Terence (185–159 b.c.e.) was Rome’s other great writer of
comedies, and all six of his plays are still complete, because
monks carefully copied and preserved them throughout the
Middle Ages. He came to Rome as a slave but was well edu-
cated by his owner and given his freedom. Although he was
less popular than Plautus, he was admired for his understand-
ing of human nature. Like Plautus, he borrowed from Greek
sources. For Roman playwrights, using Greek settings was a
matter of self-preservation. It was against the law, for example,
to show Roman slaves as smarter than their masters, and the
penalty for writing negatively about a living Roman citizen
could be death. But with Greek sources audiences could laugh
at smart slaves and other social commentary as representing
Greeks, who they thought were crazy anyway.
Not much is known about Roman tragedies. Like Roman
comedies they tended to be based on Greek plays, but they
were more formal than the comedies. Th ey featured actors in
lavish costumes with oft en-grotesque masks, and they em-
phasized action over dialogue. Th e actors were held to high
standards: Roman audiences oft en knew the plays by heart
and anticipated every gesture an actor was supposed to make.
Th ey enjoyed extravagant costumes, though an entire audi-
ence reportedly fl ed in horror when an actor on stilts, in a
long cloak, and wearing a mask of a howling face walked on
stage; he conveyed terror too well.
By the time of the emperor Augustus (r. 27 b.c.e.–14 c.e.)
few plays were being written, and even most of those were
intended only to be read or recited, not acted. In 173 b.c.e.In addition to theaters on the Italian peninsula, the Roman Empire encompassed numerous theaters elsewhere in the empire.
336 drama and theater: Rome