LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

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)

Скачать книгу