Plautus Truculentus
Plautus, Truculentus IV, 2, 33-36. Filed Under: Blog. Reginald's first published chapter on the principles of the subjunctive, purpose and result clauses, the gerund and gerundive and much more is in 'Appreciating the Collect'. Return to top of page. Plautus was a popular comedic playwright while Roman theatre was still in its infancy and still largely undeveloped. At the same time, the Roman Republic was expanding in power and influence. [citation needed] Roman society deities. Plautus was sometimes accused of teaching the public indifference and mockery of the gods. Of Phronesium, the young farmer Strabax. Strabax is uncouth and presumably ugly, as his Greek name means “squint-eyed,” but he is held in high esteem because of his wealth.
Contents. Biography Not much is known about Titus Maccius Plautus' early life. It is believed that he was born in, a small town in in northern Italy, around 254 BC. According to Morris Marples, Plautus worked as a stage-carpenter or scene-shifter in his early years.
It is from this work, perhaps, that his love of the theater originated. His acting talent was eventually discovered; and he adopted the names 'Maccius' (a clownish stock-character in popular farces) and 'Plautus' (a term meaning either 'flat-footed' or 'flat-eared', like the ears of a hound). Tradition holds that he made enough money to go into the nautical business, but that the venture collapsed. He is then said to have worked as a manual laborer and to have studied Greek drama—particularly the of —in his leisure.
His studies allowed him to produce his plays, which were released between c. 205 and 184 BC.
Plautus attained such a popularity that his name alone became a hallmark of theatrical success. Plautus's comedies are mostly adapted from Greek models for a Roman audience, and are often based directly on the works of the Greek playwrights. He reworked the Greek texts to give them a flavour that would appeal to the local Roman audiences. They are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. Plautus's read: postquam est mortem aptus Plautus, Comoedia luget, scaena est deserta, dein Risus, Ludus Iocusque et Numeri innumeri simul omnes conlacrimarunt. Since Plautus is dead, Comedy mourns, The stage is deserted; then Laughter, Jest and Wit, And all Melody's countless numbers wept together. Manuscript tradition Plautus wrote around 130 plays, of which 20 have survived intact, making him the most prolific ancient dramatist in terms of surviving work.
Only short fragments, mostly quotations by later writers of antiquity, survive from 31 other plays. Despite this, the manuscript tradition of Plautus is poorer than that of any other ancient dramatist, something not helped by the failure of on Plautus to survive. The chief manuscript of Plautus is a, known as the Ambrosian palimpsest (A), in which Plautus' plays had been scrubbed out to make way for 's Commentary on the Psalms. The monk who performed this was more successful in some places than others. He seems to have begun furiously, scrubbing out Plautus' alphabetically arranged plays with zest before growing lazy, then finally regaining his vigor at the end of the manuscript to ensure not a word of Plautus was legible. Although modern technology has allowed classicists to view much of the effaced material, plays beginning in letters early in the alphabet have very poor texts (e.g.
The end of and start of are lost), plays with letters in the middle of the alphabet have decent texts, while only traces survive of the play Vidularia. A second manuscript tradition is represented by manuscripts of the Palatine family, so called because two of its most important manuscripts were once kept in the library of the in Heidelberg in Germany. The archetype of this family is now lost but it can be reconstructed from various later manuscripts, some of them containing either only the first half or the second half of the plays. The most important manuscript of this group is 'B', of the 10th or early 11th century, now kept in the Vatican library.
Surviving plays. For the Italian tradition of farce, see.
There are differences not just in how the father-son relationship is presented, but also in the way in which Menander and Plautus write their poetry. Anderson discusses the believability of Menander versus the believability of Plautus and, in essence, says that Plautus' plays are much less believable than those plays of Menander because they seem to be such a farce in comparison.
He addresses them as a reflection of Menander with some of Plautus' own contributions. Anderson claims that there is unevenness in the poetry of Plautus that results in 'incredulity and refusal of sympathy of the audience.' Prologues The poetry of Menander and Plautus is best juxtaposed in their prologues. Lloyd makes the point that 'albeit the two prologues introduce plays whose plots are of essentially different types, they are almost identical in form.'
He goes on to address the specific style of Plautus that differs so greatly from Menander. He says that the 'verbosity of the Plautine prologues has often been commented upon and generally excused by the necessity of the Roman playwright to win his audience.' However, in both Menander and Plautus, is essential to their comedy. Plautus might seem more verbose, but where he lacks in he makes up for it with words, and paronomasia (punning). See also 'jokes and wordplay' below.
