THE DRAMATIC VALUES IN PLAUTUS

Rufus quidam, ventriosus, crassis suris, subniger,
Magno capite, acutis oculis, ore rubicundo, admodum
Magnis pedibus. BA. Perdidisti, ut nominavisti pedes.
Pseudolus fuit ipsus.
His red slave's wig is thus made a feature in the characterization.
(Cf. Ter. Pharo 5I). When Trachalio is looking for the procurer,
he inquires (Rud. 3I6 ff.) :
Ecquem
Recalvom ad Silanum senem, statu tum, ventriosum,
Tortis superciliis, contracta fronte. ?90
The precise details of the histrionic technique and "stage business"
in vogue must remain more or less a mystery to us. Our
limitations in this respect are admirably enunciated by Saunders
(TAPA. XLIV, p. 97): "One must conclude then, that it is
dangerous to dogmatize on this subject, as on most others connected
with the early Roman stage. Our evidence is too slight and the
period of time involved is too long. We can, therefore,
deal in little but generalities. The Romans must have imitated
and developed their Greek and Etruscan models.91 When Livius
Andronicus first fathered palliatae, he must have chosen the New
Comedy not only as the type of drama most available to him, but
as wholly adaptable to his audiences. When Plautus wrote, hehad
the machinery already built for him, and he doubtless seized upon
the palliata form as the natural medium for the exploitation of his
talents. By Cicero's time considerable technical equipment was
required; the actor must be an adept in gesticulation, gymnastic
and dancing n Appreciable refinement had been reached in
Quintilian's age, for he scores the comic actor who departs too far
from reality and pronounces the ideal player him who declaims
with a measured artistic heightening of everyday discourse .93 It
is noteworthy that this practically coincides with the accepted
standard of modern realistic acting. But the Plautine actor could
never have felt himself trammeled by any such nan"ow and
sophisticated restrictions, as we believe the evidence accumulated
above amply proves. At any rate, the delineation of different
roles must have been at all times strictly in character. The need
noc£. Mil. 629 ff. , 923, Ps. 967, Rud. 125 f., 313 f., 1303, Trin. 86 1 £., True.
286 ff. ; Ter., Pharo S1.
9lV. van Wageningen, op. cit. pp. 40 f.
92De Or. III. 22.83. 93Il. 10.13. Cf. XI. 3.91.
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