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The Adultery Mime

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

R. W. Reynolds
R. W. Reynolds
Affiliation:
Coleraine, Northern Ireland
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Extract

Of all the themes treated by the mimes, perhaps the one that gave the most delight to their audiences throughout the centuries was that of adultery. References to it, from various parts of the ancient world, are found from the first century before Christ to the sixth century of the Christian era, and in many cases it is spoken of as a theme typical of the mime as a whole. There does not seem to be satisfactory evidence of its existence in a genuinely dramatic form at an earner date. It is reported that the μαγῳδoί, among other impersonations, mimicked the behaviour of μoιχoί, but their performance, so far as can be discovered, was purely a piece of imitative buffoonery. When the theme of adultery was treated by Greek mimes of a later date, the approach seems to have been rather a psychological study of the adulteress than an attempt to bring out the dramatic possibilities inherent in the situation. This is certainly the case with Herondas' fifth mime, which portrays a lady jealously in love with a slave. Evidence from sources bearing a close relationship to the mime is equally negative. Thus a well-known Egyptian papyrus contains a song, written perhaps in the third or second century B.C., in which Helen complains of Menelaus' indifference to her after bringing her back from Troy; but this is far from constituting a variant on the adultery theme. The wall-song in Marissa, which was composed in the middle of the second century B.C., does indicate a situation in which a woman is trying to keep her lover's presence outside the house from the knowledge of another man with whom she is consorting inside.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 40 , Issue 3-4 , July 1946 , pp. 77 - 84
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1946

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References

page 77 note 1 1 Athen. 621 D.

page 77 note 2 Pap. Tebt. i. I; Powell, , Collectanea Alex. 185Google Scholar; Winter, J. G., Life and Letters in the Popyri (Michigan, 1923), 216Google Scholar

page 77 note 3 First printed byPeters, J. P. and Thiersch, H., Painted Tombs in the Necropolis of Marissa (London, 1905), p. 59Google Scholar. Text also inPowell, , Collecanea Alex., p. 184Google Scholar.Cf. Crönert, W. Rh. Mus. lxiv (1909), 433–48; Christ-Schmid, ii. 338Google Scholar.

page 77 note 4 Athen. 697 B.

page 77 note 5 Cic. pro Rab. Post. 35: ‘audiebamus Alexan-driam, nunc cognoscimus. illinc omnes prae-stigiae, illinc, inquam, omnes fallaciae; omnia denique ab his mimorum argumenta nata sunt.’

page 78 note 1 Grenfell, and Hunt, , Pap. Oxy. iii. 413Google Scholar; Her-mannReich, , Deutsche Litteraturz. xxiv (1903) 2680–1Google Scholar; Christ-Schmid, ii. 337-9; Sudhaus, S., Hermes, xli (1906), 247–77Google Scholar; Crusius, Otto, N. Jdhrb. xxv (1910), 99Google Scholar; Powell, and Barber, , New Chapters in the Hist, of Gk. Lit. (Oxford, 1921), 122–3Google Scholar; Page, D. L., Gk. Lit. Papyri (London, 1941) 350 ffGoogle Scholar.

page 78 note 2 Lab. 33–5, Ribbeck: ‘quo quidem me a matronali pudore prolubium meretricium pro gredi coegit’. On a fragment from Ppmonius' Atellan farce Pappus Agricola, which runs, ‘volo scire ex te cur urbanas res desubito deseris’,Merry, (Sel. Fgts. of Rom. Poetry, Oxford, 1898, p. 193)Google Scholar comments rather imaginatively: ‘A young wife's anger at her goodman's unexpected return.’

page 78 note 3 Hor, . Sat. 2. 7. 53 ffGoogle Scholar.

page 79 note 1 Ovid, , Tristia, 2. 497ndash;514Google Scholar. The remarks in Ars Am. 1. 501-2 and Rent. Am. 755-6, mention lovers only, not an adulteress; it is not certain, indeed, that they refer to mimic performances.

page 79 note 2 Val. Max. 2. 6. 7.

page 79 note 3 Sen, . Controv. 2. 4Google Scholar.

page 79 note 4 Juv. 6. 41–4; 8. 196–7.

page 79 note 5 Tert, . Apol. 15Google Scholar. It has been suggested that the plot may have been based upon the story of the deception practised upon a Roman matron under the guise of religion in the reign of Tiberius, as told byJosephus, , Antiq. xviii. 3. 4Google Scholar. See Reich, Hermann, Der Mimus (Berlin, 1903), p. 593, note IGoogle Scholar.

page 79 note 6 Minuc, . Felix, , Octav. 25. 4Google Scholar. The rest of the passage concerns pantomimes.