Plautus is well known for his devotion to puns, especially when it comes to the names of his characters. In Miles Gloriosus, for instance, the female concubine's name, Philocomasium, translates to 'lover of a good party'—which is quite apt when we learn about the tricks and wild ways of this prostitute. Character Plautus' characters—many of which seem to crop up in quite a few of his plays—also came from Greek stock, though they too received some Plautine innovations. Indeed, since Plautus was adapting these plays it would be difficult not to have the same kinds of characters—roles such as slaves, concubines, soldiers, and old men. By working with the characters that were already there but injecting his own creativity, as J.C.B. Lowe wrote in his article 'Aspects of Plautus' Originality in the Asinaria', 'Plautus could substantially modify the characterization, and thus the whole emphasis of a play.' The Clever Slave One of the best examples of this method is the Plautine slave, a form that plays a major role in quite a few of Plautus' works.
The 'clever slave' in particular is a very strong character; he not only provides exposition and humor, but also often drives the plot in Plautus' plays. Stace argues that Plautus took the stock slave character from New Comedy in Greece and altered it for his own purposes. In New Comedy, he writes, 'the slave is often not much more than a comedic turn, with the added purpose, perhaps, of exposition'. This shows that there was precedent for this slave archetype, and obviously some of its old role continues in Plautus (the expository monologues, for instance). However, because Plautus found humor in slaves tricking their masters or comparing themselves to great heroes, he took the character a step further and created something distinct. Understanding of Greek by Plautus' audience Of the approximate 270 proper names in the surviving plays of Plautus, about 250 names are Greek. Seaman proposes that these Greek names would have delivered a comic punch to the audience because of its basic understanding of the Greek language.
This previous understanding of Greek language, Seaman suggests, comes from the 'experience of Roman soldiers during the first and second Punic wars. Not only did men billeted in Greek areas have opportunity to learn sufficient Greek for the purpose of everyday conversation, but they were also able to see plays in the foreign tongue.' Having an audience with knowledge of the Greek language, whether limited or more expanded, allowed Plautus more freedom to use Greek references and words. Also, by using his many Greek references and showing that his plays were originally Greek, 'It is possible that Plautus was in a way a teacher of Greek literature, myth, art and philosophy; so too was he teaching something of the nature of Greek words to people, who, like himself, had recently come into closer contact with that foreign tongue and all its riches.' At the time of Plautus, Rome was expanding, and having much success in Greece.
Anderson has commented that Plautus 'is using and abusing Greek comedy to imply the superiority of Rome, in all its crude vitality, over the Greek world, which was now the political dependent of Rome, whose effete comic plots helped explain why the Greeks proved inadequate in the real world of the third and second centuries, in which the Romans exercised mastery'. Disputed originality Plautus was known for the use of Greek style in his plays, as part of the tradition of the variation on a theme.
This has been a point of contention among modern scholars. One argument states that Plautus writes with originality and creativity—the other, that Plautus is a copycat of Greek New Comedy and that he makes no original contribution to playwriting. A single reading of the Miles Gloriosus leaves the reader with the notion that the names, place, and play are all Greek, but one must look beyond these superficial interpretations. Anderson would steer any reader away from the idea that Plautus' plays are somehow not his own or at least only his interpretation. Anderson says that, 'Plautus homogenizes all the plays as vehicles for his special exploitation.
Against the spirit of the Greek original, he engineers events at the end. Or alters the situation to fit his expectations.' Anderson's vehement reaction to the co-opting of Greek plays by Plautus seems to suggest that they are in no way like their originals were. It seems more likely that Plautus was just experimenting putting Roman ideas in Greek forms. Greece and Rome, although often put into the same categorywere different societies with different paradigms and ways of life. Geoffrey Arnott says that 'we see that a set of formulae used in the plays concerned with characterization, motif, and situation has been applied to two dramatic situations which possess in themselves just as many difference as they do similarities'. It is important to compare the two authors and the remarkable similarities between them because it is essential in understanding Plautus.
He writes about Greeks like a Greek. However, Plautus and the writers of Greek New Comedy, such as Menander, were writing in two completely different contexts. Contaminatio One idea that is important to recognize is that of contaminatio, which refers to the mixing of elements of two or more source plays. Plautus, it seems, is quite open to this method of adaptation, and quite a few of his plots seem stitched together from different stories. One excellent example is his Bacchides and its supposed Greek predecessor, Menander's Dis Exapaton.
