"HARPAX. What's your name?

PS. (Hopping forward and addressing audience with hand over mouth.) The pander has a slave named Surus. I'll say I'm he. (Hopping back and addressing Harpax.) I'm Surus." Many other scenes were doubtless rendered by one character's thus stepping aside and confiding his ideas to the spectators, as for example Aul. 194 ff. and Trin. 895 ff. Often our characters blurt out their inmost thoughts to the public, as in Cas. 937 ff., with eavesdroppers conveniently placed, else what would become of the plot?

The soliloquy is constantly used to keep the audience acquainted with the advance of the plot[137], or to paint in narrative intervening events that connect the loose joints of the action. This is of course wholly inartistic, but may often find its true office in keeping a noisy, turbulent and uneducated audience aware of "what is going on." In many cases the soliloquy is in the nature of a reflection on the action and seems to bear all the ear-marks of a heritage from the original function of the tragic chorus[138]. It devolved upon the actor by sprightly mimicry to relieve, in these scenes, the tedium that appeals to the reader. So in Cap. 909 ff. the canticum of the puer becomes more than a mere stopgap, if he acts out vividly the violence of Ergasilus; and in Bac. 1067 ff. the soliloquy would acquire humor, if confidentially directed at the audience. In As. 127 ff., as Argyrippus berates the lena within, it must be delivered with an abundance of pantomime.

2. Lengthy monodies, monologues and episodical specialties.

Frequently the soliloquy takes the form of a long solo passage directed at the audience, while the action halts for a whole scene to allow the actor to regale his public with the poet's views on the sins of society, economic topics of the day, or topics of the by-gone days in Athens, and the like. The resemblance to the interpolated song and dance of musical comedy is most striking. The comparison is the more apt, as about two-thirds of the illustrative scenes referred to in the next paragraph are in canticum. It is a pity that the comic chorus had disappeared, or the picture were complete. That it is often on the actor's initial appearance that he sings his song or speaks his piece, strengthens the resemblance. But this is a natural growth under the influence of two publics, the Greek and the Roman, notably fond of declamation and oratory. LeGrand believes this a characteristic directly derived from a narrative form of Middle Comedy embodied in certain extant fragments.[139]

The slave class is the topic of many of these monodies: either the virtues of the loyal slave are extolled[140], or the knavery of the cunning slave[141]. The parasite is "featured" too, when Ergasilus bewails the decline of his profession[142], or Peniculus and Gelasimus indulge in haunting threnody on their perpetual lack of food[143]. Bankers, lawyers and panders come in for their share of satire[144]. Our favorite topic today, the frills and furbelows of woman's dress and its reform, held the boards of ancient Athens and Rome[145]. In Mil. 637 ff, Periplecomenus descants on the joys of the old bon vivant and the expense of a wife. The delights or pains of love[146], the ruminations of old age[147], marriage reform[148] and divorce[149], the views of meretrices and their victims on the arts of their profession[150], the habits of cooks[151], the pride of valor and heroic deeds[152] are fruitful subjects. In Cur. 462 ff. the choragus interpolates a recital composed of topical allusions to the manners of different neighborhoods of Rome. We have two descriptions of dreams[153], and a clever bit which paints a likeness between a man and a house[154]. In foreign vein is the lament of Palaestra in Rud. 185 ff., which sounds like an echo from tragedy. The appearance of the Fishermen's Chorus (Rud. 290 ff.) is wholly adventitious and seems designed to intensify the atmosphere of the seacoast, if indeed it has any purpose at all. In this category also belong the revels of the drunken Pseudolus with his song and dance[155], and the final scene of the St.[156], where, the action of the slender plot over, the comedy slaves royster and dance with the harlot. When Ballio drives his herd before him, as he berates them merrily to the tune of a whip, we have an energetic and effective scene[157].

3. Direct address of the audience.

It is a well-established principle that the most intimate cognizance of the spectator's existence is a characteristic of the lowest types of dramatic production (v. Part I, ASec. 1, fin.). The use of soliloquy, aside and monologue all indicate the effort of the lines to put the player on terms of intimacy with his public. But even this is transcended by the frequent recurrence in jocular vein of deliberate, conscious and direct address of the audience, when they are called by name. In Truc. 482 Stratophanes says: Ne expectetis, spectatores, meas pugnas dum praedicem.... In Poen Truc. 597 we are told: Aurumst profecto hic, spectatores, sed comicum; i. e., "stage-money." During a halt in the action of the Ps. (573) we are graciously informed: Tibicen vos interibi hic delectaverit. Mercury's comments (Amph. 449-550 passim), probably with copious buffoonery, on the leave-taking of Jove and Alemena contain the remark (507): Observatote, quam blande mulieri palpabitur. At the close of the Men. (1157 ff.) Messenio announces an auction and invites the spectators to attend.

When Euclio discovers the loss of his hoard, he rushes forth in wild lament. In his extremity he turns to the audience (Aul. 715 ff.):

"EUC. I beg, I beseech, I implore you, help me and show me the man that stole it. (Picking out one of the spectators, probably a tough looking "bruiser", and stretching out his hand to him.) What do you say? I know I can trust you. I can tell by your face you're honest. (To the whole audience, in response to the laughter sure to ensue.) What's the matter? What are you laughing at?" etc.

MoilA"re has imitated this scene very closely in L'Avare (IV. 7), with a super-Plautine profusion of verbiage.

In Mil. 200 ff. Periplecomenus obligingly acts as guide and personal conductor to the manoeuvers of Palaestrio's mind, while it is in the throes of evolving a stratagem. Palaestrio of course indulges in vivid, pointed pantomime:

"PER. I'll step aside here awhile. (To audience, pointing to Palaestrio.) Look yonder, please, how he stands with serried brow in anxious contemplation. His fingers smite his breast; I trow, he fain would summon forth his heart. Presto, change! His left hand he rests upon his left thigh. With the fingers of his right he reckons out his scheme. Ha! He whacks his right thigh!" etc.

It is very amusing too, when Jupiter in Amph. 861 ff. strolls in and speaks his little piece to the pit:

"JUP. I am the renowned Amphitruo, whose slave is Sosia; you know, the fellow that turns into Mercury at will. I dwell in my sky-parlor and become Jupiter the while, ad libitum."[158]

Even in olden times Euanthius censured this practice (de Com. III. 6)[159]: nihil ad populum facit actorem velut extra comoediam loqui, quod vitium Plauti frequentissimum.

Naturally we shall hardly consider under this head the speech of the whole grex, or the "Nunc plaudite" of an actor that closes a number of the plays. It is no more than the bowing or curtain-calls of today[160], unless it was an emphatic announcement to the audience that the play was over.



B. Inconsistencies and carelessness of composition.

We have referred above to the voluminous mass of inconsistencies, contradictions and psychological improbabilities collected by Langen in his Plautinische Studien. He really succeeds in finding the crux of the situation in recognizing that these features are inherent in Plautus' style and are frequently employed solely for comic effect, though he is often overcome by a natural Teutonic stolidity. He aptly points out that Plautus in his selection of originals has in the main chosen plots with more vigorous action than Terence. We shall have occasion to quote him at intervals, but desire to develop this topic quite independently.

