Ovid fe Ponto red 162 9. Rethinking the Classis: 28 no-ao 8 creativity, pre for ealent increases it and glory cases a huge spur. Whos there here Ica eecte my work 0, except bine hared Corals and al the ober tribes ofthe barbarous Danube? 7 "That was what Augustus wanted, and his edict was a proof of our mai argument. To neutralize an author, you didn’t have to stop him writing. Yo had to take away his audience Io Under the Emperors ‘ow at last we can turn back tothe time-line, and readjust our focus tothe longue durée, In Chapter 1 we posed a dilemma about the nature of | Roman literature. Should we assume that it was a matter only of books and "readers, the preserve of a cultured elite? Or should we take the norm to be the ‘Regulus model’ (Ch. 1.4 above), with oral delivery to a lange audience as the primary mode of ‘publication’, and the making of written copies only a secondary stage? (Chapters 2 and 3 (A to B on the time-line) were an attempt to understand the | eltural conditions of early Rome, from the creation of the Roman Forum i the seventh century 8c tothe availability of papyrus in the third, In Chapters 4-6 (B to C on the timeline) the story was taken forward into the second and first | centuries c—ffom the evidence of Plautus and Terence, Ennis and Lucius, Varro sand Cicero—vith particular atention to the stage-games (butt sctnia) and the ‘woorden enclosures (sweats) that Were constructed to accommodate their audienes ‘Then followed three chapters (7-o) dealing with a single point on the timesine, les | tha one person's lifetime. (Caesar Augustus lived from 65 nc 10 AD 14) ‘Those three chapters were necessarily dense and demanding. Interpretation of | the ‘classic’ authors texts, from Cicero to Ovid, had 1 be interwoven with two ‘complex narratives—the polical story of an arrogant oligarchy tamed by the Caesars, father and son, on behalf ofthe Roman People, and a story of ‘show | business, withthe development of new forms of mass entertainment and new | permanent theatres to house them. We have now reached the point where (Caesar Augustus has banished the People’s favourite, andthe three theatres’ are policed by the Praetorian Guard. On his way into exile, the frst thing Ovid wanted to Know was what the | People thought, and he knew that, as was proper, they would take their cue fiom Caesar. The republic that the People’s champion had restored thirty-four ‘years eavler was becoming a hereditary monarchy. A century later, Tacitus | Would begin his history of Rome under the emperors from the moment when Caesar Augustus’ unique authority was transferred, awkwardly but decisively, to the man he had had to adopt as his successor. FigMantes 2136-8 (wane, Katharina valk Aema 74-9, ora 165 10. Under the Emperors owt. Firte-Contury Poets 165 From this point onwards, from C to D onthe timeline, there sno need pg. the argument to an exact chronology. But we shall stil be looking for cont porary evidence, to ust the hypothesis chat Roman Herature, and Gre Iierture in the Roman empire, vas primarily written fr delivery toa audience. ‘The same combination of tems occurs in Tacitus’ report of an event in 4D 47: the emperor Claudius, exercising his censoril responses, in stem edicts berated the People's eck lesiess at che theatee, because they had husled abuse atthe consular Publiss PPomponius (he produced songs fr the stage) and at ilustrous lads. Pomponius was senior senator, and soon an active army commander in Germany, but he was equally well known as a poet and playwright. He was cvidenly performing in person when the audience treated him so discourreously, A few years later, a young equestrian called Aulus Persius Flaccus took a satirical view of contemporary literature: 10.1, First-Century Poets (Our first witness is the astronomical poet Manilius, whose second book, some time between ap 9 and 14, begins with the great sequence of poets fry Homer to the present. Every subject has now been dealt with, all che paths ty Helicon have been trodden, the springs of the Muses are drunk dry by ‘the crowd that rushes to familar themes’. Maniius, however, will sing of a subj all his own, nothing less than the workings of the universe: sy songs neither inthe eid noe or he crowd, i alone—camid, ait were in an empy obit. Like Lucretius his great predecessor as a poet of hard science, Manilius glories in ‘being different, separate from the common run of authors 7 He doesn’: write forthe crowd (arb) as everyone knew that other pocts di His audience, he says, is the smallest crowd in the world, just those few ‘understand astronomy. The majority, on the other hand, as he goes on t ‘exphin, are interested only in money, power, easy living, and unde centertinment, ‘the sweet pleasure of listening ‘The same Lucretian image of following untrodden paths is found ina taken in, he says, by the ‘deception’ of che bards, with their "base and impo stories of Vulcan and the Cyclopes or buried Enceladus: Such Is the common Keence of filly rumour. Bad have creative power: fom that, their song i called noble. The grater part of the subjects of the sage Is deception. Bards have sen in sng te black manes beneath the earth andthe pale realm of Dis among the ashes; bans have led about the waves of Sy and the hounds of hl. That ithe Heence granted to poetry, bur al my concer is with he trath ‘What is interesting here is the reference to che stage. The train of thought: requites thatthe bards (aates) with chit songs or poems (cermin) were heard theatres, Behind closed doors we write—one in verse, another in prose—something grand fara huge lngfl oir o puff out. Thisis forthe People, ofcourse, and eventually you'll read it fom your lofty postion, wel combed, all white in afresh toga, -eang the sadonyx you go for your Biehday. | But then he imagines an objector: "You laugh’ he says, ‘and you'te overdoing the curled nos, Who's going to say ro to the desi to eam the People’s voce? ‘When the poet persists, so does the objector: ‘What do the People say about it” Iewas clearly a question that mattered, ‘To read ‘from a lofty position’ must mean on a stage or platform. But where weie the audience? One answer is provided by Juvenl, la his ows satiical account of the meanness of literary patrons He knows how to provide reedmen to sitat the end ofthe row, and dsibute the loud voices