Note 12: — III.—DRAMA. (Table-Case K and Glass Shade above.)

Roman Drama.—The drama at first met with a determined opposition from Romans of the old school as a new-fangled thing from Greece. The taste of the people, also, was not inclined to favour so cultured an amusement as the drama. The Romans preferred to see a fight between men or beasts rather than to listen to a play, and on one occasion, when listening to a play of Terence, they rushed pell-mell from the theatre, because a rumour arose that a combat of gladiators was going to take place.12