Maccius plautus, mostellaria, or the haunted house, act. He is also one of the earliest writers of musical theater. The editors aim is to establish the play as one of the liveliest of ancient comedies, and in their introduction and notes to make. All are latin adaptations of earlier greek comedies. Unlike the early poets, plautus confined himself to one area. The mostellaria of plautus the haunted house translated from the latin by henry t. Plautus article about plautus by the free dictionary. This is a word probably derived from mostellum, the diminutive of monstrum, a spectre or prodigy. 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. Merrill states in his preface that this edition of the mostellaria is conceived as a first reader in roman comedy, and it is very clear that he has endeavored to make this commentary as user friendly as possible and has on the whole succeeded in doing so. He was probably born in sarsina a city in romagna around 254 bc. At the university press sherratt and hughes, publishers to the university of manchester 1908 the mostellaria of plautus an abridged acting edition arranged, translated, and enacted by the classical society of the victoria university of. Apr 24, 2007 mostellaria is a roman comedy by plautus.
His comedies are among the earliest works of latin literature that has not been lost. Titus maccius plautus was one of ancient romes greatest playwrights. An epitaph on plautus has the goddess comedy in deep mourning and the stage empty. It includes stock characters, like two old men, two young men, two. Click here to download a slideshow from the 2008 production of plautus mostellaria.
Plautus definition of plautus by the free dictionary. Little is known about his life but it is believed that he worked as a stage carpenter as a young man. New comedy is characterized by a program filled with certain stock roles. Knowledge of the life of plautus, whose full name was titus maccius plautus, is scant. Grumio appears to have been cook and herdsman combined, and perhaps generally employed at the country farm of theuropides. T errifica monstra dicit fieri in aedibus 5 e t inde pridem emigratum. Its neat plot and witty, fastmoving dialogue often speak for themselves. Incidental music and choruses for plautus s mostellaria. From this passage it would seem that pains were taken to give the houses a smooth and polished appearance on the outside 2 walls come tumbling down. The works of plautus, writes palmer bovie, mark the real beginning of roman literature. Plautus, however, generates humor in a different way from menandrean comedy. This translation it might well be labelled a paraphrase.
Mostellaria mostellaria is one of plautus most lively plays. Plautus was sometimes accused of teaching the public indifference and mockery of. Loosely adapted from lost greek plays, the works of plautus helped establish a truly roman drama in the latin language for the first time. It is set in the city of athens, on a street in front of the houses of theopropides and simo. It is true that thomas heywoods the english traveller is a wellknown translation of the mostellaria. 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. Plautus mostellaria argvmentvm m anu misit emptos suos amores philolaches o mnemque apsente rem suo apsumit patre. Unlike many of his contemporaries, plautus plays were no mere translation of menander. Jul 01, 1995 the works of plautus, writes palmer bovie, mark the real beginning of roman literature. The captivi and the mostellaria of plautus abebooks. Jan 01, 2005 free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg.
Maccius plautus, mostellaria, or the haunted house, act 1. The captivi and the mostellaria of plautus, literally. The captivi and the mostellaria by titus maccius plautus. Plautus was sometimes accused of teaching the public indifference and mockery of the gods.
Full text of the mostellaria of plautusthe haunted house microform see other formats ma s ter negative no. His source for the mostellaria, whose title literally means ghostly, was probably a greek play called the phasma the ghost written by philemon c. Plautus classical and medieval literature criticism essay. Plautus was a popular comedic playwright while roman theatre was still in its infancy and still largely undeveloped. At the same time, the roman republic was expanding in power and influence. Merrills commentary on plautus mostellaria for the bristol classical press series. His source for the mostellaria, whose title literally means ghostly, was probably a greek play called the phasma. Titus macchius plautus wrote plays in ancient rome. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read comedies of plautus. Shakespeare adapted the plot for his comedy of errors, but his is not the only adaptation made since the renaissance.
The following english translation of plautus miles gloriosus 2. But it is fairly formal, even hifalutin, for such robust and earthy material as plautus. 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. Plautus plays are without exception new comedy palliatae, i. Mostellaria classics to go by maccus titus 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, mostellaria, or the haunted house. Auszug aus wikipedia borrow ebooks, audiobooks, and videos from thousands of public libraries worldwide. Twenty complete plays by plautus survive along with around 100 lines of vidularia the suitcase and fragments from several others. Soon, however, his comedies began to suit the public taste and plautus was able to retire his handmill and devote himself to writing fulltime. 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. This body of work was first attributed to plautus by the 1st century bce roman scholar varro and the titles are.