1. Pointless badinage and padded scenes.

Strong evidence of loose construction and lack of a technical dramatic ideal is contained in the large number of scenes padded out with pointless badinage, often tiresome, often wholly episodical in nature, as the monodies, and putting for a time a complete check on the plot. The most striking of these is Aul. 631 ff., when Euclio, suspecting Strobilus of the theft of his gold, pounces upon him and belabors him:

"STR. (Howling and dancing and making violent efforts to free himself.) What the plague has got hold of you? What have you to do with me, you dotard? Why pick on me? Why are you grabbing me? Don't beat me! (Succeeds in breaking loose.)

EUC. (Shaking stick at him.) You first-class jailbird, do you dare ask me again? You're not a thief, but three thieves rolled into one!

STR. (Whining and nursing bruises) What did I steal from you?

EUC. (Still threatening.) Give it back here, I say?

STR. (Trembling and edging off.) What is it you want me to give back?

EUC. (Watching him narrowly.) You ask?

STR. I tell you, I didn't take a thing from you.

EUC. (Impatiently.) All right, but hand over what you did take! (Pause.) Well, well!

STR. Well, what?

EUC. You can't get away with it.

STR. (Bolder.) Look here, what do you want?...

EUC. (Angrier and angrier.) Hand it over, I say! Stop quibbling! I'm not trifling now!

STR. Now what shall I hand over? Speak out! Why don't you give the thing a name? I swear I never touched or handled anything of yours.

EUC. Put out your hands.

STR. There you are! I've done so. See them?

EUC. (Scrutinizing his hands closely.) All right. Now put out the third too.

STR. (Aside, growing angry.) The foul fiends of madness have possessed this doddering idiot. (Majestically.) Confess you wrong me?

EUC. (Dancing in frenzy.) To the utmost, since I don't have you strung up! And that's what'll happen too, if you don't confess.

STR. (Shouting.) Confess what?

EUC. What did you steal from here? (Pointing to his house.)

STR. Strike me if I stole anything of yours, (Aside to audience) and if I don't wish I'd made off with it.

EUC. Come now, shake out your cloak.

STR. (Doing so.) As you please.

EUC. (Stooping to see if anything falls out.) Haven't got it under your shirt? (Pounces upon him and ransacks clothing.)

STR. (Resignedly.) Search me, if you like;" and so on with "Give it back," What is it? "Put out your right hand," etc., etc.

MoliA"re again imitated almost slavishly (L'Avare, V. 3). Longwinded as the thing is, it is clear that the liveliness of the action not only relieves it, but could make it immensely amusing. At least it is superior to the average vaudeville skit of the present day. It must not be forgotten too that, as Plautus was in close touch with his players, he could have done much of the stage-directing himself and might even have worked up some parts to fit the peculiar talents of certain actors, as is regularly done in the modern "tailormade drama."

There are numbers of scenes of the sort quoted above, where the apparent monotony and verbal padding could be converted into coin for laughter by the clever comedian. Amph. 551-632 could be worked up poco a poco crescendo e animato; in Poen. 504 ff., Agorastocles and the Advocati bandy extensive rhetoric; in Trin. 276 ff., the action is suspended while Philto proves himself Polonius' ancestor in his long-winded sermonizing to Lysiteles and his insistent laudatio temporis acti; in St. 326 ff., as Pinacium, the servus currens, finally succeeds in "arriving" out of breath (he has been running since 274), bursting with the vast importance of his news, he postpones the delivery of his tidings till 371 while he indulges in irrelevant badinage. This is pure buffoonery. And we can instance scene upon scene where the self-evident padding can either furnish an excuse for agile histrionism, or become merely tiresome in its iteration[161]. The danger of the latter was even recognized by our poet, when, at the end of much word-fencing, Acanthio asks Charinus if his desire to talk quietly is prompted by fear of waking "the sleeping spectators" (Mer. 160). This was probably no exaggeration.

When the padding takes the form of mutual "spoofing," the scene assumes an uncanny likeness to the usual lines of a modern "high-class vaudeville duo." Note Leonida and Libanus, the merry slaves of the As. in 297 ff., Toxilus and Sagaristio in the Per., Milphio and Syncerastus in the Poen. (esp. 851 ff.), Pseudolus and Simia in Ps. 905 ff., Trachalio and Gripus in Rud. 938 ff., Stichus and Sagarinus in the final scene of the St., and in Ps. 1167 ff. Harpax is unmercifully "chaffed" by Simo and Ballio. Or, in view of the surrounding drama, we might better compare these roysterers to the "team" of low comedians often grafted on a musical comedy, where their antics effectually prevent the tenuous plot from becoming vulgarly prominent.

2. Inconsistencies of character and situation.

The Plautine character is never a consistent human character. He is rather a personified trait, a broad caricature on magnified foibles of some type of mankind. There is never any character development, no chastening. We leave our friends as we found them. They may exhibit the outward manifestation of grief, joy, love, anger, but their marionette nature cannot be affected thereby. That we should find inconsistencies in character portrayal under these circumstances, is not only to be expected, but is a mathematical certainty. The poet cares not; they must only dance, dance, dance!

Persistent moralizers, such as Megaronides in the Trin., who serve but as a foil from whom the revelry "sticks fiery off," descend themselves at moments to bandying the merriest quips (Scene I.). In Ep. 382 ff., the moralizing of Periphanes is counterfeit coinage. Gilded youths such as Calidorus of the Ps. begin by asking (290 f.): "Could I by any chance trip up father, who is such a wide-awake old boy?", and end by rolling their eyes upward with: "And besides, if I could, filial piety prevents." The Menaechmi twins are eminently respectable, but they cheerfully purloin mantles, bracelets and purses. Hanno of the Poen. should according to specifications be a staid pater familias, but Plautus imputes to him a layer of the Punica fides that he knew his public would take delight in "booing." And the old gentleman enters into a plot (1090) to chaff elaborately his newly-found long-lost daughters, whom he has spent a lifetime in seeking, before disclosing his identity to them (1211 ff.). Saturio's daughter in the Per. is at one time the very model of maidenly modesty and wisdom (336 ff.), at others an accomplished intriguante and demi-mondaine (549 ff., esp. 607 ff.). When the plot of the Ep. is getting hopelessly tangled, of a sudden it is magically resolved as by a deus ex machina and everybody decides to "shake and make up."

Slaves ever fearful of the mills or quarries are yet prone to the most abominable "freshness" towards their masters. The irrepressible Pseudolus in reading a letter from Calidorus' mistress says (27 ff.):

"What letters! Humph! I'm afraid the Sibyl is the only person capable of interpreting these.

"CAL. Oh why do you speak so rudely of those lovely letters written on a lovely tablet with a lovely hand?

"PS. Well, would you mind telling me if hens have hands? For these look to me very like hen-scratches.

"CAL. You insulting beast! Read, or return the tablet!

"PS. Oh, I'll read all right, all right. Just focus your mind on this.

"CAL. (Pointing vacantly to his head.) Mind? It's not here.

"PS. What! Go get one quick then![162]."

