FOOTNOTES[1]Cic.Tusc.i. 106-7.[2]Leo,Plautinische Forschungen, 106; Fraenkel,Plautinisches im Plautus, 157; Kahle,De Vocabulis Graecis Plauti aetate: and Hoffmann,inStoltz-Schmalz, p. 813, have made some interesting observations regarding the use of Greek words in Plautus but have failed to note the pertinent historical facts.[3]The greetingaveis a curious instance of borrowing from the Punic. The word was perhaps brought back by the soldiers from their camps in the Punic parts of Sicily. The Romans had besieged the Punic forts of Lilybaeum for eight years.[4]Plautus likes to address the soldiers of his audiences, cf.Capt.68;Cist.197;Cas.87; etc.[5]It is difficult to say when the great vowel-shift took place in Latin. It is clear that Greek words in Plautus likecalamus,colaphus, andhilarushad not come under the influence of the shift. Either they were very recent arrivals or had been used so little in Latin folk-speech (likebarbarus, a Greek term of abuse) that Plautus could spell them in the Greek fashion. Words likeoliva,Hercules,Massilia,Tarentumwere of course acclimated long before and took on the regular vowel changes of Latin. However it is probable that many Greek words that were adopted during the Pyrrhic and first Punic wars felt the full influence of the great shift. This shift seems to have begun after the twelve tables and the Duenos inscription and it was by no means over when Plautus wrote: cf. the inscriptional spellingmereto,soledas,Esquelino,Arimenese,popolom,saxolus, etc. It is difficult to see howAcragas(Agrigentum) could have got into frequent Latin usage before 262 B.C. It is highly probable that the vowel-shift in Latin, like the similar change in English, marks a politico-social shift, an emergence of a social group that pronounced certain vowels in a way not considered correct in aristocratic Rome. We may possibly associate it with the elevation of the plebeians after the Publilian and Hortensian laws of 339 and 287 B.C., which made the tribal assembly supreme in Roman legislation. The new tendencies in pronunciation would then be a strong factor in speech during the First Punic War. Furthermore, the fact that the dramatists could transform Δήμοφων to Demipho at one stroke shows how quickly a word would adapt itself to Latin custom. I feel sure that we have placed the arrival of most of the Greek words too early.[6]Catapultawas probably not very old in Latin since only the third syllable shows a change, and that a relatively late one. In words likesumbolawe doubtless have the Doric pronunciation ofu; in the short penult ofgynaeceum,balinea, andplatea, the cause need not lie wholly in a Latin tendency to shorten one vowel before another but in part perhaps to the similar tendency found in Greek and especially in Sicilian. In Latinlatro,barbarus,choragus, and the like we certainly have not standard Greek meanings but such as might have been heard in Sicily during the Punic war. Sturtevant’s interesting discussion “Concerning the Use of Greek in Vulgar Latin,”Trans. Am. Phil. Assoc.(1925), quite misses the heart of the question when it speaks of the “Romans consciously mocking the Greeks of the city.” There were very few Greeks there then, and they were not significant enough to invite mocking.[7]Fraenkel,Plautinisches im Plautus, chap. III; unfortunately he has failed to comprehend the nature of the Plautine public. Legrand’sDaosmakes the more serious mistake of treating the Greek and Roman New Comedy as a single phenomenon.[8]Sedgwick,Class. Quart.1927, 88.[9]Stich.448,licet haec Athenis nobis: Men.7-9. At the end of theBacchidesPlautus becomes very apologetic for the immoral last scene.[10]Selenium in theCistellariaand Adelphasium in thePoenulusare favorably portrayed so as not to disappoint the audience when they are later to be revealed as freeborn.[11]A. Gellius, II, 23, 6.[12]Leo,Plaut. Cantica: Fraenkel,op. cit., chap. X, who, however, draws upon Ennius more than the dates permit. The so-called epitaph of Plautus apparently credited him with special praise for his elaborate songs (numeri innumeri).[13]There were theaters at least in Syracuse, Tauromenium, Segesta (the seat of a Roman garrison throughout the period of the war), Agyrion, Tyndaris, Akrae, and Catania; see Bieber,Denkmäler d. Theaterwesen, 50.Choragusis a Doric form that might readily have come from Segesta.[14]Cf. Fraenkel on the “Versus quadratus,”Hermes, 1927, 357.[15]Ter.,Eunuch.20 andHecyra, 14.