mero studuimus. The mimiambics of Matius were, however, in choliambic metre. But considering the action of the mimi (e. g. the alapae) it appears scarcely credible that all mimi at all times were in metre; sometimes this may, therefore, have been limited to the cantica. The existence of these cantica appears from uuwdoí, Plut. Sull. 2. The obscena cantica with which omne convivium strepit (Quintil. I 2, 8) may be assumed to have occurred in mimi. Versus cantare in Capitol. Maximin. 9, 5. So also salva res est dum cantat senex, Fest. p. 326. The acompaniment of a tibia belonged especially to saltatio; Fest. p. 276: ad tibicinem saltare; Gell. I 21, 12: si ut planipedi saltanti .. numeros et modos.. tibicen incineret. Quintil. I 10, 31: non hanc (musicen) a me praecipi quae nunc in scenis effeminata et impudicis modis fracta non ex parte minima si quid in nobis virilis roboris manebat excidit. The close connexion with the pantomimi is shown, e. g., by Macrob. Sat. II 7, 13: cum canticum quoddam saltaret Hylas (a pantomime) cuius clausula erat rov μéyav Ayaμéμvova; comp. Apulej. apol. 74 extr.: saltandis fabulis exossis plane et enervis, sed, ut audio, indocta et rudi mollitia. negatur enim quidquam histrionis (a general expression) habuisse praeter impudicitiam. It appears, therefore, that cantica were not wanting in the pantomimes, though the performer himself did not sing them, they being recited behind the stage.

8. On the medieval mimi see Grysar p. 331-337 and Krahner, Ztschr. f. Alt. Wiss. 1852 p. 388 sq.; the last pagan priests were at the same time the last mimi and joculatores (see e. g. the description of a person of this kind in a sermon by Maximus Taurinensis, Muratori Anecd. IV p. 99), and the earliest notices with regard to incipient medieval dramas represent them as ecclesiastical with the same joculatores in the service of dramatic art.

9. The Atella nae (fabulae A.) are so called from Atella, a small town in Campania, in a country originally Oscan. Atellan plays originally denoted comic descriptions of the life in small towns, in which the principal persons gradually assumed a fixed character. After the Romans (A. v. c. 543) had annihilated the independence of Campania, and latinized the province, both the thing and its name migrated to Rome, and soon Maccus, Bucco, Pappus and Dossenus were well-known and favourite figures with the Roman people also, who joined to them similar ones, such as Manducus, Mania, Lamia, Pytho. The youth of Rome most probably liked the new performances as an improved kind of saturae, and they themselves played in them masked. Only the general plot was then arranged, the rest being left to improvisation. The scheme of the plays was all the simpler. Their form may be presumed to have been, in most cases, a simple dialogue, songs in Saturnian metre being perhaps interspersed; the jokes were coarse, accom

panied by lively gesticulation, which was also obscene; the Latin diction bore a plebeian character.

1. Literature: C. E. Schober, on the Atellan plays. Leipzig 1825, and de Atellanis exodiis, Breslau 1830. F. Weyer, on the At., Mannheim 1826. Zell, Writ. during Vacation-time, II p. 139 sqq. Klenze, philol. writings, (Berlin 1839) p. 91–105. E. Munck, de fabulis Atellanis (with a collection of the fragments), Breslau 1840. Th. Keller, de lingua et exodiis Atellanarum, Bonn 1850. Lannoy, Essai sur les Atellanes et sur quelques productions du théâtre populaire dans l'ancienne Rome, in the Mém. de la société littéraire de Louvain, V (1850) p. 85-1830. Mommsen, R. H. II. p. 438-442. W. Teuffel in Pauly's R. E. I 2. p. 1957-1960. 2. Diomedes III p. 487 P. 490,1 sq. tertia species est fabularum latinarum quae a civitate Oscorum Atella, in qua primum coeptae (a mistake) appellatae sunt Atellanae, argumentis dictisque iocularibus. Mommsen, 1.1., considers the Atellan plays as originally Latin and the Oscan country (latinized since 543) as their poetical scene only. This would be at variance with their great antiquity as well as with the general designation of the Atellanae as osci ludi (Cic. Fam. VII 1, 3), oscum ludicrum (Tac. A. IV 14), the principal persons as oscae figurae (Diomed. III p. 488 P. 490, 20 K.)

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3. Maccus is stupid, voracious and wanton, has asses' ears etc. Bucco amuses by his bucca, in blabbing and devouring. Pappus is an old man, vain, and very stupid, always cheated by wife and son. Dossennus (dorsum) is a cunning sharper, the dottore.

4. Livy VIII 2, 12: quod genus ludorum (At.) ab Oscis acceptum tenuit iuventus nec ab histrionibus pollui passa est. eo institutum manet ut actores Atellanarum nec tribu moveantur et stipendia tamquam expertes artis ludicrae faciant. Hence in his peculiar manner Val. Max. II 4, 4, p.71, 12 sqq. Halm. Fest. v. personata, p. 217 a. M.: per Atellanos qui proprie vocantur personati, quia ius est iis non cogi in scena ponere personam, quod ceteris histrionibus pati necesse est. When a. 639 the censors artem ludicram ex urbe removerunt, they made an exception only as to latinum tibicinem et ludum atellanum (so M. Hertz instead of talanum of the mss.) Cassiod. ad a. (p. 620 in Mommsen.)

