The conventional class divisions that keep lovers apart and particularly. Maccius plautus, aulularia, or the concealed treasure henry thomas riley, ed. But we can make only intuitive guesses about the audiences they are likely to have attracted on their travels. His plautine elements in plautus originally published in german in 1922 revolutionized the study of roman comedy. Plautus was sometimes accused of teaching the public indifference and mockery of. It is generally assumed that the aulularia is based on a play by menander, but of course there are other possibilities as well. Watt also notes that some of these elements appear in many of his works, such as twelfth night or a. The captivi and the mostellaria of plautus, literally translated with notes, ed. Online books about this author are available, as is a wikipedia article plautus, titus maccius. The pot of gold by plautus was the basis for molieres miser. Titus maccius plautus commonly known as plautus, was a roman playwright of the old latin. Twenty complete plays by plautus survive along with around 100 lines of vidularia the suitcase and fragments from several others.
The master was sent on a journey, a government quest. Some critics only made some objective remarks, pierre grimal 2, others were subjective and lenient on his lack of originality rene pichon 3, while others pledged. His comedies are the earliest surviving intact works in latin literature. The translation for these, done by henry thomas riley, was published in 1912, so its not as archaic as some of the others on the perseus site. This body of work was first attributed to plautus by the 1st century bce roman scholar varro and the titles are. From these plays, much can be garnered about plautine style, characterization, and staging. His plays are the earliest complete surviving works from latin theatre and they are noted for adding even more outrageous comedy to traditional comic plays. The braggart soldier, by plautus page 1 5 the prologues speech is actually taken from the original script and adapted quite a bit. Translated by tomas drevikovsky and frances muecke. His plays, adapted from those of greek new comedy, are popular and vigorous representations of middleclass and lowerclass life. In athens, pleusicles was crazy for a courtesan named philocomasium. Plautus article about plautus by the free dictionary. The braggart soldier, by plautus page 2 his master back in athens was a fine young man, named pleusicles. The menaechmi is a comedic play about mistaken identity, a misplaced twin, and the relationship between a husband and his wife.
But the amphitryon, though in some ways typical of new comedy. In the case of the reinvention of comedy in italy at the beginning of the sixteenth century, two sources, plautus and boccaccio, converged in a happy and productive mar. Digital libraries initiative, phase 2 provided support for entering this text. All greek and roman drama is written in verse, some of it designed to be sung. His plays were influenced by both the italian elements and the greek new comedy, although it would. A funny thing happened on the way to the forum, the hit broadway musical, borrows much of its plot and even the name of its leading slave, pseudolus deceitful dude, from plautus comedy. There is also a fairly lengthy reference to festivals of bacchus ll. Part one on amphitryo 3037 argues that the pun on quintus the name and quattuor, four, translates a pun in the greek.
Plautus plays are without exception new comedy palliatae, i. The comedies of plautus and terence are all that remains to us of the roman comic drama. It is impossible to deal with the works of these writers, even in so slight a sketch as is contemplated in this volume, without some previous reference to. Plautus casina is a lively and well composed farce. Plautine elements in plautus eduard fraenkel oxford. The commentary also very frequently cites linguistic and dramatic parallels from the full range of plautuss plays, and possible elements of roman culturalhistorical influence on the plays content and staging are noted and analyzed. The editors aim is to establish the play as one of the liveliest of ancient comedies, and in their introduction and notes to make. Plautus was sometimes accused of teaching the public indifference and mockery of the gods.
Plautus plays most of them can be found in english online at the perseus site. Due to his success, plautus plays are not only the oldest roman plays which survived in full other than terences, but the oldest latin literature passed down through manuscripts. At the same time, the roman republic was expanding in power and influence. Science quotes by plautus 1 quote may the gods confound that man who first disclosed the hours, and who first, in fact, erected a sundial here. He wrote palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of latin literature, livius andronicus. Sample online lecture plautuss life and times youtube. Characteristics of the plautine comic in pseudolus camelia radu it has been often suggested, not without good reason, that titus maccius plautus 1 did not write an original work. Asinaria, which has been translated as the one with the asses, is a comic play written in latin by the roman playwright titus maccius plautus and is known as one of the great works of ancient roman comedy. The development of constructions as illustrated by plautus.
It is famous for containing the lines lupus est homo homini, non homo, quom qualis sit non novit, which has been translated as a man is a wolf rather than a man to another man, when he. Guided by the household god, euclio has found the gold buried by his grandfather, because the god wants his kind daughter to have a dowry. The life and work of plautus by derick wallace on prezi. Plautus s comedy is a biting satire of roman society that is partly softened by his use of a greek setting and characters. To these three elements one should add the similarity of the. Stephanie hanson, latin 401 1 plautus pseudolus background o pseudolus was written for the dedication of a temple in 191 bce for the magna mater after the second punic war barsby 60. First new translation in 30 years and comprehensive commentary for over a century. Narrators in the guise of a professor and clowns set the stage at. English 240, ancient literature, a chapman university course that introduces students to texts in the western and eastern classical traditions. When was the first name plautus first recorded in the united states. Return to theater worked as a manual laborer and studied greek drama, particularly the new comedy of menander, a greek playwright these studies allowed him to produce his plays, released between 205184 bc wrote around 52 plays, 20 have survived none in their original. Hide browse bar your current position in the text is marked in blue. Plautus was a popular comedic playwright while roman theatre was still in its infancy and still largely undeveloped. We are a nonprofit organization and we would rather spend the money on our mission to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide.
