7.2
The
pestilence lasted into the following year. The new consuls were C. Sulpicius
Peticus and C. Licinius Stolo. Nothing worth mentioning took place, except
that in order to secure the peace of the gods a lectisternium was instituted,
the third since the foundation of the City. But the violence of the epidemic
was not alleviated by any aid from either men or gods, and it is asserted that
as men's minds were completely overcome by superstitious terrors they
introduced, amongst other attempts to placate the wrath of heaven, scenic
representations, a novelty to a nation of warriors who had hitherto only had
the games of the Circus. They began, however, in a small way, as nearly
everything does, and small as they were, they were borrowed from abroad.
The players were sent for from Etruria; there were no words, no mimetic
action; they danced to the measures of the flute and practiced graceful
movements in Tuscan fashion. Afterwards the young men began to imitate
them, exercising their wit on each other in burlesque verses, and suiting their
action to their words. This became an established diversion, and was kept up
by frequent practice. The Tuscan word for an actor is istrio, and so the
native performers were called histriones. These did not, as in former times,
throw out rough extempore effusions like the Fescennine verse, but they
chanted satyrical verses quite metrically arranged and adapted to the notes of
the flute, and these they accompanied with appropriate movements. Several
years later Livius for the first time abandoned the loose satyrical verses and
ventured to compose a play with a coherent plot. Like all his
contemporaries, he acted in his own plays, and it is said that when he had
worn out his voice by repeated recalls he begged leave to place a second
player in front of the flutist to sing the monologue while he did the acting,
with all the more energy because his voice no longer embarrassed him. Then
the practice commenced of the chanter following the movements of the
actors, the dialogue alone being left to their voices. When, by adopting this
method in the presentation of pieces, the old farce and loose jesting was
given up and the play became a work of art, the young people left the regular
acting to the professional players and began to improvise comic verses.
These were subsequently known as exodia (after-pieces), and were mostly
worked up into the "Atellane Plays." These farces were of Oscan origin, and
were kept by the young men in their own hands; they would not allow them
to be polluted by the regular actors. Hence it is a standing rule that those
who take part in the Atellanae are not deprived of their civic standing, and
serve in the army as being in no way connected with the regular acting.
Amongst the things which have arisen from small beginnings, the origin of
the stage ought to be put foremost, seeing that what was at first healthy and
innocent has grown into a mad extravagance that even wealthy kingdoms
can hardly support.
