Introduction to classical Latin literature . so, the license FeseennineFlung, in alternate verses, rustic gibes. In this dialogue, naturally united with a rude instinc-tive mimicry all but universal, some germ of drama mayhe discovered. A much-discussed chapter of Livy de-Livy vii. a. scribes the first impulse to real acting asbrought to Rome by Etrurian mountebanksin 364 To the earliest form of actual plays Livyseems to give the name of Satura. Into the dispute overthis word, and its connection, if any, with the Satyr-play,or semi-comic afterpiece of Greek tragedy, we must notenter. The
Introduction to classical Latin literature . so, the license FeseennineFlung, in alternate verses, rustic gibes. In this dialogue, naturally united with a rude instinc-tive mimicry all but universal, some germ of drama mayhe discovered. A much-discussed chapter of Livy de-Livy vii. a. scribes the first impulse to real acting asbrought to Rome by Etrurian mountebanksin 364 To the earliest form of actual plays Livyseems to give the name of Satura. Into the dispute overthis word, and its connection, if any, with the Satyr-play,or semi-comic afterpiece of Greek tragedy, we must notenter. The banter, says Horace, grew to libellous slander, andwas curbed by severe laws. This was doubtless when thecity with its political factions grew up. So in Athenscomedians were forbidden to name living citizens from thestage. That the chaffing of the bridegroom at a Romanwedding might far exceed any modern freedom is illustratedin Catulluss Epithalamium, especially a passage beginning: And now not long shall silent beSaucy Feseennine y. TRACES OF EARLY LATIN POETRY AND PROSE 19 The Atellan farce, borrowed from Oampaiiiii, was moredistinctly dramatic from the first, and quite as characters, like Clown and Pantaloon, who are stillItalian favorites, appear in countless variations. From theSick Pig, Well Pig, Goat, She-ass, the subjects rise throughMiser, Fisherman, Innkeeper, to Judgment of Life andDeath, or even travesties on Greek myths like Marsyas,Heracles, Agamemnon. The fragments indicate that wehave lost an extremely coarse vivid picture of low life. Itwas not avowedly realistic, the scene being always laid inAtella, a sort of typical Fooltown, like the Greek Ab-dera. Of idealism there is no trace. But we must leave this region of mere surmise, to namethe first professional author in Eome, another famous AppiusClaudius, consul in 307 and 296 His statesmanship,and his engineering works, like the Appian Way and Clau-dian Aqueduct, are better remember
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