“ SYRUS, a Latin writer of mimes, flourished in the 1st century B.C. He was a native of Syria and was brought as a slave to Italy, but by his wit and talent he won the favour of his master, who freed and educated him. His mimes, in which he acted himself, had a great success in the provincial towns of Italy and at the games given by Caesar in 46 B.C. Publilius was perhaps even more famous as an improvisatory, and received from Caesar himself the prize in a contest in which he vanquished all his competitors, including the celebrated Decimus Laberius. ”