Dictionary of Greek and Roman antiquities. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

COMOEDIA. COMOEDIA. 345
verses, which the speaker had to utter in a breath, 1 were Antiphanes and Alexis. (Bode, 1. c. p. 393,
and by which he was to appear to be choked; 3. &c.; Bernhardy, p. 1000, &c.)
Tile er'pofpri; 4. The erfppr!ilae; 5. The a'cr- The new comedy was a further development of
Or'poepi, answering to the o'rpocp4; 6. The a'r- the last mentioned kind. It answered as nearly
er1ppi1/ea, answering to the Esr'tswpla. The strophe as may be to the modern comedy of manners or
and antistrophe were sung by half choruses, and character. Dropping for the most part personal
were probably accompanied by dancing, being the allusions, caricature, ridicule, and parody, which,
only parts of the parabasis that were so accom- in a more general form than in the old comedy,
panlied. (Bode I. c. 273.) The rhema and epir- had maintained their ground in the middle comedy,
rhema were uttered by single choreutae. The para- the poets of the new comedy made it their business
basis, however, did not always contain all these to reproduce in a generalized form a picture of the
parts complete. The origin of the parabasis is not every-day life of those by whom they were surquite clear. Possibly in the earlier stages of rounded. Hence the grammarian Aristophanes
comedy, the poet went with the comus procession, asked: X Me'a6pe Ka1 $31e, 7r4'-epos 6p' Uiot
and in the course of its performance addressed a 7rr-TEpov &mrest/uawero (Meineke, praief: Men. p.
speech in his own person to the spectators. (Etym. 33). The new comedy might be described in the
MIagn. p. 528; Pollux, iv. 111; Schol. ad Arist. words of Cicero (dee Re,. iv. 11), as " imitationenl
Naub. 518, 1113, Pac. 733; Hypothes. ad Arist. vitae, specuTum consuetudinis, imaginem veritatis."
Nub.; Hermann, Elens. Doct. elitet. iii. 21, p. 720, The frequent introduction of sententious maxims
&c.; Kanngiesser, Alte Komn. Biine, p. 356, &c.; was a point of resemblance with the later tragic
Kolster, de Pearabasi.) The parabasis was not poets. There were various standing characters
iiiversally introduced: three plays of Aristophanes, which found a place in most plays, such as we
the Ecclesiazusdie, Lysistrata, and Plutus have find in the plays of Plautus and Terence, the leao
none. perjurus, aseator feIvidus, seirwlus callidus, amnica
As the old Attic comedy was the offspring of the illudens, sodclis opitulator, niles paoeliator, plarapolitical and social vigour and freedom of the age situs edao, puareeles tenaces, 7meretrices procaces.
during which it flourished, it naturally declined (Appul. /lor. 16; Ovid, Amuor. i. 15, 17.) In the
and ceased with the decline and overthrow of the new comedy there was no chorus, and the dramas
fieedom and vigour which were necessary for its were commonly introduced by prologues, spokeli
development. It was replaced by a comedy of by allegorical personages, such as'ENsyXos, 4,dbos,
a somewhat different style, which was known as'AMp. The new comedy flourished from about
the Middle comedy, the age of which lasted B. c. 340 to B. c. 260. The poets of the new comedy
from the end of the Peloponnesian war to the amounted to 64 in number. The most distinguished
overthrow of liberty by Philip of Macedon. (01. 94 was Mlenander. Next to him in merit came Phile-110.) During this period, the Athenian state mon, Diphilus, Philippides, Posidippus, and Apolhad the form, but none of the spirit of its earlier lodorus of Carystus. (Bernhardy, p. 1008, &c.;
democratical constitution, and the energy and pub- Meineke, i. c. p. 435, &c.)
lie spirit of earlier years had departed. The Respecting the masks used in comedy the reader
comedy of this period accordingly found its mate- is referred to the article PERSONA. The ordinary
rials in satirizing classes of people instead of indi- costume was the o/&utsIS, which for old men was
viiduals, in criticising the systems and merits of unfulled. Peasants carried a knapsack, a cudgel,
philosophers and literary men, and in parodies of and a skin of some kind (if(pOepa). Young nen
the compositions of living and earlier poets, and had a purple tunic; parasites a black or grey one,
travesties of mythological subjects. It formed a with a comb and a box of ointment. Courtezans
transition from the old to the new comedy, and had a coloured tunic, and a variegated cloak over
approximated to the latter in the greater attention it, with a wand in their hand. Slaves wore a
to the construction of plots which seem frequently small variegated cloak over their tunic; cooks an
to have been founded on amorous intrigues (Bode, unfulled double mantle; old women a yellow or
p. 396), and in the absence of that wild grotesque- blue dress; priestesses and maidens a white one;
hess which marked the old comedy. As regards heiresses a white dress with a fringe; bawds and
its external form, the plays of the middle comedy, the mothers of hetaerac had a purple band round
generally speaking, had neitherparabasis nor chorus. the head; panderers a dyed tunic, with a varie(Platonius, de Differ. Coun. ap. Meineke, p. 532.) gated cloak and a straight staff, called apeoricos.
The absence of the chorus was occasioned, partly (Pollux, iv. 118, &c., vii. 47; Etymnol. Magn. p.
by the change in the spirit of comedy itself, partly 349. 43; A. Gell. vii. 12.) The authorities,
by the increasing difficulty of finding persons capable however, on these points are not very full, and not
of undertaking the duties of choregus. As the quite accordant.
change in comedy itself was gradual, so it is most 2. ROMnAN. -- The accounts of the early stages
likely that the alterations in formc were brought of comic poetry among the Romanls are scanty, and
about by degrees. At first showing the want of leave many points unexplained, but they are proproper musical and orchestic training, the chorus bably trustworthy as far as they go. Little is
was at last dropped altogether. Some of the frag- known on the subject but what Li'vy tells us (vii.
meaits of pieces of the middle comedy which have 4). According to his account in the year B. c. 363,
reached us are of a lyrical kind, indicating the on the occasion of a severe pestilence, among other
presence of a chorus. The poets of this school of ceremonies for averting the anger of the deities
comedy seem to have been extraordinarily prolific. scenic entertainments were introduced from Etruria,
Athenneus (viii. p. 336, d.) says, that he had read where it would seem they were a familiar amuseabove 800 dramas of the middle comedy. Only a ment. Tuscan players (ludio.zes), who were fetched
few fragments are now extant. Meilneke (Hist. from Etruria, exhibited a sort of pantomimic dance
Crit. Coin. Gr. p. 303) gives a list of thirty-nine to the music of a flute, without any song accompoets of the middle comsedy. The most celebrated paniying their dance, and without rcgttlar dramatic