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 Managing a Network Vulnerability Assessment
by Thomas R. Peltier, Justin ISBN:0849312701
Peltier and John A. Blackley
Auerbach Publications © 2003 (291 pages)
In this text, the author describes steps necessary to manage
an assessment, from development of a scope statement to
production of a response report, and details the use of
commercial, freeware, and shareware tools for an
assessment.

Table of Contents Back Cover Comments

Table of Contents

Managing Network Vulnerability Assessment

Chapter 1 - Introduction
Chapter 2 - Project Scoping
Chapter 3 - Assessing Current Network Concerns
Chapter 4 - Network Vulnerability Assessment Methodology
Chapter 5 - Policy Review (Top-Down) Methodology
Chapter 6 - Technical (Bottom-Up) Methodology
Chapter 7 - Network Vulnerability Assessment Sample Report
Chapter 8 - Summary
Appendix A-1 - ISO 17799 Self-Assessment Checklist
Appendix A-2 - Windows NT Server 4.0 Checklist
Appendix A-3 - Network Vulnerability Assessment Checklist
Appendix B - Pre-NVA Checklist
Appendix C - Sample NVA Report
Appendix D - NIST Special Publications
Appendix E - Glossary of Terms
Index
List of Exhibits
Managing Network Vulnerability
Assessment
John A. Blackley
Justin Peltier
Tom Peltier

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Peltier, Thomas R.
Managing network vulnerability assessment / Thomas R. Peltier, Justin
Peltier, John A. Blackley,
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
0-8493-1270-1

(alk. paper)

1. Computer networks--Security measures. 2. Risk assessment. 3. Computer

crimes--Prevention. I. Peltier, Justin. II. Blackley, John A. III. Title.

TK5105.59.P453 2003
005.8--dc21
2003041801

This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded
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Copyright © 2003 CRC Press LLC

Auerbach is an imprint of CRC Press LLC

No claim to original U.S. Government works

International Standard Book Number 0-8493-1270-1
Library of Congress Card Number 2003041801
1234567890

Dedication
To Lisa, Julie, and Amanda, our teammates and better halves.

Acknowledgments
People who take sole credit for any task completed or process "developed"
have forgotten where they came from and who helped them get to where
they are now. When discussing network vulnerability assessment, many
people do not want to have their names associated in any way with the
process. However, this is one of those tasks that needs to be done, and the
best way to do it is to make the task as simple as possible. Over the years
we have been able to learn the process of network vulnerability assessment
from the best teachers around, our peers.

First on our list of acknowledgments is our mentor and friend, John O'Leary,
the Director of the Computer Security Institute's Education Resource Center.
One of the first training sessions I attended as a neophyte security
professional was John's "Computer and Network Security" class. This class
laid the foundation for my understanding that a network is a scary place, but
that with proper review and attention it can serve us well.

The next two people who need to be acknowledged are Dr. Dan Webb and
Dr. Peter Stephenson. Dr. Dan showed me the fundamentals of vulnerability
assessment, and Dr. Stephenson helped me fine-tune the process we
worked on together for just over two years. Dr. Stephenson's books on
computer forensics are used as industry benchmarks for all security
professionals. His willingness to share ideas and his findings has helped
move our profession forward.

Michael Cannon, Larry Degg, Gene Traylor, and John Riske helped me
begin the process of assessing network vulnerabilities. We worked together
for seven years and drew up the prototype for a business-based information
security program.
Justin would like to acknowledge his dad, for all his loving support and the
opportunity to be part of this industry; Dr. Peter Stephenson, for patiently
teaching him how to correctly perform a vulnerability assessment; Paul Immo
and Marc Harwin for their friendship and support; and Julie, for being the
love of his life and taking care of him so well.

Who can leave out their publisher? Certainly not us! Rich O'Hanley has
taken the time to discuss security issues with numerous organizations to
understand what their needs are and then presented these findings to us. A
great deal of our work here is a direct result of what Rich discovered that the
industry wanted. Rich O'Hanley, not only the world's best editor and task
master, but a good friend and source of knowledge. Thanks Rich!

About the Authors

John A. Blackley, a native of Scotland, completed his bachelors' degree in

electrical engineering at Glasgow University in 1974. Since moving to the
United States in 1982, his career has included 19 years in information
security.

John's first information security position was with a financial services

company in Louisville, Kentucky. Starting in security administration, he
gained experience and breadth of knowledge and went on to become the
Director of Information Security and Business Contingency Planning. During
that time, John also became a member of the faculty at Eastern Kentucky
University, advising on the university's loss prevention program.

Moving to Texas in 1992, John was Manager of Information Security and

Business Contingency Planning for one of the nation's Fortune 100
corporations. He developed that organization's Business Contingency
Planning program, and organized and developed every aspect of its
comprehensive information security program.

In 1995, John became a senior consultant for Europe's largest dedicated

information security consultancy and carried out engagements for national
and multi-national organizations in such locations as Seoul, Mauritius,
Brussels, London, Lisbon, and Dublin.

Returning to Texas, John joined Netigy (now Thrupoint) as Regional

Information Security Practice Manager and went on to become Principal
Security Architect in Netigy's Global Security Practice. John is now a
member of Peltier & Associates and manages operations in the U.S.
southern states.

John has published a number of articles in the business press and has been
a speaker at conferences and seminars around the world. He teaches on
subjects such as privacy management, policy creation and implementation,
risk management, and information security awareness. In addition, John's
classes and seminars address organization and management issues relating
to the practice of information security.

Justin Peltier, CISSP, MCNE, MCP, CCSE, RHCE, CCNA, is a Senior

Security Consultant with Peltier & Associates, with more than eight years of
experience in planning, designing, and implementing technical security
solutions in a wide range of operating environments. As a consultant, Justin
has been involved in implementing, supporting, and developing security
solutions, and has taught courses on many facets including vulnerability
assessment and CISSP preparation. Formerly with Suntel Services, Justin
directed the security practice development. Prior to that, he was with Netigy
where he was involved with the corporate training effort, serving as the
company's primary technical instructor in the areas of vulnerability
assessment, risk analysis, virtual private networking, policies and
procedures, and penetration testing. Mr. Peltier has lead classes for MIS,
Netigy, Computer Security Institute, Suntel Services, and Sherwood
Associates. He has expert-level experience with projects related to Novell,
NT, Sun Solaris, Linux, and Netscape systems, as well as with Ethernet,
Token Ring, TCP/IP, and IPX/SPX topologies and protocols. Mr. Peltier's
CBK specialty domains include Telecommunications and Network Security;
Cryptography; Access Control Systems and Methodologies; and Security
Architecture and Models.
Tom Peltier is in his fifth decade of computer technology. During this time
he has shared his experiences with fellow professionals and, because of his
work, was given the 1993 Computer Security Institute's (CSI) Lifetime
Achievement Award. In 1999, the Information Systems Security Association
(ISSA) bestowed its Individual Contribution to the Profession Award and in
2001 he was inducted into the ISSA Hall of Fame. Tom was also awarded
the CSI Lifetime Emeritus Membership Award. He began his career five
decades ago as an operator, moving on to become an applications
programmer and systems programmer, systems analyst, and information
systems security officer. Currently, he is the president of Peltier &
Associates, an information security training firm. Prior to this he was Director
of Policies and Administration for Netigy's Global Security Practice. Tom was
the National Director for Consulting Services for CyberSafe Corporation, and
the Corporate Information Protection Coordinator for Detroit Edison. This
program has been recognized for excellence in the field of computer and
information security by winning the Computer Security Institute's Information
Security Program of the Year for 1996. Tom previously was the Information
Security Specialist for General Motors Corporation, responsible for
implementing an information security program for GM's worldwide activities.

Over the past decade, Tom has averaged four published articles a year on
various computer and information security issues, including developing
policies and procedures, disaster recovery planning, copyright compliance,
virus management, and security controls. He has had four books published:
Policies, Standards, Guidelines and Procedures: Information Security Risk
Analysis; Information System Security Policies and Procedures: A
Practitioners' Reference; The Complete Manual of Policies and Procedures
for Data Security and is the co-editor and contributing author for the CISSP
Prep for Success Handbook; and a contributing author for the Computer
Security Handbook, 3rd and 5th editions, and Data Security Management.

