Statius Caecilius, also known as Caecilius Statius (; c. 220 BC – c. 166 BC), was a Roman comic poet.

Life and work

A contemporary and intimate friend of

Ennius Quintus Ennius (; c. 239 – c. 169 BC) was a writer and poet who lived during the Roman Republic. He is often considered the father of Roman poetry. He was born in the small town of Rudiae, located near modern Lecce, Apulia, (Ancient Calabria ...

, according to tradition he was born in the territory of the Insubrian

Gaul Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...

s, probably in

Mediolanum Mediolanum, the ancient city where Milan now stands, was originally an Insubrian city, but afterwards became an important Roman city in northern Italy. The city was settled by the Insubres around 600 BC, conquered by the Romans in 222 BC, and ...

, and was probably taken as a prisoner to Rome (c. 200), during the Roman-Gallic wars. Originally a slave, he assumed the name of Caecilius from his patron, probably one of the

Metelli The gens Caecilia was a plebeian family at ancient Rome. Members of this gens are mentioned in history as early as the fifth century BC, but the first of the Caecilii who obtained the consulship was Lucius Caecilius Metellus Denter, in 284 BC.'' ...

. However, according to one source he was free-born of Samnite stock whose family had settled in Cisalpine Gaul following the Second Punic War. In this case he would have been a native speaker of a language close to Latin, rather than

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switze ...

Insubrian. There he came to the attention of Marcus Caecilius Denter, the Legatus Legionibus Praepositus in Cisalpine Gaul in 200 BC who introduced him in Rome. He supported himself by adapting Greek plays for the Roman stage from the

New Comedy Ancient Greek comedy was one of the final three principal dramatic forms in the theatre of classical Greece (the others being tragedy and the satyr play). Athenian comedy is conventionally divided into three periods: Old Comedy, Middle Comedy, an ...

writers, especially Menander, a genre called Comoedia Palliata. If the statement in the life of

Terence Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a Roman African playwright during the Roman Republic. His comedies were performed for the first time around 166–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought ...

by Suetonius is correct and the reading sound, Caecilius's judgment was so esteemed that he was ordered to hear Terence's ''Andria'' (exhibited 166 BC) read and to pronounce an opinion upon it. After several failures, Caecilius gained a high reputation. Volcatius Sedigitus, the dramatic critic, places him first amongst the comic poets;

Varro Marcus Terentius Varro (; 116–27 BC) was a Roman polymath and a prolific author. He is regarded as ancient Rome's greatest scholar, and was described by Petrarch as "the third great light of Rome" (after Vergil and Cicero). He is sometimes calle ...

credits him with pathos and skill in the construction of his plots; Horace (''Epistles'', ii. I. 59) contrasts his dignity with the art of Terence. Quintilian (''Inst. Orat.'', x. I. 99) speaks somewhat disparagingly of him, and

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, and academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises that led to the esta ...

, although he admits with some hesitation that Caecilius may have been the chief of the comic poets (''De Optimo Genere Oratorum'', I), considers him inferior to Terence in style and Latinity (''Ad Atticum'' vii. 3), as was only natural, considering his foreign extraction. The fact that his plays could be referred to by name alone without any indication of the author (Cicero, ''De Finibus'', ii. 7) is sufficient proof of their widespread popularity. Caecilius holds a place between

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus (; c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the ...

and Terence in his treatment of the Greek originals; he did not, like Plautus, confound things Greek and Roman, nor, like Terence, eliminate everything that could not be romanized. The fragments of his plays are chiefly preserved in Aulus Gellius, who cites several passages from ''Plocium'' (''The Necklace'') together with the original Greek of Menander, affording the only opportunity, apart from Plautus' '' Bacchides'', to make a substantial comparison between a Roman comedy and its Greek model. Caecilius' version, diffuse and by no means close as a translation, does not reproduce the spirit of the original. His comedies "apparently included serious thoughts on moral and social issues, mostly related to the immediate family, the corresponding relationships, and the impact of one’s personal affairs on one’s position in society."

Surviving titles and fragments

Forty-two titles are known, about half based on Menander, and half on other Greek authors. Approximately 280 fragmentary verses survive. ''Plocium'' is the best preserved (45 verses). In addition to that, a large fragment of ''Obolostates'' was discovered not long ago among the ''papyri'' of Herculaneum; it is as yet unedited, but is estimated to contain fragments of 400-500 lines. Some preliminary information was published by the researcher, Knut Kleve, in 1996.D. Sider. The Books of the Villa of the Papyri. In: M. Zarmakoupi, ed., The Villa of the Papyri at Herculaneum, 2010, p. 126.

References

External links

Google Books copy
of

Otto Ribbeck Johann Carl Otto Ribbeck (23 July 1827, in Erfurt – 18 July 1898, in Leipzig) was a German classical scholar. His works are mostly confined to criticisms of Latin poetry and to classical character sketches. Biography He was born at Erfurt in S ...

's Latin edition of the fragments (''Scaenicae Romanorum Poesis Fragmenta'', 3rd ed., 1898, vol. 2, pp. 40ff.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Caecilius, Statius 220s BC births 160s BC deaths Old Latin-language writers 2nd-century BC writers 3rd-century BC Romans 2nd-century BC Romans Writers from Milan Republican era slaves and freedmen Ancient Roman comic dramatists Caecilii Year of birth unknown

Life and work

Surviving titles and fragments

See also

References

Further reading

External links