Caecilius Statius

Who is Caecilius Statius?

Statius Caecilius, also known as Caecilius Statius was a Roman comic poet.

A contemporary and intimate friend of Ennius, he was born in the territory of the Insubrian Gauls, probably in Mediolanum, and was probably taken as a prisoner to Rome, during the great Gallic war. Originally a slave, he assumed the name of Caecilius from his patron, probably one of the Metelli. He supported himself by adapting Greek plays for the Roman stage from the New Comedy writers, especially Menander, a genre called Palliata Comoedia. If the statement in the life of Terence by Suetonius is correct and the reading sound, Caecilius's judgment was so esteemed that he was ordered to hear Terence's Andria read and to pronounce an opinion upon it.

After several failures, Caecilius gained a high reputation. Volcatius Sedigitus, the dramatic critic, places him first amongst the comic poets; Varro credits him with pathos and skill in the construction of his plots; Horace contrasts his dignity with the art of Terence. Quintilian speaks somewhat disparagingly of him, and Cicero, although he admits with some hesitation that Caecilius may have been the chief of the comic poets, considers him inferior to Terence in style and Latinity, as was only natural, considering his foreign extraction.