The Opportunities for Dramatic Performances in the Time of Plautus and Terence Author(s): Lily Ross Taylor Source: Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 68 (1937), pp. 284-304 Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/283270 Accessed: 28/07/2010 18:59 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=jhup . Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. The Johns Hopkins University Pressis collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association. http://www.jstor.org
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7/27/2019 Ross Taylor (1937) the Opportunities for Dramatic Performance in the Time of Plautus and Terence (Art)
The Opportunities for Dramatic Performances in the Time of Plautus and TerenceAuthor(s): Lily Ross TaylorSource: Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, Vol. 68 (1937),pp. 284-304Published by: The Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/283270
Accessed: 28/07/2010 18:59
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless
you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you
may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.
Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at
Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed
page of such transmission.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].
The Johns Hopkins University Press is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to
Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association.
I have collected the material on ludi from Livy and from other
sources and, with the use of the later festivals, have attemptedto estimate the time available for the presentation of theatrical
performances. The period covered extends from 216, a time
when Naevius was in his glory, through the dramatic activityof Plautus, Ennius, and Caecilius Statius to the death of
Terence in 159. The material, always fragmentary, is espe-
cially scanty for the latter part of the period, for Livy's
account, which ends with 167, has few references to ludi after
174.
The Regular Ludi.
The games celebrated every year at Rome consisted of a
combination of ludi circenses and ludi scaenici, the former
being more ancient and more important, also more expensive,
and, certainly in the empire, briefer in duration. In the
Augustan calendars the two festivals of Juppiter, the LudiRomani and the Ludi Plebeii in September and November,consisted of several days of ludi scaenici before the epulumlovis on the Ides of each month, and several days of circenses
following the equorum probatio on the day after the Ides.
The Ludi Apollinares, Ceriales, Megalenses and Florales each
had a number of days of ludi scaenici combined with one dayof circenses. In each of these games the circenses came on the
last day, which was usually the principal day, of the festival.2
ed. 2, pp. 208-339; L. Friedlinder in J. Marquardt, RomischeStaatsverwaltung(Leipzig, 1885) II2, 482-504; G. Wissowa, Religion und Kultus der R6mer2
(Munich, 1912) 449-467. The most recent treatment of the subject, that of
Habel, P.-W. Suppl. v, s.v. ludi publici, is nothing more than a summary ofearlier discussions. The only republican calendar preserved, that of Antium,contains some evidence for the duration of scenic games in the Ludi Romani, butno evidence for the other ludi. See Mancini, Not. d. Sc. 1921, 73-140; Wissowa,Hermes LVIII (1923), 378-392. For a
summaryof information on the calendars
which has recently come to light see 0. Lenze, Bursians Jahresbericht227
(1930) 97-134.2 The schedule of these ludi in the Augustan calendars is as follows: Romani,
Sept. 4-19 (ludi scaenici 4-12); Plebeii, Nov. 4-17 (l.s. 4-12); Megalenses, April4-10 (l.s. 4-9); Ceriales, April 12-19 (l.s. 12-18); Florales, April 28-May 3(I.s. April 28-May 2); Apollinares, July 6-13 (l.s. 6-12).
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Roman games. The games to Juppiter at first consisted
entirely of ludi circenses. According to the tradition theygradually grew in length from one to four days, the fourth
day being added in 367 at the time when the curule aedileshipwas instituted. It was probably at this time or shortly after-
wards that the Ludi Romani became a stated festival under
the direction of the new magistrates. After the introduction
of ludi scaenici in 364 5 the games were probably lengthened
further, for the two types of celebration were always kept
separate. It was at the Ludi Romani in 240 that a play
(or two plays) translated from the Greek by Livius Andronicus
was presented.6 We have no information about the duration
of the scenic games at the Romani until the year 214, when
for the first time dramatic performances of four days' duration
were offered. Ludos scenicos per quadriduum eo anno primumfactos ab curulibus aedilibus memoriae proditur, Livy says
(24.43.7). This seems to have been a permanent lengthening,and not an instauratio, the evidence for which I shall consider
later. From that time the festival probably lasted ten days,with four days in the circus, four in the theatre, and two daysfor the epulum lovis and the equorum probatio. There was
probably no permanent increase in the scenic games of the
Ludi Romani until after 174,7for the special games to Juppiterbetween 191 and 174
regularlylasted ten
daysand
probablycorresponded in length at this period, as they did later, with
the Ludi Romani.8 By the beginning of the first century B.C.
the scenic games of the Romani had increased to five or
6The fragmentary passage dealing with the introduction of ludi scaenici,Festus p. 436 L. speaks of a]ediles. The accepted restoration curules whichwould associate the institution with the Ludi Romani goes back to Ursinus and
Scaliger. On the passage see Mommsen, RdmischesStaatsrecht(Leipzig, 1887)II3, 482, note 2.