Tom has been the technical advisor on a number of security films from
Commonwealth Films. He is the past chairman of the Computer Security
Institute (CSI) advisory council, the chairman of the 18th Annual CSI
Conference, founder and past-president of the Southeast Michigan
Computer Security Special Interest Group, and a former member of the
board of directors for (ISC)2, the security professional certification
organization. He conducts numerous seminars and workshops on various
security topics and has led seminars for CSI, Crisis Management, American
Institute of Banking, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants,
Institute of Internal Auditors, ISACA, and Sungard Planning Solutions. Tom
was also an instructor at the graduate level for Eastern Michigan University.
Chapter 1: Introduction
Overview
The growth of distributed computing has been one of the major drivers of
network security. With the exponential growth of networks, the ease with
which information can be shared between and among computers makes
security more important but more difficult to implement and manage. Also,
computers are no longer connected to one trusted network; they are
potentially connected to every other network and its computers in the world,
with or without security implementations of their own.

In the old mainframe environment, security meant keeping the computer in a

locked room with limited access. As computing power and its physical
presence are distributed, it becomes increasingly difficult to control access
by physical means. With a distributed network architecture, it is impossible;
even if it was possible to sequester your network within a secure building, it
would still be possible for someone to eavesdrop remotely.

This book assists the security professional in understanding what must be

done to conduct a network vulnerability assessment. Because no
organization has unlimited resources to devote to security, this book will help
determine the severity of the risks your networks face and the most effective
countermeasures to mitigate those risks.
Information Security Life Cycle
When implementing a Network Vulnerability Assessment (NVA), it will be
necessary to view this process as part of the ongoing information security life
cycle (see Exhibit 1). As with any business process, the information security
life cycle starts with a risk analysis. Management is charged with showing
that "due diligence" is performed during decision-making processes for any
enterprise. A formal risk analysis provides the documentation that due
diligence is performed.

Exhibit 1: Information Security Life Cycle

A risk analysis also lets an enterprise take control of its own destiny. With an
effective risk analysis process in place, only those controls and safeguards
that are actually needed will be implemented. An enterprise will never again
face having to implement a mandated control to "be in compliance with audit
requirements."

A risk analysis should be conducted whenever money or resources are to be

spent. Before starting a task, project, or development cycle, an enterprise
should conduct an analysis of the need for the project. Understanding the
concepts of risk analysis and applying them to the business needs of the
enterprise will ensure that only necessary spending is done.

Once a risk analysis has been conducted, it will be necessary to conduct a

cost-benefit analysis to determine which controls will help mitigate the risk to
an acceptable level at a cost the enterprise can afford. It is unwise to
implement controls or safeguards just because they appear to be the right
thing to do, or that other enterprises are doing so. Each organization is
unique, and the levels of revenue and exposure are different. By conducting
a proper risk analysis, the controls or safeguards will meet the enterprise's
specific needs. (For more information on risk analysis, see Information
Security Risk Analysis by Thomas Peltier (Auerbach Publications).)

Once the controls or safeguards have been implemented, it is appropriate to

conduct an assessment to determine if the controls are working. In the
information security profession, the term "vulnerability" has been defined as
a condition of a missing or ineffectively administered safeguard or control
that allows a threat to occur with a greater impact or frequency, or both.
When conducting an NVA, the team will be assessing existing controls,
safeguards, and processes that are part of the network. This process - the
assessment - will ensure that controls are effective and that they will remain
so.
Network Vulnerability Assessment (NVA)
This book was developed to assist the reader in managing all aspects of the
network vulnerability assessment (NVA) process. We examine the
development of a proper project plan, how to assess your biggest needs,
what methodology to use, what tools to employ, and what a typical report
should look like. Along the way, we present real-world examples and give
advice from those who have previously worked on NVAs.
Do I Need to Be a Technical Expert to Run an NVA?
The short answer is no. You do not need to be a technical expert to run a
network vulnerability assessment. In most cases, you are working as part of
a team, and while it is often beneficial to have a technical expert on the
team, not everyone on the team has to be a technical expert. However, if
you have no technical background, you may be overwhelmed by some of the
more technical aspects of an NVA. Just remember to ask questions of those
who have the right answers. Note: For more on team members, see Chapter
3.
What Skill Level Is Needed?
One of the most important skills inside the technical aspects of an NVA are
basic networking skills. An understanding of how a network is put together is
absolutely essential for at least one team member to have. This includes
both sides of network architecture: logical and physical. This means that
someone on the team should have the knowledge of switches, routers, hubs,
workstations, and servers, and also the components of common network
protocols.

Most of the networks that are being evaluated today are Internet Protocol
(IP)-based networks. For knowledge of IP networks, one must be familiar
with subnetting and common IP subnet ranges, the basics of routing and
routing protocols, and an understanding of how to use a network sniffer.

While most networks are going to be IP based, not all networks are. There is
still a pretty fair amount of networks that run the Internet Packet Exchange
(IPX) protocol used by Novell servers and clients. While there are other
networks types, the vast majority are IP-based networks, so this is where we
focus most of our efforts in the book.
What Specific Skills Are Needed?
From a technical perspective, a number of different skills may be required,
but the most essential role in the NVA will be project management. It is not
uncommon to see a skilled security practitioner lose all track of dates and
times, as he is off delving deeper and deeper into the security mysteries of
the network. That same security engineer might also have a genetic
predisposition to perform tasks of slightly less importance to the NVA, such
as playing online fantasy football. Good project management can help fight
all of this.

In addition to project management, it is necessary to at least understand the

basics of operating systems, Web servers, and routing and switching
security vulnerabilities.
Can One Person Perform an NVA?
Yes, but it depends on the depth of the NVA. While a good security
practitioner can perform all the technical aspects of an NVA, it is very difficult
to find one person who can perform the technical testing and functions such
as policy and procedure review. And if this individual is capable of doing
both, the next question becomes: can he or she perform both functions well?
In essence, it really requires a team to run an NVA, unless it is restricted to a
technical-only NVA or the organization is very small.
Introduction to Vulnerability Assessment
The technical aspects of an NVA are often downplayed or given very little
thought. This component of an NVA is often left to the software to do, and
little or no consideration is given to the operator or the testing methodology.
The most enjoyable part of this component is the tools. Everyone wants to
hear about the tools. No one wants to learn how the tools interact, or how a
good methodology can save hours, if not days, of the time needed to
complete a vulnerability assessment. Everyone wants to hear about the
tools. Do not fret; we will spend plenty of time discussing tools and sites for
tools, and our opinion of each. Before we get there, however, we will spend
some time going over the process and methodology for the technical aspects
of network vulnerability assessment.
Goals of Vulnerability Assessment
There are two major goals of a network vulnerability assessment. The first
goal of a technical vulnerability assessment is to test everything possible. It
is often useful to think in "new-age" terms and consider the NVA a holistic
NVA. The reason that it is important to test the entire security domain is
somewhat obvious. An intruder only needs one hole to break into the
network; if that hole lies in the primary firewall or through a modem
connected to an executive's desktop computer, it really does not matter.
There are some factors that will limit how deep you can make the NVA. The
two factors that most often get in the way of a complete NVA are time and
cost. The time you spend running your NVA is generally time that you are
not spending on your other job functions, and this can cost your company
money or impact your company in other ways. Also, the cost of the NVA may
limit the tools at your disposal for the testing period. If your organization has
a somewhat meager budget for the technical areas of an NVA, do not worry
too much. There are a number of great tools that are completely free, which
will allow you to run a very respectable NVA without spending a fortune
collecting tools. We further discuss tools in Chapter 6.