page 79 note 7 Lamprid, . Heliog. 25Google Scholar. 4. The reference is surely to the scenes of love-making. Lampridius has been giving instances of the emperor's fond-ness for extravagant practical jokes, introducing them with the remark (18. 4): ‘de huius vita multa in litteras missa sunt obscena, quae quia digna memoratu non sunt, ea prodenda censui quae ad luxuriam pertinebant.’ They are not grouped systematically. Apart from prurience, their most common characteristic is a total disregard both for human dignity and for the value of property. Casaubon, , however (Scr. Hist. Aug., Lugduni Batav. 1671, vol. ii, p. 859)Google Scholar, reading mimicis adulleris for in mimicis adulteriis, thought that the emperor here wished rather to gratify his love of inflicting pain: ‘a mimicis autem adulteris simulate poenae exactae, quae vere ab adulteris veris: ut raphanus eos intraret, vel mugil, et his similia.’ But I do not know where he obtained this information. The only authority who mentions the mimic lover being brought to account for his actions is Choricius, and he, as will be seen, does not suggest any punishment of such a cruel nature.

page 79 note 8 Mart, . de Spect. 7. 1–6Google Scholar.

page 80 note 1 Lactant, . Div. Inst. 6. 20Google Scholar= Migne, , P.L. vi. 710–11Google Scholar.

page 80 note 2 Salv, . de Gub. Dei, 6. (3). 19Google Scholar.

page 80 note 3 Chrys. 6. 558 = Migne, , P.G. lvi. 543:Google Scholar oὺ δ⋯δoικασ, ἄνθρωπε, τoῖς ⋯φθαλμoῖς καί τ⋯ν κλίνην τ⋯ν ⋯πί τ⋯ς ⋯ρχ⋯στρας βλ⋯πων, ἔνθα τ⋯ μυσαρ⋯ τελεῖται τ⋯ς μoιχείας δρ⋯ματα, καί τ⋯ν τρ⋯πεςαν τα⋯την τ⋯ν ίερ⋯ν, ἔνθα τ⋯ φρικτ⋯ τελεῖται μυστ⋯ρια

page 80 note 4 Chrys. 7. 101= Migne, , P.G. lvii. 72Google Scholar: μ⋯ γ⋯ρ μoι τoι τo⋯τo εἴπης ⋯τι ⋯π⋯κρισίς ⋯oτι τ⋯γιν⋯μενα۬ ⋯ γ⋯ρ ὕτη πoλλoὺς είργ⋯σας, καί πoλλ⋯ς ⋯ν⋯τρεψεν oίκ⋯ας. καί δι⋯ τo⋯τo μ⋯λιστα στ⋯νω, ⋯τι oὐδ δo κεῖ πoνηρ⋯ν ε⋯ναι τ⋯ γιν⋯μενoν, ⋯λλ⋯ καί κρ⋯τoι και κραυγ⋯ καί γ⋯λως πoλ⋯ς, μoιχείας τoλμωμ⋯νης τoια⋯της.

page 80 note 5 Chrys. 7. 423 = Migne, , P.G. lvii. 427Google Scholar. See also 2. 318 = Migne, , P.G. xlix. 315Google Scholar; II. 464–5 = Migne, , P.G. lxii. 428Google Scholar.

page 80 note 6 Choric, . Apol. Mim. 30–5 (ed. Foerster, R. and Ricsteig, E., Teubner, , Leipzig, 1929, pp. 351–2)Google Scholar= graux, Chrles, Rev. de philol. i (1877), 219–20Google Scholar. Similarly 54–5 = 223–4, Graux.

page 80 note 7 Choric, . Apol. Mim. 87–90Google Scholar(Teubner edn., pp. 363–4) = 231–2 Graux. The theme of adultery is referred to also in 26, 71‐2, 98 = 218, 228, 234, Graux.

page 81 note 1 Choric, . Apol. Mim. 108Google Scholar(Teubner edn., p. 369) = 236 Graux.

page 81 note 2 Juv. 6. 41–4.

page 81 note 3 Chrys. 6. 558 = Migne, , P.G. lvi. 543Google Scholar: … τ⋯ν κλίνην τ⋯ν ⋯πι τ⋯ς ⋯ρχ⋯στρας βλ⋯πων, ἔνθα τ⋯ μυσαρ⋯ τελεῖται τ⋯ μoιχεάας δρ⋯ματα. This ex-pression surely disprovesReich's translation (Der Mimus, pp. 120 and 609)Google Scholar of κλίνη as das Sopha. The use of the word ‘orchestra’ does not seem to have any special significance; cf. Isid. Etym. 18. 43 = Migne, , P.L.1 Ixxxii. 658Google Scholar: ‘scaena autem erat locus infra theatrum in modum domus instructa cum pulpito, qui pulpitus orchestra vocabatur, ubi cantabant comici, tragici, atque saltabant histriones et mimi.’ Also Chrysostom himself, in the passage already quoted (7. 423 = Migne, P.G. lvii. 427)Google Scholar: π⋯θεν γ⋯ρ oί τoῖς γ⋯μoις ⋯πιβoυλε⋯oντες; oὺκ ⋯π⋯ τ⋯ς σκην⋯ς τα⋯της π⋯θεν oί τoὺς θαλ⋯μoυς διoρ⋯ττoντες oὺκ⋯π⋯ τ⋯ς ⋯ρχ⋯στρας ⋯κείνης

page 81 note 4 The scholiast, however, seems to have thought it an allusion to Latinus' coming death: ‘qui postea propter adulterium Messalinae puni-tus est’; and on 1. 35: ‘Latinus autem mimus quasi conscius adulterii Messalinae uxoris Neronis, ab ipso occisus est.’ This information, however, may be untrustworthy; see the discussion in the article on Latinus in Pauly-Wissowa, xii. 937–8.

