Roman Tragedy: Theatre to Theatricality

Theatricality of History

twined.3 This chapter considers the reciprocity of “realities” in the production of praetextae from a dramaturgical perspective: the dramatizing of history (the way dramatists reproduce or present reality onstage) and the staging of history (the effect on the audience of viewing reality onstage ). The production of praetextae contributed to the recognition and perpetuation of theatricality offstage, in particular under the late Republic and early Empire, that further removes the barrier between stage and audience. T H E AT R I C A L I T Y O F H I S T O RY The fabula praetexta, or historical drama in Roman dress, was so termed after the praetexta, the purple-bordered toga worn by magistrates and senators.4 The term “historical drama” is misleading, however , since praetextae also include legendary and quasi-historical plays, which to contemporary Romans represented history, whether family or state, rather than fiction. Praetextae celebrated the careers of aristocratic men of state and were privately commissioned for private and/or public performance on a number of possible occasions: triumphs, funerals, votive games, temple inaugurations, and public festivals.5 Praetextae were not bought by the aediles, as in the case of tragedies. These plays depended on the patronage of a very small number of statesmen who had poets in their circle of dependents. We cannot, therefore, attribute the small number of these plays to artistic failure. Nor can we gauge their popularity on the same scale as tragedy.6 In no modern sense were these historical plays “national” simply because their subjects also formed part of Rome’s “political” history. Roman history—in essence, the history of the city of Rome—was comp0sed of aristocratic family anecdotes about the military and political activities of their ancestors that were simultaneously events in Rome’s own history.7 Aristocratic family celebrations and national commemoration, therefore, overlapped. Naevius is credited with introducing literary praetextae at Rome, but his plays were most likely preceded by nonliterary forms of drama, including praetextae.8 Prior to Naevius, we know of six Greek historical plays: Phrynicus’ Sack of Miletus and Phoenissae; Aeschylus’ Persians; Moschion’s Themistocles and Phereus; and the anonymous Gyges/Candaules tragedy, whose date is insecure.9 La Penna divides praetextae into two groups: plays having to do with the early history and myth of Rome, and those having to do with contemporary aristocratic achievements.10 Of all these plays, only fragd r a m at i z i n g h i s t o ry 53 ments exist, with the exception of the Octavia, which survives whole. The mythological/historical plays include the Romulus sive Lupus of Naevius;11 the Sabinae of Ennius; the Aeneadae sive Decius of Accius, which enacted the self-sacrifice of Decius Mus at the Battle of Sentinum against the Samnites and Gauls in 295 b.c.e.; Accius’ Brutus, written for D. Junius Brutus Callaicus for an unknown occasion, celebrating the expulsion of the Tarquins from Rome in 509 b.c.e.; the Brutus of Cassius Parmensis, apparently on the same theme; and the Aeneas by Pomponius Secundus.12 These last two plays form a contrast to the contemporary and historical praetextae of Pseudo-Seneca’s Octavia and Curiatus Maternus’ Cato and Domitius, written much closer in time to their subjects than the Republican historical plays. Plays about contemporary aristocratic achievements include Naevius’ Clastidium, written to celebrate M. Claudius Marcellus’ winning of the spolia opima over Vidumarus earlier in 222 b.c.e.; Ennius’ Ambracia, written for M. Fulvius Nobilior in 187 b.c.e.; and the Paullus of Pacuvius , celebrating Aemilius Paullus’ victory over King Perseus of Macedon at Pydna in 168 b.c.e. The Paullus was possibly staged in 160 b.c.e. at the funeral games of Paullus, together with Terence’s Adelphoe and the second failed production of the Hecyra.13 The last known Republican praetexta was the Iter or Journey, which was written by L. Cornelius Balbus in 43 b.c.e., but this play was never produced in Rome. Ancient evidence concerning the definition of praetextae is complicated by the fact that few ancient sources actually witnessed the performance of such a play. The creation of the praetexta and native comedy, as Latin dramatic forms celebrating Roman deeds rather than Greek ones, was a source of literary pride for Horace (Ars P. 285–294), but he does not describe typical features of the plays or their production onstage: nil intemptatum nostri liquere poetae, nec...