of hi frends—burnane ofthe wp people wil give you what benches oto seston hired stan, or an orchetns consisting of portable chai, ‘That was clearly an occasion organized by the poet himself, perhaps the sor of reading that caused the famous rant that begins Juvenal’s first satire (Shall [always be jus in the audience”, with long. winded recivers delivering tedious ‘mythological poems among Fronto's plane tees, marble statues, and columns— levidenay the peristyle garden ofthe patron's grand house. But that cannot be the whole story, Persus was, afterall taking about poems “Tor the People’. Another passage in Juvenal opens a different perspective Everyone rast hear he plesng voice and the songofthe beloved Theta when Sas has mae he ty hapry by promising ay Such isthe peaure with which Ie captares hes nnd and such the dese with which the cow ug ites to im. But when e's Broken the benches with his poetry, he sill starve unless he can sl Pars is wig Age. “Tacs dale ets (rans A.) Woodman) Persus r3-17 Persius 140-2 Juvenal 743-7 Jovenal 782-7Fig 16 satss Sia 5.3.160-3 Goldberg, 166 10, Unier the Emperors 10.2, irst-Contwry Playorights 167 Cc a ‘ine des, and wong Hes fr him we wht pi the bills) : "That was Statins inthe for, an ambitious poet sill making his way. Ten year Inter he had made it, and for one who enjoyed the emperors favour it was ng _ longer a question of benches. Now the venue might be one of the three greas theatres, with the audience in che wedge-shaped divisions of the semicireuag auditorium. Here he isin a0 95, addressing a young friend about to leave on military commission ‘There is no evidence—and 1 think no reason to suppose—that Seneca's practice was any different from Pomponius’. But so powerful is the idea of ‘rectation drama’ that it seems to neutralize all evidence to the contrary: “The setting and resources impli by the text of Seneca’ dramas are those of & fallsale theatre, Medea needs co appear on the roof ofa stagebuilding, and to belied from icin a dragon-charot. Phaedra appears on a balcony In the upper storey ofthe scaenae fs, And use of the exosta to reveal an interior scene is ‘imped in the Thyets and Howls. Bur these indications ae satcely conclusive, since it ould have been simply conventional practice ro wate wagedy a5 if for 2 fullscale theatre Als for me! But ft should happen to summon aay usual gatherings, and the Romulan fathers come to hear ay poems, | shant have you there, Crspius, end yy Achilles wil look round through all the wedges for the absentee Itcould have been—but where does the burden of prooflic? Other things being ‘equal, texts written in dramatic form, implying the use of a theatre's resource, shoul be for public performance. What evidence is there to defeat that ‘expectation? "The setting of Tacitus’ Dialague on Oratory (ramati date ab 75-6) isthe town house of Curiatius Matemus, senator and playwright, the day afer e had given private reading of his historical drama Cato. ‘That was the usual procedure, to collect comments and possible criticisms before finalizing the text. On this ‘occasion, the political content of the play had ‘caused offence to the powerful Mateus is now looking over his text when visitors are announced—ulius "There we have a glimpse ofa real poet, nota pretentious amateur, performing ta a eal audience worthy of his alent. 10.2, First-Century Playwrights instance, reports that Pomponius would sy ll appeal the People’ whenever ‘one of his fiiends suggested something should be cut from the text; and anecdotes evidently refer to successive stages of a play's existence: performance before the People, where applause or silence would show whether or not the. ‘critical friend was right, followed by distibution ina written text with a preface for the benefit ofthe lesmed. 4 Seneca too was a senior senator (consul in 40 56) and a writer of tragedies However, modem scholarship is divided on whether his surviving texts were ‘meant fr performance a al. One widely held view is that they were weit or recitation toa private audience: “Tragedy neither conld nor shoul compete withthe public specaces and the best ‘vay to avoid that competion wast change i ftom a public wo a private activi By becoming private and chetoral, aristocratic poctasters could separste them selves from the world of bluster and vulgarity that had ridiculed the elegance of PomponiusSecundn Here I think we can detect the preconception noted in the introduction (Ch. 14 above), that sophisticated literature must be intended only fora cultured elt Secundus, Marcus Aper, and the young Tacitus, Secundus sid: Matern, don't the spiteful stores that are going around fghten you ito loving this unpopular Cato of yours alte less? Or perhaps you've taken ‘the Book n and to give ita thorough revision and ext out the pats that ave given sthandle to misrepresentaon: so that Cato an publication emt, Ch 1.9 above] ‘may tur out fino beter, at least safer” "Yous wil find in the book’ he replied, what Materus owed it to himselfto pat there—and you will recognize what you heard ar the rection If Cato has left anything out, Thyestes will epic the omission athe ext recital. ve already got {hat tragedy organized in my mind~and I'm hurrying on the publication leer, (Ch. above] of Cao so that I can pur that care aside and concentrate whole Jpeanedly on the new one You're never tired ofthese tragedies of yours sie Aper, You sill neglect ‘oratory andthe law-couts and spend all your time oa Medea and now Thyestes, ‘hough you're constanty being summoned tothe Forum by your friend’ cases and countless obligations to colonies and municpalies. You'd hardly have time {or chem even if you hadn't brought thls new business on yourself of lumping {n Domitis and Cato—Roman names and Roman episodes—with Greek mythology.” Fitch 20007 “Taine Dialogs 22-4 ons 1M, Winesboromese ewih Aries waar 198 10, Under the Emperors At firat sight, this seems to be exactly the evidence that's needed-—plays rected before small groups and then distrbuted in written form, the discussion is that his plays were politically sensitive, and therefore unlikely bie chosen by the practors for the lui sccenc, It doesn’t follow that they were not intended for performance at all, No doubt Matersus hoped that one day they would indeed be staged, when ‘the powerful” were less