6Cicero Brutus 72; Cassiodorus Chron. p. 128 M, ludis Romanis primumtragoedia et comoedia a L. Livio ad scaenam data.
7Livy 39.7.8 discussed below probably refers to an instauratio.8Pompey's games of 70 B.c. lasted fifteen days, the length of the Ludi Romani
at the period. See Cicero Verr. Act. I, 31. On the expenses of these games seenote 10 below.
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perhaps six days; by the year 70 B.C. they had probably
reached the duration of nine days allowed in the early imperialcalendars.9
The Ludi Plebeii under the plebeian aediles are usuallybelieved to have been instituted in 220 when the Circus
Flaminius was built, but they may have been older than that
date. They were certainly a regular festival in 216 when Livy
(23.30.17) first mentions them. Our only information about
scenic games at this festival in the period under consideration
comes from the Didascalia of the Stichus of Plautus, which
was presented at the Ludi Plebeii of 200 B.C. The scenic
games of the Plebeii may at this time, as in the early empire,
have equaled the scenic games of the Romani in duration.
They were probably longer than the scenic games of a new
festival, the Ludi Apollinares which in 190 lasted at least two
days, and perhaps more.10 It seems safe to assume three days
for their duration in the early second century.We come now to four festivals all of which were probably
instituted after the beginning of the Second Punic war when
the growing popularity of the drama demanded added time
9The republican calendar of Antium has the notation M for magni on the 8th,
9th and 10th of September. The notation for the 7th, as also for the Ilth and
12th, is lost. Enough is preserved of the notes on the 5th and 6th to indicate
that the M did not occur there. Incidentally these notations provide a
terminusante quemfor the calendar which Mancini dated in thefirst half of the
first century B.c. By 70 B.c. the Ludi Romani already occupied fifteen days,
including probably nine days in the theatre (Cic. Verr.Act. I, 31), and the calen-
dar is therefore earlier than that date.10The relative importance of these games in the empire is shown by the fact
that in 51 A.D. he state allowances for the Ludi Romani, Plebeii, and Apollinares
were respectively 760,000, 600,000, and 380,000 sesterces. See the imperial
Fasti of Antium, C.I.L. I, Part 1, ed. 2, pp. 248-9. The cost of the Ludi Ro-
mani, identical, it would seem, with that of votive games, was 200,000 sesterces
before the "Punic war." Cf. Dion. Hal. 7.71 and Pseudo-Ascon. p. 142 Or.
For the ludi votivi in 217 the allowance had been raised to 333,3331 (Livy 22.10,cf. Plut. Fab. 4), and Mommsen assumes a similar increase for the Ludi Romani.
See RomischeForsch. iI, 54 ff. and Geschichtedes rom. Miinzwesens(Berlin, 1860)
302. Cf. Piganiol, op. cit. 12 ff. The allowance for the Ludi Apollinares in
212 was 12,000 asses (Livy 25.12.12); for the two sets of dedicatory games in
179, when the value of the as was undoubtedly less, the allowance was 20,000
asses.
