Of Persons, Authors, and Things Personated
A person is he, “whose words or actions are considered, either as his own, or as representing the words or actions of another man, or of any other thing, to whom they are attributed, whether truly or by fiction.”
When they are considered as his own, then is he called a “natural person”: and when they are considered as representing the words and actions of another, then is he a “feigned” or “artificial person.”
The word person is Latin: instead whereof the Greeks have πρόσωπον , which signifies the “face,” as “persona” in Latin signifies the “disguise,” or “outward appearance” of a man, counterfeited on the stage; and sometimes more particularly that part of it, which disguiseth the face, as a mask or vizard: and from the stage, hath been translated to any representer of speech and action, as well in tribunals as theatres. So that a “person,” is the same that an “actor” is, both on the stage and in common conversation; and to “personate,” is to “act,” or “represent” himself or another; and he that acteth another, is said to bear his person, or act in his name; in which sense Cicero useth it where he says, Unus sustineo tres personas; mei, adversarii, et judicis : I bear three persons: my own, my adversary’s, and the judge’s; and is called in divers occasions, diversely; as a “representer,” or “representative,” a “lieutenant,” a “vicar,” an “attorney,” a “deputy,” a “procurator,” an “actor,” and the like.
Of persons artificial, some have their words and actions “owned” by those whom they represent. And then the person is the “actor”; and he that owneth his words and actions, is the “author”: in which case the actor acteth by authority. For that which in speaking of goods and possessions is called an “owner,” and in Latin dominus , in Greek κύριος