CC 302/347
INTRO TO ANCIENT ROME
Outline for
Lecture 22: Literature (i)
- pervasiveness of Greek culture in later Republic.
- popularity of Greek literature and Greek literary
forms.
- connection of Greek culture & Roman elite.
Early Roman Literature
- native Italian literary traditions meager.
- native meter known as Saturnian verse;
- improvisational poems known as Fescennine;
- rude improvisational comedy, known as Atellan farce.
Beginnings of Latin literature
- Latin lit begins with Livius Andronicus: Latin
translation of Homer's Odyssey in Saturnian verse.
- a slave who adopts Greek material to cater to Roman
upper classes
- Naevius (fl. c. 235): major work, The Punic War, an
epic in Saturnian verse
- Ennius (c. 234-169): major work the Annals, a lengthy
epic of Rome's history
- Ennius employed the dactylic hexameter used in Greek
epic
Plautus (254 to 184 BCE)
- New Comedy + influence of Atellan farce + mime
- intermediate stage in adopting Greek models
- slapstick elements, stock characters and situations
- example: Pseudolus: young man in love, helped by servus
callidus
Terence (185-169 BCE)
- New Comedy: closer to the Greek originals than Plautus
- member of pro-Hellenic Scipionic Circle.
- slapstick absent: quieter plays exploring ethical
issues.
|