Roman Laughter: The Comedy of Plautus"Mr. Segal has performed the by no means trifling task of making [Plautus's] achievement credible and understandable."--Times Literary Supplement. "It is refreshing to find Plautus examined for what he undeniably was--a theatrical phenomenon."--Classical World. "We certainly need in English a book devoted to Plautus alone and here we have it."--Phoenix. "Many readers will do as I have done: read Roman Laughter with enjoyment and profit."--Classical Philology. "Of all the Greek and Roman playwrights," Erich Segal writes, "Titus Maccius Plautus is the least admired and the most imitated." In Roman Laughter, the first book-length study of Plautus, Segal argues that this neglected writer, often denounced by scholars for such crimes as "barbarous clownery," merits our serious attention precisely because he was the most successful poet of the ancient world. He analyzes the reasons behind this success, placing the author in his social and historical context and observing that Plautus's wildly comedic flouting of Roman law and custom had a cathartic effect upon a people bound by rule in every aspect of their lives. This expanded edition contains a new preface that reconsiders the work of Plautus in light of recent scholarship and also contains essays on the Amphitryon and the Captivi. |
Contents
| 1 | |
I O Tempora O Mos Maiorum | 15 |
II From Forum to Festival | 42 |
III Puritans Principles and Pleasures | 70 |
IV From Slavery to Freedom | 99 |
V From Freedom to Slavery | 137 |
Problems in Plautus | 171 |
Abbreviated Titles | 227 |
Notes | 229 |
| 289 | |
| 295 | |
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Common terms and phrases
agelast AGORASTOCLES Alcmena Amphitruo Amphitryon argues ARGYRIPPUS Aristophanes Asinaria atque attitude Aulularia Bacchides bamboozled behavior bondsman Callicles Captivi Casina Cato Chap characters Chrysalus Cicero cite clever slave comic describes discussed Dordalus dramatic Duckworth Epidamnus Epidicus Ergasilus Euclio example fabula fact father festive Fraenkel Freud girl Greek Hegio hercle Hercules hodie holiday Horace joke Jupiter Latin LEONIDA Libanus lines Livy ludi Lydus Lysidamus Lysiteles master Menaechmus Menander Menander's Mercury merely mihi Miles Gloriosus MILPHIO Molière moral mos maiorum Mostellaria neque Nicobulus nunc Olympio Palaestrio pater Periphanes Persa Philocrates pietas pimp PISTOCLERUS Plautine comedy Plautine slave Plautus play playwright Poenulus Polybius praise prologue Pseudolus punishment Pyrgopolynices quam quid quod quoted Roman audience Roman comedy Rome Rudens saturnalian Scapin scene senex servant similar Simo soldier stage Stichus sunt Terence Theopropides tibi Toxilus Tranio Trinummus Tyndarus typical Plautine un-Roman virtue wife words young