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THE INFLUENCE OF PLAUTUS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 COMEDIES OF BEN JONSON 
 
 A THESIS 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 DOCTORATE IN PHILOSOPHY 
 
 BY 
 
 ELEANOR P. LUMLEY 
 
 Approved by the Faculty of the Graduate School of the New 
 York University, 1900 
 
 flew l^otft 
 
 1901 
 
 1^ 
 
A,H^^] 
 
 2_ 
 
 Copyright, igoi 
 
 BV 
 
 ELEANOR P. LUMLEY 
 
 Ube IRiUcftetbocfter ©tese, new Botft 
 
PREFATORY note;. 
 
 THE abbreviations selected for the titles of the 
 Plautine comedies are those adopted by Ritschl, 
 Studemund and Goetz. The edition of Plautus from 
 which extracts are taken, and to which reference is 
 made, including the Testimonia Veterum prefixed to 
 the edition, is that from the recension by George Goetz 
 and Friderick Schoell, 1898. 
 
 The value of this dissertation will be that it is the 
 first systematic attempt in this direction — not that it 
 exhausts the subject, nor that the category of refer- 
 ences is complete. As Jonson followed Plautus 
 freely, much of the influence is general or indirect, and 
 can be indicated only by reference and inference. 
 Striking resemblances — where the words correspond, 
 or where the spirit or idea is similar — are regarded as 
 direct influence, and have been cited at length. 
 
 The use of the Library at Harvard University, and 
 of the Library at Columbia University, was kindly 
 granted me. Among the authorities consulted, are 
 the commentaries on the Plautine plays, Mr. von Rein- 
 hardstoettner's work on Plautus, the publications on 
 Ben Jonson by Mr. Algernon Swinburne, Professor 
 Felix E. Schelling and Mr. J. A. Symonds ; and vari- 
 ous histories of Roman Literature, chiefly that by Wil- 
 helm Sigmund Teuffel. 
 
 I wish to acknowledge my indebtedness to my in- 
 structors. Dr. Francis H. Stoddard, of the New York 
 University ; Dr. Alfred Gudeman and Professor Felix 
 
IV 
 
 Prefatory Note. 
 
 E. Schelling, Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania; 
 and especially to Dr. Ernest G. Sihler, of the New 
 York University, who has read the work in proof- 
 sheets and given me the advantage of his scholarly 
 criticisms. 
 
 E. P. L. 
 New York City, June, igcxj. 
 
 ABBREVIATIONS OF THE TITLES OF THE 
 PIvAUTlNE COMEDIES. 
 
 Am.: 
 
 Amphitruo, 
 
 Mn.: 
 
 Menaechmi, 
 
 As.: 
 
 Asinaria, 
 
 Mi.: 
 
 Miles Gloriosus, 
 
 Au.: 
 
 Aulularia, 
 
 Mr.: 
 
 Mercator, 
 
 Cp.: 
 
 Captivi, 
 
 Ps.: 
 
 Pseudolus, 
 
 Cu.: 
 
 Curculio, 
 
 Po.: 
 
 Poenulus, 
 
 Cs.: 
 
 Casina, 
 
 Pe.: 
 
 Persa, 
 
 Ci.: 
 
 Cistellaria, 
 
 R.: 
 
 Rudens, 
 
 E.: 
 
 Epidicus, 
 
 S.: 
 
 Stichus, 
 
 B.: 
 
 Bacchides, 
 
 Ti.: 
 
 Trinummus, 
 
 Mo.: 
 
 Mostellaria, 
 
 Tu.: 
 
 Truculentus, 
 
 
 v.: 
 
 Vidularia. 
 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 Aspirants for fame show adherence to the old masters. 
 — ^The genius of Plautus has left its impress upon the 
 literature of the nations. — The researches of Mr. von 
 Reinhardstoettner show extensive influence in France, 
 Germany, England, and the lesser principalities. — 
 There is a reason to be assigned for this influence. . i-2 
 
 A. lNFi,uENCE. — Indirect. 
 
 I. That the Plautine comedies were highly esteemed and 
 popular. — Testimony of ancient writers as to their 
 value, popiolarity, and duration on the stage. — P. 
 Terentius. — Aelius Stilo. — Volcacius Sedigitus.— M. 
 Terentius Varro. — M. Tullius Cicero. — Q. Horatius 
 Flaccus. — Quintilian. — Aulus Gellius. — The testi- 
 mony of the Christian writers, Eusebius, Rufinus, 
 Hieronymus, Macrobius. — Testimony of the modern 
 writers of ancient history, Mommsen, Teuffel- 
 Schwabe. — Plautus unknown during the Middle Ages. 
 — The position held by the Plautine comedies at the 
 end of the fourteenth century compared with their 
 position at the close of the sixteenth century, when 
 they formed the main source of all dramatic produc- 
 tions of a comic character. — Testimony of Meres, the 
 Lady Mary Wortley Montague and others. — This great 
 fame but slightly reflected in our day. . . . 3-12 
 
 II. That the literary style of Plautus was such as would 
 appeal directly to the people. — -The character of the 
 comedies. — Plautus a writer o f Comedy of Manners. 
 — Plots reproductions from the Greek New Comedy 
 writers. — ^The portions traceable to the translator, indi- 
 cate the true reason for his popularity, and for the 
 theatre repeatedly reverting to his plays. — His origin- 
 
vi Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 ality consisted in his power of transmuting, not of 
 verbally translating. — Introduction of new force, fresh- 
 ness, soundness. — A master in art and form, notwith- 
 standing foreign sources. — His influence the same, 
 whether he is allowed the merit of originality or not. 
 — Originality merely a question of individual merit. — 
 Special characteristics.— Masterly use of language.— 
 Skill in dramatic effect. — Clever dialogue. — Fresh 
 humor. — Comic effect. — The people for whom he 
 wrote. — The plays indicate intercourse with the com- 
 mon people.— An outgrowth of the times in which the 
 author lived. — Plautus exclusively a comic and a popu- 
 lar poet. — Characters drawn to nature's model. — 
 Strong point in the sermo, not in the plot. — The mu- 
 tual relation of parts of the greatest importance. — His 
 art indicated in his witty and vivacious answers. — He 
 has served as a model in this respect for all future 
 generations. — The delicate little earmarks, words, puns 
 and jests, are peculiarities which betray the hand of 
 Plautus. — Inexhaustible in the resources of his vocab- 
 ulary. — Archaic forms give an antique flavor, like 
 those used by Shakespeare and Ben Jonson. . 13-28 
 III. That these comedies, by continued presentation 
 on the stage, had grown to be familiar to the public. 
 — Mr. von Reinhardstoettner's method a pleasant 
 way of realizing the merits of Plautus, and of estimat- 
 ing his influence in general on posterity.— At the 
 period of the revival of letters, eight of the Plautine 
 comedies known. — First announcement of the ex- 
 istence of a MS. containing the twenty, made in 1429, 
 by Poggio Bracciolini.— The editio princeps, 1472, of 
 Merulae.— Method of transcribing.- The edition of 
 Camerarius, 1552. —Separate editions previous to the 
 date of Ben Jonson's last comedy, 1633, of which 
 copies exist in the British Museum Library. —The 
 English translation of the Andria of Terence, pr. 
 1530, and 1588.— The Menaechmi translated and pre- 
 sented in Italy, in 1508, earlier than any other play. 
 — Its probable presentation in England at an early 
 
Contents. vii 
 
 PAGB 
 
 date. — The development, in England, of a taste for 
 classical literature, and its effects upon the national 
 drama. — Plautine comedies presented before Henry 
 VIII. at Greenwich in 1528. — The Aulularia before 
 Queen Elizabeth at Cambridge, 1564. — Plautus a 
 favorite in the Cloisters, where his comedies were 
 frequently presented from a very early date. — 
 Nicholas Udall, the schoolmaster, 1556, wrote plays 
 after the manner of Plautus and Terence for his boys 
 to perform. — The times of Elizabeth and James par- 
 ticularly fertile in the production and presentation of 
 Latin dramas.— English drama sprang from the mo- 
 ralities, through the interludes, aided primarily by 
 the examples of Plautus and Terence, and second- 
 arily by the Italian comic dramatists. — Mediaeval 
 scholars converted the Plautine dramas to represent 
 Biblical incidents. — Burmeister's Nativity, founded 
 on the Amphitruo. — MS. copies of imitations of 
 Plautine comedies in British Museum library, before 
 Jonson's time, 1485, 1551. — English imitations. — G. 
 Gascoigne, the Supposes, 1566. — N. Udall, Ralph 
 Royster Doyster. — J. Lilly, Sir Tophas in Endimion. 
 — Heywood, The Silver Age ; The English Trav- 
 eller. — Massinger, A Very Woman. — Passages of the 
 old play of Albumazar. — A. Munday, John a Kent 
 and John a Cumber, 1595. — Addison, Gespenst mit der 
 Trotntnel. — Dryden, Sir Martin Mar-all. — Murphy, 
 The Citizen. — O.Cha.pvaa.n,3Iay Day. — Beaumont and 
 Fletcher, A King and No King ; The Custom oj the 
 Country. — Congreve, The Old Bachelor. — Middleton, 
 No Wit Like a Woman' s.—S'ha.'kesp&are, John Ealstaff, 
 Comedy oJ Errors, The Twelfth Night, etc. — Shad- 
 well, The Miser.— B.. Fielding, The Miser, 1672.— Au- 
 thors possessing native genius borrowed plots, scenes 
 and sentiments from the Plautine comedies. — The 
 Menaechmi, directly or indirectly copied by Rotrou, 
 Picard and Schiller.— By Shakespeare in the Comedy 
 of Errors. — Imitation found in the Taming oJ the 
 Shrew, The Twelfth Night, The Tempest, Pericles.— 
 
viii Contents. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Rudens furnishes material for Battista Porta's 
 La Trappolaria; for MoliSre's VEtourdi ; Reg- 
 nard's La SMnade and the play by Diderich Men- 
 schenschreck. — Shylock and Euclio. — Endence of 
 Shakespeare's knowledge of the Plautine comedies 
 in the original or in the translated forms. — Supposi- 
 tion that W. W. had translated all the plays by 1595. ' 
 — His publication of the Menaechmi. — Extent of the 
 influence of Plautus on Shakespeare limited. — The 
 L'Etourdi and VAvare of Moliere. — The relative 
 merit of these plays compared with their originals . 29-49 
 
 B. iNFivUENCE. — Direct. 
 IV. Illustrated in three ways : in general idea, mere 
 outline ; in particular ideas, words, phrases, etc.; 
 in direct translation. — Similarity in plot, charac- 
 ter, scene, episode, spirit or idea where words 
 are different. — Stock characters in each. — Plots 
 slight. — Method in working out of plot similar. 
 — Made sport of their dupes.— Jonson's idea of the 
 principles of the English drama. — Theories those of 
 a classicist. — His idea of the comic in art and of 
 dramatic art. — Believed the English drama should 
 follow the example of the uetus comoedie. — Character 
 of his genius that of a caricaturist. — His dependence 
 on the classic idea and interpretation of it in a literal 
 sense. — His aim and observance of the Aristotelian 
 — - rules. — The Comedy of Manners, which he derived 
 from the ancients, brought fixed types of character 
 on the stage. — Analyzed fixed types. — In this respect 
 he diverged most radically from the spirit of the 
 Shakespearian drama. — His greatest creations dupes 
 and cheats. — His wit admirable, but not delightful. — 
 People for whom he wrote. — It is to be regretted that 
 the influence on the style and method of Jonson was 
 not more permanent. 
 
 I. Every Man in His Humour and the Miles Glo- 
 riosus. The Magnetic Lady. Bobadill an imitation 
 of the Miles.— The best known, after FalstafF, of the 
 
Contents. ix 
 
 PAGE 
 
 characters modelled after the bragging officer. — 
 Pyrgopolinices. — Thraso. — Therapontigonus. — Gif- 
 ford's comment. — Selected passages showing influ- 
 ence. — Captain Tucca, after Bobadill, the "brightest 
 and best" of Jonson's imitations of this character. 
 
 2. The Alchemist and the Mostellaria. — Selected 
 passages showing influence. — Sir Epicure Mammon 
 and Gripus, a character of the Rudens. 
 
 3. The Case is Altered, the Captivi, and the Aulu- 
 laria. — Selected passages showing similarity and 
 direct influence. 
 
 4. The Silent Woman, the Casina, the Asinaria, — 
 Illustration of similarity in episode. 
 
 5. — Volpone, The Fox. — Mosca. — The Devil is an Ass. 
 — Fitzdottrel. — Influence undeniable where idea is 
 similar, where passages correspond in verbal phras- 
 ing. — Was this influence conscious, or unconscious ? 
 — External evidence. — Testimony of contemporane- 
 ous writers. — Meres. — Drummond. — Internal evi- 
 dence. — Extent of influence a matter of individual 
 opinion. — Jonson not a literal translator. — Skill in 
 treatment of material. — No idea of concealing his 
 sources. — Intended to have written a play in imita- 
 tion oiihe. Amphitruo. — Reason he did not do so . 50-118 
 Conclusion. — Humor the soul of comedy. — Humor de- 
 pendent i^pon the day and manners of the time. — 
 Jonson a better antiquarian than a dramatist. — A 
 power in literature. — An honored author in his day. 
 — Eulogies published after his death. — Devotion to 
 his ideas of art, exclusive. — Endeavored to reform 
 the stage. — The new style not immediately successful. 
 — Recognition by stage patrons. — A leader of jovial 
 society in I/ondon. — ^The greatest constructor of plots 
 in our literature. — Position of Jonson and Plautus 
 similar to-day. — A comic satirist who suffiered the fate 
 of a successful reformer 118-121 
 
BIBI^IOGRAPHY 
 
 OP THE CHIEF WORKS CONSUWED IN THIS DISCUSSION. 
 
 Catalogue. — British Museum. 
 
 Claus, W. — Plautus' Mostellaria and the Imitations of It. 
 • Collier, J. P. — History of English Dramatic Poetry and Annals 
 
 of the Stage. Vol.1. 1831. 
 Cruttwell, C. T. (M.A.)— History of Roman Literature. 1886. 
 Gifford Wm. — Memoirs of Ben Jonson. 1816. 
 Goetz, Geo. and Schoell, F.— Titi Macci Plauti Comoediae. 
 
 1898. 
 Jonson, Ben. — Works of, ed. by Cornwall, Barry. 1838. 
 I/essing, G. E. — Von dem Leben und den Werken des Plautus. 
 
 Collected Works, Vol. IV. 1889. 
 Modem Lang. Ass. of America. — Publications of, 1887, 1895, 
 
 1896. 
 Mommsen, Theodore. — History of Rome. Tr. by Dickson, 
 
 Wm. Ed. 1894. 
 Ramsay, Wm. — Plautus, Mostellaria. Prolegomena. 1869. 
 Reinhardstoettner, Karl von. — Plautus. Spatere Bearbeitungen 
 
 Plautinischer Lustspiele. 1886. Leipzig. 
 Schelling, Felix E. — Ben Jonson and the Classical School, and 
 
 Jonson's Timber or Discoveries made upon Men and 
 
 Matter. 
 Symonds, J. A. — Shakespeare's Predecessors. English Wor- 
 thies. Ben Jonson. Ed. of 1888. 
 Swinburne, Algernon Charles.— A Study of Ben Jonson. 1889. 
 Testimonia Veterum. — Goetz-Schoell's ed. of Plauti Comoediae. 
 Texxffel-Schwabe. — History of Roman Literature. Tr. by Geo. 
 
 C. W. Warr. 1891-2. 
 Warton, Tho.— History of English Poetry. 1871. 
 
THE INFLUENCE OF PLAUTUS ON 
 THE COMEDIES OF BEN JONSON. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 NOT alone in painting and sculpture, but in literary- 
 art as well, aspirants for fame in succeeding 
 generations show more or less dependence upon the old 
 masters. When we compare closely the products of 
 literature in the evolutionary stages, we not infre- 
 quently find that the later or modern stands in relation 
 to the earlier or ancient as a child to a parent ; that 
 the features of the one may be traced in the lineaments 
 of the other. Not only is this true with regard to 
 points of special similarity, but we find that the general 
 style of the later writer has frequently been acquired, 
 perhaps unconsciously, from a close study of the char- 
 acteristics of an older model. 
 
 Perhaps, with all his shortcomings, no ancient writer 
 has thus served as a model so generally, or has had 
 so many successful imitators among poets as Plautus.' 
 His genius, centuries after his language had become 
 obsolete, left its impress upon the literature of the 
 nations.' The researches ' of Mr. Karl von Reinhard- 
 stoettner show that this influence has been felt in 
 France, Germany, England. Also Italy, Spain, Por- 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, spatere Bearbeitung 
 plautinischer. Lustspiele, Beitr. z. Vgl. Ivit.-Gescli., Lpz. 1886, 
 etc. ""Ibid. ^Ibid. 
 
2 Influence of Plautus on Ben Jonson. 
 
 tugal, Holland, Denmark, Hungary, Sweden, furnish 
 authors who have written plays founded in a greater 
 or less degree on the comedies of Plautus.' In France, 
 among others Rotrou, Moliere, Regnard and Picard ; 
 in England, Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Dryden, Field- 
 ing, Addison and others of less celebrity availed them- 
 selves of plots, scenes and hints suggested by the old 
 Latin dramatist. 
 
 There must be some reason for this general imitation 
 of the Plautine comedies, some merit in the plays them- 
 selves. That a writer of Ben Jonson's acknowledged 
 classical tastes and tendencies" should turn to the 
 greatest comedian the ancient Roman world could pro- 
 duce for assistance,' is not strange ; but it is remark- 
 able that he should have made direct adaptation of 
 portions of the Plautine comedies in various instances, 
 and that other authors also, as Shakespeare and Field- 
 ing, who were not classicists naturally, should turn to 
 Plautus for ideas. This can be accounted for by estab- 
 lishing three facts, i. e.: i, that the Plautine comedies 
 were highly esteemed and popular ; 2, that the Uterary 
 style of Plautus was such as to appeal directly to the 
 people ; 3, that these comedies by continued presenta- 
 tion on the stage had grown to be familiar to the pub- 
 lic. As such proof is material and precedent to any 
 statement of direct influence which Plautus may have 
 had on Ben Jonson's comedies, it will be advantageous 
 to consider these questions. 
 
 ^Ibid. 
 
 'Schelling, Felix E., Ben Jonson and the Classical School, 
 and Ibid., Jonson's Timber or Discoveries Made upon Men and 
 Matter. 
 
 ^Swinbiime, Algernon Charles, A Study of Ben Jonson, 1889. 
 Cf. Symonds, J. A., Shakespeare's Predecessors. English 
 Worthies, Ben Jonson, 1888. 
 
I. 
 
 THAT The pi,autine comedies were highly 
 
 ESTEEMED AND POPTTLAR. 
 
 FROM tlie date of his first comedy until his death, 
 in 184 B.C./ Plautus produced plays, and con- 
 tinued the undisputed favqrite of the public; ' and after 
 his death, these comedies did not cease to excite the 
 admiration of educated Romans. 
 
 " After the death of Terence," (in 159 B.C.,) says 
 Mommsen, " new pieces were no longer performed. 
 That the public (still in the SuUan Age) expected to 
 see such appears from the reproductions — belonging to 
 this epoch — of Plautine comedies with the titles and 
 names of the persons altered, with reference to which 
 the managers well added that it was better to see a 
 good old piece than a bad new one. From this the step 
 was not great to that entire surrender of the stage to 
 the dead poets, which we find in the Ciceronian Age." ' 
 
 There is evidence that Plautus held a high place in 
 the estimation of the ancient Romans," from the refer- 
 ences to him extending from Terence,' Varro' and 
 
 1 Cicero, Brut, XV, 60. Goetz and Schoell, Plautus, 1898. 
 Testimonia Veterum, XXX. 
 
 = TeufFel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Warr, Geo. C. 
 W. (M.A.), 1891-2, I, p. 145. 
 
 3 Mommsen, Hist, of Rome, Vol. IV, p. 688, ed. 1894. 
 
 ■i Horace, Art. Poet., 26355'. Testimonia Veterum, LXV. 
 
 'Terence, Eunuchus, Prol. v. 25. Adelphoi, Prol. v. 6 sq. 
 Testimonia Veterum, XXXVI, XXXVII. 
 
 'Varro, Apud Charisium, II, p. 241, 27 Kail. 
 
 3 
 
4 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 Cicero/ down to the Christian writers ; '' and from the 
 fact that his plays held their place so long upon the 
 stage/ Sedigitus, in A. Gellius,' has given to Cae- 
 cilius Statins the first, to Plautus the second, and to 
 Terence the sixth place among the Roman comic poets. 
 The pun, at 1. 769 sq. Mostellaria, referring to his 
 birthplace would seem to indicate that, at the time the 
 Mostellaria was written, Plautus was already a well- 
 known writer. 
 
 Varro, a very subtle judge of writers and poets,' 
 praises him for his dialogue : In argumentis Caecilius 
 poscit palmam, in ethesin Terentius, in sermonibus 
 Plautus. ' Moreover, Varro bears witness that Plautus, 
 in the elegance and virtue of his discourse, was espe- 
 cially distinguished, and in Quintilian ' we read that 
 Varro, following the opinion of his teacher, Aelius 
 Stilo, the grammarian, said : Si latine loqui uellent, 
 Musas Plautino sermone loacturas fuisse. 
 
 The purity of his Latin diction, his lively and spark- 
 ling wit and the comic style of his dialogue were par- 
 ticularly celebrated by these early writers. The public 
 admired Plautus heartily, entered fully into his humor 
 
 ' Cicero, De Or., Ill, 12, 44 sg. Ex persona, Crassi. Testi- 
 ■monia Veterum, LX. 
 
 ^ Rufinus, In Hieronytnum, II, 8, 10 t. II, p. 639 sqg. Vail. 
 Testimonia Veterum, LXXXI. 
 
 ^Mommsen, Hist of Rome, ed. 1894. 
 
 ^ Volcacius Sedigitus, Apud Gellium, N. A., XV, 24. Testi- 
 monia Veterum, LV. 
 
 'Cic. Brut., XV, 60. Testimonia Veterum, XXX. Cf. 
 Wolff, Godofr. Aug. B., Prolegomena ad Plauti Aululariam, 
 1836. 
 
 "Varro, Apud Nonium, p. 374, 5 M. Testimonia Veterum, 
 LVI. 
 
 ' Quintilianus, Inst. Or., X, i, 99. Testimonia Veterum, 
 LXVIII. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 5 
 
 and burst into laughter at the smart retorts and neat 
 quibbles of his characters. Nor was this an ephemeral 
 reputation, for whole generations have given him their 
 applause. Aulus Gellius calls Plautus, uerborum 
 Latinorum elegantissimus ' ,■ praises him in the highest 
 terms and speaks of him as, homo linguae atque ele- 
 gantiae in uerbis Latinae princeps'' ; and again as, 
 linguae Latinae decus.^ This same writer has given an 
 account of an epitaph' which Plautus composed for his 
 own tomb, which expresses a bold consciousness of his 
 powers, although it renders him liable to the imputa- 
 tion of vanity. 
 
 " In the time of Cicero," says Mommsen, " the 
 tragedies of Ennius, Pacuvius and Accius, and the 
 comedies of Plautus, were those chiefly produced. 
 The latter in the previous period had been supplanted 
 by the more tasteful but in point of comic vigor far in- 
 ferior Terence, and dramatic art and antiquarian 
 scholarship, represented by Varro," co-operated to 
 procure for him a resurrection similar to that which 
 Shakespeare experienced at the hands of Garrick and 
 Johnson." ° Cicero is extravagant in his praise of 
 Plautus,' for he couples his name with the writers of 
 Attic comedy, and declares their wit elegans, urbanum, 
 ingeniosum, facetum : quo genere non mode Plautus 
 noster et Atticorum antiqua comoedia, sed etiam pkiloso- 
 
 ' Gellius, N. A., I, 7, 17. Testimonia Veterum, LXXII. 
 
 ''Ibid., VI (VII), 17, 4. Testimonia Veterum, LXXI. 
 
 ^Ibid., XIX, 8, 6. Testimonia Veterum, LXXIII. 
 
 "^ Ibid., I, 24, I, 3. Testimonia Veterum, LIII. 
 
 ^Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, 1891, I, p. 145. 
 
 6 Mommsen, Hist, of Rome, Vol. IV, p. 693. Ed. 1894. 
 
 'Tenffel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. . Tr. by G. C. W. 
 Warr, 1891, I, p. 142. Cf. Tr. by Wm. Wagner, p. 123. 
 
6 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 phorum Socraticorum libri referti sunt muUaque mul- 
 torum facete dicta, ut ea quae a sene Catone conlecta sunt, 
 quae uocant a7to<pdsyixara^ And in many instances 
 he shows that he was greatly delighted with the ancient 
 poet. In one place he informs us that Plautus himself 
 thought very highly of his Pseudolus and Truculentus, 
 and that they were the product of his old age : quam 
 gaudebat bello suo Punico Naeuius, quam Truculento 
 Plautus, quant PseudoloJ' 
 
 In the Augustan period,' the admirers of the archaic 
 poets praised Plautus for his vivacity and rapidity/ for 
 which they compared him to Epicharmus : Plautus ad 
 exemplar Siculi properare Epicharmij' However, even 
 in the time of Augustus, as Greek learning began to 
 be more sought after, Plautus began to be esteemed 
 less highly." It is true that Varro and Cicero were of 
 one opinion in regard to Plautus, but Horace held a 
 view entirely adverse. Horace and Cicero judged the 
 old Roman comedian, each according to his own age. 
 There are forty-three years between the two, and 
 either the general opinion of Plautus had undergone 
 a change, or Horace was not a correct judge, for Cic- 
 ero, we know, was a most excellent master of litera- 
 ture and language. In the passage referred to,' we 
 
 ' Cicero, De OflSciis, I, 29, 104. Testimonia Veterum, LIX. 
 
 '^ Ibid., Cat. mai. de sen., XIV, 50: Testimonia, Veterum, 
 XXVIII. 
 
 ^ Wolff, Godofr. Aug., Prolegomena ad Plauti Aululariam, 
 1836. 
 
 " Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. I,it. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, 1891, I, p. 142. 
 
 'Horace, Epistles, II, i, 58. Testimonia Veterum, lyVII. 
 
 « Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. I<it. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, 1891, I, p. 144. 
 
 ' Horace, Epistles, II, i, 55 sqq, Testimonia Veterum, LVII. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 7 
 
 perceive that the satiric poet felt keenly the great 
 popularity of Plautus. Again in the Ars Poetica, we 
 find the sentiment expressed which amounts almost 
 to one of envy. 
 
 Fingere cinctutis non exatidita Cethegis 
 Continget, dabiturque licentia sumpta pudenter, 
 Et noua fidaque nuper habebunt uerba fidein, si 
 Graecofonte cadent parce detorta. quid autem 
 Caecilio Plautoque dabit Romanus adetnptum 
 Vergilio Varioque ? ego cur, adquirere pauca 
 Si possum, inuideor, cum lingua Catonis et Enni 
 Serm.onem patrium, ditauerit et noua rerum. 
 Nomina protulerit ? licuit sempergue licebit 
 Signatum, praesente nota producere nom,en. ■ 
 
 This was a severe blow to the memory of Plautus, a 
 blow, that, although it does not appear to have injured 
 his reputation among the Romans, has been felt more 
 among the moderns than the praises of Cicero or of 
 Varro, and it is, perhaps, one of the reasons why his 
 plays are not more generally read." Horace makes 
 complaint '' of the slip-shod metres, his abuse of comic 
 art and the stock characters of the Plautine comedies. 
 " For Plautus," he says : 
 
 Gestit nummum, in loculos demittere. post hoc 
 Securus cadat an recto stetfabula talo. * 
 
 The ancient comedian appears also to have been the 
 favorite author in the early Christian era, and during 
 the later Middle Ages. He was the comfort and de- 
 light of theologians and philosophers, for Eusebius, 
 
 1 Horace, Art. Poet., 50 sqq. Testimonia Veterum,, LXIII. 
 ^ Foreign Quarterly Review, Vol. 31, p. 199. 
 
 2 Horace, Art. Poet., 263 sqq. Testimonia Veterum, I<XV. 
 *Ibid., Epist., II, I, 175, 176. Testimonia Veterum, LXIV. 
 
8 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 Rufinus,' Jerome,' Luther and many others read and 
 found solace in his plays. Thus amid all the changes 
 of the centuries of Roman history, we find the Plautine 
 comedies retaining their popularity. The ticket of 
 admission to a representation of the Casina, which is 
 reputed to have been found amid the ruins of Pompeii, 
 would show that this play was acted shortly before 
 A.D. 79. And according to Amobius, the Amphitruo 
 was acted as late as the close of the third century after 
 Christ. Macrobius, who lived to the early part of 
 the fifth century," writing of Plautus, ranks him with 
 Cicero : duos quos eloquentissimos antiqua aetas tulit, 
 comicum Plautum et oratorem Tullium, eos ambos etiam 
 ad jocorum uenustatem ceteris praestitisse.* 
 
 During the Middle Ages we find little reference to our 
 comedian, ° for the reason that his plays were lost during 
 this period, and were not found until 1428-9.° Mr. Von 
 Reinhardstoettner records the following : " Albrecht 
 von Eybe freute sich, mit etwas Neuem auftreten zu 
 konnen. In seiner Vorrede zur Bacchis heisst es : 
 ' Plautus der poeta . . . hat gemacht VIII biicher 
 in latein, die man gemaincklich hat, aber dieses (die 
 
 ' Rufinus, In Hieronymum, II, 8, 10 t. II, p. 639 sqq. Vail. 
 Testimonia Veterum, IvXXXI. 
 
 = Hieronymns, Ad Eustochium, XXII, 30 t. I, p. 115 Vail. 
 Testimonia Veterum, LXXX. 
 
 ^Teuffel-Scliwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, 1892. Vol. II, p. 433. 
 
 * Macrobius, Saturn., II, i, 10. Testimonia Veterum, 
 XXXV. 
 
 ^Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, 1891. Vol. I, p. 146. 
 
 ' Vgl. Dr. Georg Voigkt, Die Wiederbelebung des Klassischen 
 Altertums oder das erste. Jahrhundert des Humanismus. 
 Berlin, Reimer (1859), S. 140. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 9 
 
 Bacchides) hernach geschriben piichlin mit sampt 
 andren aylffen, die sein lange zeyt wol ho-yfunffhun- 
 dertjaren oder mer verlorn und verporgen gewesen, und 
 neylich im Concilia zu Basel wider gefunden, also dz die 
 materi wider ney w ist bey gelerten und ungelerten, und 
 darumb desteer lustiger und girlicher zu lesen. "" And, 
 " Acht seiner Stiicke . . . warenstets bekannt; die 
 iibrigen fand Nikolaus von Trier um das Jahr 1428 und 
 1429." Die Vidularia ging erst im Mittelalter verloren. ' ' ' 
 
 Plautus was also unknown to Hrotswitlia von 
 GandersLeim, the imitator of Terence, who lived about 
 960. " 
 
 A reason why the Plautine comedies were brought 
 practically into forgetfulness up to the end of the four- 
 teenth century is assigned by Mr. von Reinhardstoett- 
 ner : ' ' Diese fiinf hundert zwei und dreissig Verse (by 
 Vital de Blois °) umfassende Dichtung, in ziemlich unge- 
 lenkem I<atein geschrieben, jedoch ausgezeichnet durch 
 satirische Scharfe, brachte bis zum Ende des vierzehn- 
 ten Jahrhunderts die plautinische Kombdie formlich in 
 Vergessenheit.' Die Schriftsteller des dreizehnten und 
 vierzehnten Jahrhunderts sind reich an Anspielungen 
 und Zitaten aus Vitals Amphitryon, und von seiner 
 grossen Beliebtheit zeugen zahlreiche Handschriften." ' 
 But though the Geta made one forget Plautus, soon 
 the triumph of scholasticism, of the mysteries and of 
 the moralities made France forget Geta. Chassang, 1. 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettuer, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 88. 
 ^ Ibid., pp. 18, 19, and Note i. 
 ^Ibid., p. 18. 
 
