Little is known for certain about the life and personality of plautus, who ranks with terence as one of the two great roman comic dramatists. Willcocks edition, the first in english for over fifty years, remains one of the most concise yet thorough. But it is fairly formal, even hifalutin, for such robust and earthy material as plautus. The braggart soldier, by plautus page 2 his master back in athens was a fine young man, named pleusicles. Alcesimus wants to send everyone off so that lysidamus can sleep with casina in his house before they all go to the countryside. 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. Caplan these three functions recur in the prologues of plautus. In athens, pleusicles was crazy for a courtesan named philocomasium. Click here to download a slideshow from the 2001 production of plautus pseudolus titus maccius plautus c. Actors can create a free profile as well as directors, casting directors, producers and agentsmanagers. The action takes place on the streets of athens, and all the characters are greek.
As cleostrata, the wife of lysidamus, has her suspicions, she supports her son and chalinus. Amphitryon 339 writing burlesque, was the author of an amphitryon. Plautus s latin is quite entertaining and attractive, but full of forms one doesnt encounter in the usual golden age prose authors or poets. Their actions are reflections of how the issues of class, wealth, and status influenced plautus, and, through. This includes data values and the controlled vocabularies that house them. Titus maccius plautus is the one of the most renowned roman playwrights of his era, creating artful comedies that would astound and amaze roman audiences and even the readers of today. 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. At the same time, the roman republic was expanding in power and influence. Twenty complete plays by plautus survive along with around 100 lines of vidularia the suitcase and fragments from several others. But the amphitryon, though in some ways typical of new comedy.
The play on which he based his aulularia the pot of gold has not survived. Plautus uses pseudolus as a means of creating a comic hero whose worth is not based on his status and class in society. Franciszek mymer leomontanus silesius, mymerus, lewenbergus. Datasets available include lcsh, bibframe, lc name authorities, lc classification, marc codes, premis vocabularies, iso language codes, and more. Title, date, language click on the title to show a detailed card and to read or download. A monologue from the play casina by titus maccius plautus. Plautus, great roman comic dramatist, whose works, loosely adapted from greek plays, established a truly roman drama in the latin language. The complex plot of deceit and confusion is, in the way of the genre, finally resolved in reconciliation. The master was sent on a journey, a government quest. Willcocks edition, the first in english for over fifty years, remains one of the most. 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. The casina is undoubtedly one of plautus most farcical creations. This is clear throughout his play, pseudolus, in which each of the characters are developed based on their class and status.
Plautus titus maccius is the author of the comedies of plautus. His theatrical genius, vitality, farcical humor, and control of the latin language rank him as romes greatest comic playwright during the 3d century b. Maccius plautus, miles gloriosus, or the braggart captain. Plautus edited and translated by david christenson. Titus maccius plautus, better known simply as plautus actually a nickname meaning flatfoot, was, between c. Digital libraries initiative, phase 2 provided support for entering this text. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. Italydied 184 bce, great roman comic dramatist, whose works, loosely adapted from greek plays, established a truly roman drama in the latin language life. Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible.
The editors aim is to establish the play as one of the liveliest of ancient comedies, and in their introduction and notes to make. Go to the editions section to read or download ebooks. Plautus plays most of them can be found in english online at the perseus site. Rudens may be better constructed, bacchides more menandiran, casina more broadly funny, but for the special qualities of plautus. An epitaph on plautus has the goddess comedy in deep mourning and the stage empty. Probably based on a greek original, philemons ghost, it concerns the scheming slave tranios attempts including the invention of a haunted house to disguise from his old master the sexual and financial prodigality of the latters son. Amphitryon, the comedy of asses, teh pot of gold, the two bacchises, and the captives. We do know that the play was first performed in rome in april, 191 b. Adaptations were certainly made, the more obvious of which i shall point out in what follows. List of works available at intratext this list contains only essential information. The volume editors are grateful to the european humanities.
Heptameron 1984 and editor of language and the nuclear arms debate. Click here to download a slideshow from the 2001 production of plautus pseudolus. Plautus was a roman playwright and his dates as best as we can tell are 255. Only about 40% of plautus text is in the standard spoken rhythm of latin and greek drama, the iambic trimeter or its latin variant the senarius 6footer. This barcode number lets you verify that youre getting exactly the right version or edition of a book. Plautus curculio, the shortest of the twenty surviving comedies by ancient romes master dramatist, certainly is among his best. His theatrical genius, vitality, farcical humor, and control of the latin language 1 rank him as romes greatest comic playwright. Casina book by titus maccius plautus, plautus, w t. Plautus casina is a lively and well composed farce. This body of work was first attributed to plautus by the 1st century bce roman scholar varro and the titles are.
The plot revolves about a beautiful girl, casina, who is being fought over by two men. Now bovie and david slavitt have brought together a distinguished group of translators for the final two volumes of a fourvolume set containing all twentyone surviving comedies of one of western literatures greatest dramatists. Plautus particularly addresses the influence that class and status had on ancient roman society and thinking. Maccius plautus, casina, or the stratagem defeated. The linked data service provides access to commonly found standards and vocabularies promulgated by the library of congress. Plautus titus maccius author of the comedies of plautus. This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry and has been proofread to a medium level of accuracy. Plautus classical and medieval literature criticism essay. It has all the characteristics that make plautus a perennial favorite among readers of latin. Lysidamus has persuaded his neighbor alcesimus to send over his wife myrrhina, a close friend of cleostrata, so that she can help with the wedding preparations.
Plautus was a popular comedic playwright while roman theatre was still in its infancy and still largely undeveloped. The works of plautus, writes palmer bovie, mark the real beginning of roman literature. Amphitryo, asinaria, aulularia, bacchides, captivi by. Of the remaining plautine comedies, the pseudolus is. Plautus is considered to be one of ancient romes most popular and successful comic playwrights. What is sometimes called prologus in manu scripts and by modern editors is in many cases. While it is clear that pseudolus is a slave, it is also clear that he is has to potential to be kind and helpful to those he cares about. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read casina. Plautus was sometimes accused of teaching the public indifference and mockery of the gods.
Plautus classical and medieval literature criticism. Instead his worth is based on his ruthless cunning and his kindness to those he helps. Pseudolus, the most plautine of plautus plays, is his masterpiece. Plautus plays are without exception new comedy palliatae, i. 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.
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. A casting calls, auditions resource and talent database. Plautus, titus maccius titus maccius plautus plauto. It remains unclear to what extent its bawdy character goes back to the lost but named greek original, the kleroumenoi men casting lots by diphilus ll. If one or more works are by a distinct, homonymous authors, go ahead and split the author. While pleusicles was away, the soldier came to athens, and made advances to philocomasium. Jul 01, 1995 the works of plautus, writes palmer bovie, mark the real beginning of roman literature. As per comedic conventions, the characters are typical stock characters, and the jokes are derived by a combination of verbal wit and comedic situations. The development of constructions as illustrated by plautus. But the satiric quality of these plays is bland by comparison with the trenchant ridicule of old comedy. The editors aim is to establish the play as one of the liveliest of ancient.
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