Page:History of the Literature of Ancient Greece (Müller) 2ed.djvu/462

440 4 JO HISTORY OF THE Philemon, &c, were submitted to the educated classes at Rome; or secondly, that people attempted by free imitations to transplant these pieces into a Roman soil, and then to suit them to the tastes and under- standings of the Roman people by romanizing them, not merely in all the allusions to national customs and regulations, but also in their spirit and character : neither of these two alternatives was adopted, but the Roman comedians took a middle course, in consequence of -which these plays became Roman and yet remained perfectly Greek. In other words in the Greek comedy (or eomoedia pa/liala, as it was called) of the Romans, the training of Greece in general, and of Athens in par- ticular, has extended itself to Rome, and has compelled the Romans, so far as they wished to participate in that, in which all the educated world at that time participated, to acquiesce in the outward forms and conditions of this drama ; — in its Greek costume and Athenian locality ; to adopt Attic life as a model of social ease and familiarity; and (to speak plainly) to consider themselves for an hour or two as mere barbarians, — and, in fact, the Roman comedians occasionally speak of themselves and their countrymen as barbari.* It is necessary that we should premise these observations, (however much they may seem chronologically misplaced,) in order to justify the use which we purpose to make of Plautus and Terence. The Roman comedians prepared the Greek dish for the Roman palate in a different manner according to their own peculiar tastes ; for example, Plautus seasoned it with coarse and powerful condiments, Terence on the other hand with moderate and delicate seasoning ;t but it still remained the Attic dish : the scene brought before the Roman public was Athens in the time of those Macedonian rulers who are called the Diadochi and Epigoni. X § 8. Consequently, the scene was Athens after the downfall of its political freedom and power, effected by the battle of Chseronea, and still more by the Lamian war : but it was Athens, still the city of cities, over- flowing with population, flourishing with commerce, and strong in its navy, prosperous both as a state and in the wealth of many of its indi- vidual citizens. § This Athens, however, differed from that of Cimon 19. Festus v. barbari and vapula. f Yet Plautus is more an imitator and frequently a translator of the Attic come- dians than many persons have supposed. Not to speak of Terence, Caecilius Statius has also followed very closely in the steps of Menander. % So much so, that the most peculiar features of Attic law (as in all that related to iw'ixXnam, or heiresses) and of the political relations of Athens (as the kXvqovxIu in Lemnos) play an important part in the Roman comedies. § The finances of Athens were to all appearance as flourishing under Lycurgus (i. e. B.C. 338 — 32G) as under Pericles. The well-known census under Demetrius the Phalerian (b.c. 317) gives a proof of the number of citizens and slaves at Athens. Even in the days of Demetrius Poliorcetes, Athens had still a great fleet. In a word, Athens did not want means at this time to enable her to command the respect even of kings ; she only lacked the necessary spirit.
 * See Plautus, Bacchid. I. 2. 15. Captivi. III. 1. 32. IV. 1. 104. Trinumm. Prul.