The second goal of a technical NVA is to generate a clear, concise report

that will be read and used by your management or your customers. One of
the most common rookie mistakes in running a NVA is to run a NVA tool with
all the default options, have it generate a default report, and then print out
thousands of pages with every vulnerability inside a client's domain - all the
way from huge vulnerabilities such as a nonpassword-protected telnet
session on the company's primary Internet router, down to very small
vulnerabilities such as a workstation responding to a ping. This method
delivers a significant number of pages for the customer to read, and a very
thick binder that will look impressive sitting on a shelf of the CSO's office for
years to come. The question lies in the value of this type of vulnerability
assessment.

As a consultant, we sometimes get asked to perform this kind of NVA.

Sometimes, the customer just wants someone to come into their network
and run ISS Internet Scanner, and then go home. I try to discourage the
customer from selecting this type of NVA; however, it often proves more
difficult to dissuade the salesperson from selling this type of engagement
than to change the customer's mind. However, NVAs are an important tool in
the defense of computer systems and networks. Many information-seeking
professionals rely solely on the latest available scanning tools to perform
assessments; but scanners are only one part of a complete vulnerability
assessment. Overreliance on them can leave holes in the assessment,
thereby compromising information security.

In a perfect world the actual goal of an NVA is to produce useful results. A

handy thing to remember is that useful to one type of individual is not
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 Wirth. Die Oster-und Passionsspiele bis zum xvi. Jahrhundert.
Von L. Wirth, 1889.
Wissowa. Religion und Kultus der Römer. Von G. Wissowa, 1902.
[Vol. v, Part 4 of I. von Müller’s Handbuch der classischen
Altertumswissenschaft.]
Wood, Athenae. Athenae Oxonienses, an Exact History of all
Writers and Bishops who have had their Education in the University
of Oxford. By Anthony à Wood. 2nd ed. by P. Bliss. 4 vols. 1813-20.
Wood, Hist. Univ. History and Antiquities of the University of
Oxford. By Anthony à Wood. Now first published in English with
continuation by J. Gutch. 2 vols. 1792-6.
Wood-Martin. Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland. By W. G.
Wood-Martin. 2 vols. 1902.
Wordsworth. Notes on Mediaeval Services in England, with an
index of Lincoln Ceremonies. By C. Wordsworth, 1898.
Wordsworth, Proc. Ceremonies and Processions of the Cathedral
Church of Salisbury. Edited by C. Wordsworth, 1901. [From Salisbury
Chapter MS. 148 of †1445, a book for use by the principalis persona
in the choir, and supplementary to the printed Processional.]
Wright. Early Mysteries and other Latin Poems of the Twelfth and
Thirteenth Centuries. By T. Wright, 1838.
Wright, Chester Plays. The Chester Plays. Edited by Thomas
Wright. 2 vols. 1843. [Shakespeare Society.]
Wright, Map. The Latin Poems commonly attributed to Walter
Mapes. Collected and edited by T. Wright, 1841. [C. S. o. s. xvii.]
Wright-Halliwell. Reliquiae Antiquae: Scraps from Ancient
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English Language. By T. Wright and J. O. Halliwell. 2 vols. 1841.
Wright-Wülcker. Anglo-Saxon and Old English Vocabularies. By T.
Wright. Edited and collated by R. P. Wülcker. 2 vols. 1884.
 Wülcker. Grundriss zur Geschichte der angelsächsischen
Litteratur: mit einer Übersicht der angelsächsischen
Sprachwissenschaft. Von R. Wülcker, 1885.
Wylie. A History of England under Henry IV. By J. H. Wylie. 4
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[In progress.]
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1886. [Not consulted.]
 BOOK I

MINSTRELSY
C’est une étrange entreprise que celle de faire rire les
honnêtes gens.—J.-B. Poquelin de Molière.
Molière est un infâme histrion.—J.-B. Bossuet.
 CHAPTER I
THE FALL OF THE THEATRES

