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Plautus’ plays were early criticized as to their genuineness. Gell. iii. 3, 1–3, after mentioning the canons of Aelius Stilo, Sedigitus, etc., says that Varro admitted twenty-one plays which were given by all the canons, and added some more. ‘Nam praeter illas unam et viginti, quae Varronianae vocantur, quas idcirco a ceteris segregavit, quoniam dubiosae non erant, set consensu omnium Plauti esse censebantur, quasdam item alias probavit adductus filo atque facetia sermonis Plauto congruentis easque iam nominibus aliorum occupatas Plauto vindicavit.’

About one hundred and thirty plays were current under the name of Plautus; the theory of Varro (Gell. iii. 3, 10) that these were written by a certain Plautius is improbable.

Gell. iii. 3, 11, ‘Feruntur sub Plauti nomine comoediae circiter centum atque triginta.’

There is little doubt that the ‘fabulae Varronianae’ are those which have come down to us with the addition of the Vidularia, which was lost between the sixth and the eleventh centuries. The number of Varro’s second class, consisting of those pieces that stood in most of the indices and exhibited Plautine features, Ritschl has fixed at nineteen, from citations in Varro de lingua Latina. Besides the genuine plays the names of thirty-two others are known.

The extant plays[6] are as follows:

1. Amphitruo, a tragicomoedia, the only play of Plautus of the kind. Prol. 59,

‘Faciam ut conmixta sit haec tragicomoedia.’

The original and the date are unknown. The play shows the features of the Sicilian Rhinthonica.[7] About three hundred lines have been lost after Act. iv., Scene 2. The scene is Thebes, which, with Roman carelessness or ignorance, is made a harbour; cf. ll. 629 sqq.

2. Asinaria (sc. fabula), from the ᾽Οναγός of Demophilus, supposed to have been a writer of the New Comedy. Prol. 10–12,

‘Huic nomen Graece Onagost fabulae;

Demophilus scripsit, Maccius vortit barbare.

Asinariam volt esse, si per vos licet.’

Authorities assign the play to about B.C. 194. The scene is Athens.

3. Aulularia (from aulula, ‘a little pot.’)—Neither the original nor the exact time of composition is known. From Megadorus’ tirade against the luxury of women, ll. 478 sqq., it has been inferred that the play was written after the repeal of the Oppian Law in B.C. 195. The end of the play is lost. The scene is Athens.

4. Captivi, a piece without active interest (stataria), without female characters, and claiming a moral purpose; l. 1029,

‘Spectatores, ad pudicos mores facta haec fabulast.’

Some authorities think that the parasite (Ergasilus) is an addition to the original play, which may have belonged to the New Comedy. The scene is in Aetolia.

5. Curculio, so called from the name of the parasite. The Greek original is unknown; but ll. 462–86 contain a speech from the Choragus, in the style of the παράβασις of the Old Comedy. In l. 509,

‘Rogitationes plurumas propter vos populus scivit

quas vos rogatas rumpitis,’

there is probably an allusion to the Lex Sempronia de pecunia credita, B.C. 193. The scene is Epidaurus.

6. Casina, so called from a slave-girl introduced. The original was the Κληρούμενοι of Diphilus. Prol. 31,

‘Clerumenoe vocatur haec comoedia

Graece, Latine Sortientes. Deiphilus

hanc Graece scripsit.’

The inference from l. 979, ‘Nam ecastor nunc Bacchae nullae ludunt,’ that the play was written after the S.C. de Bacchanalibus in B.C. 186, is improbable; the words rather show, as Mommsen[8] believes, an anterior date, when it was not yet dangerous to speak of the Bacchanalia. Some authorities find support for the latter date in the words of the prologue, ll. 9–20 (written after the poet’s death). The text of the play has suffered greatly. The scene is Athens.

7. Cistellaria.—This play contains a reference to the war against Hannibal then going on; ll. 197 sqq.,

‘Bene valete, et vincite

virtute vera, quod fecistis antidhac, …

ut vobis victi Poeni poenas sufferant.’

