OPERA

n : A play representing life in another world, whose inhabitants have no speech but song, no motions but gestures and no postures but attitudes. All acting is simulation, and the word simulation is from simi a, an ape; but in opera the actor takes for his model Simia audibilis (or Pit he can thro pos stentor )—the ape that howls. The actor apes a man—at least in shape; The opera performer apes an ape. 241