Cose da niente. Il concetto di trica nelle atellane

Fabrizio Loffredo

Abstract:

Very often, among studies dedicated to the Latin Atellana, the term trica is used to mean a primitive and coarse plot. Behind this use lies the convinction that the genre Atellana, before the Sullan poets Pomponius and Novius, had a preliterary period distinguished by improvisation and slanging matches, which embodied the only theatrical scheme. Scholars derived trica from a contentious fragment belonging to Varro’s Menippeae, which is likely referring to something worthless. The reader will find in this contribution a study of trica through different literary occurences and proverbial sayings, to confirm the word’s meaning of «worthless», «trifle» and review the misunderstanding which wrongly connected this term to «plot» and specifically to Atellana’s intrigues.