censorious. At any rate, ‘when Tacitus made Aper surnmon Maternus away from auditoria and theatres the Forum and lawsuits and real bates’, he evidently took it for granted that ‘Maternus wrote for public performance. ‘So I think we can forget the phantom genre of ‘recitation drama’. Pays were plays, to be performed, As the younger Pliny put i (and he was a connoisseur af recitations), if you wrote tragedy, you needed not a private auditorium but actors and a stage. ‘Matemus’ Cato is actully evidence for something much more interesting, the continued political relevance of the Roman theatre, A century and a half ‘earlier, Cicero usually left Rome when the stage-games were on (Ch. 63 above), and when he did go to the theatre, he was relieved to get a fiendly persons, and they knew who was on their side and who was not. When Pomponius Secundus was treated so rudely in ap 47, it was only six yearg ‘between the People and the Senate, the many and the few, was as strong as ever; J "The ales ofthe senators was to regain theis former dignity; dhey owed i 10 hel Die to fre themselves, now chat twas possible at lat fom the slavery imposed fon them by the tyrant insolence, The People, on the ther hand, resented the Senate; they saw the emperors as a carb on its rapacty and a protection for themselves. They were delighted a the sere of Claud [by the Pratorian ‘Guard beeving that ihe became emperor he would sive them from the soe of ‘vl sie there had been inthe days of Pompey. Maternus’ hero Cato had been deeply involved in that civil strife, as Caesar's ‘opponent in his lifetime and as a symbol of principled resistance after his death. 10.3, Prose Fiction and History 169 failed the selection process even without the disapproval of those powerful By great good forrune, the text of afirsteentury historical drama happens to survive; was wrongly attributed to Seneca, and thus included ina collection of his tragedies, The dramatic date is ao 62. Octavia, the eponymous heroine, isthe daughter of the late emperor Claudius, now unhappily married to Nero— Claudius’ stepson, adopted son and successor in power—who banishes her and marries the ‘haughty harlot’ Poppaea Sabina, When the Roman People violently protest, Nero crushes them and plans the burning of Rome as their punishment. There are two choruses, one of Roman citizens supporting Octavia, fone of courtiers in attendance on Poppaca. ‘The most likely date for the ‘production is soon after the fll of Nero in June 68, in a Rome still devastated by the great fire of 6. tis the citizens’ chorus that matters most for our argument. They remember the great radition of Roman popular power from the expulsion ofthe Tarquins onwards, and they honour the Gracchi as the People’s friends (Ch. 5.4 above), though Lucan in his recent epic had put them in Tartarus, Nero was the Caesar ‘who failed che People, using the fire to create his own luxurious urban estate Augusts’ great great-grandson, dead without an heir, he was, in the words of the Sibyl herself, ‘the last of the line of Aeneas’ The play that tried to make tragic sense of his faire still caught an echo ofthe ideological conflict that had freed the People from the oligarchs four generations before. 10.3. Prose Fiction and History te was prose as well as poetry that Persus imagined being puffed out for the People in a huge hung of ait. What sort of prose he hal in mind is not easy to suess, but one possibility is narrative fiction ‘The ancient ‘novels’, Greek and Roman, have heen studied intensively i recent years, but not much attention has been paid to the question of their delivery, Petronius’ Sacyrca, almost certainly contemporary with Persts’ sat ites, is supposed by is latest commentator to have been written in episodes “intended as recitations for a literary coterie associated with Nero’. We can certainly agree about episodes for recitation, but why should we asume a restricted audience? ‘Notoriously, there is no ancient critical discussion of the novel. The nearest ‘pproximation to it comes in Macrobius’ discussion of diferent types of fiction in the fifth century ao. His purpose was to justify che philosophical validity of Platonic ‘myths, as exemplified by the dream of Scipio in Cicero's De replica.Macros Soman Sepons rare Apulia ort as 170 10, Under the Emperors He carefully distinguished such narratives from stories that merely gave enjoy. ‘ment tothe listener Stories (thee very name is an admisionoffalsehood) ae ineented itr ust give pleasure tothe ear or aan encouragement to good works aswel, The ones that ‘harm the sense of aring are comedies, such as those Menander or his imitators have presented for performance; or else the plots fll of invented vicissirades of lovers that (Petronivs) Arbiter spent much eff on or that Apuleius, © our sstonishment, sometimes played with, A philosophical wean expels from tg sanctuary this entre category of stores, which ofes delights only for the eas, and rlegates itt the eades ofthe nursery. ‘The asconishment about Apuleius was because the author of Metamorphoses (aso, known as The Golden Ass) was thought of in Macrobius’ time as a Platonic philosopher. Infact he was a sophist, in north Aftica inthe second century aD—a profes he dd so in theatres: Such a great multitude of you has come w lsten to me that I ought to praise (Carthage for having 30 many fiends of learing rather than apologize for not, ikea philosopher, efising to spesk! For the assembled audience is appropelate to the {greatness ofthe cy, andthe chosen venue s appropiate tothe magnitude ofthe stuence, Besides, in an autora of this srt wha shoul draw your attention is ‘or the marble ofthe floor, the many storeys of dhe proscenium, oF the columns of the stages nor the bight of the roof, she baillnce of the coferng, or the circumference ofthe seating: not the fac that hereon other occasions the mime Actor makes fool of himself the comic ator makes conversation, che tape actor ‘makes lou speeches, the ghtropewalker takes rks, te conjure makes things 2 el Alssppear, an all the other performers at the games [ution] demonstrate their particular ans tothe people Leaving all hese aside, there i nothing that should draw your atention mare pend than the mind ofthe audience and the words of the speaker {introduction to another performance, 2 hyran to Aesculapius