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for ludi scaenici. The Ceriales, under the direction of the
plebeian aediles, are recorded in this period only in Livy30.39.8 under the year 201, at which time they were alreadyestablished as a regular festival.10a There were probably at
least two days in the theatre, but we have no means of tracingthe growth of the festival to the seven days in the theatre
provided in the empire.The Ludi Apollinares under the direction of the praetor
urbanus were first celebrated as votive games in 212. From
the beginning ludi scaenici seem to have been a feature of the
celebration." After three years in which the games were
celebrated as a result of special vows, they were established
as regular annual games in 208 with the thirteenth of Julyas the fixed day.12 This was the date of the ludi circenses
which ended the festival in later times; before it came six or,under Augustus, seven days of ludi scaenici. Since there was
probably at no time more than one day of circus games,Livy's evidence 13that the eleventh of July was included in
the celebration in 190 is an indication that there were then
at least two days of ludi scaenici. Dramatic games may well
have occupied more time and have increased in duration
during the second century. The importance of the festival
for the drama is attested by the theatrum et proscaenium ad
Apollinisfor which a
contract was let in 179,14and by thefact that actors were later known as parasiti Apollinis.15 The
Thyestes of Ennius was produced at the Ludi Apollinares in
169 (Cicero, Brutus 78).The Ludi Megalenses were first celebrated on April 4th, 204
B.C., when the black stone from Pessinus which represented
Magna Mater was received at Rome. At that date Livy says
simply: ludi fuere, Megalensia appellata (29.14.14). They
lOaOn their institution see Miinzer in P.-W. s.v. "Memmius" (1).n See Festus p. 436-8 L. on the games of 212 or 211.12Livy 25.12; 26.23.3; 27.23.5-7.13Livy 37.4.4, ludis Apollinaribus a.d. quintum Idus Quinctiles.14Livy 40.51.3. Cf. the scaenam aedilibus praetoribusque praebendam,
41.27.5.15Festus p. 438 L.
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became a regular annual festival under the curule aedile in
194, and were celebrated with games which are described asscaenici. In 191 when the temple of Magna Mater was
dedicated on the tenth of April special dedicatory games,described as scaenici by Valerius Antias, were held, and Livyuses the name Megalesia also for these ludi.16 The Pseudolus
of Plautus was presented at this time. The games apparentlylasted more than one day, for at the end of the play the
spectatorsare invited to return on the morrow. The Ludi
Megalenses differed from other ludi in that both the first
and the last day were special festivals of the goddess. Theythus fell in a period which from 191 would seem to have been
sacred to Magna Mater. In the Augustan calendars the
games lasted from April 4th to 10th,17with six days in the
theatre and one day in the circus, and, unlike the other ludi,
they had not decreased in duration even in the fourth century.
It seems possible that the length of the Megalenses wasestablished in 191 and that the whole interval between the
two festivals of Magna Mater was henceforth occupied by
sacrifices and games. In that case we should have from that
time perhaps six days of ludi scaenici at this new festival, more
than at any of the older ludi at the period, It is consistent
with greater length of the Megalenses that we have more
evidence of performance of plays at this festival than at anyother. Besides the Pseudolus, perhaps the Trinummus 18of
primi fecerunt. 36.36.4, dedicavit earn (the temple of Magna Mater) M.
Iunius Brutus, ludique ob dedicationem eius facti, quos primos scenicos fuisse
Antias Valerius est auctor, Megalesia appellatos. Livy's quotation of Antias
seems to imply that he is not sure of the tradition, and it is probable that the
circus games on the last day went back to the early history of the festival.
17There has been some doubt as to whether the dedication day of the temple
of Magna Mater was April 10th or 11th, and the recent discoveries of calendarshave not resolved the doubt. The new calendar of Antium seems to favor the
eleventh while the calendar of Ostia (Not. d. Sc. 1921, 253) is clearly in favor of
the tenth.
18For the Trinummussee Ritschl's discussion (op. cit. 339-354) of the refer-
ence to novi aediles, Trin. 990. The words might also apply to the Ludi Ceriales
in April. The Andria, the Heauton, the Eunuchus, and the first trial of the
Hecyra took place at the Megalenses.
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Plautus and certainly four plays of Terence were produced at
the Megalenses.The Ludi Florales were first celebrated in 240 or 238 when
the temple of Flora was dedicated.19 Although special ludi
in honor of Flora may have been held from time to time after
that date, these games did not become a regular festival until
173. Dramatic performances consisting chiefly of mimes of
loose character were a feature of the games. Of the five daysin the theatre and the one
dayin the circus which
belongedto these games in the empire, at least two in the theatre and
the one in the circus probably go back to the period when the
games were inserted in the calendar.
The schedule of regular scenic games in 200 B.c. thus in-
cluded four days at the Ludi Romani, an estimate of at least
three at the Ludi Plebeii and at least two at the Ludi Ceriales
and Apollinares, making a total of at least eleven days a year.
To this schedule the Megalenses, instituted in 194, may after191 have added as many as six days a year. After 173 the
Florales added at least two more days, primarily for mimes.
