ABSTRACT
For the Latin Odyssey is like a work of Daedalus and the plays of Livius are not worth a second reading. Livy's attempts to make this fact invisible underscore Augustan discomfort. The year 240 bce is the traditional date for the beginning of Roman drama, since this was the performance date of the first attested Roman play. That play was scripted by Livius who clearly translated in a more than literal sense the theatrical traditions of Tarentum to Rome. The play was produced presumably at the Ludi Romani held in 240 bce to celebrate Rome's victory in the long war with Carthage, known as the First Punic War. All the stories concerning Naevius troubles with the Metelli and Scipios in the last years of the third century, including imprisonment would fit into place. Indeed action taken against Naevius may itself have helped the young Marcellus into his tribunate.