[Bibliographical Note.—A convenient sketch of the

history of the Roman stage will be found in G. Körting,
Geschichte des griechischen und römischen Theaters
(1897). The details given in L. Friedländer,
Sittengeschichte Roms in der Zeit von August bis zum
Ausgang der Antonine (vol. ii, 7th ed. 1901), and the
same writer’s article on Die Spiele in vol. vi of Marquardt
and Mommsen’s Handbuch der römischen Alterthümer
(2nd ed. 1885), may be supplemented from E.
Nöldechen’s article Tertullian und das Theater in Zeitschrift
für Kirchengeschichte, xv (1894), 161, for the fabulae
Atellanae from A. Dieterich, Pulcinella (1897), chs. 4-8,
and for the pantomimi from C. Sittl, Die Gebärden der
Griechen und Römer (1890), ch. 13. The account in C.
Magnin, Les Origines du Théâtre moderne (vol. i, all
published, 1838), is by no means obsolete. Teuffel and
Schwabe, History of Latin Literature, vol. i, §§ 3-18 (trans.
G. C. W. Warr, 1891), contains a mass of imperfectly
arranged material. The later history of the Greek stage is
dealt with by P. E. Müller, Commentatio historica de genio,
moribus et luxu aevi Theodosiani (1798), vol. ii, and A. E.
Haigh, Tragic Drama of the Greeks (1896), ch. 6. The
ecclesiastical prohibitions are collected by W. Prynne,
Histriomastix (1633), and J. de Douhet, Dictionnaire des
Mystères (1854), and their general attitude summarized
by H. Alt, Theater und Kirche in ihrem gegenseitigen
Verhältniss (1846). S. Dill, Roman Society in the Last
Century of the Roman Empire (2nd ed. 1899), should be
 consulted for an admirable study of the conditions under
which the pre-mediaeval stage came to an end.]
Christianity, emerging from Syria with a prejudice against
disguisings[1], found the Roman world full of scenici. The mimetic
instinct, which no race of mankind is wholly without, appears to
have been unusually strong amongst the peoples of the
Mediterranean stock. A literary drama came into being in Athens
during the sixth century, and established itself in city after city.
Theatres were built, and tragedies and comedies acted on the Attic
model, wherever a Greek foot trod, from Hipola in Spain to
Tigranocerta in Armenia. The great capitals of the later Greece,
Alexandria, Antioch, Pergamum, rivalled Athens itself in their
devotion to the stage. Another development of drama, independent
of Athens, in Sicily and Magna Graecia, may be distinguished as
farcical rather than comic. After receiving literary treatment at the
hands of Epicharmus and Sophron in the fifth century, it continued
its existence under the name of mime (μῖμος), upon a more popular
level. Like many forms of popular drama, it seems to have combined
the elements of farce and morality. Its exponents are described as
buffoons (γελωτοποιοί, παιγνιογράφοι) and dealers in indecencies
(ἀναισχυντογράφοι), and again as concerning themselves with
questions of character and manners (ἠθολόγοι, ἀρεταλόγοι). They
even produced what sound singularly like problem plays (ὑποθέσεις).
Both qualities may have sprung from a common root in the
observation and audacious portrayal of contemporary life. The mime
was still flourishing in and about Tarentum in the third century[2].
Probably the Romans were not of the Mediterranean stock, and
their native ludi were athletic rather than mimetic. But the drama
gradually filtered in from the neighbouring peoples. Its earliest
stirrings in the rude farce of the satura are attributed by Livy to
Etruscan influence[3]. From Campania came another type of farce,
the Oscum ludicrum or fabula Atellana, with its standing masks of
Maccus and Bucco, Pappus and Dossennus, in whom it is hard not to
find a kinship to the traditional personages of the Neapolitan
commedia dell’ arte. About 240 b. c. the Greek Livius Andronicus
introduced tragedy and comedy. The play now became a regular
element in the spectacula of the Roman festivals, only subordinate in
interest to the chariot-race and the gladiatorial show. Permanent
theatres were built in the closing years of the Republic by Pompey
and others, and the number of days annually devoted to ludi scenici
was constantly on the increase. From 48 under Augustus they grew
to 101 under Constantius. Throughout the period of the Empire,
indeed, the theatre was of no small political importance. On the one
hand it was the rallying point of all disturbers of the peace and the
last stronghold of a public opinion debarred from the senate and the
forum; on the other it was a potent means for winning the affection
of the populace and diverting its attention from dynastic questions.
The scenici might be thorns in the side of the government, but they
were quite indispensable to it. If their perversities drove them from
Italy, the clamour of the mob soon brought them back again. Trajan
revealed one of the arcana imperii when he declared that the
annona and the spectacula controlled Rome[4]. And what was true of
Rome was true of Byzantium, and in a lesser degree of the smaller
provincial cities. So long as the Empire itself held together, the
provision firstly of corn and secondly of novel ludi remained one of
the chief preoccupations of many a highly placed official.
The vast popular audiences of the period under consideration
cared but little for the literary drama. In the theatre of Pompey,
thronged with slaves and foreigners of every tongue, the finer
histrionic effects must necessarily have been lost[5]. Something more
spectacular and sensuous, something appealing to a cruder sense of
humour, almost inevitably took their place. There is evidence indeed
that, while the theatres stood, tragedy and comedy never wholly
disappeared from their boards[6]. But it was probably only the
ancient masterpieces that got a hearing. Even in Greece
performances of new plays on classical models cannot be traced
beyond about the time of Hadrian. And in Rome the tragic poets had
long before then learnt to content themselves with recitations and to
rely for victims on the good nature, frequently inadequate, of their
friends[7]. The stilted dramas of Seneca were the delight of the
Renaissance, but it is improbable that, until the Renaissance, they
were ever dignified with representation. Roughly speaking, for
comedy and tragedy the Empire substituted farce and pantomime.
Farce, as has been noticed, was the earliest traffic of the Roman
stage. The Atellane, relegated during the brief vogue of comedy and
tragedy to the position of an interlude or an afterpiece, now once
more asserted its independence. But already during the Republic the
Atellane, with its somewhat conventional and limited methods, was
beginning to give way to a more flexible and vital type of farce. This
was none other than the old mime of Magna Graecia, which now
entered on a fresh phase of existence and overran both West and
East. That it underwent considerable modifications, and probably
absorbed much both of Atellane and of Attic comedy, may be taken
for granted. Certainly it extended its scope to mythological themes.
But its leading characteristics remained unchanged. The ethical
element, one may fear, sank somewhat into the background,
although it was by no means absent from the work of the better
mime-writers, such as Laberius and Publilius Syrus[8]. But that the
note of shamelessness was preserved there is no doubt whatever[9].
The favourite theme, which is common indeed to farce of all ages,
was that of conjugal infidelity[10]. Unchaste scenes were represented
with an astonishing realism[11]. Contrary to the earlier custom of the
classical stage, women took part in the performances, and at the
Floralia, loosest of Roman festivals, the spectators seem to have
claimed it as their right that the mimae should play naked[12]. The
mimus—for the same term designates both piece and actor—was
just the kind of entertainer whom a democratic audience loves. Clad
in a parti-coloured centunculus, with no mask to conceal the play of
facial gesture, and planipes, with no borrowed dignity of sock or
buskin, he rattled through his side-splitting scenes of low life, and
eked out his text with an inexhaustible variety of rude dancing,
buffoonery and horse-play[13]. Originally the mimes seem to have
performed in monologues, and the action of their pieces continued
to be generally dominated by a single personage, the archimimus,
who was provided with certain stupidi and parasiti to act as foils and
butts for his wit. A satirical intention was frequently present in both
mimes and Atellanes, and their outspoken allusions are more than
once recorded to have wrung the withers of persons of importance
and to have brought serious retribution on the actors themselves.
Caligula, for instance, with characteristic brutality, had a ribald
playwright burnt alive in the amphitheatre[14].
The farce was the diversion of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie
of Rome. Petronius, with all the insolence of the literary man, makes
Trimalchio buy a troupe of comedians, and insist on their playing an
Atellane[15]. The golden and cultured classes preferred the
pantomimic dance. This arose out of the ruins of the literary drama.
On the Roman stage grew up a custom, unknown in Greece, by
which the lyric portions of the text (cantica) were entrusted to a
singer who stood with the flute-player at the side of the stage, while
the actor confined himself to dancing in silence with appropriate
dumb show. The dialogue (diverbia) continued to be spoken by the
actors. The next step was to drop the diverbia altogether; and thus
came the pantomimus who undertook to indicate the whole
development of a plot in a series of dramatic dances, during the
course of which he often represented several distinct rôles. Instead
of the single flute-player and singer a full choir now supplied the
musical accompaniment, and great poets—Lucan and Statius among
the number—did not disdain to provide texts for the fabulae salticae.
Many of the pantomimi attained to an extreme refinement in their
degenerate and sensuous art. They were, as Lucian said,
χειρόσοφοι, erudite of gesture[16]. Their subjects were, for the most
part, mythological and erotic, not to say lascivious, in character[17].
Pylades the Cilician, who, with his great rival Bathyllus the
Alexandrian, brought the dance to its first perfection under
Augustus, favoured satyric themes; but this mode does not appear
to have endured. Practically the dancers were the tragedians, and
the mimes were the comedians, of the Empire. The old Etruscan
name for an actor, histrio, came to be almost synonymous with
pantomimus[18]. Rome, which could lash itself into a fury over the
contests between the Whites and Reds or the Blues and Greens in
the circus, was not slow to take sides upon the respective merits of
its scenic entertainers. The histrionalis favor led again and again to
brawls which set the rulers of the city wondering whether after all
the pantomimi were worth while. Augustus had found it to his
advantage that the spirit of partisanship should attach itself to a
Pylades or a Bathyllus rather than to more illustrious antagonists[19].
But the personal instincts of Tiberius were not so genial as those of
Augustus. Early in his principate he attempted to restrain the
undignified court paid by senators and knights to popular dancers,
and when this measure failed, he expelled the histriones from