According to Ritschl, about 600 verses have been lost. The scene is Sicyon.

8. Epidicus.—This play is referred to in the Bacchides, ll. 213–5 (spoken by Chrysalus), where the unpopularity of the play is attributed to the acting of Pellio.

‘Non res, sed actor mihi cor odio sauciat.

Etiam Epidicum, quam ego fabulam aeque ac me ipsum amo,

nullam aeque invitus specto, si agit Pellio.’

Epid. 222,

‘Sed vestita, aurata, ornata ut lepide! ut concinne! ut nove!’ etc.,

shows that the piece was written after the repeal of the Lex Oppia Sumptuaria, B.C. 195. The plot is complicated, and contaminatio is assumed by some authorities. The play contains only seven hundred and thirty-three lines, and some believe it to be a stage edition. The scene is Athens.

9. Bacchides.—The first part of this play, along with the last part of the Aulularia,[9] has been lost, as also the prefaces of the grammarians, so that we do not know what was in the first part. The original was probably Menander’s Δὶς ἐξαπατῶν. Plautus appears to refer to this twice, l. 1090,

‘Perii: pudet. Hocine me aetatis ludos bis factum esse indigne’;

l. 1128,

‘Pol hodie altera iam bis detonsa certost.’

The line, ὃν οἱ θεοὶ φιλοῦσιν, ἀποθνῄσκει νέος, which belongs to the same play (Stobaeus, Serm. 120, 8) is translated in ll. 816–7,

‘quem di diligunt

adulescens moritur.’

The date is pretty well fixed by l. 1073,

‘Quod non triumpho: pervolgatumst, nil moror.’

Now, triumphs were not frequent till after the Second Punic War, and were especially frequent from B.C. 197 to 187. The play probably refers to the four triumphs of B.C. 189, and may have been brought out in that or the following year. The scene is Athens.

10. Mostellaria (sc. fabula, ‘a play dealing with a ghost,’ from mostellum, dim. of monstrum).—The play is quoted by Festus, p. 166, as ‘Mostellaria’; pp. 162 and 305, as ‘Phasma.’ According to Ritschl, the Φάσμα of Philemon was Plautus’ model. The reference to unguenta exotica (l. 42) points to a late date, when Asiatic luxury was growing common. The play is imitated in Ben Jonson’s Alchemist. The scene is Athens.

11. Menaechmi.—If ll. 409 sqq., ‘Syracusis … ubi rex … nunc Hierost,’ were written independently by Plautus, the date must be before B.C. 215; but the reference may only mean that the Greek original was composed between 275 and 215 B.C. It has been conjectured that a comedy by Posidippus (possibly called Δίδυμοι) was the original, from Athenaeus, xiv. p. 658, οὐδὲ γὰρ ἂν εὕροι τις ὑμῶν δοῦλόν τινα μάγειρον ἐν κωμῳδίᾳ πλὴν παρὰ Ποσειδίππῳ μόνῳ. Now, the Menaechmi is the only play of Plautus where a cook is a house-slave, Cylindrus being the slave of Erotium; in his other plays cooks are hired from the Forum. The scene is Epidamnus.

12. Miles Gloriosus.—In ll. 211–2 (the only personal allusion in Plautus),

‘Nam os columnatum poetae esse indaudivi barbaro,

quoi bini custodes semper totis horis occubant,’

we have a reference to the imprisonment of Naevius, which shows that the play was written before his banishment, probably B.C. 206–5 (see under ‘Naevius’). Line 1016, ‘Cedo signum, si harum Baccharum es,’ shows that the play is anterior to B.C. 186.

The original is the Ἀλαζών of some Greek poet. Cf. ll. 86–7,

‘Alazon Graece huic nomen est comoediae:

id nos Latine gloriosum dicimus.’