 *Teuffel-Scliwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, 1891, I, p. 146. 
 
 5 Reinhardstoettuer, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 124. 
 
 ^ Ibid., p. 128. 
 
 '^ Ibid., p. 128, and Note 2. 
 
lo The Influence of Plautus 
 
 c. p. 33. " I^e Geta avait fait oublier Plaute : bient6t 
 le triomphe de la scholastique, des mysteres, des mo- 
 ralit6s fit oublier en France le Geta." ' 
 
 When the drama was struggling to emerge at the be- 
 ginning of the sixteenth century, the plays of Plautus 
 were the most popular sources, a.n6L furnished the main 
 stream in which the various sources of Miracle Plays, 
 Mysteries and Moralities were to unite." Plautus, 
 more than any other author, was the mold in which 
 the modern drama was to harden down into a definite 
 and popular form. When I,ucrezia Borgia went to 
 Ferrara, in 1502, as the bride of Alfonso d' Este,° Duke 
 Ercole I. gave a marriage entertainment of extraordi- 
 nary splendor to the young couple. It was spread out 
 over five days, and each night a different comedy by 
 Plautus was presented, embellished with musical inter- 
 ludes and ballets on classical and allegorical subjects. 
 ' ' Plautus with a ballet was a species of comedy that could 
 have found no place at the Globe or the Blackfriars. ' ' * 
 These comedies were put on the Italian stage at this 
 time with picturesque brilliancy, and at the court of 
 Ferrara, a comedy was never given without its ballet, 
 serving as interludes between the acts of the Plautine 
 dramas. When the Amphitruo was represented in 
 1491, at the marriage of Anna Sforza — the pantomimic 
 performance between the acts was magnificent." But 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 138, and 
 Note I. 
 
 'Ward, A. A., O. S., 146. 
 
 = Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, 1891, I, p. 146. 
 
 ■• Burckliardt, I., Die Cultur der Renaissance in Italien, ed. 
 1885. Cf. Scott, M. A., Elizabethan Translations from the 
 Italian. Mod. Eng. Ass. Pub., 1896. 
 
 "■lUd., Vol. II, Chap. IV. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. ii 
 
 it was not only with the secular writers and the society 
 world that this ancient comedian found favor. For 
 that most learned representative of Christianity and 
 accomplished writer,' Hieronymus, had written to 
 Eustochius : post nodium crebras uigilias, post lacrimas, 
 quas mihi praeteritorum recordatio peccatorum ex imis 
 uisceribus eruebat, Plautus sumebatur in manus.' And, 
 if we take up the Colloquies of Erasmus, we find nearly 
 every page filled with Plautine expressions and phrases. 
 Also, when I<uther, in 1508, entered the monastery of 
 Erfurt, Plautus and Vergil, only, of the profane writers, 
 were his chosen companions. 
 
 Nearly a hundred years later. Meres, in his Palladis 
 Tamia, or Wits' Treasury (1598), the date of Ben Jon- 
 son's first play. Every Man in His Humour, writes : 
 " As Plautus and Seneca are accounted the best for 
 comedy and tragedy among the Latins, so Shakespeare 
 among the English is the most excellent in both kinds 
 for the stage." {Cf. Hamlet.'') The imitation of some 
 of his plays by the best modern poets shows that the 
 judgment of the ancient and more modern critics is the 
 same." This popularity as late as the early years of 
 the eighteenth century is shown by the following de- 
 scription by Lady Mary Wortley Montague, in a letter 
 to Pope, of a representation of an Amphitruo in Vienna, 
 in 1716: " They have but one play house, where I had 
 
 ' Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, 1892, II, p. 407. 
 
 2 Hieronymus, Ad Eustochium, XXII, 30 t. I, p. 115 Vail. 
 Testimonia Veterum, LXXX. 
 
 3 Shakespeare, Wm., "Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor 
 Plautus too light," Hamlet, A. II, s. 2. 
 
 * Harrington, C. S., Titi Macci Plauti Captivi, Trinummus 
 et Rudens. The Metres of Plautus, Preface. 
 
12 Influence of Plautus on Ben Jonson. 
 
 a curiosity to go to a German comedy, and was very 
 glad it happened to be the story of Amphitruo." 
 
 The great fame of Plautus is but slightly reflected in 
 our day. The position he now holds is quite different 
 from what it was but three centuries ago. No author 
 has had so marked a fall from a lofty position among 
 writers. He is at present rarely quoted, seldom men- 
 tioned and frequently underrated. The cause of this 
 decadence in popularity is due in part to the develop- 
 ment of the novel and the appearance of the Shake- 
 spearian plays. Plautus once held the position which 
 Shakespeare now holds ; yet he is not superseded, for 
 he does not rank with Shakespeare, but with Ben Jon- 
 son and Moliere. Though an author of great merit, 
 yet, engaged on the same subjects which Shakespeare 
 has made his own, and where the latter has done his 
 work so much better, the older comedian has fallen 
 into oblivion — a fate quite undeserved. 
 
 Ben Jonson, in his eulogy on Shakespeare, has 
 summed up the effect of the latter on the reputation of 
 the old dramatists, thus : 
 
 " The merry Greek, tart Aristophanes, 
 Neat Terence, witty Plautus, now not please ; 
 But antiquated and deserted lie, 
 As they were not of nature's fan^ily." 
 
II. 
 
 THAT THE LITERARY STYLE OF PLAUTUS WAS SUCH 
 AS WOULD APPEAL DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE. 
 
 THKRE is a theory, generally conceded, that the 
 comedies of Plautus and Terence, being repro- 
 ductions from the Greek, display little originality of 
 conception.' Plautus brought upon the Roman stage 
 the fictitious, but typical characters which were the 
 creations of the Greek New Comedy writers during 
 the period 320-250 b.c.^ It avails little, however, for 
 practical purposes that these comedies are not original 
 with Plautus, since we have lost the whole of the Greek 
 New Comedy,' and are in possession of the best Latin 
 comedies founded on them, i. e., the six assigned to 
 Terence,' and twenty of the twenty-one selected by 
 Varro as the genuine plays of Plautus.' 
 
 It would be impossible, from the fragments of the 
 New Comedy which we possess, to form a proper judg- 
 ment regarding the poetical character of the author," 
 
 » Russell, Isaac FranHin, D.C.L., LI/.D., Outline Study of 
 Law, 1900, p. 96. 
 
 2 Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, M.A., 1891, I, p. 21. 
 
 3 Freeman, C. E. and Sloman, Rev. A., Titi Macci Plauti 
 Trinummus, Introd., 1896. 
 
 4 TeufFel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, M.A., 1891, I, p. 159. 
 
 <" Gellius, N. A., Ill, 3, 14 sqq. Testimonia Veterum, XXI. 
 «Mommsen, Hist, of Rome, Vol. II, p. 521, 1894.. 
 
 13 
 
14 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 or to estimate the amount of originality which belongs 
 to any single play. ' Mommsen says : ' ' Those portions 
 which can with certainty be traced to the translator are, 
 to say the least, mediocre; but they enable us to under- 
 stand why Plautus came to be and continued the true 
 popular poet of Rome, and the true mainstay of the 
 Roman stage, and why even after the passing away of 
 the Roman world, the theatre has repeatedly reverted 
 to his plays." ' The Plautine comedies are neither 
 original, nor, yet, simple and rigid translations,' and 
 no single play is strictly Greek. Their exact position 
 is somewhat difficult to determine. Just as plays still 
 occupy the French and English stage, the plots of 
 which are derived from the Plautine comedies, in the 
 same way, not only the plots of these dramas, but 
 many expressions used by the characters may be traced 
 to their Attic sources.* By introducing Roman ideas 
 he has given to the delicate Attic comedies of Menan- 
 der, ° and to the less delicate of Philemon ° and Diphilus, ' 
 a distinctive Roman or Italian coloring. It is in his 
 power of transmuting, not merely of verbally translat- 
 ing, that the originality of Plautus consists.' He was 
 -himself so full of his own ideas, that he constantly 
 
 ' Freeman, C. E. and Sloman, Rev. A., Titi Macci Plauti 
 Trinummus, Introd., 1896. 
 
 ^Mommsen, Hist, of Rome, Vol. II, p. 521, 1894. 
 
 ^Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. I,it. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, M.A., 1891, I, p. 141. 
 
 ■• Fortnightly Review, 7, p. 661. 
 
 = Testimonia Veterum, XIV. Cf. Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist, 
 of Rom. Lit, I, pp. 137, 139. 
 
 " Prologus Mercatoris, v. 5 sq. Testimonia Veterum, XL. ^ 
 
 ' Prologus Casiaae, v. 31 sqq. Testimonia Veterum, XXXVIII. 
 
 8 TeuflFel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, 1891, Vol. I, p. 141. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 15 
 
 deserts his originals ; and, while no match for his Greek 
 models,' he understands, in the point of language, to 
 give new force, freshness, soundness. In all these 
 comedies, Plautus always proves himself an original 
 genius, in spite of foreign sources, independent as a 
 master in art and form ; inventive and original, with 
 his own wit, which is frequently coarse, but not fre- 
 quently stale." " In nationalizing and localizing for- 
 eign material," says Mr. Karl von Reinhardstoettner, 
 " Plautus excels Terence." ' However Plautus may 
 have learned Greek, his plays give little indication 
 that he knew the literature otherwise, and without 
 the training he could neither feel nor represent the 
 style of his Greek originals. 
 
 On the other hand, the types of character, the plots, 
 and situations of the New Comedy are in their nature 
 cosmopolitan. The interest lies in the incidents of 
 domestic life, and not in the representation of contem- 
 porary history.' The monotony of plot, enlivened by 
 comic incidents, the love intrigues, the constant recur- 
 rence of stock characters — so familiar to us in Ben Jon- 
 son's comedies — mark each Plautine play as belonging 
 to the Comoedia Palliata,' i. e., the characters osten- 
 sibly Greek, actors wearing the native costume, and 
 the scene laid in some Greek town." In this the origi- 
 
 1 Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, 1891, Vol. I, p. 141. 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus. (Cf. Ibid. (7) ). 
 
 ^Ibid. 
 
 4 Freeman, C. E. and Sloman, Rev. A., Titi Macci Plauti 
 Trinummus, Introd., 1896. 
 
 . " Harrington, C. S., Preface to his Titi Macci Plauti Captivi, 
 Trinummus et Rudens. 
 
 « Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W, 
 Warr, 1891, I, p. 19. 
 
1 6 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 nal presented slight obstacles to the translator. The 
 characters frequently retain their Greek names, and we 
 meet with numerous allusions to Greek myths and 
 Greek contemporary history. In matters relating to 
 religion, to soldiers, to social customs, to money, and 
 to many such details, the plays are little more than 
 translations from Greek words.' But the buoyant 
 spirit "^ which expresses itself in the comedies is the 
 youthful and boisterous spirit of Rome ; and, in par- 
 ticular, the large place which music and dancing took 
 in the presentation can only be attributed to the germs 
 of the Italian dramatic element awakening to a new 
 life, at a period when the I^atin language was in its 
 exuberance, i. e., its formative period," just as Ben 
 Jonson's period, or the one preceding (z. e., Marlowe's) 
 was the formative period in English literature. 
 
 But the influence of Plautus on posterity is the same, 
 whether he is allowed the merit of originality or 
 not. The extent of his originality is important only 
 as to the question of his individual merits. A play 
 may be so adapted as to have a strong original color- 
 ing. Plautus and Terence both copied Greek models, 
 yet the copies are as different in all the great criteria of 
 poetic merit as though they were originals. Terence 
 is totally deficient in the true comic power, while Plau- 
 tus is hearty, strong, and humorous.* 
 
 The not infrequently coarse, but always efEective, 
 
 1 TeufFel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, 1891, I, p. 142. 
 
 ^Mackail, J. W., Latin Literature, 1895, p. 22. 
 
 3 Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, 1891, \, p. 141. 
 
 ^ Mommsen, Hist, of Rome, IH, p. 538. Cf. Quarterly Re- 
 view, 173, p. 50. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 17 
 
 laying on of Roman local tints over the Greek ground- 
 work, which. Plautus was fond of, is not found in Ter- 
 ence. "The Plautine dialogue," says Mommsen, 
 " beyond doubt, departed frequently from its models, 
 while Terence even boasts of the verbal adherence of 
 his imitations to originals." ' In transferring Greek 
 dramas to the Roman stage, it was impossible to avoid 
 inconsistencies*^ unless the adapter were willing to Lat- 
 inize the piece thoroughly in language, name, scene, 
 and character. This course would have been in defi- 
 ance of public opinion, which would have been shocked 
 had the libertinism of decaying Greece been attributed 
 to the Romans.' Plautus not only admits this incon- 
 gruity, but, unlike Terence, he even intrudes into the 
 streets of Athens, amid Greek scenes and Greek char- 
 acters, allusions to the gods, laws, magistrates, and 
 localities of Rome.* 
 
 We may regard as eminently characteristic of Plau- 
 tus the masterly handling of the language, the rare 
 skill in adjusting and working the situation for dramatic 
 effect, the clever dialogue ; but, above all, the broad 
 fresh humor, which produces an irresistibly comic 
 effect, with its jokes, its rich vocabulary of nicknames, 
 its whimsical coinage of words, its pungent and mimic 
 descriptions.' Plautus wrote for no inner circle of 
 
 ' Mommsen. Cf. Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by 
 Geo. C. W. Warr, 1891, I, p. 165. 
 
 2 Teufifel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, 1891, I, p. 142. 
 
 ^Freeman, C. E. and Sloman, Rev. A., In trod, to Titi Macci 
 Plauti Trinummus, 1896. 
 
 */bid. Cf. Teuffel-Scbwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by 
 Geo. C. W. Warr, 1891, 1, p. 142. 
 
 5 Mommsen, Hist, of Rome, II, p. 523. Cf. Cruttwell, C. 
 T., A Hist, of Rom. Lit., 1886, p. 47. 
 
1 8 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 I,aelii; the laughter of the pit was his reward. Yet his 
 wit attracted all classes of citizens, and his imitators 
 are among those whose names are the greatest in 
 modern literature.' 
 
 Plautus popularized the sentimental comedy of the 
 Greeks, and became the national dramatist of Rome, 
 and the Father of our modern drama. With him every- 
 thing goes into breadth, and indicates intercourse with 
 the lower classes. The more plebeian the humor, the 
 more likely it was to catch the fancy. Always in 
 the scenes where the slaves, parasites, and cooks are the 
 chief actors, we descend to a distinctly lower level. 
 Such scenes, where Plautine words and jests are to be 
 found in abundance, are eminently Plautine in char- 
 acter,' for they are the outgrowth of the times and cir- 
 cumstances " in which their author lived. The dramatic 
 poet must find his delight and reward in the applause of 
 the people, and Plautus, catching the spirit of ribaldry 
 that prevailed, catered to those elements in the public 
 character, which made him the people's poet and won 
 for him an unrivalled popularity.' 
 
 " In der Widmung seines lyustspieles. The Way of 
 the World," says Mr. Karl von Reinhardstoettner, "an 
 Ralph, Earl of Montague, sagt er : ' Some of the 
 coarsest strokes of Plautus, so severely censured by 
 Horace, were more likely to affect the multitude : such 
 who came with expectation to laugh at the last act of 
 a play and are better entertained with two or three 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886. Cf. National 
 Quarterly, 34, p. 72. 
 
 'i Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit., I, p. 141. Note the 
 scene between Sosia and Mercury Sosia, Am.; the As., Ill, s. i ; 
 or the ' cook ' scene in the Au., etc. 
 
 'Ibid., p. 142. *Ibid., p. 141. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 19 
 
 unseasonable jests than with the artful solution of the 
 fable.' '" Centuries after, the drama was regarded by 
 Shakespeare as a thing entirely for the people. Ben 
 Jonson, his contemporary, says : 
 
 " Truth says, of old the art of making plays 
 Was to content the people ; and their praise 
 Was to the poet money, wine, and bays." '^ 
 
 Plautus did not write for the censorious eye of future 
 critics; his sole object was to produce present effect 
 upon a promiscuous and mirth-loving audience. 
 Hence, when he has found those elements out of which 
 he can make the audience laugh, he prolongs the 
 scene to the detriment of the argument." For this 
 reason he kept his characters, with their exuberant 
 fun, and unflagging brilliancy of repartee, on the stage 
 longer than their due proportion, an objection not in- 
 frequently made to Ben Jonson's comedies. The ele- 
 ments of the Greek play which were serious held little 
 attraction for Plautus ; in short, he was exclusively a 
 comic poet and a popular poet, therefore he selected 
 that which would please, and which would put money 
 into his pockets." 
 
 If we find in the comedies of Plautus something 
 coarse and rough, the same may be said of Shakespeare; 
 if sometimes they are pronouncedly indelicate, none of 
 them, with the exception of the Casina, is more so 
 than the plays of Ben Jonson, or those of Beaumont 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 80, Note 7. 
 
 2 Prologue to The Silent Woman, Ben Jonson. 
 
 »Dr. Sihler, Ernest G. 
 
 " Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Wm. Wagner, 
 p. 123. Cf. Tr. by Geo. C. W. Warr, I, p. 141. Cf. Horace, 
 Epistles, n, I, 175. 
 
20 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 and Fletcher, or Massinger and Ford in the time of 
 James I., or Etherage and Shadwell during the reigns 
 of Charles II. and his successors. If we do not always 
 find in the Plautine comedies pleasing views of human 
 nature, we have strong studies in his typical characters, 
 for Plautus depicts his characters entirely according to 
 nature.' His strong point does not lie in the plot, but 
 in the sermo,'' in the detail,' and in the harmonious 
 union of parts, where speech and counter-speech follow 
 in rapid succession." The mutual relation of speeches 
 one to another is of the greatest importance. The slave, 
 who is subject to the whims of a master inferior in in- 
 tellect, raises himself to a moral equality with him by a 
 skilful play of words, or finds consolation in pert repeti- 
 tions. Line 671 sq. of the B., as also the closing scene 
 of the Mo., illustrate this peculiar pertness of the slave. 
 " Plautus," says Mr. von Reinhardstoettner, " is ac- 
 counted for his witty and vivacious answers. As a 
 poet of such accomplishments, he, as well as Terence, 
 has served as a model for all later centuries." ' The 
 former makes his servants speak as servants, his higher 
 classes as such, while Terence makes all speak alike, 
 hence, in this respect Plautus is the better artist. ° Ben 
 Jonson, criticising his great colleague for the same 
 ofEence, said: " Shakespeare wanted art " ' ; and, Uke 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886. 
 ^Varro, Apud Nonium, p. 374, 5 M. Testimonia Veterum, 
 LVI. Cf. Varro, Apud Charisium, II, p. 241, 27 K. 
 3 Dr. saier, Ernest G. 
 ■• Bibliotheca Sacra, Vol. 10, p. 326. 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 17. 
 
 ' Gilcltrist, Octavius. An examination of the charges main- 
 tained by Messrs. Malone, Chalmers, and others of Ben Jonson's 
 enmity, etc., toward Shakespeare. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 2 1 
 
 his ancient model, Jonson always keeps his characters 
 true to their station. 
 
 We are sure to get a fair idea of the art of Plautus 
 in those scenes where the action of the play apparently 
 ceases, and there is a comic passage at arms of Fal- 
 staffian repartee, generally full of wit and humor, 
 where the Plautine words,' puns," and jests " occur in 
 rapid succession. Here we can detect those delicate 
 little ear-marks, peculiarities or characteristics, which 
 betray the hand of Plautus. Puns, napavojxaaia, 
 alliteration and assonance, which abound in these pas- 
 sages, are not the highest form of wit, and the lower 
 the general type of the dialogue the more we have of 
 these I^atin characteristics. The slave usually aims to 
 get all he can out of the situation, and so does Plau- 
 tus.' An instance of this may be found in the B., 11. 
 51-55, and especially, 1. 53 sq. : 
 
 PI. Quia, Bdcchis, Bacchas tn^tuo et bacchandl tuom. 
 
 BA. Quid est? quid metuisP n6 tibi lectus mdlitiam apud 
 
 me suadeat ? 
 PI. Mdgis inlectum tu6m quam lectum m6tuo, 
 
 and at line 65 sg., where there is a profusion of words 
 which seem almost to tumble over each other in their 
 effort to be expressed. If this passage is read rapidly 
 we may catch the true Plautine spirit : 
 
 SO. Quid ab hac metuis ? PI. Quid ego metuata r6gitas ? 
 
 adulescdns bomo 
 Pdnetrem me huius modi in palaestram, ubi ddmnis desuddsci- 
 
 tur? 
 Vbi pro disco ddmnum capiam, pr6 cursura dddecus ? 
 
 'Dr. Sihler, Ernest G. Cf. Plautus, £., 1. 1088. Stulti, 
 stolidi, fatui, fungi, bardi, blenni, bucc6nes. 
 
 '/6id., 11. 340, 362 ; cf. Au., 1. 78 ; Cp., 1. 103, etc. 
 
 ^Idid. ^Notethe As., 1.657 s^gr. • ■ • 11.700-7045^. 
 
22 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 Or, 11. 115, 116 -5. 
 
 PI. Am6r, Voluptas, V^nus, Venustas, GaMium, 
 locus, LMus, Sermo, Suduisauidtio. 
 
 His vocabulary is especially rich in terms of endear- 
 ment, whicli are often grouped together in doublets 
 and triplets,' — Meiim, corculUm, melculUm, uerculum,^ 
 and occasionally, with still greater variety, as : 
 
 M6a uoluptas, in€a delicia, mda uita, mea amodnitas, 
 M^us ocellus, metim labellum, m^a salus, meum sduium, 
 Melam mel, meum cor, m^a colustra, m6us moUiculus cdseus.' 
 
 Since the tricks and deceptions forming the staple of 
 the New Comedy are generally contrived and executed 
 by cunning slaves, whose masters are the victims, there 
 are numerous words and phrases, coined by Plautus for 
 the purpose,' which are applied as taunts to those slaves 
 who had previously paid the penalty ° for a similar 
 offence. The idea of flogging is made to assume many 
 fantastic forms. ° Terms of abuse referring to corporal 
 punishment ' — often with a more general application' — 
 are usually addressed to slaves and lenones, and these 
 characters frequently make interchange of the coarsest 
 
 'Ramsay, Wm.,- Plautus, Mostellaria. Prolegomena, p. 280. 
 Cf. Plautus, As., 1. 670. 
 2 Plautus, Cs., 1. 837. 
 3/Wrf.,ib., 11. 365-367. 
 
 * Ramsay, Wm., Plautus, Mostellaria. Prolegomena, p. 250. 
 ° Ibid. Excursions on the Punishment of Slaves, p. 254 sqq. 
 » Plautus, E., 11. 625, 626. Cf. Ibid. Po., 1. 28, etc. 
 
 ■• Allen, Fred. D., On os columnatum (Plautus' Mi., 211) and 
 Ancient Instruments of Confinement. Harvard Studies in Clas- 
 sical Philology, VII, 1896. 
 
 * Ramsay, Wm., Plautus, Mostellaria. Prolegomena, p. 280. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 23 
 
 Billingsgate. ' The most prolonged series of colloquial 
 amenities is to be found in the Ps., 1. 133 sqq. and 1. 
 360 sqq. Women, also, come in for a portion of this 
 abuse." 
 
 Terms of imprecation are varied and whimsical." 
 The dialogue is interlarded with the multitude of abju- 
 rations which are mere expletives, destitute of any 
 particular meaning or emphasis, and which correspond 
 to those so constantly used by Ben Jonson in his com- 
 edies. These words appeal to the popular deities, the 
 Great Twin Brethren, and Hercules, expressed by Pol, 
 Ecastor, Hercule, and Hercle. ' These were the everyday 
 oaths with the Romans, and were used to add weight 
 to the assertions of the speaker. A literal translation 
 would hardly be tolerated by the English, and they are 
 best translated by such expressions as Jonson' syaz/A, 
 iroik, by Tny troth, by St. George, Hercules, Hercle, Pol, 
 'slid, etc. 
 
 Words and terms denoting roguery are abundant, 
 and are imitated by Ben Jonson in such coined words as 
 titivilitium, Burgullion, Clapper Dudgeon, and the cant 
 terms /rapier, giglot, glicks, irpe, vapour, and other 
 similar words. The idea of deception is presented in 
 various forms, many of them highly ingenious,' like 
 the trundling cheats, smelt (i. e. the gull), cautelous, 
 etc., found in such profusion in the comedies of 
 Jonson. The ordinary slang phrases used by the 
 
 ' Ramsay, Wm., Plautus, Mostellaria. Prolegomena, p. 280. 
 Cf. The Alchemist, A. I, s. i. Every Man in His Humour, 
 A. Ill, s. 2, etc. 
 
 ^Plautus, Tu., 1. 775. Cf. Ramsay, Wm., Plautus, Mostel- 
 laria. Prolegomena, p. 280. 
 
 ^Ibid. Ji.,1. 521. Cf. Ramsay, Wm., Plautus, Mostellaria. 
 Prolegomena, p. 280. 
 
 *Ci. Ibid. ^ Ibid. Cf. Plautus, Ps., 1. 1200, etc. 
 
24 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 Romans about the forum, and between men about 
 town,' are frequent, the most common being dare uerba 
 alicui, Dedit uerba mihij" hercle, upinor.^ A number of 
 phrases, which express trickery, represent the person 
 deceived as under the absolute control of the deceiver, 
 who deals with him as he pleases. One of these is 
 uendere, to be sold: ' 
 
 CH. O stfilte, stulte, ndscis nunc uenire te : 
 Atque in eopse adstas Idpide, ut praeco praddicat. 
 NI. Resp6nde : quis me u6ndit ? ^ 
 
 This is identical with the modern English slang, and 
 Ben Jonson in The Silent Woman has the same expres- 
 sion, and elsewhere, i. e., " Cler. Was there ever such 
 a two yards of knighthood measured out by time, to be 
 sold to laughter?"' I^ikewise Shakespeare: "It 
 would make a man as mad as a brick to be so bought 
 and sold,'' ' "Bought and sold, Lord Talbot," ' and, 
 " Dicon, thy master is bought and sold." ' 
 
 There is a host of similar expressions, chief among 
 them being ducere, to lead by the nose, as, qui senem 
 ducerem,^" which occurs frequently in the Plautine com- 
 edies," and these expressions correspond to those found 
 in Jonson' s plays. The constant use of military meta- 
 phors, and terms of a judicial nature, for which Ben 
 Jonson had a penchant, were particularly suited to a 
 Roman audience. 
 
 ' Ramsay, Wm., Plautus, Mostellaria. Prolegomena, p. 280. 
 
 2 Plautus, Ps., 1. 909. 
 
 ^Ramsay, Wm., 'SXaxjAxiB, Mostellaria. Prolegomena, p. 263. 
 
 "Ibid. 'Plautus, ^., 11. 814-816. 
 
 * Jonson, Ben, The Silent Woman, A. II, s. 2. 
 'Shakespeare, Wm., The Comedy of Errors, A. Ill, s. i. 
 
 * Ibid. King Henry IV., A. V, s. 4. 
 
 s IWd. Rich. III., A. V, s. 3.' '« Plautus, Mo., 1. 715. 
 
 "Ramsay, Wm., '2\s.\i\XiS, Mostellaria. Prolegomena, p. 263. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 25 
 
 As a passage in the Pseudolus, replete with these ex- 
 pressions, is remarkably like the soliloquy of Brain- 
 worm, in Jonson' s Every Man in His Humour, being 
 full of the same spirit of comic exultation and intent at 
 deception, it is worth comparison : 
 
 PS. . . . nam ^go in meo prius p^ctore 
 
 Ita paraui c6pias, 
 Duplicis triplicis dolos p^rfidias, ut ubiquomque hostibus 
 c6ngrediar — 
 
 Mai6rem melim fretus uirtute dicam 
 Mea industria €t malitid fraudul^nta — 
 Facile fit uincam, facile lit spoliem meos p^rduellis meis 
 p6rfidi<i>s. 
 
 Nlinc inimicum ego hlinc communem m^um atque 
 
 uostr<or>um 6mniuni 
 Bdllionem exbdllistabo Idpide : date operdm modo. 
 H6c ego oppidum ddmoenire ut li6die capiatdr uolo, 
 Atque hue meas legiones adducam : si expugno, facilem banc 
 
 rem meis ciuibus faciam : 
 Post ad oppidum hoc uetus continuo meum exercitum protinus 
 
 obducam. 
 Inde me €t simul participis omnis meos pra^da onerabo atque 
 6pplebo, 
 
 Metum €t fugam perdudllibus meis me<d> ut sciant 
 
 ndtum. 
 E6 sum genere gndtus : magna m6 faciuora d^cet 
 efficere, 
 Quse p6st mihi clara et did clueant.' 
 
 [Enter Brainworm disguised as a maimed soldier.] 
 
 " Brain. 'Slid, I cannot choose but laugh to see my- 
 self translated thus, from a poor creature to a creator ; 
 for now must I create an intolerable sort of lies, or my 
 present profession loses the grace : and yet the lie, to 
 a man of my coat, is as ominous a fruit as the fico. O, 
 
 ■Plautus, Ps., 11. 578-S92. 
 
25 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 sir, it holds for good polity ever, to liave that outwardly 
 in vilest estimation, that inwardly is most dear to us : 
 so much for my borrowed shape. Well, the troth is, 
 my old master intends to follow my young master, dry- 
 foot, over Moorfields to London, this morning ; now, 
 I knowing of this hunting-match, or rather conspiracy, 
 and to insinuate myself with my young m,aster (for so 
 much we that are blue waiters, and men of hope and 
 service do, or perhaps we may wear motley at the year's 
 end, and who wears motley, you know), have got me 
 afore in this disguise, determining here to lie in ambus- 
 cade, and intercept him in the mid-way. If I can but 
 get his cloak, his purse, his hat, nay, anything to cut 
 him o£f, that is, to stay his journey, Veni, vidi, via, I 
 may say with captain Caesar, I am made forever, 
 i' faith. Well, now must I practise to get the true garb 
 of one of these lance-knights, my arm here, and my — 
 Odso ! my young master, and his cousin, master 
 Stephen, as I am true counterfeit man of war, and no 
 soldier ! " ' Brainworm, as we may observe, is the 
 identical character of the old Attic, or Plautine, slave, 
 transferred to English soil. 
 