In order that the machinations of these cunning slaves may mature, it is usually necessary to portray their victims as the veriest fools. Witness the cock-and-bull story by which Stasimus, in Trin. 515 ff., convinces Philto that his master's land is an undesirable real estate prospect. Dordalus in Per. (esp. 493 ff.) exhibits a certain amount of caution in face of Toxilus' "confidence game," but that he should be victimized at all stamps him as a caricature.

LeGrand is certainly right in pronouncing the cunning slave a pure convention, adapted from the Greek and so unsuitable to Roman society that even Plautus found it necessary to apologize for their unrestrained gambols, on the ground that 'that was the way they did in Athens!'[163]

Certain of the characters are caricatures par excellence, embodiments of a single attribute. Leaena of the Cur. is the perpetually thirsty lena: "Wine, wine, wine!"[164] Cleaerata of the As. is a plain caricature, but is exceptionally cleverly drawn as the lena with the mordant tongue. Phronesium's thirst in the Truc., is gold, gold, gold! The danista of the Most. finds the whole expression of his nature in the cry of "Faenus!"[165] Assuredly, he is the progenitor of the modern low-comedy Jew: "I vant my inderesd!" Calidorus of the Ps. and Phaedromus of the Cur. are but bleeding hearts dressed up in clothes. The milites gloriosi are all cartoons;[166] and the perpetually moralizing pedagogue Lydus of the Bac. becomes funny, instead of egregiously tedious, if acted as a broad burlesque.

The panders[167] are all manifest caricatures, too, especially the famous Ballio of the Ps., whom even Lorenz properly describes as "der Einbegriff aller Schlechtigkeit," though he deprecates the part as "eine etwas zu grell and zu breit angefuhrte Schilderung."[168] "Ego scelestus," says Ballio himself.[169] He calmly and unctuously pleads guilty to every charge of "liar, thief, perjurer," etc., and can never be induced to lend an ear until the cabalistic charm "Lucrum!" is pronounced (264).

The famous miser Euclio has given rise to an inordinate amount of unnecessary comment. Lamarre[170] is at great pains to defend Plautus from "le reproche d'avoir introduit dans la peinture de son principal personnage des traits outres et hors de nature." Indeed, he possesses few traits in accord with normal human nature. But curiously enough, as we learn from the argumenta (in view of the loss of the genuine end of the Aul.), Euclio at the denouement professes himself amply content to bid an everlasting farewell to his stolen hoard, and bestows his health and blessing on "the happy pair." This apparent conversion, with absolutely nothing dramatic to furnish an introduction or pretext for it, has caused Langen to depart from his usual judicious scholarship. After much hair-splitting he solemnly pronounces it "psychologically possible."[171] LeGrand points out[172] that his change of heart is not a conversion, but merely a professed reconciliation to the loss. But there is no need for all this pother. The simple truth is that Plautus was through with his humorous complication and was ready to top it off with a happy ending. It is the forerunner of modern musical comedy, where the grouchy millionaire papa is propitiated at the last moment (perhaps by the pleadings of the handsome widow), and similarly consents to his daughter's marriage with the handsome, if impecunious, ensign.

3. Looseness of dramatic construction.

Lorenz with commendable insight has pointed out[173] that IIII., the goddess of Chance, is the motive power of the Plautine plot, as distinguished from the I1/4I?a?-II+- of tragedy. A student of Plautus readily recognizes this point. The entire development of the Rud. and Poen. exemplifies it in the highest degree. Hanno in the Poen., in particular, meets first of all, in the strange city of Calydon, the very man he is looking for! When Pseudolus is racking his wits for a stratagem, Harpax obligingly drops in with all the requisites. The ass-dealer in the As. is so ridiculously fortuitous that it savors of childlike naivetA(C).

Characters are perpetually entering just when wanted. We hear "Optume advenis" and "Eccum ipsum video" so frequently that they become as meaningless as "How d'ye do!"[174]; though, as shown above[175], even this very weakness could at moments be made the pretext for a mild laugh.

For a complete catalogue of the formidable mass of inconsistencies and contradictions that throng the plays, the reader is referred to the Plautinische Studien of Langen, as aforesaid. It will be of passing interest to recall one or two. In Cas. 530 Lysidamus goes to the "forum" and returns 32 verses later complaining that he has wasted the whole day standing "advocate" for a kinsman. But this difficulty is resolved, if we accept the theory of Prof. Kent (TAPA. XXXVII), that the change of acts which occurs in between, is a conventional excuse for any lapse of time, in Roman comedy as well as in Greek tragedy. But it is extremely doubtful that Prof. Kent succeeds in establishing the truth of this view in the case of Roman comedy. We see no convincing reason for departing from the accepted theory, as expressed by Duff (A Literary History of Rome, pp. 196-7): "In Plautus' time a play proceeded continuously from the lowering of the curtain at the beginning to its rise at the end, save for short breaks filled generally by simple music from the tibicen (Ps. 573). The division into scenes is ancient and regularly indicated in manuscripts of Plautus and Terence."

Langen seems surprised[176] when Menaechmus Sosicles, on beholding his twin for the first time (Men. 1062), though he was the object of a six years' search, wades through some twenty lines of amazed argument before Messenio (with marvelous cunning!) hits on the true explanation. It is of course conceived in a burlesque spirit. What would become of the comic action if Menaechmus II simply walked up to Menaechmus I and remarked: "Hello, brother, don't you remember me?"

That the seven months of Most. 470 miraculously change into six months in 954 is the sort of mistake possible to any writer. In the Amph. 1053 ff., Alcmena is in labor apparently a few minutes after consorting with Jupiter; but the change of acts may account for the lapse of time, here as in Cas. 530 ff.

But after the exhaustive work of Langen, we need linger no longer in this well-ploughed field. We repeat, the evidence all points irresistibly to the conclusion that Plautus is wholly careless of his dramatic machinery so long as it moves. The laugh's the thing!

The St. is an apt illustration of the probable workings of Plautus' mind. The virtue of the Penelope-like Pamphila and Panegyris proves too great a strain and unproductive of merriment. The topic gradually vanishes as the drolleries of the parasite Gelasimus usurp the boards. He in turn gives way to the hilarious buffoonery of the two slaves. The result is a succession of loose-jointed scenes[177]. The Aul. too is fragmentary and episodical. The Trin. is insufferably long-winded, with insufficient comic accompaniment. The Cis. is a wretched piece of vacuous inanity[178].

4. Roman admixture and topical allusions.

Plautus' frequent forgetfulness of his Greek environment and the interjection of Roman references—what De Quincey calls "anatopism"—is another item of careless composition too well known to need more than passing mention. The repeated appearance of the Velabrum,[179] or Capitolium,[180] or circus,[181] or senatus, or dictator,[182] or centuriata comitio,[183] or plebiscitum,[184] and a host of others in the Greek investiture, becomes after a while a matter of course to us. We see however no need to quarrel with forum; it was Plautus' natural translation for a1/4EuroI cubedI?II. But it all adds inevitably and relentlessly to our argument—Plautus was heedless of the petty demands of technique and realism. His attention was too much occupied in devising means of amusement.