The original Greek title translates as 'The Man Deceiving Twice', yet the Plautine version has three tricks. Castellani commented that: Plautus' attack on the genre whose material he pirated was, as already stated, fourfold. He deconstructed many of the Greek plays' finely constructed plots; he reduced some, exaggerated others of the nicely drawn characters of Menander and of Menander's contemporaries and followers into caricatures; he substituted for or superimposed upon the elegant humor of his models his own more vigorous, more simply ridiculous foolery in action, in statement, even in language. By exploring ideas about Roman loyalty, Greek deceit, and differences in ethnicity, 'Plautus in a sense surpassed his model.' He was not content to rest solely on a loyal adaptation that, while amusing, was not new or engaging for Rome.
Plautus took what he found but again made sure to expand, subtract, and modify. He seems to have followed the same path that Horace did, though Horace is much later, in that he is putting Roman ideas in Greek forms.
He not only imitated the Greeks, but in fact distorted, cut up, and transformed the plays into something entirely Roman. In essence it is Greek theater colonized by Rome and its playwrights. Stagecraft In Ancient Greece during the time of New Comedy, from which Plautus drew so much of his inspiration, there were permanent theaters that catered to the audience as well as the actor. The greatest playwrights of the day had quality facilities in which to present their work and, in a general sense, there was always enough public support to keep the theater running and successful. However, this was not the case in Rome during the time of the Republic, when Plautus wrote his plays. While there was public support for theater and people came to enjoy tragedy and comedy alike, there was also a notable lack of governmental support.
No permanent theater existed in Rome until Pompey dedicated one in 55 BCE in the Campus Martius. The lack of a permanent space was a key factor in Roman theater and Plautine stagecraft.
This lack of permanent theaters in Rome until 55 BCE has puzzled contemporary scholars of Roman drama. In their introduction to the Miles Gloriosus, Hammond, Mack and Moskalew say that 'the Romans were acquainted with the Greek stone theater, but, because they believed drama to be a demoralizing influence, they had a strong aversion to the erection of permanent theaters'. This worry rings true when considering the subject matter of Plautus' plays. The unreal becomes reality on stage in his work. Moore notes that, 'all distinction between the play, production, and 'real life' has been obliterated Plautus' play Curculio'. A place where social norms were upended was inherently suspect.
The aristocracy was afraid of the power of the theater. It was merely by their good graces and unlimited resources that a temporary stage would have been built during specific festivals. The importance of the ludi. The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature (1996) Ed. Howatson and Ian Chilvers, Oxford University Press, Oxford Reference Online. M.
'Plautus,' Greece & Rome 8.22(1938), p. Greek and Roman Comedy (University of Texas Press, 2001), p. Florida Junior Classical League. Retrieved 2 March 2014. Walter de Melo, Plautus: Amphitryon (etc.), (Loeb Classical Library), introduction, p.
', The Classical Journal 48.2(1952), pp. Comedy and the Rise of Rome. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. 'On a Patriotic Passage in the Miles Gloriosus of Plautus,' The American Journal of Philology 8.1(1887), p.
'Historical Topicality in Plautus,' Classical World 79 (1986), pp. 'Bellum Philippicum: Some Roman and Greek Views Concerning the Causes of the Second Macedonian War,' Classical Philology 40.3 (1945), p.
Bickerman, 146. 'Plautus' 'Stichus' and the Political Crisis of 200 B.C.,' The American Journal of Philology 121.3 (2000), p. Owens, 386. Owens, 392. Owens, 395-396.
F., Ancient Comedy: The War of the Generations (New York, 1993), p.56. in The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, vol.
Alfred Bates. London: Historical Publishing Company, 1906. ^ Sutton 1993, p. Sutton 1993, p. F., 'Two Prologues: Menander and Plautus,' The American Journal of Philology 84.2 (1963, April), p. ^ Lloyd 1963, p.
Lloyd 1963, p. Lowe, J.C.B., 'Aspects of Plautus' Originality in the Asinaria,' The Classical Quarterly 42 (1992), p. Stace, C., 'The Slaves of Plautus,' Greece & Rome 15 (1968), p. Stace 1968, pp. Seaman, W.M., 'The Understanding of Greek by Plautus' Audience,' Classical Journal 50 (1954), p. Seaman 1954, p.
Seaman 1954, p. Seaman 1954, p. Anderson, 'The Roman Transformation of Greek Domestic Comedy,' The Classical World 88.3 (1995), pp. Anderson 1995, p.
