Chapter 2

DRAMA

i. THE STAGE. Drama never really flourishing at Rome, p. 23. Comedy, represented by Mime and Atellan farce, p. 24. Legitimate comedy nearly extinct, p. 25. Tragedy replaced by _salticae fabulae_, p. 26; or musical recitations, p. 28. Pomponius Secundus, p. 29. Curiatius Maternus, p. 30.

ii. SENECA: his life and character, p. 31. His position in literature, p. 35. His epigrams, p. 36. His plays, p. 39. Their genuineness, p. 40. The _Octavia, Oedipus, Agamemnon,_ and _Hercules Oetaeus,_ p. 41. Date of the plays, p. 43. Their dramatic value, p. 44. Plot, p. 45. Descriptions, p. 48. Declamation, p. 49; at its best in _Troades_ and _Phaedra_, p. 51. Dialogue, p. 55. Stoicism, p. 58. Poetry (confined mainly to lyrics), p. 63. Cleverness of the rhetoric, p. 65. _Sententiae_, p. 68. Hyperbole, p. 69. Diction and metre; iambics, p. 70; lyrics, p. 71. Plays not written for the stage, p. 72. Influence on later drama, p. 74.

iii. THE OCTAVIA. Sole example of _fabula praetexta_, p. 74.

Plot, p. 75. Characteristics, p. 76. Date and authorship, p. 77.