The play, however, exhibits contaminatio. Two distinct actions, the cheating of Sceledrus (Act i.) and the cheating of the Miles (Acts ii. and iii.), are united rather loosely; and it has been conjectured that Menander’s Κόλαξ, or (according to Ritschl) Diphilus’ Αἱρησιτείχης, was the play used. Ritschl’s view is perhaps supported by the word urbicape in l. 1055. The play is the longest palliata preserved. The scene is Ephesus.

13. Mercator.—The original is Philemon’s Ἔμπορος; ll. 5–6,

‘Graece haec vocatur Emporos Philemonis;

eadem Latine Mercator Macci Titi.’

Some light is thrown on the date by ll. 524–6.

‘L. Ovem tibi eccillam dabo, natam annos sexaginta, peculiarem. P. Mei senex, tam vetulam? L. Generis Graeci est. Eam sei curabeis, perbonast; tondetur nimium scite.’

This could not have been written before B.C. 196, the date of the settlement of Greece. The play shows traces of two distinct editions. The scene is Athens.

14. Pseudolus.—The Greek original is unknown. The date of production (B.C. 191) is got from the didascalia, as restored by Ritschl, ‘M. Iunio M. fil. pr. urb. acta Megalesiis.’ The Megalesian games were held in that year in honour of the dedication of the temple which had been vowed to Cybele, B.C. 204 (Livy, xxxvi. 36). ‘Pseudolus’ = Ψευδύλος, but is connected by popular etymology with dolus. Cf. the puns in l. 1205,

‘Edepol hominem verberonem Pseudolum, ut docte dolum

commentust’;

l. 1244,

‘Superavit dolum Troianum atque Ulixem Pseudolus.’

Several references to the play are found in Cicero: Cato Maior, 50 (quoted p. 9); Phil. ii. 15; pro Rosc. Com. 20. The scene is Athens.

15. Poenulus.—The original was a Greek play, Καρχηδόνιος, the author of which is unknown, as the fragments of Menander’s Καρχηδόνιος do not fit in with Plautus’ play. The play was called by Plautus ‘Patruus,’ but posterity went back to the older name ‘Poenulus.’ Prol. 53,

‘Carchedonius vocatur haec comoedia

Graece, Latine Patruus Pultiphagonidae.’[10]

Authorities assign the play to B.C. 189. The play is considerably interpolated, one ending being at l. 1371, another at l. 1422, whence some authorities have considered ll. 1372–1422 as spurious. Ritschl thinks that the two endings are about the same age, and compares the double ending of the Andria of Terence. The play is noted for the two Carthaginian renderings of the soliloquy of Hanno, ll. 930–9, and ll. 940–9. The scene is Calydon in Aetolia.

16. Persa.—This play, the original of which is unknown, has been variously assigned to 197 and 186 B.C. The play shows traces of two distinct editions. The scene is Athens.

17. Rudens.—This play has been assigned to about B.C. 192. The original is by Diphilus; and the scene is Cyrene. Prol., 1. 32,

‘Primumdum huic esse nomen urbi Diphilus

Cyrenas voluit.’

18. Stichus, performed B.C. 200 ludis plebeis, as we learn from the didascalia, ‘Graeca Adelphoe Menandru acta ludis plebeis Cn. Baebio C. Terentio aed. pl. … C. Sulpicio C. Aurelio coss.’ This cannot be the Adelphi imitated by Terence, the fragments of which do not bear the least resemblance to the Stichus. It may be a second Adelphi by Menander. Others read ‘Philadelphoe’ in the above didascalia. Part of the play has been lost, and it shows traces of two distinct editions. The scene is Athens.

19. Trinummus.—The original was Philemon’s Θησαυρός, as seen from the didascalia, ‘Graeca Thensaurus Philemonis acta ludis Megalensibus.’ Some indication of the date is got from l. 990,

‘Vapulabis meo arbitratud et novorum aedilium.’

