SOURCE: An introduction to A History of Latin Literature from Ennius to Boethius, Vol. 1, Harper & Brothers, 1883, pp. 1-21.

In the following excerpt, Simcox ventures that “a superb and reckless character served [Naevius instead of literary talent.”]

… The first Latin playwright, the first schoolmaster who taught Greek literature, was Titus Livius Andronicus. He was a native of Tarentum: he came to Rome as a slave, and employed himself after his emancipation as a schoolmaster and an actor. In the latter capacity he originated the curious division of labor whereby one actor, commonly himself, danced and acted, while another, whom the audience were not supposed to see, sang the words which he would have sung himself if the exertion of singing and dancing at once had not been too overwhelming. Such a device implies that the public came for the spectacle, and held the pantomime more important than the song...