The occasional topical allusions belong in the same category as above; for example, the allusion to the Punic war (Cis. 202),[185] the lex Platoria (Ps. 303, Rud. 1381-2), Naevius' imprisonment (Mil. 211-2), Attalus of Pergamum (Per. 339, Poen. 664), Antiochus the Great (Poen. 693-4). Again we have a modern parallel: the topics of the day are a favorite resort of the lower types of present-day stage production.

5. Jokes on the dramatic machinery.

But the most extreme stage of intimate jocularity is reached when the last sorry pretense of drama is discarded and the dramatic machinery itself becomes the subject of jest. So in the Cas. 1006 the cast is warned: Hanc ex longa longiorem ne faciamus fabulam. In Per. 159-60 Saturio wants to know where to get his daughter's projected disguise:

"SAT. IEuroIOEII muI1/2 ornamenta?

TOX. Abs chorago sumito. Dare debet: praebenda aediles locaverunt." (Cf. Trin. 858.)

Even the Ps., heralded as dramatically one of the best of the plays, yields the following: Horum caussa haec agitur spectatorum fabula (720); hanc fabulam dum transigam (562) and following speech; verba quae in comoediis solent lenoni dici (1081-2); quam in aliis comoediis fit (1240); quin vocas spectatores simul? (1332). In St. 715 ff., the action of the play is interrupted while the boisterous slaves give the musician a drink. From the Poen. comes a gem that will bear quoting at length (550 ff.):

Omnia istaec scimus iam nos, si hi spectatores sciant. Horunc hic nunc causa haec agitur spectatorum fabula: Hos te satius est docere ut, quando agas, quid agas sciant. Nos tu ne curassis: scimus rem omnem, quippe omnes simul. Didicimus tecum una, ut respondere possimus tibi.[186]

This is the final degeneration into the realm of pure foolery. It is a patent declaration: "This is only a play; laugh and we are content." Once more we venture to point a parallel on the modern stage, in the vaudeville comedian who interlards his dancing with comments such as: "I hate to do this, but it's the only way I can earn a living."

6. Use of stock plots and characters.

We must touch finally, but very lightly, on the commonplaces of stock plots and characters. The whole array of puppets is familiar to us all: the cunning slave, the fond or licentious papa, the spendthrift son and their inevitable confrA"res appear in play after play with relentless regularity. The close correspondence of many plots is also too familiar to need discussion.[187] The glimmering of originality in the plot of the Cap. called for special advertisement.[188] In the light of the foregoing evidence, the pertinence of these facts for us, we reiterate, is that Plautus merely adopted the New Comedy form as his comic medium, and, while leaving his originals in the main untouched, took what liberties he desired with them, with the single-minded purpose of making his public laugh.[189]



In Conclusion



In contrast to these grotesqueries certain individual scenes and plays stand out with startling distinctness as possessed of wit and humor of high order. The description by Cleaereta of the relations of lover, mistress and lena is replete with biting satire (As. 177 ff., 215 ff.). The finale of the same play is irresistibly comic. In Aul. 731 ff. real sparks issue from the verbal cross-purposes of Euclio and Lyconides over the words "pot" and "daughter." The Bac. is an excellent play, marred by padding. When the sisters chaff the old men as "sheep" (1120 ff.), the humor is naturalistic and human. The Cas., uproarious and lewd as it is, becomes excruciatingly amusing if the mind is open to appreciating humor in the broadest spirit. The discourse of Periplecomenus (Mil. 637 ff.) is marked by homely satirical wisdom. In the Ps. the badinage of the name-character is appreciably superior to most of the incidental quips. Pseudolus generously compliments Charinus on beating him at his own game of repartee (743). When Weise (Die Komodien des Plautus, p. 181) describes Ps. IV. 7 as "eine der ausgezeichnetsten Scenen, die es irgend giebt," his superlative finds a better justification than usual.

When Menaechmus Sosicles sees fit "to put an antic disposition on," we have a scene which, while eminently farcical, is signally clever and dramatically effective. Witness the imitation by Shakespeare in The Comedy of Errors, IV. 4, and in spirit by modern farce; for instance, in A Night Off, when the staid old Professor feels the recrudescence of his youthful aspirations to attend a prize-fight, he simulates madness as a prelude to dashing wildly away.

The following from Rud. (160 ff.) is theatrical but tremendously effective and worthy of the highest type of drama. Sceparnio, looking off-stage, spies Ampelisca and Palaestra tossed about in a boat. He addresses Daemones:

"SC. But O Palaemon! Hallowed comrade of Neptune ... what scene meets my eye?

DAE. What do you see?

SC. I see two poor lone women sitting in a bit of a boat. How the poor creatures are being tossed about! Hoorah! Hoorah! Fine! The waves are whirling their boat past the rocks into the shallows. A pilot couldn't have steered straighter. I swear I never saw waves more high. They're safe if they escape those breakers. Now, now, danger! One is overboard! Ah, the water's not deep: she'll swim out in a minute. Hooray! See the other one, how the wave tossed her out! She is up, she's on her way shoreward; she's safe!"

Sceparnio clasps his hands, jumps up and down, grasps the shaking Daemones convulsively and communicates his excitement to the audience. It is a piece of thrilling theatrical declamation and must have wrought the spectators up to a high pitch. In general, the Rud. is a superior play.

In Cas. 229 ff. there is developed a piece of faithful and entertaining character-drawing, as the old rouA(C) Lysidamus fawns upon his militant spouse Cleostrata, with the following as its climax:

"CLE. (Sniffling.) Ha! Whence that odor of perfumes, eh?

LYS. The jig's up."

In the whole panorama of Plautine personae the portrayal of Alcmena in the Amph. is unique, for she is drawn with absolute sincerity and speaks nothing out of character. Certainly no parody can be made out of the nobly spoken lines 633-52, which lend a genuine air of tragedy to the professed tragi(co)comoedia (59, 63); unless we think of the lady's unwitting compromising condition (surely too subtle a thought for the original audience). Note also the exalted tone of 831-4, 839-42. But all through this scene Sosia is prancing around, prating nonsense, and playing the buffoon, so that perchance even here the nobility becomes but a foil for the revelry. And in 882-955 his royal godship Jove clowns it to the lady's truly minted sentiments.

No, we are far from attempting to deny to Plautus all dramatic technique, skill in character painting and cleverness of situation, but he was never hide-bound by any technical considerations. He felt free to break through the formal bonds of his selected medium at will. He had wit, esprit and above all a knowledge of his audience; and of human nature generally, or else he could not have had such a trenchant effect on the literature of all time.

