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Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tliis book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026478150 
 
DECEPTION IN 
 PLAUTUS 
 
 A STUDY IN THE 
 TECHNIQUE OP ROMAN COMEDY 
 
 A DISSERTATION 
 
 Priicfitid to the Faculty of Bryn Mawr College in partial 
 
 fulfilment of the requirements for the degree 
 
 of Doctor of Philosophy 
 
 BY 
 
 HELEN E. WIEAND 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 RICHARD G. BADGER 
 
 THE GORHAM PRESS 
 
Copyright, 1920, by Richard G. Badger 
 
 All Rights Reserred 
 
 F\Ac^3]40 
 
 Made in the United States of America 
 
 The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 From the time of Ritschl's critical work upon 
 the comedies of Plautus (1848) to the present, 
 one of the chief desires of students of Plautus 
 has been to solve the problem of the Plautine and 
 un-Plautine elements in the comedies. The ex- 
 istence of un-Plautine elements is quite evident 
 from the clear traces of revision which the 
 parallel versions in the manuscripts show. Very 
 little comparative study of all the plays has been 
 made, combining minute internal analysis of the 
 plot of each play and a study of all its features, 
 internal as well as external, with a comparison of 
 similar features in the other plays; for as Lan- 
 gen pointed out,^ too often the conclusions as to 
 Plautine technique have been drawn from the 
 minute analysis of single plays, instead of from 
 such comparative studies. 
 
 It is because we feel that such a study can make 
 a definite contribution to the solution of the prob- 
 lem of the Plautinity of the plays that we have 
 undertaken it. For this purpose even a very 
 cursory reading of the plays suggested the ele- 
 ment of deception as one occurring in a sufficient 
 number of the comedies to serve as a basis for 
 
 1 Plautinische Studlen, Preface. 
 
 3 
 
4 INTRODUCTION 
 
 the study. Moreover the prominence of that 
 element in many of the comedies is striking. 
 
 An analysis, then, of the comedies from the 
 point of view of the plot of deception, with a con- 
 sideration of the general situation within that 
 plot, of the characters involved in it, both the 
 tricksters and the persons tricked and the assist- 
 ants engaged to carry out the stratagems, of the 
 object and nature of the deception, will, at least, 
 be worth while for a surer appreciation of Plau- 
 tus himself. A study of the technique of the plot 
 of deception, the methods employed in carrying 
 it out, and the interrelation of the plans laid for 
 the trickery and the execution of those plans, 
 naturally involves a study of the Greek originals 
 of Plautus. 
 
 It is hoped that this investigation will help to 
 determine whether it is true of this device, as of 
 anagnorisis, that it "does not seem that a single 
 element essential to an intrigue, a single feature 
 of the physiognomy of a character is thoroughly, 
 necessarily, irreducibly Roman."^ 
 
 At least it is hoped that some light may be 
 thrown upon Plautus' relation to his sources, the 
 use that he made of those sources, and the fate 
 of his plays at the hands of those who presented 
 them in later times. 
 
 2 Le^and: Daos, p. 63. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 Introduction 3 
 
 I The prominence of deception as 
 an element in the comedies of 
 Plautus 9 
 
 II Analysis of the Bacchides and 
 
 COMPARISON OF THE COMEDIES . . l6 
 
 A General situation ... 26 
 B Characters — especially the 
 trickster and his assis- 
 tants 32 
 
 C Object and nature of de- 
 ception 44 
 
 III Technique of Deception ... 52 
 
 A Methods 52 
 
 B Inter-relation of plans and 
 
 completed action . . 64 
 C Special details . . . . 136 
 
 IV Application of Facts to Higher 
 
 Cri-ticism, — i.e. to contaminatio 
 and retractatio 14s 
 
 V Sources of the Element of Decep- 
 tion 168 
 
 Bibliography 193 
 
 5 
 
DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 The Prominence of Deception as an Element 
 IN THE Comedies of Plautus 
 
 rjEFORE entering upon a detailed examina- 
 -*-' tion of the comedies of Plautus in order to 
 study minutely the elements which make up the 
 feature of deception it is necessary to state a fact 
 which is evident from even the most cursory read- 
 ing of the plays, namely, that deception appears in 
 varying degrees of importance. In that respect 
 the plays fall into three groups : 
 
 (i) Those in which deception is the chief in- 
 terest 
 
 (2) Those in which deception is an important 
 
 but not the chief feature 
 
 (3) Those in which deception is almost or en- 
 
 tirely lacking. 
 
 From the broadest point of view 
 
 Class I would include the Asinaria, Bacchides, 
 Captivi, Casina, Curculio, Epidicus, Mercator, 
 Miles, Mostellaria, Persa, Poenulus, Pseudolus, 
 
 9 
 
lo DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 Trinummus, all of which Leo^ classes as plays of 
 intrigue, and also the Menaechmi and Amphitruo. ^ 
 
 Class 2 would include the Rudens and Trucu- 
 lentus. 
 
 Class 3 would include the Stichus and Aulu- 
 laria. 
 
 In most instances it is suflficient to quote a line 
 or two to substantiate this classification. The 
 plays of Class i naturally furnish the principal 
 material for a study of the technique of decep- 
 tion, though the plays of Class 2 are of consider- 
 able importance. 
 
 In substantiation then of our classification, for 
 Class I cf. 
 
 Asin.^ vv.i02f. Fabricare quiduis, quiduis 
 comminiscere : 
 Perficito argentum hodie ut 
 habeat filius 
 
 and V.95 Nisi quid tu porro uxorem de- 
 f rudaueris ? 
 
 Here the whole play centres in the eflfort on the 
 part of the slave to carry out his master's instruc- 
 tions in this matter. 
 
 Bacch. vv.232f. Inde ego hodie aliquam 
 machinabor machinam 
 Vnde aurum efficiam amanti 
 erili filio. 
 
 This is the key-note to the whole play. 
 
 1 Plautlnische Porschungen, 2d ed., p. 209. 
 
 2 text of Goetz-Schoell (editio minor) used in citations. 
 
THE PROMINENCE OF DECEPTION ii 
 
 Capt. vv.39ff. Huius illic, hie illius hodie fert 
 
 imaginem. 
 Et hie hodie expediet hanc docte 
 
 fallaciam 
 Et suom erum faciei libertatis 
 
 compotem : 
 
 Here master and slave have exchanged roles for 
 purposes of deception. 
 
 Cas. vv.5of. Nunc sibi uterque contra legiones 
 parat 
 Paterque filiusque clam alter 
 alterum. 
 
 V.277 Ly. . . . subolet hoc iam uxori, 
 quod ego machinor: 
 
 V.301 Cha. . . maehinare quidlubet 
 quouis modo. 
 
 Here the two rivals for Casina's affection en- 
 deavour to outwit each other. 
 
 Cure. vv.329ff. The entire act wherein the 
 parasite Curculio relates how he cheated the sol- 
 dier of his ring at gambling and prepares for the 
 subsequent deceit. 
 
 Cure. vv.369f. Tu tabellas consignato, hie 
 ministrabit, ego edam. 
 Dicam quem ad modum con- 
 scribas. . . . 
 
 Epid. vv.i4if., w.isif. and 
 Merc. vv.33iff., vv.48sf. 
 
12 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 show the pretense and counter-pretense between 
 Demipho and his son Charinus in their desire to 
 gain possession of the ancilla. A need for such 
 planning and determination to gain their ends by 
 deceit is indicated in the play. 
 
 Miles VV.147, 153, 237 contain definite an- 
 nouncement of trickery. 
 
 Most. vv.427f. Tranio meets all the difficulties 
 which confront him throughout the play, as he 
 does the first one, by deceit. 
 
 Persa vv.i48f. The leno is the butt of the 
 plans of the slave in the Persa as v.S2 dum 
 excoxero lenoni f malam indicates. 
 
 Poen. V.193 ; vv.20of. Careful planning is re- 
 sorted to in the Poenulus. 
 
 Pseud. V.19; vv.iogf. Pseudolus puts all his 
 powers of invention at the disposal of his master. 
 
 Trin. Up to Act III 3 there is no trickery 
 in the play, but a mere family plot : a young man 
 betrothing his sister to a friend. The desire of 
 the girl's guardian to provide a dowry for her 
 from a hidden treasure belonging to her father, 
 without revealing either to the girl or to her 
 brother the source of the money, leads to the 
 plan which in vv.765f f. is outlined and attempted, 
 but is thwarted by the unexpected return of the 
 father himself. 
 
 In each of these thirteen plays, therefore, some 
 character voices his express intention of playing /' 
 some trick or of forming some plan to the undo- 
 ing of some other character. In other words, the 
 trickery is the result of conscious purpose on the 
 
THE PROMINENCE OF DECEPTION 13 
 
 part of the trickster. This is also true of the 
 Amphitruo; for the play, though it differs from 
 the other plays in tone and character and in the 
 plane upon which the action takes place, is still 
 an exposition of the intentional deception on the 
 part of Jupiter against Amphitruo, 
 
 V.I 15 Sed ita adsimulauit se quasi Amphitruo 
 siet. 
 
 Jupiter becomes the intriguing human lover and 
 Mercury the tricky slave. 
 
 In the Menaechmi is found a somewhat simi- 
 lar theme in the confusion between the identity 
 of the twin brothers, when the brother front Syra- 
 cuse arrives in Epidamnus, in search of his long- 
 lost brother. 
 
 vv.69ff. Nunc ille geminus qui Syracusis habet 
 Hodie in Epidamnum uenit cum seruo 
 
 suo 
 Hunc quaeritatum geminum germanum 
 
 suom. 
 
 But the subsequent misunderstandings are the 
 result of accident, i. e. the deception is not the 
 result of conscious effort but of circumstance. 
 
 In both the Amphitruo and the Menaechmi, 
 then, there is, apart from the pathetic interest, 
 (cf. the Captivi and the Rudens) the comic in- 
 terest centering in the deception. From the 
 spectators' point of view, all the plays having 
 anagnorisis possess the same kind of interest. 
 
14 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 since the spectators know (when they have been 
 told !) that certain characters are deceived as to 
 each other's identity, — a sort of unconscious per- 
 sonation. But the interest, at least in the 
 Menaechmi, is of a different sort from that in the 
 other plays of Class i. 
 
 To some extent deception enters into the plot 
 of the plays of Class 2, but as has been indicated, 
 it is not in them the chief interest and has no 
 intimate connection with the main object, — the 
 securing of the girl. In the Rudens the trickery, 
 within the play, comes into the scene about the 
 rudens where Labrax endeavours to fool Gripus ; 
 also in vv. 938ff., between Gripus and Trachalio. 
 The Cistellaria and the Vidularia are plays end- 
 ing in an anagnorisis, but both are too fragment- 
 ary to afford material for study. In the Truculen- 
 tus the deception entered into by the meretrix, 
 that the borrowed child is hers and her lover's, 
 is of secondary importance to the plot. 
 
 Of the two plays in Qass 3, the Aulularia con- 
 tains trickery to a slight degree. Strobilus de- 
 termines to outwit Euclio, where the latter at- 
 tempts to conceal the aula, 
 
 vv.66if. Emortuom ego me mauelim leto male 
 Quam non ego illi dem hodie insidias 
 seni. 
 
 The completeness of the plot of the Stichus 
 has been questioned.* But whatever the original 
 
 3 Leo: G. G. N. 1902, pp.375ff.; Plaut. Forsoh. pp.l68f.; 
 Langen: Plautlnische Studlen, pp.213ff.; Teuftel: Studlen 
 und Charakterlstlken, pp.S40ff.; Legrand: Daos, p.377; 380. 
 
THE PROMINENCE OF DECEPTION 15 
 
 plot may have been, in its present form at least it 
 contains no elements of trickery. 
 
 Of the nineteen plays, therefore, which are 
 complete, we find that all but the Stichus contain 
 trickery of some kind or other, employed for 
 various reasons, either intentionally or uninten- 
 tionally. An examination of the nature of that 
 deception will necessarily throw some light upon 
 Plautus' methods in using that feature so gen- 
 erally in his plots. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 Analysis of the Bacchides and Comparison 
 OF THE Comedies 
 
 TNASMUCH as the Bacchides contains a large 
 ■*■ amount of trickery and is in other respects 
 typical of the plays of Plautus,^ we have selected 
 it as a norm and basis of comparison in the exam- 
 ination of the various elements which enter into 
 deception in the plays. An analysis of it, then, 
 and a classification of the various features found 
 in it will supply a means of testing the other 
 comedies. The resulting resemblances and simi- 
 larities will serve to bring about a clearer under- 
 standing of the technique of Plautus; or if vari- 
 ations and dissimilarities appear more numerous 
 than resemblances it may still be possible to de- 
 termine whether the method of the poet was hap- 
 hazard or purposely varied. 
 
 The essential features may be grouped under 
 the following headings : 
 
 A. General Situation 
 
 B. Characters, — especially the trickster and 
 
 his assistants 
 
 C. Object and Nature of deception 
 
 1 of. F. Leo: Der Monolog In Drama, Abhandl. d. KSnlg, 
 Gesell. G6tt. 1908, N. F. X No. 5, p.55. * 
 
 i6 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 17 
 
 Analysis of the Bacchides: 
 
 The object of the trickery in this play is to se- 
 cure money to free a meretrix from the claims of 
 a soldier, 
 
 V.46 Nam si haec habeat aurum quod illi renu- 
 
 meret, 
 and V.44 Vt reuehatur domum, cf . also 
 V.104 Vt hie iccipias potius aurum quam hinc 
 
 eas cum milite. 
 
 This state of affairs is outlined in Act I i, 
 where the Bacchides, sisters and meretrices, v. 39, 
 enlist the sympathies of Pistoclerus, a youth, to 
 free one of them from a soldier, vv. 44f. above, 
 who has paid for her services but who will be 
 willing to release her if money is found to repay 
 him, v.46 above. He will appear soon, 
 
 V.47 lam hie, credo, aderit, 
 
 hence the need of immediate action. Incidental- 
 ly the miles will not suspect Pistoclerus as he 
 will take him for a lover of the sister,^ 
 
 V.61 Et ille adueniens tuam med esse amicam 
 suspicabitur. 
 
 After some apparent hesitation, Pistoclerus con- 
 sents, 
 
 2 cf . Terence: Heauton Timorumenos, w.332f. 
 
i8 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 V.93 Tuos sum, tibi dedo operam. 
 
 That he is working in the interests of a friend 
 and not in his own is clear from 
 
 V.60 Tu prohibebis et eadem opera tuo sodali 
 
 operam dabis 
 and from v. 103 Tibi nunc operam dabo de 
 
 Mnesilocho, soror, 
 
 where the name of the friend is given. That 
 Pistoclerus may himself, however, be involved is 
 hinted in his reply to the rebukes of his paeda- 
 gogus Lydus, v.138, in the following scene. 
 
 V.145 Ly. Tu amicam habebis? Pi. Quom 
 videbis, tum scies. 
 
 Except for the statement of the situation aris- 
 ing from Pistoclerus' efforts in his friend's be- 
 half the scene has no connection with the trickery. 
 
 Chrysalus' monologue, which follows," serves 
 to give the connection between the three princi- 
 pal characters of the play, Mnesilochus, Pisto- 
 clerus and Bacchis, 
 
 vv.i75ff. . . . sodalem .... 
 
 Mnesilochi Pistoclerum, quern ad epis- 
 
 tulam 
 Mnesilochus misit super amica Bac- 
 
 chide, 
 
 8 Leo: Der Monolog, op. clt. p. 49. 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 19 
 
 and to state the absence of Mnesilochus, attend- 
 ed by Chrysalus, from Athens for the past two 
 years, 
 
 vv.i7of biennio 
 
 Postquam hinc in Ephesum abii. 
 
 In Act II 2, Chrysalus meets Pistoclerus who 
 is just coming out of the Bacchides' house, v.204. 
 Replying to Chrysalus' query as to his success in 
 finding the lost arnica of his friend 
 
 VV.191 Quia, si ilia inuentast ualet 
 
 19s Sed tu quid factitasti mandatis super? 
 
 Pistoclerus explains the state of affairs and the 
 need of money without delay. 
 
 vv.22of. Nam istoc fortasse aurost opus. Pi. 
 Philippeo quidem. 
 Ch. Atque eo fortasse iam opust. Pi. 
 Immo etiam prius: 
 
 Pistoclerus thereupon enlists the slave's help to 
 get the money. The latter promises to do so, 
 
 V.227 .... ego hie curabo, 
 
 and to that end assures Pistoclerus that he will 
 concoct a plan, 
 
 V.232 Inde ego hodie aliquam machinabor 
 machinam ; 
 
20 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 for the money is at hand and he need only invent 
 some means of appropriating it, 
 
 vv.229ff. Negotium hoc ad me adtinet aura- 
 
 rium. 
 Mille et ducentos Philippum attuli- 
 
 mus aureos 
 Epheso, quos hospes debuit nostro 
 
 seni: 
 Inde . . . etc. 
 
 Meeting Nicobulus, Mnesilochus' father, on the 
 way to the harbour to obtain news of his mer- 
 chant ship and his son, Chrysalus seizes this op- 
 portunity to "fleece" the old man,* 
 
 V.239 Extexam ego ilium pulcre iam, . . . 
 
 He tells the story of their journey, the attack 
 upon them by a pirate-ship, vv.28of f., the escape 
 back to Ephesus and the depositing of the money 
 there at the shrine, in the care of the sacerdos, 
 vv.305ff. But Nicobulus can get it at any time. 
 The old man's reluctance to make a voyage at his 
 time of life, 
 
 vv.342f. Censebam me effugisse a uita mari- 
 tuma 
 Ne nauigarem tandem hoc aetatis 
 senex. 
 
 4 cf . Terence: Heauton Timorumenos, w.329ff.; 470f.; 
 E12f. 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 21 
 
 indicates his full acceptance of all Chrysalus' 
 statements. Chrysalus' concern as to what will 
 happen 
 
 V.3S8 .... quom hoc senex resciuerit? 
 
 in spite of his satisfaction that he has left the 
 field open for Mnesilochus to help himself to the 
 money, 
 
 vv.352f. Ita feci, ut auri quantum uellet sume- 
 ret. 
 Quantum autem lubeat reddere, ut 
 reddat patri, 
 
 indicates clearly that the whole story is a lie, 
 
 V.350 Exorsa haec tela non male omnino mihist. 
 
 In other words the first trick, by lying, has suc- 
 ceeded. This is also indicated by Mnesilochus, 
 
 V.392 Condigne is quam techinam de auro 
 aduorsum meum fecit patrem, 
 
 who in a soliloquy, vv.38sff., sums up all the past 
 action, — ^his commission to Pistoclerus, the efforts 
 of Chrysalus in his behalf, and the final success 
 in obtaining the money. 
 
 Lydus, as he had threatened in v.383 . . . 
 et seni faciam palam, now appears bringing 
 Philoxenus, Pistoclerus' father, to the Bacchides' 
 house to reveal to him his son's folly. Mnesilo- 
 
22 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 chus overhearing their conversation believes his 
 friend false, vv.477ff. In the soliloquy which 
 follows, vv-sooff., he laments the supposed in- 
 fidelity of his friend, vows vengeance upon 
 Bacchis, and determines to hand over all the 
 money to his father. 
 
 V.516 Decretumst remunerare iam omne aurum 
 patri. 
 
 The opening lines of Act III 6 bring Mnesilo- 
 chus announcing the accomplishment of his 
 threat, thereby rendering the first trick futile, 
 
 V.530 Reddidi patri omne aurum. . . . cf. 
 V.S16. 
 
 Meeting his friend Pistoclerus, he berates him 
 for his broken faith in his commission to find 
 Bacchis. But the misunderstanding is cleared up 
 by Pistoclerus' revelation that there are two 
 sisters named Bacchis, 
 
 V.568 . . . Duas ergo hie intus eccas Bacchides. 
 
 With Act IV I, the appearance of the para- 
 site of the soldier interested in Bacchis, cf. 
 vv.4Sf., announcing the imminent arrival of his 
 master, 
 
 v.603 Sufflatus ille hue ueniet 
 
 renders the need of money again a serious prob- 
 lem. 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 23 
 
 vv.6o6f. In eum nunc haec reuenit res locum, 
 ut quid consili 
 Dem meo sodali super arnica nesciam : 
 V.609 Neque nummus ullust qui reddatur 
 militi, 
 
 especially as the money which might have been 
 used has been handed over to the rightful owner, 
 
 V.608 Qui iratus renumerauit omne aurum patri. 
 
 While debating what to do Pistoclerus meets 
 Mnesilochus coming out of Bacchis' house, la- 
 menting his bad luck, especially in so quickly ren- 
 dering up the much-needed money. His misery 
 is increased by the news of the anticipated ar- 
 rival of the soldier to get his due, 
 
 V.631 Militis parasitus modo uenerat aurum 
 petere hinc : 
 
 But there is hope for help again from the crafty 
 slave, 
 
 V.639 . . . Tuam copiam eccam Chrysalum uideo, 
 
 who, rejoicing in the successful outcome of his 
 lie, 
 
 vv.64ifif. Nam duplex hodie f acinus feci, du- 
 plicibus spoliis sum adfectus. 
 Erum maiorem meum ut ego hodie 
 lusi lepide, ut ludificatust. 
 
 Callidum senem callidis dolis 
 Compuli et perpuli, mi omnia ut 
 crederet. 
 
24 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 finds out upon meeting his young master, 
 vv.67off., that all his labour has been in vain and 
 that he must again get money from the old man, 
 
 vv.69if. . . . Nunc hoc tibi curandumst, Chry- 
 sale, 
 . . . Vt ad senem etiam alteram facias 
 uiam. 
 694 Vt senem hodie doctum docte fallas 
 aurumque auferas. 
 
 Thereupon Chrysalus plans a second trick. In a 
 letter written by Mnesilochus at Chrysalus' dicta- 
 tion, vv.734ff., the slave issues a wrarning to the 
 old man to beware of him. Armed with this he 
 starts at once upon the second trick, 
 
 V.769 . . . ei tabellas dem in manum. 
 
 For his purpose he desires that the old man shall 
 be angry, and the old man is justifiably angry 
 because he has been deceived by Chrysalus, 
 vv.775ff. Nicobulus sarcastically asks Chry- 
 salus how soon he expects him to start on his 
 journey to Ephesus to claim the money deposited 
 there, v.776 cf. vv.3o6f., and receives the letter 
 of warning from the slave. 
 
 In spite of Nicobulus' assurance that "fore- 
 warned is forearmed", Chrysalus is confident of 
 getting the money, 
 
 vv.8o5f . Et te dixisti id aurum ablaturum tamen 
 Per sycophantiam ? 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 25 
 
 V.824 Numquam auferes hinc aurum. Ch. 
 Atqui iam dabis. 
 
 And he leads the old man to spy upon his son 
 banqueting with the meretrkes, w.83iff. 
 
 While they are thus engaged, chance helps 
 Chrysalus by the arrival of the soldier, whose re- 
 mark, 
 
 vv.842f. Meamne hie Mnesilochus, Nicobuli 
 filius 
 Per uim ut retineat mulierem? . . . 
 
 Chrysalus seizes upon to pretend that the miles 
 is Bacchis' husband, 
 
 V.851. Vir hie est illius muUeris quacum accu- 
 bat. 
 
 As Nicobulus thereupon fears that his son may 
 be involved in a lawsuit for interfering with an- 
 other man's wife, he agrees to Chrysalus' sug- 
 gestion to buy off the soldier, 
 
 vv.86if. . . . quin tu me exsolui iubes? 
 Ni. Exsoluite istum, 
 
 and the second trick succeeds. 
 
 Exultant over his success, Chrysalus decides to 
 start upon a third trial to get more money, which 
 is really a second application of the second trick, 
 since Nicobulus is acting under the misapprehen- 
 sion caused by that. The trick is carried out 
 
26 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 again through a letter, vv.997flf., purporting to be 
 from the young man, Mnesilochus, to his father, 
 asking for money, 
 
 vv.io2Sf. Nunc si me fas est obsecrare abs te, 
 pater. 
 Da mihi ducentos nummos PhiUppos, 
 te obsecro, 
 
 which is to be used presumably to settle the 
 claims of the soldier's wife, v. 1009. Nicobulus, 
 believing that the girl is the soldier's wife and 
 desiring to help his son get rid of her, is per- 
 suaded and gives Chrysalus the money, v.1062, 
 and the trick succeeds. 
 
 Philoxenus' monologue, vv.i076ff.,^ serves as 
 an introduction to the banqueting scene where- 
 in the old men, determined to rescue their sons 
 from the enticements of the meretrices, them- 
 selves fall a prey to them. They are finally 
 aware that they have been cheated, vv.ii2S, 
 1 184, 1206, though they are somewhat reconciled 
 by the offer of the return of half of the money, 
 
 vv.ii85a f. Quid tandem, si dimidium auri 
 Redditur ? 
 
 A. General Situation 
 
 The foregoing analysis of the Bacchides has 
 shown a youth in love and needing assistance to 
 
 B F. Leo: Der Monolo^, op. dt. p.49. 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 27 
 
 secure the object of his love. The same general 
 situation appears in no less than eleven other 
 plays : — 
 
 Asinaria vv.S2f. Equidem scio iam filius quod 
 amet meus 
 Istanc meretricem e proxumo 
 Philaenium 
 vv.57f. De. Tune es adiutor nunc 
 amanti filio? 
 Li. Sum uero, et alter noster 
 est Leonida. 
 
 Miles vv.99f. Erat erus Athenis mihi adu- 
 lescens optumus 
 Is amabat meretricem 
 and the need of the adulescens for assistance is 
 implied in the efforts put forth by the seruos 
 which he narrates in the prologue, vv.iiiff. 
 
 Pseudolus W.35 Tuam amicam uideo, Calidore. 
 41 Phoenicium Calidoro amatori 
 
 suo 
 78 Nilne adiuvare me audes? . . . 
 i04f. Spero alicunde hodie me bona 
 opera .... 
 Tibi inuenturum esse auxilium 
 argentarium. 
 
 Persav.i Qui amans egens ingressus est prin- 
 ceps in Amoris uias 
 vv.Siff. Omnem rem inueni, ut sua sibi pe- 
 cunia 
 
28 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 Hodie illam faciat leno libertatem 
 
 suatn. 
 Sed eccum parasitum quoius mihi 
 
 auxiliost opus. 
 
 The Persa differs from the other plays in that 
 its characters are from a different rank in society, 
 i. e. slaves who enter upon their intrigues dur- 
 ing the absence of their master.^ 
 
 Epidicus. In this play the transactions involv- 
 ing the meretrix are completed before the play 
 begins, 
 
 vv.47f. Ipse mandauit mihi ab lenone ut 
 fidicina 
 Quam amabat emeretur sibi: id ei im- 
 petratum reddidi, 
 
 but the youth Stratippocles has transferred his 
 affections to another object, 
 
 vv.43ff. Quia forma lepida et liberali captiuam 
 adulescentulam 
 
 De praeda mercatust 
 
 . . . animi causa 
 
 1 The same may be said of the Amphltruo, thoiigh In it 
 the presence of gods engaging In the intrigues of mortals 
 malces It unique. But In the Persa the slave and in the 
 Amphltruo the god play the usual role of the adulescens 
 in love. 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 29 
 
 a captive in war, and is needing help a second 
 time to extricate himself from the financial dif- 
 ficulties attendant upon the purchase, 
 
 Curculio. In this play and in the Poenulus 
 the girls have not yet entered the profession of 
 meretrices, 
 
 vv.46f . Eam uolt meretricem f acere : ea me de- 
 perit : 
 Ego autem cum ilia facere nolo mutuom. 
 
 w.67ff. Nunc hinc parasitum in Cariam misi 
 meum 
 
 Petitum argentum a meo sodali mu- 
 tuom: 
 
 Quod si non affert, quo me uortam 
 nescio. 
 
 Mercator vv.33off. The plans of the old man 
 against his son indicate clearly that the youth 
 needs help to retain the girl, and the senex needs 
 help to secure her. 
 
 w.7of. Quia patrem prius se conuenire non 
 uolt neque conspicari, 
 Quam id argentum quod debetur pro ilia 
 dinumerauerit. 
 
 Poenulus vv.96ff. Earum hie adulescens al- 
 teram efflictim pent 
 Suam sibi cognatam in- 
 
30 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 prudens, neque scit quae 
 
 siet, 
 Neque earn umquam tetigit : 
 
 ita cum leno macerat : 
 vv.i63flf. . . . Vin tu illam hodie sine 
 
 dispendio 
 Tuo tuam libertam facere? 
 Ag. Cupio, Milphio. 
 Mi. Ego faciam ut facias. 
 
 Rudens. The Rudens has in general the same 
 situation as the Bacchides, etc. Although Plesidip- 
 pus does not need money or trickery, he is in 
 danger of losing the girl, 
 
 vv.42fF. Adulescens quidam ciuis huius Atticus 
 Eam uidit ire e ludo fidicinio domum. 
 Amare occepit: ad lenonem deuenit. 
 Minis triginta sibi puellam destinat 
 Datque arrabonem et iure iurando alli- 
 
 gat. 
 Is leno, ut se aequomst, flocci non fecit 
 
 fidem 
 Neque quod iratus adulescenti dixerat. 
 63fif. Conscendit nauem, auehit meretriculas. 
 Adulescenti alii narrant ut res gesta 
 
 sit: 
 Lenonem abisse. . . . 
 
 Mostellaria. In the Mostellaria the only re- 
 semblance is that a similar situation has been 
 solved before the play opens, cf. Epidicus. 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 31 
 
 vv.S37ff. Danista adest, qui dedit .... 
 
 Qui amicast empta quoque 
 
 Manufesta res est, nisi quid occurro 
 
 prius, 
 Ne hoc senex resciscat. 
 
 The home-coming of the father brings on the 
 comphcations ; but the object of the trickery is 
 not to secure the girl, as she has already been 
 purchased and manumitted. 
 
 Casina and Amphitruo. In both these plays 
 we find the same general situation, — a lover need- 
 ing to employ trickery to secure the object of his 
 love. In the Casina the rivalry between a father 
 and son for Casina's affections, cf. Mercator, 
 
 vv.48f cam puellam hie senex 
 
 Amat efflictim et item contra filius 
 
 necessitates the counter-plots of each against the 
 other, v.so, which are the basis of the action. 
 Inasmuch as Casina is already a member of their 
 household, w.4off., a foundling brought up in the 
 family, her position is different from that of the 
 girls concerned in the other plays. Hence also 
 the question of money does not enter into the de- 
 ception. But the whole action centers in the ef- 
 forts of the two rivals to outwit each other. 
 
 In the Amphitruo, as has already been stated, 
 the characters are on a different level from those 
 in the other plays, but the object of the divine 
 lover is the same. And the personation resorted 
 
32 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 to by Jupiter, vv.iis, 121, is the method by 
 which he secures the object of his desire." 
 
 Twelve of the twenty-one glays, therefore, 
 have the same general situation, and in a 
 thirteenth, the Mostellaria, the same problem has 
 already been solved before the play opens. In 
 the Captivi and the Truculentus, deception is also 
 important, though not for the same purpose. This 
 investigation deals primarily with seventeen 
 plays, excluding the Aulularia, Cistellaria, Ru- 
 dens, and Vidularia. 
 
 B. — Characters 
 
 The general situation of the Bacchides showed 
 that the trickery in the play is undertaken in the 
 interests of an adulescens and a mezeizipc, who 
 are accordingly the central figures. Such is the 
 case in nine of the other plays : — Asinaria, Cur- 
 culio, Epidicus, Mercator, Miles, Persa, Poenu- 
 lus, Pseudolus, Mostellaria.^ 
 
 In the othej. plays included in Class_ i dif- 
 f erent^ characters hold the center of attention:-;^ 
 
 2 In Terence's Phormio, Adelphoe, Andrla and Eunu- 
 chus, youths are in a, similar situation; in the first two, 
 the plots are made more complex by the presence of two 
 pairs of lovers. 
 
 1 In the Mostellaria It should be noted again that the 
 comipUcations which give rise to the need of deception are 
 the result of Phllolaehes' relations with the meretrix and 
 precede the action of the play. In the Persa, as already 
 noted, the adulescens la a servus, playing the role of 
 lover, of. Terence's Adelphos, Heauton Timorumenos, 
 and Pbormlo. 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 33 
 
 in the ^ Menaechmi, the twin brothers and the/' 
 mereinx Efotium ; in the Casina and the Mer^ 
 catoi-;- rival ' oc?m/mc^m<m and senes, the girl 
 Casina and the meretrix Pasicompsa; in the 
 Trinummus, a family-plot, the senes working in 
 the interests of the girl in their care ; in the Cap- 
 tivi, the adulescentes and the senex Hegio; in 
 the Amphitruo, Jupiter and Alcumena. 
 