For when i was a boy, this stomach was the sundial, one much better and truer than all of these. The amphitruo is a highly exceptional play given that it is the sole example of a comic treatment of a story from grecoroman mythology among plautus s works. While pleusicles was away, the soldier came to athens, and made advances to philocomasium. Eduard fraenkel was one of the most influential classicists of the twentieth century. Euclio is not a bad person, but he cannot cope with his fortune. This paper examines the semiotics of props and other physical items in plautus curculio. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system. The plays clever plot, which hinges on the confusion caused by mistaken identity, was borrowed by shakespeare for his comedy of errors. Almost nothing is known of these plays, it is usually assumed that the immediate original of the latin play was a comedy of the middle or new period. The oldest recorded birth by the social security administration for the name plautus is monday, september 11th, 1893. Written with a mastery of idiomatic spoken latin and governed by a genius for situation and coarse humor, plautus. This workbook has been created to introduce students to elements of roman comedy, specifically as seen in three of plautus plays, while providing a brief. From 1880 to 2018 less than 5 people per year have been born with the first name plautus.
Sample online lecture plautuss life and times university of dallas. Whatever the occasion for which the prologue of poenulus was written, it is the evidence most commonly cited in discussions of the plautine audi. The comedies of plautus, literally translated into english prose, with notes 2 volumes. To navigate the timeline, click and drag it with your mouse, or click on the. Plautus is a truly popular dramatist, whose comic effect springs from exaggeration, burlesque and often coarse humour, rapid action, and a deliberately upsidedown portrayal of life, in which slaves give orders to their masters, parents are hoodwinked to the advantage of sons who need money for girls. An xml version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer perseus any modifications you make. His comedies are the earliest latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. This paper supplements my funny words in plautine comedy 2010 by reinterpreting two famous plautine elements in plautus. All latin and greek is translated, thus making the work available to a. Plautuss life and times is a small sample of the types of online lectures given by university of dallas renowned. Although all the characters in pseudolus speak latin, they are meant to be greeks, with greek names, clothing, and customs. The plot, which concerns the competition of a father and his son for the same girl and the various scurrilous tricks employed in the process, gives full scope to plautus inventiveness and richly comic language.
For when i was a boy, this stomach was the sundial. But it is fairly formal, even hifalutin, for such robust and earthy material as plautus. This work is licensed under a creative commons attributionsharealike 3. Titus maccius plautus, better known simply as plautus actually a nickname meaning flatfoot, was, between c. His theatrical genius, vitality, farcical humor, and control of the latin language rank him as romes greatest comic playwright during the 3d century b. Even though this is one of plautus most famous comedies, we do not know for certain who wrote the original and when the latin work was performed first. Plautus often presented as his comic heroes not members of the nobility or figures of authority but the lowliest and least powerful elements of society. He wrote palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of.
Plautus quotes 1 science quotes dictionary of science. This translation makes it accessible to an englishspeaking readership for the first time. Pdf reconsidering some plautine elements in plautus. Plautus source for the menaechmi the twins named menaechmus is unknown. Amphitryon 339 writing burlesque, was the author of an amphitryon. Funny things happened in roman comedy uga classics. Please help us cover our server costs for this year. Immediately download the plautus summary, chapterbychapter analysis, book notes, essays, quotes, character descriptions, lesson plans, and more everything you need for studying or teaching plautus. In the latin play there are several references to the luxurious. Its main character is euclio, a man who has been plunged into a personal crisis by finding a pot of gold.
It was originally written for palaestrio to give to the audience a bit of background, however we cut this speech, and then decided to use some of. The prologue to plautuss menaechmi implies that the specific elements of any set were left to the audiences imagination, so that nothing material distinguished. The play, based on the aulularia of roman comic playwright plautus, recasts the ancient comic figure of the miser who is inhuman in his worship of money and all too human in his need for respect and affection. Oxford university press, 2007 first published as plautinisches im plautus, 1922.
Moodie presents a rigorous yet accessible guide to plautus satirical play poenulus for use in the contemporary classroom. However, euclio is so afraid of losing money he has never had before that he does not tell. Maccius plautus, aulularia, or the concealed treasure. It is still essential reading for students and scholars of plautus. This regulation from 186 made it much more difficult to hold such celebrations. Likely written and staged in the years following the second punic war between rome and carthage, poenulus tells the tale of a young carthaginian, the adopted son and. List of books and articles about plautus online research.
900 33 1533 886 1328 255 825 915 1269 1272 593 549 121 111 687 1309 236 686 132 1196 632 982 1013 1493 1484 862 154 887 1279 502 570 778 1175 1069 1406 226