 The archaic words in the Plautine comedies give an 
 antique flavor to the language,'' and the same may be 
 said of Ben Jonson, whose vocabulary is at times as 
 difficult as Shakespeare's. Words, coined for the pur- 
 pose of expressing various things, like Turpilucricupid- 
 um in the Ti., and Thensaurochrysonicochry sides in the 
 Cp., are especially noticeable. Many of these words 
 are mere gibberish, as Cryphiolothronia, Gorgondon- 
 ian, compounded of Greek and Latin words, while 
 others have a peculiar and humorous significance, as 
 
 ' Jonson, Ben, Every Man in His Humour, A. 11, s. 2. 
 
 ' Ramsay, Wm., Plautus, Mostellaria. Prolegomena, p. xvii. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 27 
 
 fustitudinas ferricrepinas,"^ and sperabilist.' Especially 
 interesting is the use of the word pergraecdmini, which 
 occurs several times, as, 
 
 Di^s noctesque bibite, pergraecdminei.' 
 
 And, also, 
 
 bibi <te> , pergraecdmini, 
 Este, 6cfer<c>ite u6s, saginam ca^dite,' 
 
 where Plautus uses the word from the Roman stand- 
 point, forgetting that the play is Greek. Ben Jonson 
 thus uses the same word in its translated form, in The 
 Fox, 
 
 Mos. Let 's die like Romans, 
 
 Since we have lived like Grecians.^ 
 
 No modern writer has excelled Plautus in epigram- 
 matic terseness of expression, and his works are replete 
 with verbal quibbles and examples of alliteration. The 
 juxtaposition of words from the same root, like sumptus 
 sumptui' relidae reliquae,'' uenus uenusta,' etc., invari- 
 ably betray his own handiwork. Generally the words 
 played upon are from the same stem, but sometimes 
 they are of different stems. The following example 
 will be found to be ingenious : 
 
 TR. r£pperi, qui senem d^icerem, 
 
 Qu6 dolo a md dolordm procnl pdllerem.' 
 
 and this from Ben Jonson' s The Silent Woman : 
 
 ' Plautus, As., 1. 33. « Jonson, Ben, The Fox, A. Ill, s. 5. 
 
 •'Ibid., Cp., 1. S18. « Plautus, Mo., 1. 125. 
 
 2 Ibid. ,Mo.,\. 22. ' Ibid., 1. 82. » Ibid. , 1. j6i. 
 
 ^Ibid., 1. 64. ' Ibid., 11. 715, 716. 
 
28 Influence of Plautus on Ben Jonson. 
 
 La-F. Why, she says they are no decorum among ladies. 
 Ott. But they are decora, and that 's better, sir.' 
 
 Witli these we may compare Shakespeare : 
 
 Maria. . . . your cousin, my lady, takes great exceptions 
 to your ill hours. 
 
 Sir Toby. Why, let her except before excepted. 
 
 Maria. Ay, but you must confine yourself within the modest 
 limits of order. 
 
 Sir Toby. Confine! I'll confine myself no finer than J am.' 
 
 From the variety of his alliterative power, we see 
 that Plautus had an ear for delicate and harmonious 
 sounds, and a wonderful intuitive power in the choice 
 of his words. As a master of the I^atin language, es- 
 pecially in its colloquial forms, he is unequalled," and 
 only paralleled in the English language by his learned 
 imitator, Ben Jonson. 
 
 'Jonson, Ben, Tke Silent Woman, A. Ill, s. i. 
 
 = Shakespeare, Wm., The Twelfth Night, A. I, s. 3. 
 
 3 Cruttwell, C. T., A Hist, of Roman Lit., i886, p. 47. 
 
III. 
 
 THAT THESE COMEDIES BY CONTINUED PRESENTA- 
 TION ON THE STAGE HAD GROWN TO BE 
 FAMILIAR TO THE PUBLIC. 
 
 APIvEASANT and practical way of realizing the 
 merits of Plautus, of solving tlie question of his 
 originality, and of determining his influence on pos- 
 terity is that followed by Mr. Karl von Reinhardstoett- 
 ner, whose method is to take each comedy, and, after 
 giving an estimate of its merits, to note the imitations 
 which he has observed in the dramatic literature of 
 modern nations.' Taine says : " Gegen 1490 beginnt 
 man die klassiker wieder zu lesen. Zwischen 1550 und 
 1 6 16 werden die Werke aller romischen und griech- 
 ischen Geschichtschreiber und Dichter von Belang ins 
 Englische libersetzt." " And of Terence, Mr. von 
 Reinhardstoettner says : " Schon im Jahre 11 78 und 
 1180 begegnen wir den Ubersetzungen des Terenz, 
 welche der Benediktiner-mbnch Henry und der Abt 
 von Peterborough veranstalteten.^ Terenz wurde in 
 Kngland tiberhaupt oft iibersetzt, und wenn Price von 
 einer fast voUstandigen Unbekanntheit des Terenz im 
 Mittelalter spricht, so ist er leicht zu widerlegen." * 
 
 ' Reinliardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886. 
 
 '^ Ibid., p. 74. Cf. Taine, H,, Geschichte der Englischen I^it- 
 teratur, Leipzig, 1877 bis 1880. 
 
 ^Ibid. Cf. Note i. Cf. Warton, The, Hist, of Eng. Poetry, 
 1871,1,213. ^Ibid. Cf. Note 2. 
 
 29 
 
30 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 " At the period of the revival of letters eight only 
 of the Plautine comedies were known to the learned, 
 viz., the Am., As., Au., Cp., Cs., Ci., Cu., E. The first 
 announcement of the existence of a MS., containing 
 the whole of the twenty which we now possess, is made 
 in a letter written from Rome about the beginning of 
 1429, by Poggio Bracciolini ' (1340-1459)," at that time 
 Apostolic Secretary to Pope Martin V., in which he 
 informs his friend Niccolo Niccoli at Florence, that 
 Nicolas of Treves had discovered ° in Germany sev- 
 eral classical works, and among others a volume con- 
 taining twenty plays of Plautus, and Poggio gives the 
 titles of all the new pieces. In reality the MS. was 
 found to comprise sixteen only, but of these twelve " 
 were previously unknown, the Cs., Ci., Cu., and E. 
 being omitted. About the close of the year, Nico- 
 las delivered his treasures to Cardinal Giordano 
 Orsini." A copy was sent to the Duke of Milan in 
 1 43 1, and the MS. itself was sent to Florence at the 
 request of I^renzo de' Medici, and there a copy of the 
 last twelve plays was made by Niccolo Niccoli with 
 his own hand." ° 
 
 In the year 1472, the first edition appeared at Venice, 
 as the work of George Alexander Merulae.' Other 
 
 ' Ramsay, Wm., The ^Jforff/Za^'a of Plautus. Prolegomena, 
 1869. 
 
 * Gudeman, Dr. Alfred, Outlines of The Hist, of Classical 
 Philology, 1897, p. 49. 
 
 ^ Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, 1891, I, p. 146. * Ibid. ' Ibid. 
 
 * Ramsay, Wm., The Mostellaria of Plautus. Prolegomena, 
 1869. 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, I, p. 19. Cf. Hallam, 
 Constitutional Hist, of Eng., I, Part 2, p. 471. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 31 
 
 editions followed in 1482 and 1490.' " Merulae, in 
 Ms preface to the edition of 1472, speaks of the last 
 twelve comedies as having been discovered forty 
 years before the time when he was writing, and adds 
 that there was but one MS. from which, as from an 
 archetype, all the copies in circulation had been de- 
 rived ; and again, Ugoletus, in 1515, employs the same 
 language. It appears . . . that the MS. of Nico- 
 las of Treves was copied at least twice within two 
 years from its arrival at Rome, and these copies, and 
 probably the original MS., also, would be transcribed " 
 until the twelve new plays became generally known to 
 the literary men of Italy and Germany." " Of the 
 editio princeps (1472) there exist to-day, in the British 
 Museum, three copies ; two of the edition of 1482, and 
 one of the edition of 1490.* A copy of a different edi- 
 tion of the twenty plays (1495) and three copies of an- 
 other (1499) are catalogued in the same I,ibrary.' 
 
 In 1552, a complete edition of the twenty plays was 
 published at Leipsic by Joachim Camerarius," who had 
 previously published (I^eipsic, 1545) five pieces, and 
 subsequently (Leipsic, 1549) six more. Camerarius 
 had obtained possession of two MSS. unknown to pre- 
 vious editors. One of these contained the whole 
 twenty plays, and is generally known as the Vetus 
 Codex Camerarii.' The other is frequently referred 
 
 >HaUam, Constitutional Hist, of Eng. (Authority Dr. 
 Dobdin.) 
 
 ^Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, 1891, I, p. 147. 
 
 ' Ramsay, Wm., The Mostellaria of Plautus. Prolegomena, 
 1869. 4 British Museum Catalogue. ^ Ibid. 
 
 "TeufFel-Schwabe, Hist, of Rom. Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, 1891, I, p. 146. ' Ibid. 
 
32 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 to as the Codex Decurtatus, for, although it had origi- 
 nally contained the whole twenty, the first eight had 
 been torn off, and had disappeared before it came into 
 the hands of Camerarius." Ben Jonson's last com- 
 edy, A Tale of a Tub, was written in 1633. Previous 
 to 1630, there had been issued fifty- two separate edi- 
 tions of the Plautine comedies, in whole or in part, of 
 which copies exist in the British Museum I/ibrary: 
 i. e., five previous to 1500 a.d., thirty-one between 
 this date and 1600, and fifteen between 1600 and 1630." 
 An English version of the Andria of Terence was 
 printed in 1530.' Another translation was printed in 
 1588, and this appears to be the second translation into 
 our language of any of Terence's works. The Me- 
 naechmi of Plautus was translated and represented in 
 Italy earlier than any other play (1508).* And Mr. 
 Collier thinks it had been brought upon the stage in 
 England at an early date. Ariosto was the first to 
 conceive and carry into effect the idea of regular com- 
 edies in imitation of the ancients. ' His second comedy, 
 the Suppositi, is chiefly an imitation of the Captivi of 
 Plautus, and the Eunuchus of Terence. Gascoigne's 
 comedy, the Supposes," the earliest existing play in 
 
 ' Ramsay, Wm., The Mostellaria of Plautus. Prolegomena, 
 1869. 
 
 ^ Britisli Museum Catalogue. Cf. Hildyard's Recensus Codi- 
 cum, Aulularia. Cambridge, 1839. 
 
 ° Collier, J. P., The Hist, of Eng. Dramatic Poetry to the 
 Time of Shakespeare. The Annals of the Stage to the Restora- 
 tion, 1831, 1, p. 88. 
 
 ^ Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 53. 
 
 "Schelling, Felix E., Three Unique Eng. Dramas. Mod. 
 Lang. Notes. May, 1892. 
 
 " Hist. Litt. d' Italie, ed. Milan, 1820, VI, passim, and p. 180 
 sqq. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 33 
 
 English prose, performed in England in 1566, is a 
 translation of the Suppositi of Ariosto.' Dr. Felix E. 
 Schelling says: "In Gascoigne's day the English 
 drama was not yet out of foreign leading-strings, and 
 the paths of Seneca, of Ariosto, or of Plautus and 
 Terence, were the only paths in which its infant feet 
 could tread." " 
 
 "Joachim Greff's Ubersetzung der Aulularia des 
 Plautus, welche als sein Erstlingswerk gilt, erschien 
 im Jahre 1535. Sie fiihrt den Titel : ' Eine schone 
 lyii I stige Comedia des Poe | ten Plauti Aulularia 
 ge I nannt, durch Joachinum GreflF von Zwickaw 
 deudsch | gemacht vnd jnn reim | verfasset, fast liis- 
 tig [ vnd kurtzweilig | zu lesen.' " ^ A German, Hans 
 Sachs, wrote the Menaechmi in 1548' ; and in 1563, 
 the Eunuchus." Of this writer, Mr. von Reinhard- 
 stoettner says : " Hans Sachs bearbeitete iibrigens 
 mehrere Stiicke nach antiken Vorbildern, so die Elek- 
 tra des Euripides, den Plutus des Aristophanes, eine 
 Jokaste, eine Klytamnestra. Doch kannte er die 
 Originale natiirlich nicht, sondern arbeitete nach 
 friiheren Ubersetzungen, oder wohl auch zum Teil 
 nach Andeutungen, die er in andern Schriften ge- 
 funden haben mochte." ° 
 
 In England, a taste for classical literature began to be 
 generally apparent very soon after Elizabeth came to 
 the throne, and it produced its effect upon the national 
 drama.' But before this date — the students presented 
 
 ' Schelling, Felix E., Three Unique Eng. Dramas. Mod. 
 Lang. Notes. May, 1892. "^ Ibid. 
 
 ^ Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 89. 
 
 * Ibid., -p. ^2. '■Ibid. 
 
 "■Ibid. 
 
 "^ Ibid., p. 76, Note 6. Cf. Collier, J. P., Hist, of Eng. Dra- 
 matic Poetry and the Stage, III, p. 13. 
 
34 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 the Plautine comedies (possibly in the I^atin language) 
 before King Henry VIII., at Greenwich, in 1528 '; the 
 Andria of Terenz, at Oxford (1559)'; the Aulularia 
 (1564) in the presence of Queen Elizabeth,' who at 
 that time had honored the University of Cambridge 
 with a royal visit.' 
 
 And in the cloisters, also, the comedies of Plautus 
 and Terence, particularly, were performed.' " Robert 
 Barnes, prior of the Augustines at Cambridge, at lyou- 
 vain, with the assistance of his scholar, Thomas Parnell, 
 explained within the walls of his monastery Plautus, 
 Terence ... (in 1530)." ' " Indessen, das Volk 
 sich seines Theaters freute, spielten die Studierenden 
 ihre komiker.'" W ar ton says : " The scholars of the 
 times were composing and acting plays on historical 
 subjects and in imitation of Plautus and Terence." ' 
 The learned schoolmaster, Udall (1556), provided 
 amusement for his boys by writing comedies after 
 Plautus and Terence for them to perform.' 
 
 The times of Elizabeth and James were particularly 
 fertile in lyatin dramas composed at the Universities, 
 and these sovereigns were entertained by the students 
 of Oxford and Cambridge with Latin plays." " Frei- 
 lich fehlte es auch in England nicht an Agitationen 
 gegen die klassische I,itteratur. Um friihere zu iiber- 
 gehen, miisste man auf den beriichtigten Histriomas- 
 
 " Warton, Tho., Hist, of Eng. Poetry, 1871, III, 289. 
 
 ^ Ibid., 304. ' Ibid., 306. 
 
 ^Ibid., Cf. Shaw, Tho. B., Hist, of Eng. Lit., I/ondon, 1878. 
 
 "Ibid. «/Wrf., IV, 3. 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 76. 
 
 ^Ibid., Note 7. 
 
 ^Ibid., Note 9. Cf. Collier, J. P., Hist, of Stage. 
 
 !» Ibid., Note 6. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 35 
 
 tix des William Prynne hinweisen, dessen allgetnein 
 theater-feindliche Stellung sich auch gegen die Alten 
 kehrt. AUe Christen, meint er, hatten dahin zu 
 wirken, die Verbreitung der heidnischen Autoren zu 
 verhindern, vornehmlich ' Ovid's wanton Epistles and 
 Bookes of love, Catullus, Tibullus, Propertius, Mar- 
 ti all, the Comedies of Plautus, Terence and other 
 such amorous bookes savouring either of Pagan Gods, 
 of ethnicke rites and ceremonies or of scurrility, amor- 
 ousnesse and prophanesse.' ' AUerdings war der Ein- 
 fluss der lateinischen Komodiendichter auf die Theater- 
 entwicklung auch in England von ganz besonderer 
 Macht, und nicht mit Unrecht griff darum Prynne auch 
 diese an." ' 
 
 Ward says : ' ' Comedy sprang more easily from the 
 moralities through the transitional phase of the inter- 
 ludes and wiik the aid of the examples of Plautus and 
 Terence, and secondarily of the Italian comic drama- 
 tists." ' It was not unusual in mediaeval times for 
 religious scholars to exercise their ingenuity and solace 
 their loneliness by converting the ancient dramas so as 
 to represent incidents from Holy Writ. It would be 
 scarcely imagined possible, however, to make the Am- 
 phitruo represent the Nativity, and yet, that is the 
 task which Johannes Burmeister (16 12) attempted and 
 accomplished. In his play, Gabriel speaks the Pro- 
 logue ; Amphitruo becomes Joseph ; Alcmena is the 
 Virgin ; Mercury, Asmodeus ; Sosia alone retains his 
 Plautine name ; a Jewish priest and three shepherds 
 complete the dramatis personae. The idea is ingenious, 
 however meaningless the production. As it was much 
 
 "Warton, Tho., Hist, of Eng. Poetry, 1871, IV, 232. 
 ^ Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 77. 
 » Ward, A. W., A Hist, of Eng. Dramatic Lit. I, p. 146. 
 
2,6 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 read and had great popularity, it serves to show the 
 influence of Plautus at this period. 
 
 There are two MS. copies, in the British Museum 
 lyibrary, of imitations of the Plautine plays before Ben 
 Jonson's time, i. e., i. The Am. — In comincia el libro 
 chiamato gieta and birria. In verse, founded on the 
 Am. of Plautus, whose name occurs as the original 
 author of the story in the last stanza but five. An 
 additional stanza at the end of this edition states that 
 the author of this poem was Boccaccio, and the editor 
 Frate Lorenzo Amalagiso, but the other editions at- 
 tribute the authorship to Filippo Brunelleschi and 
 Domenico da Prato, others to Ghigo Brunelleschi 
 (Florence (?), 1485 (?) ), folio. Another edition was 
 printed in 1495.' 2. The Rudens. — II Roffiano, Come- 
 dia, in five acts and in prose, di L. Dolce tratta dal Ru- 
 dente di Plauto. With few MS. notes. G. Giolito de 
 Ferrari e Fratelli. Venezia, 1551." 
 
 ' ' Die direkten Nachahmer des Plautus sind in Eng- 
 land weniger, als anderswo ; unberechenbar jedoch ist 
 der Einfluss, welchen gerade hier die romischen ko- 
 miker geiibt haben, zahllos die Szenen, unzahlbar die 
 Stellen, welche die an ihnen herangebildeten Dichter 
 denselben entnommen haben." ' Not only the learned 
 Ben Jonson (1574-1637), but others, also, show every- 
 where traces of this ancient writer. " Die Ausgaben 
 der hervorragendsten englischen Biihnendichter weisen 
 zahlreiche Reminiszenzen an die alten komiker auf. 
 . . . Der Verfasser des Stiickes Timon * ist sehr ver- 
 traut mit den I/ateinern und insbesondere mit Plautus. 
 
 ' Britisli Museum Catalogue. ^ Ibid. 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 78. 
 * Timon, a play. Now first printed. Ed. by the Rev. Alex- 
 ander Dyce, Shakespeare Soc, 1842, London. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 37 
 
 Die Namen seiner Personen — Gelasimus, Philargurus, 
 Grunnio — weisen auf diesen Dichter hin ; einzelne 
 Stellen sind ihm wortlich entnommen. . . . Die 
 ganze an Krinnerungen an lateinische, ja sogar 
 griechische Autoren reiche Komodie beweist, dass ihr 
 Verfasser ' in Athen woU zu Hause (ist) ; seine 
 Hauptquelle ist Plauius ; aber auch Lucian und Aris- 
 tophanes kennt er. ' " ' Nicholas Udall' s Ralph Royster 
 Doyster, the earliest English comed}^ the work of an 
 English scholar, is directly founded on the Miles 
 Gloriosus of Plautus.^ So, also, is Sir Tophas in EiHy's 
 Endimion.^ Mr. Ward says, " Sir Tophas, in Endi- 
 mion, has far more assuredly a prototype in the Mi. , 
 of Plautus, than Falstaff has one in Sir Tophas." * 
 
 At the Tenth Annual Convention of the Modem 
 I^anguage Association,' a paper was read on "The 
 Sources of Udall' s Roister Doister,'" by Prof. Geo. 
 Heimple, in which the main point was, reversing the 
 general opinion, that Udall' s first and chief source was 
 Terence's Eunuchus, and that the Mi. of Plautus, was 
 a secondary source to fill up the lacunae left by the 
 other. Dr. Bright and Dr. Gudeman were, however, 
 inclined to maintain the traditional claims of Plautus 
 as the chief source. ° 
 
 " Thomas Heywood (1582-1640) dichtete nach Plau- 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 79. Cf. Rapp, 
 Studien, S. 127, 128. 
 
 2 Ward, A. W., Hist, of English Dramatic Lit. to the Death 
 of Queen Anne, I, 140. Cf. Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plau- 
 tus, 1886, p. 107. "Roister Bolster beruht ganz auf Plautus." 
 
 ^ Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 107. 
 
 "Ward, A. W., Hist, of English Dramatic Lit. to Death of 
 Queen Anne, I, 154. 
 
 'Jan., 1893. 
 
 "Harrison, Thp., Mod. Lang. Notes, Feb., 1893, p. 66. 
 
38 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 tus die Sage vom Am. in seinem The Silver Age ; er be- 
 niitzte einen guten Teil der Mostellaria in seinem The 
 English Traveller.^ Philip Massinger (1584-1640) sein 
 A Very Woman, hat eine Szene aus dem Curculio." " 
 And most probably A. IV, s. 2, of the old play oiAlbu- 
 mazar was borrowed from the passage in A. IV, s. 3, of 
 the Ti.^ " Ob in Anthony Munday's John a Kent and 
 John a Cumber (1595) wirklich ein Einfluss des Am.- 
 phitruo thatig war, wie Rapp annimmt, ob auf Addi- 
 son's Gespenst mil der Trom.mel die Mostellaria, auf 
 Dryden's Sir Martin Mar-all die Bacchides" auf 
 Murphy's The Citizen der Mercator eingewirkt hat,'' 
 mag dahingestellt bleiben." ° 
 
 Plautus was to the dramatic author of this period 
 what the repertory of the French stage is to certain 
 playwrights in our day ; and authors who possessed 
 native genius — as Molifere, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and 
 Fletcher, Dryden, Congreve, and others did not hesi- 
 tate to make use of plots, scenes, and sentiments from 
 these old I^atin comedies. ' ' Mit besonderer, ' ' says Mr. 
 von Reinhardstoettner, ' ' Vorliebe aber bearbeiteten 
 englische lyustspieldichter die Gestalt des prahlerischen 
 Thraso und Pyrgopolinices. Voran schreitet Udall mit 
 seinem Royster-Doyster, dem Miles Gloriosus, der in 
 zahlreichen englischen Stiicken, in lyilly's Endimion, 
 ChapmsL-a's May-day, Beaumont and Fletcher's A King 
 and No King und The Custom of Country, in W. Con- 
 
 ' Reinliardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 78. 
 
 "^ Ibid., p. 80. 
 
 2 Rolfe, ed. of Shakespeare, Taming of the Shrew, Notes. 
 (Albumazar by Tomkins ?) 
 
 ^TJssing, J. I,., Titi Macci Plauti Comoedie, recensuit at 
 enarravit, B.d. II, S. 370. 
 
 ' Rapp, Studien, S. 170. 
 
 ' Reinliardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 80. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 39 
 
 greve's Old Batchelor und vielen andern eine hervorra- 
 gende RoUe spielt, der Verbreitung, die er als Bobadill 
 des Ben Jonson, und der Verklarung, die er als John 
 FalstafE bei Shakespeare samt seinem Gef olge erreicht, 
 nicht zu gedenken. ' Thomas Middleton (gest. 1 628) hat 
 zu seinem No Wit Like a Woman's beim Epidicus des 
 Plautus geborgt.' John Dryden (1631-1700) ahmte den 
 Amphitruo nach, welchen spater Hawkesworth iiber- 
 arbeitete. " ' But Dryden' s comedy is stilted, and he was 
 justly apprehensive, when, after acknowledging in his 
 preface his obligations to Plautus and Moliere, he says : 
 " I am afraid the world will too easily discover that 
 more than half of it is wine. ' ' It remained a stock piece 
 on the stage for a long time toward the close of the 
 seventeenth century. ' ' Shad well's Miser, sowie Henry 
 Fielding's (i 707-1 754) The jT^M,fr verdanken ihre Ent- 
 stehung weniger der Aulularia als Moliere's Avare.^ 
 . . . Im Jahre 1672 erschien The Miser : a Comedy 
 acted by His Majesty's Servants, at the Theatre Royal. 
 Written by Thomas Shadwell.' In dem preface erklart 
 er seine Abhangigkeit von Moliere mit folgenden 
 Worten : ' The foundation of this play I took from 
 one of Molilre's called L'Avare, but that having too 
 few persons, and too little action for an English Theatre, 
 I added to both so much that I may call more than 
 half of this play my own.' " " Halliwell ' says of this: 
 " By the author's own confession (it) is founded on the 
 Avare of Moliere, which is itself also builded on the 
 Aulularia of Plautus. Shadwell, however, has by no 
 means been a mere translator, but has also added 
 
 1 Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 81. 
 
 2 Ibid., p. 80. ' Ibid., p. 306. 
 ^Ibid.,y.T). ''Ibid. 
 
 ^Ibid. 'Halliwell, S. 171 • 
 
40 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 considerably to his original.'" Wycherly's Miser (1752) 
 is likewise founded on these two plays of Moli^re and 
 Plautus. "Sowie auch des letzteren Vaudeville, Tke 
 Intriguing Chambermaid zwar der StofiE der Mostellaria 
 ist, jedoch zunachst auf Regnard beruht. " " In this com- 
 edy few other changes were made than was necessary 
 to accommodate to modern times. The entertainment, 
 the old gentleman's return from a voyage, the driving 
 him off from surprising the company within his own 
 house by making him believe it was haunted, the pre- 
 tending the young son had purchased another instead, 
 are introduced with little variation. Ben Jonson, Reg- 
 nard, Addison and others have imitated the Mostellaria. 
 
 The most interesting of the adaptations of the Plau- 
 tine plays is offered in the history of the Menaechmi. 
 It suggested to Rotrou his Les Menechmes (1636), and 
 from this it is said Picard (1769-1828) derived his play 
 of Encore des MSnechmes, turned into German by Schil- 
 ler in his Neffe als Onkel (1803).' How far Shake- 
 speare was acquainted with the plays of Plautus and 
 Terence, we do not know. ' ' Wahrend die einen hart- 
 nackig dem grossen Dichter die Fahigkeit absprechen, 
 die antiken komiker zu lesen, suchen und finden andere 
 bei ihm zahlreiche Stellen, welche eine kenntniss des 
 Plautus und Terenz beweisen sollen." Shakespeare 
 hat in seinem l/ustspiele the Comedy of Errors — gleich- 
 viel, woher er den Stoff schopfte." " The Comedy of 
 Errors may be presumed from an allusion it contains 
 to have been written before 1594. It is founded on a 
 subject which furnishes two comedies of Plautus, the 
 
 ■ Reinhardstoettner, Earl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 306, Note 2. 
 
 ^Ibid., p. 79. 
 
 ^Ibid., p. 567. Cf. National Quarterly, Vol. 34, p. 72. 
 
 *Ibid., p. 78. 
 
 ''Thid. Cf. Cruttwell, Hist, of Rom. Lit., 1886, p. 45. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 41 
 
 translation from one of whicli, i. e., the Mn., was repre- 
 sented in Italy as early as 1508, and, as Mr. Collier 
 thinks, may have been brought upon the stage in 
 England at an early date. The first known transla- 
 tion of the Mn. into English was made in 1595, by 
 W. W. (supposed to be William Warner). London. 
 Printed by Tho. Creede. ' "Mr. G. Colman, '^ der Uber- 
 setzer des Terenz (1765) aussert sich hieriiber : ' Be- 
 sides the resemblance of particular passages, scattered 
 up and down in different plays, it is well known that 
 the whole Comedy of Errors is in great measure founded 
 on the Mn. of Plautus ; but I do not recollect ever to 
 have seen it observed, that the disguise of the Pedant 
 in the Taming of the Shrew, his assuming the name 
 and character of Vincentio, together with his encoun- 
 tering the real Vincentio, seem to be evidently taken 
 from the disguise of the Sycophanta in the Ti. of the 
 same author.' " ° But this disguise may have been in 
 the work of the author of the old play, which Shake- 
 speare improved.' " There is a quotation from the Eu- 
 nuch of Terence also, so familiarly introduced into the 
 dialogue of the Taming of the Shrew, that I think it puts 
 the question of Shakespeare having read the Roman 
 comick poets in the original language out of all doubt. 
 
 ' Tranio : Master, it is no time to chide you now. Affection 
 is not rated from the heart. If love hath touched you, nought 
 remains but so.' 
 
 Redime te captum quam queas minimo." ^ 
 
 The Comedy of Errors has been made more intricate 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 568, Note 3. 
 Cf. Farmer, Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare, S. 33. 
 'Colman, G., Ubersetzer des Terenz, XXI. 
 3 Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 78, Note 2. 
 * Quarterly Review, Vol. 173, p. 47, 1891- 
 ^ Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 78, Note 2. 
 
42 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 than the Mn. in- plot, by the introduction of a double 
 for the slave as well as for the master. Shakespeare 
 may have taken this idea from the double of Sosia in 
 the Am. The situations in the Plautine play, being 
 admirably conceived and carried out, have often been 
 imitated. " Die erste beginnt Shakespeare mit der 
 Comedy of Errors; ihm folgt Regnard mit deajumeaux, 
 und Goldoni mit den Gemelli Veneziani, wahrend aus 
 Farquhar's The Twin Rivals des Voltairesche L' enfant 
 Prodigue, und die Schillerschen Rduber abfliessen." ' 
 Shakespeare was so well pleased with the idea that he 
 returned to it in The Twelfth Night. But the part of 
 Sebastian in Twelfth Night has all the improbability 
 which belongs to mistaken identity, without the comic 
 effect in Plautus and the Comedy of Errors. The situ- 
 ation of the steward, also, in As. 1. 407, is something 
 like that of Malvolio in Twelfth Night. 
 
 The opening scene of the Rudens has been frequently 
 compared to that of Shakespeare's Tempest, although it 
 has been claimed that Shakespeare drew his description 
 from Ariosto. ' ' ' Prospero' s command to Ariel ' to fetch 
 dew from the still-vex' d Bermoothes ' makes it certain 
 that the Bermudas are not the scene of The Tempest, 
 though, strangely enough, it has produced the contrary 
 impression on many minds ; but this reference to these 
 islands, and allusion to their storm-vexed coast, con- 
 nects itself naturally with the publication of Jourdan's ° 
 narrative." ' No one can carefully read the Rudens, 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 577. 
 
 ' National Quarterly, Vol. 34, p. 72. 
 
 ' A Discovery of the Bermudas, otherwise called the He of 
 Divels : by Sir Tho. Gates, Sir Geo. Sommers, and Captayne 
 Newport, with divers others. London, 1610. 
 
