Gnaeus Naevius

Theater in Pompeii

Gnaeus Naevius (/ˈnviəs/; c. 270 – c. 201 BC) was a Roman epic poet and dramatist of the Old Latin period. He had a notable literary career at Rome until his satiric comments delivered in comedy angered the Metellus family, one of whom was consul. After a sojourn in prison he recanted and was set free by the tribunes (who had the tribunician power, in essence the power of habeas corpus). After a second offense he was exiled to Tunisia, where he wrote his own epitaph and committed suicide. His comedies were in the genre of Palliata Comoedia, an adaptation of Greek New Comedy. A soldier in the Punic Wars, he was highly patriotic, inventing a new genre called Praetextae Fabulae, an extension of tragedy to Roman national figures or incidents, named after the Toga praetexta worn by high officials. Of his writings there survive only fragments of several poems preserved in the citations of late ancient grammarians (Charisius, Aelius Donatus, Sextus Pompeius Festus, Aulus Gellius, Isidorus Hispalensis, Macrobius, Nonius Marcellus, Priscian, Marcus Terentius Varro).

Biography

Much of the information concerning the life of Naevius is coloured by uncertainty. Aulus Gellius describes the epitaph of Naevius as demonstrating "Campanian arrogance," based on which statement it has been suggested that Naevius was a native of Campania.[1] The phrase "Campanian arrogance" seems, however, to have been a proverbial or idiomatic phrase indicating boastfulness.[2] Further, the fact that there was a plebeian gens Naevia in Rome, makes it quite possible, even likely, that Naevius was a Roman citizen by birth. He served either in the Roman army or among the socii in the First Punic War, and thus must have reached manhood before 241.

His career as a dramatic author began with the exhibition of a drama in or about the year 235, and continued for thirty years. Towards the close he incurred the hostility of some of the nobility, especially, it is said, of the Metelli, by the attacks which he made upon them on the stage, and at their insistence he was imprisoned.[3] After writing two plays during his imprisonment, in which he is said to have apologized for his former rudeness,[4] he was liberated through the interference of the tribunes of the commons; but he had shortly afterwards to retire from Rome (in or about 204) to Utica. It may have been during his exile, when withdrawn from his active career as a dramatist, that he composed or completed his poem on the First Punic War. Probably his latest composition was his own epitaph, written in saturnian verse:

If these lines were dictated by a jealousy of the growing ascendancy of Ennius, the life of Naevius must have been prolonged considerably beyond 204, the year in which Ennius began his career as an author in Rome. Unlike Livius Andronicus, Naevius was a native Italian, not a Greek; he was also an original writer, not a mere adapter or translator. If it is due to Livius that the forms of Latin literature were, from the first, molded on those of Greek literature, it is due to Naevius that much of its spirit and substance was of native growth[citation needed].

Works

Like Livius, Naevius professed to adapt Greek tragedies and comedies to the Roman stage. Among the titles of his tragedies are Aegisthus, Lycurgus, Andromache or Hector Proficiscens, Equus Troianus, the last named being performed at the opening of Pompey's theatre (55 BC). The national cast of his genius and temper was shown by his deviating from his Greek originals, and producing at least two specimens of the fabula praetexta (national drama), one founded on the childhood of Romulus and Remus (Lupus or Alimonium Romuli et Remi), the other called Clastidium, which celebrated the victory of Marcus Claudius Marcellus over the Celts (222 BC).

But it was as a writer of comedy that he was most famous, most productive and most original. While he is never ranked as a writer of tragedy with Ennius, Pacuvius, or Accius, he is placed in the canon of the grammarian Volcatius Sedigitus third (immediately after Caecilius and Plautus) in the rank of Roman comic authors. He is there characterized as ardent and impetuous in character and style. He is also appealed to, with Plautus and Ennius, as a master of his art in one of the prologues of Terence. Naevius' comedy, like that of Plautus, seems to have been rather a free adaptation of his originals than a rude copy of them, as those of Livius probably were, or an artistic copy like those of Terence. The titles of most of them, like those of Plautus, and unlike those of Caecilius and Terence, are Latin, not Greek. He drew from the writers of the old political comedy of Athens, as well as from the new comedy of manners, and he attempted to make the stage at Rome, as it had been at Athens, an arena of political and personal warfare. A strong spirit of partisanship is recognized in more than one of the fragments; and this spirit is thoroughly popular and adverse to the senatorial ascendancy which became more and more confirmed with the progress of the second Punic war. Besides his attack on the Metelli and other members of the aristocracy, the great Scipio is the object of a censorious criticism on account of a youthful escapade attributed to him.[6] Among the few lines still remaining from his lost comedies, we seem to recognize the idiomatic force and rapidity of movement characteristic of the style of Plautus. There is also found that love of alliteration which is a marked feature in all the older Latin poets down even to Lucretius.