[16]Cf. C. M. Kurrelmeyer,Economy of Actors in Plautus. The well-known Horatian rule was a later reversion to a Greek rule. Choral singers were apparently imported from Greece in large numbers in the days of Accius; there was aSocietas cantorum Graecorumat Rome then: seeRaccolta in onore G. Lombroso, 287. In England the early companies that played the interludes seldom numbered over four, and yet they had at times to take care of sixteen or more rôles. Doubling was less drastic in Shakespeare’s theater but it sufficed to allow the dramatist the privilege of producing diversified effects by using many rôles for only one scene or act. InHamletalone there are some ten rôles of this type. Plautus and Terence do not hesitate to dismiss a character after the first scene or indeed to introduce one in the last.[17]Diomedes, inG. L. K., I, 489,quod oculis perversis erat. The late commentators seem to have had very little information on the subject.[18]On Roscius, see Von der MühllinPauly-Wiss.sub. voc., 1123. There is no evidence whatever for the traditional conjecture that Roscius and Aesopus were freedmen. The sister of Roscius married into a well-known family. Aesopus was probably a Greek who, like Archias, had been given citizenship in some municipality as an honor. His position at Rome was such that it is impossible to suppose that he had ever been a slave.[19]Cic.,De Rep.iv 10; Livy VII, 2, is full of anachronisms. Cf. Warnecke,Neue Jahrb.1914, 94. However, Warnecke fails to note how late the evidence is and how completely it disagrees with the known circumstances of the early Roman drama. Plautus,Cist.785, which promises a flogging to the incapable actor, is of course one of the jokes of the play. The ninth article of the recently discovered charter of Cyrene excuses from certain public service various people (including doctors and teachers of music) who are engaged in professions of public welfare. Since the actors’ guild at Rome was based upon Alexandrian models, it is not unlikely that certain Ptolemaic regulations were also taken over.
[1]Cic.Tusc.i. 106-7.
[1]Cic.Tusc.i. 106-7.
[2]Leo,Plautinische Forschungen, 106; Fraenkel,Plautinisches im Plautus, 157; Kahle,De Vocabulis Graecis Plauti aetate: and Hoffmann,inStoltz-Schmalz, p. 813, have made some interesting observations regarding the use of Greek words in Plautus but have failed to note the pertinent historical facts.
[2]Leo,Plautinische Forschungen, 106; Fraenkel,Plautinisches im Plautus, 157; Kahle,De Vocabulis Graecis Plauti aetate: and Hoffmann,inStoltz-Schmalz, p. 813, have made some interesting observations regarding the use of Greek words in Plautus but have failed to note the pertinent historical facts.
[3]The greetingaveis a curious instance of borrowing from the Punic. The word was perhaps brought back by the soldiers from their camps in the Punic parts of Sicily. The Romans had besieged the Punic forts of Lilybaeum for eight years.
[3]The greetingaveis a curious instance of borrowing from the Punic. The word was perhaps brought back by the soldiers from their camps in the Punic parts of Sicily. The Romans had besieged the Punic forts of Lilybaeum for eight years.
[4]Plautus likes to address the soldiers of his audiences, cf.Capt.68;Cist.197;Cas.87; etc.
[4]Plautus likes to address the soldiers of his audiences, cf.Capt.68;Cist.197;Cas.87; etc.
[5]It is difficult to say when the great vowel-shift took place in Latin. It is clear that Greek words in Plautus likecalamus,colaphus, andhilarushad not come under the influence of the shift. Either they were very recent arrivals or had been used so little in Latin folk-speech (likebarbarus, a Greek term of abuse) that Plautus could spell them in the Greek fashion. Words likeoliva,Hercules,Massilia,Tarentumwere of course acclimated long before and took on the regular vowel changes of Latin. However it is probable that many Greek words that were adopted during the Pyrrhic and first Punic wars felt the full influence of the great shift. This shift seems to have begun after the twelve tables and the Duenos inscription and it was by no means over when Plautus wrote: cf. the inscriptional spellingmereto,soledas,Esquelino,Arimenese,popolom,saxolus, etc. It is difficult to see howAcragas(Agrigentum) could have got into frequent Latin usage before 262 B.C. It is highly probable that the vowel-shift in Latin, like the similar change in English, marks a politico-social shift, an emergence of a social group that pronounced certain vowels in a way not considered correct in aristocratic Rome. We may possibly associate it with the elevation of the plebeians after the Publilian and Hortensian laws of 339 and 287 B.C., which made the tribal assembly supreme in Roman legislation. The new tendencies in pronunciation would then be a strong factor in speech during the First Punic War. Furthermore, the fact that the dramatists could transform Δήμοφων to Demipho at one stroke shows how quickly a word would adapt itself to Latin custom. I feel sure that we have placed the arrival of most of the Greek words too early.
