I.of or pertaining to comedy, comic: “poëta,” Cic. Or. 20, 67: “artificium,” id. Rosc. Com. 10, 18: “levitates,” id. N. D. 3, 29, 72: “res,” the material of comedy, Hor. A. P. 89: “scaenae,” Vitr. 5, 8: “gestus,” Quint. 11, 3, 125: “senarius,” id. 9, 4, 140: “ad morem,” id. 1, 8, 3: virtus (Terentii), C. Caes. ap. Suet. Vit. Ter. 5: “persona,” Quint. 11, 3, 79; Plin. 25, 11, 88, § 137: “auctores,” Quint. 2, 10, 13.—
B. Esp., represented in comedy: “ut comici servi solent,” Plaut. Capt. 4, 1, 11: stulti senes, Caecil. ap. Cic. Sen. 11, 36, and Lael. 26, 99; so, “adulescens,” Cic. Rosc. Am. 16, 47: “Davus,” Hor. S. 2, 5, 91: “moecha Thais,” Prop. 4 (5), 5, 44. “aurum = lupinum,” lupines, used by comic actors instead of money, Plaut. Poen. 3, 2, 20.—
II. Subst.: cōmĭcus , i, m.
A. An actor of comedy, a comedian, Plaut. Poen. 3, 2, 4; id. Pers. 4, 2, 4; Inscr. Grut. 1089, 6. —More freq.,
B. A comic poet, writer of comedy, Cic. Or. 55, 184; Quint. 1, 7, 22; 2, 16, 3; 9, 3, 14; 10, 1, 72; 11, 1, 38; 12, 2, 22.—Adv.: cōmĭcē , in the manner of comedy: “res tragicas tractare,” Cic. de Or. 3, 8, 30; cf. Sen. Ep. 100, 10.
