Engagement

Engaging the emotions of the crowd was a significant feature of any entertainment. In the case of pantomime and the theater, people wanted to see ‘‘realistic’’ miming of powerful emotion; they also showed up to participate in the triumphs of their favorites. While Pliny may have overstated his claim that factional success was all that interested a crowd, it nonetheless remains true that people were deeply involved in the success of their champion charioteers. Actors had supporters who were notoriously prone to riot in support of their favorites, and we have evidence for gladiatorial fan clubs. At Ephesus, for instance, there was a group known as the Philovedii, who were devoted to the fortunes of the members of the familia owned by the Vedii (Robert 1940: 24-7). Inscriptions recording the membership of gladiators in collegia might also list pagani, or outsiders, who were presumably great supporters of the group (Sabbatini Tumolesi 1988: no. 45; Robert 1940: 85). The senatorial decree of 19 CE that imposed penalties upon people of the senatorial and equestrian orders who appeared as actors and gladiators lists as banned activities not only fighting in the arena, but also a number of support roles (Levick 1983: 101-2). While this might seem a bit extreme, it is yet another sign of the fact that personal identity in the Roman world could be tied to the success or failure ofentertainers one admired. It is also a sign of the fact that while the arenas of public entertainment were often thought to reinforce the social order, they could also be venues for transgressive behaviors to challenge it.

People might not limit their passion for participation to the venue of the entertainment itself. Clay models of gladiators look very much as if they were sold as ‘‘action figures,’’ so that children could play ‘‘gladiator’’ at home (Kohne and Ewigleben 2001: 45-6, though without consideration of their function). Grownups could go much further. We have already seen how people might play at being gladiators and indulge their skill in real or simulated hunts. There are also places where we can see aristocrats trying to imagine what it would be like actually to be a gladiator. Lucilius, for instance, writes in the late second century BCE from the perspective of a gladiator, while the author of a rhetorical work of the imperial period writes from the perspective of a young man of good family who has suddenly found himself sold as a slave into a ludus and from there into the arena (Lucil. fr. 176-81; [Quint.] Decl. 9.6). Juvenal seems to be talking about a real person who went beyond simple imitation and acts of imagination when he describes a senator of good standing who fought as a retiarius (Juv. 2.143-8; 8.199-210). Likewise Nero and Caracalla were certainly not the only members of the aristocracy to take a keen interest in chariot racing. Tigellinus, the evil genius behind the last years of Nero’s reign, seems to have risen to the emperor’s attention because he supplied good chariot horses; Vitellius, briefly emperor in 69 ce, is said to have enjoyed visiting the stables of the factions (Potter 1999b: 295). We have already seen how members of the aristocracy enjoyed acting; here it should be noted that they also enjoyed having actors and other performers around the house. The younger Pliny expresses disapproval of Ummidia Quadratilla, who kept a troupe of pantomimes for her personal entertainment (he thought it promoted sexual promiscuity) (Ep. 7.24). Other actors are found in the context of the imperial court, perhaps, like the mime Mnester, having an affair with an empress (Messalina - he was scarcely alone) or, more simply, like the Jewish mime, Halityrus, helping an embassy get access to the emperor (Leppin 1992: 261-2; 247). A professional wrestler named Narcissus was present in the palace when it looked as if Commodus would survive Marcia’s effort to poison him; she enlisted him to strangle the emperor (Dio 72.22.4-6). As usual we know more about what went on in the palace simply because the evidence for goings-on there is greater than for other places. Still, there is ample evidence, and not just from a work of satire such as Petronius’ Satyricon, for performers of all sorts being kept in the houses of the wealthy to offer dinner-time entertainment (C. P. Jones 1991; Ville 1981: 293-5).