Note 19 — Chapter III · GREEK COMEDY ON THE ROMAN STAGE

Cic., De Rep. iv 10; Livy VII, 2, is full of anachronisms. Cf. Warnecke, Neue Jahrb. 1914, 94. However, Warnecke fails to note how late the evidence is and how completely it disagrees with the known circumstances of the early Roman drama. Plautus, Cist. 785, which promises a flogging to the incapable actor, is of course one of the jokes of the play. The ninth article of the recently discovered charter of Cyrene excuses from certain public service various people (including doctors and teachers of music) who are engaged in professions of public welfare. Since the actors’ guild at Rome was based upon Alexandrian models, it is not unlikely that certain Ptolemaic regulations were also taken over.