in both Greck and Latin, That in tum was to be followed by a threepart dialogue, also in Greek. ‘been sopbists themselves, Reference to other types of theatre performance, particularly mime and com: novels, or ‘romances’, as they are sometimes called, one of the earliest of them, CChariton’s Chaereas and Calirhoe (fst century ac), ends with the young hero 10.3. Prose Picton and History wm telling the whole story tothe people of Syracuse assembled in thei theatre. The only extant discussion ofthe Greek novels, By Photius in the sith century a, calls them ‘dramas’ and refers tothe author of one of them as ‘the poet of a comedy’ [A prose author described as a poet'may remind us of what Demetrius, seven centuries before Photius, said about the historian Cress (Ch.7.2 above). Hiswory, too, s a possible candidate for the prose that Persus imagined puffed cut for the People. Cicero, the masterorator, declared that history was ‘the orator’s job above all, and by that he meant not the contentious oratory ofthe aw-courts and the politcal arena, bur the ‘easy listening’ style ofthe sophist. As it tamed out, for two or three generations after his time Roman historians were contentious and political, and some of them paid for it with their ives, Perhaps for that reason, rmuch of our evidence for the recital of history in Rome presupposes the "audience of fine gentlemen’ mode, with the historian addressing a polite gathering of bis peers. But that was noc typical. "The evidence for massaudience history in Rome is inconspicuous and easy _ toignore, bt it does exist; and once we look beyond the capital tothe cities of ‘the empire, we can see that mass audiences were the norm. Ous best witnesses fare the sophists Aristides and Lucian, contemporaries of Apuleius who were doing in the cities of the Greck Bast what he was doing in Latin-speaking Carthage ‘When Aristides wanted to talk about historians, he referred to them as ‘those | between the poets and the orator’, and of course he meant the sophise style of ‘oratory, as used by people ike himself in competitive display a city festivals. The theatre audience was crosssection ofthe whale population, not just che educated but ‘those whom we call “the many", even ifthe latter sometimes preferred dancers, mimes, and jugglers to the liberal education the sophist provided. actly the same general audience is assumed in Lucian’s dissertation on how to write history, There are two things, he says, that the true historian must avoid, and they are eulogy (enkdmion) and poetic myth (mutha) Mythical fon isn't even enjoyable, and panegyric of one side or another i Paticulaly repognant to listeners you'te thinking not ofthe mob and the ‘common people but ofthose who listen city, and yes, even frensically as wel, ‘You must be absolutely objective, honouring truth alone and ignoring every: thing else: ln shor, the one yardstick and exact measure i 10 Jock not to those who are listening to you now, but to those who hereafer wall make che aequainance of| your wtings. Lian Hira Lin Hiteein sda * ian Sometue can Apslige3 im 0, Under the Emperors understand and the educated can applaud’. And the nanure of his material enabled him also to be entertaining ever you need to bring on someone making # speech, then tha’ your oppor tunity tobe fetoricl and display the brilliance of che wont ‘Why were there so many speeches in ancient historiography? Parly, perhaps, because popular audiences enjoyed having characters bought on stage’ to speak these pars 7 Tan ows waa «-wondelcoleoton tat fil eght yume of ll Loeb edition, prove an unparalleled insight into this worl of cultural emer tainment. In an autobiographical piece, e described Education Paes) appe ing in a dream when he was a boy and promising him fame and fortune: All eyes will be on you, and whenever you happen to speak the multade wil listen to you open-mouthed in amazement, nd congratulate you onthe power of your words So he got an education and became a rtd, a Sophist, one of ‘those who come before the masses and announce thei recitals’, paid to perform at civic festivals (che equivalent of the Romaa lui) and charging top fees for their ‘thetode in public "The sophist too, like the historian, addressed both an immediate audience in petson and a subsequent readership via the written text. That double purpose ‘was precisely invoked when Lucian imagined his fiend Sabinus’ reaction reading the text of one of his performances: ‘My fitend, for a long time, and righty, this compostion of yours has been admired, both when it was presented before a grest crowd, as those who were then inthe audience used co rll me, and in private among those ofthe educated ‘wh have thought it worth visting and handling” “Before a great crowd’ was no exaggeration. Throughout his works Lucian took ft for granted that his audience might consist of ‘the general public’ or “the mast ‘of the people 10.4, Lucian in the Theatre [Nor all of Lucan’s works were written for his own voice. No fewer than forty four of the cighty-two surviving texts were composed in dialogue form, 0.4, Lucian in the Theatre w3 most of them keep up the conversation among the characters throughout, Since Laci presented his work in theatres, and referred to his own dialogues as acted dramas, itis reasonable to conclude that they reached their public by being performed on stage, q ‘That is not the commonly accepted view. On the contrary, according to ane distinguished Lucian scholar, ‘it has been demonstrated that the dialogues are ‘carefully written in order tobe read aloud by a single performer’. The reference {s to Alfted R. Bellinger’s essay ‘Lucian’s Dramatic Technique’, published in 1928. It sa beautifl piece of work, fll of acute observations and written with ‘an elegance to which modem scholarship no longer aspires; bur itis notin any sense a demonstration. In fat itis a petito principi, a irclar argument that cdaims to prove what has been taken for granted from the star. ‘This is what Bellinger says in his frst paragraph, comparing Lucan's work ‘with that of real dramatists Inthe drama, the highest Sighs of genius would be lst ifthe playwright had aoe first informed his audience a5 to the place, the situation, and the drama persone. ‘These same problems confront the writer of dramatic datogues intended to be read aloud by