by the Alexandrians, many of whom doubtless combined example
with precept; they also devoted themselves to commentaries on the old
masters, such as those in which Didymus (c. 30 B.C.) abundantly
excelled, and collected a vast amount of learning on dramatic
composition in general, which was doomed to perish, with so many other
treasures, in the flames kindled by religious fanaticism.

8. ROMAN DRAMA

In its most productive age, as well as in the times of its decline and
decay, the Roman drama exhibits the continued coexistence of native
forms by the side of those imported from Greece--either kind being
necessarily often subject to the influence of the other. Italy (with
Sicily) has ever been the native land of acting and of scenic
representation; and, though Roman dramatic literature at its height is
but a faint reflex of Greek examples, there is perhaps no branch of
Roman literary art more congenial than this to the soil whence it
sprang.

Origin of its native forms.

Saturae.

Istriones.

Mimi.

Atellanae.

Quick observation and apt improvisation have always been distinctive
features in the Italian character. Thus in the rural festivities of
Italy there developed from a very early period in lively intermixture
the elements of the dance, of jocular and abusive succession of song,
speech and dialogue, and of an assumption of character such as may be
witnessed in any ordinary dialogue carried on by southern Italians at
the present day. Not less indigenous was the invariable accompaniment of
the music of the flute (_tibia_). The occasions of these half
obligatory, half impromptu festivities were religious celebrations,
public or private--among the latter more especially weddings, which have
in all ages been provocative of demonstrative mirth. The so-called
_Fescennine_ verses (from Fescennium in southern Etruria, and very
possibly connected with _fascinum_ = _phallos_), which were afterwards
confined to weddings, and ultimately suggested an elaborate species of
artistic poetry, never merged into actual dramatic performances. In the
_saturae_, on the other hand--a name originally suggested by the
goatskins of the shepherds, but from primitive times connected with the
"fulness" of both performers and performance--there seems from the first
to have been a dramatic element; they were probably comic songs or
stories recited with gesticulation and the invariable flute
accompaniment. Introduced into the