THE DRAMATIC VALUES IN PLAUTUS

or swing a piece of trumpery into popular favor by the brute force
of his dash and personality. That this was true in Plautus' day,
no less than in our own, is plainly indicated by the personal allusion
inserted in the Bac. (214-5):
Etiam Epidicum, quam ego fabulam aelJ.ue ac me ipsum amo,
Nullam aeque invitus specto, si agit Pellio.
The servile status of the ancient actor is an index to the energy
of his performance, if to nothing else. Failure meant a beating,
success a drink at least. 56 Augustus humanely abrogated the
whipping of actors, but an attempt was made in Tiberius' time to
renew the practice. 57 On the other hand, there seem to have been
prizes awarded to successful actors,58 as well as to the poet ;59 but
this practice surely arose after Plautus' lifetime. At any rate,
whatever was the nature of the reward, in his day the large emoluments
won by Roscius and other popular favorites were impossible.60
The effort demanded by the elaborate education of the actor,61
in which naturally gesticulation was the most vital element, was
out of all proportion to the precarious reward. A rigid course of
training was prescribed and strenuous exercises were required, for
both actor and orator to keep the voice in proper form.62 Indeed,
Quintilian advises the budding orator to take instruction in voice
production and gesticulation from the comic actor.63 For the
comic actor was at all times recognized as livelier and more vivid in
his performance than the tragedian64. The two were usually
sharply differentiated.65 Specialization arose, too, and we hear of
actors who confined their efforts to feminine roles,66 though natur-
56Cist. 785 : Qui deliquit vapulabit, qui non dcliquit bibet. Cf. Trin. 990.
A mph. 83-4, (if this is not merely an imitation of the Greek original) .
"Tac. Ann. 1.77.
58Amph. 65 ff., Poen. 36 ff. , TeL Phor. 16 ff., Cic. ad Alt. IV. 1 5.6, HOL Ep.
II. 1.181.
" Cas. 17 ff. , Trin. 706 ff. But others argue that these passages are only
translations from the Greek. V. Leo in Hermes, 1883, p. 561, F. Ostermayer,
De hist. Jab. in com. Pl. (Greifswald, 1884), p. 7. Ritschl (Parerga, p. 229)
argues that the passages refer to cases of extraordinary public approval, not
to formal contests. Cf. VaL L.L. V. 178.
6°Cic. pro. Ros. Com. 10.28-9, Plin. N. H. 7.39.128, Dio 77.21. Cf. Sen.
Ep. 80·7·
61K6rting, op. cit., p. 244 ff.
62Cic. de Or. 1.59 .251, Suet. Nero 20, Quint. XI. 3.19 .
631.11.1 -2, I. 11.12. 64Quint. XI. 3. II 1.
65Cic. Or. 31.109 . 66Quint. XI. 3.178, Juv. III. 98-9.
22