Quintus Roscius Gallus

Quintus Roscius Gallus (* around 126 BC; † 62 BC ) was a Roman actor . He was born freed in Solonium near Lanuvium .

Equipped with a pleasant face and a muscular figure, he received general praise for his grace and elegance on stage. He studied the appearances and gestures of the most distinguished defenders in the Roman Forum , especially Hortensius Hortalus , and passed on his findings, for example, to Cicero , who took lessons from him. The two often competed in friendly rivalry over whether the speaker or the actor could express a thought or a feeling more effectively. Roscius wrote a treatise in which he compared acting and oratory. Quintus Lutatius Catulus wrote a quatrain in his honor, and the dictator Sulla presented him with a gold ring, the badge of knighthood , a notable award for an actor in Rome, where this profession was usually viewed with contempt.

Like his contemporary Clodius Aesopus, Roscius amassed an enormous fortune and it appears that he retired from the stage some time before his death. In 76 BC He was sued by Gaius Fannius Chaerea for 50,000 sesterces and defended by Cicero in a famous speech.

literature

HH Pflüger: Cicero's speech per Q. Roscio Comoedo. 1904.
Walter Eder : Roscius [I 7]. In: The Little Pauly (KlP). Volume 4, Stuttgart 1972, column 1458.
Hartmut Leppin : Histrions. Studies on the social position of stage artists in the west of the Roman Empire at the time of the Republic and the Principate (= Antiquitas . Series 1, Volume 41). Rudolf Habelt, Bonn 1992, ISBN 3-7749-2517-8 , pp. 241-244.
Horst-Dieter Blume : Roscius I 4th In: The New Pauly (DNP). Volume 10, Metzler, Stuttgart 2001, ISBN 3-476-01480-0 , Sp. 1136 f.

personal data
SURNAME	Roscius Gallus, Quintus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Gallus, Quintus Roscius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Roman actor
DATE OF BIRTH	around 126 BC Chr.
PLACE OF BIRTH	Solonium at Lanuvium
DATE OF DEATH	62 BC Chr.