A major comic artist in Republican Rome, Plautus left a legacy
of twenty extremely inventive comedies. Ostensibly Latin versions
of Greek plays staged in Athens several generations earlier, they
display an exuberance and zany sense of humor that are distinctly
Roman. Peter L. Smith here offers lively and colloquial English
verse translations of three plays: Miles Gloriosus (The Braggart
Warrior), Pseudolus (The Cheat), and Rudens (The Rope). In their
quality and variety, the three plays represent an ideal sampling of
Plautus' work, and the translations themselves are meant to be
enjoyed as living theater.
Miles Gloriosus is a comic assault on human vanity and
self-importance, as manifested in the persona of an absurdly
swaggering military officer. Pseudolus features a scheming slave of
quick wit and fertile imagination, who assists his well-born but
dim-witted young master in pursuing a seemingly hopeless love
affair. Rudens is a romantic comedy set on the North African coast,
in which a pathetic young woman (kidnapped in infancy) survives a
shipwreck, escapes the clutches of a villainous pimp, and discovers
her parents.
Smith has written a substantial general introduction on the
background of ancient Roman comedy, including various aspects of
theater production, and brief critical essays introducing the
plays. Notes and bibliographical information are also included.
Although Plautus created popular entertainment for a general
audience, he was a literary artist of remarkable dexterity. His
plays have become classics of the Western tradition, and their
direct influence has extended from Shakespeare and Moliere through
Stephen Sondheim. These masterly new translations will be welcomed
by anyone with an interest in the development of comedy and in
classical drama and its performance.
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