Frequently the soliloquy takes the form of a long solo passage directed at
the audience, while the action halts for a whole scene to allow the actor
to regale his public with the poet's views on the sins of society,
economic topics of the day, or topics of the by-gone days in Athens, and
the like. The resemblance to the interpolated song and dance of musical
comedy is most striking. The comparison is the more apt, as about
two-thirds of the illustrative scenes referred to in the next paragraph
are in _canticum_. It is a pity that the comic chorus had disappeared, or
the picture were complete. That it is often on the actor's initial
appearance that he sings his song or speaks his piece, strengthens the
resemblance. But this is a natural growth under the influence of two
publics, the Greek and the Roman, notably fond of declamation and oratory.
LeGrand believes this a characteristic directly derived from a narrative
form of Middle Comedy embodied in certain extant fragments.[139]
The slave class is the topic of many of these monodies: either the virtues
of the loyal slave are extolled[140], or the knavery of the cunning
slave[141]. The parasite is "featured" too, when Ergasilus bewails the
decline of his profession[142], or Peniculus and Gelasimus indulge in
haunting threnody on their perpetual lack of food[143]. Bankers, lawyers
and panders come in for their share of satire[144]. Our favorite topic
today, the frills and furbelows of woman's dress and its reform, held the
boards of ancient Athens and Rome[145]. In _Mil._ 637 ff, Periplecomenus
descants on the joys of the old bon vivant and the expense of a wife. The
delights or pains of love[146], the ruminations of old age[147], marriage
reform[148] and divorce[149], the views of _meretrices_ and their victims
on the arts of their profession[150], the habits of cooks[151], the pride
of valor and heroic deeds[152] are fruitful subjects. In _Cur._ 462 ff.
the _choragus_ interpolates a recital composed of topical allusions to the
manners of different neighborhoods of Rome. We have two descriptions of
dreams[153], and a clever bit which paints a likeness between a man and a
house[154]. In foreign vein is the lament of Palaestra in _Rud._ 185 ff.,
which sounds like an echo from tragedy. The appearance of the Fishermen's
Chorus (_Rud._ 290 ff.) is wholly adventitious and seems designed to
intensify the atmosphere of the seacoast, if indeed it has any purpose at
all. In this category also belong the revels of the drunken Pseudolus with
his song and dance[155], and the final scene of the _St._[156], where, the
action of the slender plot over, the comedy slaves royster and dance with
the harlot. When Ballio drives his herd before him, as he berates them
merrily to the tune of a whip, we have an energetic and effective
scene[157].