The light of genius which shone in Greece was to some extent reflected upon Rome, where there was never an equal brilliancy.  As for humour, such as was indigenous in the country, it was only represented by a few Saturnian snatches, some Fescennine banterings at weddings and harvest-homes, and rude pantomimic performances also originating in Etruria.  Intellectual pleasantry was unknown, except as an exotic, and flourished almost exclusively among those who were imbued with the literature of Greece.

About the date at which we arrived at the end of the last chapter—­the middle of the third century, B.C.—­the first regular play was introduced at Rome by Livius Andronicus.  He was a Greek slave, having been taken prisoner at the capture of Tarentum.  Scarcely anything remains by which to judge of his writings, but we know that he copied from Greek originals.  His plays were, no doubt, mostly appreciated by the better educated classes of the audience.  He had a rival in Noevius, a Campanian by birth, who also copied from the Greek, but retained something of the Fescennine licence, or rather, we should say, had much of the hostile humour common to the earlier periods of Greece and Rome.  So violent were his attacks upon the leading men of the day, that he was imprisoned, and finally died in exile at Utica.  This early connection of comedy with abuse and buffoonery was probably one cause of professional actors being held in contempt in Rome.  We read that they were frequently slaves, who were whipped if they came late.  At the same time native scurrility was allowed.  Freeborn Romans might act for amusement in the Atellane plays, which were considered to be Italian, and were accompanied by broad “Exodia” or pantomimic interludes containing regular characters such as Maccus the clown, Buccones the chatterers, Pappus the pantaloon, and Simus, the ape.  But these productions came from Campania, and it is probable that the better parts of them were Greek in spirit, though not in form.

Some fifty years later brings us to Plautus—­the most remarkable of the Roman comic writers.  Little is known of his origin, except that he was born in Umbria.  There is a story that at one time he was in so humble a position that he was employed in grinding corn for a baker; but, if so, he must have possessed extraordinary ability and perseverance to acquire such a thorough knowledge of Greek and Latin.  The fact of his adopting the stage as a profession, and acting in his own dramas, proves that he was not encumbered with rank or wealth.  His plays were numbered among the classics, and were produced upon the stage till the time of Diocletian, five hundred years after his death; he generally copied from the Greek, often naming the author to whom he was indebted.