5. Varro Gerontodidascalo: putas eos non citius tricas Atellanas quam id extricaturos? Non. p. 8, 29. Comp. Tertull. spect. 17: Atellanus gesticulator. Quintil. I. O. VI 3, 47: amphibolia, neque illa obscura (? obscena) quae Atellani e more captant.

6. Incorrectly Strabo V 3, 6. p. 233 C.: Tov Oσxwv izdeλoinóTWY ἡ διάλεκτος μένει παρὰ τοῖς Ῥωμαίοις, ὥστε καὶ ποιήματα σκηνοβατεῖσθαι κατά τινα ἀγῶνα πάτριον καὶ μιμολογεῖσθαι. The Oscan language was not understood at Rome, comp. Liv. X 20. 8, Titin. v. 104. Gell. N. A. XVII 17, 1. Macrob. Sat. VI 4, 23. Perhaps the rustic language in the Atellanae (Varro L. L. VII 84. 96) appeared so strange to Strabo that he thought it was a different dialect, a mistake perhaps also facilitated by the name osci ludi.

10. In the time of Sulla the Atellan plays, which previously had only been popular farces, received literary treatment at the hands of Pomponius of Bononia and Novius, they being the first to write complete texts of their plays. By means of a well-laid plot, consistent characters and metrical form, the Atellan plays were then raised to the same level with the other kinds of comedy, only they preserved more the character of burlesques. Besides the description of popular life and the personal allusions, we now find also mythological titles. Henceforth the Atellan plays were used as after-plays, and performed by professional actors. Even under the first Emperors these plays were still in vogue and cultivated by Mummius, but owing to the character of the period their voice was gradually silenced and they were merged in the pantomimes.

1. As to Pomponius and Novius see below § 125. Cic. Fam. IX 16, 7 (written a. 708): secundum Oenomaum Accii non, ut olim solebat, Atellanam, sed, ut nunc fit, mimum introduxisti. Comp. Mar. Vict. p. 2527 P. and above § 7, 4. In small country-towns Atellan plays were occasionally performed by themselves, Juv. III 171.

2. Suet. Nero 39: Datus Atellanarum histrio in cantico quodam etc.; comp. Gall. 13: Atellanis notissimum canticum exorsis. Juv. VI 71 sq.: Urbicus exodio risum movet Atellanae gestibus Autonoes. Orelli 5682 (from Pompeii): Mete Cominiaes Atellana. Tac. A. IV 14: Caesar (Tiberius) de immodestia histrionum rettulit. . oscum quondam ludicrum, levissimae apud volgum oblectationis, eo flagitiorum et virium venisse ut auctoritate patrum coercendum sit. Comp. Suet. Tib. 35 extr. Calig. 27 extr.: Atellanae poetam (perhaps Mummius?) ob ambigui ioci versiculum media amphitheatri arena igni cremavit. Macrob. Sat. I 10, 3: Mummius, qui post Novium et Pomponium diu iacentem artem Atellaniam suscitavit. Spartian. Hadr. 26, 4: in convivio tragoedias, comoedias, Atellanas. semper exhibuit (Hadrian). Tertull. de spectac. 17. Arnob. adv. gent. VII 33. Concerning the relation of the Atellan plays to the mimi, see above 8, 3. Comp. L. Friedländer, History of Roman manners II. p. 297 sq.

11. Under the head of the popular poetry of the Romans may be classed all they possessed in a metrical form (i. e. in the Saturnian metre) before the introduction of art-poetry i. e. before Andronicus and the year 514. Some productions handed down from later and literary periods belong to an older time, both in tendency and character. In the Imperial period we meet especially with lampoons and similar occasional pieces with a tendency to accented rhythm and indifferent

treatment of hiatus. This accounts for the fact of the early Christian hymns, intended as they were for the use and under standing of the people, being composed in the same manner

