Octavia is the only extant tragedy in fabula praetexta or historical Roman tragedy in Roman scene and setting. It is remarkably true to fact, and almost every statement may be verified by reference to the ancient historians.

It deals with the sad story of Octavia, the daughter of Claudius and Messalina. Married against her will when only twelve years old to Nero, a lad of sixteen, she was after five years divorced by her husband on a charge of barrenness in favor of Poppaea Sabina, and in 62 A.D. was banished to a desert island there to be executed.

The play is a well rounded whole, all the parts are well worked out, and the characters are vivid and lifelike. There is a force and majesty in the tragedy which carries the reader through without pause. The sad story of Octavia forms the plot, but the poet has interwoven political motives and represents the people as taking Octavia’s part. This only serves to hasten her death, for Nero eagerly seizes upon this as a pretext to condemn her.

There are five acts in the play, and each is closed by chants from the chorus which serve to explain the action further. There are many references to history and mythology, but the atmosphere is distinctly Roman. At no time do three actors appear on the stage in the same scene. The characters are exactly as one would expect from a close study of history and are delineated with marvelous skill and fidelity.

The versification is confined to iambic meters in the dialogues, while the choruses, though they form a very prominent feature, are restricted to anapestic systems somewhat loosely constructed.

The play is really a bitter impeachment of Nero and was composed shortly after his death in 68 A.D. The tragedy of Octavia for a long time was supposed to be written by Seneca and was handed down to posterity with his genuine dramas, but later authorities ascribe its authorship possibly to Curiatius Maternus. There is unmistakable evidence in the words of the play that it was composed after Nero’s death, and this would render the authorship of Seneca entirely out of the question since he died three years before Nero.

There is perceptible the strong influence of Greek tragedy, but the plot and setting are distinctly original. Octavia has the characteristics of tragedy as laid down by Aristotle, that the aim is to purify the passions by means of action exciting pity for the actors and fear for the hearers, and that the leading characters must partly occasion their own misfortunes. Octavia conforms to the old Greek idea of the unities of time, place, and action. The place of action is confined to the palace of Nero; the action may be considered as taking place in one day and night; and the action forms a whole of which each part has its proper place and the parts follow one another in logical order.