page 82 note 1 Grysar, C. J., ‘Der romische Mimus’, Si-tzungsb. der phil.-hist. Classe der k. Akad. der Wissenschqften, Bd. xii (1854), Heft 2, p. 267Google Scholar, calls Latinus the composer of the Adultery Mime, but there is no evidence of this. On p. 297 Grysar himself says that the composer is un-known.

page 82 note 2 Suet, . Dom. 15Google Scholar; Juv. 1. 36, and scholiast; 6. 44, and scholiast; schol. on 4. 53. Mart. 2. 72. 3; 3. 86. 3; 5. 61. 11; 9. 28. 1; 13. 2. 3. He is men- tioned with Thymele in Juv. 1. 36 and Mart. 1. 4. 5.

page 82 note 3 Juv. 8. 196–7.

page 82 note 4 Capit, . M. Ant. Phil. 29. 1–3:Google Scholar ‘Crimini eidatum est quod adulteros uxoris promoverit, Tertullum et Tutilium et Orfitum et Moderatum, ad varios honores, cum Tertullum et prandentem cum uxore deprehenderit. de quo mimus in scaena praesente Antonino dixit, cum stupidus nomen adulteri uxoris a servo quaereret, et ille diceret ter ‘Tullus’, et adhuc stupidus quaereret, respondit ille ‘iam tibi dixi ter, Tullus dicitur.'et de hoc quidem multa populus, multa etiam alii dixerunl patientiam Antonini incusantes.’ See below.

page 82 note 5 In a parallel scene in Mr. J. B. Fagan's play, And So to Bed, it is the unfortunate Mr. Pepys, hidden inside a ‘marriage chest’, who has to bear the brunt of the joke. This situation, whatever its treatment, is of course still very popular. I need refer here only to the Russian comic opera, Sorotchintsi Fair, which was produced in London at the Savoy Theatre in the autumn of 1941, and to a recent film burlesque, Twin Beds.

page 82 note 6 Suet, . Div. Iul. 51Google Scholar; Reich, Hermann, Der Mimus, Berlin, 1903, p. 194Google Scholar.

page 82 note 7 Op. Cit., p. 563.

page 82 note 8 A modern writer would probably begin his play with a scene in which the assignation between the lovers was made, but we have no right to assert dogmatically that the ancients felt the same necessity.

page 83 note 1 Martial II. 7 describes a similar situation, in which it is the women who wants to absent herself. The epigram Begins: iam certe stupido non dices, Paula, marito, ad moechum quotiens Iongius ire voles, ‘Caesar in Albanum iussit me mane venire, Caesar Circeios.’ iam stropha talis abit.Other excuses—a sick relative, or a disorder of her own—are suggested in the lines that follow.

page 83 note 2 Ovid wrote (Tr. 2. 501–2): non satis mcestis temeran vocbus aures; adsuescunt ocuh multa pudenda pati. Cf. the passage of Lampridius already quoted.

page 83 note 3 Ovid, , Tr. 2. 506–6Google Scholar.

page 83 note 4 Choric, . Apol. Mim. 55Google Scholar(Teubner edn., pp. 356–7) = 224 Graux.

page 83 note 5 s Grysar (op. cit., pp. 253-4) suggests that the wife caresses her husband into forgiveness, citing Juvenal, i. 35 (of a delator):quern Massa timet, quem munere palpat Carus, ut a trepido Thymele summissa Latino, Where he accepts Heinrich' emendation ut for the generally received reading of the MSs. et. For, he says, if et be read, then Latinus the delator is himself afraid of a delator, which is impossible. But this is the whole point! E is the correct reading, and the reference is to some incident, whether real or imaginary, taking place in real life and not on the stage. There is no need for Turnebus' interpretation (Adversarii, Basileae, 1631, 20. 8. 23 ff.): ‘mimi igitur argumentum egit cum ea (sc. Thymele) Latinus, in quo cum ea ut in aliena uxore moechus pene deprehendebatur, vel marito de adulterio aliquorum delatione sus-pectus erat: sed dolosam et astutam moecham ad maritum allegativ, quae ei os sublineret, et periculo Latinum et crimine eximeret.’ Such a scene does not fit in with the plot as I imagine it.

page 84 note 1 choric, . Apol. Mim. 54–5Google Scholar(Teubner edn., pp. 356–7) = 223–4 Graux.

page 84 note 2 Choric, . Apol. Mim. 30Google Scholar(teubner edn., p. 351) = 219 Graux.

page 84 note 3 Philo, , Leg. ad Gaiutn, (48)Google Scholar, 358 ff.; Origen, , Ep. ad Afric. de Hist. Sus. 11Google Scholar = Migne, P.G. xi. 73ff.(cf. Africanus, De Hist. Sus. ep. ad Orig. = Migne, , P.G. xi. 44 A)Google Scholar; Amm. Marc. 30. 4. 21. Cf. Acta Sanct. v. 122; xi. 213Google Scholar.