Titus Maccius Plautus, commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety.
Background
Not much is known about Titus Maccius Plautus' early life. It is believed that he was born in Sarsina, a small town in Emilia Romagna in northern Italy, in around 254 BC. He came descended probably from a very modest family and lived quite long, about 66 years or more.
Education
Almost nothing is known about his life, but it is sure that he had great knowledge in Greek language and literature.
Career
The tradition that he made money at Rome in theatrical work, lost the money in mercantile investments, and began to compose comedies while working in a mill may not be true, but there can be no doubt about his excellent knowledge of stagecraft and his understanding of the Roman audience. He may have acted in Atellan farces in his youth. Of the more than one hundred comedies ascribed to Plautus in antiquity twenty have survived, all composed in his later years, from about 207 to 184 b. c. Plautus' extant comedies are all fabulae palliatae, plays with Greek plots, characters, and settings. They were adapted from originals of the Greek New Comedy, composed by Menander, Diphilus, Philemon, and others, but Plautus, reworking his models, made his plays thoroughly Italian in spirit; he introduced numerous local allusions and, with his broad sense of humor and his mastery of colloquial Latin, produced sparkling farces very unlike the Greek originals. The plots of the comedies are based sometimes upon innocent mistakes, often arising from mistaken identity, as in the Amphitruo (Amphitryon), Captivi (The Captives), and Menaechmi (The Twin Menaechmuses), but more frequently they are the result of intentional deceptions, tricks devised by a clever slave to secure money or a girl for his youthful master. Such attempts to deceive a youth's father are eventually found out, as in the Bacchides (The Two Bacchises), Epidicus, and Mostellaria (The Haunted House), but soldiers and slave dealers are tricked more successfully, as in the Curculio, Miles Gloriosus (The Braggart Warrior), Persa (The Persian), Poenulus (The Little Carthaginian), and Pseudolus. In some plays deception and mistaken identity both play a part, and the recognition scene supplements the trickery and helps to bring about the happy conclusion, as in the Curculio and Poenulus. Although Plautus is primarily a dramatist of plot, the action in many plays is motivated largely by character: the miserly qualities of Euclio in the Aulularia (The Pot of Gold), Tyndarus' devotion to his master in the Captivi, the conceited nature of Pyrgopolinices in the Miles Gloriosus, and Callicles' interest in the financial welfare of his absent friend in the Trinummus (Threepenny Day). There is a great variety in plot and situation in Plautus, and the plays range from burlesque in the Casina and farce in the Menaechmi to the more serious and refined comedy found in the Captivi. The Plautine characters are the fixed types inherited from Greek Comedy (father, son, slave, courtesan, wife, slave dealer, braggart warrior, parasite), but there is considerable diversity within the types; some courtesans are devoted to their lovers, others not; some slaves are loyal and trustworthy, others tricky and deceitful. Intriguing slaves, such as Chrysalus in the Bacchides, Epidicus, Palaestrio in the Miles Gloriosus, Tranio in the Mostellaria, and Pseudolus, are amusing because of their cleverness, wit, and insolence. Outstanding character portrayals, in addition to those mentioned above, are the faithful wife Alcmena in the Amphitruo, the grateful Philematium in the Mostellaria, Ballio the slave dealer in the Pseudolus, and Saturio's daughter with her modesty and idealism in the Persa. No Greek original of Plautus' comedies has survived, but the fragments of Menander show that the Greek comedies were composed in dialogue verse, except for occasional choral interludes. Plautus, perhaps following the practice of earlier Italian farces, introduced song and dance freely. His plays, all in verse, were partly spoken dialogue (diverbia), partly dialogue recited to musical accompaniment (cantica), and partly lyrical passages sung by one or more actors, and often accompanied by dancing. Many of the plays, the Casina and Persa, for example, were more like musical comedies than straight drama. The plays were presented without intermissions, and the scene, usually a street with two houses opening on it, was unchanging throughout the play. Soliloquies and asides were frequent, and Plautus did not hesitate to have his characters break the dramatic illusion and make amusing comments directly to the audience. Plautus wrote for the people and indulged in puns, word-play, and jests of every sort. As a master of comic invention he is often compared with Aristophanes and Shakespeare. His comedies, like those of Terence, were widely translated, adapted, and imitated by playwrights of Italy, Spain, France, and England. Amphitruo (Amphitryon) . The only surviving example of an ancient mythological travesty, the Amphitruo presents the familiar legend of Jupiter visiting Alcmena, wife of Amphitryon, disguised as her husband. The play concludes with a description of the birth of Hercules. Since Mercury is disguised as Sosia, Amphitryon's slave, the presence on the stage of two sets of doubles produces excellent farce. Alcmena, the chaste wife, is one of the most attractive and dignified heroines in Roman comedy. Among the numerous adaptations and imitations of this play, those by MolièreMoliere and Dryden are noteworthy, and Giraudoux's Amphitryon 38 handles the same theme. Aulularia (The Pot of Gold) . The plot centers around Euclio, a poor man who discovers a pot of gold in his house and endeavors to keep the treasure from being discovered. Amusing complications result when the gold is stolen and Lyconides, who has seduced Euclio's daughter, is accused of theft. The ending of the play is lost, but Euclio apparently recovers his gold and permits Lyconides to marry his daughter. The most famous adaptation of this play is Molière'sMoliere's L'Avare. Menaechmi (The Twin Menaechmuses) , Plautus' most successful comedy of mistaken identity. Menaechmus, searching for his twin brother of the same name, who was stolen as a child, comes to Epidamnus where his brother lives. He meets his brother's mistress, wife, parasite, and father-in-law, and is mistaken for the other twin, who returns from the forum to be shut out of the house of his mistress, abused by his wife, and considered insane. The complications of the farcical plot are handled dexterously and the fun is fast and furious. The most noted adaptation of the Menaechmi is Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors. Miles Gloriosus (The Braggart Warrior) , one of Plautus' best known comedies of intrigue. It is famed for the character of Pyrgopolinices, who boasts of his military exploits and believes all women are in love with him. The plot contains two complicated deceptions: the first involves a secret passageway between two houses and a girl who pretends to be twins (one version of a famous story appearing in numerous Arabian and European tales); the second presents a clever courtesan posing as the neighbor's wife and pretending to be in love with the soldier, a trick which is successful and leads to his complete discomfiture. The braggart warrior as a stock character was popular in later European comedy and appears, slightly altered, as Ralph Roister Doister, Falstaff, and Bobadil. Rudens (The Rope) , one of Plautus' best comedies. Rudens is rich in character and action, and has an unusual setting: a stretch of seashore after a storm. Labrax, a slave dealer, is shipwrecked at the very spot where he had agreed to meet a young Athenian and sell him the slave girl Palaestra; the aged Daemones living nearby is revealed as Palaestra's father. The attempt of the slave girl to escape from Labrax, and the discovery of Gripus, a fisherman, of the chest containing the property of Palaestra lead to many scenes in which humor and pathos are cleverly interwoven.
Views
Quotations:
"Nothing is more wretched than the mind of a man conscious of guilt. "
"The greatest talents often lie buried out of sight. "
"Friendship is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies. "
"Where there are friends there is wealth. "