G., 'A Note on the Parallels between Menander's 'Dyskolos' and Plautus' 'Aulularia,' Phoenix 18.3 (1964), p. M., 'The Third Deception in Bacchides: Fides and Plautus' Originality,' The American Journal of Philology 115 (1994), pp. 'Plautus versus Komoidia: popular farce at Rome,' in Farce, ed. Redmond (Cambridge and New York, 1988), pp. Owens 1994, p.
'Plautus on the Palatine,' The Journal of Roman Studies 88 (1998), p. Hammond, A.M. 'Introduction: The Stage and Production,' in Miles Gloriosus. London and Cambridge, 1997 repr., pp.
'Palliata Togata: Plautus, Curculio 462-86,' The American Journal of Philology 112.3 (1991), pp. Hanson, Roman Theater—Temples, (Princeton, NJ, 1959), p. Goldberg, 1998, pp. Moore, 'Seats and Social Status in the Plautine Theater,' The Classical Journal 90.2 (1995), pp. Bieber, The History of the Greek and Roman Theater, (Princeton, NJ, 1961.), p.
Moore, 1991, p. Rosivach, 'Plautine Stage Settings,' Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association 101 (1970), pp. Andrews, 'Tragic Re-Presentation and the Semantics of Space in Plautus,' Mnemosyne 57.4 (2004), pp.
Goldberg, 'Act to Action in Plautus' Bacchides,' Classical Philology 85.3 (1990), pp. Goldberg, 1998, p.19. Goldberg, 1998, p.16. Brown, 'Actors and Actor–Managers at Rome in the Time of Plautus and Terence,' in Greek and Roman Actors: Aspects of an Ancient Profession, Ed. Easterling and E. (Cambridge, 2002.), p. Goldberg, 1998, p.
Juniper, 'Character Portrayals in Plautus.' The Classical Journal 31 (1936), p. Juniper, 1936, p. Hough, 'The Reverse Comic Foil in Plautus.' The American Philological Association 73 (1942), p. Harsh, 'The Intriguing Slave in Greek Comedy,' Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, 86 (1955), pp.
Harsh, 1955, p. Ryder, 'The Senex Amator in Plautus,' Greece & Rome 31.2. (Oct., 1984), pp.181-189. Packman, 'Feminine Role Designations in the Comedies of Plautus,' The American Journal of Philology 120.2. Duckworth, 'The Unnamed Characters in the Plays of Plautus,' Classical Philology 33.2.
'Verb Forms in Plautus,' The Classical Quarterly 1.1(1907), pp. Hammond, A.H.
Moskalew, Miles Gloriosus (Cambridge and London, 1997 repr.), pp. The reader is directed to the word studies of A.W. Hodgman (Nouns 1902; Verbs 107) to grasp fully the use of archaic forms in Plautine diction. From magis volo 'want more'. Martin, Terence: Phormio (London: Methuen, 1969). This list compiled from a number of word studies and syntactic texts listed in the reference section. Les passages punique en transcription latine dans le Poenulus de Plaute.
Paris: Librairie C. Fontaine, Funny Words in Plautine Comedy, Oxford, 2010. 'The Slaves of Plautus,' Greece and Rome 2.15 (1968), pp. Easterling '76, p.12 'the delight in low humour we associate with Plautus'. Stace 1968, pp.
Plautus in Performance: The Theatre of the Mind. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985, p. Roman Laughter: The Comedy of Plautus. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968, p. 122.
Segal 1968, p. 'The First Cambridge Production of Miles Gloriosus.' Modern Language Notes, 70.6 (1955), pp. 'The Influence of Plautus and Terence Upon the Stonyhurst Pageants.'
Plautus Truculentus Latin
Modern Language Notes 38 (1923) 393-399. Barber, 'Shakespearian Comedy in the Comedy of Errors,' College English 25.7 (1964), p. Marples, 'Plautus.' Greece & Rome 8.22 (1938), p. 'Plautus and Shakespeare: Further Comments on Menaechmi and The Comedy of Errors.' The Classical Journal 20 (1925), pp. On the Compositional Genetics of The Comedy of Errors.
Plautus Truculentus
(Urbana 1965), pp. The Classical Tradition in Operation.
(Toronto 1994), pp. 'Falstaff and the Plautine Parasite.' The Classical Journal 33(1938), pp. 'The Influence of Plautus and Terence Upon the Stonyhurst Pageants,' Modern Language Notes 38 (1923), pp.
'The Influence of Plautus and Terrence Upon the Stonyhurst Pageants,' Modern Language Notes 38.7 (1923), pp. 'Plautus Up-to-Date.' The Classical Journal 16 (1921), pp. References.