Augusta Bagiennorum

Comic Actor & Acrobat, ~350 AD

🤹 Sosias

A historically grounded profile from the Bagienni valley of Piedmont, based on archaeological, literary, documentary, and local historical sources.

Historical context

The Roman world ran on itinerant entertainers. Fairs, market days and festivals across Gaul and the Alpine provinces were worked by tumblers, jugglers, mimes and animal trainers who sat entirely outside the grand traditions of tragedy and pantomime. Roman mime had always had a place for the lovable fool, the stupidus, slow, good-hearted and always at the centre of the trouble. Sosias is that figure without any of the craft, which is why it works.

Appearance and life

Sosias is built wide, not tall. His shoulders are broad, his frame is solid, and he occupies a stage horizontally. Roughly at Rufus's jaw or shoulder, at about five and a half feet, he reads as funny from the back row before he has done anything. He moves easily with a strength he does not think about. Somebody asks him to shift a flat or a trunk of costumes and he does it without pausing, and his back has never once raised an objection.

His face is broad, open and honest, with a look of unguarded expectation, as if he is certain he is about to be welcomed. He nearly always is. People who meet him tend to think of a large, friendly dog arriving at a gathering, and they are not entirely wrong. His hair is thick and untidy, and his clothes are practical, patched and usually mended by someone who loves him.

Beside Rufus he becomes a visual joke the audience grasps at once. Rufus is a walking monument; Sosias looks like a man who has decided the monument is his personal responsibility. It is the most dependable laugh in the company and nobody planned it.

Timeline

  1. c. 322 AD · VESONTIO — BirthBorn into a family of farmers and shepherds. Grows up carrying lambs, balancing on fences and being told he is very easy to like.
  2. c. 330–335 AD · VESONTIO — ChildhoodGood-natured, strong and always where the noise is. Discovers at a harvest festival that if he trips deliberately the whole village laughs. Does it again. Does it better.
  3. c. 336 AD · THE ROAD — LeavingAt about fourteen he leaves home to follow a fairground troupe through the market towns of Gaul. He is not escaping anything. He simply cannot imagine a life without an audience. His family are baffled and then, after a while, quietly proud.
  4. c. 336–347 AD · THE ROAD — The fair circuitEleven years of juggling, tumbling, patter and improvised bits, from the Saône to the Alpine passes. Picks up Latin the way he picks up everything, by ear and by friendliness. Is never once refused a bed. A troupe master renames him Sosias, after the slave in the old comedies, and he accepts it with delight.
  5. c. 347–348 AD · AUGUSTA BAGIENNORUM — DiscoveryWorking a market-day crowd in the forum, Sosias spots a newly arrived and exquisitely dressed stranger crossing the square, and does an impression of the man's walk. The crowd roars. The stranger stops and watches the whole bit through. This is Theodorus, who is unsure for a good hour whether he has been insulted or recruited. He decides it was both, and hires him.
  6. c. 348–349 AD · THE COMPANY — JoiningLearns what a theatre is. Learns what a cue is. Does not learn what a cue is for. Becomes the audience's favourite within a season, and Theodorus finds he can neither direct him nor replace him. Starts doing the Theodorus parody in the wings. Theodorus pretends not to notice.
  7. c. 349–350 AD · THE DIRECTOR'S QUARTERS — MedeaA small white Maltese puppy arrives at the theatre and promptly rejects everyone. She bites the stagehands, ignores the musicians and sits on documents. Sosias sits patiently on the floor with her for weeks. Medea starts to follow him. Within months she is dancing on her hind legs, barking on command and leaping through hoops.
  8. c. 350 AD · THE MARKET SQUARE — The showsTheodorus, never slow to spot a draw, stages two separate market-day shows starring Sosias and Medea. Both are smash hits. They bring in more than a season of panegyrics, which Theodorus finds simultaneously gratifying and humbling.

Persona context

Guileless warmth
Total sincerity is his whole instrument. There is nothing underneath it, and the audience can tell. He assumes everyone he meets is on his side, and most people, faced with that, rise to the occasion.
Impossible to direct
Not from defiance. His talent is pure instinct and momentum, so any instruction to 'do it just as before' produces something different, and often better.
Unpretentious
Does not understand technique, does not claim to, and is entirely unembarrassed. He treats Theodorus's theory of the art the way a cheerful dog treats a lecture: with warm attention and no comprehension at all.
An affectionate mimic
His parodies of Theodorus's struts, sashays and flourishes are the best-loved routine in the company. There is no malice in them. Theodorus knows this, which is why he has never banned them.
The company's carer
Without ever deciding to, he has become the person who manages Rufus's moods, fetches food for Demetrios, and stays near whoever is having a bad week. It is a quiet job, and he does it simply by being there.
A natural with animals
Patience is his one real technique. He waits, he stays calm, and he lets the other creature come to him. It works on Medea, and it works equally well on frightened recruits and large tragic actors.
The ladies' favourite
Honest, kind and constantly well meant, he is adored by the working women of the town: washerwomen, bakers' wives, tavern-keepers. They give him cakes, mended tunics and second helpings. He calls it 'being from here'.

Sample voice

On his craft:«I just do the bit. If it's funny, they laugh. If it isn't, I do it a bit more.»
On Theodorus:«He walks like the floor owes him money. I only do it behind him. It's not my fault people pay.»
On being directed:«He said, do exactly what you did last night. I said, what did I do? He had to sit down.»
On Rufus:«Biggest man I've ever met and the only one I worry about. He feels everything at the top of his voice, and the back wall can't cope on its own.»
On Medea:«She's not difficult. She just wants to know you mean it. Most people don't mean it. You can't blame her for biting.»
On the shows:«Theodorus says it's the finest double act in the province. I said, who's the other one? He said, the dog. I said, fair.»
On the walks:«It's only a walk. I don't know why the baker's wife keeps making her a tunic. It's a very nice tunic.»

Story hooks

  • A baker's wife has sewn Medea a tiny, perfect copy of Theodorus's best cloak. Theodorus sees it, goes quiet, and does not speak to anyone for the rest of the afternoon. Sosias is unsure whether he is in trouble.
  • The two market-day shows have brought Sosias and Medea a following beyond the town. A travelling impresario offers Sosias a place in a bigger company in a bigger city, on very good terms. It does not include the dog. Medea will not perform for anyone else.
  • Sosias hears a rumour that Wulfric's garrison may be ordered for the eastern frontier. Medea, who understands nothing about frontiers, keeps waiting by the door. He must decide whether it is his place to say anything to either of them.
  • Demetrios has made a mask for the Hecuba production and left a handwritten note beside it for Sosias: do not be funny in this one. Sosias has read it three times. He does not know how.
  • Sosias is asked to parody Theodorus at a civic dinner before the senior decurio, Gaius Pompeius Verus, who is delighted. Marcia Petronia, who is not, has been watching Theodorus's face. Theodorus has already worked out what it will cost him.
  • Rufus, after a very public disagreement with Demetrios, announces he is giving up the theatre. Sosias is the only person he will listen to, and has no idea what to say except: you can't, who else is going to carry me out of the burning building in Act Three?

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