The Ancient Germans

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  “For their drink, they draw a liquor from barley or other grain; and ferment the same, so as to make it resemble wine. Nay, they who dwell upon the bank of the Rhine deal in wine. Their food is very simple; wild fruit, fresh venison, or coagulated milk. They banish hunger without formality, without curious dressing and curious fare. In extinguishing thirst, they use not equal temperance. If you will but humour their excess in drinking, and supply them with as much as they covet, it will be no less easy to vanquish them by vices than by arms.” —Tacitus (56 - 120 AD)  Germany

Actors Onstage

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CLEREMONT: HERE’S no lords nor ladies. 

DION.  Credit me, gentlemen, I wonder at it. They receiv’d strict charge from the King to attend here; besides, it was boldly published that no officer should forbid any gentleman that desired to attend and hear.


Beaumont and Fletcher, “Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding” (1608)

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“In the days when contact with the theatre meant exile from the best society, Beaumont and Fletcher, men from good families, dared to ally themselves with the stage as playwrights. ‘Philaster’ won them immortal praise.” (Editor, Harvard Classics)

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