The Influence of Republican Drama

This panel investigates how early Roman Comedy and Tragedy informs and shapes later poetry and prose. In the works of authors such as Plautus, Terence, Ennius, and Naevius, subsequent authors found examples of generic amalgamation (contaminatio), verbal fireworks (the alliteration of Ennius, the wordplay of Plautus), distinctive characters, and weighty sententiae. The panelists believe that the evidence deserves re-evaluation with an eye to current theories of intertextuality and reception studies. Do subsequent authors take into consideration the original literary context of the source material? Does the theatrical nature of the works affect their later treatment? How can an understanding of Republican drama help us to appreciate the reception of these authors by Augustan and post-Augustan writers?

The fragmentary state of early tragedy has discouraged a thorough investigation of the relationship between these tragedies and later poetry, but a glance at the remains shows many parallels with Roman epic and elegy.[1] While Terence has often been seen as a fount of moral sententiae and capable of creating psychologically plausible characterization, his larger influence on Roman poetry has been underestimated. Plautus’ linguistic exuberance and comedic potential are exploited by later authors of satire and the type-scene or “routines” of his plays can been seen in the poetry of Catullus and Horace.[2] The panel hopes to discuss how the early comic and tragic tradition of Republican Rome continued to influence Roman writers, and wishes to explore how an understanding and appreciation of early drama can help to interpret later prose and poetry. Consequently, each panelist scrutinizes the work of a later Roman author and examines intertextual and thematic parallels that occur between this author and the prior playwrights.

The panel will begin with an investigation of Ennius’ tragedies and will aim to show how authors such as Cicero and Propertius utilized his tragic works in their prose and poetry (respectively). Both panelists find that Ennius’ tragedies do more than supply a ready quote, and that the figure of Medea, in particular, can take on varying significance as the context requires. Then, three papers about Roman Comedy examine Plautus’ and Terence’s extensive influence in divergent genres. Panelist #3 investigates how a Plautine “stock character” (that of the servus callidus) may have inspired the characterization of figure of Ulysses in Seneca’s Troades. Panelist #4 finds that Juvenal’s objects of invective have much in common with the denizens of Roman New Comedy, while Panelist #5 considers the Terentian theatrical elements in Martial’s epigrams. At the close, a respondent to the panel as a whole will add his final observations on the state of the question of the influence of Republican drama on successive writers.

The papers will each last 15 minutes with final comments of 10 minutes. This gives twenty minutes at the close for further questions. No audio/visual equipment is needed.