I.of or belonging to the stage, scenic, dramatic, theatrical (class.).
I. Lit.: “poëtae,” dramatic poets, Varr. L. L. 9, § 17 Müll.: “artifices,” players, actors, Cic. Arch. 5, 10; Suet. Caes. 84: “actores,” Quint. 6, 1, 26; 11, 3, 4: ludi, stage-plays, theatrical representations, in a gen. sense (opp. to games of wrestling, racing, etc.), Liv. 7, 2; 31, 4; 34, 54; Ter. Hec. prol. alt. 37; Suet. Calig. 26; id. Ner. 11; cf. “operae (with gladiatoriae),” id. Aug. 43: “fabula,” a drama, Amm. 28, 1, 4: “organa,” Suet. Ner. 44: “coronae,” id. ib. 53: “habitus,” id. ib. 38: “gestus,” Cic. de Or. 3, 59, 220: “modulatio,” Quint. 11, 3, 57: “venustas,” Cic. de Or. 3, 8, 30: “decor quidam,” Quint. 2, 10, 13: “dicacitas (with scurrilis),” id. 6, 3, 29: “fortuna dubia, Ter. Hec. prol. alt. 8: adulteria,” represented on the stage, Ov. Tr. 2, 514.—In the neutr.: “quin etiam, quod est inprimis frivolum ac scaenicum, verbum petant (declamatores), quo incipiant,” Quint. 10, 7, 21: “nihil scaenicum apud Graecos pudori est,” Liv. 24, 24; cf., with a subject-clause: “complodere manus scaenicum est et pectus caedere,” Quint. 11, 3, 123.—
B. Substt.
1. scaē-nĭcus , i, m., a player, actor, Cic. Off. 1, 31, 114: “orator plurimum aberit a scaenico (with comoedi),” Quint. 1, 11, 3; Suet. Ner. 42 fin.—Plur., Cic. Planc. 12, 30; Cic. Verr. 2, 3, 79, § 184; Quint. 11, 3, 158; Suet. Tib. 34; id. Ner. 11; 21 et saep.—As a term of reproach applied to Nero (on account of his passion for the stage), a stage-hero, Tac. A. 15, 59.—
2. scaenĭca , ae, f., a female player, an actress, Cod. Just. 5, 27, 1; Ambros. Obit. Valent. § 17.—*
II. Transf. (opp. to real, true, actual), fictitious, pretended: “populus Romanus, invictus a veris regibus, ab illo imaginario et scaenico rege (sc. Andrisco) superatur,” by that theatrical king, Flor. 2, 14, 4.—* Adv.: scaenĭcē , theatrically, after the manner of players: “cum aliqua velut scaenice fiunt,” Quint. 6, 1, 38.