The only festival that would suit the term novi aediles is the ludi Megalenses[11] as from B.C. 266 to 153 the new magistrates entered on office on the Ides of March. This festival was not of a scenic character till B.C. 194, consequently the Trinummus must be after that date. The mention of Syrian slaves in l. 542 also makes it probable that this is one of the latest works of Plautus. The scene is Athens.

20. Truculentus.—The original is unknown. The play was written in Plautus’ old age, probably about B.C. 189. The text has suffered greatly. The scene is Athens.

21. Vidularia.—Only fragments are extant. It is thought to have been modelled on a play called Σχεδία by Menander.

Argumenta.—These are in senarii, and give a summary of each play. Two sets are found. The first set are acrostic, and are extant for all the plays except the Vidularia and the Bacchides. The second series was probably written by Sulpicius Apollinaris in the second century A.D. There are only five of them extant in the MSS., and fragments of other two.

Prologues.—These (which were usual in the Old and the New Comedy) gave the name of the piece and the author, the original and its author, the scene of the play, and a partial list of characters. In the Prologue also the poet often asked the favour of the audience. Prologues to fourteen plays are extant. The part of the prologue Plautus (like the New Comedy) assigned either to a god, as in the Rudens to Arcturus, or to one of the characters, as in the Mercator to a youth (cf. Mil. and Amph.), or to an actor addressing the audience in the name of the poet, as in the Truculentus. All the prologues have suffered from interpolation, but those of Amph., Merc., Rud., and Trin., and the second parts of those of Mil. and Aul., are founded on what Plautus wrote. The prologues in Cas., Poen., and Capt., are due to later hands. That the prologues are interpolated is shown by their diction; the wit is often poor, and the language un-Plautine, or imitated closely from Plautus’ genuine works. The prologues in their present form probably date from a period shortly after that in which Terence flourished, when there was a want of new plays, and people went back to Plautus. This is shown by the references to fixed seats for the spectators (Poen. 15, Amph. 65, and Capt. 11), which were forbidden by a S.C. passed in B.C. 154, when Cassius Longinus began to build a theatre of stone—a law that was not repealed till some years later. Cf. Capt. 11,

‘Negat hercle ille ultimis accensus. Cedito:

si non ubi sedeas locus est, est ubi ambules.’

The Acts.—The plays of Plautus probably went on with few breaks, during which the audience were entertained with music. Cf. Pseud. 573,

‘Tibicen vos interea hic delectaverit.’

Diverbium and Canticum.—There was no chorus in Roman comedy, but part of the play was set to music and sung to the flute. Some MSS. denote this by C (Canticum); while DV (usually placed only over iambic senarii) denotes dialogue or soliloquy (Diverbium). Iambic senarii were spoken; other metres were sung; but the scenes in septenarii stood midway between the dialogue and the canticum. Only about a fourth of Plautus’ verses are in iambic senarii, while in Terence, who followed Menander in this respect, about half of the verses are in this form.

The Characters.—These, with the occasional exception of slaves, are un-Roman, and exhibit Greek traits belonging to Athens of the time of the New Comedy. Plautus, unlike Terence, usually alters the names used in the original Greek plays, and substitutes ‘tell-tale names’; so Parmeno (παραμένων), ‘the faithful slave’; Polemo, ‘the soldier’; Misargyrides, playfully for the tarpessita (banker). The names are often of Latin derivation; thus Saturio, in Pers.; Peniculus, in Menaech.; Curculio, in Curc.

The Language of Plautus, in spite of the Greek dress his plays assume, represents essentially the conversational language of his time. Many Greek features in language are, however, retained. For words kept in the original Greek cf. παῦσαι, οἴχεται, εὖγε, πάλιν, ἐπιθήκην (all in the Trin.); for Greek words Latinized cf. gynaeceum, parasitus, opsonium, dapsilis (= δαψιλής); for hybrid new formations based on Greek cf. thensaurarius, plagipatidae, opsonari, pultiphagus.