Before 159 all these festivals except the Megalenses, if I am
correct in my estimate of its length after 191, may have beenfurther lengthened. Some of the growth which provided
forty-three days a year of ludi scaenici in these festivals under
Augustus probably belongs to the great period of the drama.Besides the permanent lengthenings which would have foundtheir way into the calendar there were frequent repetitions ofthe Ludi Romani and the Ludi Plebeii through instaurationes.
Instaurationes of the Ludi Romani and the Ludi Plebeii.
Instaurationes were caused primarily by religious reasons,
although, as we shall see, other factors such as the popularity
of the games seem to have influenced the number of repetitions.The possibility of instaurationes of the Megalenses and the
Apollinares is mentioned by Cicero (Har. Resp. 23) and Festus19Ovid Fasti 5.292 ff. For the varying dates of the dedication of the temple
see Pliny N.H. 18.286 and Veil. 1.14.8. For the establishment of the games as astanding festival see Ovid Fasti 5.327 ff. Livy does not mention the games.
Vol. lxviii] 291
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ber of days occupied, and the number is either one, two or
three; again he indicates the number of repetitions-semel, ter,quater, and, in two cases for the Plebeii, septiens. These
expressions also may denote the number of days repeated.In only two instances, the note on the Ludi Romani in 201
when ludi scaenici were repeated, and the account of the same
games in 186 when a day was added apparently to the circus
games, is it clear whether the additional performances of the
games were in the circus or the theatre. In other casesLivyuses the word toti with the statement of the number of times
the repetition occurred. In these instances all the days of the
celebration would seem to have been repeated, once in the
case of the Plebeii, a shorter festival than the Romani, as
many as five times. Such an interpretation is supported by
facti et diem unum instaurati, et congii olei in vicos singulos dati. ... ludi
plebei per biduum instaurati et Iovis epulum fuit ludorum causa; 209 B.C.
(27.21.9) Ludi et Romani et plebeii eo anno in singulos dies instaurati; 208 B.c.
(27.36.8-9) memoriae proditum est, et ludos Romanos semel instauratos ab
aedilibus curulibus . . . et plebei ludi biduum instaurati a C. Mamilio et M.
Caecilio Metello aedilibus plebis; et tria signa ad Cereris eidem dederunt; et
Iovis epulum fuit ludorum causa; 201 B.C. (31.4.5-7) ludi Romani scaenici eo
anno magnifice apparateque facti ab aedilibus curulibus . .; biduum in-
stauratum est; . . . et plebeii ludi ter toti instaurati ab aedilibus plebi . . . et
Iovis epulum fuit ludorum causa; 200 B.c., the year when the Stichus was pre-sented at the Ludi Plebeii, (31.50.2-3) ludos Romanos magno apparatu fecerunt;
diem unum instaurarunt . . . plebeii ludi . . . ter toti instaurati; 197 B.C.(33.25.1-2) Ludi Romani eo anno in circo scaenaque ab aedilibus curulibus . . .
et magnificentius quam alias facti et laetius propter res bello bene gestas spectati,
totique ter instaurati. Plebei septiens instaurati; M'. Acilius Glabrio et C.
Laelius eos ludos fecerunt; et de argento multaticio tria signa aenea, Cererem
Liberumque et Liberam, posuerunt; 186 B.C. (39.7.8-10) Ludis Romanis eo
anno, . . . malus in circo instabilis in signum Pollentiae procidit atque id
deiecit. Ea religione moti patres et diem unum adiciendum ludorum censuerunt,
et signa duo pro uno reponenda, et novum auratum faciendum. Et plebeii ludi
ab aedilibus . . . diem unum instaurati sunt. The comment on the Ludi
Romani in the last case sounds like a permanent lengthening rather than an
instauratio. But the added day must have been devoted to the circus where
the omen occurred, and there seem not to have been more than four days of
circus games at the Romani in the time of Cicero (Phil. 2.110). Since the
additional day did not find a permanent place in the calendar, it was probablydevoted to an instauratio.
