the
triumphal processions growling their obscenities. They would stone the
heroes of your tragedies, while on the other hand, they howl with
enthusiasm at the entry of a victorious consul when the soldiers pass
disguised in rams' skins, wearing tufts of bristling horsehair, and they
laugh at seeing them avenge themselves for their humble condition by
insulting the conqueror behind his triumphal car. I wrote comedies for
these people, and I write them still in moments when my master ceases
beating me to make me turn the mill. The patricians, the free citizens,
do not enjoy seeing themselves personated in the scene. Here they would
rend Aristophanes to pieces, he who represented upon the stage the most
prominent men of Athens. My heroes are slaves, foreigners, and
mercenaries, and they make the audience laugh. I have finished a comedy
there within that den, ridiculing the fanfare of the warriors. I would
recite it if I did not fear that my master might return at any moment."

"But how have you fallen into such a wretched situation after having
been the entertainer of your people?"

"I committed the madness of founding the first theatre in Rome, in
imitation of those in Greece. It was a wooden enclosure on the outskirts
of the city. I borrowed money; I contracted debts; the populace came to
laugh, but they gave little. I was ruined, and the wise laws of Rome
condemn him who cannot pay to become the slave of his creditor. This
baker who used to laugh at my comedies, and who gladly loaned me sacks
of copper, is now getting even for his former show of admiration by
making me turn his mill, because I cost less than an ass. Every peal of
laughter in the past is transformed into a blow with a stick dealt
across my back. The fate of poets! You Greeks also thanked AEschylus for
his verses by pelting him with stones, yet he was ever a freeman."

Plautus became silent, but after a melancholy smile he added:

"I trust in the future. I shall not always have to be a slave; perhaps I
shall find someone who will give me back my liberty. The Romans who make
war and see new countries return with milder customs and with a love of
art. I shall be free, I will found a new theatre, and
then,----then----"

Hope shone in his glance, as if he saw the realization of the dreams
with which he embellished his gloomy den, while, panting like a beast,
he turned the enormous cone of stone.

A noise was heard from within the house, and before his