1. A list of poetical productions in the time before Andronicus, will be found below §. 51 sqq.

2. In the literary period we may assume an earlier origin for the following: 1) popular love - songs, one of which is alluded to by Hor. S. I 5, 15 sq. But the serenades in Plaut. Curc. I 2, 60 sqq. (in cretic metre), Hor. Od. III 10 and Ovid Amor. I 6 are not popular. 2) nursery-songs: see Schol. Pers. III 16: quae infantibus, ut dormiant, solent dicere saepe: lalla lalla, lalla, aut dormi aut lacte, (instead of which we should probably read latta); hence lallare Pers. III 16: and Auson. epist. XVI 90 sq.: nutricis inter lemmata Lallique somniferos modos. [But see L. Müller, Rh. Mus. XXIV p. 620 who shows that the nursery-song in question was only lalla, lalla, lalla etc. ad infin.: the true reading in the Schol. is lalla, i. e. aut dormi aut laeta.] 3) Songs used in the games of boys, Hor. Ep. I 1, 59 sq. and II 3, 417 (with the Schol.), from which L. Müller (Fleck. jahrb. 89 p. 484) shows that the lines should most probably be arranged as follows: hábeat scabiem quisquis ad me vénerit novíssimus. Réx erit qui récte faciet; quí non faciet, nón erit. To this class belongs also Málum consilium cónsultori [semper ipsi]st péssimum. Though it cannot be denied that sentences of this kind might also pass into popular usage and become proverbial from being originally part of a literary composition, e. g. Syrus' mimi. 4) Lampoons on belated husbandmen (Hor. S. I 7, 28 sqq. comp. with Auson. Mosell. 166: navita labens .. probra canit seris cultoribus), on misers (Plaut. Trin. 350 sqq. R.: cívi immuni scín quid cantari solet? "Quód habet ne habeás et illuc quod nón habes habeás malum, Quándoquidem nec tibi bene esse póte pati neque álteri." On the other hand, the prescription for gulones in Macrob. S. VII 12, 9 is shown by its contents and expression to be of later origin: múlsum quod probe témperes Miscendumst novo Hyméttio Ét vetulo Falérno.

3. In the popular effusions of the Imperial period we also find a predilection for the trochaic tetrameter, which is indeed suited to the character of the Latin language. In this metre we have the lampoons in Suet. Caes. 80 (comp. 49. 51), Schol. Juv. V 3. Comp. Suet. Calig. 6. Vopisc. Aurel. 6, 5. 7, 2. Lampoons of higher pretensions and produced in cultivated circles have the form of epigrams: Suet. Oct. 70. Tib. 59. Cal. 8. Ner. 39. Dom 14. 23. Comp. Schol. Hor. S. I 7, 20. An epigrammatarius appears in Vopisc. Florian. 16, 3. See G. H. Bernstein, versus ludicri in Rom. Caesares priores olim compositi, Halle 1810. Zell, Writings in Vacation-time, II p. 165-169. The expression of which Festus p. 285 M. says "retiario adversus mirmillonem pugnanti cantatur" is usually considered to be in Sotadic metre, but may also be in Saturnian metre: Non té petó, piscém petó: quíd me fúgis, Gálle? Of hymns comp. Dies irae, díes illa etc. Ápparebit répentina Díes

magna dómini etc. Soon also rhyme was adopted, e. g. in the two Roman songs of the sixth century quoted by Gregorovius, Hist. of the City of Rome I p. 472 sq.

4. Zell, Writings in Vacation - time, II p. 97 sqq. Edelestand du Méril, poésies populaires latines', antérieures au douzième siècle, Paris 1844. W. Teuffel, Pauly's R. E. VI 2. p. 2736-2738. Westphal, on Greek metres (Leipzig 1865) p. 270 sqq.

12. The regular drama was the first of the various kinds of art-poetry imported at Rome at the beginning of the sixth century and was soon diligently cultivated both in its serious and its comic side, with more or less originality. But the entertaining kinds prevailed greatly, the palliata, Rhinthonica, togata, including the trabeata and tabernaria, the mimus (with planipedia or riciniata), to which the Atellan plays in their later form may be added. Of serious plays we have besides tragedy only the praetexta to name.

1. Donat. de com.: Fabula generale nomen est: eius duae primae partes sunt tragoedia et comoedia. Caesius Bassus de metr. p. 2672 P. enumerates tragoedia, praetextata, comoedia. tabernaria, Atellana, Rhinthonica, mimi. Donatus 1. 1.: comoediarum formae sunt tres: palliatae, graecum habitum referentes, togatae, iuxta formam personarum habitum togarum desiderantes. . Atellanae etc. and: comoedia multas species habet: aut enim palliata est aut togata aut tabernaria aut Atellana aut mimus aut Rhinthonica aut planipedia. (Euanth.) de trag. et com.: illud vero tenendum est post véav zwuodíav Latinos multa fabularum genera protulisse, ut togatas, scenicis atque argumentis latinis; praetextatas . .; Atellanas,..; Rhinthonicas, ab auctoris nomine; tabernarias, ab humilitate argumenti et stili; mimos, ab diuturna imitatione vilium rerum et levium personarum. Lyd. de magg. I 40: ἡ κωμῳδία τέμνεται εἰς ἑπτά, εἰς παλλιάταν, τογάταν, ̓Ατελλάνην, ταβερναρίαν, Ρινθωνικήν, πλανιπεδαρίαν καὶ μιμικήν.

2. Valuable notices on the various kinds (though mixed with errors) are found in Diomedes, ars gramm. III p. 484–489 P. 487-492 Keil, and in the treatise de tragoedia et comoedia, the first half of which most probably belongs to Euanthius, the second half having been edited by Westerhoff as fragmentum Donati (de comoedia), the whole also printed in Zeune's edition of Terence I p. XXV-XXXIV.

13. In tragedy the Romans were throughout dependent upon the Greeks. It is true that there were points in the character, the institutions and history of the Romans which would have been favourable to the creation of an independent tragic literature; but the poetical power necessary for