the author, instead of acted, Moreover these problems are much more dificult to solve, for here the audience can see the scene nly in imag ation, the actors do not appear a al, and the same voce delivers the speeches of them al All those presuppositions recur in his text: ‘Lucian had neither costume not action to asist him’; ‘innumerable subdeties of tone, with perhaps some help fiom pose or gesture...would assist the understanding of the piece’; ‘the imangible power of his voice and presence supplied the deficiencies of the written words; “much of this burden was bome by the reader's tone and by the use of appropriate pauses’, And so tothe final paragraph We must conelade that Lucian wrote his dialogues to be read aloud, and tbe sl sulicent,relyingon the imagiation ofthe audience anon the ingest ois work to make them enjoyable and understandable without the necessity of any inarsic ‘etejection of his own personality inca the scene ‘One may wonder why he would choose to make things s dificult for himself, Bellinger was too good a scholar to ignore evidence that counted against his ‘own assumptions. He noted several dialogues where the text alone—and there: fore the putative singe reader—gives no indication of how many characters ate involved in the conversation, a failing he could only pu down to the author's ‘arelessness or poor technique. And there is one case where he simply throvrs up his hands, a dialogue that opens with six or seven characters all shouting in rapid succession. As Bellinger admits, Belinger 908.5 Bellinger koBalinger 192835 Leis Dear indica 5 ms 10, Under the Emperors the stage is crowded, sad i i hard to sce Bow any ingenity onthe part of the reader could make it lee who speak each ime. But this exception, puzzling ait js, cannot be allowed to controvert the testimony of the rest, because experiment will show that it cannot be read aloud without confusion, even naming the characters as they speak, unless the reader continually intejects stage directions to the ute rin ofall contin. “The proper inference is surely that it was not read aloud at all. “The stage ig crowed’, literally, and the audience can see who speaks each time. 2 ‘Why write in dramatic form a all, not for performance? The idea ofa single ‘voice taking all the parts was always counterintuitive, and once we ae fee off for instance, we have gods on Olympus commenting on conversations or debates om earch, That presumably means actors both on stage and on the roof ofthe proscenium building. Another begins with Charon coming up ftom, Hermes giving him a good view of the upper world by piling Octa on Osa =f and Parnassus on bothy since the mountains are ‘rolled! the verb is used twice), and described a stage-machinery (mdciané), we must imagine three cylindrical ‘continue their conversation on the ‘twin peaks’ of Pamassus, a “The ‘Judgement of the Goddesses’ dialogue sats ‘in heaven’, from where. ‘Hermes points out to Hera the herdsman Paris far below on Mount Ida. ‘Since we'e lose now, ifyou doa't mind let's land on eath and wal We don't ‘want to alarm him by suddenly yng dow from above “Very wel let's do that [Now we've come down, it’ time for you to lead the way for us, Aphrodite. [suppose you're familiar withthe distri, since they say you often came down ovis Anche, Between the fist and second sentences of Hera’s speech, the four deities have descended the stairs ofthe proscenium building and emerged onto the stage. Of ‘course we cou simply imagine all that, just as we could imagine the godess undressing forthe judgement of Paris, but what would be the point? The theare ‘asthe place for looking (theatran), not just for seeing with the mind's eye. Hermes comes down again in the Twice Accused’ dialogue, this time with Justice (Dike); together with Pan, a local resident, they watch an Athenian law. ‘court hearing the case of Dialogue versus ‘the Syrian orator (Lucian himself, of course), The plainsff complains of outrageous treatment: he has been used {0 the high-fiying syle of Plato's Phaedrus, but now the Syrian has broken his wings and put him on the level of ‘the many’, making him wear a ‘comic and satyrié ‘mask, and confining him with Mockery and Invective and old comedians Ike Eupolis and Aristophanes: 10.5. Integrating Evidence 175 ‘So ofcourse it’s outrageous! I'm no longer in my proper ste, but playing comedy and fare and acting bourd plots for hin” He should be grateful, retorts the defendant: joining him with comedy has made him popular with the audience. ‘There's no need to doubt the literal meaning of ‘acting’—or of the mask, For ‘that matter, The interpretation of Lucien’s dialogues is analogous to that of | Varro's satires (Ch. 5.4 above), and no doubs itis not accidental that both authors saw themselves as modem avatars of Menippus, a Cynic philosopher of the tied ‘century no, This was how Menippus got his message across Had reached sucha level of wender-working that he went around inthe guise of an avenging Fury (Brin) saying that he had come from Hades a an inspector of sins and was going ogo back down and repore othe powers below, This was the cestume he used: a grey ankle-lengsh tunic with «crimson belt round it; an Arcadian hat on his head with the twelve sign (of the Zodiac) embroidered ox ic tragic boos, avery long beard, and asf of ash- wood in his hand, “He certainly didn’t rely on “innumerable subtleties of tone, with pehaps some Inelp from pose or gesture’ to ‘assist the understanding’ of what he had to say leseems clear that when the city authorities hired Lucian forthe festival, the ‘theatre audience might see just the man himself, giving a lecture or telling. a ‘sory; or he might havea litle help from his fiends-—Iike Apuleius in Carthage ‘with Sabidius Severus and Julius Persius—to provide some conversation as a {fame for his speech; or his performance could be part of an extended dramatic scene, with actors and spectacle and all the resources of the theatre, He was a star, and would deliver whatever his hosts could afford. 