Italy[20]. The example was followed by more than one of his
successors, but Rome clamoured fiercely for its toys, and the period
of exile was never a long one[21].
Both mimi and pantomimi had their vogue in private, at the
banquets and weddings of the great, as well as in public. The class
of scenici further included a heterogeneous variety of lesser
performers. There were the rhapsodes who sung the tragic cantica,
torn from their context, upon the stage. There were musicians and
dancers of every order and from every land[22]. There were jugglers
(praestigiatores, acetabuli), rope-walkers (funambuli), stilt-walkers
(grallatores), tumblers (cernui, petauristae, petaminarii), buffoons
(sanniones, scurrae), beast-tamers and strong men. The pick of
them did their ‘turns’ in the theatre or the amphitheatre; the more
humble were content with modest audiences at street corners or in
the vestibule of the circus. From Rome the entertainers of the
imperial race naturally found their way into the theatres of the
provinces. Tragedy and comedy no doubt held their own longer in
Greece, but the stage of Constantinople under Justinian does not
seem to have differed notably from the stage of Rome under Nero.
Marseilles alone distinguished itself by the honourable austerity
which forbade the mimi its gates[23].
It must not be supposed that the profession of the scenici ever
became an honourable one in the eyes of the Roman law. They were
for the most part slaves or at best freedmen. They were deliberately
branded with infamia or incapacity for civil rights. This infamia was
of two kinds, depending respectively upon the action of the censors
as guardians of public dignity and that of the praetors as presidents
in the law courts. The censors habitually excluded actors from the
ius suffragii and the ius honorum, the rights of voting and of holding
senatorial or equestrian rank; the praetors refused to allow them, if
men, to appear as attorneys, if women, to appoint attorneys, in civil
suits[24]. The legislation of Julius Caesar and of Augustus added
some statutory disabilities. The lex Iulia municipalis forbade actors
to hold municipal honores[25]: the lex Iulia de adulteriis set the
example of denying them the right to bring criminal actions[26]; the
lex Iulia et Papia Poppaea limited their privileges when freed, and in
particular forbade senators or the sons of senators to take to wife
women who had been, or whose parents had been, on the stage[27].
On the other hand Augustus confined the ius virgarum, which the
praetors had formerly had over scenici, to the actual place and time
of performances[28]; and so far as the censorian infamia was
concerned, the whole tendency of the late Republic and early Empire
was to relax its application to actors. It came to be possible for
senators and knights to appear on the stage without losing caste. It
was a grievous insult when Julius Caesar compelled the mimograph
Laberius to appear in one of his own pieces. But after all Caesar
restored Laberius to his rank of eques, a dignity which at a still
earlier date Sulla had bestowed on Roscius[29]. Later the restriction
broke down altogether, although not without an occasional reforming
effort to restore it[30]. Nero himself was not ashamed to take the
boards as a singer of cantica[31]. And even an infamis, if he were
the boon companion of a prince, might be appointed to a post
directly depending on the imperial dignity. Thus Caracalla sent a
pantomimus to hold a military command on the frontier, and
Heliogabalus made another praefectus urbi in Rome itself[32]. Under
Constantine a reaction set in, and a new decree formally excluded
scenici from all dignitates[33]. The severe class legislation received
only reluctant and piecemeal modification, and the praetorian
infamia outlived the Empire itself, and left its mark upon Carolingian
jurisprudence[34].
The relaxation of the old Roman austerity implied in the
popularity of the mimi and histriones did not pass uncensured by
even the pagan moralists of the Empire. The stage has a share in
the denunciations of Tacitus and Juvenal, both of whom lament that
princes and patricians should condescend to practise arts once
relegated to the infames. Martial’s hypocrite rails at the times and
the theatres. Three centuries later the soldierly Ammianus
Marcellinus finds in the gyrations of the dancing-girls, three
thousand of whom were allowed to remain in Rome when it was
starving, a blot upon the fame of the state; and Macrobius contrasts
the sober evenings of Praetextatus and his friends with revels
dependent for their mirth on the song and wanton motions of the
psaltria or the jests of sabulo and planipes[35]. Policy compelled the
emperors to encourage spectacula, but even they were not always
blind to the ethical questions involved. Tiberius based his expulsion
of the histriones, at least in part, on moral grounds. Marcus Aurelius,
with a philosophic regret that the high lessons of comedy had sunk
to mere mimic dexterity, sat publicly in his box and averted his eyes
to a state-paper or a book[36]. Julian, weaned by his tutor Mardonius
from a boyish love of the stage, issued strict injunctions to the
priests of the Sun to avoid a theatre which he despaired of
reforming[37]. Christian teachers, unconcerned with the interests of
a dynasty, and claiming to represent a higher morality than that
either of Marcus Aurelius or of Julian, naturally took even stronger
ground. Moreover, they had their special reasons for hostility to the
stage. That the actors should mock at the pagan religion, with
whose ludi their own performances were intimately connected, made
a good dialectical point. But the connexion itself was unpardonable,
and still more so the part taken by the mimes during the war of
creeds, in parodying and holding up to ridicule the most sacred
symbols and mysteries of the church. This feeling is reflected in the
legends of St. Genesius, St. Pelagia and other holy folk, who are
represented as turning from the scenic profession to embrace
Christianity, the conversion in some cases taking place on the very
boards of the theatre itself[38]. So far as the direct attack upon the
stage is concerned, the key-note of patristic eloquence is struck in
the characteristic and uncompromising treatise De Spectaculis of
Tertullian. Here theatre, circus, and amphitheatre are joined in a
threefold condemnation. Tertullian holds that the Christian has
explicitly forsworn spectacula, when he renounced the devil and all
his works and vanities at baptism. What are these but idolatry, and
where is idolatry, if not in the spectacula, which not only minister to
lust, but take place at the festivals and in the holy places of Venus
and Bacchus? The story is told of the demon who entered a woman
in the theatre and excused himself at exorcism, because he had
found her in his own demesne. A fervid exhortation follows. To
worldly pleasures Christians have no claim. If they need spectacula
they can find them in the exercises of their Church. Here are nobler
poetry, sweeter voices, maxims more sage, melodies more dulcet,
than any comedy can boast, and withal, here is truth instead of
fiction. Moreover, for Christians is reserved the last great
spectaculum of all. ‘Then,’ says Tertullian, ‘will be the time to listen
to the tragedians, whose lamentations will be more poignant for
their proper pain. Then will the comedians turn and twist, rendered
nimbler than ever by the sting of the fire that is not quenched[39].’
With Tertullian asceticism is always a passion, but the vivid African
rhetoric is no unfair sample of a catena of outspoken comment
which extends across the third century from Tatian to Lactantius[40].
The judgement of the Fathers finds more cautious expression in the
disciplinary regulations of the Church. An early formal condemnation
of actors is included in the so-called Canons of Hippolytus[41], and
the relations of converts to the stage were discussed during the
fourth century by the councils of Elvira (306) and of Arles (314) and
by the third and fourth councils of Carthage (397-398)[42]. It was
hardly possible for practical legislators to take the extreme step of
forbidding Christian laymen to enter the theatre at all. No doubt that
would be the counsel of perfection, but in dealing with a deep-
seated popular instinct something of a compromise was
necessary[43]. An absolute prohibition was only established for the
clergy: so far as the laity were concerned, it was limited to Sundays
and ecclesiastical festivals, and on those days it was enforced by a
threat of excommunication[44]. No Christian, however, might be a
scenicus or a scenica, or might marry one; and if a member of the
unhallowed profession sought to be baptized, the preliminary of
abandoning his calling was essential[45].
It is curious to notice that a certain sympathy with the stage
seems to have been characteristic of one of the great heresiarchs.
This was none other than Arius, who is said to have had designs of
setting up a Christian theatre in rivalry to those of paganism, and his
strange work, the Thaleia, may perhaps have been intended to
further the scheme. At any rate an orthodox controversialist takes
occasion to brand his Arian opponents and their works as ‘thymelic’
or ‘stagy’[46]. But it would probably be dangerous to lay undue
stress upon what, after all, is as likely as not to be merely a
dialectical metaphor.
After the edict of Milan (313), and still more after the end of the
pagan reaction with the death of Julian (363), Christian influences
began to make themselves felt in the civil legislation of the Empire.
But if the councils themselves were chary of utterly forbidding the
theatre, a stronger line was not likely to be taken in rescripts from
Constantinople or Ravenna. The emperors were, indeed, in a difficult
position. They stood between bishops pleading for decency and
humanity and populaces now traditionally entitled to their panem et
spectacula. The theatrical legislation preserved in the Code of
Theodosius is not without traces of this embarrassment[47]. It is
rather an interesting study. The views of the Church were met upon
two points. One series of rescripts forbade performances on Sundays
or during the more sacred periods of the Christian calendar[48]:
another relaxed in favour of Christians the strict caste laws which
sternly forbade actresses or their daughters to quit the unhappy
profession in which they were born[49]. Moreover, certain sumptuary
regulations were passed, which must have proved a severe
restriction on the popularity as well as the liberty of actors. They
were forbidden to wear gold or rich fabrics, or to ape the dress of
nuns. They must avoid the company of Christian women and boys.
They must not come into the public places or walk the streets
attended by slaves with folding chairs[50]. Some of the rescripts
contain phrases pointed with the bitterest contempt and detestation
of their victims[51]. Theodosius will not have the portraits of scenici
polluting the neighbourhood of his own imagines[52]. It is made very
clear that the old court favourites are now to be merely tolerated.
But they are to be tolerated. The idea of suppressing them is never
entertained. On the contrary the provision of spectacula and of
performers for them remains one of the preoccupations of the
government[53]. The praetor is expected to be lavish on this item of