References to manners and customs.—(a) Many references to Greek life are retained from the original, especially in matters relating to dress, art, and money (Plautus has no reference to Roman money). Such are chlamys, petasus, pallium, cyathus, cantharus, thermopolium, cerussa, melinum (pigmentum), gynaeceum, balineae, ambulacrum, porticus, fores Samiae (Menaech. 178), nummus (= drachma or didrachma), nummi Philippei, mina, tarpessita, symbolus, epistula. Cf. also Pseud. 146–7,

‘Ut ne peristromata quidem aeque picta sint Campanica,

neque Alexandrina beluata tonsilia tappetia.’

(b) There are, however, innumerable references to Roman public life and manners and customs, even in passages manifestly close to the original, although references to public events are rare.

1. Military expressions.—These, many of which are used metaphorically, were well adapted for an audience most of whom had seen service. The following are from the Miles: legiones, imperator, peditastelli, rogare, latrocinari, stipendium, conscribere, contubernales, eques, pedes, machinas parare. Cf. also Pseud. 148,

‘Dederamque suas provincias’;

Pseud. 572,

‘Dum concenturio in corde sycophantias’;

Bacch. 709,

‘De ducentis nummis primum intendam ballistam in senem:

ea ballista si pervortam turrim et propugnacula,

recta porta invadam extemplo in oppidum antiquom et vetus.’

All references, however, to the enrolment of mercenaries (latrones) are probably Greek and belong to the original play.

2. Political expressions.—(a) Names of officials, etc. So tresviri, quaestor, aedilis, praetor, senatus. Cf. Trin. 879,

‘Census quom sum iuratori recte rationem dedi’;

Pseud. 1232,

‘Centuriata habuit capitis comitia.’

(b) Law. So advocatus (Mil. 663), festuca (Mil. 961), lege agito (Mil. 453). Cf. Menaech. 571–95 (on patrons and clients); Trin. 500–4, where Roman terms of stipulatio are used.

3. Festivals and localities.—References to these are rarer. Examples are: Mil. 691,

‘Da, mi vir, Calendis meam qui matrem moenerem’;

Trin. 545,

‘Campans genus’;

Trin. 609,

‘Tam modo, inquit Praenestinus.’

Mil. 359,

‘Credo ego istoc exemplo tibi esse pereundum extra portam’;

a reference to the Esquiline gate, outside which slaves were executed.

4. Private life.—These references are mostly to the lower classes, especially slaves, with whom Plautus was very familiar. Hence words referring to household duties, as promus, suppromus, cella, cellarius, verna, pulmentum (from Mil.) To their patois also belong phrases for cheating, like emungere, intervortere, sarcinam imponere, ducere, ductare, circumducere, and the very large number of words relating to punishment, as: furcifer, verbero, supplicium virgarum, varius virgis, talos frangere, crux, verberea statua (Pseud. 911); gymnasium flagri (Asin. 297). Cf. also Epid. 17,

‘Quid ais? perpetuen valuisti?—Varie.’

From slave life come also terms of abuse like volturius, scelus, odium populi, mers mala, lapis, saxum. Note that cruelty in the treatment of slaves is peculiarly Roman; but their familiarity with their masters and their general situation are from Greek life.

Prosody.[12]—Plautine prosody, which reflected the variation of quantity found in the popular speech, was not properly understood even in Cicero’s time.

Cf. Cic. Or. 184, ‘Comicorum senarii propter similitudinem sermonis sic saepe sunt abiecti ut non numquam vix in eis numerus et versus intellegi possit.’

The chief points are as follows:

1. Final -s is often lost. Rud. 103,

‘Patér, salveto, ambóque adeo. Et tu sálvŏs sis’;

Most. 1124,

‘Quóque modo dominum ádvenientem sérvos ludificátŭs sit.’

2. A mute followed by a liquid does not make the preceding vowel long. Thus agris, libros, duplex, are iambi.

3. Iambic words may become pyrrhics, on account of the stress accent on the first syllable. So dŏmī and căvē have the last syllable short.[13] Trin. 868,

‘Fórĭs pultabo. Ad nóstras aedis híc quidem habet rectám viam’;

Stich. 99,

‘Bónăs ut aequomst fácere facitis, quóm tamen absentís viros.’