10.5. Integrating Evidence Repeatedly in the course ofthe argument, we have found author reciting their work in the theatre (Chs. 5.4, 9.2, 10.1 above). Now for the fst time, in the second century aD, we ave clear evidence thatthe old dasics were rected there too, It comes from the leamed Aulus Gellus, eclling the time, probably __ nthe 14os, when he was studying rhetoric with Antonius Julianus in Campania. During a summer festival at Puteol, ‘twas reported to Julians that a reader [anagrbst) of some learning, with rally shill and musi voice, was reading Ennis’ Annaler to the populace in the theatre, "Let's fo. he sid, ‘and hearths "Enna" (that was what the performer wished to be elle), whoever he may be.” When we arrived he was already reading, wo huge applause. He was doing book 7 of che Anal, and the irs thing aca ae ‘Sud sv. Pato (@ ho AdlerAulus Gee 1524 Lian Dil! arn 352 6 10, Under the Emperors 105, Integrating Bvidence we heard was his wrong pronusdation He finished afew lines later, and left anid the spplause and pale of al Jelianus and bis pupils were les impressed. ‘ Another second-century theatre scene, this time in Corinth, i presented ‘Apuleius in che tenth Book of The Gobien Ass. He describes in detail an cab aly staged ballet ofthe judgement of Pars, performed by a troupe of you dancers of whom at least rwo—the boy playing Hermes and the gel pl Aphrodite—were practically naked, Ie was all music, ance, and spectacle: Nevertheless, Apuleius presents it as a dramatization of Homer, pre from the epic Cypria, the orginal narrative of the judgement of Paris ‘which in his time was believed to be by Homer himself ‘As always, what we appen to be told is largely random. But it does reasonable to take these passages as exemplifying in two very different ways: symbiosis of literature and the stage. At Puteoi there was a single recter, his whole performance consisted of reading the words; at Corinth, there ‘no words, but what was performed was stil classic literature. Between those extremes, we may imagine all kinds of permutations in the way poetry andj were presented to an audience. Lucian’ treatment of the judgement of Paris isa ease in point. Words ae | ne. 21, Roman scophagus showing the Sars of Need, Triton, and Cup late second cenary 0, bul ‘nwo the cote of te Palzzn Gistiianl in Rome, Archivio fotografia, Seat dela Repubblica © 2014. ‘Ar hisorians will recognize the scene: ti a Seehiass, ‘masine revelry’ the aquatic equivalent of Dionysus’ riotous retinue of satyrs and macnads. And it Fg at and eloar takes us to an unexpected source of information about theatrical pexformance in late» this period Inthe early part ofthe second century a far-reaching change took place in Roman funerary practice. Cremation had previously been the norm, but now, ‘business, but when the goddesses undress for inspection by the judge we "and forthe neat two centuries and more, Romans who could afford it normally ended to infer aes intellectual syle of entertainment coming nto play. | placed their dead im stone sarcophag that were housed (eral inside toms applies even mote to Lucian’s ‘manne dialogues’, where the characters are sea designed to look like private dwellings, or even temples. Despite not being on gods, Tons, and Nereids and their conversations ae brief enough to public show, the sarcophag were lavishly decorated with mythological scenes in that they served as interludes between dance routines. Here oo there must high rele, originally painted or gilded when viewed by torchlght in the been a strong eric element, provided not only by the sea-nymphs thems darness ofthe tomb, they must have presented a dramatic lusion of atally but also by the heroines of the storylines (Andromeda, for instance) that secing the world of gods and heroes, goddesses and heroines. ialogues presuppose. Dramatic, literally. Theatrical masks are a very common feature of the "The lst of the ‘marine dialogues’ features two wind-gods, with Zep "decoration of sarcophagi, particularly on the lid, where they often mark the telling Notus abou the “delightful spectacle’ he missed when Zeus, in bull comers and frame the shallow sculpted frieze along the font. ‘There i a ne swam off fom Tyre with Buropa on his bac: Hadrian example inthe Louvre: the masks have closed mouths, evidently Fig 2 and colour representing ‘all: mime’ rather than traditional tragedy or comedy, and the frieze plate « on te lid shows the Sethiass of Nereis, Trgons, and sea monsters. At this comparatively carly stage of sarcophagus desig, the main decoration often _ consisted of lavish fruitanddlower garlands held up by Cupid, with ether ‘masks or narative scenes inthe lunetes above them, Here, however, the _ gatlands are held by nymphs, no doubs the companions of Diana, whois seen bathing in the right hand lunette; two Cupids attend het, and at the top tight we see che hunter Acteon, spying on her from a tee; the lehand lunete shows __ the voyeus punished, om to pieces by his own dogs. We [wind] al kept calm ad just lowed along as spectators. There were Cupids yng slongse ust above these, so that every now and then their toes touched ‘band, whl the Tetons andthe other sea creatures that aren't terrifying to look at all danced round the gi. Poseidon, siding ina chariot with Amphicite as his consort beside him, led the way sejocing for his svimming brother, and finally Ikinds of lowers over the brie,8 10, Under the Emperors psn vc. 22+ Roman sseophagus showing Dina and Acacon,c aD 130 Pais Louvre nw. MA 439, We know the Actaeon story was performed by ‘dancers in the theatre’ as far backs the eatly frst century ac (Ch. 6.5 above), and an author writing about the time this sarcophagus was made tells us there was a special mask for actor playing Actaeon, featuring antlers to indicate his metamorphosis, It may be that the sarcophagus scene alluded not just to a myth but to the performance of a myth, Note the figure of Priapus in the lefhand lunete, leaning back to achiewe a ‘vertical erection; he was a familiar character in the erotic stage-world of Roman ‘mime. To get an idea of what this scene was about, we should perhaps remember Rhinthon and his ‘tragic fooleies’ four centuries before (Ch. 3.2 above). “The sculptors soon abandoned the ‘garland and lunettes’ design, and began to fill the whole front face of the sarcophagus with multiple scenes in very high relief, creating an extraordinary profusion of overlapping images to ilustrate their stories. Again, one fine example must suiffice—a sarcophagus in the Basel Fg. 23 and colour Museum of Ancient Art, probably from the last decade of the second