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 _simia_, an ape; but in opera the actor takes for
his model _Simia audibilis_ (or _Pithecanthropos stentor_) -- the ape
that howls.
The actor apes a man -- at least in shape;
The opera performer apes and ape.
-- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary"