 ^Rolfe, Wm. J., Introduction to his ed. of The Tempest, by 
 Wm. Shakespeare, p. 9. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 43 
 
 without being impressed with the similarity of the exile 
 Daemones to the exile Prospero in Shakespeare's play. 
 Take for instance, 11. 2-7 of the Rudens, and note the 
 similarity in the reflection of Ferdinand, beginning 
 with the words, " There be some sports are painful, 
 etc." The same comedy may have furnished more 
 than one hint to the author or authors of Pericles. In 
 A. I, s. 2 (11. 133-252) of the Ps., where Ballio is ad- 
 dressing his slaves, we have a noticeable parallel to 
 Shakespeare's /'i?rz'c/(f.?, A. IV.' The /!?. was presented 
 before Roman audiences, of the Augustan Age, more 
 frequently than any other play. The character of Bal- 
 lio . seems to have been as well known to Cicero and 
 his circle, as Shylock or Macbeth to a I^ondon audience 
 of our day. Cicero, when describing an abandoned 
 rufiSan whose hideous features reflected his bold de- 
 pravity, seeks a comparison in Ballio.^ This comedy 
 has frequently been imitated by modern playwrights, 
 e. g., the Italian Battista Porta in La Trappolaria. 
 Moliere drew largely on this play for D Etourdi, as 
 also Regnard for La Sirinade ; and the Diderich 
 Menschenschreck of Holberg is largely derived from the 
 same source." 
 
 " Was sich bei den Englandern an Nachahmungen 
 der Aulularia findet, ist durch Moliere's Avare veran- 
 lasst, nich direkt aus Plautus geschiipft worden." * 
 This is plainly disproved both by Shakespeare's and 
 Ben Jonson's plays. Shylock is in some respects 
 
 lAnden, H. W., The Pseudolus of Plautus. Introd. and 
 Notes, 1896. 
 
 « Cicero, Cato Mai., XIV, 50. 
 
 ^Anden, H. W., The Pseudolus of Plautus. Introd. and 
 Notes, 1896. 
 
 * Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 306. 
 
44 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 copied, apparently from Euclio in the Au. Mr. von 
 Reinhardstoettner has omitted all notice of the fact that 
 Shakespeare when he drew Shylock had either heard 
 or read of Euclio. Both misers lose a daughter and 
 are robbed of their money, and lament their loss in 
 agitated and exaggerated terms. Compare the speech 
 of Euclio beginning, Perii, interii, occidi, 1. 713, with 
 the account given by Salanio of Shylock lamenting 
 over his ducats ; or Shylock's own words, beginning, 
 ' ' There ! there, there ! there ! ' ' The spirit is so like 
 as to produce conviction that there is imitation here.' 
 Note the similarity also in the following : 
 
 MEG. . . . lapid^s loqueris.'' 
 
 "I will speak daggers to her, but use none." * 
 
 " She speaks poniards." * 
 
 PoSa fi tifyrifiai = "you have spoken roses at me." ' 
 
 And again : 
 
 Quatn ordtionem hanc adres dulcem dduorant.' 
 " And with a greedy ear 
 Devour up my discourse." ' 
 
 Rosalind, in Shakespeare's As You Like It (A. V, s. 
 2), says : " O, I know where you are : nay, 'tis true ; 
 there was never anything so sudden but the fight of 
 two rams and Caesar's thrasonical brag of ' I came, 
 
 • Quarterly Review, Vol. 173, p. 58, 1891. 
 
 ' Plautus, Au., 11. 151, 152. 
 
 ^Shakespeare, Wm., Hamlet, A. Ill, s. 7. 
 
 *Ibid., Much Ado About Nothing, A. II, s. 4. 
 
 '^ Aristophanes. Cf. Riley, Tr. of Plautine Comedies, Note I, 
 1852, p. 381. Cf. Plautus, Tr. into Familiar Blank Verse, by 
 Bonnell Thornton, Notes. 
 
 « Plautus, Au., 1.'968. 
 
 'Shakespeare, Wm., Othello. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 45 
 
 saw, and overcame. ' ' ' Thrasonical is an adjective from 
 the bragging soldier of Terence's Eunuchus. Rolfe 
 says, however, "It is not necessary to suppose that 
 Shakespeare had read Terence, for the word was al- 
 ready in use." ' Mr. Bonnell Thornton, quoting from 
 Colman, says : " There is a passage in Shakespeare, 
 so extremely like the following, that I can scarce think 
 it possible, but that justly admired dramatick writer 
 must have had his eye upon it " ' : 
 
 EV. Quin tu istas omittis nugas dc mecum hue intro dmbulas ? 
 CHA. H6spes respondit Zacynthi ficos fieri n6ii malas. 
 <EV.> Nil mentitust. CHA. Sed de arnica se indau- 
 di(u)isse autuma(n)t 
 Hic Athenis dsse.^ 
 
 The passage referred to is the colloquy between 
 Prince Henry and Falstaff, in I Henry IV., A. I, s. 2. 
 The following, from the B., 1. 699, is very similar to 
 lines in the Taming of the Shrew : 
 
 MN. Si tu Ilium solem sibi solem esse diceres, 
 Se ilium lunam credere esse et ii6ctem qui nunc ^st dies. 
 
 The Merry Wives of Windsor owes something to the 
 Miles Gloriosus. It seems unquestionable that Shake- 
 speare knew of the Mi. when he conceived this play. 
 Besides Falstaff,' he may have been influenced to some 
 extent by the ancient type in drawing Arnado, Pa- 
 roUes,' and Pistol. Were it not for the resemblance, 
 
 ' Rolfe, ed. of Shakespeare, As You Like It, Notes. 
 
 2 Plautus, Tr. into Familiar Blank Verse, by Bonnell Thorn- 
 ton, Notes, p. 197. 
 
 3 Plautus, Mercator, 1. 942 sqq. 
 
 ■•Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 81. Cf p. 
 672 fsg. 
 ^Ibid., p. 673. 
 
46 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 however, whicli exists between the two plays as a 
 whole, it might be doubted whether Falstaff of Henry 
 IV. were even in the remotest degree inspired by Pyr- 
 gopolinices. In The Merry Wives of Windsor, on the 
 other hand, the imitation is palpable." Shakespeare 
 had considerable opportunity of becoming acquainted 
 with Plautus and Terence. We have seen that plays 
 of Plautus and Terence were acted in Shakespeare's 
 time in colleges, theatres and private houses, and that 
 it is an historical fact. Warton (III, 309) says : " I 
 believe, the frequency of these school-plays suggested 
 the names of Seneca and Plautus as dramatic authors." 
 When Polonius says, ' ' Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor 
 Plautus too light," ' he implies that the works of these 
 authors were stock pieces for representation. Occa- 
 sional striking resemblances in expression tend in the 
 same direction, and we may instance one passage where 
 the similarity is especially noticeable. When Hamlet 
 says to his mother, ' ' Assume a virtue if you have it 
 not," he is repeating almost literally the precept of 
 Amphitruo to Alcmena : 
 
 Saltern, tute si pudoris dgeas, sumas mlituom.^ 
 
 Here the resemblance is so precise, and the intro- 
 duction in each case so similar, that Shakespeare must 
 have had the Plautine verse in mind. And why not ? 
 Is it improbable that Shakespeare, who must have 
 been brought constantly in contact with the mention 
 of the Plautine comedies, should ever have had the 
 desire and industry to find out for himself what the 
 
 ' Reinliardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, pp. 78 and 673. 
 ''Shakespeare, Wm., Hamlet, A. II, s. 2. Cf. Reinhardstoett- 
 ner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 77, Note 4. 
 ^ Plautus, Amphitruo, 1. 819. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 47 
 
 Roman poet was worth ? That he " had small lyatin 
 and less Greek," as Ben Jonson claimed, means that he 
 had some I<atin, and apparently sufficient to give him 
 a knowledge of the Plautine comedies, as his imitations 
 show. But if these isolated passages prove nothing, 
 there remains the internal evidence, which, to a sensi- 
 tive mind, will doubtless outweigh any external im- 
 probability. If his knowledge was insufficient and 
 training was lacking, it is not inconceivable that he 
 should apply to Ben Jonson for aid. The most prob- 
 able hypothesis, however, seems to be that W. W. 
 (Wm. Warner) had translated all the plays of Plautus 
 by 1595, although he had published only the Mn., and 
 that Shakespeare had access to the MSS. The conclu- 
 sion must be that Shakespeare was acquainted with . 
 the writings of Plautus, but not intimately; a,nd that 
 after the Comedy of Errors, he preferred to draw his 
 plots from a broader field. This is not the case, how- 
 ever, with some of his characters, situations and ex- 
 pressions, where the resemblance is too close and 
 frequent to be the result of coincidence. Still more 
 convincing is the similarity between the humor of the 
 two poets, and yet Shakespeare cannot properly be 
 styled a direct imitator of Plautus, as Ben Jonson is, 
 for the proportion of Plautine ideas in Shakespeare re- 
 mains trivial. They are only the leaven unavoidably 
 perhaps, and unconsciously assimilated by the poet. 
 The imitation is not the essential thing, or if it is, it 
 has been so changed and improved in the resetting that 
 the appropriation is overlooked. Where Plautus is 
 simply amusing, Shakespeare is both amusing and 
 suggestive.' 
 We may get a fair idea of a Plautine comedy from 
 
 ' Plautus and Terence, National Quarterly, Vol. 34, p. 71. 
 
48 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 the V Etourdi of MoH&re, where the main idea of the 
 chief character is furnished by the Bacchides. Moliere's 
 play would have furnished arguments for several Plau- 
 tine comedies, but the conception and carrying out are 
 quite Plautine. Not only the B. and Ps., but the Po., 
 Cp., and E., are laid under contribution in the 
 L'Etourdi. Besides the imitation just noted, the 
 disguise of the Armenian is copied from the Po. Al- 
 though Moliere's humor seldom equals that of the 
 Plautine comedies, he excels in these lines : 
 
 " C'est que dans tous les mots ils cliangetit nis en rin ; 
 Ut pour dire Tunis, ils prononcent Turin." 
 
 Moliere also borrowed from Plautus two familiar 
 comedies, i. e., the L'Avare and the Amphitruo. 
 From the Am. Rotrou also derived his Les deux Sosia. 
 Mr. Drummond says of Ben Jonson, " that he had an 
 intention to have made a play lilce Plautus' Am., 
 but left it off, for that he could never find two so like 
 one to the other that he could persuade the spectator 
 that they were one." ' " Indessen fehlt es nicht an 
 voUstandigen Durchfuhrungen des Amphitruo in Eng- 
 land. Ben Jonson hatte die Idee, einen Amphitruo zu 
 schreiben ; gab sie jedoch auf, well er an der Mog- 
 lichkeit, sie wahrscheinlich zu gestalten, verzwei- 
 felte." " 
 
 The Plautine plots are so simple that his imitators 
 frequently err and overload them with new material. 
 Then, too, the easy and natural dialogue of these com- 
 edies is deceptive. The question of the relative supe- 
 riority of the Am. of Moliere and Plautus has often 
 
 ' Drummond, Wm., Conversations with Ben Jonson, Shake- 
 speare Soc. Pub . 
 
 ^ Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 193. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 49 
 
 been debated.' In the former the fine Grecian tone is 
 naturally wanting, and he has frequently degenerated 
 from his original. There are no fine lines describing 
 the perfection of a wife such as the following : 
 
 AL. N6n ego illam mihi d6teni duco 6sse, quae dos dicitur, 
 S6d pudicitiam €t pudorem et sddatum cupidinem, 
 Detim metum, par^ntum amoreni et c6giiatuin conc6rdiam, 
 Tibi morigera atque lit munifica sim bonis, prosim probis.* 
 
 Sellar thinks this ' ' is the noblest realization of the 
 virtue of womanhood to be found in ancient litera- 
 ture." In the L'Avare, Moliere has greatly improved 
 on his model in parts. But good as it is, it is doubtful 
 whether it is the best modern imitation of the I^atin 
 comedy. The palm is contested by the Warenar of 
 Hooft.' Such critics as Hugo de Groot and James 
 Brockhousius, and the poet Vondel, extol the strong 
 homespun of the Dutch play as surpassing its original 
 in merit. 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 182. 
 
 * Plautus, AmphUnw, 11. 839-842. 
 
 ^ Reinliardstoetttier, Karl von, Plautus, i885, p. 298. 
 
IV. 
 
 DIRECT INFLUENCE ON THE COMEDIES OP BEN 
 JONSON. 
 
 WE have splendid tragedies, we have the most 
 beautiful of poetic plays, and we have lit- 
 erary comedies passingly pleasant to read," says Mr. 
 George Meredith, " comedies of classic inspiration, 
 drawn chiefly from Menander, and the Greek New 
 Comedy, through Terence (and Plautus ?) ; or else 
 comedies of the poet's personal conception, that have 
 had no model in life, and are humorous exaggerations, 
 happy or otherwise. These are the comedies of Ben 
 Jonson, Massinger, and Fletcher." ' 
 
 With the ancient comedians for his models, Ben 
 Jonson, in writing plays, endeavored to bring the Eng- 
 lish stage into conformity with their rules. ' ' The theo- 
 ries," says Dr. Schelling, "which Ben Jonson held 
 about literature, were those of a classicist. He believed 
 in the criticism of Horace, and the rhetoric of Quintil-, 
 ian. . . . He believed that the English Drama 
 should follow the example of the uetus comoedie." ' 
 The rules, laid down by him in the preface to The Al- 
 chemist, did not immediately gain favor. Romantic ten- 
 dencies were in the ascendency, and it was considered 
 that Jonson had overestimated the classical side of art. 
 
 1 Meredith, Geo., An Essay on Comedy and The Uses of The 
 Comic Spirit. 
 
 '^ Schelling, Felix E., Ph.D., Ben Jonson and the Classical 
 School. 
 
 50 
 
Influence of Plautus on Ben Jonson. 51 
 
 The comedy of manners, which he derived from an- 
 tique models, brought fixed types of character, rather 
 than individuals into play, and in this respect he may 
 be regarded as having diverged most radically from 
 the spirit of the Shakespearian drama. Jonson starts 
 with the character when it is fully formed, and at the 
 moment when the controlling passion is dominating 
 the individual ; when the character is absorbed in its 
 particular humor. Jonson conceived humor, first taken 
 in its narrower sense of personal temperament, and 
 later applied to the wider sphere of social manners, to 
 be the proper medium for the comic playwright. 
 
 Pha. And then, I to have a book made of all this, which I 
 would call the " Book of Humours," and every night, read a 
 little piece ere I slept, and laugh at it. ' 
 
 His idea of comedy was identical with Cicero's ; he 
 believed that a comedy should be an imitatio vitae, 
 speculum consuetudinis, imago veritatis. Jonson ever 
 delighted 
 
 "To laugh and chuck 
 At the variety and throng of humours 
 And dispositions, that come jostling in 
 And out still." 
 
 His comic genius is a genius of caricature and exag- 
 geration ; ' ' his wit is admirable, laughable, laudable, 
 but not altogether delightful." " It was not for the 
 amusement of the Court that Jonson wrote his come- 
 dies. For that the Masques and Entertainments were 
 written, which, as Mr. Meredith says, " are dearer to 
 the rabble upper, as to the rabble lower class, than 
 
 'Jonson, Ben, Cynthia's Revels, A. rv, s. i. 
 
 ^ Swinburne, Algernon Charles, A Study of Ben Jonson, 1889. 
 
52 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 intellectual comedy." ' The comic of Jonson's genius 
 is tlie scholar's idea of the comic, and not the moral- 
 ist's. His keen, incisive wit takes the form of con- 
 structive mirth, and unsparing caricature. He employs 
 the same colors again and again, without relief or vari- 
 ety, and yet his comic art embraces all forms and 
 variety of comedy, ranging from the highest and most 
 delicate to the lowest and most farcical. 
 
 " Morose," says Mr. Swinburne, " as a victimized 
 monomaniac, is rather a figure of farce than of comedy ; 
 Captain Otter and his termigant (conceptions taken 
 from the Plautine fables) are characters of comedy 
 rather broad than high ; . . . but the collegiate 
 ladies . . . recall rather the comedies than the 
 farces of Moli&re." ^ 
 
 Jonson had unlimited powers of imagining ludicrous 
 situations, and of painting from the vulgar model. 
 lyike Plautus he is frequently bluntly truthful. Doll's 
 Newgate slang, equalled by the Bowery billingsgate 
 of Sosia and of Sosia Mercury, in the Amphitruo, is a 
 faithful transcript from the lower life. I^ike the char- 
 acters in the Plautine fables, Jonson's greatest crea- 
 tions are cheats or dupes ; the greatest dupe being Sir 
 Epicure Mammon, and the greatest cheat, Volpone. 
 With the spirit of the old comedian, Jonson only too 
 frequently ends a contest of mind by blows with the 
 fists, which silence if they do not convince. 
 
 It is to be regretted that the infiuence of Plautus on 
 the style and method of Jonson was not more perma- 
 nent.' No poet of his age came near to him in the 
 
 ■ Mereditb, Geo., An Essay on Comedy and The Uses of The 
 Comic Spirit, p. i6. 
 
 ^ Swinburne, Algernon Charles, A Study of Ben Jonson, 1889, 
 P- II. Ibid. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 53 
 
 strong conviction of the gravity of his vocation. He 
 believed that the playwright had a serious duty to dis- 
 charge ; that the dramatic poet must aim at instruction, 
 as well as at delight. He continuously sacrificed subor- 
 dinate considerations to the sesthetic end of dramatic 
 art, — the dramatic effect.' 
 
 " The end of all, who for the scene do write, 
 Are, or should be, to profit and delight." ^ 
 
 The suffrage of the people must be conquered, and 
 dramas should ' ' be written not to charm the popular 
 ear, but to educate it." ° 
 
 " For — to present all custard, or all tart. 
 And have no other meat to bear a part. 
 Or to want bread and salt, were but coarse art." * 
 
 In the two comedies, Every Man Out of His Hu- 
 mour (1599), and The Magnetic Lady (1632), the one 
 written at the opening of his career, the other near its 
 close, Jonson thus makes mention of Plautus : 
 
 Cor. Ay ! what think you of Plautus, in his comedy called 
 Cistellaria ? There, where he brings in Alcesimarchus with a 
 drawn sword ready to kill himself . . . ? Is not his authority 
 of power to give our scene approbation ? 
 
 Mit. Sir, I have this only evasion left me, to say, I think it 
 be so indeed : your memory is happier than mine.' 
 
 Mad. . . . marry, I will not do as Plautus in his Am- 
 phitruo, for all this, summijovis causA plaudite ; beg a plau- 
 dit for God's sake ; but if you, out of the bounty of your good 
 
 ' Swinburne, Algernon Charles, A Study of Ben Jonson, 1889. 
 
 ^Jonson, Ben, Prologue to The Silent Woman. 
 
 'Symonds, J. A., Ben Jonson, 18S8. 
 
 ^Jonson, Ben, Prologue to The Silent Woman. 
 
 '^ Ibid., Every Man Out of His Humour, A. Ill, s. 2. 
 
54 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 liking, will bestow it, wby, you may in time make lean Maci- 
 lente as fat as Sir John Falstaff. 
 
 Dam. But whom doth your poet mean now by this master 
 Bias? what lord's secretary doth he purpose to personate or 
 perstringe ? 
 
 Pro. . . . It is an insidious question, brother Damplay : 
 iniquity itself would not have urged it. It is picking the lock 
 of the scene, not opening it the fair way with a key. A play, 
 though it apparel and present vices in general, flies from all 
 particularities in persons. Would you ask of Plautus, and 
 Terence, if they both lived now, who were Davus or Pseudolus 
 in the scene, who Pyrgopolinices or Thraso ? who Euclio or 
 Menedemus ? ' 
 
 Dam. You have heard, boy, the ancient poets had it in their 
 purpose, still to please the people. 
 
 Pro. Ay, their chief aim was — 
 
 Dam. Populo ut placerent : if he understands so much, — 
 
 Boy. Quas fecissent fabulas. — I understand that since I 
 learned Terence, in the third form at Westminster : go on, Sir.' 
 
 This is evidence sufficient to prove that Jonson was 
 familiar with the plays of Plautus, either in the original 
 or through translations, and that he looked upon him 
 as a guide ; indeed, it is quite evident that he had 
 Plautus continually in view, and even his most comic 
 character. Captain Bobadill, is in its ideal only a more 
 tasteful, moderate, and inventive imitation of the ex- 
 travagant Miles Gloriosus. 
 
 If Plautus had never done anything more than to 
 suggest the outline for a play which gave to the world 
 Sir Hugh Evans, Dr. Cains, mine host of The Garter, 
 and Master Slender, he would have earned the gratitude 
 of posterity. Bobadill is, after Falstaff, the best known 
 of the characters which owe their creation to the brag- 
 
 ' Jonson, Ben, The Magnetic Lady, A. II, s. i. 
 ^ Ibid., Induction. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 55 
 
 ging officer. Mr. von Reinhardstoettner says : ' ' Die 
 Ausgaben der hervorragendsten englischen Biilinen- 
 dichter weisen zahlreiche Reminiszenzen an die alten 
 komiker auf. Nicht bloss der gelelirte Ben Jonson 
 (geb. II. Juni, 1574 ; gest. 16. August, 1637) steht in 
 seinem Stiicke The Case is Altered auf dem Boden der 
 Aulularia und Captivi und streift die Mostellaria in 
 seinem Alchemist, die Casina in seiner Epicoene, den 
 Miles mit seinem Kapitan Bobadill, auch andere zeigen 
 allenthalben die Spuren der Alten.' . . . Ben Jon- 
 son, ' dessen Vorbilder die alten Meister Terenz und 
 Plautus waren,' " hat in seiner komodie Every Man in 
 His Humour, die so zuerst 1598 gespielt, aber erst 1616 
 gedruckt wurde, in dem Captain Bobadyll, ' a Paul's 
 man,' einen pracbtigen Miles gloriosus gescbafEen." ° 
 
 Dramatic authors have caught at the conception of 
 the type of the boasting officer, rather than the manner 
 in which Plautus treated it. The original was from 
 life. He was a well-known character at Athens in the 
 fourth and third centuries B.C. In the wine taverns 
 and the barber shops of the Piraeus, these mercenary 
 captains, returning from service with Antigonus and 
 Seleucus, were wont to tell exaggerated stories of their 
 exploits to the home-keeping Athenians. The only 
 way to ridicule a lie is to tell a greater one, so the 
 comedians who satirized them were compelled to invent 
 stories which transcended all possibility. Therefore, 
 Pyrgopolinices is only prevented by the bluntness of 
 his sword from killing five hundred Cappadocians at 
 one blow ; and Athemonides relates how he, unaided, 
 annihilated a tribe of flying men. Terence, on the 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 79. 
 
 = Taine, Hist, of Eng. Lit., I, 404. 
 
 5 Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 675. 
 
56 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 other hand, makes his bragging soldier boast of his wit, 
 rather than of his prowess in war. 
 
 " The braggart is a character that the whole world 
 has delighted to cudgel with wordy weapons. He 
 who could plan, he who could by his special rules, his 
 punto, his reverso, his stoccata, and the like, undertake 
 the challenge and defeat of forty thousand men, is 
 destined by his malignant star to be the despised and 
 confounded patient of a bastinado." ' 
 
 With Thraso, discretion is the better part of valor. 
 Bobadill is not only a boaster, but an arrant coward as 
 well. Thraso is vain of his wit ; Bobadill admires poetry 
 and possesses more individuality than the stock soldiers 
 of the ancient comedy. He is also frugal and sober, 
 and his lies have an apparent show of reason. ' ' He is 
 the prince of conceit ; the very obscure poverty of his 
 lodging is to prevent too great resort ; his science of 
 defence is the light, and his courage the fire, of the 
 martial world, while his oaths are the very conversation 
 of art military and travelled boldness. If the world 
 would good-naturedly look at the character from the 
 idea of its fanciful and creative possessor, this is Boba- 
 dill. But the world is impertinent enough to break in 
 upon his ideal grandeur and enviously to reduce him 
 to the feelings of inglorious frailty." " 
 
 Gifford says : ' ' Bobadill is a creature sui generis, 
 and perfectly original. The soldier of the Greek 
 comedy, from whom Whalley wishes to derive him, as 
 far as we can collect from the scattered remains of it, 
 or from its eternal copyists, Plautus and Terence, had 
 not many traits in common with Bobadill. Pyrgopo- 
 linices, and other captains with hard names, are usually 
 wealthy ; but Bobadill is poor, as indeed are most of 
 
 1 Retros. Review, Vol. I, p. 181. « Ibid. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 57 
 
 his profession, which, whatever it might be in Greece, 
 has never been a gainful one in this country. They 
 are profligate and luxurious ; but Bobadill is stained 
 with no inordinate vice, and is so frugal, that ' a bunch 
 of radishes and a pipe to close the orifice of his stomach ' 
 satisfy all his wants. . . . The vanity of the an- 
 cient soldier is accompanied with such stupidity, that 
 the temptation to mirth is lessened, whereas Bobadill is 
 really amusing. This gravity, which is of the most in- 
 flexible nature, contrasts admirably with the situations 
 into which he is thrown, and though beaten, baffled 
 and disgraced, he never so far forgets himself as to aid 
 in his own discomfiture. He has no soliloquies like 
 Bessus and Parolles to betray his real character, to ex- 
 pose himself to contempt, nor does he break through 
 the decorum of the scene. . . . Bobadill has many 
 distinguishing traits, and until a preceding braggart 
 shall be discovered with something more than big 
 words and beating to characterize him, it may not be 
 amiss to allow Jonson the credit of having depended 
 entirely on his own resources." ' 
 
 Without doubt he learned the principles of comedy 
 from the ancients, Plautus and Terence ; for they were 
 not to be derived from moderns at home or abroad ; 
 but he could not draw from them the application of 
 living passions and manners, and it would be no less 
 unfair, as Mr. Gifford has observed, to make Bobadill a 
 copy of Thraso, than to deny the dramatic originality 
 of Kitely. Bobadill is the most colossal coward and 
 braggart of the comic stage. He offers to settle the 
 afiairs of Europe by associating with himself twenty 
 other Bobadills, as cunning i' the face as himself, and 
 
 ' Ed. Gifford, I, i6o. Cf. Reinliardstoettner, Karl von, 
 Plautus, 1886, p. 675. 
 
58 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 challenging an army of forty thousand men, twenty at 
 a time, and killing the whole in a certain number of 
 days.' 
 
 Plautus in the Curculio, 1. 442 sqq., has this idea 
 worked out, with the exception that Therapontigonus 
 accomplishes the deed unaided : 
 
 CV. Dicam : quia enim Persas, PdpMagonas, 
 Siti6pas, Arabes, Cdres, Cretan6s, Syros, 
 Rhodiam, dtque Lyciam, P6rediam et Perbibesiam, 
 Centaiiromachiam et Cldssiam Vnomdmmiam. 
 I/ibydmque foram omaem Conterebr6mniam, 
 Dimidiam partem ndtionum usque 6mnium 
 Sub^git solus int[e]r[e]a uiginti dies. 
 
 But on the whole Therapontigonus seems to be a 
 milder member of the class of braggarts of which Pyr- 
 gopolinices and Bobadill are such admirable specimens. 
 
 Bob. Indeed, that migM be 
 some loss ; but who respects 
 it ? I will tell you, sir, by the 
 way of private, and under seal ; 
 I am a gentleman, and live 
 here obscure, and to myself; 
 but were I known to her ma- 
 jesty and the lords, — observe 
 me, — I would undertake, upon 
 
 PY. V61up est, quod agas si 
 
 id procedit ISpide at < que 
 
 ex>sent6ntia. 
 Nam ^go hodie ad Seledcum 
 
 regem misi parasitlim me- 
 
 um, 
 Vt latrones qu6s conduxi hinc 
 
 dd Seleucum d1icere<t> : 
 Qui 6ius regnum tfitarentur, 
 
 mihi dum fieret 6tium. 
 
 11. 947-950. Mi. 
 PY. Curdte ut splendor me6 
 
 sit clipeo cldrior, 
 Quam s61is radii esse 61im 
 
 quom sudiimst solent : 
 Vt, ubi dsus ueniat, c6ntra 
 
 consertd manu 
 
 ' Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 20, p. 403, 1867. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 59 
 
 this poor head and life, for the 
 public benefit of the state, not 
 only to spare the entire lives 
 of her subjects in general ; but 
 to save the one half, nay, three 
 parts of her yearly charge in 
 holding -war, and against what 
 enemy soever. Andhowwould 
 I do it, think, you ? 
 
 E. Know. Nay, I know 
 not, nor can I conceive. 
 
 Bob. Why thus, sir. I 
 would select nineteen more, 
 to myself, throughout the 
 land ; gentlemen they should 
 be of good spirit, strong and 
 able constitution ; I would 
 choose them by an instinct, a 
 character that I have : and I 
 would teach these nineteen 
 the special rules, as your 
 punto, your reverse, your stoc- 
 cata, your imbroccato, your 
 passada, your montanto ; till 
 they could all play very near, 
 or altogether as well as myself. 
 This done, say the enemy were 
 forty thousand strong, we 
 twenty woiild come into the 
 field the tenth of March, or 
 thereabouts ; and we would 
 challenge twenty of the en- 
 etay ; they could not in their 
 honour refuse us : Well, we 
 would kill them ; challenge 
 twenty more, kill them ; twen- 
 ty more, kill them ; twenty 
 more, kill them too ; and thus 
 would we kill every man his 
 
 Praestringat oculorum iciem 
 
 in acie | h6stibus. 
 Nam ego hdnc machaeram 
 
 mihi consolari nolo, 
 Ne Idmentetur n^ue animum 
 
 desp6ndeat. 
 Quia s6 iam pridem f[i]6riat- 
 
 [t]am g^stitem. 
 Quae misera gestit [et] ffra- 
 
 trem facere ex h6stibus. 
 Sed ubi Artotrogus hlc est? 
 AR. Stat propter uirum 
 Fortem dtque fortundtum et 
 
 forma r^gia. 
 Tarn b^Uatorem Mdrs<se> 
 
 haud ausit dlcere 
 Neque a^quiperare suds uir- 
 
 tutes dd tuas. 
 PY. Quemne €go seruaui in 
 
 cdmpis Curculi6nieis, 
 Vbi Bfimbomachides Clfito- 
 
 mestoridysdrchides 
 Erat imperator slimmus, Nep- 
 
 tuni nepos ;? 
 AR. Memini : nempe ilium 
 
 dicis cum armis adreis, 
 Quoius tfi legiones difflSuisti 
 
 spiritu 
 Quasi u6ntus folia <a>ut 
 
 pdniculum tect6rium. 
 PY. Istlic quidem edepol nil 
 
 est. 
 
 11. 1-19. Mi. 
 AR. . . . edepol u61 ele- 
 
 phanto in India 
 Quo pdcto ei pugno pra^fre- 
 
 gisti brdcchium. 
 PY. Quid, brdcchium ? AR. 
 
 lUud dicere uolul : femur. 
 
6o 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 twenty a day, that 's twenty 
 score ; twenty score, that 's 
 two hundred ; two hundred a 
 day, five days a thousand ; 
 forty thousand ; forty times 
 five, five times forty ; two 
 hundred days kills them all 
 up by computation. And this 
 will I venture my poor gentle- 
 man-like carcass to perform, 
 provided there be no treason 
 practiced upon us, by fair and 
 discreet manhood ; that is, 
 civilly, by the sword. 
 Every Man in His Humour, 
 A. IV, s. 5. 
 
 py. At indiligenter iceram. 
 
