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Dorsennus

Fabius Dorsennus (also spelled Dossennus or Dossenus) was a thespian and author of Atellan Farce in Ancient Rome, known for his careless performances. According to Seneca his epitaph was: "Halt, stranger, and understand Dossennus' wisdom".

Description

There is some confusion regarding this figure from ancient Roman theater. In one of his epistles, Horace mentions a Dossennus:

[He] exceeds all measure in his voracious parasites; with how loose a sock he runs over the stage: for he is glad to put the money in his pocket, after this regardless whether his play stand or fall.

Book II, Epistle I

Pliny the Elder, however, refers to a Fabius Dossennus as the author of "Acharistio," one of the Atellanae Fabulae, in his Natural History. Pliny writes:

Fabius Dossennus quite decides the question, in the following line—; 'I sent them good wine, myrrh-wine'; and in his play called *Acharistio*, we find these words: 'Bread and pearled barley, myrrh-wine too.'

Other uses

Dossennus was also the name of a stock character of the Atellanae Fabulae, perhaps named after Fabius Dorsennus.

References

Sources

Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Book XIV (Original text)
Pliny the Elder, Natural History, Book XIV (English translation)
History of Roman Literature (1877)
Meyer, Maurice, Études sur le théâtre latin

References

''Epistulae ad Lucilium'', 89, 7. ''hospes resiste et sophian Dossenni lege.''

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1st-century-bc-romans 1st-century-bc-writers ancient-roman-comic-dramatists fabii

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