Page:History of the Literature of Ancient Greece (Müller) 2ed.djvu/461

439 LITERATURE OF ANCIENT GREECE. 439 Philemon came forward rather earlier than Menancler, and survived him many years ; he was a great favourite with the Athenians, but was always placed after Menander by those who knew them both.* These are fol- lowed by Philippides, a contemporary of Philemon ;-j- by Diphilus of Sinope, + who was somewhat later ; by Apolloclorus of Gela, a contem- porary of Menander, Apollodorus of Carystus, who was in the following generation, § and by a considerable number of poets, more or less worthy to be classed with these. Passing here from the middle comedy to the new, we come at once to a clearer region ; here the Roman imitations, combined with the nume- rous and sometimes considerable fragments, are sufficient to give us a clear conception of a comedy of Menander in its general plan and in its details : a person who possessed the peculiar talents requisite for such a task, and had acquired by study the acquaintance with the Greek language and the Attic subtlety of expression necessary for the execution of it, might without much difficulty restore a piece of Menander's, so as to replace the lost original. The comedy of the Romans must not be conceived as merely a learned and literary imitation of the Greek : it formed a living union with the Greek comedy, by a transfer to Rome of the whole Greek stage, not by a mere transmission through books ; and in point of time too there is an immediate and unbroken connexion between them. For although the period at which the Greek new comedy flourished followed immedi- ately upon the death of Alexander, yet the first generation was followed by a second, as Philemon the son followed Philemon the father, and comic writing of less merit and reputation most probably continued till a late period to provide by new productions for the amusement of the people ; so that when Livius Andronicus first appeared before the Roman public with plays in imitation of the Greek (a.u.c. 514. b.c 240), the only feat which he performed was, to attempt in the language of Rome what many of his contemporaries were in the habit of doing in the Greek language ; at any rate, the plays of Menander and Philemon were the must usual gratification which an educated audience sought for in the theatres of Greek states, as well in Asia as in Italy. By viewing the case in this way, we assume at once the proper position for surveying the Latin comedians in all their relations to the Greek, which are so peculiar that they can only be developed under these limited historical conditions. For to take the two cases, which seem at first sight the most obvious and natural; namely, first, that translations of the plays of Menander,
 * Menander said to him, when he had won the prize from him in a dramatic

contest, "Philemon, do you not blush to conquer me :'* Aul.Gell. N.A., XVII. 4. t According to Buidas he came forward 01. Ill,, still earlier than Philemon. } Sinope was at thai time the native city of three comedians, Diphilus, Diony- sius, and Diodorus, and also of the cynic philosopher Diogenes. It must have been the fashion at Binope to derive proper names from Zeus, the Zeus Chthonius or Serapis of Sinope. § According to the inferences in Meineke's fiist, <'rit. Com. Gicec, p. 4.59, 4.62.