 But for the purposes of this study, and in fact 
 in the development of the plays themselves, much 
 more important characters are the trickster and 
 the person tricked. In nine of the plays a slave 
 is the agent of the deception^ : 
 
 (i) Servus vs. senex: 
 
 Bacchides v.239 Extexam ego ilium pulcre iam, 
 si di uolunt 
 
 where Chrysalus, the slave, having taken upon 
 himself his master's business and meeting the 
 young man's father, Nicobulus, decides to cheat 
 him of the needed money. 
 
 Captivi vv.35f. Hisce autem inter sese hunc 
 confinxerunt dolum. 
 Quo pacto hie seruos suom erum 
 hinc amittat domum: 
 
 2 cf. also the Amphitruo and Mercator where the servus 
 has a large part In the deception, of. G. Bolssier: Quo- 
 modo Graecos poetas Plautus transtulerit, Paris, 1857, 
 pp.24fE. 
 
34 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 Here the trick is played by Tyndarus upon the 
 slave-owner, Hegio, the senex. (The general 
 situation is, of course, not the same.) 
 
 Epidicus vv.87f Ego miser perpuli 
 
 Meis dolis senem 
 
 are the words of the slave Epidicus who, having 
 finished one trick and found his efforts wasted, 
 declares his determination to attack his master a 
 second time, v. 163. 
 
 Mostellaria v.387 The slave Tranio promises 
 to keep his young master out of his father's 
 clutches. 
 
 (2) Servus vs. leno : 
 
 Pseudolus. In reply to his arnica's letter stat- 
 ing her precarious situation, vv.siff., Calidorus 
 appeals to his slave Pseudolus to help him find 
 the needed money, v.8o, and the slave agrees to 
 do so, vv.i04f., directing his efforts against the 
 leno, though incidentally the father of Calidorus 
 may be involved, v. 120. As the plot develops, 
 Pseudolus proves able to cope with two enemies.' 
 It should be noted here that this apparent doub- 
 ling of plot, with the resultant complications and 
 inconsistencies, has been used to prove contamin- 
 atio in this play.* In this respect of double 
 
 3 Liorenz: Pseudolus, ed. Introd. pp.l9£f. 
 
 4 Liorenz: op. eit.; Legrand: Daos, p.384, note 2; (A. 
 Sehmitt: De Paeudoll Plautilnae exemplo Attioo, diss. 
 1909, p.3ff., against contaminatio). 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 35 
 
 deuteragonist, if we may so call it, this play re- 
 sembles the Miles (cf. below) 
 
 Persav.52 Vsque ero domi, dum excoxero 
 lenoni malam. 
 
 In connection with this play it should be noted 
 that the plot is simplified by the fact that the 
 servus is working in his own interests, — i. e., he 
 is both trickster and the person in whose interests 
 the deception is practised. (Such is practically 
 also the case in the Amphitruo where Jupiter 
 plays the trickster in his own interests.) 
 
 Poenulus vv.i68f. show that the slave Milphio 
 is the inventor of the plan of deception against 
 the leno. (The Poenulus is also considered a 
 "contaminated" play.) 
 
 (3) Servus vs. other characters: 
 
 vs. mercator in the Asinaria, w.94f., though 
 the person who suffers the loss is the matrona. 
 
 vs. servus and his master in the Miles, 
 vv.i4Sff. 
 
 Here Palaestrio plans the confusion to which he 
 will drive his fellow slave Sceledrus, and in the 
 second part of the play the miles himself, vv.y6yi. 
 This play, because of its double plot, is suspected, 
 like the Pseudolus, of being contaminated.^ 
 
 sLorenz: Miles Glorlosus, ed. Introd. p.Slf. ; Leo: Plaut. 
 Forsch, pp.l78f. 
 
36 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 Two of the plays, the Curculio and Trinum- 
 mus, depart from this norm of the slave as the 
 trickster* : 
 
 Parasitus vs. leno'' 
 
 Curculio w.65flf ., where the lover, Phaedro- 
 mus, asserts his need and the means which he has 
 taken to meet that need. He finds that his as- 
 surance is not ill founded, when Curculio des- 
 cribes his efforts in his behalf, vv.329ff ., and out- 
 lines his further plans, v.370. 
 
 Senex vs. adulescens: 
 
 Trinummus vv.763ff ., where the two old men 
 conspire to provide the ward of one of them with 
 a dowry. But Megaronides employs an agent to 
 carry out his plan, v.765. 
 
 It is evident from the comparison of the de- 
 tails just given that the favourite agent of the 
 deception in the comedies is a slave. Although 
 the deception is carried out primarily by this 
 one chief agent, yet in nearly every case the as- 
 sistance of some other person, or persons, is en- 
 listed, even though that help is not always used 
 after it has been gained. 
 
 The mention of these assistants may serve to 
 introduce that class which we call 
 
 (i) Friends of the interested persons: 
 
 6 So too does the Truculentus. 
 
 7 cf. Terence: Phormlo, In which the leading trickster la 
 a, parasite. 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 37 
 
 Asinaria vv.57f . Demaenetus, the father in 
 the Asinaria, starts the slave on his course of de- 
 ception, vv.57f., but in spite of his desire to help 
 even to the point of willingness to be himself 
 cheated by his slave, v.91, he realizes that he can 
 be of little assistance since his wife controls 
 the purse-strings. It turns out, however, that he 
 is of decided assistance, cf. below. 
 
 Epidicus V.291 Quem hominem inueniemus ad 
 earn rem utilem? Ep. Hie 
 erit 
 Optumus : 
 
 the slave accepts the old man Apoecides as a suit- 
 able coadjutor, but intends to deceive him; so 
 Apoecides is not a real assistant, as is evident 
 from his narrative of the course of events, 
 vv.4iiff. He is a mere passive witness and is 
 himself deceived, and with the words, 
 
 V.422 Ei uolo ire aduocatus 
 
 and his departure to the forum he disappears 
 from the play. 
 
 Pseudolus w.S47f. In similar fashion the help 
 of Callipho is engaged, in the Pseudolus, in case 
 it should be needed. But he disappears from 
 the play at the end of this act and has no share 
 in the plot of deception. 
 
 Bacchides. Pistoclerus, in the Bacchides, is in 
 
38 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 fact more active than the usual friend, since in 
 person he carries out his friend's commission of 
 finding his arnica, vv.^Sgff. Most of his efforts, 
 however, have been exerted before the action of 
 the play begins, though even within the play he is 
 still busy in his friend's behalf, vv.S26ff. 
 
 Miles. Periplecomenus, in the Miles, the old 
 friend of Pleusicles, receives the young man into 
 his house, which has the advantage of adjoining 
 that of the miles, and thus affords him an op- 
 portunity of meeting his arnica who is detained 
 there, vv.i34ff. Later he also connives at a 
 second means of deceiving the miles through a 
 trick which requires his more immediate partici- 
 pation, vv.766ff. 
 
 Pal. Nunc hoc animum aduortite ambo. 
 
 mihi opus est opera tua 
 Periplecomene : nam ego inueni lepi- 
 
 dam sycophantiam. 
 Qui admutiletur miles .... 
 
 V.782 Ecquam tu potis reperire forma lepida 
 mulierem, 
 
 vv.792f adsimuletque se 
 
 Tuam esse uxorem: 
 
 Mercator. Lysimachus, vv.499fif., shows him- 
 self a friend in need by assisting his friend 
 Demipho to gain possession of Pasicompsa, even 
 to the extent of harbouring her in his own house, 
 vv.s63ff. And the son Charinus is aided and 
 abetted by his friend Eutychus, vv.485ff . ; 
 vv.s88ff. 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 39 
 
 Trinummus. Megaronides assists his old 
 friend Callicles in planning his simple device, 
 Act III 3, and also hires the nugator for him. 
 
 (2) Slaves as assistants are found in the Am- 
 phitruo, Asinaria, Casina, Mercator, Persa, and 
 Poenulus. 
 
 Amphitruo. Mercury as a pseudo-servus im- 
 personating Sosia, VV.115, 124, puts the real Sosia 
 to rout, Act I I, w.295,455, and throughout 
 the play assists Jupiter in carrying out his de- 
 ception. 
 
 Asinaria. At his master's suggestion, Libanus 
 associates his fellow slave with himself in the 
 trickery which he is to carry out in his young 
 master's interests, vv.ioif., and Leonida takes a 
 very active part as the pseudo-Saurea, 
 
 w.368f. Te ex Leonida futurum esse atriensem 
 Sauream, 
 Dum argentum afferat mercator pro 
 asinis. 
 
 Mercator. In the Mercator the young man's 
 interests are furthered by his slave. 
 
 Casina. In the Casina the father enlists the 
 assistance of his vilicus, v. 52, the son that of his 
 armigerus, V.5S, each to pretend that he himself 
 wishes to marry the girl Casina. 
 
40 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 Persa. A fellow slave Sagaristio by appro- 
 priating his master's money, helps Toxilus first 
 to find the money which he needs, vv.262f., and 
 later takes part in the actual confounding of the 
 leno, in the impersonation, vv.459ff. 
 
 Poenulus. Milphio's plans, in the Poenulus, 
 include the assistance of the vilicus Collabiscus, 
 vv.i94f., but his instructions are evidently given 
 off the stage, as he appears in Act III 2 primed 
 for his part, cf. v. 578 
 
 lam tenes praecepta in corde? Co. Pulcre. 
 
 (3) Hired assistants 
 
 A still larger place is filled by those who are 
 hired to carry out some part of the deception. 
 Various characters perform this function. 
 
 Fidicina in the Epidicus, vv.3i4if. ; a meretrix 
 in the Miles, vv.87off . ; advocati or testes in the 
 Poenulus, vv.424, 506; a syphocanta in the 
 Pseudolus, Act IV i, and in the Trinummus, 
 V.815. In the Persa the parasite is persuaded for 
 a consideration to lend his services and those of 
 his daughter, vv.83, I27f., in carrying out the 
 trick against the leno; but they can hardly be 
 called hired assistants. 
 
 (4) Assistants sent by chance (Tuxv)). 
 
 In a consideration of this agency it is neces- 
 sary to distinguish between such appearances in 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 41 
 
 the plays as that of the miles in the Bacchides, 
 too fortuitous^ and yet constantly anticipated 
 throughout the first part of the play, cf. 
 
 v.s8 .... miles quom ueniat, uolo : 
 
 V.76 .... miles quom hue adueniat, te uolo 
 Me amplexari. 
 
 w.sSgff. . . Me misit miles ad earn Cleomachus, 
 Vel ut ducentos Philippos reddat 
 
 aureos 
 Vel ut hinc in Elatiam hodie eat 
 
 secum semul 
 
 where the appearance of the miles' parasite, his 
 demand for the money due his master, the refusal 
 of it by Pistoclerus, or rather the confident denial 
 on the part of Pistoclerus that Bacchis will con- 
 sent to go with the miles, prepare the way for the 
 miles' appearance in person to enforce his de- 
 • mands, and the entirely unforeseen intervention 
 of Harpax in the Pseudolus or of Hanno in the 
 Poenulus. 
 
 This latter sort of chance is the substitution in 
 comedy for the deus ex machina of tragedy f for 
 as Lorenz also points out,^° this chance, i. e. turn 
 of fortune, goes back to the conception of Euri- 
 pides : into the place of the Moirai steps Tuxr).^^ 
 
 8 Legrand: Daos, p.396. 
 9Liegran.d: Daos, p. 395. 
 
 10 Lorenz: Pseudolus, ed. Introd. pp.20t. 
 
 11 CalUdaimLtes in the Mostellarla Is a sort of homo ex 
 machina In the way in which he settles the difficulties by 
 mollifying the senex. 
 
42 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 Moreover, this conception is far more compre- 
 hensible, because so like everyday practical ex- 
 perience, and hence very suitable to comedy. It 
 is a personal rather than a divine conception of 
 Tux*) and it fits into comedy, especially into come- 
 dies like the Pseudolus which are so largely a 
 portrayal of the character of the clever trickster; 
 for in seizing the chance-offered solution of the 
 difficulties and using it to his own ends the trick- 
 ster displays to great advantage his own extra- 
 ordinary cleverness. 
 
 As has been mentioned, such chance-sent as- 
 sistants are found in the Poenulus and Pseudolus. 
 
 Poenulus. In the Poenulus the chance arrival 
 of Hanno acts as an incentive to Milphio for a 
 new trick, 
 
 v. 1086 Festiuom f acinus uenit mihi in mentem 
 
 modo 
 that Hanno should assume the role of father of 
 the girls, vv.ioggff., which results in the final 
 anagnorisis. 
 
 Pseudolus. Pseudolus asserts confidently that 
 he has ready 'duplicis triplicis dolos perfidias for 
 the confounding of the enemy, but the chance 
 arrival of Harpax, Act II 2, causes him to set 
 them all aside, 
 
 V.601 Nouo consilio nunc mihi opus est: noua 
 res haec subito mi objectast 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 43 
 
 and he makes the personation of Harpax by 
 Simia solve the difficulties in the plot. 
 
 Chance may perhaps be said to have brought 
 about the meeting of Curculio with his master's 
 rival, the miles in Caria, 
 
 V.337 forte aspicio militem 
 
 thus giving him the opportunity of obtaining in- 
 formation whereby to serve his master's interests. 
 But in this case the coincidence seems natural 
 and not brought about by the interposition of 
 chance, under desperate circumstances,^^ after all 
 other resources have failed. 
 
 In a way, chance may be said to control the 
 action in the Mostellaria; for all the deception 
 is improvised to meet the need of the moment.^' 
 Tranio, to be sure, like Tyndarus in the Captivi, 
 employs no definite assistant. But he seizes upon 
 any help presented, as that aflforded by the 
 chance arrival of the danista. Act III i, to 
 make up a lie to serve his ends. 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that the trickster in 
 nearly every play marshals forces to assist him 
 in his attack and does not depend entirely upon 
 his own resources. His cleverness is revealed 
 and the complexity of the web of deception in- 
 
 12 Legrand; Deios, p.393f. 
 
 13 Bltschl: Opuscula 11 p. 740. 
 
44 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 creased by the resultant involved interworking 
 of plan and action on the part of the trickster 
 himself and his assistants, on the one hand, and 
 his opponents, on the other. 
 
 The fact that Tyndarus depends upon his own 
 efforts to carry out the plan of the Captivi and 
 employs no assistants, shows again that that play 
 is unique, though chance plays a large part of the 
 comedy, according to Brix the chief role.^* 
 
 It should be added that the intervention of 
 chance differs also from the divine aid afforded 
 by various agents in several of the plays, cf. the 
 Lar f amiliaris, in the Aulularia ; Auxilium in the 
 Cistellaria; Arcturus in the Rudens. The gods 
 in these plays have no active part in the develop- 
 ment of the plot within the play,^' as chance has 
 in the others, but the expository prologue is 
 spoken by them, since no character of the plays 
 knows all the facts of which the audience must 
 be informed. 
 
 C. Object and Nature of Deception 
 
 In section II A it has been shown that the situ- 
 ation of a lover needing assistance is the most 
 common one in the plays and that in eight cases, 
 the Asinaria, Bacchides, Curculio, Epidicus, 
 Miles, Persa, Poenulus, and Pseudolus, tiiat as- 
 sistance is used for the securing of a meretrix. 
 This is the ultimate object. But as a means 
 
 i4Brlx: CapUvl, ed. Introd. p.3 (1910). 
 15 Arcturus, for example, causes the storm which pre- 
 vents the leno from deceiving Plesldlppus. 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 45 
 
 to the attainment of that ultimate end in no less 
 than six plays an immediate object exists, — 
 money, upon which the trickery and therefore a 
 large part of the comic interest is concentrated.^ 
 
 Bacchides. The immediate object of the 
 Bacchides has been noted, i. e. to get money; 
 
 V.46 Nam si haec habeat aurum quod illi 
 
 renumeret, faciat lubens. 
 
 vv.i03f. Mens ille quidemst. tibi nunc operam 
 dabo de Mnesilocho, soror. 
 Vt hie accipias potius aurum quam 
 hinc eas cum milite 
 
 with the secondary purpose of paying off the 
 claims of the soldier, as indicated in these same 
 citations. 
 
 In three of the plays, Curculio, Epidicus, 
 Pseudolus, the object is to get money to purchase 
 the meretrix outright. 
 
 Curculio. The meretrix is to be bought in or- 
 der to free her for her lover's sake, 
 
 vv.2o8f. Ita me Venus amet, ut ego te hoc tri- 
 duom numquam sinam 
 In domo esse istac, quin ego te 
 liberalem liberem. 
 
 1 cf. Terence: Phormlo and Heauton Tlmorumenos. 
 
46 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 Epidicus. Twice money must be secured for 
 the purchase of the objects of Stratippocles' 
 fancy, since that fancy is transferred from one 
 love to another, 
 
 V.13S Illam amabam olim: nunc iam aha cura 
 impendet pectori. 
 
 The first transaction has, however, preceded the 
 action of the play, vv.47lf. The second is the 
 immediate object of the deception within the 
 play, 43f., ii4f. 
 
 Pseudolus. The immediate object is stated in 
 
 v.50 Quam subito argento mi usus inuento siet 
 
 and in the amicus letter from which Calidorus 
 learns of the desperate straits in which she is and 
 the imminent purchase of her by a miles unless 
 he can come to the rescue.^ 
 
 Persa. In the Persa together with the need to 
 get money to free his arnica, 
 
 vv.33f. Haec de summa hodiest, mea amica 
 sitne libera 
 An sempiternam seruitutem seruiat 
 
 is the object of robbing the leno of the money 
 after he gets it, 
 
 2 Phaedrla's plight In Terence's Phorrato la similar. 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 47 
 
 vv.325f. Nam iam omneis sycophantias instruxi 
 et comparaui, 
 Quo pacto ab lenone auferam hoc 
 argentum 
 
 Asinaria. The money in this play is to be used 
 to purchase the services of the meretrix for one 
 year, 
 
 vv.i03f. Perficito argentum hodie ut habeat 
 filius, 
 Amicae quod det. 
 
 w.229f. . . . die, quid me aequom censes pro 
 ilia tibi dare 
 Annum hunc ne cum quiquam alio 
 
 sit? 
 
 To free a meretrix by other means than money 
 is the object of the Miles and the Poenulus. 
 
 Miles. The assertion of the arnica that she 
 desires to get away from the power of the miles 
 
 V.I 26. Ait sese Athenas fugere cupere ex hac 
 domu: 
 
 starts Palaestrio upon his work of rescue. 
 
 Poenulus. For the purpose of outwitting the 
 leno and cheating him out of money and his 
 property, in the person of the girl, Agorastocles 
 and his slave Milphio lay their plans in this play. 
 
48 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 vv.i53if. Amo immodeste 
 
 At ego hanc uicinam dico Adel- 
 
 phasium meam 
 Lenonis huius meretricem maiusculam. 
 
 vv.i68f. Totum lenonem tibi cum tota familia 
 Dabo hodie dono. 
 
 Hence the plan to free the girl. Agorastocles has 
 apparently plenty of money and therefore does 
 not need, so far as it is concerned, to cheat the 
 leno. But the comic effect of the play is in- 
 creased by this ruse, hence its inclusion. 
 
 In the other plays the ultimate and the im- 
 mediate object are in general identical. In the 
 Mostellaria, however, the object of the deception 
 changes as the action proceeds. In fact the 
 trickery has no substantial object. It is all 
 directed as a temporary expedient toward tem- 
 porary results. The need for money exists be- 
 fore the play opens, i. e. to pay off the loan given 
 by the danista, 
 
 vv.626f. Quod illuc argentumst? Est — huic 
 debet Philolaches 
 Paulum. 
 
 But this need is only coincident with the primary 
 necessity which is the motive of the deception, 
 i. e. preventing the old man's discovery of his 
 son's follies during his own absence from home 
 by keeping him out of his own house, w.sSgff. 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 49 
 
 Let us consider briefly the object of the 
 trickery in the other plays. In the Amphitruo, 
 the immediate and ultimate objects are identical, 
 — the securing of the beloved object, transferred 
 as already noted in section II A to a different 
 plane, with Alcumena taking the place of the 
 meretrix of the other plays, unwittingly, however, 
 cf. vv.iisff., 121, 124, 464ff. To that end Jupi- 
 ter becomes an intriguing adulescens and Mer- 
 cury a servus. 
 
 In the Casina and the Mercator the ultimate ob- 
 ject is similar. Moreover it should be noted that 
 in all three of these plays the deception concerns 
 that ultimate object, with the result of a more 
 simple and more direct plot. A similar purpose 
 is the basis of the action of the Rudens, which 
 starts with the shipwreck of the leno, while on his 
 way to Sicily, whither he is taking in his 
 charge the girl beloved by Plesidippus, 
 who is eager to rescue her from the other's 
 power. Arcturus lends the most effective assist- 
 ance. Deception hardly enters into the solution 
 of the plot, which is faciUtated by an anagnorisis. 
 
 There remain then for consideration the Cap- 
 tivi, Menaechmi, Trinummus, and Truculentus. 
 Since the deception in the Menaechmi, as has 
 been pointed out above, results merely from the 
 confusion in identity of the twin brothers, that 
 also lacks purpose and because of this fact need 
 merely be mentioned here. 
 
 In the Captivi the purpose of the exchange of 
 roles between master and slave is to secure the 
 freedom of the former, vv.spff. 
 
so DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 In the Trinummus, as has already been stated, 
 the purpose is to provide the young ward with a 
 dowry. 
 
 In the Truculentus, the meretrix Phronesium, 
 vv.iSff., practises her deception, in fooHng 
 Diniarchus, to enrich herself at the expense of 
 the miles. The latter is also deceived by her. 
 
 Summing up then, we find that the chief ob- 
 ject of the trickery, and the ultimate one, is the 
 securing of I'objet aime, usually a meretrix, oc- 
 curring in thirteen of the plays, — Asinaria, 
 Bacchides, Miles, Mostellaria, Pseudolus, Persa, 
 Amphitruo, Epidicus, Curculio, Poenulus, Casina, 
 Mercator, Rudens. The immediate object of the 
 deception is in six cases money, — Asinaria, 
 Bacchides, Curculio, Epidicus, Pseudolus, Persa; 
 while in the Miles and the Poenulus other means 
 than money are used for the freeing of the m£re- 
 trix, as also in in Casina, Mercator, and Rudens. 
 In the other plays the interests involved in the 
 stratagems of the trickster vary. 
 
 From all three points of view from which we 
 have thus far considered the comedies of Plau- 
 tus, the similarity of plot is apparent. The gen- 
 eral situation is the same in at least ten' of the 
 plays, cf. II A, youths needing assistance in af- 
 faires de coeur. Moreover, if the category of 
 lovers is extended to include senes as well as 
 adulescentes, deus as well as homo, three more 
 plays may be added to that list, Amphitruo, 
 Casina, Mercator. The same character, a slave, 
 
 3 Not counting the plays which are without Important 
 trickery. 
 
ANALYSIS OF THE BACCHIDES 51 
 
 carries out the deception in nearly all the plays, 
 though the character against whom the strata- 
 gem is directed varies, — a senex, a leno, a fellow- 
 slave, etc. The assistants engaged to carry out 
 the deception also vary, as does the extent of the 
 help which is contributed by them. As assist- 
 ants slaves are the favourites, fellow-slaves of the 
 doH architectus. The influence upon the course 
 of the action exerted by chance, Tujjy), should also 
 be recalled. 
 
 The plays accordingly are very much alike. 
 In fact it would almost seem as if Plautus used 
 the same stock scenes and motives for his plays, 
 varying them only in the method of combination 
 and in the addition of extraneous details. Plau- 
 tus recognized the delight which his audience felt 
 in seeing somebody fooled or acting under a mis- 
 apprehension of some kind, as in the Menaechmi, 
 and he catered to this taste. There are many pos- 
 sibilities of permutation and combination in the 
 details connected with such a plot of deception, 
 and Plautus seems to have realized them all. How 
 he utilized them will be more apparent from the 
 following study of the interrelation of plan and 
 action in the plays. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 .Technique of Deception 
 
 A. Methods 
 
 GIVEN the general situation, with the interests 
 of various characters at stake, and those 
 characters by the help of various assistants attain- 
 ing their ends through deception, varied in nature 
 and object, it still remains for us to consider, by 
 a detailed study of the comedies, the methods 
 used to carry out that deception. Such an in- 
 vestigation will include the clearness and definite- 
 ness of the planning and execution of those 
 methods; and should such investigation reveal 
 great uniformity in methods and plans, the study 
 of any unique details which the several plays 
 may present. All three of these considerations 
 rest primarily upon an analysis of the technique 
 of the plays. 
 
 I. Lies 
 
 Deception generally involves lying, and.so it is 
 not surprising to find lies constantly employed in 
 all the plays except the Menaechmi, in which, as 
 we have already rioted, the confusion arises from 
 unconscious deception. Some differentiation 
 must be made, however, between those plays in 
 52 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 53 
 
 which lies are the chief basis of the trickery, as 
 in the Bacchides, and those in which they are 
 incidental, and are, as in the Miles, additional 
 means in the execution of the trickery. To the 
 first class belong the Bacchides, Epidicus, Mos- 
 tellaria, Persa, Truculentus. All the rest of the 
 plays, of course, come under the second category. 
 
 Bacchides. In the Bacchides we have seen 
 that the deception depends first upon the tale of 
 the pirate ship, w.2yy&., by which Chrysalus en- 
 ables his young master to help himself, at will, to 
 his father's money; secondly, the same slave, 
 having led Nicobulus to spy upon his son ban- 
 queting with the meretrices, seizes upon the 
 miles, who has opportunely arrived, to worry the 
 father still more by the statement that he is the 
 husband of his son's arnica. 
 
 v.8si. Vir hie est illius mulieris quacum accu- 
 bat. 
 
 Epidicus. In the Epidicus it is impossible to 
 cite only a few lines illustrative of the point un- 
 der discussion, as lying is practically the basis 
 of all the trickery in lie play. A reference to 
 the analysis of the play in the following section 
 will bear out this statement. 
 
 Mostellaria. As in the Epidicus, just men- 
 tioned, lying is the basis of all the deception in 
 this play, though because of the greater simplicity 
 of the plot it is easier to indicate the three lies 
 which contribute to the carrying out of the plot : 
 
54 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 (i) The tale of the ghost haunting the house, 
 vv.47Sff., acknowledged by Tranio to be a lie, 
 
 v.sio lUisce hodie hanc conturbabunt fabulam. 
 
 (2) The pretended purchase of the neighbour- 
 ing house, 
 
 vv.637f Aedis filius 
 
 Tuos emit. 
 
 of. V.665 Calidum hercle esse audiui optumum 
 mendacium 
 
 (3) The pretended purpose of Theopropides to 
 build a gynaeceum, whereby Tranio deceives Simo, 
 
 vv.754f sed senex 
 
 Gynaeceum aedificare uolt hie .... 
 
 Persa. In the Persa the lies are coincident 
 with the personation which will be considered be- 
 low, so they need no special mention here. 
 
 Truculentus 
 
 vv.Ssff. . . . eo nunc commentast dolum: 
 
 Peperisse simulat sese, ut me extrudat 
 
 foras : 
 Eum esse simulat militem puero 
 
 patrem : 
 
 Here pretense and lies combine. Inasmuch 
 as this is the only feature of deception in the 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 55 
 
 play, and, as has been noted above, deception is 
 not the chief interest, we may pass over the play 
 with this mere statement. 
 
 Lies occur in other plays ;— in the Trinummus, 
 Stasimus lies about the farm; in the Captivi, 
 Tyndarus, upon the arrival of Aristophontes, is 
 driven to some new astutia, v. 539, in order to ex- 
 tricate himself, and so to bring discredit upon his 
 statements asserts that his accuser is mad, 
 yv.547f. Lies are all the more convenient to aid 
 in the deception when the gullibility of the senes 
 in the plays is taken into consideration,— that 
 gullibility which is one of the characteristic traits 
 of the old man as portrayed by Plautus. 
 
 2. Personation 
 
 This is the assumption by a character of a role 
 not his own, and it is only an elaborate acting of 
 a lie ; it is the favourite method of deception used 
 by Plautus. Ten^ of the plays present this fea- 
 ture: — Amphitruo, Asinaria, Captivi, Curculio, 
 Epidicus, Miles, Persa, Poenulus, Pseudolus, 
 Trinummus.^ 
 
 Asinaria 
 
 vv.367iF. Nunc tu abi ad forum ad erum et 
 narra haec ut nos acturi sumus: 
 
 1 In addition deception resulting from unconscious per- 
 sonation of a similar Iclnd Is found in the Bacchldes, 
 Casina, Mercator, Truculentus. cf. Terence: Bunuchus, 
 Act II 3; Pliormio, Act I 2. 
 
 2 cf. Rudens, W.1035ft. 
 
56 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 Te ex Leonida futurum esse atriensem 
 
 Sauream, 
 Dum argentum afferat mercator pro 
 
 asinis. 
 
 Here the slave Leonida impersonates the atriensis 
 Saurea. 
 
 Captivi 
 
 vv.35ff. Hisce autem inter sese coniinxerunt 
 
 dolum, 
 Quo pacto hie seruos suom erum hinc 
 
 amittat domum: 
 Itaque inter se commutant uestem et 
 
 nomina : 
 lUic uocatur Philocrates, hie Tyndarus, 
 Huius illie, hie ilUus hodie fert 
 
 imaginem, 
 
 This explains the exehange of roles between the 
 master and the slave. 
 
 Curculio 
 
 from the speeeh of the miles 
 
 vv.345ff. "Dedisti tu argentum?" inquam. 
 "Immo apud trapezitam situmst 
 Ilium quern dixi Lyconidem, atque ei 
 mandaui, qui anulo 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 57 
 
 Meo tabellas obsignatas attulisset, ut 
 
 daret 
 Operam, ut mulierem a lenone cum 
 
 auro et ueste abduceret." 
 
 results the personation by Curculio of the mes- 
 senger from the miles in Act III, 
 
 V.408 Ab Therapontigone Platagidoro milite. 
 V.412 Libertus ilUus, quem omnes Summanum 
 uocant. 
 
 Epidicus 
 
 vv.87f Ego miser perpuli 
 
 Meis dolis senem, ut censeret suam 
 sese emere filiam, 
 
 Here the fidicina has been received by Periphanes 
 as his daughter, before the play begins, and he 
 believes in her until v. 580. 
 
 vv.37ifif lam ego parabo 
 
 Aliquam dolosam fidicinam, nummo 
 
 conducta quae sit, 
 Quae se emptam simulet, quae senes 
 duo docte ludificetur. 
 
 Through the personation by a second fidicina of 
 the arnica of Stratippocles' fancy, bought at Peri- 
 phanes' orders, Epidicus plots the deception of 
 his master a second time. 
 
 Miles. The Miles contains three instances of 
 personation : 
 
58 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 (i) the twin-sister trick, 
 
 vv.i5off. Et mox ne erretis, haec duarum hodie 
 
 uicem 
 Et hinc et illinc mulier f eret imaginem 
 Atque eadem erit, uerum alia esse 
 
 adsimulabitur 
 Ita sublinetur os custodi mulieris. 
 
 (2) the meretrix Acroteleutium personates the 
 wife of the old man Periplecomenus, 
 
 vv.766fif mihi opus est opera tua, 
 
 Periplecomene : nam ego inueni lepi- 
 dam sycophantiam, 
 
 V.782 Ecquam tu potis reperire forma lepida 
 mulierem, 
 
 vv.792f adsimuletque se 
 
 Tuam esse uxorem: 
 
 (3) Pleusicles personates the nauclerus to 
 facilitate his abduction of Philocomasium : 
 
 V.I 177 Facito uti uenias ornatu hue ad nos 
 nauclerico ; 
 
 vv.i285f uerear magis 
 
 Me amoris causa hoc ornatu incedere. 
 
 Persa 
 
 vv.i48flE. Praemonstra docte, praecipe astu 
 filiae, 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 59 
 
 Quid fabuletur: ubi se natam prae- 
 
 dicet. 
 Qui sibi parentes fuerint, unde sur- 
 
 rupta sit. 
 
 Here the parasite's daughter is to be instructed 
 as to her personation, for the pretended sale and 
 subsequent claim and ransom by her father. 
 
 Poenulus. The personation is carried out by 
 Hanno, the Carthaginian, as the father of the 
 girls, who claims them his daughters. The re- 
 sulting anagnorisis proves this to be the case.^ 
 
 vv.ioggflf. Nunc hoc consilium capio et banc 
 
 fabricam apparo, 
 Vt te allegemus : filias dicas tuas 
 Surruptasque esse paruolas Cartha- 
 
 gine, 
 Manu liberali causa ambas adseras. 
 Quasi filiae tuae sint ambae. 
 
 Pseudolus 
 
 vv.7Sifif ubi hominem exornauero, 
 
 Subditiuom fieri ego ilium militis 
 
 seruom uolo : 
 Symbolum hunc ferat lenoni cum 
 
 quinque argenti minis, 
 Mulierem ab lenone abducat : 
 
 3 cf. Terence: Andria, V 3, v.892, where Simo accuses 
 Pamphllus of a similar plot against himself, to prove that 
 Mysis is a free-born citizen. 
 