He was not only the oldest native dramatist, but the first author of an epic poem (Bellum Punicum) which, by combining the representation of actual contemporary history with a mythical background, may be said to have created the Roman type of epic poetry. The poem was one continuous work, but was divided into seven books by a grammarian of a later age. The earlier part of it treated of the mythical adventures of Aeneas in Sicily, Carthage, and Italy, and borrowed from the interview of Zeus and Thetis in the first book of the Iliad the idea of the interview of Jupiter and Venus; which Virgil has made one of the cardinal passages in the Aeneid. The later part treated of the events of the First Punic War in the style of a metrical chronicle. An important influence in Roman literature and belief, which had its origin in Sicily, first appeared in this poem: the recognition of the mythical connection of Aeneas and his Trojans with the foundation of Rome. The few remaining fragments produce the impression of vivid and rapid narrative, to which the flow of the native Saturnian verse, in contradistinction to the weighty and complex structure of the hexameter, was naturally adapted.

The impression we get of the man is that, whether or not he actually enjoyed the full rights of Roman citizenship, he was a vigorous representative of the bold combative spirit of the ancient Roman commons. He was one of those who made the Latin language into a great organ of literature. The phrases still quoted from him have nothing of an antiquated sound, though they have a genuinely idiomatic ring. As a dramatist he worked more in the spirit of Plautus than of Ennius, Pacuvius, Accius, or Terence; but the great Umbrian humorist is separated from his older contemporary, not only by his breadth of comic power, but by his general attitude of moral and political indifference. The power of Naevius was the more genuine Italian gift, the power of satiric criticism which was employed in making men ridiculous; not, like that of Plautus, in extracting amusement from the humours, follies and eccentricities of life. Although our means of forming a fair estimate of Naevius are scanty, all that we do know of him leads to the conclusion that he was far from being the least among the makers of Roman literature, and that with the loss of his writings there was lost a vein of national feeling and genius which rarely reappears.

Surviving titles and fragments

  • Acontizomenos (a comedy)
  • Aegisthus ("Aegisthus," a tragedy)
  • Aesiona (a tragedy)
  • Agitatoria (a comedy)
  • Agrypnuntes ("Sleepless People," a comedy)
  • Appella (a comedy)
  • Astiologa (a comedy)
  • Clastidium ("The Fortress," a fabula praetexta)
  • Colax ("The Flatterer," a comedy)
  • Corollaria ("The Garlands," a comedy)
  • Danae ("Danae," a tragedy)
  • Dementes ("Crazy People," a comedy)
  • Dolus ("The Trick," a comedy)
  • Equus Troianus ("The Trojan Horse," a tragedy)
  • Figulus ("The Potter," a comedy)
  • Glaucoma ("The Cataract," a comedy)
  • Hariolus ("The Fortune-Teller," comedy)
  • Hector Proficiscens ("Hector Setting Forth," tragedy)
  • Leo ("The Lion," a comedy)
  • Lycurgus ("Lycurgus," a tragedy)[7]
  • Nautae ("Sailors", a comedy)
  • Paelex ("The Concubine," or "Mistress", comedy)
  • Personata ("Lady Wearing a Mask," comedy)
  • Projectus (a comedy)
  • Quadrigemini ("The Quadruplets," a comedy)
  • Romulus, or Alimonium Romuli et Remi ("The Nourishing of Romulus and Remus", a fabula praetexta)
  • Stalagmus (a comedy)
  • Stigmatias ("The Tattooed Man," a comedy)
  • Tarentilla (a comedy)
  • Triphallus ("The Man With Three Penises," a comedy)

