--_Nature_.
* * * * *
PUPPET SHOWS AMONG THE GREEKS.
The ancients, especially the Greeks, were very fond of theatrical
representations; but, as Mr. Magnin has remarked in his _Origines du
Theatre Moderne_, public representations were very expensive, and for
that very reason very rare. Moreover, those who were not in a condition
of freedom were excluded from them; and, finally, all cities could not
have a large theater, and provide for the expenses that it carried with
it. It became necessary, then, for every day needs, for all conditions
and for all places, that there should be comedians of an inferior order,
charged with the duty of offering continuously and inexpensively the
emotions of the drama to all classes of inhabitants.
Formerly, as to-day, there were seen wandering from village to village
menageries, puppet shows, fortune tellers, jugglers, and performers of
tricks of all kinds. These prestidigitators even obtained at times such
celebrity that history has preserved their names for us--at least of two
of them, Euclides and Theodosius, to whom statues were erected by their
contemporaries.
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