a Roman comic poet, of whom very little more is known than that he died at Rome in in Euseb. Chron. Ol. 175, 3.) His surname Atta was given him,
according to Festus (s. v.), from a defect in his feet, to which
circumstance many commentators suppose that Horace alludes in the lines (Ep. 2.1. 79),
but the joke is so poor and far-fetched, that we
are unwilling to father it upon Horace. It appears, however, from this passage of Horace, that
the plays of Atta were very popular in his time. Atta is also mentioned by Fronto (p. 95, ed.
Rom.); but the passage of Cicero (perambulet Attaepro Sestio, 51), in which his name
occurs, is evidently corrupt.
The comedies of Atta belonged to the class called by the Roman grammarians togatae tabernariac (Diomedes, iii. p. 487, ed. Putsch), that is, comedies in which
Roman manners and Roman persons were introduced. The titles and a few fragments of the
following plays of Atta have come down to us: ad Hor. Ep. 2.1.
80)ad Virg. Ed.
7.33)
The fragments of Atta are collected by Bothe, in Poet. Scen. Lat.
vol. v. par. ii. p. 97, &c.; compare Weichert, Poet. Lat.
Reliquiae, p. 345.
Tiro Proficiscens. (Priscian, viii. p. 828.)