his budget[54], and special municipal officers, the tribuni voluptatum,
are appointed to superintend the arrangements[55]. Private
individuals and rival cities must not deport actors, or withdraw them
from the public service[56]. The bonds of caste, except for the few
freed by their faith, are drawn as tight as ever[57], and when pagan
worship ceases the shrines are preserved from demolition for the
sake of the theatres built therein[58].
The love of even professing Christians for spectacula proved hard
to combat. There are no documents which throw more light on the
society of the Eastern Empire at the close of the fourth century than
the works of St. Chrysostom; and to St. Chrysostom, both as a priest
at Antioch before 397 and as patriarch of Constantinople after that
year, the stage is as present a danger as it was to Tertullian two
centuries earlier[59]. A sermon preached on Easter-day, 399, is good
evidence of this. St. Chrysostom had been attacking the stage for a
whole year, and his exhortations had just come to nought. Early in
Holy Week there was a great storm, and the people joined the
rogatory processions. But it was a week of ludi. On Good Friday the
circus, and on Holy Saturday the theatre, were thronged and the
churches were empty. The Easter sermon was an impassioned
harangue, in which the preacher dwelt once more on the inevitable
corruption bound up with things theatrical, and ended with a threat
to enforce the sentence of excommunication, prescribed only a few
months before by the council of Carthage, upon whoever should
again venture to defy the Church’s law in like fashion on Sunday or
holy day[60]. Perhaps one may trace the controversy which St.
Chrysostom’s deliverance must have awakened, on the one hand in
the rescript of the autumn of 399 pointedly laying down that the
ludicrae artes must be maintained, on the other in the prohibition of
the following year against performances in Holy week, and similar
solemn tides.
More than a century after the exile and death of St. Chrysostom
the theatre was still receiving state recognition at Constantinople. A
regulation of Justinian as to the ludi to be given by newly elected
consuls specified a performance on the stage ominously designated
as the ‘Harlots’[61]. By this date the status of the theatrical
profession had at last undergone further and noticeable
modification. The ancient Roman prohibition against the marriage of
men of noble birth with scenicae or other infames or the daughters
of such, had been re-enacted under Constantine. A partial repeal in
454 had not extended to the scenicae[62]. During the first half of the
sixth century, however, a series of decrees removed their disability
on condition of their quitting the stage, and further made it an
offence to compel slaves or freed women to perform against their
will[63]. In these humane relaxations of the rigid laws of theatrical
caste has often been traced the hand of the empress Theodora,
who, according to the contemporary gossip of Procopius, was
herself, before her conversion, one of the most shameless of mimes.
But it must be noted that the most important of the decrees in
question preceded the accession of Justinian, although it may
possibly have been intended to facilitate his own marriage[64]. The
history of the stage in the East cannot be traced much further with
any certainty. The canons of the Quinisextine council, which met in
the Trullan chamber to codify ecclesiastical discipline in 692, appear
to contemplate the possibility of performances still being given[65]. A
modern Greek scholar, M. Sathas, has made an ingenious attempt to
establish the existence of a Byzantine theatrical tradition right
through the Middle Ages; but Dr. Krumbacher, the most learned
historian of Byzantine literature, is against him, and holds that, so
far as our knowledge goes, the theatre must be considered to have
perished during the stress of the Saracen invasions which, in the
seventh and eighth centuries, devastated the East[66].
The ending of the theatre in the West was in very similar fashion.
Chrysostom’s great Latin contemporaries, Augustine and Jerome, are
at one with him and with each other in their condemnation of the
evils of the public stage as they knew it[67]. Their divergent attitude
on a minor point may perhaps be explained by a difference of
temperament. The fifth century saw a marked revival of literary
interests from which even dignitaries of the Church did not hold
themselves wholly aloof. Ausonius urged his grandson to the study
of Menander. Sidonius, a bishop and no undevout one, read both
Menander and Terence with his son[68]. With this movement
Augustine had some sympathy. In a well-known passage of the
Confessions he records the powerful influence exercised by tragedy,
and particularly erotic tragedy, over his tempestuous youth[69]. And
in the City of God he draws a careful distinction between the higher
and the lower forms of drama, and if he does not approve, at least
does not condemn, the use of tragedies and comedies in a humane
education[70]. Jerome, on the other hand, although himself like
Augustine a good scholar, takes a more ascetic line, and a letter of
his protesting against the reading of comedies by priests ultimately
came to be quoted as an authority in Roman canon law[71].
The references to the stage in the works of two somewhat
younger ecclesiastical writers are of exceptional interest. Orosius
was a pupil of both Jerome and Augustine; and Orosius,
endeavouring a few years after the sack of Rome by the Goths to
prove that that startling disaster was not due to Christianity, lays
great and indeed exaggerated importance on the share of the
theatre in promoting the decay of the Empire[72]. About the middle
of the fifth century the same note is struck by Salvian in his
remarkable treatise De Gubernatione Dei[73]. The sixth book of his
work is almost entirely devoted to the spectacula. Like Tertullian,
Salvian insists on the definite renunciation of spectacula by
Christians in their baptismal vow[74]. Like Orosius, he traces to the
weakening of moral fibre by these accursed amusements the failure
of the West to resist the barbarians. Moritur et ridet is his epigram
on the Roman world. The citizens of Tréves, three times destroyed,
still called upon their rulers for races and a theatre. With the Vandals
at the very gates of Cirta and of Carthage, ecclesia Carthaginiensis
insaniebat in circis, luxuriebat in theatris[75]. Incidentally Salvian
gives some valuable information as to the survival of the stage in his
day. Already in 400 Augustine had been able to say that the theatres
were falling on every side[76]. Salvian, fifty years later, confirms the
testimony, but he adds the reason. It was not because Christians
had learnt to be faithful to their vows and to the teachings of the
Church; but because the barbarians, who despised spectacula, and
therein set a good example to degenerate Romans[77], had sacked
half the cities, while in the rest the impoverished citizens could no
longer pay the bills. He adds that at Rome a circus was still open
and a theatre at Ravenna, and that these were thronged with
delighted travellers from all parts of the Empire[78]. There must,
however, have been a theatre at Rome as well, for Sidonius found it
there when he visited the city, twelve years after it had been sacked
for the second time, in 467. He was appointed prefect of the city,
and in one of his letters expresses a fear lest, if the corn-supply fail,
the thunders of the theatre may burst upon his head[79]. In a poem
written a few years earlier he describes the spectacula theatri of
mimes, pantomimes, and acrobats as still flourishing at
Narbonne[80].
The next and the latest records of the stage in the West date
from the earlier part of the sixth century, when the Ostrogoths held
sway in Italy. They are to be found in the Variae of Cassiodorus, who
held important official posts under the new lords of Rome, and they
go to confirm the inference which the complaint of Salvian already
suggests that a greater menace to the continuance of the theatre lay
in the taste of the barbarians than even in the ethics of Christianity.
The Ostrogoths had long dwelt within the frontiers of the Empire,
and Theodoric, ruling as ‘King of the Goths and Romans in Italy,’
over a mixed multitude of Italians and Italianate Germans, found it
necessary to continue the spectacula, which in his heart he
despised. There are many indications of this in the state-papers
preserved in the Variae, which may doubtless be taken to express
the policy and temper of the masters of Cassiodorus in the rhetorical
trappings of the secretary himself. The scenici are rarely mentioned
without a sneer, but their performances and those of the aurigae, or
circus-drivers, who have now come to be included under the all-
embracing designation of histriones, are carefully regulated[81]. The
gladiators have, indeed, at last disappeared, two centuries after
Constantine had had the grace to suppress them in the East[82].
There is a letter from Theodoric to an architect, requiring him to
repair the theatre of Pompey, and digressing into an historical
sketch, imperfectly erudite, of the history of the drama, its invention
by the Greeks, and its degradation by the Romans[83]. A number of
documents deal with the choice of a pantomimus to represent the
prasini or ‘Greens,’ and show that the rivalry of the theatre-factions
remained as fierce as it had been in the days of Bathyllus and
Pylades. Helladius is given the preference over Thorodon, and a
special proclamation exhorts the people to keep the peace[84]. Still
more interesting is the formula, preserved by Cassiodorus, which
was used in the appointment of the tribunus voluptatum, an official
whom we have already come across in the rescripts of the emperors
of the fourth century. This is so characteristic, in its contemptuous
references to the nature of the functions which it confers, of the
whole German attitude in the matter of spectacula, that it seems
worth while to print it in an appendix[85]. The passages hitherto
quoted from the Variae all seem to belong to the period between
507 and 511, when Cassiodorus was quaestor and secretary to
Theodoric at Rome. A single letter written about 533 in the reign of
Athalaric shows that the populace was still looking to its Gothic
rulers for spectacula, and still being gratified[86]. Beyond this the
Roman theatre has not been traced. The Goths passed in 553, and
Italy was reabsorbed in the Empire. In 568 came the Lombards, raw
Germans who had been but little under southern influence, and were
far less ready than their predecessors to adopt Roman manners.
Rome and Ravenna alone remained as outposts of the older
civilization, the latter under an exarch appointed from
Constantinople, the former under its bishop. At Ravenna the theatre
may conceivably have endured; at Rome, the Rome of Gregory the
Great, it assuredly did not. An alleged mention of a theatre at
Barcelona in Spain during the seventh century resolves itself into
either a survival of pagan ritual or a bull-fight[87]. Isidore of Seville
has his learned chapters on the stage, but they are written in the
imperfect tense, as of what is past and gone[88]. The bishops and
the barbarians had triumphed.
 CHAPTER II
MIMUS AND SCÔP