Editions

  • M. Barchiesi. Nevio epico; storia, interpretazione, edizione critica dei frammenti del primo epos latino, Padova, 1962
  • Fragments (dramas) in Lucian Müller, Livi Andronici et Gn. Naevi Fabularum Reliquiae (1885), and (Bellum Punicum) in his edition of Ennius (1884).
  • W. Morel, Fragmenta Poetarum Latinorum Epicorum et Lyricorum praeter Ennium et Lucilium (Leipzig, 1927)
  • E. H. Warmington, Remains of Old Latin, vol. II, Livius Andronicus, Naevius, Pacuvius, Accius, 1936.
  • Naeuius Poeta. Introduzione bibliografica. Testo dei frammenti e commento, éd. E. V. Marmorale, Florence, 2e éd. 1950.
  • Alfred Klotz, Scaenicorum Romanorum fragmenta, vol. I, Tragicorum fragmenta, München, 1953.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Gellius 1.24.1.
  2. ^ The Encyclopedia Britannica. 1899. p. 162. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  3. ^ Plautus, Miles Gloriosus 211.
  4. ^ Gellius 3.3.15.
  5. ^ Quoted by Gellius (1.24.2); this is Naevius fr. 64 in Morel's Fragmenta Poetarum Latinorum Epicorum et Lyricorum praeter Ennium et Lucilium (Leipzig, 1927).
  6. ^ Metelli: Varia, 2; Scipio: Unassigned Fragments, 1 (in Warmington's edition).
  7. ^ Thorburn, John E. (2005). Naevius. Infobase Publishing. p. 361. ISBN 9780816074983. Retrieved 4 February 2016. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)

References

Further reading

  • Barchiesi, M. (1978). La Tarentilla revisitata: studi su Nevio comico, Pisa: Giardini.
  • Berchem, M. J. (1861). De Gn. Naevii poetae vita et scriptis, Monasterii: Coppenrath.
  • Conte, G. B. (1994). Latin Literature: A History. Translated by Joseph B. Solodow. Revised by Don Fowler and Glenn W. Most. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Crivellari, V. (1889). Quae praecipue hausit Vergilius ex Naevio et Ennio . (On Virgil's indebtedness to Naevius and Ennius.)
  • de Melo, W. (2014). Plautus's Dramatic Predecessors and Contemporaries in Rome. The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Comedy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • de Moor, D. (1877). Cn. Névius, essai sur les commencements de la poésie à Rome, Tournai: Decallonne-Liagre.
  • Faber, R. (2012). The Ekphrasis in Naevius' "Bellum Punicum" and Hellenistic Literary Aesthetics. Hermes, 140(4), 417–426.
  • Feeney, D. C. (1991). The Gods in Epic: Poets and Critics of the Classical Tradition. New York: Oxford University Press.
  • Flintoff, E. (1988). Naevius and Roman Satire. Latomus, 47(3), 593–603.
  • Jocelyn, H. D. (1969). The Poet Cn. Naevius, P. Cornelius Scipio, and Q. Caecilius Metellus. Antichthon 3:32–47.
  • Klussmann, E. (1843). Cn. Naevii Poetae Romani Vitam Descripsit, Carminum Reliquias Collegit, Poesis Rationem Exposuit (in Latin). Ienae: Apud Carolum Hochhausen.
  • Krostenko, B. (2013). The Poetics of Naevius' 'Epitaph' and the History of Latin Poetry. The Journal of Roman Studies, 103, 46–64.
  • Luck, G. (1983). Naevius and Virgil. Illinois Classical Studies, 8(2), 267–275.
  • Manuwald, Gesine, ed. (2000). Identität und Alterität in der frührömischen Tragödie. Identitäten und Alteritäten, Bd. 3, Altertumswiss. Reihe, Bd. 1. Würzburg, Germany: Universitats Verlag.
  • Mommsen, T. History of Rome, bk. iii, ch. 24.
  • Rowell, H. (1947). The Original Form of Naevius' Bellum Punicum. The American Journal of Philology, 68(1), 21–46.

Read other articles:

This article is about the Morecambe Newspaper. For the Southport Newspaper, see The Southport Visiter. The VisitorTypeWeekly regional newspaperFormatTabloidOwner(s)National WorldPublisherLancaster & Morecambe Newspapers LtdEditorNicola AdamFounded1874Political alignmentIndependentLanguageEnglishHeadquartersMorecambe, LancashireCirculation816 (as of 2022)[1]Sister newspapersLancaster GuardianWebsitewww.thevisitor.co.uk The Visitor is a weekly paid-for newspaper published in Mor...