 11. 25-28. Mi. 
 PY. Ecquid meministi ? AR. 
 
 Mdmini : centum in Cilicia 
 Et quinquaginta, c6ntum in 
 
 Scytholdtronia, 
 Triginta Sardis, sdxaginta Md- 
 
 cedones 
 Sunt h6mines quos tu | 6cci- 
 
 disti un6 die. 
 PY. Quanta istaec hominum 
 
 slimmast ? AR. Septem 
 
 mllia. 
 PY. Tantum 6sse oportet: 
 
 r^cte ration^m tenes. 
 
 11. 42-47. Mi. 
 
 In the Curculio, we have 
 something similar, in spirit if 
 not in words : 
 
 TH. N6n ego nunc mediocri 
 
 incedo irdtus iraclindia, 
 S^d eapse ilia qua ^xcidionem 
 
 fdcere condidici 6ppidis. 
 Nlinc nisi tu mihi pr6pere 
 
 properas ddre iam trigintd 
 
 minas 
 Quds ego apud te ddposiui, 
 
 uitam propera p6nere. 
 
 11. 533-536. Mi. 
 
 The soldiers of the New Attic Comedy are always 
 made out to be fools, who roar around, and rant about 
 — in Bowery fashion — to be gulled in the end. It is 
 not surprising then that these three braggadocios, 
 Pyrgopolinices, Bobadill and Therapontigonus are 
 brought to shame and two receive their cudgelling 
 after the manner of Plautus, in much the same way. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 6i 
 
 Down. O, Pharaoh's foot, 
 have I found you? Come, 
 draw to your tools ; draw, 
 gipsy, or I '11 thrash you. 
 
 Bob. Gentleman of valour, 
 I do believe in thee ; hear 
 me 
 
 Down. 
 then. 
 
 Draw your weapon 
 
 Bob. Tall man, I never 
 thought on it till now — Body 
 of me, I had a warrant of the 
 peace served on me, even now 
 as I came along, by a water- 
 bearer ; this gentleman saw it. 
 Master Mathew. 
 
 Down. 'Sdeath ! you will 
 not draw then ? [^Disarms and 
 beats him. 
 
 Bob. Hold, hold ! under 
 thy favour forbear ! 
 
 Bob. I cannot tell, sir ; I 
 desire good construction in 
 fair sort. I never sustain'd 
 the like disgrace, by heaven ! 
 sure I was struck with a planet 
 
 PE. DUcite istum : si non 
 sequitur, rdpite sublim^m 
 foras. 
 
 Fdcite inter terram dtque cae- 
 lum ut sit : t discindite. 
 
 PY. Obsecro hercle, P^riplec- 
 [t]omene, t6. 
 
 PY. P^rii. 
 
 <PY. > Oiei, satis sum u^r- 
 beratus : 6bsecro. 
 
 PY. Opsecro hercle te, lit mea 
 uerba aiidias prius qudm 
 secat. 
 
 PY. Mro per louem ^t Ma- 
 
 uortetn m^ nociturum n^- 
 
 mini, 
 Qu6d ego hie hodie udpularim: 
 
 ilireque id factum drbitror : 
 :Et si iatestat6s non abeo hinc, 
 
 bfee agitur pro n6xia. 
 
 PY. Mitis sum equidem flis- 
 tibus : 
 
 PY. Vae miser6 mihi : 
 V^rba mihi data ^sse uideo. 
 
 sc^lus uiri Pala&trio, 
 Is me in hanc iul^xit frau- 
 
 dem. 11. 1394-1435. Mi. 
 
62 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 thence, for I had no power to 
 touch my weapon. 
 
 E. Know. Ay, like enough; 
 I have heard of many that 
 have been beaten under a 
 planet : go, get you to a sur- 
 geon. 
 Every Man in His Humour, 
 
 A. IV, s. s. 
 
 So Therapontigonus In the 
 Cu., 1. 555 sq. : 
 
 TH. Quid ego nunc facidm? 
 
 quid refert md fecisse r^gibns 
 Vt mi oboedirdnt, si hie me 
 
 hodie umbrdticus deriserit? 
 
 Again, 1. 572 sqq. : 
 
 TH. L^no minitatdr mihi 
 Mea^que pugnae pro61iares 
 
 plfirumae optritad iacent ? 
 At ita me macha^ra et clypeus 
 
 B6ne iuuent pugndntem in 
 
 acie : nisi mi[hi] uirgo r^d- 
 
 ditur, 
 lam 6go te faciam ut hic formi- 
 
 cae frdstillatim diflFerant. 
 
 And 1. 589 sq. . 
 TH. Quid ego faciam? md- 
 
 neam an abeam? slcine 
 
 mihi esse os 6blitum ? 
 Cdpio dare merc^dem qui il- 
 
 lunc dbi sit commonstrdt 
 
 mihi. 
 
 "In Ben Jonson's Every Man Out of His Humour 
 findet sich wieder ' a vain-glorious knight ' in der 
 Gestalt des Puntarvolo. Gifford nimmt diesen und 
 Bobadill fiir wirkliche Personlichkeiten.' Im Poet- 
 aster, or his arraignment," treffen wir auf eine ver- 
 wandte Figur in Pantilius Tucca, den Davies als eine 
 ' wretched copy of Falstaff ' bezeichnet, wogegen Gif- 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 677. Cf. Ed. 
 GifiFord, H, 213. "No one believes that Bobadill was a mere 
 creature of the imagination." 
 
 '^ Ibid., Note 3. Cf. Rapp, Studien, S. 223. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 63 
 
 ford eifert.'— Auch Dekker's Captain Tucca und Con- 
 greve's Noll Bluff " sind ziemlicli ungeschickt Ben 
 Jonson' s Bobadill nachgeahmt. " ' 
 
 With the one exception of Bobadill, the character of 
 Captain Pantilius Tucca is the brightest and best 
 of Jonson' s inventions. In comic effect, Bobadill was 
 much the superior character/ " The delightful cow- 
 ardice, and inoffensive pretension of Bobadill," says 
 Mr. Swinburne, " is admirably contrasted with the 
 blatant vulgarity and flagrant rascality of Tucca." ^ 
 
 The Mostellaria, or Hob-goblin, is generally called 
 in English translations The Haunted House. This 
 play has no plot strictly speaking, and the interest is 
 centred in the ludicrous efforts of the slave, Tranio, to 
 prevent the master, Theuropides, just returned from 
 abroad, from entering the house which is represented 
 as being haunted. The truth is that Theuropides' son 
 and a congenial spirit have been enjoying a carouse 
 there in view of which his sudden appearance is Tital h 
 propos. The play is coarse in its conception, and has 
 little to recommend it to popular favor ; it is chiefly re- 
 markable as being the original of Regnard's Le Retour 
 Imprevu, and Fielding's Intriguing Chambermaid. 
 
 Mr. von Reinhardstoettner in his analysis of this 
 comedy says : " Noch wird von Flogel," Fuhrman,' 
 
 'Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 677, Note 4. 
 Cf. Ed. Gifford, II, 550. 
 ''Ibid., Note 5. Cf. Ed. Gifford, I, 214. ^ Ibid. 
 
 ^Symonds, J. A., Ben Jonson, 1888. 
 ' Swinburne, Algernon Charles, A Study of Ben Jonson, 1889, 
 
 P- 25. 
 
 * Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 488, Note i. 
 Cf. Gesch. d. k. lyitt.. Ill, 217. 
 
 - Ibid., Note 2. Cf. Handbuch, III, 51. 
 
64 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 und Rapp ' Ben Jonson's Lustspiel The Alchemist das 
 zuerst 1610 aufgefiihrt wurde, mit der Mostellaria in 
 Zusammenhang gebracht. ' Die Situation, ' sagt Rapp 
 (a. a. O.), ' ist iibrigens aus Plautus' Mostellaria ent- 
 lehnt und in I,ondon lokalisiert . . . Die kata- 
 strophe durch die Ankunft des I^ondoner Biirgers, wie 
 in der Mostellaria. ' Dryden halt den Alchemist fiir ein 
 Plagiat des Albumazar, wodurch die innere Beziehung 
 beider Stiicke zu Plautus hergestellt ware. ' ' ^ 
 
 The Fox and The Alchemist, although the materials 
 of the latter are purely English, have something in 
 their cast and manner of treatment, which makes them 
 read like Plautus and Terence, many times enriched 
 and elaborated. 
 
 " T)ex Alchemist," says Mr. von Reinhardstoettner, 
 ' ' in welchem uns an Sir Epicure Mammon eine Art 
 FalstafE entgegentritt, mag, da ja Ben Jonson ein 
 griindlicher kenner der Alten war und ihrer an zahl- 
 reichen stellen seiner I^ustspiele gedenkt, das eine oder 
 andere Plautus schulden ; eine Nachahmung der Mos- 
 tellaria ist er nicht. Der Inhalt in nachstehendem 
 Akrostichon spricht am besten fiir diese Behauptung." ' 
 
 "The sickness hot, a master quit, for fear, 
 His house in town, and left one servant there ; 
 Ease him corrupted, and gave means to know 
 A Cheater, and his punk ; who now brought low. 
 Leaving their narrow practice, were become 
 Cozeners at large ; and only wanting some 
 House to set up, with him they here contract, 
 Each for a share, and all begin to act. 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 488, Note 3. 
 Cf. Studien, S. 230. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 65 
 
 Much company they draw, and mucli abuse, 
 In casting figures, telling fortunes, news. 
 Selling of flies, flat bawdry, with the stone, 
 Till it and they, and all in fume are gone." ' 
 
 " Durch Subtle und seine Genossen, Face und Dol 
 Common, wird die Dummheit der Menschen, welche 
 an den vermeintlichen Alchemisten und seine Wunder- 
 leistungen glauben, solange ausgeniitzt, bis endlich 
 der ganze Missbraucb auf gedeckt wird, da der Besitzer 
 des Hauses, Love- Wit, zuriickkelirt. Er bort, wie leb- 
 haft es in seinem Hause wabrend seiner Abwesenbeit 
 zuging, von den Nacbbam (v, i) welche ihm die wun- 
 derbarsten Dinge erzablen. Auf sein Klopfen wird 
 ihm nicht geantwortet : 
 
 ' This 's strange ! that none will answer.' 
 
 Face ist der erste, der hervortritt." 
 
 Face. Good Sir, come from the door ! 
 
 Lov. Why ? what 's the matter ? 
 
 Face. Yet farther, you are too near yet. 
 
 Lov. In the name of wonder ! What means the fellow ? 
 
 Face. The house, sir, has been visited. 
 
 Lov. What, with the plague ? stand thou then farther ! 
 
 Face. No, sir, I had it not. 
 
 Lov. Who had it then ? I left 
 
 None else but thee in the house ! 
 
 Face. Yes, sir, my fellow. 
 
 The cat that kept the buttery, had it on her 
 A week before I spied it ; but I got her 
 Convey'd away, in the night. And so I shut 
 The house up for a month.^ 
 
 And Mr. von Reinhardstoettner adds, " ohneweitere 
 
 ' Jonson, Ben, The Alchemist. Acrostic argument. 
 ^ Ibid., A.. V, s. I. 
 
66 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 Anklange an die Mostellaria. ' ' ' This conclusion seems 
 to be precipitate, for farther on occurs convincing evi- 
 dence that Jonson drew directly from the Mostellaria 
 for this portion of the play. 
 
 Compare the reflection of Face, with the soliloquy of 
 Tranio, in this scene of the Latin play, and note the 
 great similarity. This resemblance cannot be merely 
 accidental — such as would arise from treating two sub- 
 jects partially similar — but it is rather a direct copy : 
 
 TH. Sed quid hoc? occlusa idnuast int^rdius. 
 
 Pultibo. <li>eus, [h]ecquis <liic> est? aperitin foris ? 
 
 TR. Quis hom6st qui nostras a^desefcccessit prope ? 
 
 \^Face. What mean you, sir ?] 
 TH. Mens sdruos hicquidemst Trdnio. 11. 444-447. Mo. 
 
 [1.2.4. Nei. O, here 's Jeremy !] 
 
 At this point, Jonson has abridged what Plautus has 
 greatly elaborated. We readily perceive, however, 
 that this would be a special opportunity for Plautus, 
 which he would make the most of for the purpose of 
 creating a laugh, as the scene is exceedingly ludicrous. 
 
 TH. Quid u6s, insanin &tis ? TR. Qnidum ? TH. Sic : 
 
 quia 
 Foris dmbulatis : n4tus nemo in a^dibus 
 Serudt, neque qui reclddat neque qui[s] f respondeat. 
 Pultdndo [pedibus] paene c6nfregi <h>asceambds <foris>. 
 TR. E<h>o, an tfi[te] tetigisti has addis? TH. Cur non 
 
 tingerem 
 Quin p61tando, inquam, pa^ne confregi foris. 
 TR. Tetigistin ? TH. Tetigi, inquam, 6t ptdtaui. TR. Vdh. 
 
 TH. Quid est? 
 TR. Male h^rcle factum. TH. Quid est negoti ? TR. N6n 
 
 potest 
 Dici quam indignum fdcinus fecisti ^t malmn. 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 489. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 67 
 
 TH. Quid idm. TR. Fuge obsecro dtque abscede ab a^dibus : 
 Fuge ii&c, fuge ad me pr6pius. tetigistin foris ? 
 TH. Quo m6do pultare p6tui, si non tdngerem ? 11. 450-462. 
 TR. Capitdle scelus fact<i<m>st. TH. Quid est? non 
 int^Uego. 1. 475. 
 
 The space occupied by tlie fabrication of the murdered 
 man, coincides with that taken up by lyovewit in the 
 rehearsal of the reports of the neighbors. The incident 
 of the noise heard within the house, is, with a sUght 
 variation, the same in both. 
 
 I^ace. [Goes to the door.'] 
 Good faith, sir, I believe 
 
 There 's no such thing : 't is all 
 deceptio visus — 
 
 Would I could get him away. 
 {Aside. 
 
 Dap. {within.] Master cap- 
 tain ! master doctor ! 
 
 Love. Who 's that ? 
 
 Face. Our clerk within, that 
 I forgot ! {Aside. 
 
 I know not, sir. 
 
 Face. Ha ! 
 
 Illusions, some spirit o' the 
 air ! — His gag is melted. 
 
 And now he sets out the 
 throat. {Aside. 
 
 Dap. {within.] I am almost 
 stifled— 
 
 Face. Would you were alto- 
 gether. {Aside. 
 
 Love. 'T is in the house. 
 Ha ! list. 
 
 Face. Believe it, sir, in the 
 air. 
 
 Love. Peace, you. 
 
 TH. Quid 6bsecro hercle 
 
 fdctumst ? TR. Concre- 
 
 pult foris. 
 <INTVS> Hicine percussit ? 
 
 TH. Gfittam haud habeo 
 
 sdnguinis : 
 Viu6m me accersunt A[d]che- 
 
 runtem m6rtui. 
 <TR.> Per<ii:> illisce 
 
 hodie hanc c6nturbabunt 
 
 fdbulam. 
 Nimis qudm formido, n^ ma- 
 
 nufesto hie me 6pprimat. 
 TH. Quidtflte <te>cuml6- 
 
 quere? <TR.> Abscede ab 
 
 idnua : 
 Fuge, 6bsecro hercle. TH. 
 
 Qu6 fugiam? Etiam tfi 
 
 fuge[s]. 
 TR. Nil €%o formido : pdx 
 
 mihist cum m6rtuis. 
 INTVS. Heus, Trdnio. 
 
 <TR.> {In a low voice, 
 
 near the door.) Non me dp- 
 
 pellabis, si sapis. 
 Nil ^go commerui, ndque istas 
 
 percuss! fores. 
 
68 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 Dap. \withini\ Mine aunt's 
 grace does not use me well. 
 
 Sub. [within.'] You fool, 
 
 Peace, you '11 mar all. 
 
 Face, [speaks through the 
 key-hole, while Lovewit ad- 
 vances to the door unob- 
 served.] Or you will else, 
 you rogue. 
 
 Love. O, is it so ? Then you 
 converse with spirits ! — 
 
 Come, sir. No more of your 
 tricks, &c. 
 The Alchemist, A. V, s. i. 
 
 Face. Surly come ! 
 
 And Mammon made acquaint- 
 ed ! they '11 tell all. 
 
 How shall I beat them off? 
 what shall I do ? 
 
 Nothing 's more wretched than 
 
 a guilty conscience. [Aside. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 Quaeso -— — ^— • ^ v..- — Quid ? 
 
 s^greges 
 -^— -^ — --<TH. Qua6r>es 
 
 te agitat, Trdnio ? 
 [TR.] Quicum !sta[h]ec lo- 
 
 quere .' 
 
 11- 507-519- 
 
 TR. Nunc p61 ego peril 
 
 pldne in perpetu6m modum. 
 
 Danista adest, qui d^dit^.^ — 
 
 Qui amicast empta qu6que — 
 
 Manuf&ta res est, . . . 
 Metu6 ne de hac re quippiam 
 in <d> audiuerit. 
 
 Nil 6st miserius quam dnimus 
 
 hominis c6nscius, 
 Siclit me <male> habet. 
 
 11. 536-545. 
 
 The Plautine words, quoted verbatim, and their rela- 
 tive position in scenes similar in spirit and idea, seem 
 to leave little room for doubt that Jonson has here 
 made a direct copy from the old play. The servants. 
 Face and Tranio, on whose trickery the play turns, are 
 forgiven in much the same way : 
 
 Face . . . You need not 
 
 fear the house ; 
 It was not visited. 
 Love. But by me, who came 
 Sooner than you expected. 
 Face. It is true, sir. 
 'Pray you forgive me. 
 
 The Alchemist, A. V, s. i. 
 
 CA. Mitte, quaes <o>, is- 
 tum. 
 
 1. 1172. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben J onsen. 69 
 
 No mention, I think, has been made of the great 
 similarity in the visions of wealth and glory of Gripus, 
 in the R., and those of the real hero in The Alchemist. 
 As with Gripus, Sir Epicure Mammon is inflated with 
 visions of wealth beyond the dreams of avarice. ' ' It 
 is of little moment to demur that Mammon's day- 
 dreams are ' incongruous with his quality of a city 
 knight,' and that half of what he says is ' borrowed 
 from the Augustan Histories.' ( ! ) Jonson was de- 
 picting a hyperbolical character ; and it served his 
 purpose to gather the vices and luxuries of all nations 
 into one delirious vision. Sir Epicure Mammon ex- 
 hibits in his rhetoric the calenture of a brain inflated 
 by the expectation of absolutely illimitable power over 
 nature." ' 
 
 Now let us compare these visions of Sir Epicure 
 Mammon with those of Gripus, in the old Roman play, 
 and see if we cannot find their source here rather than 
 in the " Augustan Histories," referred to. 
 
 GR. Nunc haec tibi occasio. Gripe, optigit, utf liberes ex 
 
 populo praeter te. 
 Nunc SIC faciam, sic c6nsiliumst : ad erdm ueniam docte dtque 
 
 astu[te], 
 Pauxillatim poUicitabor pro cdpite argentum, ut slm liber. 
 
 R., 11. 927-929. 
 
 This would be manumission of the slave. 
 Jonson : 
 
 Mam. . . . 
 
 Lungs, I will manumit thee from the furnace ; 
 I will restore thee thy complexion, Puffe, 
 Lost in the embers ; and repair this brain. 
 Hurt with the fume o' the metals. 
 
 'Symonds, J. A., Ben Jonson, 1888. Cf. Swinburne, Alger- 
 non Charles, A Study of Ben Jonson, 1889. 
 
70 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 Mam. Lungs, I will set a 
 To all thy labours ; thou 
 Of my seraglio. 
 
 Again : 
 
 Mam. This is the day, 
 
 wherein, to all my friends, 
 X will pronounce the happy 
 
 word, Be rich ; 
 This day you shall be speda- 
 
 tissimi. 
 
 You shall start up young vice- 
 roys, 
 
 . . . This night, I '11 change 
 
 All that is metal, in my house, 
 to gold : 
 
 And, early in the morning, 
 will I send 
 
 To all the plumbers and the 
 pewterers, 
 
 And buy their tin and lead up ; 
 and to Lothbury 
 
 For all the copper. 
 
 Sur. What, and turn that too ? 
 
 Mam. Yes, and I '11 purchase 
 Devonshire and Cornwall, 
 
 And make them perfect In- 
 dies ! You admire now ? 
 
 Sur. No, faith. 
 
 Mam,. Ha ! why ? 
 Do you think I fable with 
 you? &c. 
 
 period 
 
 shalt be the master 
 
 The Alchemist, A. II, s. i. 
 
 GR: 
 
 lam ubi liber er<o>, igitfir 
 demum instrfiam agrum at- 
 que aedis, mdncipia : 
 
 Nauibus magnis mercdturam 
 faciam : dpud reges rex pdr- 
 hibebor. 
 
 Post inimi causa mihi nauem 
 faciam dtque imitabor Strd- 
 tonicum, 
 
 Oppida circumuectdbor. 
 
 Vbi n6bilitas mea erit clara, 
 
 Oppidum magnum commd- 
 nibo: 
 
 Bi ego lirbi Gripo iuddm no- 
 men, 
 
 Monimdntum meae famae 6t 
 factis, 
 
 Ibi qui regnum magnum in- 
 stituam. 
 
 Magnis res hie agito in men- 
 tem 
 
 Instrdere. 
 
 R; 1- 93° sqq. 
 
 Mr. Riley suggests that this 
 is wonderfully like Alnas- 
 char's reverie in the Arabian 
 Nights, so aptly quoted in the 
 Spectator.'^ 
 
 Mam. Pertinax [my] Surly, 
 
 ' The Comedies of Plautus. Trans, by Henry Thomas Riley, 
 Vol. II, p. io6. Note 2. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 71 
 
 Again I say to thee, aloud, Be 
 rich. 
 
 This day, thou shalt have in- 
 gots ; and, tomorrow. 
 
 Give lords th' affront. 
 
 Mam. For I do mean 
 
 To have a list of wives and 
 
 concubines. 
 Equal with Solomon. 
 
 The Alchemist, A. II, s. i. 
 
 The Case is Altered is indebted to Plautus for almost 
 the entire plot. It is perhaps the only one, for no 
 other play by Jonson draws so largely from the Plautine 
 comedies. We have found scenes, episodes, allusions, 
 and direct quotations which are evidently Plautine, in 
 other comedies, but the plot is still Jonson' s invention. 
 
 This comedy, which should have stood, had chro- 
 nology only been consulted, at the head of Jonson's 
 works, for in 1598 it was already a popular piece and 
 bears many marks of juvenility about it, was first 
 printed in quarto, in 1609. 
 
 But, according to Gifford,' it must have been written 
 at least ten or twelve years previously, as it is familiarly 
 spoken of by Nash in his Lenten Stuff, which appeared 
 in 1599 : " It is not right, of the merry cobbler's cutte 
 in that witty play of 'the Case is altered.'"" Ben 
 Jonson was now recent from the Roman writers of 
 comedy, and, in this pleasant piece, both Plautus and 
 Terence are laid under frequent contribution.' 
 
 ' Ed. Gifford, Ben Jonson, VI, 320. Cf, Reinhardstoettner, 
 Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 347, Note 9. 
 
 ^ Nash, Lenten Stuff, p. 68. Vgl. auch das Weitere a. a. O. 
 
 ^ Ed. Gifford, Ben Jonson, I, xxsiv. Cf. Reinhardstoettner 
 Karl von, Plautus, p. 347, Note 9. 
 
72 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 " Der gelelirte Ben Jonson," says Mr. von Reinhard- 
 stoettner, " steht in seinem Stiicke The Case is Altered 
 auf dem Boden der Aulularia und Captivi. "... 
 Eine ausserst gelungene Kontamination zweier plau- 
 tinischer Stiicke, der Aulularia und der Captivi ist in 
 dem englisclien I^ustspiele The Case is Altered entlial- 
 ten, welches Ben Jonson zugeschrieben wird." " 
 
 There is a considerable degree of ingenuity in the 
 construction of this lively comedy. Dunlop thinks 
 Jonson probably found the plot of the Aulularia too 
 simple for his purpose, and he praises him for the dex- 
 terity with which he has contrived to interweave that of 
 the Captivi with it, so as to form a consistent whole. ^ 
 
 The Aulularia gives the portrait of a miser, and is 
 considered to be one of the best of the Plautine come- 
 dies, both in execution and in plot." The Captivi is a 
 pathetic piece, without female characters or love in- 
 trigue, and without active interest {statarid), though 
 well constructed and enlivened by the character of the 
 parasite." 
 
 " lyassen wir alle nicht hierher gehorigen Episoden, 
 so besonders den trefflichen Schuhflicker Juniper und 
 seine Gesellschaft, so vertritt uns das Haus des Geiz- 
 halses Jaques de Brie die Aulularia, jenes des Count 
 Ferneze die Captivi. Die szene ist nach Mailand ver- 
 legt." ° Mr. von Reinhardstoettner gives the follow- 
 ing, as a direct copy from the Captivi : ' ' Count Fer- 
 neze hat einen Sohn verloren,' 
 
 ' Reintiardstoettiier, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 79. 
 
 '^ Ibid., p. 346. 
 
 ^Dunlop, Hist, of Roman Literature, I, 172. Cf. Ussing, II, 
 459. Ed. Gifford, Ben Jonson, VI, 421. 
 
 " Teuffel-Schwabe, Hist, of Roman Lit. Tr. by Geo. C. W. 
 Warr, 1891, I, p. 135. s /^^^ 
 
 ^ Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 347. ' Ibid. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 73 
 
 ' I had one other, younger born than this, 
 By twice so many hours as would fill 
 The circle of a year, his name Camillo, 
 Whom in that black and fearful night I lost, 
 {'Tis now a nineteen years agone at least) 
 It was that night wherein the great Chamont, 
 The general for France, surprised Vicenza.' ' 
 
 Dort wurde nach seiner Annahme sein Sohn von Sol- 
 daten ermordet." 
 
 The lines in the Captivi, from which this is taken, are : 
 
 TYN. . . . p€rdidi unum f Ilium, 
 Puerlim quadrimum qu^m mihi seruos slirpuit, 
 Neque edm seruom umquam rdpperi neque filium : 
 Mai6r potitus h6stiumst. quod hoc 6st scelus ? 
 Quasi in 6rbitatem liberos prodtixerim. 11. 759-763. 
 
 Mr. von Reinhardstoettner again quotes Gifford " : 
 " Das weitere Interesse nehmen die Gefangenen, ganz 
 nach Plautus, in Anspruch : ' The whole incident of 
 Paulo Ferneze's being taken prisoner on the one side, 
 and Charmont and Camillo on the other, with the ex- 
 changing of their names, and Camillo' s being left for 
 Chamont, is taken from the CapHvi of Plautus." 
 
 "Chamont und Camillo — genannt Gasper — sind wie 
 Philokrates und Tyndarus, aufrichtige Freunde, und 
 Chamont kann sagen : 
 
 ' How may I bless the time wherein Chamont, 
 My honour'd father, did surprise Vicenza, 
 Where this my friend (known by no name) was found. 
 Being then a child, and scarce of power to speak, 
 
 ' Jonson, Ben, The Case is Altered, A. I, s. 2. 
 ^ Ed. Gifford, Ben Jonson, VI, 397. 
 
 3 Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 349. Cf. 
 Whalley. 
 
74 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 To -wliom my father gave this name of Gasper, 
 And as his own respected him to death.' " ' 
 
 A comparison of the Captivi and the Aulularia with 
 The Case is Altered, although lengthy, is necessary in 
 showing the dependence of the latter on the former. 
 
 As Chamont and Camillo are the Philocrates and 
 Tyndarus of the Plautine comedy, so Count Ferneze 
 answers to Hegio, and Pacue to Aristophontes : 
 
 [Enter a Messenger.'] 
 
 Mes. See, here's the Count 
 
 Ferneze, 
 I will tell him 
 The hapless accident of his 
 
 brave son. 
 That he may seek the sooner 
 
 to redeem him. — 
 God save your lordship ! 
 Count F. You are right wel- 
 come, sir. 
 Mes. I would I brought such 
 
 news as might deserve it. 
 Count F. What ! bring you 
 
 me ill news ? 
 Mes. 'T is ill, my lord. 
 Yet such as usual chance of 
 
 war affords, 
 And for which all men are 
 
 prepared that use it, 
 And those that use it not but 
 
 in their friends. 
 Or in their children. 
 Count F. HI news of my son. 
 My dear and only son, I'll lay 
 
 my soul ! 
 
 Seni huic fuerunt filii nati 
 
 duo : 
 Alteram quadrimum p^erum 
 
 seruos slirpuit 
 Eumque hlnc profugiens u^n- 
 
 didit in Alide 
 Patri fhuiusce : iam h6c te- 
 
 netis? 6ptumumst. 
 
 Cp. Prologus, 11. 7-10. 
 Is p6stquani hunc emit, d6- 
 
 dit eum huic gnat6 suo 
 Pecliliarem, quia quasi una 
 
 aetds erat. 
 Hie n<inc domi seruit su6 patri 
 
 nee scit pater. 
 
 Ibid., U. 19-21. 
 Rati6nem habetis qu6modo 
 
 unum amiserit. 
 Postqudm belligerant Adtoli 
 
 cum I Aleis, 
 Vt fit in bello, cdpitur alter 
 
 filius. 
 Mediclis Menarchus 6niit ibi- 
 dem in Alide. 
 Coepit captiuos c6mmercari 
 
 hie Aleos, 
 
 ' Jonson, Ben, The Case is Altered, A. IV, s. 2. Cf. Rein- 
 hardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, p. 349. ,' 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 75 
 
 Ah me accurs'd ! thought of 
 
 his death doth wound me, 
 And the report of it will kill 
 
 me quite. 
 Mes. 'T is not so ill, my lord. 
 Count F. How then ? 
 Mes. He 's taken prisoner, 
 
 and that is all. 
 Count F. That is enough, 
 
 enough ; 
 
 Is Maximilian taken prisoner 
 
 too? 
 Mes. No, good my lord ; he 
 
 is return'd with prisoners. 
 
 Count F. O, in what tem- 
 pests do my fortunes sail ! 
 
 Still wrack'd with winds more 
 foul and contrary 
 
 Than any northern gust, or 
 southern flaw. 
 
 That ever yet inforced the sea 
 to gape. 
 
 And swallow the poor mer- 
 chants' traflSc up. 
 
 First in Vicenza lost I my 
 first son, 
 
 Next here in Milan my most 
 dear-loved lady, 
 
 And now my Paulo prisoner to 
 the French ; 
 
 Which last being printed with 
 my other griefs. 
 
 Doth make so huge a volume, 
 that my breast 
 
 Cannot contain them. 
 
 Siqu^m reperire p6sset, qui 
 
 mut^t suom 
 — Illlim captiuom : hunc sfiom 
 
 esse nescit qui domist — 
 Et qu6niam heriindaudiuit de 
 
 summ6 loco 
 Summ6que genere cdptum 
 
 esse equitem | Aleum, 
 Nil pr^tio parsit filio dum 
 
 pdrceret : 
 Rec6nciliare nt fdcilius posset 
 
 domum 
 Emit hosce e praeda dmbos de 
 
 quaestdribus. 
 
