Caecilius Statius

Caecilius (Statius) (b. c. 230–d. 168/167 bce) was a Roman Republican playwright of fabulae palliatae (“comedies in Greek dress”). Situated in between the two famous representatives Plautus and Terence, of whom complete plays survive, he represents an important stage in the development of Roman palliata comedy. Yet, although he is the best-documented comic playwright among those whose works only survive in fragments and was highly regarded in Antiquity (see Ancient Reception), what remains are just forty-two titles of comedies and almost three hundred (partly incomplete) lines quoted in later writers. In aspects such as metrical variety, use of colorful language or employment of linguistic effects and puns Caecilius Statius seems to have followed the conventions of his predecessors; in other respects, such as choice of themes or engagement with the literary tradition, he looks forward to Terence. Caecilius Statius’s comedies apparently included serious thoughts on moral and social issues, mostly related to the immediate family, the corresponding relationships, and the impact of one’s personal affairs on one’s position in society, but they also provided effective drama. As with other fragmentary playwrights, the remains of Caecilius Statius’s dramas have been overshadowed by the fully extant plays by Plautus and Terence. Therefore, he is regularly mentioned in literary histories and overviews of Roman comedy, especially in the context of attempts at establishing a coherent, evolutionary history of this dramatic genre (see Oxford Bibliographies articles in Classics Latin Drama and Latin Poetry: From the Beginnings through the End of the Republic), but there have been fewer studies specifically devoted to him.