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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.

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