At any rate, the above lonely landmarks cannot affect our comprehensive estimate of the mise-en-scA"ne. Enough has been said, we believe, in our discussion of the criticism and acting and in our analysis of his dramatic values, to show that the aberrations of Plautus' commentators have been due to their failure to reach the crucial point: the absolute license with which his plays were acted and intended to be acted is at once the explanation of their absurdities and deficiencies. This was true in a far less degree of Terence, who dealt in plots more stataria and less motoria.[190] Though using the same store of models, he endeavored to produce an artistically constructed play, which should make some honest effort to "hold the mirror up to nature." We are convinced that even his extensive use of contaminatio was designed to evolve a better plot. The extravagance of Plautus is toned down in Terence to a reasonable verisimilitude and a far more "gentlemanly" mode of fun-making that was appropriate to one in the confidence of the aristocratic Scipionic circle. But when all is said and done, Terence lacks the vivid primeval "Volkswitz" of Plautus. We dare only skirt the edges of this extensive subject.[191]

Above all, our noble jester succeeds in his mission of laugh-producing. But his methods are not possessed in the main of dramatic respectability. And it must be apparent that our analysis and citations have covered the bulk of the plays.

We conclude then that the prevalence of inherent defects of composition and the lack of serious motive, coupled with the author's constant and conscious employment of the implements of broad farce and extravagant burlesque, impel us inevitably to the conclusion that we have before us a species of composition which, while following a dramatic form, is not inherently drama, but a variety of entertainment that may be described as a compound of comedy, farce and burlesque; while the accompanying music, which would lend dignity to tragedy or grand opera, merely heightens the humorous effect and lends the color of musical comedy or opera bouffe.[192] KArting is right in calling it mere entertainment, Mommsen is right in calling it caricature, but we maintain that it is professedly mere entertainment, that it is consciously caricature and if it fulfills these functions we have no right to criticise it on other grounds. If we attempt a serious critique of it as drama, we have at once on our hands a capricious mass of dramatic unrealities and absurdities: bombast, burlesque, extravagance, horse-play, soliloquies, asides, direct address of the audience, pointless quips, and so on. The minute we accept it as a consciously conceived medium for amusement only, we have a highly effective theatrical mechanism for the unlimited production of laughter. And, in fact, every shred of evidence, however scant, goes to show that the histrionism must have been conceived in a spirit of extreme liveliness, abandon and extravagance in gesture and declamation, that would not confine the actor to faithful portrayal in character, but would allow him scope and license to resort to any means whatsoever to bestir laughter amongst a not over-stolid audience.



Footnotes



[1]: E.g., Casina in the Cas., Silenium in the Cis., Planesium in the Cur., Adelphasium and Anterastylis in the Poen., Palaestra in the Rud.

[2]: V. infra, part II, sec. I. B. I.

[3]: E.g., Lorcnz's Introd. to Most. and Pseud. V. infra, part I, ASec. i.

[4]: We are not concerned in this question with technical discussion as to the position of the banquet table on the stage, the nature of the dog of the Most. and the like, but with the delivery and movements of the actors themselves.

[5]: De Off. I. 29.104.

[6]: X. 1.99. Cf. Ritschl's citations of Varro: Parerga, p. 71 ff. Cf. Epig. quoted by Varro and attributed to Plautus himself, ap. Gel. N.A., I. 24.1-3. But that this was a patent literary forgery is proved by Gudeman in TAPA. XXV, p. 160.

[7]: N.A., VI. 17.4.

[8]: I.7.17.

[9]: XIX. 8.6.

[10]: A.P., 270 ff. Cf. Ep. II. I.170 ff. and Fay, ed. Most., Intro. ASec. 2.

[11]: De Com. III. 6, Donatus ed. Wessner. For full quotation, v. infra, Part II, Sec. II. A. 3, Note 50.

[12]: Excerpta de Com. V. 1.

[13]: For a complete list, see Testimonia prefixed to Goetz and Schoell's ed. of Plautus.

[14]: P. 217 M.

[15]: 404, 412, 823.

[16]: Ed. Men. (Leipzig, 1891), ad 410.

[17]: Cf. opening lines of Eurip. Iph. in Taur.

[18]: Pp. 13—19. V. Langen, Plautinische Studien, pp. 139-142. Cf. also comments of Brix to Menaechmi passim.

[19]: Op. cit., p. 146.

[20]: Cf. Gel. N. A., III. 3-14 ff.

[21]: V. infra, Part II, under 'Careless Composition'.

[22]: Beschluss der Critik iiber die Gefangenen des Plaulus.

[23]: 23: Op. cit., fin.

[24]: La Litterature latine depuis la fondation de Rome (Paris, 1899), Bk. II. chap. 3. sec. 15, p. 362.

[25]: Introd. to ed. Mosl., p. 37.

[26]: Bk. II, Ch. 4.

[27]: Lamarre, op. cit., Bk. II, Ch. 4, Sec. 12, p. 475.

[28]: ThA(C)Actre de Plaute (Paris, 1845), Introd. p. 18.

[29]: Opuscula Philologica, Vol. II p. 743.

[30]: Opusc. II. 733 ff.

[31]: In Opusc. III. 455, Ritschl relates that Varro wrote six books on drama, with Plautus as the especial object of his interest: de originibus scaenicis, de scaenicis actionibus, de actibus scaenicis, de personis, de descriptionibus, quaestiones Plautinae.

[32]: Langen, op. cit., p. 127.

[33]: Opusc. II. 746.

[34]: Op. cit., p. 165.

[35]: Op. cit., p. 167.

[36]: Mil. 522 ff. (All citations from Plautus are based on the text and numbering of the lines in the text of Goetz and Schoell).

[37]: History of Rome, (Transl. Dickson, Scribner, N.Y., 1900), Vol. III, p. 143.

[38]: E.g., LeGrand, Daos, V. supra. Cf. also N. 80, Part II.

[39]: P. 190, trans. John Black (London, 1846), Lecture XIV.

[40]: Theatre of the Greeks, p. 443.

[41]: P. 197.

[42]: Cf. Ritschl's opinion, Note 30.

[43]: V. supra.

[44]: P. 620. But cf. Note 37.

[45]: Cf. further Plessis, La poA(C)sie latine (Paris, 1909), p. 54 ff.; Patin, A%tudes sur la poA(C)sie latine (Paris, 1869), Vol. II, p. 224 ff.; Ribbeck, Geschichte der rAmischen Dichtung (Stuttgart, 1894), Vol. I, p. 57 ff.; Tyrrell, Early Latin Poetry, p. 44 ff. A very excellent discussion is contained in Duff, A Literary History of Rome (N.Y., 1909), p. 183 ff.

[46]: History of Rome, Vol. III, p. 139. Cf. note 37.

[47]: Cf. Prol. Poen. 28-9.

[48]: Prol. Poen., II ff.

[49]: Plaudere, IEuroII"II1/2, sibilare or exsibilare, explodere, eicere were expressions used to indicate approval or disapproval. Cf. the discussion of Oehmichen, article BA1/4hnenwesen in Von MA1/4ller's Handbuch der klassischen Altertumswissenschaft, 5ter Band, 3te Abteilung, ASec. 73. 2, p. 271.

[50]: Cf. Prol. Poen. 36 ff.

[51]: Cf. Tac. Ann. I. 77. V. Oehmichen, op. cit., ASec. 39.3, p. 220.

[52]: V. Prol. Amph. 52-3:

Quid contraxistis frontem? Quia tragoediam Dixi futuram hanc?

[53]: Parad. III. 2.26. Cf. Or. 51.173, de Or. III. 50.196: "theatra tota reclamant"; Hor. Ep. II. 1.200 ff.; Suet. Nero, 24.1.

