Quintus Roscius (ca. 126 BC – 62 BC) was a Roman actor. The cognomen Gallus is dubious, as it appears only once as a scholia in a manuscript of Cicero's Pro Archia.

Life

<blockquote>Constiteram exorientem Auroram forte salutans <br /> cum subito a laeva Roscius exoritur.<br /> Pace mihi liceat, caelestes, dicere vestra <br /> mortalis visus pulchrior esse deo. <br />

I stood by chance to greet the uprising Aurora, when suddenly, on the left, Roscius rose up. Please, o heavenly gods, give me leave to say that a mortal seemed to me more handsome than a god.—Quintus Lutatius Catulus</blockquote>

Roscius was born a slave in Lanuvium, about 3 miles (4.8 km) from Rome. Later he would encourage the legend that his nursemaid once found a snake coiled around him in his crib, a very auspicious omen, but Cicero scoffed at the veracity of this story. His master sent him to be trained as an actor after observing his penchant for mimicry. For many years he received no remuneration as it was the custom for slave-owners to take most or all of their slaves' salaries but eventually his master permitted him to keep part of his earnings and in time he bought his freedom.

The name Roscius was his former master's, a legacy of his servitude. Provided this cognomen is correct, Gallus might have been his slave name but might also have signified that his father was a Gallic slave. No other Roman actor obtained comparable popularity and esteem. So highly was he regarded that even his pupils were assured of success on the boards. The refined Greek method of acting was currently out of vogue in favor of coarser fodder, but Roscius overturned this view, demonstrating that the highest art lies in moderation, not clown-like antics.

Reputation

By the Renaissance, Roscius formed the paradigm for dramatic excellence. When Thomas Nashe wanted to praise Edward Alleyn as the best actor of his generation, he called Alleyn a Roscius (Pierce Penniless, 1592); John Downes titled his history of Restoration drama Roscius Anglicanus (1708). David Garrick, the leading English actor of his day, was known as the English Roscius. The African American actor Ira Aldridge, who was born in New York in 1807 and died in Lodz, Poland in 1867, and one of the finest Shakespearean actors of his age, was known as 'The African Roscius'.

In literature

Roscius is mentioned by Hamlet in Act II, Scene II of Shakespeare's tragedy, and in Henry VI, Part 3 Act 5, Scene 6

In the 1850 novel David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, the character Mr. Barkis calls the title character 'a young Roeshus', the misspelling apparently meant to reflect Barkis' rustic background.

References

  • H.H. Pfluger, Cicero's Rede pro Q. Roscio Comoedo (1904).
  • Cicero, Pro Q. Roscio Comoedo, English translation at attalus.org