But Scipio, were he alive, would possibly reply:  “How could we attach a penalty to that which the gods themselves have consecrated?  For the theatrical entertainments in which such things are said, and acted, and performed, were introduced into Roman society by the gods, who ordered that they should be dedicated and exhibited in their honor.”  But was not this, then, the plainest proof that they were no true gods, nor in any respect worthy of receiving divine honours from the republic?  Suppose they had required that in their honor the citizens of Rome should be held up to ridicule, every Roman would have resented the hateful proposal.  How then, I would ask, can they be esteemed worthy of worship, when they propose that their own crimes be used as material for celebrating their praises?  Does not this artifice expose them, and prove that they are detestable devils?  Thus the Romans, though they were superstitious enough to serve as gods those who made no secret of their desire to be worshipped in licentious plays, yet had sufficient regard to their hereditary dignity and virtue, to prompt them to refuse to players any such rewards as the Greeks accorded them.  On this point we have this testimony of Scipio, recorded in Cicero:  “They [the Romans] considered comedy and all theatrical performances as disgraceful, and therefore not only debarred players from offices and honors open to ordinary citizens, but also decreed that their names should be branded by the censor, and erased from the roll of their tribe.”  An excellent decree, and another testimony to the sagacity of Rome; but I could wish their prudence had been more thorough-going and consistent.  For when I hear that if any Roman citizen chose the stage as his profession, he not only closed to himself every laudable career, but even became an outcast from his own tribe, I cannot but exclaim:  This is the true Roman spirit, this is worthy of a state jealous of its reputation.  But then some one interrupts my rapture, by inquiring with what consistency players are debarred from all honors, while plays are counted among the honors due to the gods?  For a long while the virtue of Rome was uncontaminated by theatrical exhibitions;¹⁰⁴

104 According to Livy (vii. 2), theatrical exhibitions were introduced in the year 392 a.u.c.  Before that time, he says, there had only been the games of the circus.  The Romans sent to Etruria for players, who were called histriones, hister being the Tuscan word for a player.  Other particulars are added by Livy.

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