Illustrated Companion to the Latin Dictionary/Persona

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rich, Anthony (1849). The illustrated companion to the Latin dictionary, and Greek lexicon. p. vi. OCLC 894670115. https://archive.org/details/illustratedcompa00rich. 

PERSO'NA (πρόσωπον or -ειον). A mask, always worn upon the stage in the theatres of ancient Greece and Italy, by the actors of all classes, tragic, comic, or pantomimic. The part which covered the face was made of wood (Prudent. Adv. Symm. ii. 646. Compare Virg. Georg. ii. 387.), and to this a wig of suitable character was added, so that the entire head of the actor, as well as his face, was completely covered (Aul. Gell. v. 7.), and travestied. Moreover, every age and condition of life, from youth to decrepitude, or from the hero to the slave, was represented by an appropriate mask, the characteristics of which were sufficiently well known for the quality and condition of the personage represented to be immediately recognised by the spectators upon his appearance on the stage; and the wig belonging to each particular mask had a settled style of coiffure, as well known as the features its accompanied. Those which were intended to personify historical personages, heroes, demi-gods, &c. were designed in imitation of some well-known type, handed down through ages by the poets, painters, and sculptors; and, consequently, were oftentimes beautiful representations of ideal forms; the others, employed in general tragedy and comedy, were very numerous, and varied in their details, as explained in the two following paragraphs.

2. Persona tragica. The tragic mask (Phaedr. i. 7.), of which there were at least twenty-five different kinds, six for old men, seven for young men, nine for females, and three for slaves; distinguished by a particular conformation of features, colour of the complexion, and arrangement as well as colour of the hair and beard. The illustration (Persona/2.1) shows three of these varieties, from Pompeian paintings, two for old men, and one for a young character; that on the right, with the grand superficies, for stately tragedy; the one on the left, with the hair also disposed in a superficies, but with more sobriety, and a more natural appearance, for middle tragedy; and the youthful one in the centre, which has the hair disposed in a similar fashion, but with still less of exaggeration, belonging to the same class; all exactly as described by Pollux, iv. 133. seq.

3. Persona comica. The comic mask, of which no less than forty-three different types are enumerated, distinguished, in the same manner as the last-mentioned, by their features, complexion, and wigs; viz. nine for old men, ten for young men, seven for male slaves, three for old women, and fourteen for young women. The annexed illustration (Persona/3.1) affords an example of two kinds, from the paintings of Pompeii; the right one of an old man, the other of a young woman, with her head in the mitra intended for a courtezan (meretrix), as described by Pollux (l. c.). Other specimens of comic masks are introduced, s. PERSONATUS, LORARIUS, MIMUS.

4. Persona muta. Another kind of mask was that worn by the dumb actor, persona muta, enumerated in the dramatis personae to some of the comedies of Plautus and Terence, who comes upon the stage as an attendant upon others, but never speaks himself; corresponding with the "walking gentleman" of the modern drama. It is represented by the annexed woodcut (Persona/4.1) from a Pompeian painting, in which the closed mouth and compressed lips indicate the silent character of the actor who wore it.

5. A mask of terra-cotta, marble, or other material, designed to imitate the human face, heads of animals, or similar devices, generally of grotesque forms, employed as an antefix in buildings (see woodcuts s. ANTEFIXA); as an ornamental escapement for the water of a fountain; or as a gargoil for discharging the rain-water from a roof, of which the annexed illustration (Persona/5.1) affords a specimen, from an original of terra-cotta. Lucret. iv. 297. Plin. H. N. xxxv. 43. Ulp. Dig. 19. 1. 17.

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  Persona/2.1
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  Persona/3.1
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  Persona/4.1
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  Persona/5.1