 Ibid., 11. 23-34. 
 Enim u^ro di nos qudsi pilas 
 
 homines habent. 
 
 Ibid., 1. 22. 
 Homfinculi quanti sunt, quom 
 
 rec6gito.) 
 
 Ibid., 1. 51- 
 HE. p6rdidi unum filium, 
 
 Puerfim quadrimum qudm 
 
 mihi seruos siirpuit, 
 Neque elim seruom umquam 
 
 r^pperi neque filium : 
 Mai6r potitus h6stiumst. 
 
 11. 759-762. 
 HE. Habe m6do bonum 
 
 animum. nam ilium confid6 
 
 domum 
 In his diebus m6 reconcilids- 
 
 sere. 
 Nam eccum hie captiuom 
 
 adul^scentem < i n t u s > 
 
 Aleum 
 Progndtum genere slimmo et 
 
 summis ditiis : 
 
76 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 Mes. My lord, since only 
 
 money may redress 
 The worst of this misfortune, 
 
 be not grieved ; 
 Prepare his ransom, and your 
 
 noble son 
 Shall greet your cheered eyes 
 
 with the more honour. 
 Count F. I will prepare his 
 
 ransom ; gracious heaven 
 Grant his imprisonment may 
 
 be his worst, 
 Honour'd and soldier-like im- 
 prisonment, 
 And that he be not manacled, 
 
 and made 
 A drudge to his proud foe ! 
 
 The Case is Altered. Act 
 III, s. I. 
 
 Max. Gentlemen, (I wotild 
 call an emperor so,) you 
 are now my prisoners ; I 
 am sorry ; marry this, spit 
 in the face of your fortunes, 
 for your usage shall be hon- 
 ourable. 
 
 Cam. We know it, signior 
 Maximilian ; 
 
 The fame of all your action 
 sounds nought else 
 
 But perfect honour, from her 
 swelling cheeks. 
 
 Max. It shall do so still, I 
 assure you, and I will give 
 you reason : there is in this 
 last action, you know, a 
 noble gentleman of our 
 party, and a right valiant, 
 semblably prisoner to your 
 
 Hoc ilium me mutdre confid6 
 
 pote. 
 
 11. 167-171. 
 HB. Adu6rte animum sis tu : 
 
 istos captiu6s duos 
 Heri quos emi d6 praeda a 
 
 quaest6ribus. 
 Is indito catenas singuldrias 
 Istds, maiores quibus sunt 
 
 iuncti ddmito. 
 
 11. 110-113. 
 I/OR. Si di immortales id 
 
 uoluerunt u6s hanc aerum- 
 
 nam dxsequi, 
 Decet id pati animo | adquo : 
 
 si id faci€tis, leuior Idbos 
 
 erit. 
 Domi fuistis credo liberi : 
 Nunc s6ruitus si eu^nit, ei uos 
 
 m6rigerari m6s bonust 
 fEamque et erili imp^rio in- 
 
 geniis u6stris lenem rdddere. 
 
 11. 195-199- 
 
 HE. . . . hic captiuom adu- 
 
 Mscentem <intus> Aleum 
 Progndtum genere slimmo et 
 
 summis ditiis : 
 Hoc ilium me mutdre confid6 
 
 pote. 
 
 11. 169-171. 
 <HB.> Qu6 de genere nd- 
 
 tust i 1 1 i c Philocrates ? 
 
 PHIL. Polyplfisio: 
 Qu6d genus iUi[c] est dnum 
 
 pollens dtque honoratissu- 
 
 mum. 
 HE. Quid ipsus hic? quo 
 
 hon6restillic? PHIL. Sfim- 
 
 mo atque ab summis uiris. 
 11. 277-279. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. ']'] 
 
 general, as your honour'd 
 selves to me; for whose 
 safety this tongue has given 
 warrant to his honourable 
 father, the count Femeze. 
 You conceive me ? 
 
 Cam. Ay, signior. 
 
 Max. Well, then I must tell 
 you your ransoms be to re- 
 deem him. What think 
 you? your answer. 
 
 Cam. Marry, with my lord's 
 leave here, I say, signior, 
 
 This free and ample offer you 
 have made 
 
 Agrees well with your honour, 
 but not ours ; 
 
 For I think not but Chamont 
 is as well bom 
 
 As is Femeze ; then, if I mis- 
 take not. 
 
 He scorns to have his worth 
 so underprised. 
 
 That it should need an adjunct 
 in exchange 
 
 Of any equal fortune. Noble 
 signior, 
 
 I am a soldier, and I love 
 Chamont ; 
 
 Ere I would bruise his estima- 
 tion 
 
 With the least ruin of mine 
 own respect 
 
 In this vile kind, these legs 
 should rot with irons. 
 
 This body pine in prison, till 
 the flesh 
 
 HE. Filius meus illic apud 
 
 uos sdruit captus Alide : 
 Etim si reddis mihi, praeterea 
 
 linum nummum n^ duis, 
 Et te et hunc amittam hinc — 
 
 alio pdcto abire n6n potes. 
 TYN. Optumum atque aequls- 
 sumum oras 6ptumnsque 
 hominum ds homo. 
 
 11. 330-333. 
 TYN. F^cit ofScium hie 
 
 suom, 
 Qu6m tibist confdssus uerum : 
 qudm <quam> uolui s^dulo 
 Medm nobilitatem 6ccultare 
 
 et g^nus et diuitids meas, 
 H^gio : nunc qudndo patriam 
 et llbertatem p^rdidi. 
 
 11. 297-300. 
 TYN. Tdm ego fui ante liber 
 
 quam gnatlis tuos : 
 Tdm mihi quam illi llbertatem 
 hostilis eripuit manus. 
 
 11. 310, 311. 
 
 TYN. Ego patri meo ^sse 
 
 fateor summas diuitids domi 
 
 M^que summo g6nere gna- 
 
 tum : s^d te optestor, H^gio, 
 
 N6 tuom animum auSriorem 
 
 fSxint diuitia^ meae : 
 N6 patri, tametsi linicus sum, 
 
 fdecere uideatiir magis 
 M6 saturum seruire apud te 
 
 slimptu et uestitd tuo 
 P6tius quam illi ubi minume 
 honestumst m^ndicantem 
 uiuere. 
 
 11. 318-323. 
 TYN. Dum ne 6b malefacta 
 p^ream, parui exfstumo. 
 
78 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 Dropt from my bones in flakes, 
 like wither'd leaves, 
 
 In heart of autumn, from a 
 stubborn oak. 
 
 Max. Monsieur Gasper, (I 
 take it so is your name,) mis- 
 prise me not ; I will trample 
 on the heart, on the soul of 
 him that shall say I will 
 wrong you : what I purpose 
 you cannot now know, but 
 
 you shall know, and, doubt 
 not, to your contentment. — 
 Lord Chamont, I will leave 
 you, whilst I go in and 
 present myself to the hon- 
 ourable count ; till my re- 
 gression, so please you, your 
 noble feet may measure this 
 private, pleasant, and most 
 princely walk. — Soldiers, 
 regard them and respect 
 them. \Exit. 
 
 Pac. O ver bon ! excellenta 
 gull, he taka my lord Cha- 
 mont for monsieur Gaspra, 
 and monsieur Gaspra for my 
 lord Chamont. Oh dis be 
 brave for make a me laugha, 
 ha, ha, ha ! O my heart 
 tickla. {^Aside. 
 
 Si ego hie peribo, ast lUe ut 
 
 dixit n6n redit. 
 At erit mi hoc factum m6rtuo 
 
 memordbile, 
 <ME> m^um erum captum 
 
 ex s^ruitute atque h6stibus 
 Reduc6m fecisse liberum in 
 
 patriam dd patrem, 
 Melimque potius m^ caput 
 
 perlculo 
 Prae6ptauisse quam is periret 
 
 p6nere. 
 
 11. 682-688. 
 HB. Bdepol r£m meam 
 C6nstabiliui, quom illos emi 
 
 dd praeda a quaest6ribns : 
 
 At etiam dubitdui hosce homi- 
 nes 6merem an non emer^m 
 diu. 
 
 fego appareb6 domi. 
 Ad fratrem mod6 captiuos 
 
 dlios inuis6 meos : 
 
 11. 452-458. 
 "SSi. Sinito fi.mbulare, si foris 
 
 si intfls uolent : 
 Sed uti ddseruentur mdgna 
 
 dilig^ntia. 
 
 11. 114, IIS. 
 AR. Immo iste eum sese ait 
 
 qui non est 6sse at qui uer6st 
 
 negat. 
 
 1. 567. 
 
 AR. Quid est ? 
 
 Vt scelestus, H^gio, nunc 
 iste <te> lud6s facit. 
 
 Ndm is est seruos Ipse neque 
 praetor se umquam ei seru6s 
 fuit. 11. 578-580. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 79 
 
 Cam. Ay, but your lordship 
 knows not wliat hard fate 
 
 Might have pursued us, there- 
 fore, howsoe'er, 
 
 The changing of our names 
 was necessary, 
 
 And we must now be careful 
 to maintain 
 
 This error strongly, which our 
 own device 
 
 Hath thrust into their ignorant 
 conceits ; 
 
 For should we (on the taste 
 of this good fortune) 
 
 Appear ourselves, 't would 
 both create in them 
 
 A kind of jealousy, and per- 
 chance invert 
 
 Those honourable courses they 
 intend. 
 
 Cha. True, my dear Gasper ; 
 
 but this hang-by here 
 Will, at one time or other, on 
 
 my soul, 
 Discover us. A secret in his 
 
 mouth 
 Is like a wild bird put into a 
 
 cage, 
 Whose door no sooner opens, 
 
 but 't is out, — 
 But, sirrah, if I may but know 
 
 thou utter' st it — 
 Pac. Uttera vat, monsieur ? 
 Cha. That he is Gasper, and 
 
 I true Chamont. 
 Pac. O pardonnez moy, 'fore 
 
 my tongue shall put out de 
 
 [PHIL. ] t C6pia est ea fdcitis 
 
 nos c6mpotes. 
 Secede hue ndnciam, si ui- 
 
 detdr, procul, 
 Ne drbitri dicta nostra drbi- 
 
 trari queant 
 Ned permandt palam haec 
 
 n6stra falldcia. 
 Ndm doli n6n doli sfint, 
 
 ni<si> astii colas : 
 S^d malum mdxumum, si id 
 
 palam pr6uenit. 
 Nam si erus tu mi es dtque ego 
 
 me tuom 6sse seruom assim- 
 
 ulo, 
 Tamen uiso opust, caut6st 
 
 opus, ut hoc s6bri6 sineque 
 
 drbitris 
 Acc6rate [hoc] agdtur, docte 
 
 6t dilig^nter. 
 Tanta incepta r^s est : baud 
 
 s6mnicul6se hoc 
 Ag^ndumst. TYN. Ero 6t me 
 
 uol^s esse. PHIL. Sp6ro. 
 <TYN. > Nam tli nunc uid^s 
 
 pro tu6 caro cdpite 
 Carum 6fferre <m^> meum 
 
 capiat uilitdti. 
 
 11. 217-230. 
 HE. Lib^r captiuos duis ferae 
 
 consimilis est : 
 Sem^l fugiendi si datast oc- 
 
 cdsio. 
 Satis ^st — numquam postilla 
 
 possis pr^ndere. 
 
 11. 116-118. 
 AR. H^gio, uide sis, nequid 
 
 tu huic t^mere insistas 
 
 crddere : 
 
8o 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 secreta, shall breed de can- 
 kra in my moutli. 
 
 Cam. Speak not so loud, 
 Pacue. 
 
 Pac. Foil ! you shall not hear 
 de fool, for all your long 
 
 ear. Regardez, monsieur : 
 
 you be Chamont, Chamont 
 be Gaspra. 
 
 Max. True, my honourable 
 lord, that Chamont was the 
 father of this man. 
 
 Count F. O that may be, for 
 when I lost my son. 
 
 This was but young, it seems. 
 
 Fran. Faith, had Camillo 
 lived, 
 
 He had been much about his 
 years, my lord. 
 
 Count F. He had indeed ! 
 Well, speak no more of him. 
 
 Max. Signior, perceive you 
 the error? 't was no good 
 office in us to stretch the 
 remembrance of so dear a 
 loss. Count Ferneze, let 
 summer sit in your eye ; 
 look cheerfully, sweet count; 
 will you do me the honour 
 
 Atque ut perspici6, profecto 
 
 idm aliquid pugnae ddidit : 
 Filium tuom qu6d redimere 
 
 se ait, id ne utiquam mihi 
 
 placet. 
 
 11. 584-586. 
 AR. . . . ego te, Philocrates 
 Fdlse, faciam ut u^rus hodie 
 
 rdperiare Tyndarus. 
 Quid mi abnutas ? TYN. Tibi 
 
 ego abunto ? 
 
 11. 609-611. 
 AR. Ex me audibis u^ra quae 
 
 nunc fdlsa opinare, H6gio. 
 1. 619. 
 
 Vt istic Philocrat6s non magis 
 est quam adt ego aut tu. 
 
 1. 623. 
 
 HE. ... is quidem huius dst 
 pater Philocrati. 
 
 11- 974. 975. 
 PHIL. Qudmdiuidfactdmst? 
 STAL. Hie annus incipit 
 uic^nsumus. 
 
 1. 980. 
 
 ERG. Gaude. HE. Quid 
 
 ego galideam ? ERG. Quia 
 
 ego fmpero : age gaud^ 
 modo. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 8i 
 
 to confine this noble spirit 
 within the circle of your 
 arms? 
 
 Count F. Honour'd Chamont, 
 reach me your valiant hand ; 
 
 I could have wish'd some hap- 
 pier accident 
 
 Had made the way unto this 
 mutual knowledge, 
 
 Which either of us now must 
 take of other ; 
 
 But since it is the pleasure of 
 our fates, 
 
 That we should thus be rack'd 
 on fortune's wheel, 
 
 Let us prepare with steeled 
 patience 
 
 To tread on torment, and with 
 minds confirm'd, 
 
 Welcome the worst of envy. 
 
 Max. Noble lord, 't is thus. 
 I have here, in mine honour, 
 set this gentleman free, 
 without ransom : he is now 
 himself, his valour hath de- 
 served it, in the eye of my 
 judgment. — • Monsieur Gas- 
 per, you are dear to me : 
 fortuna non mutat genus. 
 But, to the main ; — if it may 
 square with your lordship's 
 liking, and his love, I could 
 desire that he were now in- 
 stantly employed to your 
 
 HE. t Pol maerores mihi 
 
 anteuortunt gaudiis. 
 
 [ERG. Noli irascier.J 
 ERG. Idm ego ex corpore 
 
 &igam omnis mdculas mae- 
 
 rorfim tibi : 
 Gadde audacter. HE. Galideo, 
 
 etsi nil scio quod galideam. 
 
 11. 839-842. 
 
 ERG. C6do manum. HE. 
 
 Manlim ? ERG. Manum, 
 
 inquam c€do. 
 
 1. 838. 
 HE. Nfinc hoc animum ad- 
 
 u6rte, ut ea quae s^ntio 
 
 parit^r scias. 
 Pllius mens illic apud uos 
 
 spruit captus Alide : 
 Elim si reddis mihi, praeterea 
 
 tinum nummum n6 duis, 
 Et te et hunc amittam hinc — 
 
 alio pdcto abire n6n potes. 
 TYN. Optumum atque aequis- 
 
 sumum oras 6ptumusque 
 
 hominum ^s homo. 
 
 11- 329-333- 
 
 TYN. fortfina humana fingit 
 
 artatque lit lubet. 
 
 1. 304. 
 TYN. N£ uereare : me6 peri- 
 
 clo huius ego experidr 
 
 [nice] fidem 
 
82 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 noble general in tbe ex- 
 change of Femeze for your- 
 self! it is a business that 
 requires the tender hand of 
 a friend. 
 
 Count F. Ay, and it would 
 be with more speed effected, 
 If he would undertake it. 
 
 Max. True, my lord. — Mon- 
 sieur Gasper, how stand you 
 affected to this motion ? 
 
 Cha. My duty must attend 
 his lordsbip's will. 
 
 Fr^tus ingenio eius, quod me 
 esse scit sese erga bdniuo- 
 lum. 
 
 11- 349. 35°- 
 
 HE. Probus & homo. 
 
 1. 427. 
 
 <TYN.> Nam tli nunc uid^s 
 
 pro tu6 caro cdpite 
 Carum 6fferre <m4> meum 
 
 capfit uilitdti. 
 
 11. 229, 230. 
 TYN. Paciam, sed te id oro, 
 
 H^gio— . . . 
 Ausculta, tlim scies. 
 Ego me amitti d6nicum ille 
 
 hue r^dierit non p6stulo : 
 Vdrum, te quaeso, [ut] a&tu- 
 
 matum hunc mihi des quern 
 
 mittam dd patrem, 
 Vt is homo redimdtur illi. 
 
 11- 337-341- 
 TYN. HUnc mitte, hie fomne 
 
 transactum rdddet, si illuc 
 
 u^nerit. 
 N^que quemquam fiddliorem 
 
 n^que quoi plus creddt potes 
 Mittere ad eum n^que qui 
 
 magis sit sSruos ex sen- 
 
 t^ntia, 
 N^que adeo quoi tu6m con- 
 
 credat fllium hodie audScius. 
 
 11- 345-348. 
 
 HE. Mittam equidem istunc 
 
 a^stumatum tud fide, si uls. 
 
 1- 351- 
 HE. At quam primum fpo- 
 teris : istuc in rem utriquest 
 mdxume. 
 
 1. 398. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 83 
 
 Max. What says the lord 
 Chatnont ? 
 
 Com. My -will doth then ap- 
 prove what these have 
 urged. 
 
 Max. Why there is good har- 
 mony, good music in this. 
 Monsieur Gasper, you shall 
 protract no time, only I will 
 give you a bowl of rich wine 
 to the health of your gen- 
 eral, another to the success 
 of your journey, and a third 
 to the love of my sword. 
 Pass. ISxeuni. 
 
 A. Ill, s. 3. 
 
 Cha. Sweet Gasper, I am 
 sorry we must part ; 
 
 But strong necessity enforces 
 it. 
 
 Let not the time seem long 
 unto my friend, 
 
 Till my return ; for, by our 
 love I swear, 
 
 (The sacred sphere wherein 
 our souls are knit,) 
 
 I will endeavour to effect this 
 business 
 
 With all industrious care and 
 happy speed. 
 
 Cam. My lord, these cir- 
 cumstances would come 
 well 
 
 HE. Mittam equidem istunc 
 a&tumatum tuS. fide, si uis. 
 TYN. Volo. 
 
 Qudm citissum^ potest, tam 
 hoc f c6dere ad factum nolo. 
 
 11- 351, 352. 
 
 HE. Di uostrdm fidem. 
 
 H6minum ingenium liberale ! 
 
 ut Idcrumas excutidnt mihi ! 
 
 Videas corde amdre inter se : 
 
 qdantis flaudauit 
 Sliom erum seruos c6nlau- 
 dauit. 
 
 11. 418-421. 
 
 TYN. . . . inter n6s fuisse in- 
 
 g^nio haud discorddbili, 
 N^que te commeruisse culpam 
 
 ndque te adnorsatdm mihi 
 B^neque ero gessisse morem 
 
 in tdntis aerumnls tamen, 
 N^que med umquam d^seru- 
 
 isse t€ neque factis ndque 
 
 fide 
 R^bus in dubiis, egenis. 
 
 11. 402-406. 
 PHIL. F€ci ego ista ut com- 
 
 mdmoras et te m^minisse 
 
 id gratfimst mihi. 
 fMerito tibi ea euenerunt 6. 
 
 me : nam nunc, Philocrates, 
 Si ego item memordm quae 
 
 me erga mlilta fecistJ bene, 
 N6x diem adimat. 
 
 11. 414-417. 
 <PHIL.> Philocrates, 
 
 [PHIL.] ut adhdc locorum 
 
 f6ci, faciam s^dulo : 
 
84 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 To one less capable of your 
 
 desert 
 Than I ; in whom your merit is 
 
 confirm'd 
 "With such authentical and 
 
 grounded proofs. 
 
 Cha. Well, I will use no 
 more. Gasper, adieu. 
 
 Cam. Farewell, my honour'd 
 lord. 
 
 Cha. Commend me to the 
 lady, my good Gasper. 
 
 Cam. Ihadremember'dthat, 
 had not you urged it. 
 
 Cha. Once more adieu, sweet 
 Gasper. 
 
 Cam.. My good lord. {Exit. 
 
 Cha. Thy virtues are more 
 precious than thy name ; 
 
 Kind gentleman, I would not 
 sell thy love. 
 
 For all the earthly objects that 
 mine eyes 
 
 Have ever tasted. Sure thou 
 art nobly born. 
 
 However fortune hath ob- 
 scured thy birth ; 
 
 For native honour sparkles in 
 thine eyes. 
 
 How may I bless the time 
 wherein Chamont, 
 
 My honour'd father, did sur- 
 prise Vicenza, 
 
 When this my friend (known 
 by no name) was found, 
 
 Being then a child, and scarce 
 of power to speak, 
 
 Vt potissumdm quod in rem 
 r^cte conducdt tuam 
 
 Id petam fid persequarque 
 c6rde et animo atque aliri- 
 bus. U. 385-387. 
 
 PHIL. B^ne uale. 1. 452. 
 TYN. Bene dmbulato. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
 TYN. Bene dmbulato. 
 
 md. 
 
 PHIL. B^ne uale. Ibid. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 85 
 
 To whom my father gave this 
 
 name of Gasper, 
 And as his own respected him 
 
 to death : 
 
 Since when we two have 
 shared our mutual fortunes 
 
 With equal spirits, and, but 
 
 death's rude hand, 
 No violence shall dissolve this 
 
 sacred band. [^£xit. 
 
 A. IV, s. 2. 
 
 Max. Nay, but sweet count. 
 
 Count F. Away! I '11 hear no 
 more; 
 
 Never was man so palpably 
 abused : — 
 
 My son so basely marted, and 
 myself 
 
 Am made the subject of your 
 mirth and scorn. 
 
 Max. Count Femeze, you 
 tread too hard upon my pa- 
 tience ; do not persist, I ad- 
 vise your lordship. 
 
 Count F. I will persist, and 
 unto thee I speak ; 
 
 Thou, Maximilian, thou hast 
 injured me. 
 
 Pac. By gar, me shall be 
 hang for tella dis same ; 
 
 me tella mademoiselle, she 
 tell her fadera. 
 
 STAL. . . . post uos indidis- 
 
 tis Tyndaro. 1. 984. 
 
 AR. Philocrates iam inde 
 
 fisque amicus fuit mihi a 
 
 puer6 puer. 1. 645. 
 
 TYN. Quam illi quicum una 
 
 <a> pliero aetatem ex- 
 
 ^geram? 1. 720. 
 
 PHIL. . . . nam is mecum a 
 
 puer6 puer 
 B^ne pudiceque ^ducatust 6s- 
 
 que ad adulesc^ntiam. 
 
 11. 991, 992. 
 PHIL. . . . hie s^ruos, qui te 
 
 huic hinc quadrimum slir- 
 
 puit, 
 V^ndidit patri meo te s6x 
 
 minis, is td mihi 
 Pdruolum pecdliarem pdruolo 
 
 puer6 dedit. 11. 1011-1013. 
 HE. Verba mihi data Ssse 
 
 uideo. 1. 651. 
 
 HE. fSatin me illi hodig 
 
 scelesti cdpti ceperfint dolo ? 
 Illic seruom se dssimulabat, 
 
 hie sese autem liberum. 
 
 11. 653, 654. 
 Ita mi stolido sfirsum uorsum 
 
 OS slibleuere offdciis. 1. 656. 
 
 AR. [aside) Pro di inmor- 
 tales : nlinc ego teneo, nlinc 
 scio 
 
 Quid hoc sit negoti. 
 
 11. 697, 698. 
 
86 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 Count F. The trae Chamont 
 set free, and one left here 
 
 Of no descent, clad barely in 
 his name ! 
 
 Sirrah, boy, come hither and 
 be sure you speak the simple 
 truth. 
 
 Pac. O pardonnez moy, mon- 
 sieur. 
 
 Count F. Come, leave your 
 pardons and directly say, 
 
 What villain is the same that 
 hath usurp'd 
 
 The honour'd name and per- 
 son of Chamont. 
 
 Pac. O, monsieur, no point 
 villain, brave chevalier, 
 monsieur Gasper. 
 
 Count F. Monsieur Gasper ! 
 On what occasion did they 
 
 change their names. 
 What was their policy, or their 
 
 pretext ? 
 Pac. Me canno tell, par ma 
 
 foy, monsieur. 
 Max. My honourable lord ! 
 Count F. Tut, tut, be silent. 
 
 Fetch forth that Gasper, that 
 
 lewd counterfeit ; 
 I '11 make him to your face 
 
 approve your wrongs. 
 
 AR. Sed h6c mihi aegrest 
 
 me huic dedisse operdm 
 
 malam. 
 Qui nlinc propter me mdaque 
 
 uerba uinctus est. 
 
 11. 701, 702. 
 HE. N6culeum amisi, reliqui 
 
 pigneri putdmina. 1. 655. 
 
 HE. Eho, die mihi, 
 
 Quis illic igitur 6st? AR. 
 
 Quem dudum dixi a prin- 
 
 cipi6 tibi. 
 H6c si secus repdries, nullam 
 
 calisam dico, quin mihi 
 jfet parentum et libertatis 
 
 dpud te deliqui6 siet. 
 
 11. 623-626. 
 HE. Sdtin istuc mihi 6x- 
 
 quisitumst, fuisse hunc ser- 
 
 uom in Alide 
 
 N6que esse hunc Philocratdm? 
 U. 638, 639. 
 
 HE. C61aphe, Cordali6, 
 
 Corax, 
 Ite istinc, [atque] ecfiJrte lora. 
 11. 657, 658. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 87 
 
 {Enter Servants with 
 Cainillo. 
 
 Come on, false substance, 
 
 shadow to Chamont, 
 Had you none else to work 
 
 upon but me ? 
 Was I your fittest project? 
 
 well, confess 
 What you intended by this 
 
 secret plot. 
 And by whose policy it was 
 
 contrived. 
 Speak truth, and be intreated 
 
 courteously ; 
 But double with me, and re- 
 solve to prove 
 The extremest rigour that I 
 
 can inflict. 
 
 Cam. My honour'd lord, hear 
 
 me with patience ; 
 Nor hope of favour, nor the 
 
 fear of torment. 
 Shall sway my tongue from 
 
 uttering of truth. 
 
 Act IV, s. 5. 
 
 [Enter Slaves with thongs 
 for Tyndarus. 
 HE. Inicite huic manicas 
 ^^ v_« — mastigiae. 
 
 1. 659. 
 HE. Sat6r sartorque sc^lerum 
 
 et messor mdxume. 
 
 1. 661. 
 HE. t A-t ut confidentermihi 
 
 contra dstitit. 
 
 1. 664. 
 HE. Quia md meamque r^m, 
 
 quod in te un6 fuit, 
 Tuls scelestis fdlsidicis fal- 
 
 Idciis 
 t Deldcerauisti dedrtuauisti- 
 
 que opes, 
 Conf^cisti omnis r^s ac ra- 
 tion's meas. 
 Ita mi 'xemisti Philocratem 
 
 falliciis. 
 Ilium 'sse seruom cr'didi, te 
 
 liberum : 
 Ita u6smet aiebdtis itaque 
 
 n6mina 
 Int'r uos permutdstis. TYN. 
 
 Fateor 6mnia 
 Facta 'sse ita ut <tu> dfcis 
 
 et falldciis 
 Ablsse eum abs te m'a opera 
 
 atque asttitia. 
 
 11. 670-679. 
 
 Note similarity in following 
 
 Count F. Speak truth, and 
 be intreated courteously ; 
 
 But double with me, and re- 
 solve to prove 
 
 <HE.> Si eris uerax, tua 
 6x re facies f&c mala melifis- 
 culam. 
 
88 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 The extremest rigour that I 
 can inflict. 
 
 Act rv, s. 5. 
 
 Cam. ... be assured 
 Chamont's return will . . . 
 
 Count F. Return ! ay, when ? 
 
 when will Chamont return ? 
 He '11 come to fetch you, will 
 
 he? ay, 'tis like ! 
 You 'd have me think so, 
 
 that 's your policy. 
 No, no, young gallant, your 
 
 device is stale ; 
 You cannot feed me with so 
 
 vain a hope. 
 Cam. My lord, I feed you not 
 
 with a vain hope ; 
 I know assuredly he will re- 
 turn, 
 And bring your noble son 
 
 along with him. 
 Max. Ay, I dare pawn my 
 
 soul he will return. 
 Count F. O impudent de- 
 rision ! open scorn ! 
 Intolerable wrong ! is 't not 
 
 enough 
 That you have play'd upon me 
 
 all this while, 
 But still to mock me, still to 
 
 jest at me ? 
 Fellows, away with him : thou 
 
 ill-bred slave. 
 That sett'st no difference 
 
 'twixt a noble spirit 
 And thy own slavish humour, 
 
 do not think 
 
 Rdcte et uera, 16quere. 
 
 11. 959-960, also 1. 968 : 
 
 Si eris uerax, <€x> tuis re- 
 bus fdceris melidsculas. 
 
 TYN. ... Si ille h6c rebitet, 
 sicut confido dffore. 
 
 1. 696. 
 
 HE. Nunc c^rtumst nulli 
 p6sthac quicquam credere : 
 
 Satis slim semel decdptus. 
 speraui miser 
 
 Ex s^ruitute me €xemisse 
 filium : 
 
 Ea sp6s elapsast. 
 
 11- 756-759- 
 HE. n6minis 
 
 Miserere certumst, quia mei 
 miseret ndminem. 
 
 11. 764, 765. 
 TYN. At linum hoc quaeso, 
 
 si h<ic rebitet Philocrates, 
 Vt mi 6ius facias c6nueniundi 
 c6piam. 
 
 11. 747, 748. 
 
 HE. Ad lUum modfim sub- 
 litum 6s esse mi h6die : 
 
 Neque id perspicere quiui. 
 
 Quod qu6m scibitlir, f per dr- 
 bem inrid^bor. 
 
 11. 783-785. 
 
 HE. {To the slaves), ddcite, 
 Vbi p6nderosas crdssas capiat 
 
 c6mpedes : 
 Inde ibis porro in IStomias 
 
 lapiddrias. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 89 
 
 But I '11 take worthy ven- 
 geance on thee, -wretch. 
 
 Cam. Alas, these threats are 
 idle, like the wind, 
 
 And breed no terror in a guilt- 
 less mind. 
 
 Count F. Nay, thou shalt 
 want no torture, so resolve ; 
 
 Bring him away. 
 
 Cam. Welcome the worst, I 
 sufifer for a friend, 
 
 Your tortures will, my love 
 shall never, end. 
 
 Act. IV, s. 5. 
 
 Count F. Tut, Maximilian, for 
 your honour'd self 
 
 I am persuaded ; but no words 
 shall tam 
 
 The edge of purposed ven- 
 geance on that wretch : 
 
 Come bring him forth to exe- 
 cution. — 
 
 {Enter Servants with 
 Camillo bound. 
 
