Doctus

I am the archimimus Doctus, the chief actor and playwright for a troupe of mimes. As you can see on the scroll-case at my feet, I am a leading member of the Parasiti Apollinis, a famous and long-standing guild of mimes here in Rome. It is our mission to counteract the bad reputation that has too often befallen mimes, both the plays and the actors. We are descended from the Greek mimes; as you know, like them we do not hide behind masks. We use every aspect of our voice and body, unlike those popular pantimimists, who dance their parts but never speak. As the great writer of mimes, Publilius Syrus, says, Imago animi sermo est: qualis est vir, talis oratio, "Speech is a mirror of the soul: as a man speaks, so is he." Unlike the plots of tragedy and comedy, our themes are drawn from everyday life. Like many so-called intellectuals, the poet Ovid mocks the mime and claims our plots are only about sex and adultery. Not true! We mimes are popular also for our barbed comments about political figures. As Syrus says, Ubi libertas cecidit, audet libere nemo loqui, "When freedom has fallen, no one dares to speak freely" . . . except the mimes!

My patron, Fundilia Rufa, had me trained as an actor. I set up a statue at the Sanctuary of Diana at Nemi in her honor. Since she sponsors a troupe of mime actors, my statue stresses her respectability and devotion to old-fashioned virtues; as Syrus says, Honesta fama melior pecunia est, "A good reputation is more valuable than money," though she has plenty of that too. She always wears a gold ring with the image of a Greek muse. When she freed me and made me the leader of this troupe of mimes, I adopted this ring as my inspiration. Whenever I see it on her finger, I remember the Greek tradition of literary mimes, and I strive to keep my plays on that high level, though one has to please the Roman audience. When our great emperor dies, I hope to be asked to impersonate him at his funeral. Because of the dignified character of Antoninus Pius, I won't have to stoop to the kind of low humor that the archimimus Favor used at Vespasian's funeral. I am here at the Theater of Marcellus planning my next production, which I hope you will attend.