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SERIOUS DRAMA
The Argonautic saga and those parts of the Theban Cycle involving Dionysus
and Bacchantes were also used; Oedipus himself is a strikingly rare figure
in Roman tragedy. Andronicus is known to have used Sophocles (Aiax
Mastigophorus and Hermiona (?)), while Naevius may have used originals
as different in character as Aeschylus' Lycurgus and Euripides' Iphigenia in
Tauris.i
Even the names of the rivals and lesser imitators of Ennius (who wrote
between c. 202 and 169 B.C.) are forgotten. It was he who made the composition
of tragedy an unequivocally respectable activity for the leisure of gentlemen
who did not depend on the theatre. Among these his nephew the painter
Pacuvius (jl. 154 B.C., according to Jerome) and Accius (who wrote between
c. 145 and c. 100 B.C.) stood out and all but monopolized the attention of
subsequent generations. Ennius was particularly fond of Euripides, though he
was far from faithful to the true spirit of his author. Pacuvius, whose azuvre
was small, used all three of the classic Athenian dramatists, and also the imitators
of Euripides. There are almost as many titles of plays by Accius as there are of
all the others together. Like Pacuvius, he was eclectic in his choice of models.
In his case, as we- shall see, the question arises whether he did not sometimes
compose tragedies 'from scratch', exactly as a contemporary Greek might; in
exploring the by-ways and sequels of the famous stories of Troy, Thebes, and
the Argonauts, the scholar-poet would know and study not only the Masters'
versions and others', but also the remarks of the commentators, and might take
things 'even from a Latin', as Afranius in the contemporary togata (CRF 28,
Macrob. Sat. 6.1.4).
Accius' latest-known play was a Tereus of 104 B.C., and fresh tragedies were
still being composed, apparently for stage-performance, in the 90s B.C. 2
Throughout Cicero's lifetime, there were revivals (as of comedy) of what
were now regarded as the classics of Pacuvius, Accius, and Ennius (this seems
to have been their order of esteem) 3 before large audiences, who might interpret
passages with reference to contemporary politics 4 . The acting profession bade
fair to win the social prestige which it enjoyed in Greece; orators admired,
befriended, and learnt from great actors such as Aesopus and Roscius. It is
likely that the composition of tragedy had become a literary exercise already
1
On Andronicus, TRF 16 — ROL i6~Soph.Aj. iz66(., seeTraina (1970) 22, 42. Of the others'
work the Greek models exist in whole or part for: Ennius, Eumenzdes (Aesch.), Hecuha, Iphigenia in
Aulis, Medea exul (all Eur.); Pacuvius, Antiopa (Eur.); Accius, Bacchae, Phoenissae, Telephus (all
Eur.). See Mette (1964) 5—212.
2
Marius Victorinus in GLK vi 8 implies that the Tecmessa of C. Julius Strabo (Jl. 100—90 B.C.) was
for stage-performance.
3
Cic. Opt. gen. orat. 1.2, Hor. Epist. 2.1.55; later Accius was more favoured (Veil. 2.9.3, Quint.
Inst. 10.1.97).
* Eurysaces, 57 B.C. (Cic. Sest. 120); Clytemestra, 55 B.C. (Cic. Fam. 7.1.2); Tereus, 44 B.C. (Cic.
Phil. 1.15.36,/ft/. 16.2.3).
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