6o DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 Trinummus 
 
 A man is hired for a three-penny bit, which 
 gives the name to the play, to bring money and 
 letters, presumably from the girl's father, 
 vv.76sff. 
 
 Because of the prominence of this sort of de- 
 ception in the comedies, it is desirable to sum up 
 here and to compare the occurrences. The in- 
 stances of personation fall into several classes : — 
 
 (i) Those in which a real person is imitated, 
 without his knowledge, and either his appearance 
 or, in the cases where an agent of a certain char- 
 acter is impersonated, the appearance of the mas- 
 ter or employer brings about the revelation of the 
 deception. In this class are the Amphitruo, 
 Asinaria, Curculio, Epidicus, Pseudolus, Trinum- 
 mus. In the Asinaria, to be sure, no such con- 
 clusion occurs, and the personation attains the 
 desired end, though retributive justice is not 
 meted out to the trickster, but to the old man who 
 helped the trickster's plans. No obscurity re- 
 sults, however, from the unanticipated change in 
 the course of the action. 
 
 (2) Those in which impersonation is entered 
 upon by mutual consent, as in the Captivi, and 
 the intervention of a third person, Aristophontes, 
 reveals the deception, which however turns out 
 fortunately, in the final anagnorisis. 
 
 (3) Those in which the imposture concerns an 
 imaginary person, as in the Miles, Persa and 
 Poenulus. Here there is accordingly no possi- 
 bility of discovery as in the other two classes, but 
 the outcome is either the attainment of the de- 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 6i 
 
 sired end, as in the Miles and Persa, or the 
 change of pretense to fact as in the Poenulus. 
 
 In this respect the Epidicus alone of all the 
 plays shows apparent inconsistencies and ob- 
 scurities; — in Periphanes' ready acceptance of 
 the fidicina represented to him by his slave Epidi- 
 cus to be his daughter, and in the abandonment 
 by the second fidicina of the role planned for her 
 by Epidicus, when the necessity arises for her to 
 play it. Further comment upon this point is re- 
 served for section B. 
 
 A connection exists, to be sure, between per- 
 sonation in the sense in which we have been dis- 
 cussing it, i. e. imposture, and the unconscious 
 deception on the part of the personator, as in the 
 Menaechmi and in those plays having anagnorisis. 
 All three kinds of personation possess an impor- 
 tant common element for the audience. The 
 audience is in the secret, except in the case of 
 "surprise" anagnorisis — possible in the Curculio 
 and Epidicus ( ?), and the enjoyment comes from 
 ftie fact that the audience beholds characters act- 
 ing under misapprehension as to each other's 
 identity, or misapprehending the identity of one 
 character. The Menaechmi affords the purest 
 illustration of this, since the twins, all uncon- 
 scious themselves, are constantly mistaken for 
 each other, cf. Simo in the Mostellaria, as 
 Theopropides views him. 
 
 Where anagnorisis is approaching, the audience 
 derives added enjoyment from the knowledge 
 that the persons concerned are not aware of each 
 other's identity,— e. g., the recognition between 
 
62 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 Hegio and Tyndarus in the Captivi. So in pur- 
 posed personation this element persists. For ex- 
 ample in the Bacchides, the audience knows that 
 Bacchis is not the wife of the soldier, or to take 
 a better case, they know that Simla is not the 
 real Harpax in the Pseudolus. In cases of this 
 last type the chief enjoyment comes from noting 
 the perils and cleverness of the impostor while 
 he plays his part. In such cases the old tragic 
 irony has often been diverted to comic purposes, 
 though in the Captivi much of the original pathos 
 remains. 
 
 Judging from the majority of the plays, tliere- 
 fore, we may conclude that a careful working 
 out of this sort of deception is characteristic of 
 Plautus. How far this conclusion affects our 
 judgment of the Plautinity of the Epidicus, in its 
 present condition, is another question and one 
 which we will not endeavour to settle here. 
 
 3. Letters 
 
 Letters, for the most part forged, play an im- 
 portant part in the trickery of the Bacchides, 
 Curculio, and Trinummus. Since in each case 
 the contents of the letters are quoted, or implied, 
 within the play and form an integral part of the 
 dialogue, it is unnecessary to cite them here in 
 detail. 
 
 4. Theft. 
 
 Theft as a means of carrying out deception is 
 found in the Asinaria and the Persa. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 63 
 
 Asinaria. In this play the act of theft is ren- 
 dered possible by the personation, which has al- 
 ready been mentioned as a feature of the trickery, 
 in giving the pseudo-Saurea an opportunity to ap- 
 propriate the money which was paid for the asses, 
 
 vv335ff. Em, ergo is argentum hue remisit, 
 quod daretur Saureae 
 Pro asinis : 
 
 358ff. Quid nunc consili captandum censes? 
 die. Li. Em istuc ago, 
 Quo modo argento interuortam et 
 aduentorem et Sauream. 
 
 Persa. In the Persa the purchase-money for 
 the oxen is appropriated by the slave Sagaristio, 
 
 vv.259ff. Nam erus meus me Eretriam misit, 
 domitos boues ut sibi mercarer : 
 
 Dedit argentum: nam ibi mercatum 
 dixit esse die septumei : 
 
 Stultus, qui hoc mihi daret argentum 
 quoius ingenivun nouerat. 
 
 Nam hoc argentum alibi abutar. 
 
 5. Miscellaneous 
 
 A few cases of deception effected by unique 
 methods occur in the plays. 
 
 Gambling. In the Curculio, Curculio wins 
 from the miles the ring which helps him in the 
 later trick of personation : 
 
64 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 vv.35Sf. Prouocat me in aleam, ut ego lu- 
 dam. . . . 
 lUe suom anulum opposiuit, 
 
 Secret passage. In the Miles : 
 
 vv.i42f. In eo conclaui ego perfodi parietem, 
 Qua commeatus clam esset hinc hue 
 mulieri. 
 
 The methods, then, em2lo^edjin_ the further- 
 ance of deception are many. But the pre-emin- 
 ' ence of personation and lying is noteworthy. 
 Moreover, it should be mentioned that all the 
 plays, except the Mostellaria, combine two or 
 more methods even when there is only one end in 
 view. This is to be differentiated from the fact 
 that some of the plays, — the Bacchides, Epidicus, 
 Miles, Persa, Poenulus and Pseudolus, — contain 
 two or three tricks. The following analysis of 
 the inter-relation of plan and action in the plays 
 will illustrate this point more fully. 
 
 B. Inter-relation of plans and compleied. action 
 
 Our study up to this point has been concerned 
 with the various elements entering into deception 
 and it has shown how often the same elements 
 recur. We must now consider their arrange- 
 ment in the several plays, that is, we must study 
 the inter-relation of plans for deception and the 
 carrying out of those plans, in order to discover. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 65 
 
 if possible, Plautus' method of using these ele- 
 ments to work out his plots. It should be noted 
 that the following analyses differ from the usual 
 synopses of the plots given in editions of the 
 plays in that they have trickery as the centre of 
 interest. Also, inasmuch as a consideration of 
 dropped threads of deception leads very natural- 
 ly to the question of contaminatio, we may an- 
 ticipate the discussion of that problem in section 
 IV. and deal with it in part at the end of the 
 analysis of each individual play. 
 
 Bacchides 
 
 The course of the trickery of the Bacchides 
 WcLs traced in the analysis of that play given in 
 section I, and it is unnecessary to repeat it here. 
 There are no dropped threads connected with the 
 trickery nor is there reason for believing that 
 contaminatio exists in the play.^ In this play as 
 in all the plays the inconsistencies noted by Lan- 
 gen^ and others must, however, be considered to 
 determine whether such discrepancies are found 
 in points essential to the carrying-out of the 
 trickery or only in non-essentials. 
 
 The first inconsistency which Langen notes^ 
 concerns Lydus' attitude towards his discipulus, 
 Pistoclerus, and this is not connected with the 
 trickery. The unexplained stay of two years on 
 the part of Mnesilochus, vv.i7of., in Ephesus, 
 
 1 Deo; Rem. Lit. pp.ll9ff. 
 2Plaut. Stud. pp.llOff. 
 sibld. p.nof. 
 
66 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 which obliged him to entrust his affaires de coeur 
 to his friend, is just the sort of time-element* 
 which Plautus is inclined to disregard.' For 
 verification of this statement it is necessary to 
 refer to several of the plays. 
 
 In the Captivi the lengjth of time required for 
 the prisoners to make their plans, prologue, v.37, 
 and to change their clothes for the assumption of 
 each other's role is not considered by the play- 
 wright. Likewise the length of time required for 
 a journey to and from Elis is improbably set as 
 one day, though this may be used, as has been 
 suggested, to show that the action covers more 
 than one day. In the Curculio the same thing is 
 true of the length of time required for a journey 
 to and from Caria, though in this case the lack of 
 knowledge as to the site of the Caria in question 
 renders the chronological difficulty uncertain. In 
 the Miles the three years of absence, v.350, seem 
 too long for the few incidents allotted to that 
 time, VV.121-142. A similar disregard for time 
 is seen in the Mostellaria, as will be apparent in 
 the later analysis of the play. The element of 
 time, which is immaterial to the progress of the 
 plot of deception, is therefore frequently disre- 
 garded by Plautus. As such disregard does not 
 
 4 of. A. Polczyk: De unltatlbus et loci et temporis In 
 Nova Comoedla observatls, Diss. 1909, Vladrina Uratls- 
 lavlensi, pp.38f. M. Brasse: Quatenus in fabulis Plautlnls 
 et loci et temporis unitatibus species veritatis neglegetur, 
 Diss. Breslau, 1914, pp.87f. 
 
 5 cf. Terence: Eunuohus, w.BSOfE., all the incidents 
 crowded into the short time between the departure of 
 Thais and Thraso and Chaerea's entrance. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 67 
 
 affect the course of the trickery it need not, for 
 our purpose, be explained away, though that 
 might be done in some cases, as in the Asinaria, 
 cf. the following analysis. 
 
 Nicobulus' acceptance of the state of afifairs 
 resulting from his son's failure to bring home 
 the money from Ephesus, in spite of his re- 
 luctance at his age to undertake a sea-voyage* 
 and his failure to think of entrusting the matter 
 a second time to his son, are unimportant. Chry- 
 salus' ready revelation to Nicobulus of his son's 
 whereabouts, vv.347f., when the success of the 
 plan of deception depends upon Chrysalus' keep- 
 ing father and son apart until he has himself re- 
 vealed that plan to the latter, contradicts, to be 
 sure, that slave's cleverness as displayed in other 
 matters. But inasmuch as the playwright ap- 
 parently so arranged the action that the slave and 
 his young master meet before the son and father, 
 we can regard the inconsistency as the sort of 
 carelessness which Plautus shows in non-essen- 
 tials. The requirement which Langen makes,' that 
 the poet should have informed the audience if 
 some other place of meeting than the place men- 
 tioned by Chrysalus to Nicobulus had been agreed 
 upon by the slave and his young master, may be 
 accepted by a critical reader of the play. But such 
 possible difficulties Plautus constantly disregard- 
 ed. In other words, Plautus centres his attention 
 upon the action as he develops it, not as it might 
 develop without his guiding supervision of it. 
 
 6 Langen: Plant. Stud. p.ll2. 
 
 7 Ibid, p.113. 
 
68 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 Plautus' disregard of time is again illustrated 
 in Act II 2 and 3. In v.374 Lydus states that he 
 stayed only a short time in Bacchis' house, yet 
 the actual time allows the action of Act II, 
 scenes 2 and 3, which according to stage economy 
 is comparatively long. As Langen himself 
 acknowledges,* the difficulty is not serious enough 
 to throw doubt on v.374 as un-Plautine. J. Baar° 
 attributed it to contaminatio, but hardly with 
 sufficient reason.^" 
 
 In V.406 Philoxenus asks Lydus, "Quo sequar? 
 quo ducis nunc me?" though it is quite evident 
 that he knew where Lydus was taking him, from 
 their leaving the house together intent upon a 
 definite purpose. The question, therefore, is 
 given merely for the sake of the answer, which 
 repeats for the benefit of the audience what the 
 two had evidently been discussing before they 
 came out of the house. So too, in v.410, 
 Philoxenus reproaches himself for the evil ways 
 of his youth, as also in vv.i079f. Yet Lydus 
 had previously extolled his blamelessness of life, 
 vv.42off. The contradiction may be easily ex- 
 plained by a desire on the part of Philoxenus to 
 excuse his son's actions by the implication of 
 "like father, like son." 
 
 The psychological improbability of Nicobulus' 
 answer to Chysalus' spiteful question, vv.837f., 
 so briefly acknowledging the attractiveness of 
 
 8 Ibid, p.113. 
 
 9 De Bacchidlbus Flautina quaestiones, Diss MUnster, 
 1891. Chap. rv. 
 
 10 O. Seyflert In Burslan's Jahresberlcht, 1895, Part II. 
 p. 14. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 69 
 
 Bacchis in spite of his anger at her seduction of 
 his son, does not concern the question of the de- 
 ception. Nor does the improbability of the con- 
 clusion of the play when the old men themselves 
 fall a prey to the charmers from whom they had 
 come to rescue their sons. 
 
 The fact that Chrysalus must apparently urge 
 Nicobulus on to pay off the soldier, v.883, when 
 the latter has been so eager to do so, vv.866ff., 
 though inconsistent, as Langen points out, is 
 probably introduced by Plautus to emphasize 
 once more Chrysalus' individual manipulation 
 of all the plans of deception and their execution. 
 Though apparently contradictory, it is the sort 
 of thing which would justify the claim that the 
 focus of the Plautine plays is upon the trickster 
 and his deceptions. This is particularly true of 
 the Bacchides, since the play is so largely a char- 
 acter-study of the slave Chrysalus.^^ 
 
 From this discussion of the Bacchides it is 
 evident that in spite of the involved play and in- 
 ter-play of plan and action in the comedy, all the 
 carrying out of the deception is anticipated by 
 some plan in the earlier part of the play, and vice 
 versa the plans outlined in the earlier part of the 
 play are carried out in the subsequent action. 
 This is particularly noteworthy inasmuch as the 
 play contains really two main tricks. 
 
 Asinaria 
 
 The object of the trickery in the Asinaria is 
 to get money (20 minae) 
 
 11 liorenz; Paeudolus, ed. Intrad. p.28. 
 
70 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 vv.89f . Viginti iam usust filio argenti minis : 
 Face id ut paratum sit. 
 
 for the youth Argyrippus, son of Demaenetus and 
 Artemona, who is in love with Philaenium, the 
 daughter of a lena. The father is ready to help 
 his son, VV.67, 82f., I2^i., but, being powerless 
 since his wife keeps the money-bag, vv.Ssif., he 
 enlists the services of Libanus his slave, and 
 Leonida, 
 
 v.ioi Tibi optionem sumito Leonidam: 
 
 with a promise to assist as far as is in his power, 
 
 vv.io6f. Tun redimes me, si me hostes inter- 
 ceperint ? 
 De. Redimam. 
 
 The two slaves evolve a plan, vv.249ff., when 
 Leonida discovers that a merchant who had 
 bought some asses from Saurea, Artemona's 
 atriensis, had sent his messenger with the sum — 
 20 minae. Leonida plans to impersonate Saurea 
 and to relate the plan to the old man, w.368f. ; 
 v.380. 
 
 Still more luckily, when the mercator inquires 
 for Demaenetus and Saurea, Leonida at once 
 pretends to be Saurea. At this point the audience 
 is allowed to hear twice that the mercator knew 
 Demaenetus but not Saurea, vv.348; 353. Yet 
 in spite of Leonida's assertion that he is Saurea, 
 the mercator refuses to pay the money to anyone 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 71 
 
 but Demaenetus. Leonida narrates all this to 
 Libanus, vv.357ff., with the news of the mer- 
 cator's imminent arrival. 
 
 Just as Leonida starts to the forum to acquaint 
 Demaenetus with the plan which he and Libanus 
 have made, the mercator is seen approaching and 
 the slaves are forced to act at once. (Such need 
 for haste at a crisis is often introduced to in- 
 crease the effect of cleverness on the part of the 
 trickster). Leonida hurries off to the forum, 
 while Libanus engages the mercator in conversa- 
 tion. The latter repeats what had just been re- 
 ported by Leonida, that he is seeking Demaene- 
 tus or Saurea, vv.392f ., to pay 20 minae for asses, 
 vv.396f., a repetition for the sake of clearness. 
 Libanus takes this opportunity of preparing for 
 the ensuing personation by describing Leonida as 
 Saurea, vv.398ff. 
 
 In the personation scene which follows. Act II 
 4, Leonida plays the high and mighty atriensis, 
 Saurea, and is ably assisted by Libanus. The 
 fact of imposture is kept before the audience by 
 the asides,^^ vv.446f., 471, between the two slaves 
 as they coach each other. The mercator is ap- 
 parently convinced, but still refuses to pay the 
 money to anyone but Demaenetus, vv.487f. The 
 actual payment takes place off the stage, as the 
 audience is carefully informed, vv.sSiff., when 
 Demaenetus confirms the statements of the slaves. 
 
 In the meantime Argyrippus starts out in 
 search of help on his own account, 
 
 12 cf. Letrrand: Daos, p. 548. 
 
72 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 V.245 Nunc pergam ad forum atque experiar 
 opibus, omni copia. 
 
 V.248 Nam si mutuas non potero, certumst 
 sumam faenore. 
 
 but his efforts are fruitless and the lovers are ex- 
 tricated from their difficulties by Libanus. The 
 condition which he imposes, however, that De- 
 maenetus shall share the success of his son, v.735, 
 is carried out in the concluding banquet-scene. 
 
 As in some of the other plays, the Persa for 
 example, the trickster disappears from the play 
 unpunished, and Artemona's anger at the end is 
 vented upon her husband not because of her loss 
 but because of her jealousy, when guided by the 
 defeated rival for Philaenium's affections she 
 finds him banqueting with the girl and Argyrip- 
 pus. Aside from that, all the plans for the ac- 
 tion are carried out except Argyrippus' efforts 
 in his own behalf; for Act III 3, especially 
 V.631, proves that he had accomplished nothing. 
 That failure merely emphasizes his passive role 
 in the play in contrast to the very active part of 
 Libanus, the trickster. 
 
 This last point Langen^^ has included among 
 the inconsistencies in the play, inasmuch as by his 
 determination to secure aid for himself Argyrip- 
 pus seems to have forgotten that he had already 
 appealed to his father for help, as is evident from 
 the old man's desire to assist his son, vv.57ff. 
 (Note the anger of the youth at the time, 
 
 13 Plaut. stua. p.lOOf. 
 
 I I 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 73 
 
 vy.243fr., when such a wild determination suits 
 his mood, although he is really helpless.) But 
 the solution of this difficulty is not vital to the 
 progress of the trickery, which is not in the 
 youth's hands. 
 
 Likewise it is inconsistent that Demaenetus 
 should know the sum of money^* needed by his 
 son, vv.74f., before the latter apparently knew 
 the sum, v.229. All the discussion attendant upon 
 an explanation of this contradiction is not per- 
 tinent to the trickery, for the exact sum is a mere 
 detail. Demaenetus knew that his son needed 
 money. The same is true of Libanus' unmotiv- 
 ated departure to the forum at the end of Act I 
 i,^^ as also of the haste of Leonida when seeking 
 Libanus, Act II 2, and his contradictory slowness 
 in coming to the point of his business. Business 
 transactions carried on in the public highway, as 
 here, are the counterpart of the toilet-scenes in 
 some of the other plays, impossible according to 
 our dramatic proprieties, as Langen says, but 
 quite common in the ancient drama. 
 
 In the Asinaria, as in the Bacchides, a disre- 
 gard of the lapse of time is noted by Langen^* in 
 vv.367ff., where within the space of twenty-five 
 verses Leonida is off to the forum, finds De- 
 maenetus there, and relates to him the plan con- 
 cocted by the slaves. But this is not altogether 
 impossible, as it was carefully arranged, w.ii6f., 
 I2sf., that Demaenetus should be at the banker's. 
 
 14 Ibid. pp.97f. 
 
 15 Plaut. stud. pp.98f. 
 
 16 Ibid, p.102. 
 
74 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 Moreover the distance from Demaenetus' house 
 to the forum is not stated. So why find a dis- 
 crepancy here? 
 
 Langen^^ frequently accuses Plautus of strain- 
 ing psychological probability for the sake of 
 comic effect. An examination of these occur- 
 rences is necessary to determine whether they 
 affect, or in any way are concerned with, the 
 progress of the plot of deception. Two such 
 psychological impossibilities have already been 
 mentioned in the study of the Bacchides. Both 
 of them are connected merely with the love in- 
 trigue and do not involve the trickery. In the 
 Captivi, Langen finds another such instance in 
 Hegio's investigation of the facts connected with 
 the lives of the captives after his apparent accept- 
 ance of Philocrates' statements and the depar- 
 ture of Philocrates. 
 
 Langen also brands as psychologically improb- 
 able those scenes where a slave in haste to make 
 some announcement, as in the Mercator or the 
 Asinaria, wastes time in soliloquizing or in 
 wrangling. The impression, however, upon an 
 audience is just that which Plautus worked to 
 produce, — amusement at the wrangling and not 
 annoyance at the unwarranted interruption of 
 the action, which an uncritical audience would 
 fail to notice.^' 
 
 In the Mostellaria, the improbabiUty upon 
 which the success of the ghost story rests, that 
 
 17 Ibia. p.103. 
 
 18 C. Welssman : De servl currentis persona, Qissae, 
 1911. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 75 
 
 Theopropides should not know of such a fact 
 connected with his own house, or the improba- 
 bility of his not knowing the plan of his neigh- 
 bour's house, are disregarded for the sake of the 
 comic situation which results from such ignor- 
 ance. These improbabilities differ, to be sure, 
 from those previously mentioned in that they are 
 an integral part of the process of deception. But 
 they illustrate all the better Plautus' method of 
 disregarding verisimilitude for comic effect, a 
 small detail for the sake of the whole. Besides, 
 Theopropides is inepte stultus, v.495, as his 
 credulity throughout the entire play shows. 
 
 Similarly improbabilities are admitted in sev- 
 eral of the other plays, where the exigencies 
 of the plot demand them, as in the Curculio, 
 when the slave wins the ring from the soldier, 
 and in the Pseudolus when the trickster obtains 
 the letter and the symholus. But it is evident 
 that these improbabilities are intentionally al- 
 lowed by Plautus, intent upon the effect which he 
 aimed to produce. Such being the case, it is 
 necessary merely to note their presence and not 
 to endeavour to explain them away. 
 
 Captivi Realizing Hegio's intention of send- 
 ing one of his Elean captives back to Elis to ar- 
 range for an exchange of prisoners for his son 
 who is held captive in that country, Philocrates 
 and Tyndarus, the captivi, have exchanged roles, 
 cf. w.35ff., 222ff., to win the former's freedom, 
 vv.4of. Both Tyndarus' speech, w.23iff., and 
 Philocrates', vv.24off., emphasize the fact of the 
 
76 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 exchange, clearly and definitely, though the plans 
 for that exchange, from the contents of the 
 verses just cited, were made before the action of 
 the play begins,^^ since there is so definite an un- 
 derstanding between the slave and his master. 
 The repetition of the plan in vv.223ff., is for the 
 benefit of the audience, since the situation is so 
 confusing. The inconsistency in the time noted 
 by Langen and discussed above is of the sort, as 
 has been already noted, found in the other plays 
 and does not affect the action. 
 
 The plan is successfully carried out. Act II 
 2, cf. 
 
 v.276 Vt facete orationem ad seruitutem 
 contulit, 
 
 while Tyndarus in his asides, vv.276, 284, keeps 
 before the audience the fact of deception carried 
 out through the interchange of roles. 
 
 vv.305f. Me qui liber fueram seruom fecit, e 
 summo infumum. 
 Qui imperare insueram nunc alterius 
 imperio obsequor 
 
 would be especially appreciated by the audience 
 because of the contrast between them and the 
 true state of things of which they are aware. 
 But the trick is discovered. Act III 3 and 4, 
 through the recognition of Tyndarus by Aristo- 
 phontes, another Elean captive whom Hegio had 
 
 IB Langen: Plaut. Stud. pp.llBf. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION ^^ 
 
 lodged in his brother's house, v.4S8. The dis- 
 covery involves the astutia of Tyndarus, V.S39, 
 of pretending that Aristophontes is mad in order 
 to avoid detection himself, vv.547f. But the 
 astutia fails and the trickster is punished. The 
 thread of deception is carried through to the end. 
 Act IV 2, by Hegio's shame at being so easily 
 duped. 
 
 It should be noted how the interchange of 
 roles, of which the audience is fully informed 
 but of which Hegio knows nothing, is kept con- 
 stantly before the audience by just such am- 
 biguous statements as have been cited, 
 
 vv.4i3f. Quo pacto emisisti e uinculis tuom 
 erum tua sapientia. 
 Phil. Feci ego ista ut commemoras et 
 te meminisse id gratumst mihi. 
 
 435f. Quom me seruom in seruitute pro ted 
 hie reliqueris 
 Tuque te pro libero esse ducas, . . . 
 
 The use of the aside, as in v.276 quoted above, 
 or as in, 
 
 v.284. Salua res est: philosophatur quoque 
 iam, non mendax modost, 
 
 referring to the carrying out of the plan of de- 
 ception, or aiding and abetting it as in the Asin- 
 aria where the two slaves, Leonida and Libanus, 
 spur each other on in their efforts to outwit the 
 
78 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 mercator, Act II 4, should also be noted. Thus 
 the trick is kept before the audience. An ex- 
 amination of the other plays shows similar oc- 
 currences and uses. 
 
 In the Persa Toxilus spurs on the virgo, 
 vv.6o6f., and comments in an aside, vv.622, 632, 
 639, 64s, on her cleverness in such a way as to 
 keep before the audience the imposture. In the 
 Pseudolus, that tricky slave declares for the bene- 
 fit of the audience that all is ready for the execu- 
 tion of the trick against Ballio, v.958, and from 
 his vantage-point, V.9S9, he observes Simia's 
 clever duping of the leno, v.959, with apprehen- 
 sion, at first, lest Simla make a slip, v.984, but 
 with complete satisfaction at his success, as he 
 himself acknowledges, vv.ioi7ff., when he sums 
 up the trick. 
 
 The Miles likewise presents the same feature. 
 Act IV 6, when Acroteleutium the meretrix be- 
 fools the miles. Maid and mistress spur each 
 other on, w.i2i9f., and again the audience 
 knows that the stage is set for the trick, 
 
 Tuomst principium. 
 
 Likewise in w. 1343b ff., the recognition between 
 Philocomasium and Pleusicles must have been in 
 an aside, the purpose of which was to keep be' 
 fore the audience the fact that the nauckrus is 
 none other than the disg^uised lover, who planned 
 thus to add one more point to the discomfiture of 
 the miles, vv.1177. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 79 
 
 This use of the aside is an interesting fea- 
 ture^" of the comedies of Plautus, and it might 
 be analyzed in much greater detail than the scope 
 of the present study allows. Yet even these few- 
 illustrations suffice to show that the aside, either 
 as a soliloquy or as an exhortation to action, was 
 used by Plautus very much as it is used by play- 
 wrights today, to focus the attention of the au- 
 dience more closely upon the immediate action 
 and to render it as clear as possible. 
 
 In the Captivi there are a few unimportant in- 
 consistencies ; for example, in Acts IV and V the 
 journey from Aetolia to Elis and back is repre- 
 sented as taking place in one day. But as we 
 have already noted, Plautus is inclined to dis- 
 regard this detail of time.^^ The slave's haste 
 also lacks motive, as does Hegio's investigation 
 as to the truth of Philocrates' statements. But 
 as Langen is forced to admit, here again verisi- 
 militude is sacrificed for the sake of comic ef- 
 fect, inasmuch as the determination of Hegio 
 leads to the resultant complication between Tyn- 
 darus and Aristophanes, which is extremely en- 
 tertaining but which would not have been pos- 
 sible had Hegio sought out Aristophontes before 
 Philocrates' departure. 
 
 Such apparent forgetfulness on the part of the 
 poet as seen in vv.947f., where Hegio promises 
 to set Tyndarus free, though already in w.33if., 
 
 20 Legrand: Daos, p. 548; O. SchafCner: De aversum 
 loquendl ratione In comoedia Graeca, Gissae, 1911, p.20. 
 
 21 Brlx: Captivi, ed. Introd. p.3 and note. 
 
8o DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 he had assured him of freedom,^^ or where Hegio 
 sends off Philocrates at once to arrjmge for the 
 exchange of prisoners, when in w.34if., he had 
 decided to do so, ubi erunt indutiae, is character- 
 istic of a poet who is so careless in minor details. 
 As we shall see from further study of the other 
 comedies, "the play's the thing", and with Plau- 
 tus the "play" is primarily the plot of deception. 
 With that clearly planned and carried out, and 
 entertaining, clearness and exactness of consist- 
 ency in minor details are not worth considering. 
 
 Casina The basis of the trickery in this play 
 consists in plots and counter-plots of a father 
 and son, (the son does not appear in the play, cf. 
 prologue V.65) who are rivals for the affections 
 of Casina, vv.48ff. The servants of the two assist 
 and abet their masters, and Qeostrata, the wife 
 of the senex, favours her son's suit and works in 
 his interests. The conflict starts in Act I i be- 
 tween the servants of the rivals, each of whom 
 pretends that Casina is to be won for himself, 
 not for his master, vv.S2, 69, 55, 109, and each 
 one is on his guard, w.92, 95, against the other. 
 Cleostrata, as already stated, vv.150, 155, plans 
 to thwart her wayward husband in his desires 
 and enlists her friend Myrrhina's sympathy and 
 future assistance, vv.2i5f. 
 
 Suspicious of his wife before this, Lysidamus' 
 conversation with her in Act II 3 confirms his 
 belief that she is aware of his plans, 
 
 22 Langen: Plaut. Stud. pp.l2Sf. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 8i 
 
 vv.277f. . . . subolet hoc iara uxori, quod ego 
 machinor : 
 Propter earn rem magis armigero dat 
 operam de industria 
 
 and spurs him on to action, i. e. to determine 
 Casina's fate by lot-drawing, \v.2g6i., especially 
 as Chalinus, working in the son's interests, re- 
 fuses to give the girl to Lysidamus, w.293f. 
 The plan is carried out in Act II 6 and the lot 
 falls, V.415, to Olympio, that is to the father, and 
 Cleostrata is bidden to deck the bride for the 
 wedding, v.419, while Lysidamus plans a retreat 
 for himself and the bride in his friend's house, 
 vv.477flf., cf- 
 
 V.S2I Fac uacent aedes. 
 
 Chalinus, though defeated in the lot-drawing, 
 is still watchful, v.436, and overhearing the con- 
 versation of his enemies and their real plans. 
 Act II 8, is spurred on in the interests of his 
 mistress to outwit the old man by undoing what 
 has been done, 
 
 vv.5i3f. Quod id quod paratumst, ut paratum 
 ne siet, 
 Sitque ei paratum quod paratum non 
 erat. 
 
 In other words, we are definitely informed that 
 the previous trick shall be rendered useless. 
 
82 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 Informed by Chalinus of the state of affairs, 
 Cleostrata lays her plans to outwit her husband 
 and his colleagues, vv.56of., 590. First she stirs 
 up trouble between her husband and his friend 
 so that the hospitality of his friend's house is no 
 longer open to him, 
 
 V.561 Nam ego aliquid contrahere cupio litigi 
 inter eos duos. 
 
 Then she invents a tale of Casina's madness and 
 her raving threats, vv.655ff. But this scene of 
 the maid's disclosure of Casina's condition, 
 though evidently planned as prefatory to the ac- 
 tual appearance of Casina in that condition, is 
 not used in the solution of the plot, and the scene 
 consequently lacks motive. Instead Cleostrata 
 plans a more clever stratagem which is careful- 
 ly outlined beforehand, Yv.y6^S., for the benefit 
 of the audience, of the personation of Casina by 
 the armigerus, who is to be given to the senex as 
 the bride. The preparations include all those 
 customary for a wedding, vv.774f., though the 
 fact of the deception is kept before the audience, 
 
 vv.855fF. Acceptae bene et commode eximus in- 
 
 tus 
 Ludos uisere hue in uiam nuptialis. 
 Numquam ecastor ullo die risi 
 
 adaeque 
 Neque hoc quod relicuomst plus 
 
 risuram opinor. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 83 
 
 cf. vv.87iif. The trick is carried out to a suc- 
 cessful close and the old man is worsted. 
 
