor is finely brought before us by an ivory statuette (not in the Museum) which was found near Rieti, a place about 35 miles N.E. of Rome (fig. 19). The elaborately embroidered robe is coloured blue, and the onkos, mask, and buskins are clearly seen. (Mon. dell' Inst. xi. pl. 13.)
The figures of actors and the comic masks exhibited under the glass shade and in Table-Case K bring before us the different characters prominent in Athenian comedy of the fourth and third centuries B.C., and in the Roman comedy derived from it. It was a comedy of everyday life, in which the same well-known types were constantly reappearing. Such were the parasite (No. 57), who bears all the marks of a fondness for good living, and carries a flask and a ham; the glutton (Nos. 58 and 59), distinguished by his large padded stomach; the money-lender (No. 60), with his acute and cunning expression, grasping his purse tightly by his side with both hands, and partially concealing it beneath his cloak (fig. 20). The adventures of the slave and his punishments were a favourite theme with poets of the new comedy. No. 61 (fig. 21) may represent the trusted elderly slave aghast at the misdoings of his young master. A still greater favourite is the runaway slave who seeks refuge from his irate master in the protection of the altar. The bronze statuette (No. 62), and the terracotta (No. 63) show him seated on the altar, and in No. 64 his hands are tied behind him. A typical comic mask (No. 65) is illustrated above (fig. 22, left), characterised by its exaggerated features, especially the wide open mouth, the snub nose and thick bushy eyebrows. The satyric play, which of the three kinds of Greek drama kept nearest in spirit to the early Dionysiac village revel, is illustrated by the satyric masks (No. 66; fig. 22, centre), with their high upstanding hair and semi-bestial features, as well as by the masks of the bald-headed Seilenos, the constant companion of Dionysos in his revels.
Most of the examples of masks shown in the case are merely representations. A few such as No. 67 with pierced eye and mouth-holes, and of life size, may have been intended for use. Two heads of actors from marble reliefs (Nos. 68, 69) show to what extent the face of the actor could be seen, within the apertures of the mask.
