Dulorestes (Orestes as a slave)

We do not know when this play was produced. Pacuvius lived from 220- 130 BC and according to Cicero he was producing tragedies even at the age of 80 (Cicero, Brutus, 64, 229), i.e. in 140 BC. The date range given performance is therefore based on the assumption that he could have been writing tragedies from the age of 30 and may have continued to produce them until 140 (he apparently spent his last years in Tarentum). Cicero, On Friendship 40, refers to the audience reaction to a scene in a tragedy by Pacuvius where Pylades claims to be Orestes (in order to save him from death). It is perhaps to the performance of this play that Cicero refers. It is assumed here that his plays were performed in Rome.