 Casina's fate is cleared up in the epilogue, 
 vv.ioi3f., so all the threads of the trickery are 
 caught up except the motiveless raving-scene. 
 The reason for this sudden conclusion in 
 vv.ioosf., should be noted, — hanc ex longa 
 longiorem ne faciamus fabulam. This together 
 with the fact that the prologue contains no in- 
 dication of either the lot-drawing or the imper- 
 sonation, but does hint at the final agnorisis men- 
 tioned in the epilogue, leads Leo^^ to the conclu- 
 sion that Plautus used the prologue of the 
 original Greek play in spite of the addition of 
 other elements which made a farce out of the 
 comedy.2* TeuffeP^ attributed the difficulty to 
 retractatio, but without sufficient reason.^^ 
 
 As to the description of Casina's madness 
 which RitschP' already had noted as without 
 motive and brought in merely to amu.se the au- 
 dience, Langen points out correctly that such in- 
 consistencies are characteristic of Plautine 
 comedy, as we have seen, and not remarkable or 
 unique as Ritschl had believed. Moreover, 
 Pardalisca, vv.685ff., tells the audience that all is 
 false. Such is true also of the other dis- 
 crepancies, pointed out by Langen,^* in the disre- 
 
 23 Plaut. Forsch. pp.207fE. 
 
 24 Ibid, p.168. 
 
 25 Stud. u. Char. pp.321f. 
 
 26 Langen: Plaut. Stud. pp.278£E. 
 
 27 Opusc. II p.746. 
 
 28 Plaut. Stud. pp.l27ff. 
 
84 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 gard for the lapse of time between Act III i and 
 3; in the changes in the characterization of 
 Myrrhina; in the motiveless speeches. One 
 other diflficulty noted by Langen^® should be con- 
 sidered: that although at vv.6i3f. Myrrhina is 
 not with Cleostrata, yet, v.687, she has been with 
 her long enough to plan the trick of Casina's 
 madness before the appearance of Pardalisca at 
 V.621. The time is scant, for there is no pause 
 before v.621 which follows immediately upon 
 
 V.620 Quid illuc clamoris, opsecro, in nostrast 
 domo? 
 
 Yet there are parallels, cf . the short time allowed 
 for the girl to move from house to house in the 
 Miles, vv.395-411, 456-468. 
 
 We can hardly agree with Legrand'" in con- 
 sidering the plot merely a juxtaposition of epi- 
 sodes, too much lacking in coherence to make 
 possible a separation of the several plays which 
 served as its model. Compared with the ob- 
 scurity of the Epidicus, for example, the Casina 
 is clear and unified. The Casina, therefore, the 
 one play concerning whose revival we have ex- 
 plicit information, cf. Prolog, vv.iiff., was not 
 so altered at the time of its later presentation as 
 to become obscure. We may infer that retrac- 
 tatio did not always produce obscurities, cf. also 
 Langen's remark^^ that the Casina contains no 
 
 29 Ibid. 
 
 30 DaoB, p.387f. 
 
 31 Plaut. Stud, p.Sl. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 85 
 
 cases of redundancy or repetition so striking that 
 they may be unPlautine. Even though the 
 Greek model contained nothing like the farce 
 which ends the play, neither its treatment nor the 
 combination of the farcical elements with the 
 play of Diphilus is unPlautine. 
 
 Curculio In the Curculio, Phaedromus, a 
 youth, is in love with a girl, V.42S., in the service 
 of a leno, who wishes to force her into the life 
 of a meretrix, v.46, from which Phaedromus 
 wishes to free her. For that purpose he needs 
 30 minae, v.63, and he has sent his parasite to 
 Caria to borrow the money from a friend. The 
 parasite who gives the name to the play carries 
 out the intrigue. Relying upon his assistance, 
 Phaedromus is very apprehensive lest he return 
 from Caria without the needed money, 
 
 vv.i43f. . . . nam confido parasitum hodie 
 aduenturum 
 Cum argento ad me. 
 
 cf. vv.22Sf. The need and the effort to meet 
 that need occurred before the action of the play 
 opens, vv.67f. But the return of the parasite 
 with the means at hand, w.274ff., 335f., dispels 
 Phaedromus' apprehension and he falls in with 
 Curculio's plan to trick the trapezita, 
 
 \v.2,6gi. Tu tabellas consignato, hie ministrabit, 
 ego edam. 
 Dicam quem ad modum conscribas. 
 
86 DECEPTION IN PIAUTUS 
 
 by a forged letter backed by the guarantee of a 
 ring which he had won from the miles. 
 
 AH the details necessary for the execution of 
 the trick had been revealed to Curculio by the 
 miles, — a letter and seal to be honoured by the 
 release of the girl, vv.345il. Each of these is 
 used in the subsequent action, vv.4iif., v.421, 
 vv.432flf., as well as in the contents of the forged 
 letter which Curculio composed to help out the 
 deception. The trick is successful. Act III i, 
 and the money is at hand, v.455, for the virgo, 
 who is ransomed from the leno on the condition 
 that the ransom-money be refunded if she be 
 found to be free-bom. 
 
 vv.49off. Memento promisisse te, si quisquam 
 
 hanc liberali 
 Causa manu adsereret, mihi omne 
 
 argentum redditum eiri, 
 Minas triginta. Ca. Meminero: 
 
 The trick is discovered, Act IV 3, upon the ar- 
 rival of the miles, with a careful repetition of the 
 details involved in the transaction. But as the 
 girl turns out to be the miles' sister, the leno is 
 held to his promise, v.717, and the girl is be- 
 trothed to her lover. 
 
 The exposition of the play is perfectly clear in 
 spite of the shortening which has befallen it, to 
 which Langen^^ attributed the discrepancies be- 
 tween the various passages wherein the sum of 
 money needed to ransom the girl is mentioned, 
 vv.343ff., S2SfF., 666, 682ff. The disregard of 
 
 32 Plaut. Stud, p.136. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 87 
 
 the time required for Curculio's journey to 
 Caria and back, v. 206, cannot be regarded as 
 serious unless the identity of this particular Caria 
 be established. Characteristic of Plautine 
 technique are the motiveless appearance of the 
 miles immediately after Curculio's return and the 
 lack of motivation, according to Legrand,'^ and 
 the psychological improbability of the miles' dis- 
 closure to Curculio, though it is absolutely neces- 
 sary for the development of the action. In de- 
 fense we might say that it is not improbable that 
 at such a drinking bout the soldier should become 
 communicative nor that he should go after the 
 girl. His arrival occurs, of course, when it is 
 needed. 
 
 The disappearance of Palinurus from the play, 
 which Leo notes,^* is due to the appearance of 
 Curculio and the transfer of the action to his 
 guidance.^'' He is more active, Leo holds, than 
 the usual itpoawicov itpOTaTtxov, hence his dis- 
 appearance needs explanation, though it in no 
 way affects the course of the deception. 
 
 We have noted above that Langen attributed 
 the variations in the money transaction to retrac- 
 tatio, especially the unexplained additional ten 
 minae, vv.343, 525, 528. An examination of the 
 other comedies in which such transactions play 
 an important part, the Asinaria, Bacchides, Epi- 
 dicus, Persa, and Pseudolus, may prove illumin- 
 ating. 
 
 33Daos, p.404. 
 
 34 Plaut. Porsch. p.l97, n.l. 
 
 35 Ibid, p.243. 
 
88 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 In the Asinaria, one sum, 20 ndnae, occurs 
 throughout the pHy, except in v. 193 where the 
 lena, with the greed characteristic of her profes- 
 sion, at first demands the exorbitant sum of two 
 talents, sure to raise a laugh because of its exor- 
 bitance. When she finally becomes serious in 
 V.229, she gives the actual sum, again 20 minae. 
 The constant reiteration of the sum in vv.633flf. 
 adds to the comic effect just as much as the ex- 
 aggeration of the sum in the Persa, v.743," 
 which is the only deviation in that play from the 
 600 nummi mentioned elsewhere, v.36, 117, 437, 
 852. 
 
 In the Pseudolus, though it is perhaps a con- 
 taminated play (cf. below) the sum of money 
 needed for the girl remains the same throughout, 
 20 minae, vv.S2, ii3f., 117, 280, 344, 404, 412, 
 484, 1068, 1070, 1077, 1223, 1228, 1241, of which 
 the miles has already paid fifteen minae and still 
 owes five, vv.S4, 346, 619, 718, 732, 753, 1 149. 
 Similarly in the Bacchides, 200 golden Philippi is 
 the price set for Bacchis' ransom, vv.sgo, 706, 
 709, 868, 873, 879, 882, 919, 969, 997, loio, 1026, 
 1033, 1050. 
 
 In the Epidicus various sums occur,''^ 40 minae 
 in VV.S2, 114, 122, 141, 296, 646; 50 minae in 
 vv.347, 366, 467, though in the first instance the 
 explanation is given that the sum is ten minae 
 more than the danista demands ; and in v.468, 60 
 minae, the old man is evidently trying to strike 
 as good a bargain as possible with the miles. 
 
 36 Langen,: Plaut. Stud. p.l78. 
 
 37 Ibid, p.139. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 89 
 
 Plautus, to be sure, interchanges terms for 
 money at will ;"* and his nummus, tibough regular- 
 ly referring to the didrachma, sometimes has a 
 value of one or four drachmae, while nummus or 
 Philippus aureus regularly equals one-fifth of a 
 mina. Since in general, therefore, the play- 
 wright is consistent in the number, at least, we 
 may conclude that those variations which occur, 
 as here for example, are probably due to some re- 
 worker of the play. 
 
 Epidicus In the Epidicus, Stratippocles, a 
 youth, off to the wars, had given a commission 
 to his slave Epidicus to secure for him a fidi- 
 cina, vv.46ff., with whom he had become en- 
 amoured. This Epidicus had accomplished; but 
 the youth, during his campaign having trans- 
 ferred his affection to a captive Theban girl and 
 borrowed money from a danista, v. 11 5, to ransom 
 her, appeals to Epidicus upon his return to help 
 him get the money to repay the loan and inci- 
 dentally to get rid of the former object of his 
 fancy, fidicina. No. i. 
 
 vv.iSif. St. Quid ilia fiet fidicina igitur? Ep. 
 Aliqua res reperibitur ; 
 Aliqua ope exsoluam, extricabor ali- 
 qua. 
 
 Both of these things Epidicus agrees to do, 
 first by working on Periphanes' (the father of 
 
 38 Brlx: Trlnununus, ed. note on v.844; Gray: Epidicus, 
 ed. note on v.54. 
 
go DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 Stratippocles) suspicions of his son's entangle- 
 ment with a fidicinc, 
 
 V.191 Nam ego ilium audiui in amorem haerere 
 apud nescioquam hdicinam ; 
 
 to the extent of persuading him to furnish the 
 money to buy her and send her out of the coun- 
 try, 
 
 V.I 93 Ipsi hi quidem mihi dant uiam, quo pacto 
 ab se argentum auferam 
 
 and by disposing of fidicina No. i , whom we had, 
 before the play opens, persuaded the old man to 
 ransom from her owner as his long-lost daughter, 
 to a miles who is interested in her, 
 
 vv.i53ff. . . . Est Euboicus miles, locuples, 
 
 multo auro potens, 
 Qui ubi tibi istam emptam esse scibit 
 
 atque banc adductam alteram, 
 Continuo te orabit ultro, ut illam 
 
 tramittas sibi. 
 
 The money which is to be obtained {)resumably 
 to buy the fidicina No. 2, is intended really for 
 the danista's claims against Stratippocles for the 
 money which he had loaned him to pay for the 
 captive girl. 
 
 Inasmuch as Periphanes cannot in person ar- 
 range the transaction with the leno for the fidi- 
 cina, Epidicus enlists the help of Periphanes' 
 friend Apoecides, 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 91 
 
 V.287 Opus est homine, qui illo argen- 
 tum deferat pro fidicina ; 
 
 cf. vv.3S7ff. Nuncauctorem 
 
 Dedit mihi ad hanc rem Apoeci- 
 dem — is apud forum manet me. 
 
 And as the fidicina No. 2 is really only a figment 
 of Epidicus' crafty, scheming brain, he must get 
 some fidicina to help him carry out his pretense. 
 To that end he plans to engage the assistance of 
 a cithern-player whom Periphanes had directed 
 him to hire for a ceremony on that day, cf. 
 vv.3i4f. To facilitate his plans he decides even 
 to give a message with double meaning to the 
 leno, 
 
 vv.364ff. Deueniam ad lenonem domum egomet 
 
 solus, eum docebo, 
 Siqui ad eum adueniant, ut sibi esse 
 
 datum argentum dicat. 
 Pro fidicina argenti minas se habere 
 
 qiiinquaginta 
 
 who may testify apparently to the genuineness of 
 the purchase, but who will do so to his own un- 
 doing, 
 
 V.369 Ibi leno sceleratum caput suom inprudens 
 alligabit. 
 
 So much for the plans and ruses laid by the 
 trickster. The accomplishment of them is a dif- 
 ferent matter. Epidicus gets the needed money 
 from the old man, v.319, and hands it over to his 
 young master. 
 
92 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 V.347 Decern minis plus attuli, quam tu danistae 
 debes. 
 
 With Apoecides as a witness he also purchases 
 the fidicina No. 2, at least to all appearances, 
 though he has only hired her. Act III 3, 
 
 w.4iiff ut ille fidi- 
 
 cinam 
 Fecit nescire esse emptam tibi : 
 Ita ridibundam atque hilarum hue ad- 
 duxit simul. 
 
 In Act III 4 the opportune appearance of the 
 miles seems to Periphanes to be solving his prob- 
 lem of getting rid of fidicina No. 2; but in the 
 confusion which results from the miles' failure 
 to recognize her as the fidicina of his fancy, she 
 reveals the true state of affairs, either under 
 pressure of circumstances in the absence of her 
 employer Epidicus, who might have kept her 
 keyed up to the role which he had planned to dic- 
 tate to her, or- through an intentional volte- face 
 in her role on the part of the playwright, for 
 comic effect, or through her belief that she had 
 really been only hired. ^' Upon this revelation 
 she is dismissed with little ceremony by Peri- 
 phanes, V.S15, and disappears from the play like 
 the parasite and his daughter in the Persa. 
 
 The appearance of fidicina No. i, Act IV 2, 
 reveals the old man's predicament still further, 
 
 S9 A. L. Wheeler: The Plot of the Epldlcua, A. J. P. 
 Vol. XXXVin 3 (1917) pp. 236-264. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 93 
 
 when he realizes, through the evidence of Philip- 
 pa, that Epidicus has led him to believe her his 
 daughter, when such is not the case, 
 
 w-597f- Quibus de signis agnoscebas? Pe. 
 Nullis. Phi. Qua re filiam 
 Credidisti nostram? Pe. Seruos Epidi- 
 cus dixit mihi. 
 
 When the real daughter actually appears in the 
 person of Telestis, the Theban captive, the recog- 
 nition between her and Epidicus leads to a final 
 clearing-up and explanation, vv.696ff. The fate 
 of the fidicina No. i is left undetermined, unless 
 it is hinted at in 
 
 V.653 Tibi quidem quod ames domi praestost — 
 fidicina — opera mea: 
 
 And Epidicus' plan to dupe the leno, mentioned 
 above, is not carried out. 
 
 Apart from this last point, the other contradic- 
 tions noted by Langen*" do not affect the course 
 of the trickery. Such details as contradictions 
 in the price demanded for the Theban captive 
 (Plautus is often inconsistent in arithmetic, cf. 
 discussion above in the Curculio*^) or in Rhodian 
 versus Euboean for the nationality of the miles, 
 or in portam versus portum in the manuscript 
 reading of v. 14,*^ are easily overlooked in a plot 
 
 40 Plaut. stud. pp.l37£E. 
 
 41 A. L. Wheeler: Epidicus, A. J. P. op. dt. 
 
 42 liangen: op. clt. p.l38. 
 
94 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 so complicated as this.** Such neglect may in 
 part be attributed to the playwright himself. 
 
 Whether the loose and dropped threads noted 
 above can also be attributed to him is another 
 matter. Ladewig assumed contaminatio** to ex- 
 plain the complicated plot. Reinhardt*' blamed 
 retractatores for it. Ussing*' contests both, ex- 
 plaining the shortness of the play in comparison 
 with the Bacchides, for example, by lacunae. To 
 be sure, the Epidicus lacks to a great extent those 
 long drawn out dialogues, unessential to the plot 
 and introduced generally for comic effect, or as 
 time fillers, which the others contain. Take for 
 example the Persa and the Pseudolus. If we 
 should strip them of passages generally agreed to 
 be unnecessary, the difference in lengfth between 
 the plays would not be so great. The Persa 
 minus Act II 2 and II 4 and all of Act V, — 
 857VV.-176VV.,— leaves 681 verses. The Pseu- 
 dolus minus Act I 2, III 2, II 2 and most of V 2, 
 — 133SVV.— 256VV., — leaves 1078 verses in con- 
 trast to the 780 verses of the Epidicus; and the 
 result is striking. To be sure, in the case of the 
 Persa and the Pseudolus there is not the same de- 
 gree of obscurity which is present in the Epidi- 
 cus. 
 
 Leo suggested*'' that all the difficulties were 
 probably cleared up in a prologue which is now 
 
 43 Usslng; Commentaiius, p.245. 
 a Gray: Ed. Introd. p.XXX. 
 
 45 Studemund's Studlen I 103. 
 
 46 Op cit. 
 
 47 Plaut. Forach. p.l99. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 95 
 
 missing. The change also in the conclusion of 
 the play from that of the Greek original, to suit 
 the Roman taste and point of view,*' caused 
 some ambiguity,*" inasmuch as Plautus apparent- 
 ly did not attempt to adjust the preceding action 
 to the changed conclusion. Dziatzko considered 
 that this play was a good illustration of the in- 
 dependence which Plautus might exercise if he 
 chose, and hence his fondness for the play, cf. 
 Bacchides vv.2i4f., may have rested upon his 
 consciousness of that independence. 
 
 Ritschl^" considered the carr3T.ng out of the in- 
 trigue in the Epidicus spirited and clever; but, 
 as he himself admitted, in contrast with the Pseu- 
 dolus and the Mostellaria we miss that keen en- 
 joyment of the trickery in and for itself, a lack 
 which is partly due to the obscurity already men- 
 tioned. But not all the obscurity can be attri- 
 buted to the poet's treatment of an unusual Greek 
 original nor to the loss of a prologue or exposi- 
 tory passage early in the play. Some of it must 
 be due surely to later cutting, and the play can- 
 not be declared Plautine in its present form." 
 
 Menaechmi 
 
 Inasmuch as the confusion aris- 
 ing from the mistaken identity of the brothers 
 Menaechmi is the result of unconscious rather 
 
 48 Dziatzko: Der Inhalt des Georgos von Menander, Rh. 
 M. 55, (1900) pp.l04fE. 
 
 49 Leo: HOm. Lit. p.l33. 
 
 50 Opuac. n pp.746f. 
 
 51 A. L. Wheeler: Epidicus, op. clt. 
 
96 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 than intentional deception, an analysis of the plot 
 need not be introduced here. The fact of de- 
 ception as the chief interest in the play brings it 
 necessarily within the first class of plays as we 
 have divided them. But the deception js„a^ static 
 rather than an active one. 
 
 Since the unity of the play cannot be main- 
 tained by a close inter-relation of plan and action, 
 as is the case in the other plays, the playwright's 
 methods of attaining such unity should be noted, 
 inasmuch as in the processes of unconscious de- 
 ception those methods are equivalent to the de- 
 finitely worked out plans in the other plays. With 
 the first appearance of Menaechmus I are intro- 
 duced the details about which centre the subse- 
 quent confusion, — the meddlesome wife, 
 vv.i22ff., i6i ; the mer.etrix, vv.124, 130, 173; the 
 wife's palla stolen as a gift for the arnica, vv.130, 
 J 66 ; the ubiquitous parasite. With Menaechmus' 
 presentation of his wife's palla to the meretrix, 
 V.202, in the parasite's presence, all these details 
 are again united. 
 
 The entrance of Menaechmus II with his an- 
 nouncement of his search for his twin-brother, 
 V.233, and his slave's warning to beware of the 
 temptations of the city, vv.268ff., followed by his 
 immediate meeting with the meretrix' s cook who 
 mistakes him for Menaechmus I, sets the stage 
 for the play. Again parasite, v.281, and mere- 
 trix, v.300, combine ; and with the appearance of 
 Erotium, the meretrix herself, and her salutation 
 of Menaechmus II as Menaechmus I, all these 
 details are reunited, especially in 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 97 
 
 vv.42off. . . . hunc metuebam, ni meae 
 
 Vxori renuntiaret de palla et de 
 
 prandio. 
 Nunc quando uis, eamus intro. Er. 
 
 Etiam parasitum manes? 
 
 when Menaechmus finally yields to circum- 
 stances. 
 
 When the parasite meets Menaechmus II car- 
 rying the palla, v.469, and mistakes him for 
 Menaechmus I, the soliloquy of Menaechmus II, 
 vv.474ff., gives the clue to the audience for an- 
 other scene of misunderstanding, in which the 
 same details are reiterated and the palla serves 
 as incriminating evidence, vv-SOSff. This evi- 
 dence the parasite uses when he reports to 
 Menaechmus I's wife her husband's misde- 
 meanours. Act IV I. 
 
 As to what Menaechmus I may have been do- 
 ing during the time required for the interven- 
 ing action, the playwright is careful to explain in 
 Menaechmus' own words, vv.s88fF., wilii clear 
 emphasis upon the essential connecting-links, 
 arnica, v.sgSffi palla, v.609; uxor, v.6oi. So also 
 through the scene between the matrona and her 
 father and Menaechmus II, Act IV i, especially 
 
 w.4o6f. . . . etiam nunc habet pallam, pater, 
 . . . quod ad hanc detulerat : 
 
 and again in Act V 8, between Menaechmus I 
 and the senex, the same thread runs. 
 
98 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 I 
 vv.i048f. Nunc ibo intra ad hanc meretricem, 
 quamquam suscenset mihi, 
 Sei possum exorare, ut pallam red- 
 dat, quam referam domum. 
 
 In the final recognition-scene, Act V 9, the .same 
 details recur, — pallam, vv.io6i, 1138; meretrix, 
 VV.1135; though the parasite is supplanted by the 
 servus Messenio. 
 
 Chance in a freakish whim'^ controls the af- 
 fairs of the characters of the drama. The chief 
 inconsistency is the lack of sagacity on the part 
 of the two brothers all through the play but es- 
 pecially when they finally meet.^' The chief de- 
 fect is the long, tiresome anagnorisis'* which 
 fails even of being very amusing. The play is 
 full of improbabilities, but there are no obscuri- 
 ties of suificient importance to spoil the fun. 
 
 Mercator 
 
 The Mercator presents the same 
 theme as the Casina, rivalry in love between a 
 father and son, resulting in the triumph of the 
 youth and the discomfiture of the old man. The 
 youth Charinus speaks the prologue and gives the 
 facts necessary for a comprehension of the play : 
 he had been sent by his father, Demipho, to 
 Rhodes on business, v.ii, where he had fallen 
 in love; he had bought the object of his fancy, 
 V.106, and brought her back with him to Athens, 
 but not wishing his father to see her had left her 
 
 52 Le^and: Daos, p.395. 
 
 53 Ibid, p.405. 
 
 54 Langen: Plaut. Stud. p.l57. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 99 
 
 on board the ship with a slave. His efforts are 
 in vain, however, v. 181, and the resulting com- 
 plications, that is the trickery, consist merely in 
 the efforts of the old man to gain possession of 
 the girl by pretending to buy her for a friend 
 and the counter-pretense on the part of Charinus, 
 first that he has bought her as an ancilla for his 
 mother and later his desire to buy her for a 
 friend. 
 
 Throughout the play there is little planning 
 and the whole thread of the plot is traced by the 
 playwright in allegorical language in Demipho's 
 dream. Act II i, 
 
 vv.252ff. Hoc quam ad rem credam pertinere 
 
 somnium 
 Nequeo inuenire: nisi capram illam 
 
 suspicor 
 lam me inuenisse quae sit aut quid 
 
 uoluerit. 
 
 In the absence of the usual careful planning of 
 the deception, such as has been found in the other 
 plays, this dream serves as preparation for the 
 subsequent action.^^ 
 
 The first encounter of the rivals occurs in Act 
 II 3, where each does his best to outwit the other. 
 Demipho apparently gets the upper hand and 
 hurries off to the ship where Charinus is keeping 
 the girl, though he takes the precaution of trying 
 to avoid detection, 
 
 55 Leo: Plaut. Forsch. pp.l62ffi. cf. also the dream In 
 the Rudens. 
 
loo DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 vv.466ff. Ibo ad portum, ne hie resciscat, cauto 
 opust, non ipse emam, 
 Sed Lysimacho amico mandabo: is se 
 
 ad portum deixerat 
 Ire dudum. 
 
 The old man's eagerness is offset by Charinus' 
 counter-trick, vv.485ff., to have his friend Euty- 
 chus buy the girl for him, though whence the 
 money shall be obtained is not known, 
 
 vv.492f. Sed quid ais? unde erit argentum quod 
 des, quom poscet pater? 
 Cha. Inuenietur, exquiretur, aliquid 
 fiet. 
 
 Demipho's agent, Lysimachus, anticipates Euty- 
 chus, however, and carries off Pasicompsa whom 
 he plans to lodge safely in his own house, with- 
 out the knowledge of his friend's wife or his 
 son. Charinus is apparently defeated, vv.593ff., 
 V.616, and decides to run away, when he hears 
 of his failure. His friend, Eutychus, however, 
 finds the girl in his own father's house, where 
 her presence has caused a serious misunderstand- 
 ing between his parents, since loyalty to his 
 friend Demipho prevents Lysimachus' explana- 
 tion of Pasicompsa's presence in his house. A 
 final clearing-up of the situation follows. 
 
 As is evident from a comparison of this plot 
 with that of the other plays, the trickery is not 
 nearly so complicated nor so definitely planned 
 and carried out. But the plot is simple and uni- 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION loi 
 
 fied. The psychological improbabilities in the 
 play'* arise as in the other plays from the sacri- 
 fice of probability for the sake of comic effect. 
 In Act II 3 where neither father nor son seems 
 to suspect the ultimate purpose of the other, the 
 ridiculousness of the situation adds greatly to the 
 amusement. Also the details as to the purchase 
 of Pasicompsa are not clear, but enough is given 
 for the audience to understand that she has come 
 into Demipho's power. (This is a case in which 
 the details of what occurs off the stage are not 
 clear.) There are no contradictions. There is 
 much discussion about vv.529ff., where Lysi- 
 machus tells the girl, Tuo ero redempta's rursum. 
 but Lysimachus is poking fun all through this 
 scene, so such discussion need not be taken 
 seriously. 
 
 Miles Gloriosus 
 
 The Miles is a good illustra- 
 tion of the way in which Plautus carefully p e- 
 pares for trickery in his plays and keeps before 
 his audience the fact that deception is being prac- 
 tised upon the various victims involved. The 
 preparation for all the subsequent trickery'^ is 
 the agreement made by a glance, v. 123, between 
 Philocomasium and Palaestrio, the trickster, to 
 keep their former acquaintance a secret. The 
 entire development of the action rests practical- 
 ly upon this agreement, which is kept up through- 
 
 56 Langen: Plaut. Stud. pp.l58ff. 
 
 B7 Brlx: Miles Gloriosus, ed. Introd. p.41, note. 
 
I02 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 out the play, since even at the end when Palaestrio 
 is sent by the miles to follow Philocomasium, 
 vv.i372ff., the miles apparently does not know of 
 their acquaintance. 
 
 The action of the Miles includes three ruses, 
 the first of which is being used when the play 
 opens, i. e. the secret passage between the houses 
 of the miles and Periplecomenus, to admit of in- 
 tercourse between the youth Pleusicles and Philo- 
 comasium who is detained under the guard of 
 the soldier's servus Sceledrus, 
 
 vv.i42f. In eo conclaui ego perfodi parietem, 
 Qua commeatus clam esset hinc hue 
 mulieri. 
 
 By this means and by the pretense that a twin- 
 sister of Philocomasium's is staying in Peripleco- 
 menus' house, i. e. the second trick, vv.i5off., cf. 
 
 vv.237ff. Nunc sic rationem incipisso, banc in- 
 
 stituam astutiam: 
 Ut Philocomasio hue sororem gemi- 
 
 nam germanam alteram 
 Dicam Athenis aduenisse cum ama- 
 
 tore aliquo suo 
 Tarn similem quam lacte lactist: 
 
 helped along by the pretended dream, narrated 
 by the mulier, w.^S^fi., Sceledrus is completely 
 fooled, as he is forced to admit, vv.S38f., cf. 
 V.556. Philocomasium's personation as she plays 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 103 
 
 the role of the twin-sister in Act II 5 is especial- 
 ly convincing. 
 
 The audience is carefully informed of the chief 
 means whereby the plot is to be carried out, i. e. 
 by the secret passage. An extremely naive 
 "stage direction" for the audience is given in 
 
 vv.522ff Heus, Philocomasium, cito 
 
 Transcurre curriculo ad nos : ita nego- 
 
 tiumst. 
 Post, quando exierit Sceledrus a no- 
 bis, cito 
 Transcurrito ad uos rursum curriculo 
 domum. 
 
 But Sceledrus is unaware of it, vv.i4Sff., vv.329, 
 376. Indications of its use, besides the quick 
 passing of Philocomasium from one house to the 
 other, vv.182, 41 iff., occur throughout the play. 
 The preparation for the twin-sister trick, 
 vv.isoff., indicates its use, v.isi hinc et illinc, as 
 do Palaestrio's orders quoted above, cf. vv.182, 
 473 f. Sceledrus' reiteration that as far as his 
 knowledge goes no connection exists between the 
 two houses, vv.329, 376, 418, merely adds to the 
 comic effect and increases the appearance of his 
 delusion. It is evident, too, that clearness was 
 gained by gesture, especially where both houses 
 were indicated, or where a contrast between the 
 two was intimated, v.143 hinc hue; v.iS4 hinc 
 a vicino sene; v.151 hinc et illinc; w.323f. domi 
 . . domi . . domi, which was surely emphasized 
 by pointing; v.361 ad laevam; v.376 domo con- 
 
I04 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 trasted with v.377 hinc hue and v.379 hie intus ; 
 V.421 quid tibi istie in istisee aedibus; cf. also 
 vv.iSif. hicine . . hie; hue; v.264 hie in proxu- 
 mo ; V.273 hie proxumae uieiniae ; v.301 intus hie 
 in proxumo; v.329 hine hue transire; v.338 hie 
 intus; v.341 exire hine. v.455 isto me intro 
 must surely have been indicated by a gesture and 
 the action in the following line, v.456, must have 
 been opposite to the gesture, to account for 
 Sceledrus' amazement at Philoeomasium's per- 
 fidy, since she flees into Periplecomenus' house. 
 
 As has been also noted, the first real trick of 
 the play, the twin-sister trick, is also carefully 
 prepared, vv.237ff., i. e. Palaestrio instructs 
 Periplecomenus how to coach Philocomasium. 
 The coaching is done off the stage, but w.3S4ff. 
 condense it all over again as the girl appears to 
 play her part. Provision is even made, vv.25off., 
 for possible incredulity on the part of the object 
 of the deception and the possible need of evading 
 proof as to the existence of the soror gemina 
 germana. 
 
 Not content with the success of his plot when 
 directed against the slave in these two tricks, 
 Palaestrio directs his forces against the master, 
 the miles himself, 
 
 vv.767f. . . . nam ego inueni lepidam syco- 
 phantiam. 
 Qui admutiletur miles usque caesaria- 
 tus, .... 
 
 The plans have been carefully laid by the trick- 
 ster, vv.6i2f., but are repeated, 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 105 
 
 vv.9o6ff. Ac. Nempe ludificari militem tuom 
 
 erum uis ? Pa. Exlocuta's. 
 Ac. Lepide et sapienter, commode et 
 
 facete res paratast. 
 Pa. Atque huius uxorem f tu uolo 
 
 adsimulari. Ac. Fiet. 
 Pa. Quasi militi animum adieceris 
 
 simulate. Ac. Sic futurumst. 
 
 for the benefit of the audience, — a plan to en- 
 snare the affections of the miles by the charms 
 of a new mistress, Acroteleutium, and thus to 
 induce him to release Philocomasium, Act IV 3. 
 The plan also involves the bait of Peripleco- 
 menus' house as a pretended dowry to the pre- 
 tended wife, vv.ii65fif., and the personation by 
 Pleusicles of the nauclerus, 
 
 vv.ii76ff. Quom extemplo hoc erit factum, ubi 
 intro haec abierit, ibi tu ilico 
 Facito uti uenias ornatu hue ad nos 
 nauclerico, 
 
 come to escort Philocomasium to the ship. 
 
 In all the tricks all the details are carefully 
 outlined. °' This is especially true of this main 
 trick of the second part of the play, inasmuch as 
 the trickster, Palaestrio, first carefully explains 
 his plan, vv.77off . ; then the meretrix engaged by 
 
 58 Legrand: Daos, p.547 — commenting on the pains 
 often undramaUc, taken to make things clear, says: "11 
 a voulu surtout Stre compris, — oomprls de la ma^sse, des 
 auuvetOt OlV.poat<xi commes des auditeurs intelUgents." 
 
io6 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 Periplecomenus for the purpose is instructed by 
 the latter in her part, vv.874ff., which involves a 
 repetition of Palaestrio's plan, even to the part of 
 the ancilla and the anulus in the deception. 
 
