240 - Beginning of Latin Literature

Livius Andronicus adapted a Greek comedy and tragedy for performance on a Roman stage.
240 B.C. was not only the beginning of Greek drama in Rome, but of formal Latin
literature. This coincides with the end of the First Punic War (264-241) which is relevant
because with the Punic War, Romans came into contact with the Greeks of Southern Italy
and Sicily. Instead of being concerned entirely with mastering their physical world, the
Romans were now becoming a world power. In addition to adapting Greek drama, Livius
Andronicus also translated the Odyssey into Latin. (Duckworth p. 3.)

239

Ennius born.

"Father of Roman poetry," was only an additional power in behalf of the Greeks. In his youth he
probably saw tragedies performed in Magna Graecia, and therefore was able to bring into Rome
Athenian methods of production. He stands out as a manly, vigorous figure, an energetic and
industrious scholar. At the same time it was surely he, more than any one else, who at the critical
moment confirmed the taste of the Romans for their imported models. Largely through the work
of Cicero, there are preserved a number of fragments and the titles of a score of tragedies from
the hand of Ennius; and more than half of the plays are obviously based upon the Homeric fables.
From this time, Latin drama wears the Greek dress without shame or apology.

238

Floralia celebrated.

Flora, the Roman goddess in whose honor the festival was held, was a goddess of flowers, which
generally begin to bloom in the spring. The holiday for Flora (as officially determined by Julius
Caesar when he fixed the Roman calendar) ran from April 28 to May 3.

Romans celebrated Floralia with the set of games and theatrical presentations known as the Ludi
Florales.

235 - Beginning of Roman Drama

Naevius (270-201) begins to exhibit his drama.

Naevius was the first native Roman dramatist.

Naevius had served in the First Punic War and wrote a Bellum Punicum (Punic War).

Naevius also wrote plays on Roman themes and is thus the inventor of the fabula praetexta -
Roman historical play.

Naevius also wrote comedies (fabulae palliatae).

Naevius was imprisoned for being outspoken, wrote two plays while confined, apologized, was
released, did it again, and went into exile in Utica where he died.

219

Pacuvius born. Caecilius Statius born.

Pacuvius was himself both a writer and renowned painter, and admired later as the most learned
of Roman playwrights. He was the first Roman playwright to limit himself exclusively to tragedy,
and his output too was limited: we have the titles of only a dozen works, and a remnant of almost
a 400 lines.

After several failures Caecilius gained a high reputation. Volcacius Sedigitus, the dramatic critic,
places him first amongst the comic poets; Varro credits him with pathos and skill in the
construction of his plots; Horace (Epistles, ii. I. 59) contrasts his dignity with the art of Terence.
Quintilian (Inst. Orat., x. I. 99) speaks somewhat disparagingly of him, and Cicero, although he
admits with some hesitation that Caecilius may have been the chief of the comic poets (De
Optimo Genere Oratorum, I), considers him inferior to Terence in style and Latinity (Ad Att. vii.
3), as was only natural, considering his foreign extraction.

211 – Mime in Rome

211, the Romans were watching mimic actors. Mimes were normal parts of the Floralia (an
annual festival from 173) which was first celebrated in 238. The word mime is from the Greek
mimeisthai (to imitate). Romans often called mimic actors planipes (with bare feet) (Duckworth
p. 14). The bare feet let the mimic actors, male and female, move around better than actors
wearing tragedy's cothurnus (buskin) or comedy's soccus (slipper).

204 - Roman Satire

Ennius (239-169 B.C.) fought in the second Punic War. Cato brought him to Rome. There Ennius
worked as a teacher and writer. He wrote poems called Saturae and an epic, the Annales.
Ennius replaced the dactylic hexameter of Greek epic with the Saturnian Latin meter. He wrote
comedies, and fabulae praetextae, and most of all, tragedy.

200

Plautus Stichus. Caecilius Statius (c. 219-168 B.C.) taken as prisoner or brought as slave to
Rome.

Plautus (T. Maccius Plautus [254-184]) was an Umbrian. At Rome he acted as a clown in
Atellan farces. His name Maccius may come from this occupation. Plautus may also be a stage
name and a variation on the word planipes. Plautus worked in the theater in some capacity and
may have been a stage hand or carpenter. Duckworth provides a rough chronology of his
comedies: Asinaria, Mercator, Miles Gloriosus around 205 B.C., Cistellaria, before 201.
Stichus (200 B.C.) Aulularia and Curculio before 191. Pseudolus (191) and then Bacchides,
followed by Casina in 185 or 184.

An Insubrian Gaul, Caecilius Statius was a friend of Ennius and, according to Volcacius
Sedigitus, was the best of the Roman comic poets. Caecilius stuck close to Greek originals, but
was not a literal translator. Horace praised Caecilius for his gravitas. Varro praised his plot
construction. Although an argument from silence, Caecilius may have introduced the idea of
avoiding contamination -- meaning following only one Greek original (Duckworth, p.48).

191

Plautus Pseudolus.

Pseudolus, in which each of the characters are developed based on their class and status. Their
actions are reflections of how the issues of class, wealth, and status influenced Plautus, and,
through his plays, influenced Roman society.

189

Ennius goes with Fulvius into Aetolia.

Fulvius was, perhaps significantly, a patron of the poet Ennius, who had accompanied him on the
campaign, and a work by Ennius may have been performed at the games.

185

Terence born in Carthage.

His work, so far as we know it, consists of two sorts: fairly close translations of Menander, and
contaminations. There are six extant plays, three of which, The Brothers, The Girl of Andros,and
The Eunuch, are contaminations. Each is made from two Greek plays. Of the remaining three, the
Phormio is based on a play by the Greek Apollodorus, and the others are from Menander. The
Brothers (Adelphi) was first performed in 160 B.C., at the funeral games of Æmilius Paulus.

173

Ennius wrote the twelfth book of the Annales.

170

Accius born.

He was a prolific writer and enjoyed a very high reputation (Horace, Epistles, ii. I, 56; Cicero,
Pro Plancio, 24). The titles and considerable fragments (about 700 lines) of some fifty plays have
been preserved. Most of these were free translations from the Greek, his favourite subjects being
the legends of the Trojan was and the house of Pelops. The national history, however, furnished
the theme of the Brutus and Decius,--the expulsion of the Tarquins and the self-sacrifice of
Publius Decius Mus the younger.

154

Pacuvius (220-130) flourished.

Pacuvius was the nephew of Ennius. We know of thirteen of his tragedies. His ancient reputation
was "learned." Cicero considered Pacuvius the greates tragic poet of Rome.

140

Accius (170-86) and Pacuvius exhibit together.

Accius was the most prolific Roman tragedian. He wrote plays based on Greek tragedy and
Roman historical themes. Velleius Paterculus thought Accius was the greatest Roman tragic poet.