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necessity of an instauratio by continuing his dance when the
spectators were called away to arms. The exclamation of thepeople when they returned and found him still dancing, "Salva
res est dum saltat senex," became a Roman proverb.26But it is possible that instaurationes were also ordered at
times as an expression of thanksgiving. For this reason after
the news of success in Illyricum the Feriae Latinae seem to
have been repeated in 168.27 Livy's account of the instauratio
of the Ludi Romani of 197suggests
such a reason for the
repetitions. The games were more splendid than usual, he
says, and the people enjoyed them more because of the recent
success in war, and the whole performance was repeated three
times. Even if games were not prolonged simply as a thanks-
giving, the spectators could easily have created an interruptionwhich would have made it necessary to repeat all or a partof the festival. The number of instaurationes in these years
is probably related to the success of the drama, and particu-larly of Plautus, who was the most popular playwright of the
time. It will be noted that the Ludi Plebeii of 200 at which
the Stichus was performed were ter toti instaurati. After 196
instaurationes are recorded only in 189, 186, and 179, and
after 189 they seem to have been short in duration. Soon
after that date there may have been some regulation limitinginstaurationes such as was later
putin force
bythe
emperorClaudius. In his day instaurationes in the circus, which was
at the time far more popular than the theatre, sometimes lasted
for ten days, and, though the emperor did not forbid them
altogether, he limited them to a single day.28 The limiting of
instaurationes may have been easier because after 191 the
26Festus 436-8 L. The editions of Festus all supply Salva res [est dum cantat]
senex, but the restoration saltat is supported by a quotation of the proverb in
Serv. on Aen. 8.110 (cf. Donat. on Eunuchus 268). Festus' account also showsthat the senex was not singing but dancing. For other references to instaura-tiones see Livy 2.36; Dion. 7.73; Cic. Div. 1.55; Plutarch Coriol. 25; Macrobius,Sat. 1.11.3-5; Arnob. Adv. Gentes4.31.
27 See Mommsen's discussion of the text of Livy 45.3.2 (emended in Weissen-born's text), Rom. Forsch. II, 106-7.
28 Dio 60.6.4.
295ol. Ixviii]
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people had in the Megalenses a number of additional days of
regular theatrical games. It is also possible that Livy's evi-dence for instaurationes is not complete, for after 186 he rarelymentions the aedilicia largitio. The extravagant games of Ti.
Sempronius Gracchus, aedile in 183 or 182, which led to a
restriction on the amount to be expended for ludi, are men-
tioned not under the year in which they occurred but in the
records of 179 (40.44.12).
VotiveGames to Juppiter Optimus Maximus.
After the Ludi Romani and the Ludi Plebeii were entered in
the calendar, votive games to Juppiter Optimus Maximus,
usually called ludi magni,29continued to be celebrated from
time to time. Like the Ludi Romani, with which they seem
to have corresponded in length and in the amount of moneyallowed by the state for their expenses, they probably con-
sisted of both circus and theatrical performances. Votivegames, according to ancient Roman tradition, were vowed
by the magistrate for the welfare of the state and were to be
held, if the weal of the state permitted, five or ten years after
the vow. Such games were celebrated in 217, 207, 203 and
194.30 They were also vowed in 191 and 172,31 although
there is no record of the fulfilment of the vow in either of these
cases. In these two instances the length of the games is
specified as ten days. The games to Juppiter ordered by the
decemviri in 172 as a procuratio for prodigia (not properly
speaking votive games) also lasted ten days.32 The only
specific detail as to the nature of the votive games is Livy'scomment (30.27.12) on the celebration of 203: Ludi in circo
per quadriduum facti, hostiaeque quibus votae erant dis caesae.
The ludi circenses in this case seem to have equalled in length
29 In his third and fourth decades Livy regularly calls these games ludi magni,a term which he never uses in that portion of his history for the Ludi Romani in
September. Cf. also Livy 34.44.6 where they are called ludi Romani votivi.30Cf. Livy 27.33.8 for the games of 217 and 207 and the games vowed for 203.
For the celebration of 203 see 30.27.12; for 194, 34.44.6.
31Livy 36.2.2; 42.28.8.32Livy 42.20.3.
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the circus games at the Ludi Romani, and there is no evidence
for ludi scaenici. But the number of days in the circus maybe mentioned simply as a sign of the magnificence of the ludi,
which may also have included dramatic performances. The
ten-day celebrations must have been partly theatrical, for ten
days in the circus were costly even for the magnificent daysof the empire.
