Fabius Dorsennus (also spelled Dossennus or Dossenus) was a
thespian and author of
Atellan Farce in
Ancient Rome
In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 BC ...
, known for his careless performances. According to
Seneca
Seneca may refer to:
People and language
* Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname
* Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America
** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people
Places Extrat ...
his epitaph was: "Halt, stranger, and understand Dossennus' wisdom".
[''Epistulae ad Lucilium'', 89, 7. ''hospes resiste et sophian Dossenni lege.'']
Description
There is some confusion regarding this figure from ancient Roman theater. In one of his epistles,
Horace mentions a Dossennus:
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic ' ...
, however, refers to a Fabius Dossennus as the author of "Acharistio," one of the
Atellanae Fabulae, in his ''Natural History''. Pliny writes:
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)
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1st-century BC Romans
1st-century BC writers
Ancient Roman comic dramatists
Fabii