Note 134 — Chapter II · MIMUS AND SCÔP

Alcuin, Ep. cclxxxi (793-804), to a disciple in Italy, ‘melius est Deo placere quam histrionibus, pauperum habere curam quam mimorum’; Ep. ccl (†801), to the monks of Fulda, ‘non sint [adulescentuli] luxuriosi, non ebrietati servientes, non contemptuosi, non inanes sequentes ludos’; Ep. ccxliv (†801), to Fredegis, master of the palace school, ‘non veniant coronatae columbae ad fenestras tuas, quae volant per cameras palatii, nec equi indomiti inrumpant ostia camerae; nec tibi sit ursorum saltantium cura, sed clericorum psallentium.’ The ‘coronatae columbae’ were Charlemagne’s wanton daughters. Dümmler (Ep. Mer. et Car. ii. 541) prints a responsio of Leidradus, Abp. of Lyons, to Charles. This is interesting, because it contrasts the ‘mobilitas histrionum’ which tempts the eye, with the ‘carmina poetarum et comediarum mimorumque urbanitates et strophae,’ which tempt the ear. This looks as if histriones, in the sense of pantomimi, were still known, but the piece also mentions ‘teatrorum moles’ and ‘circenses,’ and is, I suspect, quite antiquarian.