Fabius Dorsennus

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Fabius Dorsennus or Dossennus (Dossenus). There is some confusion regarding this figure from ancient Roman theater. In one of his epistles, Horace mentions a Dossennus who "exceeds all measure in his voracious parasites; with how loose a sock he runs over the stage: for he is glad to put the money in his pocket, after this regardless whether his play stand or fall” (Book II, Epistle I). Pliny the Elder, however, refers to a Fabius Dossennus as the author of "Acharistio," one of the Atellanæ Fabulæ, in his Natural History (Book XIV, 15 (92)). Pliny writes:

"The wines that were the most esteemed among the ancient Romans were those perfumed with myrrh, as mentioned in the play of Plautus, entitled the 'Persian,' though we find it there stated that calamus ought to be added to it.... Fabius Dossennus quite decides the question, in the following line:— 'I sent them good wine, myrrh-wine'; and in his play called 'Acharistio,' we find these words: 'Bread and pearled barley, myrrh-wine too.'"

Dossennus, however, was also the name of a stock character of the Atellanæ Fabulæ, along with characters such as Macchus (the fool) and Bucco (the fat man), and was depicted as a wily hunchback.

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