Fabula palliata
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Fabula palliata or Palliata (plural Fabulae palliatae or palliatae) are names assigned by the Romans to a genre of comedy (Comoedia palliata) that reworked in Latin the themes of Greek New Comedy. The genre began with the comedies of Livius Andronicus, who also initiated Roman literature and Roman drama.
The name comes from pallium, a small cape traditionally worn by the actors who performed in his plays, in imitation of the himation worn by Greek actors; that is, the Romans were identifying the genre as imitations of Greek comedy.
Definition and history of the concept
Knowledge of the genre comes from a 1st century BC literary critic named Volcacius Sedigitus, of whom nothing is known except his report in Aulus Gellius. Of the writers whose works have survived at all Sedigitus identifies as well Naevius, Plautus, Ennius, Caecilius and Terence as contributors to the genre. In addition were Licinius, Atilius, Turpilius, Trabea and Luscius Lanuvius.
Fabula palliata is an ancient form of Roman theater that is a great example of what Roman culture was really like back in ancient times. Romans, whether it be through drama, art or culture, copied the Greeks. Fabula palliata was no different. It was direct translations or even adaptations that the Romans took from the genre of Greek New Comedy. Palliata is derived from the Latin word pallium, which is the word for a Greek cloak and means to play in Greek dress. All of the remaining works of two comedic writers, Terence and Plautus wrote in the fabula palliata style.
The signature of this style of comedy is a stock character, the braggart soldier called Miles Gloriosus. A stock character helps represent the genre by showing up as a ‘type’ in all of the genre’s pieces. For example, in Elizabethan drama there is usually a fool that shows up in every piece. That is their stock character. The main plot of fabula palliata pieces was romance and showcased its place within contemporary lifestyle of the time.
Plautus was the first to twist the Greek translations of these comedies and make them a bit more Roman based. He began to use Roman mannerisms and cultural tints in the comedies along with Italian city and town names and Latin puns. He also started to turn iambic dialogue scenes into musical numbers, which was very different from the Greeks’ original pieces. Iambic pentameter is the use of words with certain syllables to be used for the power of their natural rhythm. Plautus took advantage of these scenes to turn them into a newly Roman way of performing. His plays were very humorous and lively. They brought very high spirits to those who watched. Terence on the other hand was a little different.
Terence’s plays were a little more true to their Greek origins. Although he was not as experimental with his writings, Terence created the style of combining two plays into one, which became known as contaminatio. His plays were logical. They were true to their translations, they were classic and the characters were very well laid out and clearly depicted in his works.
Although Plautus and Terence were creative and still known to this day, these Roman tragedies were soon lost in the second century after fabula togata, to play in Roman dress, took over the theaters. Unfortunately there is no remaining work from fabula togata today, however the style of translating Greek new comedy has survived from Terence and Plautus from their time to ours through European styles of drama and those of the Renaissance period.
See also
