The Sun.
London, England, 1821-04-21 00:00:00

FOREIGN LITERATURE.

(No. XXI.)

COMPLETE LATIN THEATRE, translated into
FRENCH by J. B. LEVEE and the late AblA LE Mox-
NIER, with Dissertations by M. AmatrnY DtivAL, Mem-
ber of the Acadeftry of Inscriptions, and M. ALEXANDRE
DUVAL, Member of the French Academy.

Much yet remains- to be said respecting the
comedy of the antients ; translators and commen-
tators have more particularly considered it in re-
gard to erudition and archaeology, but very in-
sutfiCiently with reference to the dramatic art.
M M. Du vAL.have in some degree treated the
subject in a dramatic point of view, but being
obliged. to be very concise in their remarks, they
have in fact furnished notes instead of disserta-
tions, which have excited the reader's curiosity,
and make us regret that they did not enter more
fully into the discussion. We are very- sensible
of the interest, instruction, and utility, of a work
in which. the subjects, the plots, the moral and social
decencies,the characters, dialogue,wit, and humour
of the ancient Comedy should be compared with the'
same qualities in modern comedy; a comparison
which might be drawn by analysing in succession
all the scenes of the best pieces of Plautus and
Terence, and by making a distinction between
that which is common to all nations and to every
age, and that which is the result of pecaliar man-
ners and forms of government. This inquiry
would clearly shew that there are two kinds of
the comic of unequal merit, the success of which,
however, is not always in proportion to their rela-
tive degree of merit : one founded on the nature
of man would equally excite the laughter of the
inhabitant of Bond street, or the Chauss6e d'An-
tin, and the resident of Devonshire or Picardy,
the people of Paris and London, and the citizens
of Rome or Athens ; the other, describing tem-
porary usages, institutions, and manners, holds up
to ridicule the fops of a particular age, and acts
more or less forcibly on a particular class of so-
ciety. A study like this not only makes us ac-
quainted with the dramatic art, but also furnishes
lessons in history, morals, and philosophy.
M. M. Duval had evidently this object in view,
and they have developed it as well as their pre-
scribed limits would admit ; but they have been
confined within too narrow a circle, and in their
supplementary notes they seem to have only laid
the foundation of a new work, which would
throw considerable light on the mysteries, aim,
and influence of the dramatic art.
In justice to M. M. Duval, we shall begin by
considering an observation which appears to us
of some importance, and in our opinion exhibits
the true character of the Latin comedy, and the
object which its authors had in view ; at the
same time teaching us how to estimate the works
which have been handed down to us. Whatever
respect we may entertain for such men as Plau-
tus and Terence, it is impossible to read their
comedies without being disgusted at, the incon-
sistencies, we might almost say absurdities, with
which they abound. At first sight, these two
comic writers would seem to have been ignorant
of the first rule of the drama, which requires us
to represent an action and not a discourse, to
make the characters speak and not the author,
and to exhibit to the spectators such faithful pic-
tures that they may be taken for realities. But
every thing proves that the ancients never did,
and never could, carry the art to this state of
perfection ; on the contrary, every thing shews
that they represented comedy as comedy, which
will be evident enough from- the following re
marks :

Far from endeavouring to produce what we
call illusion, the merits of which we perhaps
estimate too highly, the Latin writers of comedy
rendered it impossible, by making Greeks talk
and act like Romans, and by laying the scene at
Athens, while the streets, public walks, and
buildings exhibited, represented those of Rome.
We see a Greek go out of his house at Athens
or Calydon to visit the Forum, the Velabrum, or
the gate through which the Horatii passed to
combat the Curiatii. It is precisely the same, as
if in a play the action were to take place at Lon-
don, and the scene should represent the Place
Vend6me or the Rue St. Vonore. This singula-
rity is repeated too often to be regarded as an
inadvertency; and it is too palpable to have been
permitteid by such men as Plautus and Terence,
without some motive.

The prologues of the Comedies carry us still
farther from all illusion ; in one, the actor says
without scruple to the spectators, " the subject
of this play is an old Story which I shall present
to you in a new form." in another, he says still
more plainly,--" this piece, which we shall re-
present, is in reality only a play." In almost all,
the author, who resembles in many respects an
Italian improvis afore, explains the subject of the
piece, descrihrs its progress, and even announces
the denouement. In short, Terence,. in the
greater number of his prologues, apologizes for
his works, complains of a jealous rival by whom
he pretends to he calumniated, and whom he calls
the old Poet.

In the play itself, the characters or rather the
actors .relate not only what they have done off
the stage, but likewise what they mean to say
and do. At every instant they interrupt the
course of the dialogue, by long speeches, spoken
aside, to apprize yoU of the confidence they are
about to repose in the interlocutor, or of the
trick to be practised on him, or the reply they
mean to make. Now, we see several persons
seeking one another a considerable time, in a
square or a street, though it is mid-day ; and
during the search one recites a number of verses
which are heard by another, while a third is sup-
posed not to know what is said. Presently, it is
a vroman anxiously expecting the return of a
slave, who has been sent with a message; she
sees him coming, and instead of advancing to
accost him, she retires to the back of the stage,
lets him repeat.a long soliloquy, and just as he is
on the point of quitting the place, she still says
to herself, 4C I think I had better call him." . In
a play, where a woman is brought to bed, we
may imagine almost on the stage, as you hear
her exclaim, Juno Lucina, fer opera mild! we
observe the servant, sent in quest of the mid wife,
stop to declaim a long speech, take part in a
whole scene, and at length go offthe stage repeat.