century. pte ¢ The lid shows the story of Jason and the Golden Fleece, and on the sarcophagas itself we see a later episode in Jason's life, the death of his bride Creusa in the poisoned wedding:dress sent her by Medea Here the masks are not boundary markers on the lid but integral to the main scene, on the footstool beneath Creusa’s knee. What is being illustrated is not a ‘woman dying in agony but the stage performance of a woman dying in agony, complete with audience. (‘The introduction ofa large number of grief-sricken ruove 1, Sayematk weracotta aeftes fom Rome, 500 #: ( 2nd () reproduce by permission ofthe Muster per Bene le Ait CultralSoprintndensa Speciale pers ent Archeoogi & Roms (), tn (reproduced by pemision ofthe Sovrtendentee Diretore det Muse Capitals, Rome: ® rom the site of the Basica Ia, perhaps from the temple of Casor Ansiquriam forense 1916, Cristofanl 1990.6 (3.41. (& From nese $8. Luca © Marin, probably fom a temple on the arts summa of the Capt Aquarium comune 16330, Cristal 1990.69 (361). (@ Sram near the ‘Hous of Liv atthe west comer ofthe Palatine: Aniquasum platino 12008, Cif (2) Prom the Vin Serpent, near tb ancient Sabur:Aniquarum communal 334, Ann 54. 17 no. 384 (0 Prom the Esquiine, ear S Antonio: Ansguasium comunale 3374, Con! 190.54 (10.1.4.ure 2. cop) Aart (= 100 vesterces). Obverte: head of Caesar with lure wreath; legen! Inp. Caesar Di ft. VL ere: C-ear wearing tng, seated on cure char, hong srl and with box of sls ths feet yen gee ap. Rerntw Commander Caest, son of Divus il cone or thesia de (28s) hat seston laws ad justice tothe lon Pecole’ © The Trustees ofthe Brtish Museum, al rights reserved Brom) Roman sarcophagus showing the Sethi of Nereis, Tits, and Cup, late second centry 4, bu into the fe of: Palzzo Gianni in Rome. Archivo fotografco, Senato dla Republica © 20 ave a. (Gop) Aplan ph «350 Bch Museum F233. Fr the Racha scene onthe lei ee Taplin 2009 and 3007 256-8; forthe say and dancing gl onthe ight sce Wiseman 008 107-& © The Trustees of the Bish Muscum, ll rghs reserved, (bottom) Pasta kalyskrater, 330 9 (Lp, nv, no, 927): Reproduced by permision af Regione Sica, Dparimenta peri Beni Clsaral, Museo Archelopco Reglonle Lash Bermabo Brea, Lips (ME, HayLATE 4. (op) Roman sarcophagus showing Diana and Acaen,c a0 10. Pais, Louvre Inv. MA 49. (bowoe) Roman sarcophagus showing Medea and the death of Crews, ¢ a. 192-200, Anikenmscum Bas Sammlung Ladwig/Andveas F. orgs 10.5 Integrating Evidence 179 ric. 23. Roman sarcophagus showing Medes and the death of Crews, ¢ 40. 190-200, Antikenmuseum Basel und Senmlung Ludwig/ Andras F. Voegeli spectators... appears tobe aimed at mobilizing sympathy and emotions'—just 45 jn the thea.) The masks decorating the foostoal have open mouths, siping traditional tragedy, andthe conspicuous bearded figure jut behind Creusa—not a named character in the myth—is evidently anther iconographic allusion, indicating the messenger’ speech that reports her dreadful death in Burpides’ Medea It coulda be shown on stage in Athens in the fit centr 2, but in Rome inthe second century ap it was probably danced tis ony by trying o integrate these disparate bis of evidence that we can hope to get some idea of how the Roman theatre audience engaged with iteratue, ‘whether dasc or comemporary. The uncertainties involved are nicely dustated byalterary text, precisely contemporary with the Basel sarcophagus, which might ‘luminate the question for us if only we could be sure what it means. comes inthe passage of Teraullian's De specaculs where good Christians are ‘warmed o shun the indecency ofthe theatre games, les they be defled by what they see and hear. This is what the author seems to sy lfwe despise the teaching of secular Inersture, defined in God's eyes asthe teaching of| fooldhness, then we are als sufcienty insracted about those ype of spectacle which ‘mark off) from seclarteraure the stage ofthe games or fatlesc contests Tertullian De “Mark of" is dspungere a favourite word of Tertullian’ ts literal sense was to MAE 7S check’, as in ticking items on a list, and from there it came to mean ‘to distinguish’. “The stage of the games or of athletic contests’ is my overliteral, translation of lusoriam uel agonistcam scaenam, where the second term is straight forward, since Ternllian uses agones to refer to athletics in the Greek style, but180 10, Under the Emperars the fist is ambiguous, since ludi, the moun implied by his adjective, could either lai cieenses or lai seaenici, games in the Citcus or games in the the ‘with ‘stage oaenam) apparently favouring the late, "The only way I can make sense of the passage is by assuming that scaenam used very loosely of any kind of performance, including ‘athletic’, and th ‘Tertullian was distinguishing both drama and dance (lsoriam) and boxing and wrestling (agostcam) from secular literature, which iself was a type of spew tacle, referred to later in the work as ‘stage teachings’ (scaenicae doctina) angument here scems to be «fotion: if even this apparently innocuows) type: theatre occasion is probibited, how much more so must all the others be! Tam not confident ofthis interpretation; but iit has any merit, then pe that poets and prose authors wrote for a popular audience, and that the lai seaenci provided them with the means to find i 10.6, Christians Indeceny’ was an easy taget for Christian preachers, Erotic entertainment ‘been a part of Roman culture as far back as our evidence allows us to ee (Ch. 34 above), most conspicuously at the games of Flora, in the ‘ancient custom of fi fiom which the austere Cato famously absented himself. They were sill oto tous inthe third and fourth centuries, ‘Again and again over that long period (the final stage of our chrona Journey) the games of Flora were brought up as evidence of pagan depravity, “Amobius,Lactansus, and Augustine were nothing ifnot good polemicist. Theis point was not just that shows with explicit sexual content were dgracefl, bu that since they were put on in honour ofthe gods, they revealed what sor of dees Flora, and ll the other gods honoured at the bal scenic, really were. “The beauty of that argument was that came fom the pagans themselves “The great Marcus Varo, unsvalled as an authonty on traditional religion, had complained centuries earier thatthe ‘mythic theology’ of the poets, a