 V.796 Vt simulet se tuam esse uxorem et 
 deperire hunc militem : 
 
 cf. v.goSf. Atque huius uxorem f to uolo ad- 
 simulari. Fiet 
 Quasi militi animum adieceris 
 simulare. 
 
 vv.797f. Quasique hunc anulum faueae suae 
 dederit eo parro mihi, 
 Militi ut darem: quasique ego rei 
 sim interpres 
 
 cf. V.910 Quasique ea res per me interpre- 
 tem et tuam ancillam eieceretur. 
 
 V.912 Quasique anulum hunc ancillula 
 tua abs te detulerit ad me. 
 
 Also it might be noted that the fact of the whole 
 plan being a trick is again kept constantly before 
 the audience, vv.938, 943, 
 
 hodie hunc dolum dolamus 
 
 cf . Haud uereor ne nos subdola perfidia peruin- 
 camur. 
 
 Note too how Milphidippa announces her part in 
 an aside to the audience. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 107 
 
 vv.99if. lamst ante aedis circus ubi sunt ludi 
 faciundi mihi. 
 Dissimulabo hos quasi non uideam 
 neque esse hie etiamdum sciam. 
 
 The additional plan of Pleusicles' personation of 
 the nauclerus is likewise clearly outlined, 
 vv.ii75ff. 
 
 The execution of the tricks is no less definite 
 than are the preparations and anticipation of 
 them, in spite of the fact that Act II 6 marks 
 quite definitely the conclusion of one trick, with 
 the consequent dropping of the play which served 
 as the model for that trick, and the assumption 
 of a new plan from another original. The de- 
 tails of the twin-sister trick are carried out, as 
 we have said, just as planned, vv.439ff., and the 
 assumption upon which that trick is based, of the 
 existence of a soror gemina germana is further 
 confirmed by the testimony of Periplecomenus, 
 vv.488ff. 
 
 So with the execution of the trickery of the 
 second part of the play in Acts III and IV. All 
 the plans for the trick are carried out, connecting 
 them with the first part of the play by 
 
 V.975 Eius hue gemina uenit Ephesum et mater 
 accersuntque earn 
 
 mentioning the twin-sister, and 
 
 V.1089 Philocomasio die, sist istic, domum ut 
 transeat : 
 
io8 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 implying the use of the secret passage. The 
 miles is caught by the trick, v. 1070, and Palaes- 
 trio is joyful over his success, v.1091 ; and with 
 V.I 135 Acroteleutium's share in the deception be- 
 gins actively and is carried out as planned. 
 
 vv.ioggff. Aurum atque uestem muliebrem om- 
 
 nem habeat sibi. 
 Quae illi instruxisti : sumat, habeat, 
 
 auferat : 
 Dicasque tempus maxume esse ut eat 
 
 domum : 
 Sororem geminam adesse et matrem 
 
 dicito, 
 Quibus concomita recte deueniat 
 
 domum. 
 
 The miles falls in with the plot to get rid of the 
 girl, cf. 
 
 vv.ii45ff. Nam ipse miles concubinam intro 
 
 abiit oratum suam, 
 Ab se ut abeat cum sorore et matre 
 
 Athenas. PI. Eu, probe. 
 Pa. Quin etiam aurum atque orna- 
 
 menta quae ipse intruxit mulieri 
 Omnia dat dono, a se ut abeat: ita 
 
 ego consilium dedi 
 
 and his own ruin is imminent, vv.iisoff., which 
 the end of the play brings as a reality, in the pre- 
 tended anger of the pretended husband, to the 
 undoing of the miles, w.1420, i433ff. In Act 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 109 
 
 IV 7 Pleusicles plays the role of the pseudo-nau- 
 clerus as directed and carries off Philocomasium. 
 
 In other words, clearness and definiteness in 
 the tricks themselves are not sacrificed nor af- 
 fected by the combination of several tricks. It 
 is merely the lack of motive for the twin-sister 
 trick, since its carefully executed plans go for 
 nothing, that justifies here an assumption of con- 
 taminatio in the composition of the play."* The 
 connecting-links between the two parts, as for 
 example the way in which the twin-sister trick 
 and the secret passage are dragged into the 
 second part of the play, are not skilfully enough 
 welded together to conceal the joining and to ef- 
 fect unity in the play. No ambiguity, however, 
 results from this passing from one deception to 
 the other; and the motive for it seems to have 
 been the playwright's desire*" to include in the 
 play as much of the comic element as possible, 
 i. e. as much trickery as possible, since the plan- 
 ning and execution of trickery afford the chief 
 comic element in the plays of Plautus. 
 
 That fact also, as we have assumed before, 
 probably causes the disregard of time, noted here 
 in the three-years' stay, V.3S0, compared with the 
 short time required for the incidents mentioned 
 in w.121-124,*^ or the disregard of versimilitude 
 in Periplecomenus' orders shouted to his slaves 
 
 59 Leo: Plaut. Forsch, p.180; J. Mesk In Wiener Studlen, 
 1913, Part II; Lorenz: Ed Introd. p.32. 
 
 60 Brix-Nlemeyer: Ed. Introd. p.l4. 
 
 81 Langen: Plaut. Stud. p. 167; Brix: op. clt., note on 
 V.350. 
 
no DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 from the street; or the contradiction between 
 Sceledrus' appearance in v.8i6 and his determin- 
 ation in v.s86 to run away. In fact we would 
 agree with Lorenz*^ that it is in cases like these 
 that Plautus shows his carelessness towards the 
 requirements of dramatic action, as we consider 
 them, and his disregard of minor and unessential 
 details. 
 
 Mostellaria 
 
 The deception in the Mostellaria 
 which springs entirely from sudden inspiration 
 under stress of circumstances, but in no incom- 
 jprehensible nor improbable manner,^^ passes 
 from one step to the next, from one lie to an- 
 other, as the trickster becomes more and more 
 involved in difficulties. When Philolaches' 
 easy, revelling ways are disturbed by the report 
 of his father's imminent return, Tranio, the slave, 
 promises to ward off the old man's possible inter- 
 ference by keeping him out of his own house, 
 
 vv.388ff. . . Taceas: ego quo istaec sedem 
 
 meditabor tibi. 
 Satin habes, si ego aduenientem ita 
 
 patrem, faciam tuom 
 Non modo ne intro eat, uerum etiam 
 
 ut fugiat longe ab aedibus? 
 Vos modo hinc abite intro atque haec 
 
 hinc propere amolimini. 
 
 62 Op. clt. p. 37. 
 
 63 Lorenz: Ed. Introd. p.l9. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION iii 
 
 He accomplishes that end by a lie, i. e. the story 
 of the ghost haunting the house, vv.475ff., 
 
 cf. V.531 Quid ego hodie negoti confeci mali. 
 
 vv.422f Quin etiam illi hoc dicito : 
 
 Facturum, ut ne etiam aspicere aedis 
 
 audeat, 
 Capite obuoluto at fugiat cum sum- 
 mo metu 
 
 show that Tranio has the lie worked out although 
 he does not state exactly what his plan is. 
 
 The arrival of a danista to claim the money 
 loaned by him to Philolaches to ransom Phile- 
 matium, vv.ssgf., forces Tranio to conceal the 
 actual reason for the loan, so a second lie is in- 
 vented, — the purchase of the neighbouring house, 
 vv.637f. When Theopropides wishes to inspect 
 his son's purchase, 
 
 V.674 Cupio hercle inspicere hasce aedis. 
 
 Tranio is again obliged 
 
 V.716 Quo dolo a me dolorem procul pellerem, 
 
 to invent a third lie in order to deceive the actual 
 owner of the house, Theopropides' old friend 
 Simo, as to the reason for the inspection, 
 
 vv.745ff sed senex 
 
 Gynaeceum aedificare uolt hie in suis 
 Et balineas et ambulacrum et porti- 
 cum. 
 
112 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 So far so good. But the arrival of some ad- 
 vorsitores to escort their young master, Callida- 
 mates, Philolaches' boon companion, home from 
 his drunken revels, betrays the true state of af- 
 fairs and the lies are all revealed, — the first in 
 vv.959fF., the second in w.977fl., the third, in 
 vv.ioioff. And Theopropides duly acknowl- 
 edges, V.1033 that he has been hoaxed. 
 
 Thus the plot works out clearly and logically 
 in spite of a few incongruities which in no wise 
 affect the progress of the trickery, such as Phile- 
 matium's making her toilet on the public street, 
 vv.248ff., the sort of scene which the exigencies 
 of the ancient stage necessitated. The disap- 
 pearance of Philematium from the play, contra- 
 dicting the careful character painting of her in 
 the toilet-scene shows how Plautus°* pushed into 
 the background the love affair of the hero in or- 
 der to emphasize the character of the slave and 
 thus to meet the demands of the public for 
 amusement. 
 
 In this play the element of time is again dis- 
 regarded in Tranio's tale of the ghost,*' and the 
 improbability that Theopropides, in spite of his 
 exceptional stultitia, does not know a tale so in- 
 timately connected with his own house is over- 
 looked by the poet. Inasmuch as the poet could 
 have avoided these difficulties, the conclusion is 
 evident that he did not care to. Greater care- 
 lessness is evident in the scene between Theopro- 
 pides, Tranio, and the danista. The scene is im- 
 
 64 Leo: RBm. Lit. pp.114; 117. 
 
 65 Langen: Plaut. Stud. p.l70. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 113 
 
 probable and it is impossible to find a natural 
 and satisfactory explanation for it.*' JuSt as 
 unsatisfactory is the explanation of Theopro- 
 pides' ignorance of the plan of his neighbour's 
 house and Tranio's escape from punishment at 
 the end. 
 
 In a play like this in which the comic effect is 
 gained largely"' by improvised and unexpected 
 turns of circumstance which necessitate con- 
 tinual change in plan and action, where Tranio 
 with his clever superiority symbolizes this sort of 
 comedy, — artful trickery triumphing over prosaic 
 worldly wisdom, — such unessential points may 
 justifiably be disregarded, as they are, by Plau- 
 tus. 
 
 Persa. 
 
 Two lines of trickery are found in the 
 Persa. Toxilus enlists the help of both Sagaris- 
 tio, his fellow-slave, and Saturio, the parasite, to 
 ransom his sweetheart, Lemniselenis, from a 
 leno. He succeeds, but, as in the Pseudolus,_ 
 there are loose ends in the thread of deception. 
 In Act I I, having laid his dilemma before Sa- 
 garistio, and his need of money. 
 
 V.36 Vt mihi des nummos suscentos, 
 
 and having received his promise of help, he as- 
 sures Sagaristio that he will await him at home, 
 
 88 Ibid, p.171. 
 
 87 RltscM: Opusc. n p.740. 
 
114 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 V.S2 Vsque era domi, dum excoxero lenoni f 
 malam. 
 
 But when the latter has hit upon the means 
 whereby to secure the money, i. e. by stealing 
 money which his master has given him to pur- 
 chase some oxen in Eretria, vv.259flf., he meets 
 the puer Paegnium with the question. 
 
 V.277 Vbi Toxilus est tuos erus? 
 
 which, though superfluous, is perfectly natural. 
 The question introduces one of those digressions 
 of which Plautus is fond, in which two charac- 
 ters abuse each other. 
 
 In Act II 5, Toxilus receives the money from 
 Sagaristio and in Act III 2 arranges with the 
 leno, after much bandying of words, for the re- 
 lease of Lemniselenis. 
 
 The second trick which is the chef d'ceuvre of 
 the comedy, though more involved, has not the 
 many inconsistencies of the other plays; for the 
 play, as Ritschl says,°* has on the whole a very 
 natural, uniform trend. The two tricks are, 
 however, connected, e. g. the leno is made to pay 
 the money which Toxilus will then pay back to 
 Sagaristio, vv.324ff. The money secured by 
 Sagaristio for Toxilus is necessary for the pur- 
 chase of Toxilus' arnica and is actually paid to 
 Dordalus, v.437. They then get it back by trick- 
 ing the leno through Lucris. Lemniselenis must 
 
 68 opusc. II p.749. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 115 
 
 be secured before they trick the leno. The money, 
 to be sure, is nowhere actually paid back by Sa- 
 garistio, but in vv.424f. Toxilus promises to re- 
 pay, cf. vv.676ff. where Sagaristio is instructed 
 to take the money secured from Dordalus to 
 Toxilus' house; cf. also Saragistio's jubilant 
 bearing at the feast. The slaves paid 600 
 nummi for Lemniselenis, i. e. 1200 drachmae or 
 12 minae. Thus they had a handsome balance 
 out of Dordalus' 60 minae. Perhaps the poet 
 ought to say that the stolen money has been re- 
 paid, but it is not important. 
 
 Langen*' points out inconsistencies in details, 
 but none that concern the internal working-out of 
 the trickery. Such repetition as occurs in 
 vv.33off., where Saturio says, 
 
 V.334 Commimicaui tecum consilia omnia 
 
 and then proceeds to outline again all the plans, 
 is as has been noted before, for the benefit of the 
 audience. 
 
 The negotiations with the leno end in his buy- 
 ing Lucris, suo periculo, for 60 minae, the exor- 
 bitant price increasing the appearance of the de- 
 ception played upon Dordalus, which terminates 
 in the claim brought against the leno by Lucris' 
 father. Act IV 7, and his threats to bring suit 
 against him, v. 746. Of the fate of the parasite 
 and his daughter nothing is said, but it must be 
 remembered that they were in Toxilus' power 
 and were acting under his threat to cut off sup- 
 
 69 Plaut. stud. pp.l75fe. 
 
ii6 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 plies, vv.i4off; and the parasite always con- 
 cerned about his eating, for the sake of which he 
 entered into the bargain, v. 146, has not even a 
 share in the banquet which ends the play, — a 
 banquet which has no raison d'etre save for 
 comic effect and a still further opportunity for 
 the slaves to heap abuse and ridicule upon the 
 leno. 
 
 Just as Philematium, in the Mostellaria, dis- 
 appears from the play, so here the parasite and 
 his daughter disappear after their duty is per- 
 formed. This disappearance from the plays of 
 various persons, who seem to be brought in mere- 
 ly to contribute their little share to the develop- 
 ment of the plot and then to drop out of sight, 
 is a noteworthy detail. Palinurus in the Cur- 
 culio is such a character.'" He is supplanted in 
 the action by Curculio. Similarly the hired fidi- 
 cina in the Epidicus, Callipho in the Pseudolus, 
 and as just mentioned, Philematium in the Mos- 
 tellaria, disappear. In other words it would 
 seem as if the poet did not care about unity in 
 personnel any more than he did about unity in 
 action.'^ So long as the deception moved along 
 a course which afforded amusing situations for 
 the entertainment of the audience the purpose of 
 the play seems to have been attained. 
 
 The psychological improbabilities in the char- 
 acter drawing of the parasite and his daughter. 
 
 70 Leo: Plaut. Forsch. p.l97, n.l. 
 
 71 H. W. Prescott: The Interpretation of Roman 
 Comedy, Class. Phil. XI No. 2, April 1916, pp.128-135. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 117 
 
 noted by Langen," do not affect the trickery, 
 nor do the poor business methods of the leno, ex- 
 cept, as we have said, that the higher the price 
 of the girl the greater the impression of the suc- 
 cess of the trickster, who fools him into paying 
 it. The other details mentioned by Langen are 
 minor points and the discrepancies connected 
 with them would easily escape an auditor, if not 
 a careful reader, of the play. 
 
 Poenulus 
 
 The prologue of the Poenulus in 
 outlining the plot of the play refers merely to the 
 anagnorisis, not to the plot of trickery, w.r2if. It 
 belongs therefore to only one of the two plays 
 which are combined to make the Plautine 
 comedy, — ^that is, the Poenulus is one of the 
 "contaminated" plays,'^ though scholars will 
 never agree as to the original Greek elements and 
 the Plautine elements in the play. The comedy 
 contains two tricks against the leno, combined, 
 as Langen maintains,^* and as we have held for 
 the complexity of the trickery in other comedies, 
 to bring more life into the play and to increase 
 the comic effect, regardless of the inconsistencies 
 resulting from the union. 
 
 72 Plaut. stud. pp.l75f. 
 
 73 Leo: Plaut. Forsch. pp. 170ff. ; Langen: Plaut. Stud. 
 pp.lSlfE.; Wllamawltz In the Neue Jahrb. 1899, p.519; Kar- 
 sten in Mnemos, 1901, pp. 363ff.; Legrand in Rev. d.et.gr. 
 1903, p.358; Jachmann. XapiTS? 1911. pp.249fC.; op- 
 posed by Groetz, ind. lect. Jena, 1883. 
 
 74 Op. cdt. p.182. 
 
ii8 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 The first plan consists in involving the leno in 
 a law-suit, vv.i75if., i84ff., for accepting stolen 
 money from a slave/^ Collabiscus is to be 
 primed to take the part of the slave, 
 
 vv.i94f. Abeamus intro, ut CoUabiscum uilicum 
 Hanc perdoceamus ut ferat fallaciam, 
 
 and witnesses, advocati, for the trial are also en- 
 gaged, VV.424, 447, 506. Collabiscus is engaged 
 and given the money, vv.4i5f., and all are ready 
 and primed for their duties, 
 
 vv.576f. Euge opportune egrediuntur Milphio 
 una et uilicus. 
 Basilice exornatus cedit et fabre ad 
 fallaciam. 
 
 cf. vv.5S7ff., where for clearness the whole trick 
 is rehearsed. 
 
 The action starts in earnest in Act III 3 and 
 the money is handed over to the leno, vv.713., 
 which he accepts to his undoing, 
 
 vv.726f. Em istaec uolo ergo uos commeminisse 
 omnia 
 Mox quom ad praetorem usus ueniet, 
 
 and the trial is to come off on the next day, 
 V.800. 
 
 75 The money is supposed to have been stolen from the 
 
 slave's master. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 119 
 
 But the whole trick is purposeless/' and Mil- 
 phio, the architectus doli, in inexplicable ignor- 
 ance of the outcome of his plots, starts out upon 
 a second trick, 
 
 vv.8i7f. Exspecto, quo pacto meae techinae 
 processurae sient. 
 Studeo hunc lenonem perdere: 
 
 to cheat the leno of his property, vv.894ff., on the 
 ground that the girls in whose interests he and 
 his master are working are free-bom Carthagin- 
 ians, V.900. 
 
 Hanno, the Poenus, arrives opportunely and is 
 engaged to help along the trick by passing himself 
 off as the father of the girls, w.i099ff. The pre- 
 tense turns out to be a fact. Act V 4, when Hanno 
 recognizes the girls, v. 1256, and the leno is to re- 
 ceive his due reward, 
 
 V.I 343 In ius te uoco. 
 
 The question of double or triple ending does not 
 affect the deception and the methods of its ac- 
 complishment. 
 
 As we have already noted, most of the incon- 
 sistencies and loose ends in the two tricks are 
 due to the fact that the play is "contaminated". 
 To that cause are likewise due the contradic- 
 tions in the characterization, especially of the 
 two girls,''^ cf. the virgo in the Persa. In 
 
 76 Leo: Plaut. Forsch. p. 172; Teuffel: Stud. u. Char. 
 p.337f. 
 
 77 Langen,: op. cit. pp.lg2£C. 
 
I20 DECEPTION IN PIAUTUS 
 
 this play also is found haste contradicted by de- 
 lay, w.3i7fF. As Langen shows/' disagreeing 
 with Goetz's rejection of vv.330-408 as un-Plau- 
 tine/° and as we have noted in regard to the 
 other plays in which this same detail occurs, 
 Plautus desired to entertain and amuse his au- 
 dience rather than to take into consideration the 
 laws of dramatic art. 
 
 Most of the other inconsistencies noted by 
 Langen concern details in the final anagnorisis 
 and need not be considered here. Suffice it to 
 say that in the Poenulus, as in the Miles, in spite 
 of the rather loose combination of two plots, the 
 progress of the deception is always clearly and 
 definitely worked out. 
 
 Pseudolus 
 
 All the interest of the Pseudolus 
 fs concentrated upon the clever slave who gives 
 the name to the play,'" from the very beginning 
 when, V.19, losff., he offers his help to his young 
 master, Calidorus, in his efforts to release Phoe- 
 nicium from the leno, Ballio, till the end when 
 the method used to attain that object, i. e. per- 
 sonation, is disclosed by the appearance of the 
 real Harpax. The chief beauty of the play lies 
 in the fact that the rogue warns his intended 
 victims, W.382, 5iof., but in spite of warnings 
 they are cheated. The leno is, of course, the 
 
 78 Ibid. p. 193. 
 
 79 Act. soo. phll. Lips. VI p. 31S, oltea by Langen. 
 soSchanz: L MUIler's Handbuch, Vin I 1, p.85. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 121 
 
 chief enemy against whom the artifices of Pseu- 
 dolus are directed, vv.233, 382, 526!?., and in ad- 
 dition to the constant threats against the leno, 
 throughout the play, and the general attitude 
 characteristic of comedy of hostility against the 
 leno as the villain of the piece, 
 
 V.905 di immortales 
 
 uolunt esse et lenonem ex- 
 
 tinctum 
 
 prepares the audience for the final discomfiture 
 of Ballio. 
 
 But Pseudolus plans to approach the old man 
 Simo, Calidorus' father, for the needed money, 
 V.I 20, if other sources fail, even though when the 
 leno suggests such a possibility, Pseudolus, as- 
 suming a virtue which he does not have, indig- 
 nantly objects, V.288. Upon Ballio's persistence 
 in adhering to a "spot-cash" bargain, Pseudolus 
 utters his direct threat against him, v.382, and 
 bids Calidorus, V.38S, 389, furnish him with an 
 assistant. 
 
 From all this planning and threatening on the 
 part of Pseudolus, the audience would infer that 
 he has his plans definitely laid out. So the mono- 
 logue in Act I 4 comes as a surprise, especially 
 
 w-397 Q"oi neque paratast gutta certi con- 
 sili. 
 
 io6f. Atque id futurum unde unde dicam 
 nescio. 
 Nisi quia futurumst : 
 
122 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 That he was actually plotting against his old 
 master, though with no definite plan in mind, not- 
 withstanding his pretended scorn of Ballio's sug- 
 gestion, is revealed again here, v.407, as is also 
 the fact that Simo has heard of the slave's inten- 
 tions, VV.408, 426. Yet in spite of that dis- 
 covery, the slave is still confident of success, 
 vv.4i2f., and warns Simo to beware of him, 
 vv-Sioff., the repetition of the warning heighten- 
 ing the comic effect as well as anticipating the 
 actual accomplishment of the trickery. Pseudo- 
 lus admits that he was preparing to get money 
 from Simo, vv.485if., but since his intentions are 
 known he insists that Simo shall give it, vv.508, 
 SIC, 518, cf. y.530. 
 
 The necessity of carrying out this threat re- 
 minds Pseudolus of the trick against Ballio 
 which he must accomplish, vv.524f. He seizes 
 upon Simo's interest, indicated by his question, 
 
 V.526 Quam pugnam? 
 
 to unite his forces and to settle both promises at 
 once. In securing the money by the bet, on the 
 part of Simo, trickery is not necessarily implied. 
 But against Ballio trickery is implied.*^ The 
 difficulties inherent in Pseudolus' plan and their 
 possible cause, i. e. contaminatio, will be dis- 
 cussed later. 
 
 Simo's attitude here may seem inconsistent to 
 some, who hold that the old man too easily takes 
 up the bet. Simo is merely cocksure. It may 
 
 81 liorenz: Pseudolus, ed. Introd. pp.lSff. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 123 
 
 be that Plautus has merely followed that trend 
 of comedy mentioned before, of making the leno 
 the butt of all classes; and the old man's atten- 
 tion is turned aside from his personal difficulties 
 and danger, and with an old man's forgetfulness 
 and desire to get ahead of someone else he takes 
 up the wager. He has, too, sporting blood in 
 him, cf. his bet with Ballio, when his suspicions 
 of collusion between Pseudolus and the leno 
 against himself, vv.539ff., suggest to him his bar- 
 gain with the leno against Pseudolus, vv.869ff., 
 cf. vv.i07ofF. At least it prepares the audience 
 for that wager when Ballio, exultant in his belief 
 that Simo's warnings to him to beware of Pseu- 
 dolus have been needless, takes up Simo's offer. 
 (It might be noted that with this wager Simo is 
 again brought into the play, after three acts in 
 which the action centres only in the tricks against 
 the leno. ) In other words the wager makes only 
 one trick necessary. 
 
 Already in the beginning of the play, as has 
 been noted above, Pseudolus had realized the dif- 
 ficulty of his position and had sent Calidorus to 
 get some assistant, v. 385. Now under still 
 greater stress of circumstances Pseudolus enlists 
 the help of CalUpho, V.S47. But when chance, 
 Tuxt), intervents to bring Harpax, the agent 
 of the miles, who intends to claim Phoenicium by 
 making the final payment due the leno, new dif- 
 ficulties arise, 
 
 V.601 Nouo consilio nunc mihi opus est: noua 
 res haec subito mi obiectast. 
 
124 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 . . . ilia omnia missa habeo quae ante 
 agere occepi. 
 
 V.614 .... procudam ego hodie hinc multos 
 dolos. 
 
 cf. w.672if., which however bring with them the 
 opportunity of deceiving three people, vv.691, 
 705a. 
 
 Harpax' arrival is prepared for both by Phoe- 
 nicium's letter, w.5iff., with her statement of the 
 impending sale and the details coincident with it, 
 the symbolus, letter, etc., and again by the leno's 
 account of the sale, v.346, and his anticipation of 
 the payment of the money that day, v.373. Har- 
 pax upon his arrival, by his first words, V.S98, 
 meets the requirements of that preparation. This 
 is a good illustration of the way in which Plautus 
 is generally careful to make all the details of his 
 trickery clear, both in preparation and in execu- 
 tion. This fact will be discussed at greater length 
 at the end of the analysis of this play, in a sum- 
 mary of the repetitions for clearness which oc- 
 cur in the play. 
 
 Pseudolus' determination to carry out his plot 
 somehow, w.s67f., results in definite plans, 
 w.579flf., which have to be relinquished vv.doiff., 
 upon the arrival of Harpax. But his apparent 
 unpreparedness adds to the comic and dramatic 
 effect of the plan, vv.6oif., which occurs to the 
 clever slave upon his meeting with Harpax. A 
 somewhat similar situation is found in the Asi- 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 125 
 
 naria,*^ where the appearance of the mercator 
 suggests at once to Leonida his plan of persona- 
 tion. In the Pseudolus, to be sure, there is a 
 double personation, — of Ballio's chief slave by 
 Pseudolus, V.609, and of Harpax by Simla. Here 
 Pseudolus partially convinces Harpax, by his 
 knowledge of the latter's business, cf. w.6i6ff. 
 which repeat again the information given to the 
 audience in Phoenicium's letter, and by Ballio 
 himself ; and Harpax, though refusing to give the 
 money, hands over that which, like the miles' 
 ring in the Curculio, is of more value for the 
 trickster's purpose than money, — i. e. the symho- 
 lus, vv.647. Harpax retires to an inn to await 
 Ballio's pleasure, while Pseudolus makes use of 
 his lucky turn, w.669f. He realizes that money 
 and proof are now within his power, v.671. All 
 that he needs is some "canny" assistant, vv.724fF. 
 While outlining his new plan to Calidorus, 
 vv.725ff., of the personation of Harpax, Pseudo- 
 lus accepts Charinus' offer of Simla as an assist- 
 ant, and money; and he is now sure of his bet, 
 vv.73iff. He goes off to the forum to engage 
 Simla's services, vv.764f., and to instruct him as 
 to his duties. 
 
 That instruction is given off the stage, v.941, 
 but the audience has been told, w.725ff., and 
 Simla upon his appearance in Act IV under- 
 stands his role. That Ballio is the object of all 
 their intrigue is clear from the dialogue between 
 Simla and Pseudolus, Act IV i, and from Act IV 
 
 82 cf. Terence: Phormlo. 
 
126 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 2, where the appearance of the leno gives the 
 plotters the opportunity of playing their trick 
 upon him. The plans are carried out and Pseu- 
 dolus is successful in his abduction of Phoeni- 
 cium, vv.ioS2fF. Callipho's help is not used as 
 it had not been required and so had been dropped. 
 (Note Pseudolus' aside in vv.984f., which indi- 
 cates a point overlooked in the plans for the per- 
 sonation, — i. e. the name of the miles. Simla 
 is clever enough to evade the danger by making 
 Ballio himself supply the name. The mere fact 
 of Pseudolus' dismay at the omission intimates 
 that all details necessary for the execution of 
 trickery were, as a rule, carefully indicated. The 
 meeting of such a crisis is, however, a common 
 device to display the trickster's resourcefulness.) 
 
 The leno, confident in his apparent escape from 
 any possible plot against himself on the part of 
 Pseudolus, now that he has delivered Phoeni- 
 cium presumably to Harpax, readily takes up 
 Simo's wager, before mentioned. With the ar- 
 rival of Simo upon the scene, v. 1063, the so- 
 lution of Pseudolus' plots against him is intro- 
 duced and the appearance of the real Harpax, 
 who offers the money which he had brought from 
 the miles, discloses Pseudolus' stratagems, Act 
 IV 7, V.1213, whereby Ballio has been cheated of 
 the girl and the purchase-money which he has to 
 return to the real Harpax, v.1183, and of the 
 wager to Simo. 
 
 Simo himself prepares, vv.i24if., to pay his 
 own wager to Pseudolus, which the slave claims 
 for his successful accomplishment of all his plots. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 127 
 
 V.1312, but which he consents finally to share 
 witii his master, w.i328f. 
 
 Repetition as a means of obtaining clearness in 
 the details of trickery has been mentioned above. 
 This is especially noteworthy in the details of the 
 sale of Phoenicium to the miles. As has been 
 stated, they are first given by Phoenicium herself 
 in her letter to her lover, vv.siff. The leno re- 
 peats them when he informs Calidorus that he 
 has disposed of the girl, w.342ff. When Pseu- 
 dolus meets Harpax and inquires into his busi- 
 ness, w.6i6ff., the details are again minutely 
 given, as they are also when Pseudolus reports 
 to his master his success in obtaining the symbo- 
 lus and letter from the miles' messenger, Har- 
 pax, w.7i6flF. Again when Simla plays his role 
 of pseudo-Harpax, w.994fF., all the details are 
 again rehearsed, as they are when Ballio reports 
 to Simo, w.ioQiff., how he has presumably out- 
 witted Pseudolus. Finally when the real Har- 
 pax turns up to carry out his master's injunctions, 
 vv.ii22flF., the same details are once more out- 
 lined. In other words, Plautus keeps constant- 
 ly before the audience the thread of trickery. 
 
 In similar fashion the fact that Pseudolus is 
 the trickster is kept before the audience, from his 
 first offer to help his young master, v. 19, and the 
 reiteration of indefinite help, vv.79, 104, ii8ff., 
 to his general threat to everyone to beware 
 of him, w.i2Sff. Again in v.232 his assurance 
 to Calidorus is repeated, as is his promise to the 
 leno for his master in w.3i6f. And the identity 
 of Pseudolus is clearly kept before the audience. 
 
128 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 in addition to the evident relations existing be- 
 tween him and Calidorus, by Simo's explanation 
 to his friend Callipho, vv.44Sff., and by Cali- 
 dorus' to his friend Charinus, vv.70off. 
 
 One other repetition may be noted — the sum of 
 money needed by Calidorus to meet the leno's de- 
 mands, — 20 minae, vv.S2, 113, 114, 117, 280, 344, 
 404, 412, 484, 1070. 
 
 Repetition then is one of the means whereby 
 Plautus gains clearness of plan and execution in 
 trickery. It is in fact the most important point 
 in a study of the technique of trickery in the 
 Plautine comedies. 
 
 Such care being therefore evidently a charac- 
 teristic of Plautus' methods where important de- 
 tails are concerned, wherever the opposite occurs, 
 as in the two requests to Calidorus for an assist- 
 ant,*^ and in the disappearance of Callipho,'* 
 when his help had been quite evidently enlisted, 
 some explanation must be found. Contaminatio 
 has been adopted as the explanation by Langen 
 and Lorenz, but another more natural one is pos- 
 sible. Calidorus brings Charinus, who does not 
 answer well to 
 
 V.385 Ad eam rem usust hominem astutum 
 doctum, cautum et callidum, 
 
 but fits vv.39off. 
 
 83 Langen: Plant. Stud. p. 203. 
 
 84 Ibid, p.202; Lorenz: Pseudolus, ed. Introd. p.20. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 129 
 
 Pauci ex multis sunt amici, homini qui 
 
 certi sient. 
 Ps. Ego scio istuc: ergo utrumque tibi 
 
 nunc dilectum para 
 Atque ex multis exquire illis unum qui 
 
 certus siet. 
 
