Book 10
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Comedy is our weakest point. Although Varro quotes Aelius Stilo The first Roman philologist (141–70 B.C.). as saying that if the Muses wished to speak Latin, they would use the language of Plautus, although the ancients extol Caecilius, Caecilils (219–166), Terence (194159), Afranius (flor. circ. 150). Only fragments of Caecilius and Afranius remain. and although Scipio Africanus is credited with the works of Terence (which are the most elegant of their kind, and would be still more graceful if the poet had confined himself to the iambic trimeter),
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we still scarcely succeed in reproducing even a faint shadow of the charm of Greek comedy. Indeed, it seems to me as though the language of Rome were incapable of reproducing that graceful wit which was granted to Athens alone, and was beyond the reach of other Greek dialects to achieve. Afranius Caecilils (219–166), Terence (194–159), Afranius (flor. cire. 150) Only fragments of Caecilius and Afanius survive. excels in the purely Roman comedy, but it is to be regretted that he revealed his own character by defiling his plots with the introduction of indecent paederastic intrigues.