shovnin the theatre, produced stories unworthy ofthe true nature ofthe gods. On the contrary, said the Christian apologists, the true nature ofthe gods was exaatiy ‘what t did show. They were demons and the theatre was thei tal Varro tied to distinguish the gods of the poets from the gods worshipped in public cul, bu that was never a convincing argument. The theatre was @ pat of public cult, as Amobius pointed out in a bravura passage that provide a sais’ view of the Roman audience about ao 300: 106, Christians 1 ‘There they are atthe public shows! The members of all the presthoods and smaglsuaces, andthe chief ponte and crione, are siting there, The gundacint i thee laurel wreaths, and Jupiter's famines in their pointed cap, are stag there. The augurs, interpreters ofthe divine mind and wil, ae sting there, as are the chaste Virgins who norse and guard the undying fre. The entire People ane Senate ate sting there, including ex consul, supremely august and egal, the ext thing 0 gods, ‘What's on show would be sinful evento hear—the mather of he eace of Mars, ancestess ofthe sovereign People, Venus herself i being danced a a woman in love, portayed by indecent imitation as reveling in all dhe emotions of a vile aro ‘The Great Mothers danced too, with the sacred ribbons in her bai, Regardless ofthe diguty of er age, the gods of Pessinus and Dindyma is represented as ‘writhing with outrageous deste in the embrace ofa herdsman Then there's the famous son of Jupiter, Hercules in Sophocles’ Trachinae, ‘aught inthe tap of his death dealing shir. He's brought on stage screaming ppteousy, destoyed by the violence of is goay, consumed tothe lax putefacton by the dsolution of is isnegrating ental And so on, and so on. Like the virtuoso carving of the sarcophagi, this gleeful description gives us just a hint of what the dancers ofthe late-Roman stage were capable of, ‘A recurting feature of Christan atacks on the traditional la scaenici was the notion of their impact on the ‘eyes and ears’ of their audience. "Eyes" are saficiently accounted for by the kind of danced spectacle Amabius deserted ‘but what about ‘ears? All Christians were aware of the insidious attraction of ‘pagan literature, and for generation after generation they were warned to deal ‘with it as Odysseus’ men dealt with the song of the Sirens—by blocking their feats and not hearing it at all. That preacher's cliché wasn't just a metaphor, ‘meaning ‘don't read the pagan poets. It meant ‘don't listen to them, literally, [Everyone knew that poetry was received through the ears and since Terr lian, Amnobius, and Augustine, in their polemics against the theatre games, referred explicitly to the poet's song as well asthe actors’ performance, itis dear that they regarded literature as an integral part ofthe luli saenii Blocking your ears to it meant not going to the theatre. (Our final witness was the bishop of Hippo Regius in north Africa from 305 10 450, In his twelfth Easter sermon, on the resurrection of the body, Augustine attacked the teaching of ‘the philosophers that blessed souls in heaven, having had all traces of earthly corruption purged away, are then bom again in bodily form and live another life on earth. Not only Christians resisted this idea ‘Vit doesn ike the doctrine of souls retuming to bodes, On that view, he thinks, the souls cannot be Blessed. Even he, the philosopher spokesman, was horrified Arnis 435Augustine Sermons 2935 Fes 8a, 10, Under the Emperors by ihe, to whom it was shown, oF who at least presented a father inthe 1 ish ony a few of you di But a fer of you in books, and many of yO8 in theatres, know that Aeneas descended tothe underwodd, and his father showed him he souls of great Romans before they took bodily frm. Aeneas himself was fad, and sad ‘0 father, ae we to think there ae soul tat ga from hereto the world above, and ret ance more ‘go encumbering bodies” ‘Can we believe, he says, that they go to heaven aed come back again? "Poor wreches—why this dread Ionging for dayigh “The son's understanding was betwee tha the father’s explanaion, Secondary education in late imperial Rome was largely based on the study four classic authors, Terence, Cicero, Sallust, and Vigil, and of those i Virgil in particular who was branded on the memory’ of every educated person, “Those ip Augustine's congregation who knew the Aeneid from books were educated few; everyone else Knew it from the theatre. It was a fact that deplored, but it was a fat. In the preface and the first chapter (Ch. 1.4 above), we noted the prev ‘consensus that Roman literature was only for the ecucated few, ‘the preserve of the relatively small elite in which high culture flourished’. We proposed a different idea, that all nontechnical poetry and prose was composed in the ft instance for orl deivery to a large general aienc, an that the distor ‘son of waitten texts was a secondary stage of ‘publication’. The purpose ofthis book has been to justly that idea, where possible from contemporary evidence, line, I thinke we ean say the demonstration is complete. Notes ABBREVIATIONS = cil Corpus nsrptona Lanaru (ed. T- Momsen e a, Bedi, 2665~) Fragment der rechichen Hisar dF Jacoby, Berlin, 935-) The Fragments ofthe Roman Historians (ed. TJ, Comell al, Oxford, 201) Imsrgtones Graze ws Romae (ed L. Moret, Rome, 196-73) ‘sripiones Laine ere rt pubice (ed. A. Degrassi, Florence, 1957-6) 1S Insertions Latina sete (dH, Dessau, Betin.893-1936) = FOG Pete comtet Graz ed. R. Kassel and C. Austin, Bern, 1983+) Epigraph: Kenney 19823, of 4 and 10 for the following quotations. For the vit elavely sel li’ ace a Quins yas ((We lve sexes at we are talking bout a calural te, nt the whole population), 164 (The problem ‘which dogs Roman lierazue throughout ts history isthe lack ofan audience large and representative enough to make the wer fel he Fling a valid soil Function’. “Norhing ouside she te’ Derrida 1976.58: for eral discussion, see Pata and ‘Comal 200.172 John R. Seale, 1954, 237-8 (rederick Crews, 1986, 250-1 (Gian Vickers, 1993) EPIGRAPHIS ‘Swabo 128 (C20); Syme 1979 711; Heldel(¢.1935) quoted in Pearson 1987.¥ii xi 1. TIMES, BOOKS, AND PRECONCEPTIONS Lt The longue dard Literarure created for them: by ‘halEGreeks, semigrae (Suetonius De grammatic 2 1.2), lke Livius Andronicus and Quintus Ennius, see Feeney 2005.