It is certainly more probable that these mimes were originally part of the amusements of certain festivals, as was the case with the Spartan deicelictae, which they resembled more than any other variety of the drama.
The mimes of Sophron had no accompaniment of music or dancing, and they were written, not in verse, but in prose, though perhaps in certain rhythmical divisions.
Whether the mimes of Sophron were publicly represented or not, is a question not easily answered.
The mimes of Sophron, so passionately admired by Plato, were written in prose, and were scenes out of real life conducted in dialogue.
Mimes had indeed existed in some sort from a very early period, but no art had been applied to their cultivation, and they had held a position much inferior to that of the national farce.
Tragedy and comedy [61] were again reviving, though their patrons seem to have preferred recitation to acting; mimes still flourished, though they had taken the form of pantomime.
The old man, for he was then sixty years of age, had written Mimes for a generation, but had never acted in them himself.
Such mimes as these were often held at banquets for the amusement of great men.
The Mimes seem to have formed at this time interludes between the acts of a regular drama.
Mimes must have existed from very remote times in Italy, but they did not come into prominence until the later days of the Republic, when Laberius and Syrus cultivated them with marked success.
And forthright the royal band of minstrels and musicians began to sing and perform upon instruments of mirth and merriment, whilst dancing-girls and boys displayed their skill, and mimes and mummers played their parts.
Except for the bounding mimes about them the flamens kept the front of the horde, following with downcast eyes the trail of yellow roses which, Marsyas now knew, led the procession.
He saw there was poetry in the prose mimes of Sophron and Xenarchus and in the dialogues of Socrates, though these were not classified as poetry.
The profession of an actor of mimes was infamous, but Laberius was a writer, not an actor.
Another writer and actor of mimes was Publius Syrus, originally a Syrian slave.
Latin theatre, a theatre the glory of which was at its highest in the days of Attius and Terence, but for which a dramatic literature became extinct when the mimes took the place of the old comedy and tragedy.
The mimes were satirical burlesques, parts of which were often improvised, and had some affinity to the pasquinades and harlequinades of modern Italy.
And the police soon drove out of the city all mimes and dancers and singers of the Anartta country.
Though doubtless introduced at Rome as early as comedy itself, it hardly appears as a branch of literature until about the time of Cicero, when mimes serve as afterpieces at tragic performances.
No mimes are extant, nor is their loss to be greatly regretted, for their humor was generally coarse, their plots often indecent, and their literary qualities of a low order.
The lump of sky grows dark, Storm-death lifts its clawed paws; All the lumps fall down, Mimes burst.
On the other hand, there are mediocre mimes who possess the faculty of establishing immediate communication with an audience.
We have forty-three titles of mimesby Laberius, and about one hundred and fifty lines of fragments.
Six hundred and ninety-seven lines from his mimes (unconnected and alphabetically arranged) are preserved from different sources.
The recently discovered mimes of Herodas (Herondas) give us some idea of their scope.
Then again, though I am entitled a mighty Emperor, I employ no one to govern the mimes and chariot-drivers as my lieutenant or general throughout the inhabited world.
The spacious square, the ample road With mimes and dancers overflowed, And with the voice of music rang Where minstrels played and singers sang, And shone, a wonder to behold, With dazzling show of gems and gold.
And various workmen send and call, Who frame the door and build the wall: With men of every art and trade, Who read the stars and ply the spade, And mimes and minstrels hither bring, And damsels trained to dance and sing.
You can also fill the stage with mimes and pantomimists, for the favor accorded to that class of actors under the emperors is well known.
Pres du champ ou sa gloire a ete consommee: Ne mimes a l'endroit pierre ni monument Le laissant seul a seul avec sa Renommee!
Each night Abd al-Rahman illuminated the street and the quarter with lamps and there came every one of the mimes and jugglers and mountebanks and played all manner play; and indeed it was a peerless wedding.
Hark ye, friend, your dress should make you a subject of ours, since our empire extends over all Merryland, including mimes and minstrels of every description.
Nothing, certainly, unworthy or misbecoming a prince of Scotland, if the bloodstained annals of our country tell the tale truly; but that which may well shock the nerves of a prince of mimes and merry makers.
She mimes the action of kissing the hand (vide Act IV, Scene 1), finds it very cold: I fear you are not well after your travel.
It is a notable fact that a good number of our Mimes were long-livers.
Before going on the stage, the Mimes just inspected the Scenario of the Comedia Del' Arte, and for the dialogue and action everything depended solely upon their Pantomimic genius.
One of the most celebrated of these Mimes was Sophron of Syracuse.
Besides these Moralities, as they were termed, there were, in addition, light pieces of a farcical kind, in the portrayal of which the Mimes were equally as successful as in the other species.
In depicting the conduct of man so faithfully, the Pantomimes of the Greek Mimesserved to teach and inculcate useful moral lessons.
A bold retort, but it shows how important these Mimes were.
Of the Mimes of Syrus we have still extant a number of sentences, which, in matter and elegant conciseness of expression, are deserving of a place by the side of Menander's.
The Greek Mimes were dialogues in prose, and not destined for the stage; the Roman were in verse, were acted, and often delivered extempore.
Moreover, these critics forget that theMimes of Sophron, so much admired by Plato, were written in prose.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "mimes" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
