Indeed I was.

I was a Roman soldier.' 'Which one ?' 'Why didn't you see them Roman soldiers that stood back there in a rank, and sometimes marched in procession around the stage ?' 'Do you mean the Roman army ?--those six sandaled roustabouts in nightshirts, with tin shields and helmets, that marched around treading on each other's heels, in charge of a spider-legged consumptive dressed like themselves ?' 'That's it! that's it! I was one of them Roman soldiers.

I was the next to the last one.

A half a year ago I used to always be the last one; but I've been promoted.' Well, they told me that that poor fellow remained a Roman soldier to the last--a matter of thirty-four years.

Sometimes they cast him for a 'speaking part,' but not an elaborate one.