 Ibi quom dlii octonos Idpides 
 
 eflFodifint, nisi 
 Cottidiano s6squiopus conf6- 
 
 ceris, 
 Sesc^ntoplago n6men indetdr 
 
 tibi. 
 
 11. 721-726. 
 TYN. Perlclum uitae mea6 
 
 tuo Stat periculo. 
 Post ia6rtem in morte nil est 
 
 quod metudm mali. 
 Et si peruiuo usque dd sum- 
 mam aetat^m, tamen 
 Breue spdtiumst perferfindi 
 
 quae minitds mihi. 
 
 11. 740-743- 
 HE. . . . Nam n6ctu neruo 
 
 uinctus custodibitur, 
 Int^rdius sub t^rra lapides 
 
 ^ximet. 
 Diu ego hfinc cruciabo, n6n 
 
 uno absoludm die. 
 
 11. 729-731- 
 HE. Abddcite. 
 
 1. 746. 
 
 See above— 11. 742, 743. 
 
 HE. Abd6cite istum actli- 
 
 tum ad Hippolytdm fabrum, 
 Iub€te huic crassas c6mpedes 
 
 inpingier : 
 Inde dxtra portam ad melim 
 
 libertum C6rdalum 
 In Idpicidinas fdcite deductlis 
 
 siet. 
 Atque h<inc me uelle dicite 
 
 ita curdrier, 
 
90 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 I '11 hang him for my son, he 
 
 shall not 'scape, 
 Had he a hundred lives. Tell 
 
 me, vile slave, 
 Think'st thou I love my son ? 
 
 is he my flesh ? 
 Is he my blood, my life ? and 
 
 shall all these 
 
 Be tortured for thy sake, and 
 
 not revenged ? 
 Truss up the villain. 
 
 Max. My lord, there is no 
 
 law to confirm this 
 action : 't is dishonourable. 
 
 Count F. Dishonourable, 
 Maximilian ! 
 
 It is dishonourable in Cha- 
 mont : 
 
 The hour of his prefixed re- 
 turn is past, 
 
 And he shall pay for it. 
 
 Nequi deterius huic sit quam 
 
 quoi p^ssumest. 
 
 11. 733-738- 
 TYN. Nam c6gitato, siquis 
 
 hoc gnat6 tuo 
 Tuos s^ruos faxit, qudlem ha- 
 
 beres grdtiam ? 
 Emitteresne n6cne eum se- 
 
 ru6m manu ? 
 Ess^tne apud te is sdruos ac- 
 
 ceptissumus ? 
 Resp6nde. HE. Opinor. 
 
 11. 711-715- 
 HE. Abdiicite. 
 
 1. 746- 
 
 HE- Peristis, nisi iam hunc 
 6 conspectu abdiicitis. 
 
 1. 749- 
 
 AR. Per de6s atque homines 
 ^go te obtestor, H£gio, 
 
 Ne tu istunc hominem p^r- 
 duis. HE. Curdbitur. 
 
 U. 727, 728. 
 
 TYN. Sed quid negotist? 
 quam 6b rem suscens6s 
 mihi? 
 
 HE. Quia m^ meamque rdm, 
 quod in te un6 fuit, 
 
 Tuis scelestis fdlsidicis falldciis 
 
 tDelicerauisti dedrtuauistlque 
 opes, 
 
 Conf6cisti omnis r€s ac ra- 
 tion's meas. 
 
 Ita mi 'xemisti Philocratem 
 falldciis. 
 
 11. 669-674. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 91 
 
 Cant. My lord, my lord, 
 Use your extremest ven- 
 geance ; I '11 be glad 
 
 To suffer ten times more for 
 such a friend. 
 
 Count F. Now they have 
 young Chamont, Christo- 
 phero, 
 
 Surely they never will restore 
 my son. 
 
 Count F. O thou base wretch, 
 
 I '11 drag thee through the 
 
 streets ; 
 And as a monster make thee 
 
 wonder'd at. — 
 Enter Balthasar.'\ 
 How now? \Balthasar 
 
 whispers with him. 
 Count F. How ! my sou re- 
 
 tum'd ! O Maximilian, 
 Francisco, daughters ! bid him 
 
 enter here. 
 
 Dost thou not mock me ? — 
 
 O, my dear Paulo, wel- 
 
 Cha. Is this the true Italian 
 
 courtesy ? 
 Femeze, were you tortured 
 
 thus in France ? 
 By my soul's safety — 
 
 TYN. Optumest : 
 
 At erfim seruaui, qu6m se- 
 
 ruatum gafideo, 
 Quoi m^ custodem addiderat 
 
 erus mai6r mens. 
 
 11. 706-708. 
 AR. Sed ubi is nunc est ? 
 
 HE. Vbi ego minume at- 
 
 que ipsus se uolt mdxume. 
 Tum igitur ego derincinatus, 
 
 dedrtuatus sfim miser 
 Huius scelesti t^chinis, qui 
 
 me ut Hibitumst ductauit 
 
 dolis. 11. 640-642. 
 
 TYN. Vis ha6c quidem her- 
 
 clest, €t trahi et trudi simul. 
 1. 750. 
 
 Enter Ergasilus.2 
 
 HE. V^nit? ERG. 
 
 Nai rdv 'Siyviav. 
 
 <HE.> Carton? ERG. JVai 
 
 rdv $pov6iV(jova. HE. 
 
 Vide sis— 11. 882, 883. 
 
 HE. Die, bonan fid6 tu mi 
 
 istaec u€rba dixisti ? ERG. 
 
 Bona. 1. 890. 
 
 HE. loui deisque ag6 gratids 
 
 merito mdgnas, 
 Quom t^ redduc^m tuo patri 
 
 reddid^runt. 11. 922, 923. 
 HE. N61im suscens^re, quod 
 
 ego irdtus ei feci male. 
 PHIIvOCR. Quidfecisti? HE. 
 
 In Idpicidinas c6npeditum 
 
 c6ndidi. 
 
92 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 Count F. 
 lord. 
 
 My most noble 
 [Kneels. 
 
 I do beseech your lordship. 
 Cha. Honour'd count, 
 Wrong not your age with flex- 
 ure of a knee. 
 
 J do impute it to those cares 
 and griefs 
 
 That did torment you in your 
 absent son. 
 
 Count F. O worthy gentle- 
 man, I am ashamed 
 
 That my extreme aff'ection to 
 
 my son 
 Should give my honour so un- 
 
 cured a maim ; 
 But my first son being in 
 
 Vicenza lost — 
 Cha. How! in Vicenza! lost 
 
 you a son there ? 
 About what time, my lord ? 
 Count F. O, the same night 
 Wherein your noble father 
 
 took the town. 
 Cha. How long 's that since, 
 
 my lord, can you remember ? 
 
 Count F. 'T is now well nigh 
 upon the twentieth year. 
 
 Cha. And how old was he 
 then? 
 
 Vbi resciui mihi data esse 
 
 udrba. PHILOCR. Vae 
 
 miser6 mihi : 
 Pr6pter meum capdt labores 
 
 h6mini euenisse 6ptumo. 
 
 HE. At ob eam rem mihi li- 
 
 bellam pr6 eo argenti n6 
 
 duis : 
 Grdtiis a me dt sit liber [a] 
 
 dticito. PHIIvOCR. Ede- 
 
 pol, H6gio, 
 Fdcis benigne. s^d quaeso 
 
 hominem ut ilibeas arcessi. 
 
 HE. I/icet. 
 Vbi I estis, uos? ite actutum, 
 
 Tyndarum hue arcdssite. 
 
 11- 943-950. 
 
 See above, 1. 942 sqq. 
 
 HE. p6rdidi unum fllium, 
 
 Puertim quadrimum qu^m 
 
 mihi seruos slirpuit, 
 Neque etim seruom umquam 
 
 r^pperi neque filium : 
 Mai6r potitus h6stiumst. quod 
 
 hoc 6st scelus? 
 
 11- 759-762. 
 HE. Hie gnatlim meum 
 
 Tu6 patri ait se u^ndidisse s6x 
 
 minis in Alide. 
 PHIL. Qudmdiuidfactfimst? 
 
 STAIv. Hie annus incipit 
 
 uicdnsumus. 
 PHIL. Fdlsamemorat. STAL. 
 
 Alit ego aut tu : ndm tibi 
 
 quadrimulum 
 Tu6s pater pectiliarem pdruolo 
 
 puer6 dedit. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 93 
 
 Count F. I cannot tell ; 
 Between the years of three and 
 four, I take it. 
 
 Cha. How did you call your 
 
 son, my lord ? 
 Count F. Camillo, lord Cha- 
 
 mont. 
 Cha. Then, no more my Gas- 
 per, but Camillo. 
 Take notice of your father. — 
 
 Gentlemen, 
 Stand not amazed ; here is a 
 
 tablet. 
 With that inscription, found 
 
 about his neck, 
 That night and in Vicenza, 
 
 by my father, 
 Who, being ignorant what 
 
 name he had, 
 
 Christen'd him Gasper ; nor 
 did I reveal 
 
 This secret, till this hour, to 
 any man. 
 
 Count F. O happy revela- 
 tion ! O blest hour ! 
 
 O my Camillo ! 
 
 Count F. O, my boy. 
 
 Forgive thy father's late aus- 
 terity. 
 
 A. V, s. 4. 
 
 PHIL. Quid erat ei nom^n ? 
 
 si uera dicis, memoradlim 
 
 mihi. 
 STAIy. Pa6gnium uocitdtust : 
 
 post uos indidistis Tyndaro. 
 11. 978-984. 
 PHIL. Sdlue, Tyndare. 
 
 1. 1009. 
 PHIL. At nunc liber in diui- 
 
 tias fdxo uenies : ndm tibi 
 Pdter hie est : hie sdruos, qui 
 
 te huic hinc quadrimum slir- 
 
 puit, 
 
 V6ndidit patri meo te s£x 
 
 minis, is t6 mihi 
 Pdmolum pec61iarem pSruolo 
 
 puer6 dedit. 
 tniic indicium f^cit : nam 
 
 hunc ex Alide hue reddci- 
 
 mus. 11. 1010-1014. 
 
 PHIL. Nlinc tibi pater hie 
 
 ^st. hie fur est tu6s qui par- 
 
 uom hinc te dbstulit. 
 
 1. 1018. 
 HE. Et miser sum et f6rtuna- 
 
 tus, fsi uera dicitis. 1. 993. 
 
 HE. <0> salue, ^xoptate 
 
 gndte mi. 1. 1006. 
 
 HE. E6 miser sum, quia 
 
 male illi f^ci, si gnatUst 
 
 mens. 
 Eheu, quom ego pllis minusue 
 
 fdci quam <me> aequ6m 
 
 fuit. 
 Qu6d male feci, crdcior : modo 
 
 si infectum fieri p6ssiet. > 
 11. 994-996. 
 
94 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 The Captivi introduces no female characters, yet in 
 tenderness and amiability it is not surpassed by any 
 other Plautine comedy. It is not marred by the blem- 
 ishes and vulgarities, which the popular fancy craved. 
 The absence of these characteristics is deemed an excel- 
 lence, even by the author of the prologue and epilogue. 
 But the fundamental moral elements are of the highest 
 class, illustrating especially parental love and faithful 
 friendship. These elements impart to the comic frame- 
 work and structure touches which soften and temper its 
 exuberant mirth. The pathetic and the comic elements 
 are exquisitely intermingled. 
 
 Jonson has admirably caught and imitated this spirit, 
 largely by retaining the simplicity, directness, and 
 spontaneity of the Plautine play. He was guided, 
 perhaps, by the reflection of Hegio in the Captivi, 
 
 HE. N6n ego omnin6 lucrum omne esse fitile homini existumo : 
 Sclo ego, multos iim lucrum lutul^ntos homines reddidit. 
 Est etiam ubi prof^cto damnum pra&tet facere qudm lucrum. 
 Odi ego aurum : m61ta multis sa^pe suasit pdrperam. 
 
 11- 325-328. 
 
 to make a selection of that play (?". e., the Aulularia) 
 •whosQ plot would illustrate, in its most repulsive form, 
 a love for gold. It was a plot which, interwoven with 
 the Captivi, would afford a perfect contrast, and give 
 the light and shade necessary to a well constructed 
 comedy. The Captivi was considered by I^essing to be 
 the best piece which had ever been presented on the 
 stage. 
 
 " Richtig ist," says Mr. von Reinhardstoettner, 
 ' ' dass Ben Jonson die Figur der Rachel neu geschaffen 
 hat," ' and he quotes Gifford as saying : "The charac- 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 350. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 95 
 
 ter of Rachel is exquisitely drawn : she is gentle and 
 modest, yet steady, faithful and affectionate. Nothing 
 less than this was requisite to justify the number of her 
 admirers, Onion, Christophero, Angelo, Paulo and the 
 count, his father ; all, in short, who see her, solicit her 
 love. Jonson derived no assistance fro7n Plautus in this 
 part of his plot ; for the young lady who corresponds to 
 Rachel is not seen at all, nor indeed heard except on 
 one occasion. One pretty trait of her, however, is 
 given by the Lar ' (v. 23) : 
 
 ' LAR FAMILIARIS : ^a mihi cottldie 
 
 Aut tdre aut uino aut dliqui semper slipplicat : 
 Dat mihi coronas.' " 
 
 This is quite true as far as it relates to the young 
 woman in the Plautine comedy making her appearance 
 on the stage. It is well known that there is not the 
 slightest trace that the honorable daughter of an honor- 
 able citizen ever appears on the stage, in any of the 
 Plautine plays. The women who appeared on the 
 stage, in the time of Plautus, belonged to the mere- 
 trix class. The custom touched closely the sentiments 
 of the old Romans in this respect, as may be seen 
 in the following passage from the E. : 
 
 PB. CAue sins cum filia 
 Mea c6pnlari hanc n^que conspicere. idm tenes ? 
 In a^diculam istanc s6rsum concludi nolo : 
 Diu6rtunt mores uirgini longe dc lupae. 
 AP. Docte €.\. sapienter dicis. num <quam> nimis potest 
 Pudicitiam quisquam sua6 seruare filiae. 
 
 11. 400-405. 
 
 But, although I accept this, I cannot agree with 
 Gifford in the statement ih.2X Jonson had no assistance 
 
 ' Ed. Gifford, Ben Jonson, VI, 409. Cf. Reinhardstoettner, 
 Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 350, Note 2. 
 
96 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 from Plautus in this part of his plot. The character of 
 Rachel corresponds to the picture brought to our minds 
 by the words of the I,ar in the Prologue, quoted above, 
 and the words of Megadorus : 
 
 MEG. u^rba ne facids, soror. 
 
 Scio quid dicturd's : banc esse pafiperem : haec pauper placet. 
 
 Au. 11. 173, 174. 
 MEG. Filiam tudm mi uxorem p6sco : 1. 219. 
 
 EVC. At nil est d6tis quod dem. MEG. N6 duas. 
 
 Dlim modo mordta recte u^niat, dotatdst satis. 
 
 11. 238, 239. 
 
 Again the first sentiment uttered by Rachel in The 
 Case is Altered, 
 
 Rack. No ! is your presence nothing ? 
 
 I shall want that, and wanting that, want all ; 
 
 For that is all to me. A. I, s. 3, 
 
 is strikingly like the following in the Am. of Plautus : 
 
 AL. Sola hie mihi nunc uideor, quia ille hinc abdst, quern ego 
 
 am6 praeter 6mnes. 
 Plus aegri ex abitu uiri quam ex aduentu uoluptatis cepi : 
 
 11. 640, 641. 
 
 ' ' Jonson hatte den Prolog des I^ar f amiliaris im Sinne, 
 als er die einleitenden Worte seinem Jaques de Brie 
 in den Mund legte. Er besitzt eine wunderschone 
 Tochter : 
 
 ' But now, this maid is but supposed my daughter ; 
 For I being steward to a lord of France, 
 Of great estate and wealth, called lord Chamout, 
 He gone into the wars, I stole his treasure ; 
 And this his daughter, being but two years old. 
 Because it loved me so, that it would leave 
 The nurse herself, to come into mine arms.' " ' 
 
 The Case is Altered, A. II, s. 1. 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 347. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 97 
 
 Whalley says of this character ' : 
 
 " The character of Jaques is formed upon that of 
 Euclio in the Aulularia of Plautus ; and is drawn with 
 that masterly expression which distinguishes the works 
 of Jonson. The scene between Christophero and 
 Jaques, and the following scene with the Count, is 
 copied from what passes between Euclio and Mega- 
 dorus, but with so high an improvement, that it de- 
 termines the palm of applause in favour of our author. 
 The original here is : 
 
 'N6n temerarilimst, ubi diues bldnde appellat padperem.' " ' 
 
 Note the following parallel passages in The Case is 
 Altered and the Au : 
 
 Enter Jaques. 'I 
 
 Pau. Here comes her father. 
 — How dost thou, good 
 Jaques ? 
 
 Ang. God saye thee, Jaques ! 
 
 Taq. What should this mean ? 
 
 — Rachel ! open the door. 
 \^Exit. 
 Ang. S'blood how the poor 
 
 slave looks [aghast], as 
 
 though 
 He had been haimted by the 
 
 spirit, Lar ; 
 
 MEG. Ego conueniam E<icli- 
 
 onem, si domist. 
 S6d eccum * : 
 
 11. 176, 177. 
 
 MEG. Sdluos atque f6rtuna- 
 
 tus, Eficlio, semper sies. 
 EVC. Di te ament, Megad6re. 
 11. 182, 183. 
 EVC. Sed quid ego apertas 
 
 addis nostras c6nspicor? 
 Et str^pitust intus. nlimnam 
 ego compil6r miser ? 
 
 11. 388, 389. 
 
 1 Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 348, Note i. 
 
 2 Whalley. Cf. Ed. Gifford, Ben Jonson, VI, 367. 
 
98 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 Pau. I muse lie spake not ; 
 Belike he was amazed, coming 
 
 so suddenly, 
 And unprepared. — Well, let us 
 
 go- 
 
 A. I, s. 1. 
 
 MEG. sed ubi lii[n]c 
 
 ^st homo ? 
 Abiit neque me cdrtiorem 
 
 fdcit. 
 
 11. 244, 245- 
 
 " Der zweite Akt fiihrt uns in Jaques' Haus. Wir 
 lernen in dem Monologe einen verbitterten Geizhals 
 kennen, der unter der Marke eines stadtbekannten 
 Bettlers seinen Reichtum verbirgt." ' 
 
 Enter Jaques.\ 
 
 So, now enough, my heart, 
 beat now no more ; 
 
 At least for this affright. What 
 
 a cold sweat 
 Flow'd on my brows, and over 
 
 all my bosom ! 
 Had I not reason ? to behold 
 
 my door 
 
 Beset with unthrifts, and my- 
 self abroad ? 
 
 Why, Jaques ! was there noth- 
 ing in the house 
 
 Worth a continual eye, a vigi- 
 lant thought, 
 
 Whose head should never nod, 
 nor eyes once wink ? 
 
 EVC. Nunc d^faecato d^mum 
 animo egredi6r domo, 
 
 Postqudm perspexi sdlua esse 
 intus 6mnia. 
 
 11. 79, 8o- 
 
 EVC. Dl me seruant, s41ua 
 re<s> est : fsaluum est, si- 
 quid non perit. 
 
 Nimis male timul. prius quam 
 
 intro r6di<i>, exanimatfis 
 
 fui. 11. 207, 208. 
 
 See above, 11. 388, 389. 
 
 STA. Quippini ? 
 
 Ego Intus seruem ? an n£quis 
 aedes a^ferat? 
 
 Nam hie dpud nos nil est dliud 
 quaesti fliribus : 
 
 Ita indni<i>s sunt 6ppletae 
 atque ardneis. 
 
 11. 81-84. 
 
 STA. Peruigilat noctes t6tas : 
 tum autem intdrdius 
 
 Quasi cla6dus sutor d6mi 
 sedet tot6s dies. 
 
 11. 72, 73. 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, i885, p. 347. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 99 
 
 I<ook on thy coat, my 
 thoughts, worn quite thread- 
 bare. 
 
 That time eould never cover 
 with a nap, 
 
 And by it learn, never with 
 naps of sleep 
 
 To smother your conceits of 
 that you keep. 
 
 But yet, I marvel why these 
 gallant youths 
 
 Spoke me so fair, and I 
 esteem' d a beggar ! 
 
 The end of flattery is gain, or 
 lechery : 
 
 If they seek gain of me, they 
 
 think me rich ; 
 But that they do not : for their 
 
 other object, 
 
 'T is in my handsome daugh- 
 ter, if it be : 
 
 ^VC. Nam ntinc quom celo 
 
 s6dulo omnis, n^ sciant, 
 Omn^s uidentur scire et me 
 
 benignius 
 Omn6s salutant qudm saluta- 
 
 bdnt prius. 
 Ade6nt, consistunt, c6pulan- 
 
 tur d^xteras : 
 Rogitdnt me, ut ualeam, quid 
 
 agam, quid rertim geram. 
 
 11. 113-117. 
 
 !EVC. N6n temerarifimst, ubi 
 
 diues bldnde appellat pati- 
 
 perem. 
 lam lllic homo aurum scit me 
 
 habere, eo m^ salutat bldn- 
 
 dius. 
 
 11. 184, 185. 
 EVC. N6nc petit, quom p61- 
 
 licetur : inhiat aurum ut 
 
 dduoret. 
 
 1. 194. 
 Ndmini cred6 qui large bldn- 
 
 dust diues padperi. 
 Vbi manum inicit benigne, ibi 
 
 6nerat aliquam zSmiam. 
 
 11. 195, 197. 
 EVC. Virginem habeo grdn- 
 
 dem, dote cdssam atque in- 
 
 locdbilem. 
 
lOO 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 Well, then, it is for her ; ay, 
 't is sure for her : 
 
 That I might live alone once 
 
 with my gold ! 
 O, 't is a sweet companion ! 
 
 kind and true ; 
 
 . . But I must abroad.- 
 Rachel ! 
 
 N^que earn queo locdre quoi- 
 
 quam. 
 
 11. 191, 192. 
 
 These two lines are probably 
 taken from the speech of 
 Euclio on the recovery of his 
 gold (found in the Supplement 
 of certain old editions. It was 
 written by Antonius Codrus 
 Urceus, a learned scholar and 
 professor at Bologna. 
 EVC. Nunc ddfaecato ddmum 
 
 animo egredidr dpmo, 
 Postqudm perspexi sdlua esse 
 
 intus 6mnia. 
 
 11. 79. 80. 
 
 "Da er sich von Hause entfernen muss, giebt er 
 seiner Tochter Rachel Verhaltungsmassregeln. Sie 
 soil das Thor offen lassen und laut sprechen, als seien 
 I<eute im Hause, um Diebe feme zu halten. Mit Euklio 
 (v. 91) befiehlt er : 
 
 ' Put out the fire, kUl the chimney's heart. 
 That it may breathe no more than a dead man.' " ' 
 
 Enter Rachel.'\ Rachel is represented here by 
 
 Styphyla. 
 EVC. Redi ndnciam intro 
 
 atque intus serua. STA. 
 
 Quippini? 1. 81. 
 
 EVC. Abi Intro, occlude i4n- 
 
 uam : iam ego hie ero. 
 Caue qudmquam alienimi in 
 
 a^dis intromiseris. 11. 89, 90. 
 EVC. Prof^cto in aedis meds 
 
 me absente ndminem 
 Volo intromitti. atque 6tiam 
 
 hoc praedic6 tibi, 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 347. 
 
 Rack. 
 
 sir? 
 
 What is your pleasure, 
 
 Jaq. Rachel, I must abroad. 
 
 Lock thyself in, but yet take 
 
 out the key ; 
 That whosoever peeps in at 
 
 the key-hole 
 May yet imagine there is none 
 
 at home. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. loi 
 
 Rack. I will, sir. 
 
 Jaq. But hark thee, Rachel : 
 say a thief should come. 
 
 Put out the fire, kill the chim- 
 ney's heart. 
 That it may breathe no more 
 
 than a dead man ; 
 The more we spare, my child, 
 the more we gain. 
 
 \^Exeunt. 
 A. II, s. I. 
 
 Si B6na Fortuna u^niat, ne 
 intromiseris. 11. 98-100. 
 
 STA. Nam hie dpud nos nil est 
 dliud quaesti Mribus. 1. 83. 
 
 EVC. Nam si ignis uiuet, tu 
 ^xtinguere ext€mp<u>lo. 
 
 1-93- 
 EVC. Deinde dgomet mecum 
 
 c6gitare int^ruias 
 Occ^pi : festo di4 siquid pro- 
 
 ddgeris, 
 Profesto egere liceat, nisi pe- 
 
 p^rceris. 
 Postquam hdnc rationem u^n- 
 
 tri cordique 6didi, 
 Acc^ssit animus dd meam sen- 
 
 t^ntiam. 11. 379-383. 
 
 " Die schone Rachel hat unterdessen an dem Haus- 
 hofmeister des Grafen, Christophero, einen neuen 
 Verehrer gewonnen, und der Graf ist mit seiner Wer- 
 bung ganzlich einverstanden, nich ahnend, dass sein 
 Sohn Paolo Rachel de Brie liebt. ' Der dritte Akt spielt 
 wieder in Jaques' Haus und damit in der Aulularia.'' 
 
 ' ' Kaum sieht Jaques Leute, so eilt er ins Haus : 
 
 ' He has been at my door, he has been in, 
 In my dear door ; pray God my gold be safe ! ' 
 
 "Wie Euklio kommt er alsbald wieder befriedigt zuriick : 
 ' 'T is safe, 't is safe, they have not robb'd my treasure.' 
 
 Bei Christopheros werbung vermutet er, wie Euklio 
 dem Megadorus gegentiber, dass er kenntnis von 
 seinem Schatz habe : 
 
 ' My gold is in his nostrils, he has smelt it,' 
 
 1 Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 348. 
 
 2 Ibid. 
 
I02 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 und freudig eilf er, sowie er den Freier angebracht 
 hat, zu seinem Gelde: 
 
 ' So ! he is gone ; would all were dead and gone, 
 That I might live with my dear gold alone.' " ' 
 
 Jaq. . . . pray God my gold 
 be safe ! 
 
 . . . Rachel! ho, Rachel! 
 
 Chris. God save you, honest 
 father. 
 
 fag. Rachel ! odslight, come 
 to me ; Rachel ! Rachel ! 
 
 [_£xit. 
 
 Chris. Now in God's name 
 what ails he? this is strange! 
 
 He loves his daughter so, I '11 
 lay my life 
 
 That he 's afraid, having been 
 now abroad, 
 
 I come to seek her love un- 
 lawfully. 
 
 Re-enter Jaques\ 
 
 Jaq. 'T is safe, 't is safe, 
 they have not robb'd my 
 treasure. \Asid.e. 
 
 Chris. Let it not seem offen- 
 sive to you, sir. 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl 
 
 EVC. TA me seruant, sdlua 
 re <s> est : f saluum est, si- 
 quid non perit. 1. 207. 
 
 EVC. . . . heus, Staphyla, \£ 
 uoco. 1. 269. 
 
 MEG. Sdluos atque f6rtuna- 
 tus, E6clio, semper sies. 
 
 EVC. Di te ament, Megad6re. 
 11. 182, 183. 
 
 EVC. Ei miser6 mihi. 
 
 AUrum mi intus hdrpaga- 
 tumst. n1inc hie earn rem 
 u61t, scio, 
 
 M£cum adire ad pdctionem : 
 
 udrum interuisdm domum. 
 
 \^Exit. 
 
 11. 200-202. 
 
 MEG. Qu6abis? . . . 1. 203. 
 
 MEG. Cr^do edepol, ubi 
 
 m^ntionem ego f^cero de 
 
 filia. 
 Mi lit despondent, sese a me 
 
 d^rideri r^bitur. 
 N£que illo quisquamst filter 
 
 hodie ex padpertate pdrcior. 
 11. 204-206. 
 
 EVC. . . . s41ua re<s>est: 
 fsaluum est, siquid non 
 perit. 1. 207. 
 
 MEG. Quid tu? rgcten at- 
 que ut uf s ual6s ? 
 
 von, Plautus, 1886, p. 348. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 103 
 
 Jaq. Sir! God 's my life, sir! 
 sir! call me sir ! \Aside. 
 
 Chris. Good father, hear me. 
 
 MEG. Dd mi operam partim- 
 per, si operaest, E&clio, id 
 quod t6 uolo 
 
 D6 communi re dppellare mea 
 ^t tua. 11. 199, 200. 
 
 Jaq. You are most welcome, 
 
 sir ; 
 I meant almost : and would 
 
 your worship speak, 
 Would you abase yourself to 
 
 speak to me? 
 
 Chris. 'T is no abasing, father; 
 
 my intent 
 Is to do further honour to you, 
 
 sir. 
 Than only speak ; which is, to 
 
 be your son. 
 
 Jaq. My gold is in his nos- 
 trils, he has smelt it ; 
 
 He knows my gold, he knows 
 of all my treasure — {Aside. 
 
 EVC. (aside). N6n temerar- 
 ilimst, ubi diues bldnde ap- 
 pellat paliperem. 
 
 11. 183, 184. 
 MEG. Ain tu te uaMre ? ' 
 
 1. 186. 
 EVC. N^mini cred6 qui large 
 bldndust diues paliperi. 
 
 Vbi manum inicit benigne, ibi 
 
 6nerat aliquam zdmiam. 
 
 11. 196, 197. 
 EVC. H6ia, Megadore, haM 
 
 decorum fdcinus tuis factis 
 
 facis. 1. 220. 
 
 EVC. V^nit hoc mi, Mega- 
 
 d6re, in mentem, t6<d> 
 
 esse hominem diuitem, 
 Fictiosum, m6 item esse 
 
 hominem pa^perum paup^r- 
 
 rumum. 
 
 11. 226, 227. 
 MEG. Qu6niam tu me et 6go 
 
 te qualis sis scio : 
 Qua6 res recte u6rtat mihique 
 
 tibique tuaeque filiae, 
 Filiam tudm mi uxorem p6s- 
 
 co : promitte h6c fore. 
 
 11. 217-219. 
 EVC. (aside). Aurum huic 
 
 olet. 1. 216. 
 
 EVC. (aside). lam lUic homo 
 
 aurum scit me habere, eo 
 
 m^ salutat bldndius. 
 
 1. 185. 
 EVC. Cr^do ego ilium iam 
 
 an < d > audisse mihi esse 
 
 thensaurdm domi : 
 
I04 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 How do you know, sir? 
 whereby do you guess ? 
 
 Chris. At what, sir? What 
 is it you mean ? 
 
 Jag. I ask, 
 
 Au't please your gentle wor- 
 ship, how you know — 
 
 I mean, how I should make 
 your worship know 
 
 That I have nothing — 
 
 To give with my poor daugh- 
 ter ? I have nothing : 
 
 The very air, bounteous to 
 every man, 
 
 Is scant to me, sir. 
 
 Chris. I do think, good father. 
 
 You are but poor. 
 Jag. Hethinksso; hark! but 
 
 thinks so. 
 
 He thinks not so, he knows of 
 
 all my treasure. 
 
 lAside and exit. 
 Chris. Poor man, he is so 
 
 overjoy' d to hear 
 
 Id inhiat, ea affinitatem hanc 
 6bstinauit grdtia. 
 