[54]: Cic. de Or. I.61.259, I.27.124.

[55]: Hist. Rome, ed. cit., Vol. III, p. 140.

[56]: Cist. 785: Qui deliquit vapulabit, qui non deliquit bibet. Cf. Trin. 990. Amph. 83-4, (if this is not merely an imitation of the Greek original).

[57]: Tac. Ann. 1.77.

[58]: Amph. 65 ff., Poen. 36 ff., Ter. Phor. 16 ff., Cic. ad Att. IV. 15.6, Hor. Ep. II. 1.181.

[59]: Cas. 17 ff., Trin. 706 ff. But others argue that these passages are only translations from the Greek. V. Leo in Hermes, 1883, p. 561, F. Ostermayer, De hist. fab. in com. Pl. (Greifswald, 1884), p. 7. Ritschl (Parerga, p. 229) argues that the passages refer to cases of extraordinary public approval, not to formal contests. Cf. Var. L.L. V. 178.

[60]: Cic. pro. Ros. Com. 10.28-9, Plin. N. H. 7.39.128, Dio 77.21. Cf. Sen. Ep. 80.7.

[61]: KArting, op. cit., p. 244 ff.

[62]: Cic. de Or. I.59.251, Suet. Nero 20, Quint. XI. 3.19.

[63]: I.ii.i-2, I.ii.12.

[64]: Quint. XI.3.iii.

[65]: Cic. Or. 31.109.

[66]: Quint. XI.3.178, Juv. III. 98-9.

[67]: Cic. de Off. I.31.114, ad Att. IV.15.6.

[68]: Ap. Athen. XIV. 615 A.

[69]: For a full discussion of the ancient actor v. Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopadie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft, s. v. histrio; Friedlander in Marquardt-Mommsen Handbuch der romischen Altertumer, VI. p. 508 ff.; J. van Wageningen, Scaenica Romana; Warnecke, Die Vortragskunst der romischen Schauspieler, in Neue Jahrbucher, 1908, p. 704 ff.

[70]: Cf. de Or. III.56.214, III.22.83, Quint. XI. 3.125, 181-2.

[71]: Quint. XI.3.112.

[72]: Cf. Quint. XI.3.89.

[73]: Cic. ad Att. VI.1.8.

[74]: Cf. de Or. III.26.102, Quint. XI.3.71, 89.

[75]: For further treatment of the gestures of orators see Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopadie, s. v. histrio; Warnecke in Neue Jahrbucher, 1910, p. 593; Sittl, Die Gebarden der Griechen und Romer, Chap. XI; Mart. Cap. 43. In the other rhetoricians of the later Empire there is much copying of Cicero and Quintilian, but nothing of significance for our purpose, unless it be the comparison of the rigid training recommended to the embryo orator. For further citations, v. Pauly-Wissowa, op. cit.

[76]: 0p. cit., p. 203.

[77]: Wiener Studien, Vol. XIV, p. 120.

[78]: Scaen. Rom., p. 52. Cf. Karsten in Mnem. XXXII, (1904), pp. 209-251, 287-322, who concludes that at least four hands aided in the commentaries.

[79]: E.g., Donat. ad And. 88, Eun. 187, 986, Phor. 315.

[80]: A11 the passages in Donatus dealing with gesture have been collected by Leo, Rheinisches Museum XXXVIII, p. 331 ff.

[81]: E.g., Donat. ad And. 180, 363, 380-1, Eun. 209, 559, 974, Ad. 84, 499, 661, 795, 951, Hec. 612, 689, Phor. 49, 315. Cf. Ad. 285: superbe ac magnifice. Cf. Schol. ad And. 332: Vultuose hoc dicitur, hoc est cum gestu. Cf. also Warnecke in Neue JahrbA1/4cher, 1910, note 75.

[82]: Cf. XI.3.103, Auct. ad Her. III.15.27.

[83]: Their precise age and antiquity have been disputed with some acrimony. With Sittl cf. Bethe, Praef. Cod. Ambros. p. 64; van Wageningen, op. cit., p. 50 ff.; Leo in Rhein. Mus. XXXVIII, p. 342 ff. V. reproductions in Wieseler, TheatergebAude und DenkmAler des BA1/4hnenwesens bei den Griechen und RAmern, Tafel X; and Bethe, ed. of Codex Ambrosianus.

[84]: Neue Jahr., Sup. Band I (1832), p. 447 ff.

[85]: Quint. VI.3.29, Mart. Cap., Chap. 43, p. 543 ed. Kopp.

[86]: V. reproductions in Baumeister, DenkmAler des klassischen Altertums, s. v. "Lustspiel" and Wieseler, op. cit., note 83.

[87]: Donat. de Com. VI. 3. There is some suspicion that the names have been interchanged.

[88]: Ars Gram. III, p. 489, 10 K; Festus, s.v. personata, p. 217. Cf. Cic. de Nat. Deo. I. 28.79. Ribbock, Romische Tragodie p. 661, and Dziatzko in Rhein. Mus. XXI. 68, have made a violent effort to reconcile the conflicting statements by arguing that Roscius belonged to the troupe of Minucius. This is denied by Weinberger, Wien. Stud. XIV. 126. For further discussion v. van Wageningen, Scaen. Rom. p. 34 ff.; Leo in Rhein. Mus. XXXVIII. 342; Oehmichen, op. cit. p. 250; B. Arnold, Ueber Antike Theatermasken; Teuffel, Romische Litteraturgeschichte ASec.16. Sec. 13; Pauly-Wissowa, op. cit., s.v. histrio, pp. 2120-21. A recent article by Saunders (A.J.P., XXXII, p. 58) gives an admirable summing-up of the whole controversy, with substantial proof that at any rate the performers of Plautus' day were unmasked.

[89]: Diom. III. p. 489.10 K. Cf. Saunders, Costume in Roman Comedy; Marquardt-Mommsen, Handbuch der romischen Altertumer, VI. p. 525; Pauly-Wissowa, l.c. Cf. Cic. ad Fam. VII. 6.

[90]: Cf. Mil. 629 ff., 923, Ps. 967, Rud. 125 f., 313 f., 1303, Trin. 861 f., Truc. 286 ff.; Ter., Phor. 51.

[91]: V. van Wageningen, op. cit. pp. 40 f.

[92]: De Or. III. 22.83.

[93]: II. 10.13. Cf. XI. 3.91.

[94]: I. II. 1-2

[95]: Donat. ad And. 505, Eun. 224, 288, 403, Ad. 187, 395.

[96]: Ad And. 194, 301, Eun. 467, 986, Hec. 98, 439, 640, Ad. 101. Cf. Ad. 96.; cum admiratone indignantis; 97; intento digito et infestis in Micionem oculis.

[97]: Ad Eun. 1055.

[98]: Ad And. 633, Eun. 233, 451, Hec. 63, Ad. 259.

[99]: Ad Phor. 145.

[100]: Ad Ad. 200.

[101]: Ad Eun. 187.

[102]: VII. 2.8-10.

