Classical Literature Companion:
Lucius Afrānius
Afrānius, Lucius (active c.160–120 BC), writer of Roman comedies (fabulae togatae), of which only scanty fragments and forty-two titles survive. He may also have been an advocate in the law-courts. His plays depicted Italian life and characters; Horace says (Epistles II. 1. 57) that admirers compared him with the Greek writer of comedy Menander. Afranius acknowledges his indebtedness to Menander, but the extent of it is unknown. The popularity of his plays continued under the empire; the emperor Nero staged a realistic and costly performance of ‘The Fire’, allowing the actors to keep what furniture they could rescue from a house which was actually set on fire.