4. The stress accent sometimes causes final syllables to be dropped, and so to have no effect on quantity, as in enim, apud, quidem, parum, soror, caput, amant, habent, etc. Trin. 77,

‘Qui in méntem venĭt tibi ístaec dicta dícere?’

Stich. 18 (anapaestic),

‘Haec rés vitae me, sórŏr, saturant.’

No shortening, however, takes place when the accent goes back to the antepenult (cf. continē), nor in words like aetas, mores, where the first syllable is long, nor even in abi, tene, tace, and the like, when the chief accent is weakened, i.e., where these words are pronounced slowly and emphatically (especially before a pause). Asin. 543,

‘Intro abī: nam té quidem edepol níhil est inpudéntius.’

5. This influence of the chief accent affects also combinations of two monosyllabic words which make an iambus, and combinations like ego illi, age ergo, in which the second syllable of the second word is elided. Trin. 354,

‘Is ĕst inmunis, quoí nihil est qui múnus fungatúr suom’;

Trin. 133,

‘Non égo ĭlli argentum rédderem? Non rédderes’;

Stich. 237,

‘Adíbo ad hominem. Quís haĕc est quae advorsúm venit?’

6. The chief accent could also affect a preceding syllable. In polysyllables or polysyllabic combinations, when the chief accent was on the third syllable, the second syllable, if long, could be shortened, provided the first syllable were short. Trin. 456,

‘Ferĕntárium esse amícum inventum intéllego’;

Stich. 59,

‘Néc volŭntate id fácere meminit,’ etc.;

Stich. 179,

‘Per ănnónam caram díxit me natúm pater.’

7. The following common words have to be separately considered, ille, iste, unde, inde, nempe. In the last three the liquid was practically dropped; iste was pronounced as ste; and in ille only one l was heard, cf. ellum, ellam (en-illum = en-ilum = en-lum = ellum). Frustra is a trochee, as in Menaech. 692 (at the end of a line), frústră sis; and the first i of fieri is long. Cf. Trin. 532,

’Si in ópserendo possint interfīeri.’

8. An original long vowel is sometimes kept when later authors have it short. Examples are, es (from esse), final -or, as exertitor, fateor, ecastor; verbal endings, as eris, eget, sit, det, fuat, velit.

9. Synizesis. Deus, meus, tuos, suos (nom.), eius, ei, eum, quoius, quoi, huius, huic, rei, etc., may be monosyllables; deorum, meorum, duorum, fuisti, etc., may be dissyllables; diutius, exeundum, etc., may be trisyllables. Other examples are proin, proinde, praeoptare, dehortor, aibam, quator.

10. Hiatus. This occurs, though not frequently, (a) at the natural division of the metre. Menaech. 219,

‘Spórtulam cape átque argentum. | éccos treis nummós habes.’

(b) At the natural break in the sense, especially with change of speakers. Trin. 432,

PH. ‘Tempúst adeundi.’ LE. ‘Éstne hic Philto qui ádvenit?’

The hiatus is commonest in monosyllabic words, or words ending in a short syllable followed by m, making the first syllable of an arsis resolved into two shorts. Trin. 433,

‘Is hérclest ipsus. Édepol ne ego istúm velim’;

Trin. 305,

‘Quí homo cum animo inde áb ineunte aetáte depugnát suo.’

Views on Plautus.—For Cicero’s high opinion of Plautus cf. de Off. i. 104, ‘Duplex omnino est iocandi genus: unum inliberale petulans, flagitiosum obscaenum, alterum elegans urbanum, ingeniosum facetum. Quo genere non modo Plautus noster et Atticorum antiqua comoedia, sed etiam philosophorum Socraticorum libri referti sunt.’

Horace’s unfavourable judgment is well known.