Varro, Livy and Tertullian On the History of Roman Dramatic Art

Abstract

At first sight the readers of this review may be surprised to find an article here which primarily deals with one of the most-discussed subjects of the history of early Roman literature. Still the author hopes that they will accept it as one more proof of the profit to be drawn from the interpretation of Christian authors for the investigation of problems of classic literature. In the discussion concerning the authority followed by Livy in his famous account of the evolution of Roman drama, and on the reality of the data mentioned in that account, 1 two passages from Tertullian's De spectaculis are frequently quoted; however, no attempt has yet been made2 for a more thorough investigation of the entire digression on the origing of the ludi which comprehends eight chapters (5-12) of this monograph. Hence it will be our aim, firstly, to examine the contents of this digression and to try to indicate its source, secondly, to apply the results attained at to the discussion of the sources of Livij 7,2 and of similar passages from Vergil (Georg. 2, 380) and Valerius Maximus (2, 4, 4). The 'antiquarian' contents of Tertullian's account may be summed up in the following way (I omit all 'purely Christian' digressions which without exception are due to Tertullian's wish to prove that the ludi are nothing but a form of idolatry).