A new type of votive games came into existence when in
205 the great Scipio celebrated ludi which he had vowed to
Juppiter in the'event of his own victory in Spain.33 He cele-
brated a second set of games magno apparatu for his African
victory in 200,34 and other generals followed his example.Such games were held by his cousin P. Cornelius Scipio for
his Spanish victory in 191, by his brother L. Scipio in 186 for
his victory over Antiochus, by M. Fulvius Nobilior in the
same year for his Ambracian campaign, and by Q. Fulvius
Flaccus in 179 for success in Spain.35 From 191 on the lengthof the games was in each case ten days. After Livy's historyends we have from Polybius 36an account of the games which
L. Anicius celebrated in 167 in honor of his victory over the
Illyrian king Gentius. L. Aemilius Paullus can hardly have
failed to hold games for his Macedonian victory, but we have
no record of them. Ludi scaenici are attested for three of
these celebrations heldby generals-those
of M.FulviusNobilior, L. Scipio,37 and L. Anicius. For them dramatic
artists (ot,repirobvt6ovvo rTexvyrat)ere brought to Rome from
33Livy 28.38.14 and 45.12.
34Livy 31.49.4.
35Livy 36.36.1-2: Eos ludos per dies decem P. Corneliusfecit; 39.22.1; 39.22.8;40.44.8-12 and 40.45.6.
3630.22, from Athenaeus 14, p. 615. Athenaeus calls the games EirvtIKw&,
but they are not mentioned in Livy's account of Anicius' triumph, and they were
probably votive games. Mummius' games in 145 seem to have been held athis triumph. Cf. Tac. Ann. 14.21.
37Livy 39.22.2 (Fulvius Nobilior's games) Multi artifices ex Graeciavenerunthonoris eius causa: 39.22.10 congregatosque per Asiam artifices. De Bolten-stern in his admirable dissertation, De rebus scaenicis Romanis (Greifswald,1875) cited these two passages and Polybius' description of Anicius' games toshow that Ritschl was wrong in excluding ludi scaenici at votive games.
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The private ludi funebres, celebrated by members of familiesfor the dead, consisted of gladiatorial performances (munera),
which were first introduced at Rome as funeral spectacles in
264 B.C.,and dramatic representations. Since the terminology
is important, I quote Livy's text for these games:
23.30.15. (216 B.C.)M. Aemilio Lepido, qui bis consul augur-
que fuerat, filii tres, Lucius, Marcus, Quintus, ludos funebres
per triduum et gladiatorum paria duo et viginti in foro dederunt.28.21.10. (206 B.C.) In Carthago Nova Scipio presented a
gladiatorial show in memory of his father and his uncle.-
Huic gladiatorum spectaculo ludi funebres additi pro copia
provinciali et castrensi apparatu.31.50.4. (200 B.C.) Et ludi funebres eo anno per quadriduumin foro mortis causa M. Valeri Laevini a Publio et Marco filiis
eius facti, et munus gladiatorium datum ab iis; paria quinque
et viginti pugnarunt.39.46.2. (183 B.C.) P. Licinii funeris causa visceratio data,
et gladiatores centum viginti pugnaverunt, et ludi funebres
per triduum facti, post ludos epulum.41.28.11. (174 B.C.) Munera gladiatorum eo anno aliquot,
parva alia, data; unum ante cetera insigne fuit T. Flaminini
quod mortis causa patris sui cum visceratione epuloque et
ludis scenicis quadriduum dedit. Magni tum muneris easumma fuit ut per triduum quattuor et septuaginta homines
pugnarint.To these may be added the funeral games of L. Aemilius
Paullus in 160 at which the Adelphi of Terence and the second
performance of the Hecyra took place.A clear distinction is made in these passages, as elsewhere
in our literary tradition, between the ludi and the munera.4'
Although ludi scaenici are attested by Livy in only one case,we can assume them in every instance, since circus games seem
not to have been a feature of ludi funebres. Here the records
41 See Wissowa, R.K.2, 465, note 9. On ludi funebres see Pascal, Rendiconti
filologici, Ac. dei Lincei, Ser. 5, iH (1894), 291-302.