[103]: Cf. Diom. 291, 23 ff., K; Ribbeck, Rom. Trag. p. 634, believes that this was the rule, but he is apparently alone in the opinion. Cf. Budensteiner in Bursian's Jahresbericht CVI, p. 162 ff., who agrees with the proof of van Eck, Quaest. Sten. Rom. (Amsterdam 1892), that it was an isolated intance.

[104]: We are not even remotely concerned with metrical analysis. For that phase, with a discussion as to the effect of the various metrical systems, see Klotz, Grundzuge der altromischen Metrik, esp. p. 370 ff. Cf. Duff, A Lit. Hist. of Rome, p. 196. Note Donat, de Com. VIII. 9 and Diom. 491, 23K.

[105]: For arguments as to the divisions of the three classes, v., besides Klotz, Ritschl, Parerga, p. 40; Conradt, Die metrische Komposition der Komodien des Terenz (Berlin 1876); Bucheler in Neue Jahr. fur Phil. CXLI (1871), p. 273 ff.; Dziatzko in Rhein. Mus. XXVI (1871), pp. 97-100: G. Hermann, de Canticis in Romanorum Fabulis, Opusc. I. 290; which have all been landmarks in the discussion. Cf. also Teuffel, Rom. Lit., ASec. 16. Sec. 5, etc.

[106]: Cf. Cic. de Or. II.46.193.

[107]: Cf. As. 265, 587, 640, 403, Bac. 611, Cap. 637, Cas. 845 ff., Cis. 53 ff., Cur. 278, 309, 311, Ep. 623 ff., Men. 828 f., 910, Mer. 599 f., Mil. 200 ff. (quoted infra, Part II), 798-9 (Palaestrio must shout at Periplecomenus to provoke such a reply), Most. 265 ff., 594, Per. 307 f., Ps. 911, 1287, St. 271, 288 f., Trin. 1099, Truc. 276, 476 ff., 549, 593 f., 599 ff., 822. Cf. also Ter. Phor. 210-11 and Moliere's imitation in Les Fourberies de Scapin, l. 4.

[108]: Cf. Sittl, Gebarden, p. 201 and Warnecke's citations from the Scholiast to Aristophanes in Neue Jahr. 1910, p. 592.

[109]: Daos, p. 617.

[110]: A.J.P. VIII. 15 ff.

[111]: Cf. As. 554 ff., Bac. 710 ff., Cap. 159 ff. Cur. 572 ff., Ep. 437 ff., Men. 1342., Per. 753 ff., Ps. 761 ff., Trin. 718 ff., etc.

[112]: For further examples of bombast and mock-heroics v. As. 405-6, Bac. 792 f., 842 ff., Cis. 640 ff., Cur. 96 ff. 439 ff., Ep. 181 ff. (in similar vein most of the soliloquies of the name part), Her. 469 ff., 601 ff., 830 ff., Mil. 459 ff., 486 ff., 947 ff., Per. 251 ff., Poen. 470 ff., 1294 ff., Ps. 1063 f., Truce. 482 ff., 602 ff.

[113]: V. Amph. 370 ff., As. 431, Cas. 404 ff., Cur. 192 ff., 624 ff., Mil. 1394 ff., Mos. i ff., Per. 809 ff., Poen. 382 ff., Rud. 706 ff.

[114]: V. Frag. IV, G. & S., ap. Non. p. 543.

[115]: Cf. Bac. 581 ff., 1119, Cap. 830 ff., Most. 898 ff., Rud. 414, St. 308 ff., Truc. 254 ff.

[116]: Cf. also Bac. 925 ff., Per. 251 ff., Men. 409 ff. (v. supra, Part I, ASec. I, s.v. Festus, Brix). On Bac. 933, v. Ribbeck, Scaenicae Romanorum Poesis Fragmenta, on Enn., frag. Androm. 81; Kiessling, Analecta Plautina, I. 14 f.; Ostermayer, De historia fabulari in comoediis Plautinis, p. 9. On Men. 808 ff., v. Kiessling, II. 9.

[117]: Cf. further As. 606 ff., Cur. 147 ff., Most. 233 ff., Poen. 275 ff. and passim, Truc. 434 ff.

[118]: Cf. Ep. 580 ff. Cf. also "bombast," supra A. 1, and "copious abuse" infra, A. 3. c. Cf. also wall-painting labeled "Der erzurnte Hausherr," in Baumeister, Denkmaler des klassischen Altertums, s. v. Lustspiel.

[119]: Cf. Mil. 596 ff., Most. 454 ff., Trin. 517 ff.

[120]: Cf. Mer. 748 ff., Men. 607 ff.

[121]: Cf. further Most. 265 ff., 456 ff. and note Donat. ad Phor. 210-11: hic locus magis actoris quam lectoris est.

[122]: Cf. Most. 38 ff., Poen. 1309 ff. Cf. also "Lavishing of terms of endearment," supra, A. 3. c.

[123]: Cf. also Poen. 426 ff., Rud. 938 ff.

[124]: Cf. similarly Cap. 121 ff., 177 ff., Cas. 725 ff., Most. 909, 999 f. Cf. infra II. B.5.

[125]: Plaut. Stud. pp. 121 f. Cf. pp. 101, 137 f., 158 f., 217, 229 f.

[126]: Die Kom. des Pl., pp. 70-71.

[127]: Daos, p. 430-1.

[128]: Prol. Haut. 32-40, Prol. Eun. 35-40. Cf. Eugraphius ad Haut. 31: quid tale hic est, cum servus currit, cum populus discedit, quod domino insano oboediat servus? Cf. also ad Haut. 37; Donatus ad Phor. 1.4.

[129]: And. 338 ff., Phor. 179 ff., 841 ff., Ad. 299 ff. Weissman agrees with Donat. that in the last passage humor is not the object. Cf. ancilla currens in Eun. 643 ff.

[130]: Cf. servi currentes supra. Cf. also Aul. 811 ff., Ep. 195 ff., Mer. 865 ff., Ps. 243 ff., St. 330 ff., Trin. 1068 ff., Truc. 115 ff.

[131]: For other passages containing the comedy of "peering," v. Bac. 534, Ep. 526 ff., Rud. 331 ff., et al. Cf. Weise, op. cit., p. 72 f.

[132]: Further comments infra II. B. 3.

[133]: Cf. As. 403, and passim.

[134]: Cf. As. 447, Cur. 111, Men. 125, 478 f., 909, Mer. 364, 379, Mil. 275, Most. 548, Per. 99, Poen. 840, Ps. 445, 615, 908, Rud. 97, St. 88, Trin. 45, 567, Truc. 499, etc.

[135]: Daos, p. 431 ff. See Dieterich, Pulcinella, PI. II. Note esp. As. 851 ff.

[136]: Cf. Per. 81 ff., 599 ff., Poen. 210 ff., et al.

[137]: V. Amph. 952-3, As. 118 ff., 243 ff., Aul. 67 ff., 667 ff., 701 ff., Bac. 170 ff., 349 ff., 573 ff., 761 ff., Cas. 504 ff., Cis. 120 ff., Cur. 216 ff., 591 ff., Mer. 544 ff., 588 ff., Mil. 464 ff., Most. 931 ff., 1041 ff., Rud. 1191 ff., St. 674 ff., et al.

