A History of Roman Literature

ther comic writers-Terence, about 190 to 159 B. C.-Plays of Terence-Plautus and Terence compared-Turpilius, died 103 B. C.-Fabula togata-Titinius, about 150 B. C. (?)-Titus Quinctius At

to about 280 B. C. No plays of the new Attic comedy are preserved in the original Greek, but there are fragments which supplement the knowledge we derive from the Latin imitations. The poets of the new comedy, Menander, Philemon, Diphilus, and others, avoided historical and political subjects and drew their comedies from private life, finding in petty intrigues, interesting situations, and unexpected complications, some compensation for the general meagreness of th

scanty fragments remain. Three writers, Plautus, C?cilius, and Terence, devoted themselves exclusively to comedy, and it is from th

ty and engage in trade at some other place. His business venture was a failure; he lost his money, and returned to Rome, where he hired himself out to a miller, in whose service he was when he wrote his first three plays. His first appearance wi

er or mistress usually aids the lovers, but often has to be won over by money, which the young man and his servant have to get from his father. Sometimes the characters mentioned are duplicated, and we have two pairs of lovers, two irate fathers, two cunning slaves, etc. Other typical characters are the procurer, the parasite, the boastful soldier, and a few more, who help to bring about amusing situations, and serve as the butt of many jokes. In the end, the lovers are usually united, and the girl turns out to be of good birth, often the long-lost daughter of one

hough it ends with a betrothal. This play also is free from coarseness, and gives an attractive picture of the good old days when friend was true to friend. The Curculio is interesting chiefly through the cleverness of the parasite, who succeeds in making the rival of his employer furnish the money needed to obtain the girl. The Epidicus, the Mostellaria, and the Persa, also owe their interest to the tricks and rascalities of the parasite or the valet. The Cistellaria, only part of which is preserved, contains a love affair, but has for its chief interest the recognition between a father and his long-lost daughter. The Vidularia, too, which exists only in fragments, leads up to a recognition, this time between a father and his son. The Miles Gloriosus, a play of very ordinary plot, is distinguished for the somewhat exaggerated and farcical portrait of the braggart soldier. So the Pseudolus is a piece of character drawing, in which the perjured go-between, Ballio, is the one important figure. In the Bacchides the plot is more intricate and interesting, and the execution more brilliant, but the

rather for a Roman audience which cared chiefly for spectacular effect and stage by-play than for a Greek audience accustomed to weigh and criticize the excellence of the plot. In some instances, too, the Latin play is known to be made up of scenes taken from two Greek plays and put together in order to produce a single piece of more action than either of the originals. The importance of the work of the Latin playwright varies therefore considerably. There are, ho

e to the Greek original, doubtless owes p

How the poor things are tossed about! Ah! ha! Bully for that! The current has turned the boat from the rock to the shore. No pilot could have done it better. I think I never saw bigger waves. They are safe, if they have escaped thos

f some of the dialogue of Plautus. The speakers ar

ver thought so. Soph. But many know that it is so. P?g. Ah! Soph. Bah! P?g. You judge other people's characters by your own nature. Soph. I confess I am as a pimp's maid should be. P?g. I've heard enough. Soph. What about you? Do you confess you're as I say? P?g. I'd confess if I were so. Soph. Go off now. You're too much for me. P?g. Then you go off now. Soph. Tell me this: where are you going? P?g. Where are you going? Soph. You tell; I asked first. P?g. But you'll find out last. Soph. I'm not going far from here. P?g. And I'm not going far, either. Soph. Where are you going, t

is style, his ability, or the contents of his plays. As many of the titles of his pieces are known also as titles of plays by Menander, it is clear that C?cilius presented plays of the Greek new comedy in Latin form. Other writers of comedies. He appears to have followed the Greek originals rather more closely than Plautus, and to have cultivated elegance of style rather than brilliant dialogue. Other

ent men of Rome. It was even said by some that the plays of Terence were really written by Scipio, while others thought L?lius was their author. This goes to prove that Terence was intimate with Scipio, L?lius, and the rest, and may be regarded as an indication of his age; for if he was much older than Scipio he would hardly have been charged with passing off Scipio's work as his own. If he was of the same age as Scipio he was born in 185 B. C., and in that case was only nineteen years old when the Andria, his first play, was produced in 166. It is therefore likely that he was a few years older than

ith a girl from Andros, but his father, Simo, has arranged a marriage for him with the daughter of a neighbor, Chremes. Pamphilus's servant, Davus, succeeds in breaking off the ma

rried Philumena, for whom he has no affection. He goes on a journey to attend to some property, and Philumena returns to her mother. Upon Pamphilus's return, a child born to Ph

ccount of remorse, and he confides his troubles to his friend Chremes, whose son, Clitipho, is in love with Bacchis. When Clinias comes back from the wars, he and Clitipho get Chremes to receive Antiphila and Bacchis in his house, in the belief that Clinias is in love with Bacchis, and that Antiphila is her ser

affair between Thais and Ph?dria, who has a soldier as his rival, and a second love affair between Pamphila, who had been brought up as foster sister to Thais, and Ph?dria's brother, Ch?rea. In order to approach Pamphila, Ch?rea d

e with a slave girl, whose owner sells her to some one else, but agrees to give her to Ph?dria if he brings the sum of thirty min? in one day. The two fathers return, and the parasite, Phormio, from whom the play takes its name, now has to get the money for Ph?dria and to secure the consent of Demipho to the marriage of Antipho

e other, Ctesipho, himself. Micio is a bachelor, and treats ?schinus with the greatest indulgence, whereas Demea is very strict toward Ctesipho, but the result is about the same. Ctesipho falls in love with a harpist, whom ?schinus, to please his brother, carries off from her

joy them. Plautus took Greek plays and made them over to suit the average Roman. The position of Terence was different. In his day a cultivated class of Romans existed, who knew Greek literature well, who admired and loved Greek culture, but were none the less patriotic Romans. These men wished to introduce all that was best in Greece into Rome. So far as literature was concerned, they wished to make Latin literature as much like Greek literature as possible, and therefore encouraged imitation rather than originality, purity and grace of language rather than vigor of thought or expression. These were the men amon

ease, naturalness, and good humor that pervades his plays is seen in the short scene in the Phorm

husband's fault that I can do less than I might well do. De. Why, how is that? Na. Because he takes wretched care of my father's honest savings; he used regularly to get two talents from those estates. How much better one man is than another! De. Two talents, do you say? Na. Yes, two talents, and when prices were much low

me. Fabula togata. Titinius, Atta, Afranius. The first writer of comedies of this sort was Titinius. About one hundred and eighty lines of fragments and fifteen titles of his plays are preserved, from which we can learn little about the quality of his works. He seems to have written a little later than Terence. Titus Quinctius Atta has left to us the titles of eleven plays and about twenty-five lines of fragments. Little is known of him except the date of his death, 77 B. C. Lucius Afranius, the last and most important writer o

h and Judy. This sort of performance was introduced at Rome after the conquest of Campania, in 211 B. C., and Roman youths of good family took the parts for amusement. Somewhat later, the custom arose of performing an Atellan piece at the end of a tragedy. The performers were now regular actors, and presently the Fabul? Atellan? became a regular branch of literature, the chief writers of which were Lucius Pomponius, from Bononia, and Novius, both of whom flourished in the time of Sulla, about 90 B. C. Few fragments of their works remain. The Atellan plays continued to be performed even after the beginning of the empire, but the words became less and less important, and the performance became mere pantomime. Mimes. Another kind of burlesque performance was the Mime, which was introduced into Rome from the Greek cities of Italy and Sicily. It had less consistent plots than comedy, and was m