 11. 266, 267. 
 
 EVC. {aside). Tarn hie scit 
 me habere quam 6gomet. 
 
 1. 548. 
 
 EVC. Medm pauperiem c6n- 
 
 queror. 
 Virginem habeo grdndem, dote 
 
 c&sam atque inlocdbilem, 
 N^que eam queo locdre quoi- 
 
 quam. 11. 190-192. 
 
 EVC. At nil est d6tis quod 
 
 dem. 1. 238. 
 
 EVC. Cur igitur p6scis meam 
 
 gnatdm tibi ? 1. 224. 
 
 EVC. E6 dico, ne m6 then- 
 
 saiiros r^pperisse cdnseas. 
 1. 240. 
 STR. Quin quom it domi- 
 
 tum, f611em obstringit 6b 
 
 gulam. 
 ANTH. Cur? STR. N^quid 
 
 animae f6rte amittat d6r- 
 
 miens. 11. 302, 303. 
 
 MEG. N6ui : ne doceds. 
 
 1. 241. 
 MEG. C6rte edepol equiddm 
 
 te ciuem sine mala omni 
 
 mdlitia 
 Samper sum arbitrdtus et nunc 
 
 drbitror. 11. 215, 216. 
 
 (This may have suggested 
 to JonsoQ Jaques' speech.) 
 
 MEG. sed ubi hi[n]c ^st 
 
 homo? 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 105 
 
 His daughter may be past his 
 
 hopes bestow'd. 
 That betwixt fear and hope, 
 
 if I mean simply, 
 He is thus passionate. 
 
 Re-enter Jaques.'] 
 
 Jaq. Yet all is safe within. 
 
 Chris. What say you, father, 
 shall I have your daughter ? 
 
 Jaq. I have no dowry to be- 
 stow upon her. 
 
 Jaq. So ! he is gone ; would 
 all were dead and gone. 
 
 That I might live with my 
 dear gold alone ! 
 
 Enter Count Ferenze.] 
 
 Count F. Here is the poor 
 
 old man. 
 Jaq. Out o' my soul, another ! 
 
 comes he hither ? 
 Count F. Be not dismay'd, 
 
 old man, I come to cheer 
 
 you. 
 
 Jaq. To me, by heaven ! 
 
 Abiit neque me c^rtiorem fdcit: 
 
 11. 244, 245. 
 
 ... si opulentus it petitum 
 
 paliperioris grdtiam, 
 Padper metuit c6ngredi <ri> . 
 p6r metum male r6m gerit. 
 11. 247, 248. 
 Re-enter Euclio.~\ 
 
 BVC. . . . sdluare<s>est: 
 1. 207. 
 MEG. Quid nunc? etiam 
 mihi despondes filiam ? 
 
 1. 255. 
 
 EVC. At nil est d6tis quod 
 
 dem. 1. 238. 
 
 EVC. niis l^gibus, 
 
 Clim ilia dote qudm tibi dixi. 
 11. 255, 256. 
 
 Chris. I do expect none, 
 
 MEG. 
 
 N6 duas. 
 
 1. 238. 
 
 father. 
 
 
 
 
 Jaq. That is well. 
 
 EVC. 
 
 Piat. 
 
 1. 241. 
 
 EVC. lUic hinc abiit. di im- 
 mortales, 6bsecro, aurum 
 quid ualet. 1. 265. 
 
 MEG. N6[ui]stin hunc sen- 
 em Eticlionem ex pr6xumo 
 paup6rculum? 1. 171. 
 
 MEG. Tdce : bonum habe 
 animum, Edclio : 
 . . . adiuudbere a me . 
 
 11. 192, 193. 
 
 EVC. Mdne, mane : quis 
 
io6 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 One comes to hold me talk, 
 
 while t' other robs me. 
 
 [Aside and exit. 
 Count F. He has forgot me, 
 
 sure ; what should this 
 
 mean ? 
 He fears authority, and my 
 
 want of wife 
 Will take his daughter from 
 
 him to defame her : 
 He that has nought on earth 
 
 but one poor daughter. 
 May take this extasy of care 
 
 to keep her. 
 
 A. in, s. I. 
 
 illic &t? quis hie intus 
 
 dlter erat tecdm simul ? 
 P^rii hercle : ille nunc intus 
 
 turbat. 11. 655, 656. 
 
 See above, 11. 244, 245, where 
 the situation and thought are 
 similar. 
 
 See above, U. 204-206. 
 
 The remainder of this scene is not found in the 
 Plautine comedy. The next scene begins with the 
 soliloquy of Jaques, and his removal of the gold to a 
 new hiding-place. Mr. von Reinhardstoettner says : 
 
 ' ' Jaques vergrabt sein Gold im Diinger. Gifford 
 in der ihm eigenen Verherrlichung Ben Jonsons meint 
 (vi, 372) : ' This is from Plautus, where Euclio also 
 removes his gold to a new hiding-place. The speeches 
 of the two misers, however, have no circumstance in 
 common ; nor has the I^atin poet anything that can be 
 set in comparison with this admirable and characteristic 
 soliloquy of Jaques.' Diesem Urteil kann gewiss nie- 
 mand beipflichten. Die halbphilosophischen Reflex- 
 ionen Jaques', gegeniiber dem einfachen Euklio, der 
 sein Geld der Fides anvertraut, sind wenig wirkungs- 
 voU." ' 
 
 When Gifford said the two speeches have " no 
 circumstance in common," he could not have borne in 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, pp. 348, 349. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 107 
 
 mind the following parallel passages found elsewhere 
 in the Plautine play, which Jonson has cleverly woven 
 into Jaques' soliloquy : 
 
 Jaq. He 's gone : I knew it ; 
 this is our hot lover. 
 
 I will believe them, I! they 
 may come in 
 
 Like simple wooers, and be 
 
 arrant thieves. 
 And I not know them ! 
 
 A. Ill, s. 2. 
 
 BVC. Illic hinc abiit. di im- 
 
 mort < al > es , fScinus audax 
 
 incipit 
 Qui cum opulento pa6per 
 
 homine f coepit rem habere 
 
 aut neg6tium, 
 V^lut <i> Megadorlis temptat 
 
 me 6mnibus miserlim mo- 
 
 dis : 
 Qui simulauit m6i | honoris 
 
 mittere hue causd coquos : 
 Is ea causa misit hoc qui slib- 
 
 riperent miser6 mihi. 
 
 11. 460-464. 
 
 It must be admitted, also, that there is a sugges- 
 tion in the fact that Jaques conceals his gold in the 
 ground, covering it with dung, just as Euclio had con- 
 cealed his gold before its removal to the temple. There 
 can be no question but that Jonson depended on Plautus 
 for this suggestion. 
 
 We next meet with Jaques in his encounter with 
 Juniper. Mr. von Reinhardstoettner says : " Uber 
 seinem Gelde entdecken Juniper und Onion den Alten 
 tmd holen sich'nach seiner Entfernung den Schatz." ' 
 
 " This, too, is from the A ulularza, where Strobilus 
 gets up into a tree to watch Euclio. The motive, how- 
 ever, is different. In Plautus the discovery of the 
 treasure is the prime object, in Jonson' s comedy it is 
 merely incidental, and forms no necessary part of the 
 plot. Rachel might have obtained a husband, had 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 350. 
 
io8 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 Jaques been as poor as every one thought him ; 
 whereas the I^ar kindly informs us in the prologue that 
 the treasure was expressly bestowed on Euclio, that he 
 might be enabled to give a marriage portion with his 
 daughter to a youth of quality, who, as the stage cus- 
 tom was, earn compresserat.'" ' 
 
 " Die weiteren Szenen bei Jaques sind wieder der 
 Aulularia entnommen, insgesamt dem Inhalte, oft auch 
 dem Wortlaute nach : so z. B. : 
 
 'Jaq. Shew me thy hands, what hast thou in thy hands ? 
 Jun. Here be my hands.' " ' 
 
 Whalley says : ' ' This scene is an imitation of that 
 in which Strobilus is examined by the miser. But its 
 pleasantries are within the bounds of nature ; and 
 severer judgment instructed Jonson not to outrage his 
 characters, as Plautus did before him. Jaques examines 
 both the hands of Juniper, but he does not, like Euclio, 
 bid him produce his third hand. . . . No degree 
 of avarice could lead one to suppose that a man has 
 three hands. " ' 
 
 Jaq. . . . Rachel ! thieves ! 
 
 thieves ! 
 Stay, villain, slave ! [Seizes 
 Tun. as he is 
 running out. 
 
 Jun. I pray yon, sir. 
 
 Jun. For God's sake hear me 
 speak, keep up your cur. 
 
 A. IV. s. 4. 
 
 ' Ed. Gififord, Ben Jonson, "VI, 389. 
 
 " Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 349. 
 
 ^ Ed. GifFord, Ben Jonson, VI, 390. 
 
 EVC. Redi, qu6 fugis nunc ? 
 t^ne, tene. 1. 415. 
 
 Similarity in Supplement of 
 old editions. 
 
 {.Ditto.) 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 109 
 
 There is also similarity in the following lines : 
 
 Jaq. Well then deliver; 
 
 come, deliver, slave. 
 Jun. What should I deliver ? 
 
 Jaq. O thou wouldst have 
 me tell thee, wouldst thou ? 
 
 Shew me thy hands, what 
 
 hast thou in thy hands ? 
 Jun. Here be my hands. 
 
 Jaq. . . . Put oflF thy shoes ; 
 come, I will see them ; give 
 me a knife here, Rachel, I '11 
 rip the soles. 
 
 Jun. What, are you mad, are 
 you detestable? would you 
 make an anatomy of me ? 
 
 Jaq. Soft, sir, you are not 
 yet gone ; shake your legs, 
 come ; and your arms, be 
 brief : — 
 
 Taq. Heart, thou art some- 
 what eased, half of my fear 
 
 Hath ta' en his leave of me. . . 
 
 . . . Friend, why art not 
 gone? 
 
 EVC. Redde hue sis. 1. 634. 
 
 STR. Quid tibi uisredddm? 
 1. 634. 
 
 EVC. Rog[it]as ? 1. 634. 
 
 STRO. Quid ergo ponam? 
 quin tu eloquere [EVC] 
 quidquid est suo n6mine. 
 
 1. 639. 
 
 EVC. Ostende hdc manus. 
 1. 640. 
 
 STR. Em tibi, ostendi: ^c- 
 cas. EVC. Video, age 6s- 
 tende etiam t^rtiam. 1. 641. 
 
 EVC. A.ge-dum, excutedum 
 pdUium. 1. 646. 
 
 EVC. Ne inter tunicas ha- 
 beas. 1. 647. 
 An opposite stand is now 
 
 taken by Strobilus, who says : 
 
 STR. Tuo drbitratu. 1. 647. 
 Tempta qud lubet. 1. 647. 
 
 STR. Insdnis : perscrutdtus 
 es. 1. 653. 
 
 EVC. age rdsum | ostende 
 hlic manum 
 D^xt<e>ram. 11. 649, 650. 
 
 EVC. P6stremo hunc iam 
 p^rscrutaui : nil habet. abi 
 qu6 lubet. 1. 657. 
 
 EVC. Ibo intro atque illi 
 socienno tu6 iam inter- 
 stringdm gulam. 
 
no 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 Ffigin hinc ab oculis? abin 
 [hinc] an non ? 11. 659, 660. 
 
 Avoid, my soul's vexation ! 
 
 Satan, hence ! 
 Why dost thou stare on me? 
 
 why dost thou stay. 
 
 Hence from my house. 
 
 ' ' Im f tinften Akte trifft frolie Nachricht ein. Paolo 
 kehrt zuriick. Zugleich aber entdeckt Jaques den 
 Diebstahl. 
 
 ' Thou hast made away my child, thou hast my gold : 
 O what hyena call'd me out of doors ? 
 The thief is gone, my gold 's gone, Rachel 's gone,' 
 
 und spater dann : 
 
 ' My gold, my gold, my wife, my soul, my heaven ! 
 What is become of thee ? ' 
 
 " Das Ganze endet natiirlicli zu allgemeiner Zu- 
 friedenheit, wobei das Wort The Case is Altered eine 
 grosse RoUe spielt. Der gefesselte Camillo erweist sich 
 als des Grafen sohn durch ein Medaillon (a tablet) mit 
 einem ' silver globe ' und der Inschrift In minimo 
 mundus. Jaques bekehrt sich zu dem Grundsatze 
 ' Ill-gotten goods ne'er thrive.' Er hiess Melun, und 
 Rachel ist Isabel, Chamonts Schwester. Paolo erhalt 
 Rachels Hand, Chamont die Aurelias, der Tochter des 
 Grafen Ferneze. Richtig ist, dass Ben Jonson die 
 Figur der Rachel neu geschaffen hat ; doch wird der 
 Schurke Jaques allzu glimpflich behandelt, da der 
 Graf die beiden Rauber, Juniper und Onion, strange 
 bestrafen lasst : 
 
 ' Keep the knaves sure, strict inquisition 
 Shall presently be made for Jaques' gold, 
 To be disposed at pleasure of Chamont,' 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. i ii 
 
 wahrend Chamont gnadig zu Jaques sagt : 
 
 ' Melun, I pardon thee ; and for the treasure, 
 Recover it, and hold it as thine own.' " ' 
 
 It is quite likely that Jonson was indebted to the sup- 
 plement (as the closing scenes of the Aulularia had 
 been lost during the Middle Ages), for the delivery of 
 the gold to Chamont, although in Jonson' s comedy the 
 gold is finally restored to Jaques. The sudden change 
 in Jaques' character, as, also, in the character of Euclio 
 (in the supplement to the Aulularia), has met with 
 considerable criticism. But this is a charge which can- 
 not be attributed to Plautus. 
 
 Ben Jonson had also in mind the Aulularia when he 
 wrote The Devil is an Ass J' We must remember that 
 the Aulularia was performed at Cambridge in the year 
 1564, and was a much talked of play in Jonson's boy- 
 hood. Whalley commends the copy highly, and appa- 
 rently would sacrifice the original to it, and we concede 
 that Jonson's comedy is much the richer in circum- 
 stance. 
 
 lyike all of his works, The Silent Woman illustrates 
 the constructive ability of the author, rather than the 
 laws of artistic growth from within. We cannot watch 
 it expanding like a comedy of Aristophanes. We can 
 see how it has been put together, and yet the struc- 
 ture is so artistic, that the connection of each part 
 seems inevitable. The unities are strictly, yet natu- 
 rally preserved, and the skill with which the characters 
 are introduced has deservedly won highest praise from 
 Dryden. It does not, like Volpone, expose a ruling 
 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, pp. 350, 351. 
 ^Ibid.,-p. 348, Note i. Cf. Ed. Gifford, Ben Jonson, V, 50 u., 
 Her S. 
 
112 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 vice — perhaps beyond the comic poet's lawful scope ' — 
 but it exhibits a ludicrous personal peculiarity in the 
 main actor. We are permitted to enter a sphere of 
 comical foibles and mirth-provoking eccentricities of 
 humor. 
 
 On Morose' s horror of noise each succeeding incident 
 hinges, and it forms the motive for the various humors 
 of the minor characters. The Silent Woman is rather 
 a Titanic farce than a true comedy. Dryden claims 
 that Jonson studied the fantastic character of Morose 
 from a real person, although GifEord has traced it to a 
 passage in Libanius. Mr. von Reinhardstoettner says : 
 " Rapp vermutet, dass auch in seiner Epicoene, or The 
 Silent Woman (gespielt 1609), wo gleichfalls ein Knabe 
 {imxoivrj) als Braut vermahlt wird, der gelehrte Ben 
 Jonson vielleicht an des Plautus Casina gedacht habe. 
 Es soil nich widersprochen werden. Die umfassende 
 Kenntnis des Altertums, welche Ben Jonson an den 
 Tag legt, mag bewusst und unbewusst seine Schopf- 
 ungen beeinflusst haben. Gerade dieses Sttick ist reich 
 an Imitationen der Alten, speziell des Plautus und 
 Terenz, worauf Upton und GifEord hinweisen. Und 
 so mag allerdings Sir Dauphine Eugenics I,ist : ' You 
 have married a boy, a gentleman's son, that I have 
 brought up this half year at my great charges and for 
 this composition, which I have now made with you,' 
 eingegeben sein von Plautus " : 
 
 ' Mis^rrumum hodie ego htinc habebo amdsium.' " 1. 590. 
 
 The Silent Woman calls only for interior scenes,' and 
 
 ' Symonds, J. A., Shakespeare's Predecessors, English 
 Worthies. Ben Jonson, 1884, p. 87. 
 ' Reinhardstoettner, Karl von, Plautus, 1886, p. 390. 
 ^ Harvard Graduate Monthly, Vol. Ill, p. 493. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 113 
 
 the problem is how to secure a noiseless wife.' It is 
 not in the plot, as a whole, nor in the underplot, that 
 we find parallel passages to the Plautine plays, but in 
 isolated episodes, single ideas, etc. The following from 
 the Au. 11. 173, 174, 
 
 MEG. u6rba ne facias, soror. 
 
 Scio quid dicturd's : hanc esse padperem : haec paup6r placet, 
 
 is thus imitated by Jonson : 
 
 Mor. ... I know what thou wouldst say, she 's poor, 
 and her friends deceased. She has brought a wealthy dowry in 
 her silence. A. II, s. 3. 
 
 Again : 
 
 <MA.> Viden tu illi<c> ocul6s uirere? ut uiridis exoritlir 
 colos 
 :fix temporibus dtque fronte : ut 6culi scintilldnt uide. 
 
 Mn., 11. 828, 829. 
 
 Epi. Lord, how idly he talks, and how his eyes sparkle ! he 
 looks green about the temples ! do you see what blue spots he 
 has ! A. IV, s. 2. 
 
 Epicoene feigns that Morose is afflicted with madness, 
 while the wife of Menaechmus and her father really be- 
 lieve that the latter is insane. Although the thought 
 and spirit are the same in this scene in both plays, the 
 language is, on the whole, different. Whatever may 
 be affirmed of the influence of the Casina upon The 
 Silent Woma7i, little direct influence, if any, can be 
 pointed out ; although there is a subtle and general 
 idea of kinship, or sensation of similarity, impressed 
 upon one as the two plays are read together. 
 
 iSymonds, J. A., Shakespeare's Predecessors, English 
 "Worthies. Ben Jonson, 1884, p. 87. 
 
114 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 The episode of Mr. and Mrs. Otter, one of the low 
 comedy scenes, broad and farcical in every way, is very 
 similar to the closing scene in the Asinaria. And here 
 we note the general unloveliness of the female charac- 
 ter, as presented by both authors. 
 
 In The Fox we find just such an idea of hearing an 
 ill report of one's self while lying concealed, as we 
 find in the Asinaria and The Silent Woman : 
 
 PA. Maneddm. ART. Quid 
 est? 1.877. 
 
 PA. :&mtibiliommem. ART. 
 P^rii. PA. Paulisp^r mane ; 
 
 Alicupemus 6x insidiis cldn- 
 culum quam rdtn gerant. 
 
 As., 11. 880, 881. 
 
 Mos. . . . This very minute, 
 It is or will be doing ; and, if 
 
 you 
 Stall be but pleased to go 
 
 with me, I '11 bring you, 
 I dare not say where you shall 
 
 see, but where 
 Your ear shall be a witness of 
 
 the deed ; 
 Hear yourself written bastard, 
 
 and profest 
 The common issue of the 
 
 earth. A. Ill, s. i. 
 
 The argument adduced by True-wit against matri- 
 mony and wives in general, in A. II, s. i, is 
 simply a copy of the speech which Megaronides utters 
 against doweried wives, in the Aulularia of Plautus, 11. 
 475-536, and the similar objections of Periplecomenus 
 in the Miles Gloriosus, 11. 680-700. Again the argu- 
 ments presented by Morose to the Mute, that he may 
 induce her to regard the position which he holds out to 
 her as his wife with favor, are very close translations 
 from the comedies just mentioned. 
 
 A few remarks may be added with respect to The 
 Fox, and 77ie Devil is an Ass. The former is an excel- 
 lent play, regarded with The Alchemist as the best of 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 115 
 
 the Jonsonian comedies. The division of the charac- 
 ters, sharply drawn, into two broad classes of the dupers 
 and the duped, and the introduction of the parasite, 
 Mosca — the veritable parasite of the old lyatin comedy 
 — as the pivot on which the play turns, are purely 
 Plautine characteristics. Mosca' s ingenious brain con- 
 trives and carries into effect the various intrigues for 
 working on the gullibility of the creatures who are to 
 be defrauded. 
 
 Generally in Jonson' s plays there is one clever 
 knave who attends to the execution of the intricacies 
 of the plot. In The Silent Woman, it is Cutbeard ; it 
 is Chamont and Juniper in The Case is Altered ; while 
 in Every Man in His Humour it is Brainworm ; and in 
 Volpone, The Fox, it is Mosca. They are the old slaves 
 of the Plautine comedies, and Jonson himself says : 
 
 » "I have only made it a 
 
 little easy, and modem for the times, sir, that is all." ' 
 
 As Plautus painted his characters with broad strokes 
 after a stock-model, and always with a view to the dra- 
 matic effect, so Jonson not infrequently does likewise. 
 Although in Cynthia's Revels he says : 
 
 " In this alone, his Muse her sweetness hath. 
 She shuns the print of any beaten path; 
 And proves new ways to come to learned ears : 
 Pied ignorance she neither loves nor fears." 
 
 Prologue. 
 
 Bobadill, the braggart-captain ; Kitely, the jealous 
 husband; Old Knowell, the gulled father; Wellbred, 
 the chum to Young Knowell, the profligate son; and 
 Brainworm, the cunning servant, with Mosca, the in- 
 genious parasite and slave, — form a group in modem 
 
 'Jonson, Ben, Bartholomew Fair, A. V, s. 3. 
 
ii6 
 
 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 comedy whose originals are traceable, through the 
 Plautine plays, to the stock characters of The New 
 Attic Comedy. 
 
 The evidence of direct influence will be concluded 
 with a comparison between an episode from the Aulu- 
 laria and one from The Devil is an Ass, which is 
 especially interesting. 
 
 EVC. Abi Intro, occlude idn- 
 uam : iam ego hlc ero. 
 
 Caue qu^mquam alienum in 
 addis intromiseris. 
 
 Au., 11. 89, 90. 
 
 Fitz. You hear, Devil, 
 
 Lock the street-doors fast, and 
 let no one in, 
 
 Except tiey be this gentle- 
 man's followers, 
 
 To trouble me. 
 
 Nor turn the key to any neigh- 
 bour's need ; 
 Be it but to kindle fire, or beg 
 
 a little. 
 Put it out rather, all out to an 
 
 ash. 
 That they may see no smoke. 
 
 Or water, spill it ; 
 Knock on the empty tubs, 
 
 that by the sound. 
 They may be forbid entry. 
 
 Say we are robb'd. 
 If any come to borrow a spoon 
 
 or so ; 
 I will not have Good Fortune 
 
 or God's Blessing 
 Let in, while I am busy. 
 
 A. IL s. I. 
 
 EVC. Quod quispiam ignem 
 
 quadrat, extingui uolo, 
 Ne calisae quid sit qu6d te 
 
 quisquam qua^ritet. 
 Nam si Ignis uiuet, tu Sxtin- 
 
 guere extdmp<u>lo. 
 Tum aquam a^fugisse dlcito, 
 
 siqtils petet. 
 Cultrfim, securim, plstillum, 
 
 mortdrium. 
 Quae ut^nda uasa sdmper 
 
 uicini rogant, 
 Purds uenisse atque dbstulisse 
 
 dicito. 
 Prof(£cto in aedis meds me 
 
 absente n^minem 
 Volo intromitti. atque 6tiam 
 
 hoc praedic6 tibi. 
 Si Bbna Fortuna u6niat, ne 
 
 intromiseris. 
 
 Au., 11. 91-100. 
 
 The prevalent impression — partly traditional, partly 
 acquired from reading the plays of Jonson and any one 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 117 
 
 or two of the Plautine comedies — that the later writer 
 was indebted to the earUer, can be satisfactorily verified 
 only by such a comparison of the passages most similar 
 in verbal phrasing, as has here been attempted. Even 
 when the words do not correspond, the spirit or idea is 
 frequently noted, and the influence cannot be contro- 
 verted. 
 
 The question which naturally presents itself on read- 
 ing the play is perhaps unanswerable except from in- 
 ference. Did Jonson, consciously or unconsciously, 
 have in mind these passages of the Plautine plays 
 when writing his comedies ? That there is a general 
 resemblance has not failed to present itself to the mind 
 of the most casual reader. And the particular passages 
 noted could not possibly have been the result of acci- 
 dent such as might arise from treating two subjects not 
 wholly dissimilar. The references of contemporaneous 
 writers, which may be relied upon as authoritative, are 
 few in number and exceedingly meagre. We are 
 forced to trust to our judgment, and to rely upon our 
 individual and generally strong impression as to the 
 extent of this similarity. That Jonson, by nature and 
 education, was led to adopt the classical side of art, and 
 to choose the ancients for his models, although firmly 
 established, is, after all, merely incidental to the object 
 in hand, i. e., the giving of such proof of the direct 
 influence of his study of the Plautine comedies as may 
 be found in his works. 
 
 It is natural to suppose that Jonson, in searching for 
 a model, would select the one who had the greatest 
 reputation among the ancients, and consequently the 
 one who exerted the greatest influence on posterity, 
 both in early times and in Jonson' s own age. It has 
 been shown that Plautus not only had great reputation 
 
ii8 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 in early times, but that he was the most popular of the 
 ancient poets in the days of Shakespeare and Jonson. 
 
 If we take this in connection with those authoritative 
 references which we have, we find ample justification 
 for attempting a consistent comparison of those passages 
 most similar in phrasing, in spirit and general idea, and 
 for the collection of material to the end that it may 
 serve as a basis for future investigation. The extent 
 of the influence must remain largely, nevertheless, a 
 matter of individual opinion. 
 
 In this comparison we find that, while following the 
 development of idea as presented by Plautus, Jonson 
 has frequently combined, repeated or introduced the 
 thought in such a manner as to show the greatest skill 
 in the treatment of his material. Indeed, he had too 
 ^igh an opinion of Horace, to disregard the advice of 
 this eminent critic against an " over-anxiety to be 
 literal, or a binding of one's self too strictly to the plan 
 and character of the original. " ' " Jonson, ' ' as Drum- 
 mond informs us, ' ' entertained particular notions in 
 regard to poetical translations, which led him to under- 
 rate some of those that still continue to be justly ad- 
 mired." ' And yet Jonson does not wholly conceal, 
 and apparently he has no definite intention of conceal- 
 ing, the source of his comedy. 
 
 In conclusion, we revert to the thought expressed so 
 aptly by Mr. Henry Giles : ' ' Humor is the soul of 
 comedy; but humor, however genuine in essence, is in 
 its manifestation extremely dependent on the day — on 
 its manners, mode and fashion. Men who once had 
 the power to set all Europe laughing can hardly now 
 
 ' Horace, Epistula ad Pisones, 11. 133-135. 
 ° Druminond, Wm., Notes on Ben Jonson's Conversations 
 with Wm. Drummond. Shakespeare Soc, Jan., 1842, p. 2. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 119 
 
 create a smile." ' Jonson beyond a doubt, as Mr. Swin- 
 burne says, was a " better antiquarian than a drama- 
 tist," ' yet he excelled in the quality of humor. And 
 the very severity of his turn of mind aided him in 
 seizing with the greatest precision the weaknesses of 
 men, and in picturing them with a living likeness that 
 is irresistible. 
 
 That he was recognized as a power in literature, we 
 have abundant proof. The enthusiastic elegies of 
 authors, which were published after his death, evidence 
 the fact that he was a celebrity, and an honored 
 author in his own day. His devotion to his ideas 
 of art was exclusive, and he openly proclaimed him- 
 self a reformer. "No sooner," says Drake, "had 
 he ventured on the stage with a comedy exclusively 
 his own, than he aspired to the establishment of a. 
 Dramatic lyiterature in this province, which, while he 
 should adhere to the structure of the classical model, 
 might exhibit various and extensive views of human 
 nature, and uniformly have for its object the correction 
 of vice and folly, through the medium of unsparing 
 satire." " 
 
 The new style proposed by him did not immediately 
 gain favor. Popularity came to him gradually, and 
 principally through his recognition by the great patrons 
 of literature and of the stage.* But he arose to be 
 the literary dictator and the leader of jovial society 
 in London, where he ruled the undisputed favorite 
 
 ' Giles, Henry, Human Life in Shakespeare, 1887. 
 
 ^ Swinburne, Algernon Charles, A Study of Ben Jonson, 1889. 
 
 5 Drake, Nathan, Shakespeare and His Times, 1817, Vol. 2, 
 
 p. 572. 
 
 ■• Memoirs of Ben Jonson, British Poets, Shakespeare and 
 Ben Jonson. (Riverside Ed.) 
 
I20 The Influence of Plautus 
 
 of the wits. "Those who deny to Ben wit, genius, 
 and taste," says Gilchrist, " will not object to him 
 want of learning, art, and judgment." ' And "if in 
 searching for accuracy, he lost his grasp of reality," 
 it is for this reason, as Dr. Schelling says, " he is the 
 best constructor of plot in our literature." ' Jonson 
 possessed two of the three elements constituting a good 
 poet ' — industry and judgment — and if he was not a 
 genius, genius was not wholly lacking. 
 
 He numbered among his friends the leading literary 
 men of the day, and he was a welcome member of the 
 most polished circles of society. Jonson' s own opinion 
 of popularity we find in Cynthia's Revels : 
 
 Are. True happiness 
 
 Consists not in the multitude of friends. 
 
 But in the worth and choice. Nor would I have 
 
 Virtue a popular regard pursue : 
 
 Let them be good that love me, though but few.* 
 
 How is it that Jonson in our time, like Plautus, has 
 lost the place which he once held in the public estima- 
 tion? It is that Jonson put into his dramas, just as 
 Plautus did, the manners of his age. I<ike Plautus, he 
 is one of the best, nay, the completest authority, we 
 have for ascertaining the manners of the age in which 
 he lived. He was a comic satirist, who attempted to 
 strip the ragged follies of his time as naked as they 
 were at their births, to show the time's deformity. 
 
 ' Gilchrist, Octavius. An examination of the charges main- 
 tained by Messrs. Malone, Chalmers, and others of Ben Jon- 
 son's enmity, etc., toward Shakespeare, p. 29. 
 
 = Schelling, Felix E., Ph.D., Ben Jonson and the Classical 
 School. 
 
 ^ Horace, Epistula ad Pisones. 
 
 * Jonson, Ben, Cynthia's Revels, A. Ill, s. 2. 
 
On the Comedies of Ben Jonson. 121 
 
 What is characteristic of a particular period is not 
 likely to give satisfaction in all ages, and he thereby 
 fails to fulfill the highest conditions of art. Jonson' s 
 dramas have in them an excess of the individuality of 
 their author, and he has suffered the fate of all those 
 who have lashed successfully public follies — and who 
 have, in a measure, with the follies they have destroyed, 
 destroyed themselves.