 At V.385 Pseudolus apparently has in mind a fel- 
 low of the tricky type, but we must remember 
 chat he has as yet no definite plans and he does 
 not know Charinus, of. v.699. Moreover, he 
 agrees with Calidorus' intention to bring a friend, 
 vv.39off. When Calidorus and Charinus ap- 
 pear, Pseudolus has already begun his real trick 
 and knows exactly the kind of a helper he needs, 
 vv.725ff., and Charinus furnishes Simla. There 
 is no serious defect here. It is indeed not hard 
 to assume that Pseudolus expected the friend, 
 Charinus, to be able to help him more directly, 
 but since his plan has become definite, the type 
 of assistant needed has changed. 
 
 As for Callipho, his help also was enlisted at 
 the time when Pseudolus did not know what he 
 was going to do. Indeed the statement that 
 Callipho will remain at home ready to help, if 
 needed, is a good motivation of his absence dur- 
 ing the rest of the play.*^ Callipho's part is 
 really played in the one scene. The reason for 
 Callipho's disappearance may be more easily dis- 
 covered if it is compared with the disappearance 
 of similar characters, as of Apoecides in the Epi- 
 
 85 cf. Sosla In Terence's Andria, first scene, end. 
 
130 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 dicus, of the parasite and the virgo in the Persa, 
 of Libantis in the Asinaria, of Palinurus in the 
 Curculio, of Philematium in the Mostellaria, 
 which was discussed above. All these charac- 
 ters drop out of the plays when their contribu- 
 tion to the progress of the plot has been made. 
 So there is no reason to attribute that disappear- 
 ance to contaminatio as Langen does.'" 
 
 Langen's*' (and Lorenz's*') objection to the 
 tardiness of Calidorus' revelation of his difficul- 
 ties to his confidential slave, w.i6f., when all 
 the city knows of them, vv.4i8ff., can be met by 
 the requirements of the play, in that the revela- 
 tion is made for the information of the audience 
 through this expository scene. The fact that 
 the letter in Act I i, w.5iff., belongs to the ex- 
 position of the plot against the leno and so has 
 no integral connection with the scene in which 
 it stands, inasmuch as that entire scene belongs 
 really to the plot against the father, may be, as 
 Leo has pointed out,'^ an indication of contamin- 
 atio. But if the Pseudolus is "contaminated", 
 Plautus has done the work so well that no satis- 
 factory proof of contaminatio has as yet been ad- 
 duced. The reference to "touching" the old man 
 Simo may be merely a jest. At any rate the play 
 contains no trick against Simo. 
 
 No connection with the plot of deception is 
 evident in the inconsistencies of Ballio's orders 
 
 86 Ibid. 
 
 87 Ibid, p.198. 
 
 88 Op. olt. p.26. 
 
 89 a. G. N. 1903, pp. 347ff. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 131 
 
 given to his household from the street, 
 vv.issff.,*" especially to Phoenicium, who already 
 sold to the miles should be regarded as released 
 from such orders on the part of the leno ; in the 
 relative positions on the stage of Pseudolus and 
 Ballio in vv.243ff. ; in Ballio's haste contradicted 
 by his tarrying to argue with Calidorus, 
 w.25off. ; in Pseudolus' appearance in Act V. 
 from a drunken revel; in the slave's exaggerated 
 jubilation at his victory over Simo at the end, 
 and the inconsistent treatment of the master by 
 his slave.*^ 
 
 The contradiction between Harpax' willing- 
 ness to give Pseudolus the letter and sym- 
 bol, when he has refused the money, which is not 
 nearly so important,^^ is explained by the necessi- 
 ties of the plot. Moreover, the money seems more 
 important to Harpax, and probably to the audi- 
 ence, since he has been convinced tiiat Pseudolus 
 is Ballio's slave and cannot know that Pseudolus 
 will misuse the symbolus, etc. For the accom- 
 plishment of his trick Pseudolus needed the letter 
 and the seal, hence Plautus' disregard of plausi- 
 bility in the method of obtaining them. 
 
 The complications arising in vv.S24flf., are hard 
 to explain, where Pseudolus plans,"^ first to out- 
 wit the leno, then to get money from Simo, when 
 Simo offers to give him the money if he accom- 
 plishes both, his offer thus pre-supposing Pseu- 
 
 90 langen: op. clt p.l99. 
 siLegrand: Daos, p.403. 
 
 92 Langen: op. cit. pp.202ff. 
 
 93 Leo: G. G. N. 1903. p.350; Langen: op. clt. pp.201f. 
 
132 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 dolus' obtaining the money from himself. 
 Leo** attributed them to contaminatio, i. e. to an 
 unsuccessful attempt to combine two tricks from 
 two plays, one with a plot of the confounding of 
 the leno, the other of the befooling of the senex. 
 This passage is certainly not clear. Pseudolus 
 will first cheat Ballio out of the girl ; second, ap- 
 parently cheat Simo out of the money ; third, win 
 a bet, i. e. money, from Simo if he accomplishes 
 the first and second. But again we have to re- 
 member that Harpax' arrival and Charinus' aid 
 provide Pseudolus with the necessary money for 
 the first, and that he abandoned any plan he may 
 have had against Simo. Nevertheless, the bet is 
 paid because Pseudolus has accomplished only 
 one of his promises. Perhaps we have not a case 
 of contaminatio, but Plautus has simply cut out 
 the trick against Simo and neglected to change 
 vv.507fif., especially v.529 sufficiently. Bierma"' 
 attributes such carelessness in composition to the 
 nature and genius of the playwright and to the 
 uncritical nature of the audience, an explanation 
 to which we have had occasion to refer before. 
 This fact also explains partially the difference 
 between the plays of Plautus and Terence. 
 
 To the many weaknesses in the intrigue of this 
 play Lorenz'^ would attribute the fact of the few 
 imitations of it in later times. It is quite evident 
 from our discussion that the plot does not move 
 
 94 Ibid. 
 
 95 Quaestiones de Plautina Pseudolo, Groningen, 1897, 
 pp.34ff. 
 
 96 Pseudolus, ed. Introd. p.30 note 30. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 133 
 
 as smoothly as in some of the other comedies. 
 But it certainly is more successful than the clear- 
 ly "contaminated" play, the Miles. 
 
 Trinummus. 
 
 The thensaurus about which the 
 stratagem of Megaronides and Callicles is 
 planned is first mentioned in 
 
 V.I 50 Thensaurum demonstrauit mihi in hisce 
 aedibus, 
 
 cf. vv.isSf. Callicles states his reason for pur- 
 chasing the house, — to save the treasure for a 
 possible dowry for his ward, vv.i79f. The need 
 arises, vv.374f., which Lesbonicus, the girl's bro- 
 ther, tries to meet, vv.5o8f., but he fails and 
 finally agrees to give his sister to his friend, sine 
 dote, V.693. Callicles, their guardian, does not 
 like this bargain, v.612, but cannot tell Lesboni- 
 cus about the treasure. 
 
 The first part of the play, then, up to Act III, 
 is a mere family plot, with no intrigue. The 
 guardian's desire to supply his ward with the 
 needed dowry leads him finally to consult his 
 friend Megronides. Between them they evolve 
 a plan, vv.765fif., of hiring someone, — i. e. per- 
 sonation, — ^to bring a message supposedly from 
 the girl's father, vv.yyoE., and money for a 
 dowry, vv.778f., which shall in reality be the 
 thensaurus, \v.y82S., unearthed for the purpose 
 by Callicles, without arousing the young man's 
 suspicions. 
 
134 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 vv.784iF. Suspicionem ab adulescente amoueris. 
 Censebit aunim esse a patre allatum 
 
 tibi: 
 Tu de thensauro sumes. 
 
 The speeches of the sycophanta, vv.852ff., show 
 that the ruse made by the strategists is carried 
 out in all its details, but its success is thwarted by 
 the unexpected return of the father himself. The 
 fact of the deception is emphasized also by the 
 agent, 
 
 V.867 Apud illas aedis sistendae mihi sunt syco- 
 phantiae, 
 
 all of the details of which are repeated, w.pssfif., 
 in the sycophant's revelation to Charmides, the 
 father. An explanation follows, vv.iiooiT., 
 when the old men meet. 
 
 In this play appear improbabilities like 
 those found in the plays already treated, — 
 the consultation about the secret treasure in the 
 open street,^' Charmides' deflection from an im- 
 mediate entrance into his own house, after hear- 
 ing the sycophant's business, to satisfy his curi- 
 osity about a man running down the street ; Stasi- 
 mus' long monologue, w.ioogff., in spite of his 
 apparent hurry. These are all details of minor 
 importance and of the sort generally treated 
 carelessly by Plautus. As to the difficulties at- 
 tendant upon Callicles' appropriation of the hid- 
 den treasure for the girl's dowry,'* and his evi- 
 
 »7 Laniren: Plaut. Stud. pp.219f. 
 
 eslbid.: pp.227fE,; Brix: ed. note on v.755. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 135 
 
 dent readiness to dig it up and use it in carrying 
 out his trick when formerly fear of discovery of 
 such an act on his part by Lesbonicus had pre- 
 vented such appropriation, — these present just 
 the sort of inconsistencies which the poet is al- 
 ways ready to overlook for the sake of the trick 
 which he is working out. The details regarding 
 Lesbonicus' dwelling, after his sale of his paren- 
 tal home, and the neighbour Philto's inquiry, im- 
 plying as it does ignorance of a fact which one 
 would expect a neighbour to know, do not con- 
 cern the progress of the plot of deception. More- 
 over, such apparently essential facts are fre- 
 quently neglected by Plautus, cf., the ignorance 
 on the part of Theopropides, in the Mostellaria, 
 of the arrangement of his friend Simo's house. 
 
 Amphitruo 
 
 The plot of the Amphitruo like 
 that of the Captivi rests upon an exchange of 
 roles.®® And as Mercury foretells in the pro- 
 logue, vv.54f., 59, comedy and tragedy combine 
 in the play, though the amusing situations pre- 
 dominate. Mercury also carefully explains all 
 the details of Jupiter's personation of Amphitruo 
 and his own of the slave Sosia, so that the au- 
 dience may appreciate the ensuing complications. 
 The action starts at once upon the meeting of 
 Sosia and Mercury, the pseudo-Sosia, in Act I i, 
 when Mercury tries the effect of his disguise 
 
 98 Cf. the Eunuchus of Terence. 
 
136 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 upon his counterpart, V.26S. Mercury succeeds 
 in evicting Sosia, in Jupiter's interests, vv.463ff. 
 
 Jupiter's assumption of the person of Amphi- 
 truo is proved by the goblet which he gives to 
 Alcumena in Act i 3 and which causes so much 
 confusion later, vv.73iff., 780, 792. In Act III 
 I, Jupiter states, as Mercury did in the prologue, 
 his ability to change his identity at will, v.864, 
 and promises a final clearing-up of all the dif- 
 ficulties, vv.876ff. That explanation occurs in 
 vv.ioSsff. 
 
 The Amphitruo might be called the comple- 
 ment of the Menaechmi, inasmuch as it depicts 
 intentional confusion arising from the assump- 
 tion of co-identity, whereas that in the Menaech- 
 mi depends upon unconscious similarity. 
 
 None of the difficulties cited by Langen^°° pre- 
 vents a complete understanding of the plot. The 
 course of the deception is clearly outlined before- 
 hand, in the prologue, and is assisted by the many 
 repetitions and explanations to a final successful 
 close.^"^ 
 
 C. Special Details 
 
 Under this heading may be grouped such de- 
 tails as have already received some consideration 
 
 100 Op. clt. pp. 91ff. 
 
 101 The Amphitruo has been placed last in the analysis 
 of the plays with the view of merely summing up the 
 play, inasmuch as it differs from the other plays both in 
 the nature of the plot and in the characters. But in 
 technique of deception it is similar to the other plays in 
 which personation is used. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 137 
 
 in the discussion of the object and nature of de- 
 ception or of the methods whereby that decep- 
 tion is carried out. But the recurrence of them 
 in several plays, as for example the intervention 
 of TuxT), discussed above/ or the uniqueness 
 of a certain feature as the absence of women 
 from the Captivi, renders a summary of them at 
 this point desirable. 
 
 ( 1 ) Chance — Tuxt) — as a force to be reckoned 
 with in the plays has already been discussed. 
 It will suffice then here merely to men- 
 tion the four plays in which it intervenes in an 
 important manner, the Bacchides, Epidicus, 
 Poenulus and Pseudolus. (Chance is constant- 
 ly a minor feature in all drama.) 
 
 (2) Anagnorisis — the recognition-scene, which 
 as will be seen later is derived from tragedy and 
 especially from Euripides, is the ending of the 
 Captivi, Casina, Curculio, Epidicus, Menaechmi 
 and Poenulus. Of the plays in which the chief 
 interest is not centered in the trickery, the Ru- 
 dens and the Cistellaria^ also end with an anag- 
 norisis, as did also the Vidularia probably. Here 
 it is possible to see Plautus' adherence to a fea- 
 ture popular among his predecessors in spite of 
 his more frequent departure from the norm set 
 by them. The coimection of this feature with 
 the plot of deception is made usually by a dis- 
 
 1 cf. II B 4 above, pp.40-43. 
 
 2 Leo: Plaut. Forsch. pp.l58f. 
 
138 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 closure of the plans of the trickster, as in the 
 Poenulus and the Epidicus, when a recognition 
 between the persons involved in those plans leads 
 to an explanation of the situation in which they 
 severally find themselves. 
 
 (3) Banquet-scenes — occur in the Asinaria, 
 Bacchides, Persa, and Stichus, as has already 
 been noted, either as an integral part of the play 
 or as an additional feature at the close included 
 for comic or dramatic effect. 
 
 (4) Absence of women. 
 
 The prologue of Captivi presents as a proof of 
 the superiority of the play the absence of some 
 characters which play so large a part in the other 
 comedies, 
 
 vv.54ff. Profecto expediet fabulae huic operam 
 
 dare: 
 Non pertractate factast neque item ut 
 
 ceterae, 
 Neque spurcidici insunt uersus im- 
 
 memorabiles : 
 Hie neque periurus lenost nee mere- 
 
 trix mala 
 Neque miles gloriosus. 
 
 In a way this might also be said of the Trinum- 
 mus. But the latter play contains that romantic 
 situation from which the Captivi is free. And 
 this situation, though the girl does not appear in 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 139 
 
 person in the play, controls the action to a large 
 extent. 
 
 The other details to be considered concern the 
 trickery more closely than those just mentioned. 
 
 (5) Warnings 
 
 As a preparation for the deception, several of 
 the plays contain warnings of various sorts, de- 
 livered to the person concerned or indefinitely. 
 Such warnings are issued in the Asinaria, 
 Bacchides, Curculio, Miles, Poenulus, and Pseu- 
 dolus.^ 
 
 Asinaria, indefinite and spoken, 
 
 vv.iiSf. Non esse seruos peior hoc quisquam 
 potest 
 Nee magis uorsutus nee quo ab caueas 
 aegrius. 
 
 Miles, against Sceledrus and spoken, 
 
 w.295f. Nam tibi iam ut pereas paratumst 
 dupliciter, nisi supprimis 
 Tuom stultiloquium. 
 
 Pseudolus, indefinite and spoken, 
 
 w.i2yi. Omnibus amicis notisque edico meis, 
 In hunc diem a me ut caueant, ne 
 credant mihi. 
 
 3 cf. Terence: Andrla, v.205. 
 
140 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 against Simo 
 
 vv.5i7f . Praedico, ut caeueas : dico, inquam, ut 
 caueas: caue: 
 Em istis mihi tu hodie manibus argen- 
 tum dabis. 
 
 Bacchides, to Nicobolus, by a letter, w.734fF. 
 Poenulus, to Lycus the leno, by an oracle, 
 
 vv.463ff. Condigne haruspex, non homo trio- 
 boli, 
 Omnibus in extis aiebat portendi mihi 
 Malum damnumque et deos esse ira- 
 tos mihi. 
 
 Curculio, to Cappadox the leno, by a dream, 
 
 vv.27off pacem ab Aesculapio 
 
 Petas, ne forte tibi eueniat magnum 
 malum. 
 Quod in quiete tibi portentumst. 
 
 Dreams also foreshadow coming events in the 
 Miles as well as in the Mercator and the Rudens.* 
 As Leo points out, the presence of the dream 
 motive in the plays is explained on very much 
 the same principle as that of the anagnorisis, in- 
 asmuch as it is a feature characteristic of tragedy 
 as well as of New Comedy. It may be combined 
 with the anagnorisis, then, to prove a connection 
 between Plautus and the Greek. 
 
 4 Leo; Plaut. Forach. pp.l62ff. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 141 
 (6) Futility of trickery 
 
 The apparent futility of some of the tricks and 
 the abandonment of them for others is character- 
 istic of some of the plays, as the Bacchides, Epi- 
 dicus, Persa, Miles, Poenulus, Pseudolus, and the 
 Trinummus. Such abandonment of plans is 
 caused either by some act, unanticipated by the 
 audience, on the part of one of the characters, as 
 the returning of all the money by Mnesilochus 
 in the Bacchides, or the arrival of the father in 
 the Trinummus ; or by the careless uniting of two 
 plots, as in the "contaminated" plays, the Miles 
 and the Poenulus. This has been considered in 
 the discussion of contaminatio in the various 
 plays. 
 
 (7) Disappearance of characters 
 
 As this has been discussed at some length 
 above^ it need merely be mentioned here. 
 
 From this summary it seems evident, there- 
 fore, that Plautus had a stock of scenes and mo- 
 tives on hand which he mingled at will with the 
 plot of deception, for which they were to serve 
 as embellishment and expansion. Or the reverse 
 may be true, that deception was inserted in plays 
 of varying situation and plot. This list does not 
 pretend to be exhaustive. Only the more un- 
 usual details have been selected for consideration. 
 
 5 cf. under the Persa, In III B, p.ll6. 
 
142 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS - 
 
 A collection of the more common motives, such 
 as scenes including cooks, parasites and the like, 
 would only strengthen the deduction drawn irom 
 the present list. 
 
 From all three points of view then, — methods, 
 plan, and extraneous detail, — a study of the tech- 
 nique of the comedies of Plautus leads to the 
 conclusion that deception was the chief interest. 
 Especially throughout the analysis of the plan 
 and action involved in the performance of the 
 deception I have endeavoured in each play to in- 
 dicate to what extent Plautus was careful to at- 
 tain unity and plausibility, and in what details 
 he apparently considered such care unnecessary. 
 That clearness of plot was gained, as has been 
 seen, by carefully planned and executed pur- 
 pose, achieved by constant repetition" of the de- 
 tails of that plan and by asides^ on the part of 
 the characters, either in self-addressed mono- 
 logue, anticipating or commenting upon the pro- 
 gress of the deception, or in dialogue spurring 
 each other on to carry out the trick in hand. As 
 Legrand says,* Plautus wished everything to be 
 clearly understood by e\en the most ignorant 
 auditor. 
 
 Details unessential to the plot of deception 
 were frequently disregarded: the element of 
 time' in the Bacchides, Asinaria, Captivi, Casina, 
 
 6 cf. under the Pseudolus, Miles and Menaechml, In 
 III B. 
 
 7 cl. under the CaptM, In in B, pp.77ff. 
 s Daos: p. 547. 
 
 9 cf. under the Bacchides, In III B, p.66f. 
 
TECHNIQUE OF DECEPTION 143 
 
 Curculio, Miles, Mostellaria; haste contradicted 
 by delay^° for mirth-provoking wrangling and 
 argument in the Asinaria, Captivi, Poenulus, 
 Pseudolus, Trinummus; discrepancies in charac- 
 terization in the Asinaria, Curculio, Epidicus, 
 Mostellaria, Persa, Pseudolus; the apparent ig- 
 norance of some fact important for the progress 
 of the action, when that ignorance adds to the 
 comic effect, in the Asinaria, Bacchides, Captivi, 
 Menaechmi, 'IVIercator, Mostellaria, Trinummus ; 
 ignorance in money matters^^ or contradictions 
 in the price demanded in the Curculio, Epidicus, 
 Mercator, Persa; minor details of action which 
 are not vital to the main course of the trickery 
 and hence are unmotivated, since they are not 
 used,^^ in the Asinaria, Casina, Curculio, Epidi- 
 cus, Miles, Persa; disappearance of characters^' 
 in the Curculio, Epidicus, Mostellaria, Persa, 
 Pseudolus. These together with the particular 
 cases of "psychological improbability"^* noted 
 under each play and with the contradictions ap- 
 pearing sporadically, but of the same general na- 
 ture as those shared in common with several of 
 the plays, justify our conclusion that the play- 
 wright paid little heed to consistency in unessen- 
 tial details. 
 
 10 When not otherwise Indicated the details summar- 
 ized above have been mentioned in each play as they 
 occurred. 
 
 11 cf. under the Curculio, In III B, p.88f. 
 
 12 cf. under the Casina, In III B, p.83£. 
 IS cf. under the Persa, in III B, p.ll6(. 
 
 14 cf. under the Asinaria, In III B, pp.74f. 
 
144 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 In a single rendering of a play before an au- 
 dience whose only desire was to be entertained, 
 most discrepancies in plot would pass unnoticed. 
 And inasmuch as the inconsistencies in no in- 
 stance affect vitally the progress of the trickery, 
 it is all the more important that we bear in mind 
 that Plautus wrote his plays "to make a Roman 
 holiday" and not to bear the microscopic analysis 
 of literary criticism. Under such circumstances 
 we might expect the emphasis to be laid upon 
 the effect rather than upon the method, upon 
 the burlesque details rather than upon the tech- 
 nique of the plot. And this seems to be the case. 
 With the attention of the playwright focussed 
 upon that dramatic effect, lack of proportion in 
 other details, inconsistencies and the like, either 
 escaped the notice of the audience or were con- 
 sidered of no importance. Whence the idea for 
 such centralization arose, what forces combined 
 to shape it, — i. e. the sources of deception in 
 comedy, — and how far the present form of the 
 comedies represents the original Plautine tradi- 
 tion, — i. e. the relation of the plays to the Greek 
 models and especially the question of contamina- 
 tio and of retractatio, — remains still to be con- 
 sidered. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 Application of Facts to Higher Criticism 
 Contaminatio and Retractatio 
 
 ONE of the most valuable results of the fore- 
 going study and analysis of the element of 
 deception in the comedies of Plautus may be at- 
 tained by the application of the conclusions 
 drawn to the difficulties of higher criticism — i. e. 
 to the solution of problems connected with con- 
 taminatio and retractatio. Inasmuch as con- 
 taminatio is Plautine, our object is to determine 
 whether Plautus' method is essentially different 
 in his treatment of deception in the "contaminat- 
 ed" and the uncontaminated plays and whether 
 some light may be thrown upon the plays still in 
 doubt, as the Bacchides, Epidicus, and Pseudolus. 
 In other words, how far do abnormalities support 
 or refute contaminatio or retractatio ; for some of 
 the abnormalities may be attributable to the lat- 
 ter. 
 
 Retractatio will necessarily claim the chief ; 
 consideration in this section; for, as has just been // 
 noted, contaminatio is Plautine, and because of 
 that fact has already been discussed in the fore- 
 going study of the dropped threads, inconsis- 
 tencies and the like, in the analysis of each play.^ 
 That consideration brought us to the conclusion 
 
 1 of. under section III B. 
 
146 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 that Plautus' methods were haphazard and care- 
 less in the treatment of unessential details. In- 
 tent upon the plot of deception, as seems quite 
 clear from our comparison of the plays, Plautus 
 neglected no details absolutely indispensable to 
 an understanding of that plot either in plan or 
 in action. Where obscurity is apparent in the 
 plot of deception, as in the Epidicus, which is the 
 only play in which obscurities enter to such a 
 marked degree, it has seemed justifiable, in view 
 of the general adherence of most of the plays to 
 a certain norm, to consider such obscurity as due 
 to later reworking of the play,: — i. e. to retrac- 
 tatio. 
 
 Moreover, the analysis of the comedies has 
 shown a great deal of uniformity^ in the sort of 
 ambiguities and inconsistencies which occur in 
 both the contaminated plays, e. g. the Miles and 
 the Poenulus, and the uncontaminated, like the 
 Mostellaria and the Trinummus. Inasmuch as 
 the same sort of contradictions, e. g. discrepan- 
 cies in character portrayal, motiveless action, 
 etc., occur in those plays still sub iudice, like the 
 Bacchides, it is clear that too hasty conclusions 
 must not be drawn from such occurrences as a 
 basis for proof of contaminatio. This "work of 
 the Danaids", as Lindsay styles it,^ is not solved 
 so easily. 
 
 Let us take the arguments pro and con for 
 contaminatio in the Bacchides just mentioned as 
 
 2 cf. summary of section III, pp.l42ff. 
 
 3 Bursdan's Jahresberlcht, Vol. 166-169, 1914, Part II 
 p.18. 
 
APPLICATION OF FACTS 147 
 
 an illustration of the difficulty of arriving at a 
 decision in the matter. As early as 1842, Lade- 
 wig* maintained contaminatio for the Bacchides, 
 and also for the Captivi, Miles, Pseudolus, Tru- 
 culentus and less positively for the Stichus and 
 the Trinummus. Leo^ and E. Frankel* held 
 that the discrepancy between the statement in 
 V.1090 — bis—and the existence of three tricks in 
 the Bacchides is due to contaminatio; and that 
 the second letter is too Attic to be an invention 
 of Plautiis. But Leo himself grants the possi- 
 bility, which is just as reasonable a solution as 
 contaminatio, that the letter may be merely a 
 repetition of the first one, introduced by Plautus 
 himself in his desire to increase the comic effect 
 and the impression of Chrysalus' cleverness by a 
 more complete discomfiture of the old man Nico- 
 bulus. And Plautus, while using the Menan- 
 drean model, forgot at the end that he had in- 
 corporated a third trick and merely translated 
 the Greek St'?^ FrankeP suggests also the 
 possibility of retractatio as an explanation of this 
 contradiction; but that seems hardly probable, 
 since there is no reason for it in this play. The 
 double trickery would suffice for the comic in- 
 terest, which it was usually the desire of the re- 
 tractatores to increase. 
 
 4 Uber den Kanon des Volcatius Sedigitus, Neustrelitz, 
 pp.27ff. 
 
 5 R5m. Lit. pp.ll9f. 
 
 6 De media et nova comoedia duaestiones, Diss. GStt- 
 ingen, 1912, pp.lOOfC. 
 
 7 Leo: Rom. Lit. p.ll9. 
 
 8 Op. clt. 
 
148 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 In the light of our investigation of this play 
 and our consideration of its inconsistencies, it 
 would seem justifiable to reject the explanation 
 of contaminatio and to regard the Bacchides as 
 a good example of the way in which Plautus 
 dealt with his Greek model, adding trickery to 
 that already present and carelessly neglecting 
 minor details of connection, or allusion, in his 
 emphasis upon the main theme of trickery. 
 
 The same sort of addition for comic effect, as 
 noted in the Bacchides, can be seen in the Asi- 
 naria, in the new condition imposed in vv.735ff., 
 which was not included in the original bargain. 
 Yet if it were not in the Greek original no one 
 would attribute that addition to anyone but 
 Plautus. 
 
 The connection of discrepancies of this sort 
 with contaminatio, and the rejection or accep- 
 tance of contaminatio as the explanation for 
 them, were considered, as has been noted, under 
 the analysis of the separate plays.° A few gen- 
 eral remarks about several plays in regard to 
 this question may, however, still be made here. 
 
 The Persa may be classed with the Asinaria; 
 for like that play its plot combines two tricks, — 
 the appropriation of the purchase money by Sa- 
 garistio and the personation, which gives the 
 name to the play. Both plays likewise end in 
 banquet scenes, like the Stichus, though in the 
 Persa and the Asinaria the banquet scenes be- 
 long logically and organically to the play,^" while 
 
 9 cf. section, III B. 
 10 Leo; Plaut. Porsoh. pp.l68t. 
 
APPLICATION OF FACTS 149 
 
 in the Stichus this feature, probably derived from 
 the e^oSoi of the Old Comedy is dragged in 
 forcibly. As Leo maintains for the Stichus, it is 
 probable that all three plays illustrate in their 
 structure that heterogeneous combination of far- 
 cical elements from various sources of which 
 Plautus was fond. The distinction between this 
 combination of elements and the fusion of plots 
 which has come to have the technical name of 
 contaminatio should be borne in mind. 
 
 The theory of contaminatio for the Persa sug- 
 gested by Ladewig^'- and maintained by A. Van 
 Ijsendyk^^ has not been accepted; for the threads 
 of trickery run parallel and intermingle^^ in a 
 way which is not true in the plays like the Miles 
 and the Poenulus, which are surely contaminated. 
 As to the shortening of the play especially after 
 Act IV scene 8,^* and the absence of the para- 
 site from the banquet, how much may be attri- 
 buted to Plautus and how much to a later hand 
 it is impossible to determine. Both branches of 
 the manuscript tradition, A and P,^^ show many 
 traces, however, of retractatio. 
 
 Free from contaminatio in the technical sense 
 are the Captivi^' and the Curculio. The peculi- 
 arity of these plays lies in the motiveless action. 
 
 11 Op. clt. pp.SSff. 
 
 12 De T. Maccl Plauti Persa, Utrecht, 1884. 
 
 13 M. Meyer: De Plauti Persa, pp.l57ff. 
 
 14 EltscW ed. 1853. Praef., p.IX. 
 
 15 C. Coulter: Eetractatio in Plautus, Diss, Bryn Mawr, 
 1911, p.41. 
 
 16 Coulter: op. cit. p.5. 
 
ISO DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 In the Captivi, Hegio's only purpose was to send 
 some captive to ransom his son. From this 
 point of view, to be sure, the master, Philocrates, 
 had to be held as a hostage ; the slave was worth- 
 less for this purpose. But as far as the ex- 
 igencies of the plot are concerned, the exchange 
 of roles /by the captives is unnecessary.^^ The 
 reaSon for the exchange is in the minds of the 
 captives, for their own advantage; but as the 
 plot develops nothing is made of that exchange. 
 The pathetic interest of the play is heightened, 
 to be sure, by it, and one overlooks the lack of 
 motive in the interest aroused by it. In other 
 words this is another instance of Plautine tech- 
 nique in the disregard of unimportant details for 
 the sake of the dramatic interest. 
 
 The same thing is true of the Curculio,^^ inas- 
 much as from the soldier's point of view the mo- 
 tive of his disclosure to Curculio is nil. But for 
 the development of the action, as has been noted 
 above,^® it is necessary, because the trick 
 whereby Planesium falls into Phaedromus' pos- 
 session rests upon it. Likewise the appearance 
 of the soldier from Caria is without motive. As 
 Langen suggests,^" the defects may be due to re- 
 tractatio. But the play is essentially Plautine in 
 nature and clear in spite of shortening. The dis- 
 appearance of Palinurus from the play, which 
 
 17 Legrand: Daos, p.401 note 2. 
 
 18 La-ngen: Plaut. Stud. p.l34. 
 
 19 cf. section m B, p.87. 
 
 20 Op. olt. 
 
APPLICATION OP FACTS 151 
 
 Leo notes,^^ after the return of Curculio, is due 
 merely to the fact that upon the trickster and his 
 plans the action, here, as in other plays, focuses ; 
 and subordinate characters, as we have pointed 
 out above," disappear when their contributions 
 to those plans have been made. 
 
 The Mostellaria is the sort of play wherein 
 this power of improvisation on the part of Plau- 
 tus, or his model, has freest rein, inasmuch as all 
 the trickery is brought about by sudden unex- 
 pected turns of chance,^' and plans spring from 
 the need of the moment. The Trinummus, which 
 the prologue tells us is translated from the 
 ©Tjjaupoi; of Philemon, vv.iSf., is very similar to 
 the Mostellaria in its freedom from difficulties 
 involving contaminatio , as far as the plot of de- 
 ception is concerned. 
 
 The question of contaminatio in the Miles, 
 Poenulus, and Pseudolus has been discussed at 
 some length under the separate plays.^* Scholars 
 still differ as to the reconstruction of the original 
 plots which served as their models. For the 
 Pseudolus the analysis suggested by Bierma,^' 
 modified by the views of Seyffert,^®, of Leo,^^ 
 and of A. Schmitt,^^ is the prevailing one today. 
 
 21 Plaut. Porsch. p.l97, note 1. 
 
 22 cf. section III B., p.H6. 
 
 23 EltBchl: Opusc. II, p. 740. 
 
 24 cf. section III B., pp. 109fC.; llTff.; 128ff. 
 
 25 Questiones de Plautina Pseudolo, Groningen, 1897. 
 2eBerl. Phil. Woch. 18, 1898, coll. 1511-1515. 
 
 27 G. G. N. 1903, pp.347fE. 
 
 28 De PseudoU Plautinae exemplo Attico, Strassburg, 
 1909. 
 
IS2 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 For the Poenulus the results of the analysis of 
 Langen/® Leo/" and Karsten^^ still remain un- 
 changed. 
 
