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

COMOEDIA. COMPITALIA. 34 7
his rivals and enemies. It also communicated so The Oscan dialect was preserved, even when they
much information as was necessary to understand were introduced at Rome. (Strabo, v. p. 356, a.)
the story of the play. The prologue was com- Though at first improvisatory, after the regular
monly spoken by one of the players, or, perhaps, drama acquired a more artistic character, the
by the manager of the troop. Occasionally the Atellanae came to be written. Lucius Pomponius
speaker of it assumed a separate mask and costume, of Bononia and Q. Novius are mentioned as writers
for the occasion (Plaut. Poen. prol. 126; Terent. of them. Regular histriones were not allowed to
Prol. ii. 1). Sometimes the prologue is spoken perform in them. They were acted by free-born
by one of the dramatis personae (Plaut. Amippl;.; Romans, who were not subjected to any civil deNlil. Glor.; Jlerc.), or by some supernatural or gradation for appearing in them. In later times,
personified being, as the Lar familiaris in the Au- they degenerated, and became more like the mimes,
cduaria of Plautus, Arcturus in the Rudens, Auxi- and were acted by histriones; but by that time
lium in the Cistellaria, Luxusria and Inopia in the they had fallen into considerable neglect. (C. E.
Trinusnmus. (Baden, von dens Prologe im Rum. Schober, iber die Atellanen, Lips. 1825; W'eyer,
Lustsp. in Jahn's Arc/div. i. 3. p. 441, &c.; Bekker, iiber d. Atell. Mannheim 1826; Neukirch, de Fade cocr. Roman. Fablidis, p. 89, &c.; Wolff, de Pro- bzla togata, pp. 20, 51, &c.; Bibhr, Gesch. cle Rbne.
logis Plautinis.) The rest of the piece consisted Litteratur.) [C. P. M.]
(as Diomedes says, iii. p. 489) of diverbium and COMPENSA'TIO is defined by Modestimnus to
canticumz. This division, however, must not be be debiti et crediti inter se contribuctio. Compentaken too stringently, as it was not every mono- satio, as the etymology of the word shows (pend-o),
logue which was a canticumz. The composition of is the act of making things equivalent. A person
the music, which is spoken of in the didascaliae, who was sued, might answer his creditor's demand,
appears to have had reference to these cantica. who was also his debtor, by an offer of compen-.
Respecting the use of masks, see the article PER- satio (si paratus est compensare); which in effect
SONA. When they were first introduced, is a was an offer to pay the difference, if anly, which
disputed point (Wolff. de Ca~nticis, p. 22, &c.; should appear on taking the account. The object
Iilscher, de Personaru1n UsiZ in Ludis seen. ap. of the compensatio was to prevent unnecessary
Rom.; Stieve, de Rei scenicae ap. Roem. Origine.) suits and payments, by ascertaining to which party
The characters introduced were much the same a balance was due. Originally compensatio only
as in the new comedy, and their costume was not took place in bonae fidei judiciis, and ex eadens
very different. Donatus gives the following ac- causa; but by a rescript of M. Aurelius there could
count of it: c" comicis senibus candidus vestis in- be compensatio in stricti juris judiciis, and ex disducitur, quod is antiquissimus fuisse memoratur, pari causa. When a person made a demand in
adolescentibus discolor attribuitur. Servi comici right of another, as a tutor in right of his pupillus,
amictu exiguo conteguntur paupertatis antiquae the debtor could not have compensatio in respect
gratia, vel quo expeditiores agant. Parasiti cum of a debt due to him from the tutor on his own
intortis palliis veniunt. Laeto vestitus candidus. account. A fidejussor (surety) who was called
aerumnoso obsoletus, purpureus diviti, pauperi upon to pay his principal's debt, might have comphoeniceus datur. Militi chlamys purpurea, puel- pensatio, either in respect of a debt clue by the
lae habitus peregrinus inducitur, leno pallio varii claimant to himself or to his principal. It was a
coloris utitur, meretrici ob avaritiam luteum datur." rule of Roman law that there could be no compenA word remains to be said on the Atelczaae satio where the demand could be answered by an
falulae. These were not of Roman, but of Italian exceptio peremptoria; for the compensatio admitted
origin, and were not introduced among the Romans the demand, subject to the proper deduction,
till the latter came into contact with the Cam- whereas the object of the exceptio was to state
panians. These pieces took their name from the something in bar of the demand. Set-off in Engtown of Atella in Campania. From being always lish law, and compensation in Scotch law, correcomposed in the Oscan dialect, they were also spond to compensatio. (Dig. 16. tit. 2; Thibaut,
called ludi Osci, or ludicrumz OscZmnc. At first, and System, &c. ~ 606, 9th ed. contains the chief
amongst the Oscans, they appear to have been rules as to compensatio.) [G. L.]
rude, improvisatory farces, without dramatic con- COMPERENDINA'TIO. [JuDnx.]
nection, but full of raillery and satire. So far COMPETI'TOR. [AnllTvUS.]
they resembled the earlier scenic entertainments CO'MPITA. [CoMsPITa LIA.]
of the Itomans. But the Oscan farces had not COMPITA'LIA, also called LUDI COMPIthe dancing or gesticulation which formed a chief TALI'CII, a festival celebrated once a year in
part of tlih latter, and those who took part in honour of the lares compitales, to whom sacrifices
them personated characters representing various were offered at the places where two or more ways
classes of the country people, like the Maschere of met (cocmpila, Varro, De Ling. Lat. vi. 25, ed.
the modern Italians. These had regular names; Miiller; Festus, s. v.). This festival is said by
there was Maccus, a sort of clown or fool; Buic- some writers to have been instituted by Tarquinitus
cones, i. e. babblers; Pappus; Siczces or Sinzius, Priscus in consequence of the miracle attending the
the baboon. The Greek origin of some of these birth of Servius Tullius, who was supposed to be
names would seem to indicate that the Greek the son of a lar familiaris. (Plin. If. N. xxxvi.
settlers in Italy had some influence in the deve- 70.) Dionysius (iv. 14) ascribes its origin to
lopment of this species of amusement. The Atel- Servius Tullius, and describes the festival as it was
lanae fabulae were distinguished from the mimes celebrated in his time. He relates that the sacriby the absence of low buffoonery. They were fices consisted of honey-cakes (e'xavo,), which
marked by a refined humour. (Cic. ad Faom. ix. were presented by the inhabitants of each house,
16; Val. Max. ii.. 1.) They were commonly and that the persons, who assisted as ministering
divided into five acts. (Macrob. Saturnz. iii.) Re- servants at the festival, were not free-men, b,,t
specting the exodica, see the article ExsoDnus. slaves, because the larles took pleasure in the ser.