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Quotes from Seneca:
All art is an imitation of
nature.
Be silent as to services
you have rendered, but
speak of favours you
have received.
Difficulties strengthen the
mind, as labour does the
body.

The inclination towards
reading and recitation, rather
than dramatic theatre, after
the age of Plautus and
Terence, did inspire Latin
poets of great mastery.
The period from
approximately 130BC to
130AD embodies the works
of Catallus, Lucretius, Virgil,
Horace, Tibullus, Sulpicia,
Properties, Ovid, Manilus,
The Colosseum: Tuscan column detail.
Persius, Seneca, Lucan, Statius, Juvenal,
street. The doors of the back wall were (politician, writer and lawyer) who Martial and even the emperor Hadrian.
doors of neighbouring houses in defended Roscius in a lawsuit, thought The enduring legacy of these writers is
comedy, and doors of places in tragedy. that drama was better read than not in question. However, Seneca aside,
The exit to the actor's left was to the performed. their impact upon the theatre is less clear.
Forum, while the exit to the right led to The demise of dramatic theatre was
the harbour. somewhat paradoxical, given the
The periactoi, as used in the Greek transition of Rome from Republic to
theatre, was employed to change the Empire (c.31BC) and the wealth and
background. power that flowed to Rome as a
The meaning of the altar, so consequence. The great stone theatres
prominent in Greek theatre, shifted constructed during the first century BC,
slightly from a place of worship to a once home to the finest drama, now
place where a comic character might offered battle scenes, recitations and
seek refuge in order to avoid a beating. humble mimes and pantomimes. It was
a return to Rome’s modest beginnings,
The decline of Roman theatre
where mime and pantomime had
The decline is linked to the broader
prevailed and both became the only
complexities of Rome's own demise.
Seneca the Younger (c.4BC- theatrical forms to carry into the
The decline of comedy was slower,
65AD) wrote nine tragedies based upon Christian era.
though no less complete than that of
plays of the Greek masters Aeschylus, Theatrical performances once
tragedy. Even a new dramatic form, the
Sophocles and Euripides. However, revered by the Greeks and viewed as
Fabula Togata, which focused upon the
Seneca intended these for reading and important to the Roman Republic,
lives of the middle classes, could not
recitation, equally popular pursuits. became under the Roman Empire little
sustain itself. Finally, the resilient
Seneca probably did not see himself more than crude popular entertainment.
Fabula Atellana, which survived until
as a dramatist. However, by the time of Mime and pantomime were
the first century AD, faded out. The
the Renaissance, he was clearly a figure invigorated by a growing emphasis on
appeal of the Atellana was its knock-
of dramatic inspiration to those who licentiousness. The Christian Church
about, purely Roman humour, in which
interpreted the morality of his writings became outraged by such depravity.
two clowns Maccus and Bucco, get
as models of classical tragedy. The situation came to a head when
involved with the foolish old man
Seneca once served as a tutor to mime performers directed their taunts
Pappus and a hunchbacked slave. The
Nero and was repulsed by Nero's at the Church, which retaliated by
Atellana provided immediate,
crimes. He later committed suicide excommunicating them.
ephemeral amusement.
after being accused of plotting against In the sixth century AD. the
Few Roman actors were able to
Nero. His finest works include Life’s emperor Justinian closed the theatres
withstand the demise of the dramatic
End, Beauty is Fleeting, The Mind a altogether. The last known theatrical
form inherited from Greece. One
Kingdom Is and Orpheus’ Song. performance in Rome occurred in
exception was the widely respected
534AD.
Roscius. However, even Cicero
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