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43Livy 34.7.2. Cf. Ascon. In Pis. p. 6 K.S. (p. 7 Clark). The title Compi-talia among the togataeof Afranius (Schanz-Hosius, Rom. Literaturgesch. , 144)
may be an indication of ludi scaenici at the Compitalia, for in other cases
togatae seem to have taken their titles from games and the magistrates whodirected them. Compare the aedilicia and Megalensia of Atta and the Mega-
lensia of Afranius.44C.I.L. I2, 675-8; for similar inscriptions found in Rome and its vicinity see
984-5; at Delos, 2248; and at Minturnae (where one inscription, no. 9, specifies
ludi scaenici) cf. J. Johnson, Excavationsat Minturnae, RepublicanMagistri II, 1
(Rome, 1933) nos. 9 and 27.
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playwrights and actors were in the business for money,49and
the enormous output of dramas 50-comedies, tragedies,togatae, praetextae, mimes and the like-indicates that there
was money in the business. In the early days of the drama
when festivals were few in number and brief in duration,
Livius had acted in his own plays and had belonged to the
college of actors and scribes who in 207 were in his honor giventhe right of meeting in the temple of Minerva. Plautus too
seems at first to have been an actor or anactor-manager,51but by the time the Stichus was presented in 200 he had ap-
parently given up acting to devote himself entirely to the
construction of plays. At that date the introduction of new
festivals, the lengthening of the old ones, the instaurationes
and the special games had provided a fair sale for plays.But although the regular and special ludi probably offered
enough opportunity for the presentation of plays to encourage
the dramatist to write, it is doubtful whether the market atRome would in itself have justified the formation of companiesof professional actors. In order to secure a steady livelihood
even for small companies, the managers who bought the playsfrom the dramatists would have required more engagementsthan the schedule of the Roman drama provided. There was
an obvious means of supplementing the earnings at Rome.
Themanagers
could take theircompanies out on the road.
They had examples of travelling actors in their Etruscan
predecessors who, according to tradition, presented the first
ludi scaenici at Rome and in their Greek contemporaries,
ol rept -ro Ato6vvaovexvlTra who sent representatives to Rome in
186 and 167. They lived in a time when every town of im-
49Cf. Horace's familiar lines on Plautus, Epist. 2.1.175-6:
Gestit enim nummum in loculos demittere, post hoc
Securus cadat an recto stet fabula talo.
See also the prologues of Terence.50 130 plays later circulated under the name of Plautus. 42 titles of plays by
Caecilius Statius have come down to us.
61See Frank's recent discussion in A.J.P. LVIII (1937) 348-9 of the phrasein operis artificumscaenicorumquoted from Varro about Plautus (Gell. 3.3.14).
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portance had its ludi and when people were in the habit of
travelling from town to town to see the spectacles offered.52As the drama developed at Rome, other cities, some of which
already had their own scenic games, probably engaged the
Roman companies to repeat at their festivals the successes of
the metropolitan stage.53 On such an assumption one can
explain the rapid development of professional acting which
took place in the period of Plautus' dramatic activity.52
The story of the rape of the Sabines reflects the custom. Cf. also Livy2.37.1. In 59 B.C. Cicero was almost persuaded by Tullia to go to ludi at
Antium, but refrained from doing so in order not to appear as one 'non solum
delicate sed etiam inepte peregrinantem.' Cf. Ad Att. 2.8.2. and 2.10.53The travelling actor of the republic has left practically no records. In
172 a 'PWoaLr-T7s,performer who spoke or sang in the Latin language, ap-
peared in Delos with Greek rEXvLrat (cf. A. Wilhelm, Jahreshefte des ost. Inst. IIn
(1900), 49 ff). There were permanent theatres in many towns of Italy before
Pompey built the first one in Rome. Great actors like Roscius who, it has been
estimated, would have had to play 125 days a year to secure his enormous
earnings must have appeared in them as well as in Rome where the schedule ofdramatic games in his day included not more than forty-nine days a year.Cf. O. Ribbeck, Die romische Tragddie(Leipzig, 1875) 647. Roscius' earningsare estimated at five or six hundred thousand sesterces a year. Cf. Pliny,N.H. 7.129 and Cicero, Rosc. Corn. 23 (where there is a corruption in the text).
According to Macrobius (Sat. 3.14.13) Roscius received a thousand denarii a
day. Like the great pantominist Pylades, who under Augustus was a drawingcard at the Apollinaria of Pompeii (C.I.L. x 1074, Dessau 5053), Roscius and
the actors of the preceding century had doubtless travelled from town to town
to present the plays which had made them a name at Rome.