[5]It is difficult to say when the great vowel-shift took place in Latin. It is clear that Greek words in Plautus likecalamus,colaphus, andhilarushad not come under the influence of the shift. Either they were very recent arrivals or had been used so little in Latin folk-speech (likebarbarus, a Greek term of abuse) that Plautus could spell them in the Greek fashion. Words likeoliva,Hercules,Massilia,Tarentumwere of course acclimated long before and took on the regular vowel changes of Latin. However it is probable that many Greek words that were adopted during the Pyrrhic and first Punic wars felt the full influence of the great shift. This shift seems to have begun after the twelve tables and the Duenos inscription and it was by no means over when Plautus wrote: cf. the inscriptional spellingmereto,soledas,Esquelino,Arimenese,popolom,saxolus, etc. It is difficult to see howAcragas(Agrigentum) could have got into frequent Latin usage before 262 B.C. It is highly probable that the vowel-shift in Latin, like the similar change in English, marks a politico-social shift, an emergence of a social group that pronounced certain vowels in a way not considered correct in aristocratic Rome. We may possibly associate it with the elevation of the plebeians after the Publilian and Hortensian laws of 339 and 287 B.C., which made the tribal assembly supreme in Roman legislation. The new tendencies in pronunciation would then be a strong factor in speech during the First Punic War. Furthermore, the fact that the dramatists could transform Δήμοφων to Demipho at one stroke shows how quickly a word would adapt itself to Latin custom. I feel sure that we have placed the arrival of most of the Greek words too early.
[6]Catapultawas probably not very old in Latin since only the third syllable shows a change, and that a relatively late one. In words likesumbolawe doubtless have the Doric pronunciation ofu; in the short penult ofgynaeceum,balinea, andplatea, the cause need not lie wholly in a Latin tendency to shorten one vowel before another but in part perhaps to the similar tendency found in Greek and especially in Sicilian. In Latinlatro,barbarus,choragus, and the like we certainly have not standard Greek meanings but such as might have been heard in Sicily during the Punic war. Sturtevant’s interesting discussion “Concerning the Use of Greek in Vulgar Latin,”Trans. Am. Phil. Assoc.(1925), quite misses the heart of the question when it speaks of the “Romans consciously mocking the Greeks of the city.” There were very few Greeks there then, and they were not significant enough to invite mocking.
[6]Catapultawas probably not very old in Latin since only the third syllable shows a change, and that a relatively late one. In words likesumbolawe doubtless have the Doric pronunciation ofu; in the short penult ofgynaeceum,balinea, andplatea, the cause need not lie wholly in a Latin tendency to shorten one vowel before another but in part perhaps to the similar tendency found in Greek and especially in Sicilian. In Latinlatro,barbarus,choragus, and the like we certainly have not standard Greek meanings but such as might have been heard in Sicily during the Punic war. Sturtevant’s interesting discussion “Concerning the Use of Greek in Vulgar Latin,”Trans. Am. Phil. Assoc.(1925), quite misses the heart of the question when it speaks of the “Romans consciously mocking the Greeks of the city.” There were very few Greeks there then, and they were not significant enough to invite mocking.
[7]Fraenkel,Plautinisches im Plautus, chap. III; unfortunately he has failed to comprehend the nature of the Plautine public. Legrand’sDaosmakes the more serious mistake of treating the Greek and Roman New Comedy as a single phenomenon.
[7]Fraenkel,Plautinisches im Plautus, chap. III; unfortunately he has failed to comprehend the nature of the Plautine public. Legrand’sDaosmakes the more serious mistake of treating the Greek and Roman New Comedy as a single phenomenon.
[8]Sedgwick,Class. Quart.1927, 88.
[8]Sedgwick,Class. Quart.1927, 88.
[9]Stich.448,licet haec Athenis nobis: Men.7-9. At the end of theBacchidesPlautus becomes very apologetic for the immoral last scene.
[9]Stich.448,licet haec Athenis nobis: Men.7-9. At the end of theBacchidesPlautus becomes very apologetic for the immoral last scene.
[10]Selenium in theCistellariaand Adelphasium in thePoenulusare favorably portrayed so as not to disappoint the audience when they are later to be revealed as freeborn.
[10]Selenium in theCistellariaand Adelphasium in thePoenulusare favorably portrayed so as not to disappoint the audience when they are later to be revealed as freeborn.
[11]A. Gellius, II, 23, 6.
[11]A. Gellius, II, 23, 6.
[12]Leo,Plaut. Cantica: Fraenkel,op. cit., chap. X, who, however, draws upon Ennius more than the dates permit. The so-called epitaph of Plautus apparently credited him with special praise for his elaborate songs (numeri innumeri).
[12]Leo,Plaut. Cantica: Fraenkel,op. cit., chap. X, who, however, draws upon Ennius more than the dates permit. The so-called epitaph of Plautus apparently credited him with special praise for his elaborate songs (numeri innumeri).