 

Radio station in Dallas, TexasKBFBDallas, TexasBroadcast areaDallas/Fort Worth MetroplexFrequency97.9 MHz (HD Radio)Branding97.9 The BeatProgrammingFormatRhythmic contemporarySubchannelsHD2: KZMJ simulcast (Urban AC) HD3: La Nueva Dallas (Regional Mexican)OwnershipOwnerUrban One(Radio One Licenses, LLC)Sister stationsKZMJHistoryFirst air date1947 (77 years ago) (1947) as WFAA-FMFormer call signsWFAA-FM (1947-1973)KZEW (1973-1990)KKWM (1990-1991)KLRX (1991-1993)KRRW (1993-1997)Ca...

 

Russian ice hockey player (born 1986) You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Russian. (February 2024) Click [show] for important translation instructions. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Do not trans...

This Is ActingAlbum studio karya SiaDirilis29 Januari 2016GenrePop[1]Durasi46:32Label Monkey Puzzle RCA Produser Greg Kurstin Jesse Shatkin Kanye West Jack Antonoff 88-Keys Jake Sinclair T-Minus Nikhil Seetharam Chris Braide Josh Valle Cameron Deyell Alan Walker Oliver Kraus Kronologi Sia 1000 Forms of Fear(2014) This Is Acting(2016) Everyday Is Christmas(2017) Singel dalam album This Is Acting AliveDirilis: 25 September 2015 Cheap ThrillsDirilis: 11 Februari 2016 The GreatestDiri...

 

Artikel ini membutuhkan rujukan tambahan agar kualitasnya dapat dipastikan. Mohon bantu kami mengembangkan artikel ini dengan cara menambahkan rujukan ke sumber tepercaya. Pernyataan tak bersumber bisa saja dipertentangkan dan dihapus.Cari sumber: Anak Agung Gde Agung – berita · surat kabar · buku · cendekiawan · JSTOR Anak Agung Gde AgungProf. Dr. Anak Agung Gde Agung Anggota MPR RIMasa jabatan1999–2004Menteri Negara Masalah Masalah KemasyarakatanMa...

 

Airline of RussiaNot to be confused with SF Airlines. This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (October 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) S7 Airlines IATA ICAO Callsign S7 SBI SIBERIAN AIRLINES FoundedMay 1957; 67 years ago (1957-05) (as Tolmachevsky squadron)Commenced operationsMay 1992; 32 years...

Questa voce o sezione sull'argomento nobili tedeschi non cita le fonti necessarie o quelle presenti sono insufficienti. Puoi migliorare questa voce aggiungendo citazioni da fonti attendibili secondo le linee guida sull'uso delle fonti. Cristiano di Brandeburgo-BayreuthCristiano di Brandeburgo-Bayreuth ritratto da Heinrich BollandtMargravio di Brandeburgo-Bayreuth[1]Stemma In carica25 aprile 1603 –30 maggio 1655 PredecessoreGiorgio Federico di Brandeburgo-Ansbach Successor...

 

泰国陆军元帅他侬·吉滴卡宗ถนอม กิตติขจรPChW SR MPCh MWM第10任泰國總理任期1963年12月9日—1973年10月14日君主拉玛九世前任沙立·他那叻元帥继任訕耶·探瑪塞任期1958年1月1日—1958年10月20日君主拉玛九世前任乃朴·沙拉信继任沙立·他那叻元帥第32任泰國國防部長任期1957年9月23日—1973年10月14日前任鑾披汶·頌堪继任他威·尊拉塞(英语:Dawee Chullasapya) 个人资料出...

 

City in Georgia, United StatesHamilton, GeorgiaCityHamilton, GeorgiaMotto: The heart of Harris County[1]Location in Harris County and the state of GeorgiaCoordinates: 32°45′53″N 84°52′23″W / 32.76472°N 84.87306°W / 32.76472; -84.87306CountryUnited StatesStateGeorgiaCountyHarrisNamed forPaul HamiltonArea[2] • Total3.41 sq mi (8.84 km2) • Land3.41 sq mi (8.84 km2) • Water0...

Islamic contract This article is about Mukataba. For other uses, see Islam and slavery (disambiguation). This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources.Find sources: Mukataba – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (May 2015) Part of a series onForced labour and Slavery Contemporary Child labour Child sol...

 

Ongoing demographic trend Population pyramid of the United States in 2023 In recent decades, the fertility rate of the United States has declined below replacement level, prompting projections of an aging population and workforce,[1][2] as is already happening elsewhere in the developed world and some developing countries.[3] The decline has been most noticeable since after the Great Recession of the late 2000s.[4] Nevertheless, the rate of aging in the United...