[Bibliographical Note (for chs. ii-iv).—By far the best

account of minstrelsy is the section on Les Propagateurs
des Chansons de Gestes in vol. ii of L. Gautier, Les
Épopées françaises (2nd ed. 1892), bk. ii, chs. xvii-xxi. It
may be supplemented by the chapter devoted to the
subject in J. Bédier, Les Fabliaux (2nd ed. 1895), and by
the dissertation of E. Freymond, Jongleurs und Menestrals
(Halle, 1883). I have not seen A. Olrik, Middelalderens
vandrende Spillemænd (Opuscula Philologica,
Copenhagen, 1887). Some German facts are added by F.
Vogt, Leben und Dichten der deutschen Spielleute im
Mittelalter (1876), and A. Schultz, Das höfische Leben zur
Zeit der Minnesinger (2nd ed. 1889), i. 565, who gives
further references. The English books are not good, and
probably the most reliable account of English minstrelsy is
that in the following pages; but materials may be found in
J. Strutt, Sports and Pastimes of the People of England
(1801, ed. W. Hone, 1830); T. Percy, Reliques of Ancient
English Poetry (ed. H. B. Wheatley, 1876, ed. Schroer,
1889); J. Ritson, Ancient English Metrical Romances
(1802), Ancient Songs and Ballads (1829); W. Chappell,
Old English Popular Music (ed. H. E. Wooldridge, 1893); F.
J. Crowest, The Story of British Music, from the Earliest
Times to the Tudor Period (1896); J. J. Jusserand, English
Wayfaring Life in the Middle Ages (trans. L. T. Smith, 4th
ed. 1892). The early English data are discussed by R.
Merbot, Aesthetische Studien zur angelsächsischen Poesie
(1883), and F. M. Padelford, Old English Musical Terms
 (1899). F. B. Gummere, The Beginnings of Poetry (1901),
should be consulted on the relations of minstrelsy to
communal poetry; and other special points are dealt with
by O. Hubatsch, Die lateinischen Vagantenlieder des
Mittelalters (1870); G. Maugras, Les Comédiens hors la Loi
(1887), and H. Lavoix, La Musique au Siècle de Saint-Louis
(in G. Raynaud, Recueil de Motets français, 1883, vol. ii).
To the above list of authorities should of course be added
the histories of literature and of the drama enumerated in
the General Bibliographical Note.]
The fall of the theatres by no means implied the complete
extinction of the scenici. They had outlived tragedy and comedy:
they were destined to outlive the stage itself. Private performances,
especially of pantomimi and other dancers, had enjoyed great
popularity under the Empire, and had become an invariable adjunct
of all banquets and other festivities. At such revels, as at the
decadence of the theatre and of public morals generally, the graver
pagans had looked askance[89]: the Church naturally included them
in its universal condemnation of spectacula. Chrysostom in the
East[90], Jerome in the West[91], are hostile to them, and a canon of
the fourth-century council of Laodicea, requiring the clergy who
might be present at weddings and similar rejoicings to rise and leave
the room before the actors were introduced, was adopted by council
after council and took its place as part of the ecclesiastical law[92].
The permanence of the regulation proves the strength of the habit,
which indeed the Church might ban, but was not able to subdue,
and which seems to have commended itself, far more than the
theatre, to Teutonic manners. Such irregular performances proved a
refuge for the dispossessed scenici. Driven from their theatres, they
had still a vogue, not only at banquets, but at popular merry-
makings or wherever in street or country they could gather together
the remnant of their old audiences. Adversity and change of masters
modified many of their characteristics. The pantomimi, in particular,
fell upon evil times. Their subtle art had had its origin in an exquisite
if corrupt taste, and adapted itself with difficulty to the ruder
conditions of the new civilizations[93]. The mimi had always
appealed to a common and gross humanity. But even they must now
rub shoulders and contend for denarii with jugglers and with rope-
dancers, with out-at-elbows gladiators and beast-tamers. More than
ever they learnt to turn their hand to anything that might amuse;
learnt to tumble, for instance; learnt to tell the long stories which
the Teutons loved. Nevertheless, in essentials they remained the
same; still jesters and buffoons, still irrepressible, still obscene. In
little companies of two or three, they padded the hoof along the
roads, travelling from gathering to gathering, making their own
welcome in castle or tavern, or, if need were, sleeping in some
grange or beneath a wayside hedge in the white moonlight. They
were, in fact, absorbed into that vast body of nomad entertainers on
whom so much of the gaiety of the Middle Ages depended. They
became ioculatores, jongleurs, minstrels[94].
The features of the minstrels as we trace them obscurely from
the sixth to the eleventh century, and then more clearly from the
eleventh to the sixteenth, are very largely the features of the Roman
mimi as they go under, whelmed in the flood which bore away Latin
civilization. But to regard them as nothing else than mimi would be a
serious mistake. On another side they have a very different and a far
more reputable ancestry. Like other factors in mediaeval society,
they represent a merging of Latin and the Teutonic elements. They
inherit the tradition of the mimus: they inherit also the tradition of
the German scôp[95]. The earliest Teutonic poetry, so far as can be
gathered, knew no scôp. As will be shown in a later chapter, it was
communal in character, closely bound up with the festal dance, or
with the rhythmic movements of labour. It was genuine folk-song,
the utterance of no select caste of singers, but of whoever in the
ring of worshippers or workers had the impulse and the gift to link
the common movements to articulate words. At the festivals such a
spokesman would be he who, for whatever reason, took the lead in
the ceremonial rites, the vates, germ at once of priest and bard. The
subject-matter of communal song was naturally determined by the
interests ruling on the occasions when it was made. That of daily life
would turn largely on the activities of labour itself: that of the high
days on the emotions of religion, feasting, and love which were
evoked by the primitive revels of a pastoral or agricultural folk.
Presently the movements of the populations of Europe brought
the Germanic tribes, after separating from their Scandinavian
kinsmen, into contact with Kelts, with Huns, with the Roman Empire,
and, in the inevitable recoil, with each other. Then for the first time
war assumed a prerogative place in their life. To war, the old habits
and the old poetry adapted themselves. Tiwaz, once primarily the
god of beneficent heaven, became the god of battles. The chant of
prayer before the onset, the chant of triumph and thanksgiving after
the victory, made themselves heard[96]. From these were
disengaged, as a distinct species of poetry, songs in praise of the
deeds and deaths of great captains and popular heroes. Tacitus tells
us that poetry served the Germans of his day for both chronology
and history[97]. Jordanis, four centuries later, has a similar account
to give of the Ostrogoths[98]. Arminius, the vanquisher of a Roman
army, became the subject of heroic songs[99]: Athalaric has no
higher word of praise for Gensimund than cantabilis[100]. The glories
of Alboin the Lombard[101], of Charlemagne himself[102], found
celebration in verse, and Charlemagne was at the pains to collect
and record the still earlier cantilenae which were the chronicle of his
race. Such historical cantilenae, mingled with more primitive ones of
mythological import, form the basis of the great legendary
epics[103]. But the process of epic-making is one of self-conscious
and deliberate art, and implies a considerable advance from primitive
modes of literary composition. No doubt the earliest heroic
cantilenae were still communal in character. They were rondes
footed and sung at festivals by bands of young men and maidens.
Nor was such folk-song quick to disappear. Still in the eleventh
century the deeds of St. William of Orange resounded amongst the
chori iuvenum[104]; and spinning-room and village green were
destined to hear similar strains for many centuries more[105]. But
long before this the cantilenae had entered upon another and more
productive course of development: they were in the mouths, not
only of the folk, but also of a body of professional singers, the
fashioners of the epic that was to be[106]. Like heroic song itself, the
professional singers owed their origin to war, and to the prominence