[13]There were theaters at least in Syracuse, Tauromenium, Segesta (the seat of a Roman garrison throughout the period of the war), Agyrion, Tyndaris, Akrae, and Catania; see Bieber,Denkmäler d. Theaterwesen, 50.Choragusis a Doric form that might readily have come from Segesta.
[13]There were theaters at least in Syracuse, Tauromenium, Segesta (the seat of a Roman garrison throughout the period of the war), Agyrion, Tyndaris, Akrae, and Catania; see Bieber,Denkmäler d. Theaterwesen, 50.Choragusis a Doric form that might readily have come from Segesta.
[14]Cf. Fraenkel on the “Versus quadratus,”Hermes, 1927, 357.
[14]Cf. Fraenkel on the “Versus quadratus,”Hermes, 1927, 357.
[15]Ter.,Eunuch.20 andHecyra, 14.
[15]Ter.,Eunuch.20 andHecyra, 14.
[16]Cf. C. M. Kurrelmeyer,Economy of Actors in Plautus. The well-known Horatian rule was a later reversion to a Greek rule. Choral singers were apparently imported from Greece in large numbers in the days of Accius; there was aSocietas cantorum Graecorumat Rome then: seeRaccolta in onore G. Lombroso, 287. In England the early companies that played the interludes seldom numbered over four, and yet they had at times to take care of sixteen or more rôles. Doubling was less drastic in Shakespeare’s theater but it sufficed to allow the dramatist the privilege of producing diversified effects by using many rôles for only one scene or act. InHamletalone there are some ten rôles of this type. Plautus and Terence do not hesitate to dismiss a character after the first scene or indeed to introduce one in the last.
[16]Cf. C. M. Kurrelmeyer,Economy of Actors in Plautus. The well-known Horatian rule was a later reversion to a Greek rule. Choral singers were apparently imported from Greece in large numbers in the days of Accius; there was aSocietas cantorum Graecorumat Rome then: seeRaccolta in onore G. Lombroso, 287. In England the early companies that played the interludes seldom numbered over four, and yet they had at times to take care of sixteen or more rôles. Doubling was less drastic in Shakespeare’s theater but it sufficed to allow the dramatist the privilege of producing diversified effects by using many rôles for only one scene or act. InHamletalone there are some ten rôles of this type. Plautus and Terence do not hesitate to dismiss a character after the first scene or indeed to introduce one in the last.
[17]Diomedes, inG. L. K., I, 489,quod oculis perversis erat. The late commentators seem to have had very little information on the subject.
[17]Diomedes, inG. L. K., I, 489,quod oculis perversis erat. The late commentators seem to have had very little information on the subject.
[18]On Roscius, see Von der MühllinPauly-Wiss.sub. voc., 1123. There is no evidence whatever for the traditional conjecture that Roscius and Aesopus were freedmen. The sister of Roscius married into a well-known family. Aesopus was probably a Greek who, like Archias, had been given citizenship in some municipality as an honor. His position at Rome was such that it is impossible to suppose that he had ever been a slave.
[18]On Roscius, see Von der MühllinPauly-Wiss.sub. voc., 1123. There is no evidence whatever for the traditional conjecture that Roscius and Aesopus were freedmen. The sister of Roscius married into a well-known family. Aesopus was probably a Greek who, like Archias, had been given citizenship in some municipality as an honor. His position at Rome was such that it is impossible to suppose that he had ever been a slave.
[19]Cic.,De Rep.iv 10; Livy VII, 2, is full of anachronisms. Cf. Warnecke,Neue Jahrb.1914, 94. However, Warnecke fails to note how late the evidence is and how completely it disagrees with the known circumstances of the early Roman drama. Plautus,Cist.785, which promises a flogging to the incapable actor, is of course one of the jokes of the play. The ninth article of the recently discovered charter of Cyrene excuses from certain public service various people (including doctors and teachers of music) who are engaged in professions of public welfare. Since the actors’ guild at Rome was based upon Alexandrian models, it is not unlikely that certain Ptolemaic regulations were also taken over.
[19]Cic.,De Rep.iv 10; Livy VII, 2, is full of anachronisms. Cf. Warnecke,Neue Jahrb.1914, 94. However, Warnecke fails to note how late the evidence is and how completely it disagrees with the known circumstances of the early Roman drama. Plautus,Cist.785, which promises a flogging to the incapable actor, is of course one of the jokes of the play. The ninth article of the recently discovered charter of Cyrene excuses from certain public service various people (including doctors and teachers of music) who are engaged in professions of public welfare. Since the actors’ guild at Rome was based upon Alexandrian models, it is not unlikely that certain Ptolemaic regulations were also taken over.