 

Disambiguazione – Se stai cercando altri significati, vedi Provincia di Pavia (disambigua). Provincia di Paviaprovincia Provincia di Pavia – VedutaPalazzo della Provincia, attuale sede dell'amministrazione provinciale. LocalizzazioneStato Italia Regione Lombardia AmministrazioneCapoluogo Pavia PresidenteGiovanni Palli (centro-destra) dal 19-12-2021 Data di istituzione1776 TerritorioCoordinatedel capoluogo45°11′N 9°09′E45°11′N, 9°09′E (Provincia di Pavi...

  لمعانٍ أخرى، طالع الحكومة السورية (توضيح). 33°30′9.00″N 36°16′10.62″E / 33.5025000°N 36.2696167°E / 33.5025000; 36.2696167 حكومة عبد الرؤوف الكسم الثالثةمعلومات عامةالاختصاص سوريا نظام الحكم مجلس الوزراء الثالث والثمانون لسوريةرئيس الجمهورية حافظ الأسدرئيس الحكومة عبد الرؤوف �...

 

Women's discus throwat the Games of the XXVII OlympiadVenueStadium AustraliaDates25 September 2000 (qualification)27 September 2000 (final)Competitors32 from 20 nationsWinning distance68.40Medalists Ellina Zvereva Belarus Anastasia Kelesidou Greece Iryna Yatchenko Belarus← 19962004 → Athletics at the2000 Summer OlympicsTrack events100 mmenwomen200 mmenwomen400 mmenwomen800 mmenwomen1500 mmenwomen5000 mmenwomen10,000 mmenwomen100 m hurdleswomen11...

 

Municipality in Thuringia, GermanyKalbsrieth MunicipalityKalbsrieth CastleLocation of Kalbsrieth within Kyffhäuserkreis district Kalbsrieth Show map of GermanyKalbsrieth Show map of ThuringiaCoordinates: 51°20′34″N 11°20′13″E / 51.34278°N 11.33694°E / 51.34278; 11.33694CountryGermanyStateThuringiaDistrictKyffhäuserkreis Government • Mayor (2022–28) Uwe Ludwig[1]Area • Total11.94 km2 (4.61 sq mi)Elevatio...

Brazilian football manager Ernesto Paulo Personal informationFull name Ernesto Paulo Ferreira CalainhoDate of birth (1954-02-02) 2 February 1954 (age 70)Place of birth Rio de Janeiro, BrazilManagerial careerYears Team1986 Rio Negro-RR1986 Tuna Luso1986 Fluminense U201990 Flamengo U201991 Botafogo1991 Brasil U201991 Brasil1992 Brasil Olympic1992–1997 União da Madeira1998 XV de Piracicaba1999 CRB1999 Vila Nova1999 União São João2000–2001 Juventude2001 Botafogo-SP2004–2006 União ...

 

Unit of the British Army from 1899 to 1924 Irish member of the Royal Field Artillery (1904) The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry.[1] It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of the regiment, the Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) and the Royal Garrison Artillery (RGA). It ceased to exist when it was amalgamated with the Royal Garris...

 

National Red Cross Society in Italy Italian Red CrossCroce Rossa ItalianaLogo of the Italian Red CrossAbbreviationIRCFormation1864 (1864)TypeAssociationPurposeHumanitarian aidHeadquartersRome, ItalyLocationVia Bernardino Ramazzini, 31 00151 RomeMembership International Red Cross and Red Crescent MovementPresidentRosario ValastroWebsitecri.it The Italian Red Cross (IRC, Italian: Croce Rossa Italiana or CRI) is the Italian national Red Cross society. The Italian Red Cross was one of the or...

الأرز المحترقScorched riceمعلومات عامةاسم آخر القائمة .. cucayo – the Caribbean kerak nasi – Indonesian guōbā (锅巴حروف صينية مبسطة; 鍋巴حروف صينية تقليدية) – Chinese nurungji (누룽지) – Korean okoge (お焦げ) – Japanese tah dig (ته دیگ) – Iranian بلد المطبخ مطبخ أذربيجاني — مطبخ إيراني المبتكر ترك النوع أرز على البخارالمكونات ال�...

 

ПЛАРБ типа «Джордж Вашингтон»George Washington class USS George Washington (SSBN-598) Основные характеристики Тип корабля ПЛАРБ Кодификация НАТО USS George Washington (SSBN-598) Скорость (надводная) 20 узлов Скорость (подводная) 25 узлов Рабочая глубина погружения 220 м Экипаж 120 человек Размеры Водоизмещение на�...