 The relation of the Miles to its originals and 
 all the work done upon that question has been 
 summarized by J. Mesk^^ who accepts in general 
 Leo's analysis.^^ Aside from the arguments of- 
 fered by them in substantiation of contaminatio 
 for these plays, from the analyses of the decep- 
 tion which we have made, we would maintain such 
 contaminatio, especially for the Poenulus and the 
 Miles where the tricks are so separate and dis- 
 tinct, and where the dropped threads indicate 
 quite evidently the combination of two plots. For 
 the Pseudolus the proof is not conclusive. 
 
 The conclusion in regard to contaminatio and 
 its reaction upon the comedies of Plautus is now 
 clear. Discrepancies and irregularities in details 
 are not abnormal to thef method of Plautus and 
 can therefore not serve as criteria by which to 
 test the plays still in doubt. The analysis of the 
 plays with the motive of deception as the central 
 point has shown this. In the Miles and the 
 Poenulus, which are generally regarded as "con- 
 taminated", are found the same characteristics 
 of technique as in the Asinaria, Curculio, and 
 Trinummus, for example. In all the plays Plau- 
 tus shows the same pains about the same points, 
 
 29 Plaut. Stud. pp.lSlff. 
 
 30 Plaut. Forsch. pp.lTOff. 
 
 31 Mnem. 29, 1901, pp.363ff. 
 
 32 Wiener Studien, 1913, pp.211fl. 
 
 33 Plaut. Forsch. pp.l78ff. 
 
APPLICATION OF FACTS 153 
 
 i. e. he keeps the fact of imposture before the 
 audience^* by a repetition of the essential details 
 and traces clearly the course of the trickery 
 through plan and execution; and the playwright 
 also shows the same carelessness about the same 
 points, e. g. the element of time, the disappear- 
 ance of certain characters, the minor psycholo- 
 gical improbabilities, and the like.^' 
 
 Former studies have emphasized too much the 
 separate, individual irregularities of each sepa- 
 rate play and have focussed their attention too 
 exclusively upon the separate, individual plays. 
 The relative importance of those irregularities 
 can only be seen by a comparative study of all 
 the plays. From such a study it seems that con- 
 taminatio must be based upon really organic dif- 
 ficulties, e. g. lack of proper motive, as in the 
 Miles and Poenulus, for a second trick, and not 
 upon crudities of technique which are normal in 
 Plautus. 
 
 In other words, this study has contributed no 
 new points, perhaps, as evidence for or against 
 contanuinatio, but it has enabled us to indicate 
 the relative value of the proofs already existent. 
 That valuation has, accordingly, forced us to re- 
 ject some of the discrepancies advanced as proof 
 of contaminatio, e. g. in the Pseudolus especial- 
 ly,^° since they are characteristically Plautine and 
 can be explained on more rational grounds than 
 by resorting to contaminatio. That being the 
 
 34 cf. section III B. passim, especially pp.l27f. 
 
 35 Ibid. 
 
 36 cf. section III B. pp.lSOff. 
 
154 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 case, it remains still to discover the source of the 
 abnormalities which are un-Plautine. In other 
 words, are they due to retractaio? 
 
 As to retractatio, which is the result of the 
 need of later presenters of the Plautine plays'' 
 to accommodate the play to the trend of mind 
 of a new and later audience, the decision be- 
 tween genuine and ungenuine passages depends 
 largely upon the subjective estimate of the cri- 
 tic.'^ Hence the difficulty of arriving at a defi- 
 nite conclusion is merely increased. For that 
 purpose an examination of passages which are 
 suspected of being "retractated" is necessary to 
 determine what sort of passages suffer general- 
 ly at the hands of the retractator. But it is not 
 necessary to determine whether they are justifi- 
 ably suspected. In other words from the point 
 of view of trickery as the chief interest in the 
 comedies, an examination of the passages re- 
 garded as "retractated" will suffice to show 
 whether essential or only minor details connect- 
 ed with deception suffered at the hands of the 
 later emendators of the Plautine text.'" t 
 
 The basis of any work in this connection is 
 Langen's Plautinische Studien, section III 
 pp.233-387, a good summary of work before 
 1886, with which are compared the readings in 
 the editions of Leo, Goetz-Schoell and Lindsay 
 
 37 H. A. Karsten: De Interpolatlonlbus In Plautl Cap- 
 tivla, Mnera. XXI, 1893, p.289. 
 
 38 Langen: Plaut. Stud, p.233. 
 
 39 The problems connected with the lacunae are not In- 
 cluded in this discussion. 
 
APPLICATION OF FACTS 155 
 
 and the contributions made by later monographs 
 to our investigation. Here again the Bacchides 
 is taken as a starting-point. 
 
 V.233 is a good illustration of the sort of verse 
 affected by retractatio. Anspach*" considers it a 
 case of dittography of v.232; but Langen disa- 
 grees and holds it as presenting an additional 
 and an essential idea. As has been said, how- 
 ever, our purpose is not to come to any decision 
 between such conflicting authorities but merely 
 to note the lines thus suspected and to examine 
 their contents to see whether in any way they are 
 connected with the plot of deception.*^ 
 
 Special note should be made of Act II 3 in 
 which two themes are apparently interwoven, — 
 the depositing of the money in the temple of 
 Diana, and the depositing of it with a friend. 
 But the editors differ as to the attribution of the 
 verses to Plautus. Even so, the passage has no 
 connection with the plot of deception except in 
 so far as the tale told is to convince the old man 
 that the money was not brought home, and either 
 or both tales might have convinced him. Like- 
 wise a large part of Act III 2 was suspected by 
 Ritschl following K. W. Weise, cf. vv.393 and 
 403 which contain similar endings. Leo and 
 
 40 De Bacchidum Plautinae retractatione scaenicae 
 Bonn. 1882. 
 
 41 Lines considered by Langen wMch oonitain no refer- 
 ence to deception: w.l21fE., 150, 152f., 159f., 220t., 361fE., 
 366f., 3378-882, 479, 4861f., 508, 984ff., 1120-1142, 1188fE.; 
 division of Act I 1, cf. also Leo, for w.67 and 69, follow- 
 ing Ribbeck and Buecheler. 
 
IS6 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 Ussing (editions) apparently regard the whole as 
 Plautine. But the scene has no immediate con- 
 nection with the trickery. 
 
 The same is true of Act IV 9 and the suspect- 
 ed verses in it, a sign of retractatio, or the two 
 recensions in Act IV 8, vv.842-883 and w.884- 
 901. Langen's theory in this scene particularly 
 is contradicted successfully by H. Weber.*^ But 
 it is evident that the main details of the plot have 
 been left untouched by the retractator. It is ap- 
 parently such sententious moralizing, as in Act 
 III 2, or such expansions of the thought of pre- 
 ceding lines, as vv.iS9f., of hie uereri perdidit, 
 that indicate most frequently the hand of the 
 amender. An examination of more of the plays 
 must, however, precede any conclusions as to 
 this point. 
 
 Amphitruo 
 
 In the Amphitruo contradictory 
 lines are found by Langen, Goetz and Leo. But 
 an examination of all the lines discussed by 
 them*' reveals no connection with the trickery. 
 
 Asinaria 
 
 In the Asinaria, at the end of Act 
 I I, occurs a double recension which is connect- 
 
 42 Plautus Studien, Philol. 57, 1898, pp.231ff. 
 
 43VV.401, 479-485, 629ff.; aittographles In, vv.371-375, 
 825flr., 916f., 1006ft. paraUel to w.997ff.; interpolations In 
 VV.160, 166, 685, 9741, suspected lines in w.172, 892-896. 
 
APPLICATION OF FACTS 157 
 
 ed with the trickery. Goetz-Loewe** had indi- 
 cated VV.106, 107, 108, 116-125, 109-116 as one 
 recension, vv.io6-iis as the other, because of 
 V.108, ego eo ad forum which apparently would 
 exclude such a question as uhi erisf in v. no. 
 For the success of the plan of deception it is es- 
 sential that Demaenetus should know where Li- 
 banus will be, but ad forum Langen holds to be 
 sufficient direction. Should further direction be 
 needed, as Langen concedes possible, still Li- 
 banus' answer to the query, ubiquomque lubitum 
 erit animo appears to Langen entirely irrelevant 
 and he would accordingly consider vv.109-110 
 as later interpolations. But such literal-minded- 
 ness often leads the German scholar into error. 
 It is just as probable that the playwright himself 
 conceived of the impudent answer of the slave 
 for comic effect as that it should have been in- 
 vented by a later retractator. So the point is not 
 conclusive. 
 
 Of the other lines questioned by Langen,*^ 
 V.93 is not essential to the course of the trickery, 
 since its question, Defrudem te ego? is repeated 
 in the following line. So it is quite evidently 
 the work of a retractator and its omission in no 
 way affects the plot, v.252 in like manner mere- 
 ly repeats v.2SO. vv.480-483 and 489ff. give a 
 double recension of the end of Act II 4, the im- 
 
 44Praef. p.XXII cf. Langen: Plaut. Stud. p.240. 
 
 45 vv.23f., 25f., 33, 66, 77, 93, 133, 204fE., 252, 312-314; 
 434f., 480-483, 489fE., 552, 583, 828f , 901ff. ; for double ending 
 of Act n 4 cf. Goetz: Praef. XXIII; Langen: op. cit. 
 p.243f.; P. Ahrens: De Plauti Asinaria, Jena, 1903. 
 
158 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 postor scene, but without affecting the course of 
 the trickery. V.S83 merely repeats v.581 and is 
 not essential. So again the scope of the work of 
 the retractator is found outside the important 
 parts of the play. 
 
 Captivi. 
 
 The same thing holds true for the 
 Captivi. Contradictions occur,**, interpola- 
 tions,*' dittographies,*' a double ending,*' verses 
 suspected for other reasons.^" But none of the 
 verses cited affect the progress of the deception 
 and hence need no separate comment. 
 
 Casina 
 
 Although it is certain that the Casina 
 was acted after the death of Plautus,'^ it shows 
 fewer interpolations than the other plays and ap- 
 parently suffered more through cutting than 
 through expansion.^^ Langen defends v.203 
 against Spengel's suggestion that it is a repetition 
 of V.208. He also defends v.498 against Loewe's 
 
 46 cf. H. T. Karsten: op. eit. p.294. 
 
 47W.46-51, 102-107, 152, 231ff., 288, 401ft., 530-532, 664ff. 
 
 48 VV.438, of. Brix: An,hang; Karsten; 621; 1022; 
 
 49 ct. Terence: Andria, L. Havet: rev. de Phil. 16, 1892, 
 p. 73. 
 
 50V.133-175, cf. Karsten: op. cit.; w.280, 324, 968, cf. 
 Leo and O. SeyfEert: B. Ph. 4, 1887, p.780f. 
 
 61 Langen: op. clt. pp.278ff. 
 
 62 TeufCel: Stud. u. Char. p.320. 
 
APPLICATION OF FACTS 159 
 
 rejection of it,^^ as a gloss; and vv.688ff., against 
 C. Fuhrmann's rejection.^* Leo holds v.970 as 
 a contradiction of v.971. But here again none 
 of the verses in question touch the plot of decep- 
 tion. If the retractatores cut this play, they did 
 not produce obscurities.^^ 
 
 Curculio The suspected passages of the Cur- 
 culio are discussed by Langrehr.°« The only one 
 that is connected with the trickery is vv.545-551, 
 and O. Seyffert^' defends those lines on the basis 
 that they anticipate v.582. They are not really 
 essential to the plot, so their acceptance or re- 
 jection is not important; suffice it to note that 
 they are connected with the plot of deception. 
 
 Epidicus In the Epidicus the interchange of 
 verses in Act I i which Langen^^ and Hasper^' 
 hold against Schredinger°° does not affect the 
 trickery. Again it is a case of authorities dif- 
 fering as to their estimate of what is genuine 
 and what is un-Plautine. The same is true of 
 vv.46ff. That the revelation contained therein is 
 contradicted by v.6o°^ i§ hardly the case, since 
 
 53 Anal. Plaut. p.204. 
 
 54Jahrb. f. Phllol. 97, 1869, p.482. 
 
 55 A. L. Wheeler: Elpidicus, op. cit. 
 
 56 De Plauti Curcullone, Prledland, 1893; w.l7, 61, 76, 
 72, 93, 155-157, 161, 175, 1931., 200, 276, 284, 292, 305, 429, 
 461, 472, 493, 503, 545-551, 678, 705, 711. 
 
 67 Bursian's Jabresberioht, 1895, Part 11. p.27. 
 
 58 Op. elt. pp.288ft. 
 
 69 Ad Epldlcum Plauti oonlectanea, p.9. 
 
 60 De Plauti Epldlco, Progr, MUnnerstadt, 1884, p. 21. 
 
 61 Uasing, Hasper, and Relnhardt In Jahrb. f. Phllol. 
 Ill, 1876, p.199. 
 
i6o DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 such pretended reticence after such open speech 
 is psychologically in keeping with a slave's atti- 
 tude. Leo and Goetz-Schoell retain them. 
 
 VV.109-111, since they are lacking in the Am- 
 brosian palimpsest may be an interpolation. 
 Moreover, they are just the sort of sententious 
 moralizing added by later reworkers of the plays 
 which we have commented upon before. But 
 for our consideration they are not important. 
 Likewise unimportant are the other suspected 
 verses.*^ 
 
 Menaechmi 
 
 The Menaechmi presents no sus- 
 pected lines connected with the trickery.*^ 
 
 M creator 
 
 As to the reworking of this play by 
 later hands, especially the prologue, cf. Ussing"* 
 who cites the opinion of Ritschl, of Dziatzko,"^ 
 of Reinhardt.°° Proof of such reworking is 
 possible from the text, as these scholars have 
 
 62W.50, 135f., 261-266, 339f., 353, 384. 393, 419, 518ff. 
 
 63 vv.77t., 130, 185fC., Act n 2 passim, 478, 586f., 601, 639a, 
 6B5f., 694f., 750, 831f., 882ff., 983f., 1040, cf. Sonpenburg: 
 de Menaechmls Plautlna, Bonn, 1882; l4angen: op. dt. 
 pp.296fe. 
 
 64 Commenit, p.314. 
 
 65 Kh. M. XXVI p.421; XXIX p.63. 
 
 66 Studemund's Studlen I pp.SOS. 
 
APPLICATION OF FACTS i6i 
 
 indicated. But it has in no wise affected the 
 simple trend of the trickery.*^ 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Retractatio in the Miles has been 
 discussed by Lorenz/^ by F. Schmidt'^ by 
 Langen/" by O. Ribbeck/^ and by Brix." 
 Apart from the lines rejected by Leo'^ and by 
 Goetz-SchoelF* jmd by Langen/^ only Langen's 
 rejection of Act III i needs consideration here. 
 Langen thinks that the whole scene could be 
 dispensed with, since Act III 3 contains all the 
 information necessary for understanding the 
 second trick, and since the irrelevancy of vv.615- 
 765 cast suspicion upon the whole scene. F. 
 Schmidt'* solved the difficulty by rejecting merely 
 those lines, which is probably the saner proce- 
 dure. Plautus is often irrelevant, but in no place 
 does he carry it so far with so little reason. 
 Moreover, the passage examined on stylistic 
 grounds is not Plautine, so Langen holds. Leo'' 
 
 67 of. W.126, 145fe., 150-165, 182, 185, 276, 220ff., 263, 
 269f., 356, 373ff., 419f., 448a, 492fl., 536, 655b, 620ff., 745; 
 849, 983a. 
 
 68 Introd. ed. pp.36fE. 
 
 69Jahrb. f. PhUol. Suppl. IX, 1877-78, pp.391£E. 
 
 70 Op. olt. pp.313-333. 
 
 71 Alazon, . 1882. 
 
 72 Introd. ed. pp.l4f. 
 73W.B85, 602f., 708, 710. 
 
 74 w.l89a-192, 228, 328ff., 599b, 1002, 1287fE. 
 
 75 vv.1019-1033. 
 
 76 Op. clt. 
 
 77 Plaut. Forsoh, p.181. 
 
i62 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 does not agree. Langen also holds that the con- 
 trast between the praise of the easy-going life of 
 the egoistic youth and the faithful performance 
 of duty on the part of a loyal, steady citizen is 
 not a theme which would appeal to a Roman 
 audience of Plautus' time. It would, however, 
 he thinks, suit the taste of an audience of the time 
 of the Plautine revival. Hence it is retractated. 
 But the poof is not convincing. 
 
 If a scene prefatory to Pleusicles' adoption of 
 the role of nauclerus in vv.ii77if. is required, 
 Langen would place it somewhere between Acts 
 II and III. J. Franke'* maintains the Plautinity 
 of Act III I. 
 
 But this must remain an open question ; nor is 
 it essential to our purpose to decide it, since the 
 rejection or the acceptance of the whole scene or 
 of parts of it does not in any way affect the 
 course of the deception, i. e. even though there 
 are several deceptions which are not well con- 
 nected, the presentation of each is free from ob- 
 scurities. 
 
 Mostellaria 
 
 None of the suspected verses of the Mostel- 
 laria needs special comment.'^ 
 
 78 De Militis Gloriosi Plautinae composltone, Weldae 
 Thuringll, 1910, pp.48ff. 
 
 79 w.87f., 93f., 126f., 185, 208fE., 306t., 410, 609, 721a, 741, 
 1001, 1033£E. 
 
APPLICATION OF FACTS 163 
 
 Persa 
 
 The Persa offers slight evidence for assuming 
 that the play suffered change.*" The verses which 
 are noted*^ with minor variations do not affect 
 the trickery. The shortening of the play in Act 
 IV 9 was probably due to retractatio/'^ as is the 
 case with the Poenulus, but to what extent the 
 play has suffered it is impossible to determine. 
 
 Poenulus 
 
 The Poenulus shows more alteration than any 
 play of Plautus. The double ending is the long- 
 est case of dittography'* which we have. It con- 
 tains parallel versions,** variant lines/^ longer 
 alternate versions.*' But none of these influence 
 the course of deception, nor do the other lines 
 that have been suspected.*' 
 
 Pseudolus 
 
 The same is true of the Pseudolus.** 
 
 80 Coulter: op. cit. p.40. 
 
 81W.433-436, 442f., 605, 608, 609f., 703, 704. 
 
 82 Rltschl: Praef. p.IX. 
 
 83 Coulter: op. odt. p. 65. 
 84w.504£C., laiSff. 
 85VV.214, 218, 304, 3901). 
 
 86 vv.121-128, 917-929, 1042-1052. 
 
 87 Coulter: op. cit. p.66 note 28. 
 
 88 of. w.52»b, 688ff., 1137; eertain cases of retractatio, 
 cf. Coulter: op. cit. p.81:— vv.l42, 151, 166, 206f., 259-263, 
 412, 535ff., 544a, 5621f., 576ff., 596ab, 600, 696ab; 745-750 
 parallel to 734-744, 842, 1077, 1086, 1196, 1279f., 1314. 
 
i64 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 Trinummus 
 
 The Trinummus is especially good as an illus- 
 tration of the general work of Sie retractator,^^ 
 since the play is so full of sententiae and moral 
 reflections, upon which the refractatores are par- 
 ticularly inclined to exert their efforts. The play 
 also from vv.582, 889-891, 901, and I093ff., has 
 apparently been shortened.'" 
 
 This study of the suspected passages of the 
 comedies leads to the conclusion that to retrac- 
 tatio are due changes in unimportant details, i. e. 
 the shortening or omission of unessential speeches 
 and scenes, or such a second ending as that 
 offered for the Poenulus. But the hand of the 
 retractator has apparently spared, almost entirely, 
 the details which are essential to the plot of de- 
 ception. In fact, this study but strengthens the 
 theory already expressed, that Plautus worked 
 for comic effect and, so long as the result was 
 superficially successful, considerations of struc- 
 tural roughness and incompleteness were of 
 minor importance. To that end the poet com- 
 bined at will either details from various sources, 
 for one single plan of action, as in the Asinaria 
 and the Persa, or various plans of action for the 
 complex plots of the Miles and the Poenulus; 
 and the resulting product served his purpose of 
 
 89 Coulter: op. clt. p.l07. 
 
 90 For other suspected lines cf. Coulter: op. clt. p.107, 
 note 19. 
 
APPLICATION OF FACTS 165 
 
 entertaining an audience uncritical and unobserv- 
 ant of the many superficial discrepancies which 
 only the critical analysis of a scholar would seize 
 upon. 
 
 The Epidicus alone seems to stand out as dif- 
 ferent from the other plays, both in the nature of 
 some of the threads of deception which are drop- 
 ped and in the general obscurity and looseness 
 of connection in the plot as it develops. Ladewig 
 was the first®^ to discuss the difficulties in the play 
 and to attribute them to contaminatio. Rein- 
 hardt, in 1873,*^ overthrew that possibility and 
 attributed the mutilation of the play to the hands 
 of the later actors who desired, perhaps, to hasten 
 the denouement and to meet the public wish for a 
 speedy conclusion to the play after the climax. 
 Langen in 1886,®^ as Schredinger^* and 
 Francken^^ before him, attributed the discrepan- 
 cies to retractatio. The brevity of the play is a 
 strong point for such an argument; for the 
 Epidicus, as has been noted before, is apparently 
 stripped of most of those scenes unessential to 
 the plot and introduced merely for comic effect 
 which are found in the other plays. 
 
 On the other hand, the change in the ending, 
 as was pointed out by Dziatzko,®* necessitated by 
 
 81 Zelt. f. alt. wlss. 1841, coll. 1079-1099. 
 92 Studemunfl'a Studlen I pp.79-111. 
 93Plaut. Stud. pp.l37fC. 
 
 94 Observationes In Plautl Epidicum, Progr. 1884. 
 
 95 Plautina In Mnem. AOI, 1879, pp.lS4-204. 
 
 98 Der Inhalt des Georgos von Menander, Rh. M. LV, 
 1900, pp.l04£E. 
 
i66 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 the Roman repugnance to the conclusion of the 
 Greek original, involved certain confusion, even 
 though Plautus, by substituting a reconciliation 
 of the conflicting interests by Epidicus and by 
 centering the interest on him and his plots, en- 
 deavours to turn the attention of the audience 
 away from the inconsistencies. Leo, while hold- 
 ing to the internal unity of the play,"' assumes 
 the loss of a prologue containing an outline of 
 the argument, which could fill in such gaps in the 
 plot as need explanation. 
 
 How far the playwright's effort to reconcile 
 these difficulties has affected the play and how far 
 it has suffered from later reworkings it is impos- 
 sible at present to decide. As has been noted 
 above, the study of the other plays has led to the 
 conclusion that non-essentials alone were con- 
 cerned in the processes of the retractatores. If 
 that conclusion be accepted, in view of the dif- 
 ficulties presented by the Epidicus, it is clear that 
 both carelessness on the part of Plautus and re- 
 working by later hands have caused the present 
 obscurities and irregularities in the Epidicus. 
 That retracfatio has wrought greater disorder in 
 it than even the most careless of Plautus' own 
 methods of composition seems evident from a 
 comparison of the outline of the Epidicus with 
 those of the other plays. 
 
 From this study of the influence of contamina- 
 tio and retractatio upon the comedies of Plautus 
 the conclusion in regard to the technique of Plau- 
 tus is only strengthened. "Intent upon the mo- 
 
 97 Plaut. Forsoh. p.l98, especially note 2. 
 
APPLICATION OF FACTS 167 
 
 mentary comic effect and centralizing all the ac- 
 tion in that, the playwright has neglected at will 
 the finely spun threads of the action, especially 
 where he 'contaminated' several plays. The Miles 
 and the Poenulus on one side, the Casina and 
 Stichus on the other, compared with the closely 
 unified'^ plot of the vea, are atrocities, from the 
 point of view of a careful reader, of lack of or- 
 der. Seldom does the poet develop an action so 
 logically and closely as in the Bacchides and the 
 Mostellaria.""' But the thread of deception is, in 
 all cases except the Epidicus, clear and distinct. 
 Hence, too, the deduction that the work of the 
 retractator seems to have been concerned with 
 extraneous details only. 
 
 This study must, however, leave us still of the 
 opinion of Leo^"" that in view of the fact that 
 we possess only a portion of the works of Plau- 
 tus and yet from these can see how he sought to 
 please the taste of his public and indiscriminately 
 remodelled plays of such entirely different spirit 
 as the Amphitruo and Asinaria, the Captivi and 
 Persa, it is impossible to say with certainty how 
 much of the elaboration of the plots is Plautine, 
 how much of the shortening is un-Plautine. What 
 Plautus owed in the technique of deception to his 
 Greek predecessors is still to be considered. 
 
 98 cf. H. W. Prescott: The Interpretation of Roman 
 Oomiedy, Class. Phil. XI, No. 2, 1916, pp.l28fe. for an 
 opposite view. 
 
 99 B. Norden : Die rSmlsche Llteratur, in Einleltung in 
 ale Altertumswiissenschaft, Vol. I, 1910, p.463. 
 
 100 Plant. Forsch. pp.l67f. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 Sources of the Element of Deception 
 
 ALTHOUGH no complete comedy of the 
 Greek vsa is extant to serve as a criterion, 
 Plautus and Terence, so far as they are Greek, 
 have been generally acknowledged as handing 
 down the tradition of the New Comedy. When- 
 ever we know who was the author of a Greek 
 original (or what was the title) the evidence in 
 every case except the Persa points to the ve«. That 
 Plautus borrowed also from Old Comedy is pos- 
 sible, as he surely did from Middle Comedy, e. g. 
 the Persa.^ To what extent he did so needs, how- 
 ever, further investigation. But the relation be- 
 tween the Roman and the Greek and their con- 
 nection with antecedent comedy are difficult to 
 establish directly because of the fragmentary re- 
 mains of Hellenistic comedy. An effort has been 
 made in the present chapter to throw some light 
 upon this relation by tracing through the Greek 
 drama an outline, at least, of deception. 
 
 As has been seen from the foregoing analysis, 
 the methods of Plautus in developing the p]aL,of 
 
 1 V. Wllamowltz's view of the Persa: De trlbus car- 
 mlnlbus Latlnls, Index Lect. GHtt. 1893-4, pp.l3f.; H. W. 
 Prescott: The Interpretation of Boman Comedy, Class. 
 Phil. XI No. 2, April 1916. pp.125-147; XII No. 4, Oct. 
 1917, pp.405-425. 
 
 l68 
 
SOURCES OF DECEPTION " 169 
 
 deception, which is the centre of interest in the 
 comedies, although at times haphazard, seem in 
 general well ordered and painstaking, with due 
 care as to the explanation of preceding and the 
 preparation "^or subsequent action. The former 
 method approaches that of Aristophanes,'' in 
 whom there is little or nothing of explanation or 
 preparation, with slight connection between the 
 successive scenes. The prologues of the plays 
 of Aristophanes, as Croiset points out,' contain 
 the germ of the drama which is developed step by 
 step throughout the comedy. The action which is 
 organized thus in the prologue is extended in the 
 first part of the play, e. g. in the Achamians ; and 
 in the second part the result of that action is 
 shown in a simple succession of incidents like the 
 scenes of the primitive comedy. The situations 
 unravel themselves, with the denouement fore- 
 seen perhaps, but uncertain, somewhat like the 
 gradual unexpected development of the plot of 
 the Mostellaria. This laxer construction in plot 
 is but a reflection of the difference between the 
 carefully stated outlines of the play given in the 
 prologues of Euripides and the summaiy state- 
 ment of the theme in the prologues of Aristo- 
 phanes just noted. 
 
 But there are more specific points of resem- 
 blance than this between Aristophanes and Plau- 
 tus. The types of characters already established 
 
 2M. Croiset: Hlstoire de la LittSrature GrecQue, Vol. Ill, 
 pp.552f. 
 s Op. clt. p.557. 
 
I70 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 ir the comedy of Aristophanes,* old. men and 
 women, slaves Jjke Cario in the Plautus, and the 
 ending of s_ome of the plays in a revel, as the 
 Acharnians and the Lysistrata, the Persa and 
 the Asinaria, show the possibly indirect influence 
 of the Old Comedy upon Plautus.' 
 
 Impossibilities were also a characteristic of 
 Attic Old Comedy,' illustrated in the Lysistrata 
 by the gathering together of women from hostile 
 cities, friends and enemies alike, in the assembly 
 convoked by Lysistrata. Plautus' disregard for 
 verisimilitude has been noted.' 
 
 Lies, to be sure, are a feature of all comedy. 
 Aristophanes realized the possibilities of amuse- 
 ment in lies when he presented them so aptly 
 in his satire on the Sophists in the Clouds.' Lies 
 are, of course, the basis of all deception. But 
 personation, which is the chief element of decep- 
 tion in Plautus, appears also in Aristophanes. In 
 the Frogs, Dionysus masquerades as Heracles 
 vv.464fif., with Xanthias as a slave; in vv.498ff., 
 they exchange roles; in v. 742 the slave passes 
 himself off as the master. In the Plutus, Cario 
 the slave, threatens to play the part of Cyclops, 
 
 4 A. Couat: Aristophane et I'Ancienne Com^die Attique. 
 Paris, 1892, pp.367ff.; Leo: Rom. Lit. p.l06. 
 
 5 Leo: Plaut. Forsch. pp.l37ff. 
 
 6 Rogers: ed. Lysistrata, Introd. p.XLI. 
 
 7 cf. Section III B, pp.721f. 
 
 8 Passim. Pheidippides illustrates the supposed lying 
 methods of the Sophists by beating his father and then 
 justifying his own conduct, cf. Knights, vv.7, 64, 486, 491, 
 696. 
 
SOURCES OF DECEPTION 171 
 
 v.29off., and then that of Circe, vv.30iff., and 
 change the chorus into pigs. In the Acharnians, 
 the Megarian disguises his daughters as pigs, 
 vv.739flF. In the same play DicaeopoUs plays the 
 role of a beggar to carry out his plan, 
 
 V.445 • • • ^sxTO! [/.Yj/ava <ppevt 
 
 The Ecclesiazusae opens with the women dis- 
 guised as men practising the parts which they are 
 soon to play in the Assembly, and the whole plot 
 rests upon their impersonation. 
 
 But the Thesmophoriazusae has the most 
 points in common with the plots of Plautus. The 
 whole plot rests upon personation: first when 
 Mnesilochus, at Euripides' instigation, dresses up 
 as a woman to plead the poet's cause before the 
 assembly of women, vv.9oflf., iSsff. ; then 
 through the poet's own personation of Menelaus 
 and of Perseus, vv.87off., loogff. The asides of 
 Mnesilochus are like those of the trickster in 
 Plautus, 
 
 vv.6o3f. KavtaSainojv eyw 
 
 V.609 S(ot'xoiJi.ai = peril 
 
 his soliloquy, vv.765fl., like those of Plautus' 
 tricksters bent upon some new trick, 
 
 the sort of asides which Schaffner* says Plautus 
 
 9 De aversum loquendl ratlone In, oomoedla Graeca, 
 Diss. Glssae, 1911, p.20. SchafCner Is probably Incorrect 
 on this point, cf. remarks below, pp.l75f. 
 
172 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 borrowed not from Menander of the New 
 Comedy, but from the earlier comedy. The con- 
 clusion of the play, when the chorus asks for the 
 approval of the audience, is also like the Plautine 
 comedies. 
 
 Though no conclusion may be drawn from the 
 coincidence, it is noteworthy that this comedy 
 of Aristophanes in which details characteristic 
 of the Plautine comedies occur so freely parodies 
 three of the tragedies of Euripides. 
 
 In addition to the evidence already discussed, 
 we cite for the sake of completeness the following 
 passages from Aristophanes: instances of per- 
 sonation, Acharnians, vv.ii7ff., Dicaeopolis 
 pretends to recognize Cleisthenes decked out as 
 a eunuch; Wasps, V.3S1, plan suggested to Phi- 
 locleon by the chorus to escape in the disguise of 
 a beggar, like Odysseus; Birds, vv.Soiff., Eu- 
 elpides and Peisthetaerus assume the characters 
 of birds; Clouds, vv.34off., cf. v.355, the chorus 
 of women personating clouds. 
 