of the individual, the hero, which war entailed. Around the person of
a great leader gathered his individual following or comitatus, bound
to him by ties of mutual loyalty, by interchange of service and
reward[107]. Amongst the comitatus room was found for one who
was no spearman, but who, none the less honoured for that,
became the poet of the group and took over from the less gifted
chorus the duty of celebrating the praises of the chieftain. These he
sung to the accompaniment, no longer of flying feet, but of the harp,
struck when the meal was over in tent or hall. Such a harper is the
characteristically Germanic type of professional entertainer. He has
his affinities with the Demodokos of a Homeric king. Rich in dignities
and guerdons, sitting at the foot of the leader, consorting on equal
terms with the warriors, he differs wholly from the scenicus infamis,
who was the plaything and the scorn of Rome. Precisely when the
shifting of social conditions brought him into being it is hard to say.
Tacitus does not mention him, which is no proof, but a presumption,
that amongst the tribes on the frontier he had not yet made his
appearance in the first century of the Empire. By the fifth century he
was thoroughly established, and the earliest records point to his
existence at least as early as the fourth. These are not to be found
in Latin sources, but in those early English poems which, although
probably written in their extant forms after the invasion of these
islands, seem to date back in substance to the age when the Angles
still dwelt in a continental home around the base of the Jutish
peninsula. The English remained to a comparatively late stage of
their history remote from Roman influence, and it is in their
literature that both the original development of the Teutonic scôp
and his subsequent contamination by the Roman mimus can most
easily be studied.
 The earliest of all English poems is almost certainly Widsith, the
‘far-traveller.’ This has been edited and interpolated in Christian
England, but the kernel of it is heathen and continental[108]. It is an
autobiographic sketch of the life of Widsith, who was himself an
actual or ideal scôp, or rather gleómon, for the precise term scôp is
not used in the poem. Widsith was of the Myrgings, a small folk who
dwelt hard by the Angles. In his youth he went with Ealhhild, the
‘weaver of peace,’ on a mission to Eormanric the Ostrogoth.
Eormanric is the Hermanric of legend, and his death in 375 a. d.
gives an approximate date to the events narrated. Then Widsith
became a wanderer upon the face of the earth, one who could ‘sing
and say a story’ in the ‘mead-hall.’ He describes the nations and
rulers he has known. Eormanric gave him a collar of beaten gold,
and Guthhere the Burgundian a ring. He has been with Caesar, lord
of jocund cities, and has seen Franks and Lombards, Finns and
Huns, Picts and Scots, Hebrews, Indians, Egyptians, Medes and
Persians. At the last he has returned to the land of the Myrgings,
and with his fellow Scilling has sung loud to the harp the praises of
his lord Eadgils and of Ealhhild the daughter of Eadwine. Eadgils has
given him land, the inheritance of his fathers. The poem concludes
with an eulogy of the life of gleemen. They wander through realm
upon realm, voice their needs, and have but to give thanks. In every
land they find a lord to whom songs are dear, and whose bounty is
open to the exalters of his name. Of less undeniable antiquity than
Widsith are the lines known as the Complaint of Deor. These touch
the seamy side of the singer’s life. Deor has been the scôp of the
Heodenings many winters through. But one more skilled, Heorrenda
by name—the Horant of the Gudrun saga—has outdone him in song,
and has been granted the land-right that once was Deor’s. He finds
his consolation in the woes of the heroes of old. ‘They have
endured: may not I endure[109]?’ The outline drawn in Widsith and
in Deor is completed by various passages in the epic of Beowulf,
which may be taken as representing the social conditions of the sixth
or early seventh century. In Heorot, the hall of Hrothgar, there was
sound of harp, the gleewood. Sweetly sang the scôp after the mead-
bench. The lay was sung, the gleeman’s gyd told. Hrothgar’s thanes,
even Hrothgar himself, took their turns to unfold the wondrous tale.
On the other hand, when a folk is in sorrow, no harp is heard, the
glee-beam is silent in the halls[110]. In these three poems, then, is
fully limned the singer of Teutonic heathenism. He is a man of
repute, the equal of thanes. He holds land, even the land of his
fathers. He receives gifts of gold from princes for the praise he does
them. As yet no distinction appears between scôp and gleómon.
Widsith is at one time the resident singer of a court; at another, as
the mood takes him, a wanderer to the ends of the earth. And
though the scôp leads the song, the warriors and the king himself do
not disdain to take part in it. This is noteworthy, because it gives the
real measure of the difference between the Teutonic and the Roman
entertainer. For a Nero to perform amongst the scenici was to
descend: for a Hrothgar to touch the harp was a customary and an
honourable act.
The singing did not cease when the English came to these
islands. The long struggle with the Britons which succeeded the
invasions assuredly gave rise to many new lays, both in Northumbria
and Wessex. ‘England,’ says Mr. Stopford Brooke, ‘was conquered to
the music of verse, and settled to the sound of the harp.’ But though
Alfred and Dunstan knew such songs, they are nearly all lost, or only
dimly discerned as the basis of chronicles. At the end of the sixth
century, just as the conquest was completed, came Christianity. The
natural development of English poetry was to some extent deflected.
A religious literature grew up at the hands of priests. Eadhelm, who,
anticipating a notion of St. Francis of Assisi, used to stand on a
bridge as if he were a gleeman, and waylay the folk as they hurried
back from mass, himself wrote pious songs. One of these, a carmen
triviale, was still sung in the twelfth century[111]. This was in
Wessex. In Northumbria, always the most literary district of early
England, the lay brother Cædmon founded a school of divine poetry.
But even amongst the disciples of Cædmon, some, such as the
author of the very martial Judith, seem to have designed their work
for the mead-hall as well as the monastery[112]. And the regular
scôp by no means vanished. The Wanderer, a semi-heathen elegiac
poem of the early eighth century, seems to be the lament of a scôp
driven from his haunts, not by Christianity, but by the tumults of the
day[113]. The great poet of the next generation, Cynewulf, himself
took treasure of appled gold in the mead-hall. A riddle on ‘the
wandering singer’ is ascribed to him[114], and various poems of his
school on the fates or the crafts of man bear witness to the
continued existence of the class[115]. With the eighth century, except
for the songs of war quoted or paraphrased in the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, the extant Early English poetry reaches a somewhat
inexplicable end. But history comes to the rescue, and enables us
still to trace the scôp. It is in the guise of a harp-player that Alfred is
reported to have fooled the Danes, and Anlaf in his turn to have
fooled the Saxons[116]: and mythical as these stories may be, they
would not have even been plausible, had not the presence of such
folk by the camp-fire been a natural and common event.
Certainly the scôp survived heathenism, and many Christian
bishops and pious laymen, such as Alfred[117], were not ashamed of
their sympathy with secular song. Nevertheless, the entertainers of
the English folk did not find favour in the eyes of the Church as a
whole. The stricter ecclesiastics especially attacked the practice of
harbouring them in religious houses. Decrees condemning this were
made by the council on English affairs which sat at Rome in
679[118], and by the council of Clovesho in 747[119]. Bede, writing at
about the latter date on the condition of church affairs in
Northumbria complains of those who make mirth in the dwellings of
bishops[120]; and the complaint is curiously illustrated by a letter of
Gutbercht, abbot of Newcastle, to an episcopal friend on the
continent, in which he asks him for a citharista competent to play
upon the cithara or rotta which he already possesses[121]. At the
end of the eighth century, Alcuin wrote a letter to Higbald, bishop of
Lindisfarne, warning him against the snares of citharistae and