[138]: V. Cas. 424 ff., 759 ff., Ep. 81 ff., Men. 1039 ff., Ps. 1017 ff., 1052 ff., 1102 ff., Rud. 892 ff., 1281 ff., St. 641 ff., Trin. 199 ff., 1115 ff., Truc. 322 ff., 335 ff., 645 ff., 699 ff.

Cf. the treatment of Le Grand, Daos, p. 412 ff., where he has an analysis from a different point of view. The soliloquy and aside are evidently not so frequent in New Comedy.

[139]: Daos p. 379. Cf. p. 550.

[140]: Aul. 587 ff., Men. 966 ff. Cf. Most. 858 ff. and As. 545 ff., a duologue in canticum.

[141]: Bac. 640 ff. Cf. Ps. 767 ff.

[142]: Cap. 461 ff., Cf. Per. 53 ff.

[143]: Men. 77 ff., 446 ff., St. 155 ff.

[144]: Cur. 371 ff., (Cf. 494 ff.), Men. 571 ff., Poen. 823 ff.

[145]: Ep. 225 ff.

[146]: Cas. 217 ff., Trin. 223 ff. (Cf. 660 ff.)

[147]: Men. 753 ff.

[148]: Aul. 475 ff. (496-536 branded as spurious by Weise, op. cit., pp. 42-44).

[149]: Mer. 817 ff.

[150]: Poen. 210 ff. (though not a solo), Truc. 22 ff., 210 ff., 551 ff.

[151]: Ps. 790 ff.

[152]: Truc. 482 ff.

[153]: Mer. 825 ff., Rud. 593 ff.

[154]: Mosl. 85 ff.

[155]: Ps. 1246 ff.

[156]: St. 683 to end.

[157]: Ps. 133 ff. For further passages of the episodical type, cf. Bac. 925 ff. (v. supra under "bombast," I. A. 1), Poen. 449 ff., Rud. 906 ff., Trin. 820 ff. (v. supra under "burlesque," I. A. 3).

[158]: Cf. further Amph. 463, 998, Bac. 1072, Cap. 69 ff., Cas. 879, Cis. 146, 678, Men. 880, Mer. 313, Mil. 862, Most. 280, 354, 708 ff., Poen. 921 f., Ps. 124, St. 224,446, 674 ff., Truc. 109 ff., 463 ff., 965 ff. Cf. infra II. B. 5.

[159]: In Donat. ed. Wessner.

[160]: V. As., Bac., Cap., Cis., Cur., Ep., Men., Mer., Most., Per., Rod., St. Cf. Cas. 1013 ff., Poen. 1370 f.

[161]: V. Bac. 235-367, Cap. 835-99, Cis. 203 ff., 540-630, 705 ff., Cur. 251-73 and passim (this play is full of bandying of quips), Ep. 1 ff., Men. 137-81, 602-67, Mer. 474 ff., 708 ff., 866 ff., Most. 633 ff., 717 ff., 885 ff., Per. 1 ff., 201 ff., Poen. 210 ff., Ps. 653 ff. and passim, Rud. 485 ff. (the jokes here are unusually good), 780 ff., St. 579 ff., Trin. 39 ff., 843 ff., Truc. 95 ff.

[162]: Cf. Sosia im Amph. (esp. 659 ff.), Libanus in As. 1 ff., Palinurus in Cur., Acanthio in Mer. (esp. 137 ff.), Milphio in Poen., Sceparnio in Rud. (esp. 104 ff.) and Trachalio, Pinacium in St. (esp. 331 ff.), Stasimus in Trin.

[163]: St. 446 ff., Prol. Cas. 67 ff. For an exhaustive discussion of the 'truth to life' of the characters, v. LeGrand, Daos, Part I, Chap. V.

[164]: V. esp. 96 ff.

[165]: 603 ff.

[166]: Pyrgopolinices in Mil., Therapontigonus in Cur., the miles in Ep., Anthemonides in Poen. Stratophanes in Truc, is not so violent.

[167]: Cappadox in Cur., Dordalus in Per., Lycus in Poen., Labrax in Rud. Similarly the lenae.

[168]: Introd. to ed. of Ps.

[169]: 355. Cf. 360 ff., 974 ff.

[170]: Hist. de la lit. lat. Bk. II, Ch. III., Sec. 4. p. 307.

[171]: Plaut. Stud., p. 105.

[172]: Daos, pp. 557 f. Cf. 218 f.

[173]: Introd. to Ps. Cf. Daos, p. 452 ff.

[174]: E.g., Amph. 957, Bac. 844, Cas. 308, Men. 898, Mil. 1137, 1188, Per. 301, 543, Poen. 576, Rud. 1209, St. 400-1, Trin. 482.

[175]: Part II, Sec. I. B. 2.

[176]: P. 157.

[177]: Cf. Daos, p. 60.

[178]: Cf. in general the conclusions of LeGrand, Daos, p. 550, and his admirable analysis (Part II) of "La structure des comedies." He has recognized the existence of a number of the characteristics treated above, but his discussion is in different vein and with a different object in view.

[179]: Cap. 489, Cur. 483.

[180]: Cur. 269, et al.

[181]: Mil. 991.

[182]: Ps. 416, et al.

[183]: Ps. 1232.

[184]: Ps. 748. For a fairly complete collection, v. LeGrand, Daos, p. 44 ff. Cf. Middleton and Mills, Students' Companion to Latin Authors, p. 20 ff.

[185]: Cf. West in A.J.P. VIII. 15. Cf. note 1, Part II, supra.

[186]: Cf. Amph. 861 ff., As. 174 f., Cap. 778, Cur. 464, Her. 160, Poen. 1224.

[187]: Cf. Daos, Part I, Chap. III: Les personnages, and p. 303 ff.; Mommsen, Hist. pp. 141 ff.

[188]: Prol, 53 ff.

[189]: For a discussion of the relation of Plautus to his originals, v. Schuster, Quomodo Plautus Attica exemplaria transtulerit; LeGrand, Daos, passim; Ostermayer, de hist. fab. in com. Pl.; Ritschl, Par. 271, etc. The efforts to distinguish Plautus from his models have so far been fragmentary and abortive and will not advance appreciably until a complete play that he adapted has been found. At any rate, the discussion has no real bearing on our subject, since we can consider only the plays as actually transmitted; their sources cannot affect our argument. The comparisons in Daos seem to indicate that Plautus did not debase his originals so much as Mommsen, KArting, Schlegel and others had thought. Even in 1881, Kiessling (Anal. Plaut. II. 9) boldly expresses the opinion: "Atque omnino Plautus multo pressius Atticorum exemplarium vestigia secutus est quam hodie vulgo arbitrantur". Cf. Kellogg in PAPA. XLIV (1913).

[190]: Euanthius, de Com. IV. 4.

[191]: For an interesting comparison of Plautus and Terence, v. Spengel, Aoeber die lateinische KomAdie, (Munich 1878).

[192]: The importance of the music is indicated by the transmission of the composer's name in all extant didascaliae, esp. those of Terence. V. Klotz, AltrAm. Met. p. 384 ff.

THE END