 Frogs vv^Soff., Bacchus assumes the garb of 
 Heracles, to descend to the infernal regions to 
 release Euripides. His slaves, Xanthias, is at- 
 tired like Silenus. It may be urged that this sort 
 of assumption of various characters by persons 
 of the drama is not parjallel to the sort of per- 
 sonation found in Plautus. Nevertheless Aristo- 
 phanes here foreshadows the Plautine method. 
 Thieving, is found in.tke Clouds, v.1499 cf. 497, 
 where Strepsiades vows vengeance upon So- 
 crates, his master, for having stolen his cloak; 
 Acharnians, v.1023, where the theft of oxen from 
 
SOURCES OF DECEPTION 173 
 
 an Athenian farmer is intended to show the hard- 
 ships of the ordinary citizen who is at war, as 
 compared with the happy lot of Dicaeopolis, who 
 is at peace ; Knights, v.79, one of the characteris- 
 tics of the Paphlagonian, Cleon, is his propensity 
 for thieving, cf. v.296, 1252, as is the case also 
 with the Sausage-seller, v.420, 746, 778, 823ff., 
 1203, which adds to the comic effect of the Sau- 
 sage-seller's efforts against his rival the Paphla- 
 gonian to win Demus' favour, cf. v.1149; Lysis- 
 trata, v. 176, the women plan to outwit the men, 
 first by seizing the Acropolis, and then, as the 
 men, at least, fear, vv.623f., by stealing their hus- 
 bands' money ; Wasps, two boys represent dogs in 
 the suit judged by Philocleon, vv.90off. and the 
 slave Xanthias plays dog-accuser; w.i49off. 
 boys dressed as crabs. Wasps, vv.238f., 3S4f., 
 1201, stealing was one of the favourite pranks of 
 even the stem administrators of the law, in their 
 youth; vv.837ff. Labes is to be accused of steal- 
 ing and devouring a Sicilian cheese; Frogs 
 w.772ff., Aeacus as a thief-taker pursues Xan- 
 thias, who has stolen his dog. Plots and plans 
 of all sorts are found: Knights, v.236 the Paph- 
 lagonian accuses his rivals of constantly plotting 
 ill to Demus and destruction to himself, cf.vv.257, 
 452, 476, 862, 901 ff.; the Sausage-seller, how- 
 ever, works the Paphlagonian's undoing, in spite 
 of his protests, vv.626ff., 758f . ; Demus is also de- 
 ceived by both of them, cf. w.1142, i342ff. ; 
 Lysistrata, w.26ff. Lysistrata relates her scheme 
 for the women to bring the men to terms, cf. 
 vv.42, III, 1007; Thesmophoriazusae, vv.76sff., 
 
174 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 Mnesilochus tries to form some stratagem to 
 escape from the women into whose power he 
 has fallen; Wasps, v.149, I74ff., 192, Philo- 
 cleon tries to invent some means to eflfect 
 his escape and to thwart his son's plots 
 against himself, vv.345ff. ; Birds, vv.igsfif. 
 Peisthetaerus suggests to the birds his scheme 
 for them of one great city, a conception the de- 
 velopment and realization of which^° occupy the 
 entire remainder of the play, cf. vv.321, 431, 457, 
 especially vv.S48ff. ; Birds, vv.96off., a prophet 
 and a surveyor try to hoodwink Peisthetaerus but 
 he whips them off the stage as impostors. Delu- 
 sions and mockeries occur in the Lysistrata, 
 V.840, the plots of the women are to be a delusion 
 and a snare for their husbands, cf. v.1024; Achar- 
 nians vv.ii97f. 
 
 "If Dicaeopolis perceive me^'^ 
 And mock, and mock at my mischances." 
 
 Knights V.1313 "He shall ne'er, as our comman- 
 der, fool it o'er this land of 
 ours." 
 
 Wasps V.1007 " — no Hyperbolus delude and 
 mock you." 
 
 Birds, VV.328, 333, the birds feel betrayed into 
 the hands of men by the Hoopoe. 
 
 10 Rogers — translation, cf. note on v.l62. 
 
 11 Rogers' — ^translation. 
 
SOURCES OF DECEPTION 175 
 
 The dream motive might also be mentioned, 
 Knights, vv.iOQoff.; Wasps, w.i2ff. The bur- 
 lesque use of the plays of Euripides, as in the 
 Thesmophoriazusae, mentioned above, and the 
 burlesque use of the tragic style in the Acharn- 
 ians, w.ii74ff., foreshadow the tragico-comic 
 scenes and the passages of mock-heroic style in 
 Plautus. 
 
 Thus Plautus, as we see, could have borrowed 
 many features from the Old Comedy; and if we 
 judge the New Comedy by him we may perhaps 
 agree with Couat,^^ that the Old Comedy con- 
 tains all the germs of the New Comedy. Be- 
 tween the two, however, the chief distinction lies 
 in the fact that the via "substituted a picture of 
 life for the caricature of life of the ipxaia 
 preferring a laugh which sprang from likeness to 
 reality to one which sprang from the strange and 
 bizarre."^^ In this respect Plautus serves to 
 show that the continuity between the two is un- 
 broken. In fact, as Leo has pointed out,^* it is 
 noteworthy that some of the plays which go back 
 to Menander and Philemon, as the Mercator, 
 Trinummus and perhaps the Epidicus, show more 
 points of contact with the Old Comedy than 
 others. 
 
 It has been indicated that in the Thesmo- 
 phoriazusae there may be a connecting-link be- 
 tween Euripides and Plautus. Also through Me- 
 
 12 Op. cit. p.374. 
 
 13 J. Denis: La Comfidie Grecque, Paris, 1886, Vol. II, 
 pp.408f. 
 
 14 Plaut. Porseh. p. 140. 
 
176 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 n:inder Plautus harks back to Menander's great 
 master, Euripides/^ who had brought tragedy 
 from its height of mythological and heroic fancy 
 10 the level of everyday life, combining with the 
 action of the myth the elements of involved in- 
 trigue. In other words, Euripides served as the 
 forerunner of Plautus in furnishing the transition 
 from tragedy to comedy. In the Ion, the Helen, 
 and the Iphigenia among the Taurians, is found, 
 differentiated from conedy in tragic garb alone, 
 the setting of everyday life which is the material 
 background of comedy. As Leo has suggested,^' 
 where Plautus is thus connected with tragedy it 
 is probable that the threads which bind them to- 
 gether run through the vsa. 
 
 In the use of anagnorisis, for example, Euri- 
 pides anticipates the via, cf. the Electra, the 
 Helen, the Ion, and the Iphigenia among the 
 Taurians with the Epitrepontes of Menander and 
 with the Captivi and the Poenulus of Plautus. 
 That the use of the dvaYVcbptai; as in the Peri- 
 keiromene of Menander, is not a parody on 
 tragedy but a clear case of the influence of 
 tragedy upon comedy Leo has shown.^' Other 
 motives also, as Leo has pointed out, are bor- 
 rowed from tragedy or are a reflection of the 
 tragic conception, e. g. the arbitration scene in 
 Menander's Epitrepontes is like the judgment 
 scene of Polymestor and Hecuba before Aga- 
 
 15 F. Poland: Zur Characteristik Menanders, Neue 
 Jahrb. 33, 1914, p.594; Leo: ROm, Lit. pp.lOOf. 
 le Plaut. Forsch p. 113. 
 17 G. a. N. 1912, p.2«l; RBm. Lit. p. 104. 
 
SOURCES OF DECEPTION 177 
 
 raemnon in the Hecuba; or the pardon of the 
 guilty slave is like the saving of Hypsipyle by 
 Amphiaraos in the Hypsipyle. Also we have 
 mentioned the fact that Plautus uses the Euri- 
 pidean type of prologue, as in the Amphitruo.^* 
 
 Moreover the details of deception prominent in 
 Plautus occur in the tragedies of Euripides, es- 
 pecially personation. In the Helen, the persona- 
 tion of Helen by a wraith, st'SoXov, sent by Zeus 
 to deceive Menelaus and the Greek host, vv.34, 
 559) 704f-. 875,^^ may prefigure the use of per- 
 sonation in comedy. Also Menelaus pretends 
 "in name" to die, w.iosoff., cf. v.1064 the pre- 
 tense, r) CTurjilx?. In the Rhesus, vv.2o8ff., the 
 SoXos of Dolon's disguise as a wolf is outlined 
 in full to the chorus, as a preparation for his 
 carrying out of the ruse, and the chorus repeats 
 the plot in vv.253ff. Odysseus also appears in 
 the guise of a beggar, v. 503, cf . Hecuba w.239ff. ; 
 and Athena personates Cypris in order to deceive 
 Paris, V.638. In the Bacchanals, Pentheus mas- 
 querades as a woman at Dionysus' orders, 
 \v.82oS.'° 
 
 Lies occur throughout the plays, e. g. the lie of 
 Hecuba to Polymestor, in Hecuba vv.ioo2ff., to 
 lure him to his death in the tents of the Trojan 
 women. In the Iphigenia at Aulis, Agamemnon 
 
 18 G. Prantz: De Comoedlae Attlcae Prologls, Diss. 
 Strassburg, 1891, p.40. 
 
 19 Citations from Euripides, Way-translation, Loeb Clas- 
 sical Library. 
 
 20 cf. Homer, personation of a fleeing Trojan by Apollo, 
 Iliad XXII. 
 
178 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 lies to Clytemnestra about the proposed betrothal 
 of Iphigenia to Achilles, and his plot is frustrated 
 by the meeting of Clytemnestra and Achilles, 
 
 VV.820ff. 
 
 Disregard of time, which was noted in Aristo- 
 phanes and Plautus, is found in Euripides, e. g. 
 in the Children of Heracles, where within the 
 space of a hundred lines Capreus, the herald goes 
 to Argos from Athens, gathers a host and 
 returns with them ; and a battle is fought and won 
 within the space of thirty-five lines. But this 
 feature is common to all the tragedies. The 
 dream motive, too, is a connecting-link between 
 tragedy and Plautus, through the vea." 
 
 Plots of various sorts, deceits, texvat, are 
 found throughout the Euripides, cf. 
 
 Hipp. V.670 Tt'vas vuv texva? 8xo;j.ev ij Xofou? 
 ij9aXewa( xaOitiiJia Xuetv Xo^ou. 
 
 V.680 Ou v.atapQuixon -ziyyci 
 
 V.745 2o(pt'!ioi;.ai !e %«xl towi (pcXtdetoti; 
 
 Iph. T. V.24 xai It' 08u5(je(i)i; Texvat niQTpo? 
 TtapeiXovTO 
 
 Ale. V.32 AoXiat; xv/yv-i'. xp7is(ii;.evo(; 
 
 V.786 To vif, TU^'OS eut' ou JiSaxtiv 
 ou3' aXtdxetai xe/vir) 
 
 Iph. T. V.1032 Aeivat ^ap «t Yy^at-Aei; eupt'jiietv 
 Texv«? 
 
 21 Leo: Plaut. Forsch. pp.l62fl. 
 
SOURCES OF DECEPTION 179 
 
 The Cyclops, the only extant Satyric drama, is 
 particularly like the Plautine comedies. This 
 might be expected, considering its farcical nature. 
 Silenus, wtih his wiles and his lies, w.292ff., is 
 very like the crafty slave of Plautus; Odysseus, 
 with his ready wit, v.476, reminds one of the in- 
 triguing trickster. The despairing note of v.668 
 
 Xopo; 
 
 Kuy-Xuip 0!ic(oX6[AY)v 
 
 sounds the oft repeated perii of the Plautine 
 comedies. Had we more of the satyr dramas as 
 a basis for comparison we might find, as we are 
 tempted to believe, that Plautus drew largely, 
 though probably indirectly, from them. At all 
 events he seems certainly to be indebted, directly 
 or more probably indirectly, to Euripides for ele- 
 ments in the plots of deception. 
 
 Further instances of the elements of deception, 
 which enter into the plays of Euripides, may be 
 cited for the sake of completeness : — 
 
 Andr. vv.62f Seiva y«P PouXeue-cai 
 
 MeveXao? ei; <sl xai? 9,' . . . 
 
 67 . . . icoia; |*Y)x*v*S :cXsnoufftv 
 
 435 . . . ■ 86X<j) (a' uitYJXBe?' iQita-r'^iAeOa 
 549 . . . . Tt xpaffffst' anptTO! iit)xa- 
 
i8o DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 V.995 Orestes vows by his plots to ruin 
 Achilles' son. Madness of Heracles, v.8o, 
 Megara appeals to Amphitryon to devise some 
 means for her escape from Lycus, whose ruin he 
 plans, vv.729f., cf. v. 855 for the interference of 
 the gods in their schemes; Iph. Aul. v.745, 
 Agamemnon confesses his plots against Clytem- 
 nestra and Iphigenia ; Rhesus v.125, Aeneas urges 
 sending someone to spy upon the enemy's lines, 
 cf. v. 140, a task which Dolon accepts, vv.iS4ff., 
 to his undoing, for he is trapped by Odysseus 
 and Diomedes, who learn his plans, and who take 
 advantage of that knowledge to destroy Rhesus, 
 V.861 ; Hecuba v.87ofF., Hecuba reveals to Aga- 
 memnon her plot to kill Polymestor, which she 
 carries out, vy.978fif. ; Medea vv.26off., Medea 
 plans vengeance upon Jason and his new bride, 
 her rival, cf. w.317, 372ff., 402fif. ; Helen 
 w.8i3ff., I033ff., Helen plans her escape and that 
 of Menelaus; Electra w.582, 620, Orestes plots 
 Aegisthus' death, which he accomplishes, 
 w.83off. ; Orestes, v. 1099, Orestes and Pylades 
 plan Menelaus' downfall, and Hermione's, v.1212; 
 lies, Iph. T. vv.iissff., Iphigenia invents answers 
 to Thoas' questions as to the reasons for her re- 
 moval of Athena's statue from the temple; 
 Electra vv.6soff., Electra lures Clytemnestra to 
 visit her by lies ; Ion vv.82Sf . 
 
 "So not the God hath lied, 
 but this man lied,^^ 
 
 22 "Way's translation. Loeb series. 
 
SOURCES OF DECEPTION i8i 
 
 Rearing so long the lad, weav- 
 ing such plots." 
 
 Cyclops vv.2S9f. "All that he's said to you 
 was one big lie 
 To excuse his selling your 
 goods on the sly." 
 
 mockery and delusion resulting from the plots 
 above mentioned, 
 
 Iph. Aul. V.849 tow? sxsptoiivias xaiJie v.oi\ si ti;. 
 Helen v. 586 Paris is baffled by Helen's wraith, 
 cf. W.683, 704f., 1621 ; Thieving, Iph. Aul. v.315, 
 Agamemnon's letter, which revealed all his plot, 
 is stolen by Menelaus from the messenger, cf. 
 VV.327, 89s ; pretense, 
 
 Iph. Aul. V.884 "the marriage made the pre- 
 text"23 
 
 Helen v. 1064 "fruitless is thy pretense" 
 Medea vv.87off., Medea pretends that all her for- 
 mer anger and threats against Jason were mere 
 whim; Helen v.1064. The use of letters and of 
 dreams should also be noted : — letters in Iph. Aul. 
 vv.3i5ff. ; Iph. T. vv.767ff.; Hipp. vv.8s6ff. ; 
 dreams in Rhesus v.782 ; Hecuba vv.yzff. ; Iph. 
 T. w.42ff. But it should be carefully noted that, 
 although the same elements as are found in Plau- 
 tus occur also in Euripides, as is evident from 
 these citations, and in Aristophanes, as was noted 
 
 23 Way's translation. 
 
i82 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 above, deception is not the centre of interest nor 
 of primary importance in these two writers.^* 
 
 For the vea, in the comedies of Menander, de- 
 ception of the exact sort used by Plautus in the 
 Truculentus is found in the Epitrepontes, 
 vv.296flF., where Habrotonon plans that she will 
 pretend to be the mother of the child, as Phrone- 
 sium, the meretrix, does in the Plautine play, 
 though with different intent.^' Moreover other 
 similarities exist, in that Habrotonon is apparent- 
 ly a meretrix, v.io; at least, she is a fidicina, 
 V.601 K, cf. V.I, and Onesimus, a slave, is her 
 colleague and abettor in the plot, which is the 
 same sort of intrigue upon which the slaves in 
 some of the Plautine comedies enter, cf. v.318 of 
 the Epitrepontes. In fact, in the Epitrepontes 
 all the action depends upon the fact that the 
 tricky slave accidentally sees a ring which had 
 belonged to his master.^^ With Plautus, how- 
 ever, the feature of deception, as has been seen, 
 is often emphasized by the sacrifice of the com- 
 plications which gave the excuse for the decep- 
 tion, i. e. the love intrigue. All that can be ab- 
 solutely certain is that the plot of the Epitre- 
 pontes consists apparently of the sentimental in- 
 trigue plus the avaYVwpiiJis. 
 
 24 Prescott, Class Ph., XIII (1918), 113fE.— an article 
 which I was able to read only after this dissertation was 
 completed. 
 
 25 ct. the recognition that this was a common ruse, Capt. 
 w.1030-1031. 
 
 26 Legrand: Daos, p.395. 
 
SOURCES OF DECEPTION 183 
 
 In the Perinthia^' some plot is apparently being 
 formed, though to what end it is impossible to 
 determine. As to the personation hinted at in 
 the Epitrepontes, it is probable that Plautus 
 adopted the detail from the vsa, with the change 
 in emphasis which has been noted. In persona- 
 tion Plautus harks back, through Menander, to 
 Euripides, if we accept the conclusion drawn by 
 A. Sehrt^* from a comparison of the Epitrepontes 
 with the Helen of Euripides. And the Euripi- 
 dean use of this feature in other plays has been 
 indicated above. And yet we must not forget 
 the tradition of this element within comedy itself, 
 cf. Aristophanes. 
 
 In the fragments of the New Comedy, Kock's 
 edition, Menander, 
 
 frag. 14 6 xpSTOS eupav SiatpOfp'nv, xtw^w tsxvyjv 
 icoXXous sxoiifjiisv dOXtous axXouv y«P ^^ 
 tbv [A'T) Suvdixsvov I^yjv dXuitco? aitoOavetv 
 
 may refer to some parasite's or trickster's means 
 of gaining a livelihood, cf. also Menander's Ko- 
 lax, vv.sof.,^^ cf. and the fragment of the Anti- 
 phanes, 
 
 243-244 K. Bto? 9swv foip etrtiv otav 'ixfiZ xo9ev. 
 taXXotpta Ssixvetv [xy) xposs^wv Xoyw- 
 (xaaiv. 
 
 B. [xaxaptoso ^I'og. Sei \t.' 'aeixaivov icopov 
 
 27 Koerte: Menandrea, p.l95, vv.llfE. 
 
 28 De Menandro Euripidis imitatore, Glssae, 1912, p.24. 
 
 29 Koerte: Menandrea, p.181. 
 
i84 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 But without more of the context it is impossible 
 to determine whether the word tsxvr) in these 
 citations admits of such a specific rendering as 
 "trick." 
 
 Apart ^rom the fragments of the plays of 
 Menander just mentioned, we have only the he- 
 terogeneous collections of citations from the 
 Middle and New Comedy^" from which to make 
 our comparisons. Inasmuch as these consist 
 largely of philosophical sententiae quoted by Sto- 
 baeus in his avOoXoytov xat kyXofai, of passages 
 appropriate to the AsnuvoffO<p«rTai of Athenaeus, 
 to whom we owe the majority of the fragments, 
 and of single lines and phrases and words quoted 
 by the grammarians, it is perhaps not surprising 
 that an examination of them yields no other in- 
 stances which might serve as parallels, even thus 
 remote, to any details of Plautine trickery. 
 
 To be sure, Menander 493 K 
 
 Yspcov axs[j.snu)4T' aOXto? Xo/^foi; 
 
 is parallel to Terence, Phormio, 
 
 V.682 Emunxi argento senes 
 
 except for the very important omission of the 
 detail of money. It is, however, impossible to 
 
 30 Kock ea. Vol. n (1884) Vol. in (1888); Koerte: Men- 
 andrea, 1910; H. van Herwerden: Collectanea crltica, epi- 
 critlcsa, exegetioa, sive addenda ad T. Kockli opus com. 
 Att. frg. 1903; J. Demlanczyk: Supplementum comicorum 
 Comoedla Greaoae fragmenta post edltionem Kocklanum, 
 Abhandl. Krakau Akad. 1912, pp.203-382. 
 
SOURCES OF DECEPTION 185 
 
 say whether the Greek is, like the Latin, a sum- 
 ming up of the successful accomplishment of a 
 ruse worked out by the speaker, or whether it is 
 a mere statement of the confused state of the 
 ■)fsp<ov under other circumstances. Moreover, in 
 view of the vast number of fragments, the 
 scarcity of parallels probably means that decep- 
 tion in the vsa was relatively much rarer than in 
 the Roman palliata. 
 
 In a general way, as Legrand points out,^^ a 
 comedy of the new period represents the work- 
 ing out of a precarious situation to a definite con- 
 clusion. And the strength of the ve«^^ lay in the 
 artistic combination of such involved and excit- 
 ing action with a subtle portrayal of character, 
 wherein the denouement was brought about part- 
 ly through chance, partly through intrigue, or 
 liirough the peculiarities or contrasts in the 
 character of the personae dramatis. For Me- 
 nander and his imitators,^^ character became the 
 chief interest, and their originality consists in 
 perfecting the action and intrigue and in trans- 
 ferring to comedy the customs and passions 
 which, so far as they were based on literature, 
 seemed up to that time to have been reserved 
 for tragedy. Their chief source was life. In 
 general, Plautus as well as Terence continues this 
 tradition. 
 
 31 Daos, p.876. 
 
 32 Christ: Geschlchte der grlechisohen Literatur, I. 
 Mailer's Handbuch, Vol. VII 2, 1. p.27. This tendency 
 probably began in the jASffY). 
 
 33 J. Denis: La Comfidie Grecque, II p.403. 
 
i86 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 From the indications of connection which we 
 have mentioned, it may be concluded that, in 
 general, deception of some sort figured in the 
 vsa, though the familiar plot of spus x.ai 8ia<p6opa 
 xapOsvou followed by dv«YVwptati; is the chief fea- 
 ture of the vsa as illustrated, at least, by the plays 
 of Menander.'* Yet as has been seen in the Epi- 
 trepontes, the element of deception enters in, in 
 the special guise of pretense and lying. 
 
 Further traces of deception can be followed 
 back to the 6ip%ai(x and even to tragedy, especial- 
 ly the tragedy of Euripides. The presence of 
 many details of deception disclosed by our analy- 
 ses in the comedies of Plautus is explainable, 
 then, as derived either from comedies of the vsa 
 still undiscovered, or as introduced and increased 
 in number and in relative importance indepen- 
 dently by Plautus, after he had learned the 
 methods of the vsa. 
 
 There is one other possibility, that of the deri- 
 vation of deception from the Atellana. The 
 connection between Plautus and the Atellana has 
 been discussed by Leo,^' especially for the 
 Casina, in which vv .902-914 resemble Pomponius 
 V.57 R, V.67 R, which deal with masquerading. 
 Deception in the form of personation, therefore, 
 was present in the Atellana; cf, also two cita- 
 tions from Pomponius and Novius, who though 
 later than Plautus may reproduce in Uterary form 
 
 34 cf. the Hero and Perikeiromene ; Leo: R3m. Lit. I 
 p.l02f. 
 
 35 Die Plautinlsohen Cantioa, pp.l04fE. 
 
SOURCES OF DECEPTION 187 
 
 the earlier unwritten farces :^« Pomponius, Sar- 
 cularia/' 
 
 Alter amat potat prodigit, patrem suppilat semper 
 
 which may imply, some such schemes for stealing 
 money from the patrem as the adulescentes and 
 servi of Plautus indulge in,^^ since sup pilar e, ac- 
 cording to Nonius 13, I means involare vel ra- 
 pere, a pilorum raptu; Novius, Decuma IP° 
 
 Me non vocabit ; ob eam rem hanc feci f allam 
 
 in which according to Nonius 109, 19 f allam is 
 used for fallaciam. But since the Atellana in its 
 literary form is later that the palliata, it is quite 
 possible that these resemblances are due to the 
 influence of the latter, and not to independent 
 tradition from the preliterary Atellana. 
 
 The presence, therefore, of so many details of 
 the Plautine technique of deception in the Greek 
 also, — tragedy, Old and New Comedy, admits of 
 the possibility of the adoption of them by Plautus 
 from any or all Greek forerunners, but does not 
 prove such adoption. Whether Plautus was a 
 translator and adapter, after the pattern set 
 
 36 of. Ribbeck: Scaenlcae Romanorum Poesls Frag- 
 menta, 1897. 
 
 37 Ibid, p.301. 
 
 38 Ibid, p.310. 
 
 39 But the line applies better to ordinary pilfering, cf. 
 SUppilare in the Menaechmi. 
 
i88 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 by Naevius, as Leo argues,*" his creative 
 genius shaping merely the dialogue and 
 not the plot of the comedies,*^ "which 
 in their carefully worked out intrigue 
 merely follow the typp characteristic of the New 
 Comedy, or whether Plautus subordinated the 
 literary Attic form to the burlesque, mirth-mak- 
 ing sketches of Roman daily life and interming- 
 led with them features from the Samnite folk- 
 drama, which in their Roman-Italiian atmosphere 
 display that closeness to Aristophanes which 
 Cicero felt"*^ it is impossible to decide. But it 
 is evident, considering the predominance of 
 trickery in all the comedies of Plautus and its 
 subordination or entire absence in all the 
 available Greek sources, as has been seen, that 
 Plautus makes trickery the chief interest in his 
 plots, regardless of its relative unimportance in 
 his originals. 
 
 The present investigation of these originals has 
 proved that the plot of trickery did not come in 
 toto from them as can be judged from the extant 
 fragments. To the objection which may be raised 
 that Plautus may have selected from the hun- 
 dreds of Greek plays at his disposal those which 
 made this element prominent, we can only say 
 that the non-existence of such plays at present 
 makes the proof of that assertion impossible. In 
 view of the thousands of Greek fragments the 
 
 40 ROm. Lit. pp.lOSff. 
 
 41 Leo: Plfl-ut. Forsch. p.lOl; p.l65. 
 
 42CIC. de off. I 104, quoted by Leo: ROm. Lit. pp.lS6f. 
 
SOURCES OF DECEPTION 189 
 
 argument ex silentio seems strong. From the 
 Greek he certainly adapted to his own use, vary- 
 ing them to suit his mood and his anticipation of 
 the humour of his audience, love scenes, toilet 
 scenes, dialogues between slaves, parasites and 
 cooks, banquet scenes and the like, as the 
 outer structure barely covering the evident 
 framework beneath.*^ Plautus' method in 
 this choice and his arrangement of the 
 various features has been shown in the analy- 
 ses, — the fact that trickery, as a plot, can be 
 traced throughout most of the plays, discarding 
 such incidental scenes as serve merely as the 
 outer padding. The poet's art, as Leo in- 
 timates,** is manifest in his success in making 
 the action, with the addition of these extraneous 
 scenes, poetically and theatrically probable. 
 
 His failure to do so in all cases, as illustrated 
 by the plays in which threads of trickery are 
 dropped, is attributable to the playwright's con- 
 centration upon the plot of deception and his 
 disregard for minor details. Except in the Epi- 
 dicus, which offers the greatest obscurities in plot, 
 the resulting inconsistencies are not vital to the 
 progress of the trickery. In general the dis- 
 crepancies are such as would probably pass un- 
 noticed in a single rendering of a play before an 
 audience whose object was merely to be enter- 
 tained. We can believe that Plautus worked 
 merely to meet that demand*' and so led on the 
 
 43 Leo: Plaut. Forsch. p.210. 
 
 44 R5m. lilt, p.105. 
 
 45 Leo: R8m. Lit. p.l09. 
 
190 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 action in his plays from one amusing incident to 
 the next, interspersing scenes borrowed from 
 Greek comedy with farcical elements in the form 
 of deception and the like, and joining past, 
 present and future action as coherently as it 
 might be found in everyday happenings. Many 
 things of the day prevent the accomplishment of 
 plans of the past and necessitate entirely diverg- 
 ent plans for the future. Comedy is and always 
 will be a "picture of life." The inconsistencies 
 of life must necessarily be mirrored in the copy. 
 The physchological improbabilities which Langen 
 reiterates so frequently could often be brought as 
 an accusation against the everyday course of 
 human events. Moreover, many of the incon- 
 sistencies in the Latin comedies already occur in 
 the Greek models.*" No sequence of logical 
 premise and conclusion controls with fixed rule 
 the actions of the puppets which play upon the 
 stage of hfe. Why demand such logical sequence 
 then in the actions of the pretenders at life on 
 the stage of comedy? 
 
 To the Romans the machinations of a slave 
 were just as interesting as to their ancestors the 
 wiles of Ulysses or of Sinon.*' Plautus co.a- 
 bined in his comedies,*^ as has already been 
 stated, the literary Attic form and plot with de- 
 tails and customs of Roman daily life, and stands 
 forth as the connecting link between the New 
 
 46 Legrand: Daos, pp.399, 407, 409. 
 
 47 Legrand: Daos, p.401. 
 
 48 Leo: RBm. Lit. p.l40. 
 
SOURCES OF DECEPTION 191 
 
 Comedy and the world literature of modem 
 times.*^ Plautus' creative genius appears in the 
 way in which he met the demands of the vis 
 cowico;'"' Without violating in too open a 
 fashion the reality of roles and situations, he per- 
 formed the full duty of the dramatist^^ of mciking 
 his audience understand the events which took 
 place, in their due relations, and of amusing and 
 entertaining them. 
 
 49 Ibid, p.149. 
 
 50 Leo: Plaut. Forsch. p. 101. 
 
 51 Iiegrand: Daos, p.490. 
 
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 1907. 
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196 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
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 : De Interpolationibus in 
 
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 pp.289ff. 
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 : Zum Epidicus des Plautus, 
 
 Zeitschr. f. Alter. 1841, coll. 1079-1099. 
 Langen P. : Plautinische Studien, Beriin, 1886. 
 Langrehr G. : De Plauti Curculione, Friedland, 
 
 1893. 
 Leo F. : Der Monolog in Drama, Abhandl. d. 
 
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 : Die Plautinische Cantica, Abhandl. d. 
 
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 : Geschichte der romischen Literatur, 
 
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 : Lectiones Plautinae, Hermes XVIII, 
 
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 : Satyros Bio? EupMct'Sou, G. G. N. 1912, 
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 :Uber den Stichus des Plautus, G. G. 
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 : Uber den Pseudolus des Plautus, G. 
 
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198 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
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 : De tribus car- 
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 pp. i3ff- 
 
VITA 
 
 I, Helen Emma Wieand Cole, was born in 
 Pottstown, Pennsylvania, on April i6, 1885. My 
 parents were the Reverend Charles S. and 
 Leonore M. Wieand. My preliminary education 
 was begun in the public schools of Pottstown, 
 where I was graduated from the High School in 
 June, 1901, and was completed at Blair Presby- 
 terial Academy, Blairstown, New Jersey. My 
 undergraduate work was done at Mount Hol- 
 yoke College, from which institution I was 
 graduated in June, 1906, with the degree of 
 Bachelor of Arts. In June 1908, I received the 
 degree of Master of Arts from the same institu- 
 tion, upon the recommendation of Bryn Mawr 
 College, for a year of graduate work in the de- 
 partments of Latin and Archaeology. For the 
 year 1907-08 and the following year, 1908-09, I 
 held a graduate scholarship awarded by Bryn 
 Mawr College, in the departments of Latin and 
 Archaeology. My graduate work was completed 
 at Bryn Mawr College in the years 191 5-17, dur- 
 ing the second year of which I was the holder of 
 the '86 Fellowship for Graduate Study from 
 Mount Holyoke College. 
 199 
 
200 DECEPTION IN PLAUTUS 
 
 The years between 1909 and 1915 were spent 
 for the most part in teaching. In 1906-07, I was 
 instructor in Latin in Cox College, College Park, 
 Georgia. The year 1909-1910 I taught Latin 
 and German in the High School of Phoenixville, 
 Pennsylvania. From 1911-15, I was at Wheaton 
 College, Norton, Massachusetts, for the first two 
 years as instructor in Greek and History of Art, 
 for the last two as Assistant-professor of Latin 
 and head of the department. In 1915-16, while 
 pursuing my graduate work at Bryn Mawr I was 
 assistant in Latin in Miss Wright's School, Bryn 
 Mawr. On August 22, 1917, I was married to 
 Samuel Valentine Cole, D. D., LL. D., president 
 of Wheaton College, Norton, Massachusetts. 
 
 This thesis was presented as a partial fulfilment 
 of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of 
 Philosophy to the Faculty of Bryn Mawr Col- 
 lege in February, 1918. 
 
 My graduate work at Bryn Mawr College has 
 been done under the direction of Professor 
 Arthur L. Wheeler and Professor Tenney Frank, 
 in the department of Latin, and Professor Caro- 
 line L. Ransom in the department of Archaeo- 
 logy. To them I wish to acknowledge here my 
 gratitude for their encouragement and inspiring 
 assistance. To Professor Wheeler especially, 
 under whose direction this dissertation was writ- 
 ten, I wish to express my gratitude for his helpful 
 suggestions and kindly consideration, both in 
 connection with the writing of the dissertation 
 
VITA 20I 
 
 and throughout my entire graduate course. To 
 Professor Rhys Carepenter, of the department of 
 Archaeology, who gave me my final examinations 
 in that department, and to Dr. T. deC. Ruth, who 
 had Professor Frank's place, during the latter's 
 leave of absence in the last year of my graduate 
 work, I wish also to express my thanks for their 
 assistance. 
 
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