Dec 31, 2009 mostellaria is latin and its english translation is the ghost. Watling presents, in a form suitable for the modern stage, the ghost mostellaria, the rope rudens, possibly the best of the plays, a threedollar day trinummus and amphitryo, a cheerful account of how jupiter begot hercules. Mostellaria by maccus titus plautus overdrive rakuten. Full text of the mostellaria of plautusthe haunted house. Plautus used puns, he played with words, or he gave the words another meaning. Review the full course description and key learning outcomes and create an account and. The captivi and the mostellaria of plautus, literally translated with notes by titus maccius plautus edited by henry t. Mostellaria is latin and its english translation is the ghost. This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry and has been proofread to a medium level of accuracy. Plautus comedies revolve mostly around daily life and average people, superficially the stuff of greek new comedy as opposed to the politically oriented old comedy of the classical age or the spoofs of tragedy popular in postclassical middle comedy.
Plautus simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Little is known of the life of titus maccius plautus. The captivi and the mostellaria of plautus, by henry. The mostellaria of plautus literally translated with notes by henry thomas riley, b. Watlings translation of the brothers menaechmus, from plautus.
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. Warner remarks that a sentiment not unlike this is found in scripture, ecclesiastes, x. Menaechmi is a broad farce that makes use of the comic possibilities of mistaken identity. 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. Plautus mostellaria the haunted house 2008 classics. 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. A young fellow, philolaches, son of theuropides, an athenian merchant, leads an extravagant life for three years, indulging himself in wine and parties with his friend, callidamates. His plays, adapted from those of greek new comedy, are popular and vigorous representations of middleclass and lowerclass life. Some have gone further than this and suggested that we are not even talking about a single person, but that plautus is a catchall name for the author of an enormous number of otherwise unattributed latin comedies. Plautus was a roman playwright and his dates as best as we can tell are 255. Stage, space, and domesticity in plautuss mostellaria.
This helps the comedy overall, because lowerclass characters were often taken less seriously, and had to be less careful what they said. The roman playwright plautus wrote comedies that are the earliest latin literary texts to have survived in their entirety. It was probably coined by plautus to serve as the title of this play, which is called by several of the ancient commentators by the name of phasma, the apparition. Although there is uncertainty about the date of performance and its greek original, it has been suggested that the play was staged after 193 b. But epidicus is more memorable than traniohe is a skilful opportunist as well as an artful twister. Click here to download a slideshow from the 2008 production of plautus mostellaria titus maccius plautus c. The extent of the influence of the mostellaria on the elizabethan drama seems not to have been entirely understood.
Usually, the humorous characters in plautine plays are of low social standing. Plautus casina is a lively and well composed farce. Its name translates from latin as the haunted house with the word domus understood in the title. Little is known about his life but it is believed that he worked as a. 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.
Plautus, great roman comic dramatist, whose works, loosely adapted from greek plays, established a truly roman drama in the latin language. Dictionary of greek and roman biography and mythologyplautus. Plautus classical and medieval literature criticism. A sustained metaphor from musical composition best answers the question of the perceived sameness, the question of plautuss originality with regard to his greek sources, and the matter of. Digital libraries initiative, phase 2 provided support for entering this text. 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. Schnittkind cast tranio grumio philolaches philematium scapha callidamates delphium theopropides misargyrides silverspurn simo phaniscus pinacium a slave a slave a young man a courtesan a maid a young man a courtesan an old man a banker an old man a slave a.
Titus maccius plautus, better known simply as plautus actually a nickname meaning flatfoot, was, between c. Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. Jul 31, 2002 mostellaria is one of plautus most lively plays. Roman comic playwright whose works influenced shakespeare and moliere. Before drama ever appeared in rome, comedy in greece had. Plautus plays most of them can be found in english online at the perseus site. The captivi and the mostellaria of plautus by plautus. Plautus synonyms, plautus pronunciation, plautus translation, english dictionary definition of plautus. The slaves of plautus 67 mostellaria, must be discovered and are perhaps less entertaining because of this.
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