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Exurgite' inquit 'qui terrore meo occidistis prae metu.'

Ut iacui, exurgo: ardere censui aedis: ita tum confulgebant.

Nor is there, perhaps, anywhere in ancient literature a nobler

realisation of the virtue of womanhood than in the indignant

vindication of herself by Alcmena,--

Non ego illam mihi dotem esse duco, quae dos dicitur,

Set pudicitiam et pudorem et sedatum cupidinem,

Deum metum et parentum amorem et cognatum concordiam,

Tibi morigera atque ut munifica sim bonis, prosim probis.

Non ventus fuit, verum Alcumena Euripidi.

As in the case of other productive writers there is no absolute

agreement as to which are the best of the Plautine plays. Without

Salva res est: philosophatur quoque jam, non mendax modo'st

Sed jam satis est philosophatum

of Pseudolus. Yet to Tyndarus he attributes a sense of religious

trust befitting both his character and situation--

Est profecto deus, qui quae nos gerimus auditque et videt, etc.,

Centum doctum hominum consilia sola haec devincit dea,

Fortuna, etc.

Probably the truth is that living in an age of active enjoyment

and energy, he troubled himself very little about the 'problem of

imply that he recognised in the growing ascendency of wealth an

Nemo hinc prohibet nec vetat

Quin quod palamst venale, si argentumst, emas.

Nemo ire quemquam puplica prohibet via,

Dum ne per fundum saeptum faciat semitam:

Dum ted apstineas nupta vidua virgine

Luventute et pueris liberis, ama quod lubet.

Fui ego bellus, lepidus,--bonus vir nunquam neque frugi bonae

Neque ero unquam.

But the life of careless freedom and strong animal spirits which

Plautus shaped with prodigal power into humorous scenes and

representations for the holiday amusements of the mass of his

Postquam est mortem aptus Plautus, comoedia luget,

Scaena est deserta, dein risus, ludu' iocusque

Et numeri innumeri simul omnes conlacrumarunt.

Cervantes or Molière. Nor does he compensate for these defects by

Plautus ad exemplar Siculi properare Epicharmi

refers to the rapidity with which he hurries on to the dénouement

But the largest endowment of Plautus, the truest note of his

Illuc sis vide

Quem ad modum astitit severo fronte curans, cogitans.

Pectus digitis pultat: cor credo evocaturust foras.

Ecce avortit: nisam laevo in femine habet laevam manum.

Dextera digitis rationem conputat: fervit femur

Dexterum, ita vehementer icit: quod agat, aegre suppetit.

Concrepuit digitis: laborat, crebro conmutat status.

Eccere autem capite nutat: non placet quod repperit.

Quidquid est, incoctum non expromet, bene coctum dabit.

Ecce autem aedificat: columnam mento suffigit suo.

Apage, non placet profecto mihi illaec aedificatio:

Nam os columnatum poetae esse indaudivi barbaro,

Quoi bini custodes semper totis horis occubant.

Euge, euscheme hercle astitit et dulice et comoedice.

Quid hoc? sicine hoc fit? pedes, statin an non?

An id voltis ut me hinc jacentem aliqui tollat? etc.

His temptation was to exaggerate in this, as in other elements of

It is characteristic of the liveliness of Plautus' temperament,

that the lyrical and recitative parts of his plays occupy a place

Multas res simitu in meo corde vorso,

Multum in cogitando dolorem indipiscor.

Egomet me coquo et macero et defatigo.

Pessuli, heus pessuli, vos saluto lubens,

Vos amo vos volo vos peto atque obsecro,

Gerite amanti mihi morem amoenissumi:

Fite caussa mea ludii barbari,

Sussulite, obsecro, et mittite istanc foras,

Quae mihi misero amanti exhibit sanguinem.

Hoc vide ut dormiunt pessuli pessumi

Nec mea gratia conmovent se ocius.

they do, in a rude kind of way, show facility and native power in

Haec, quom ego a foro revortar, facite ut offendam parata,

Vorsa sparsa tersa strata lauta structaque omnia ut sint.

Nam mi hodiest natalis dies: eum decet omnis vos concelebrare.

Magnifice volo me viros summos accipere, ut rem mi esse reantur.

execration, or bantering endearment. The mannerisms of his style,

deviates from his Greek models, are not laboured efforts, but the

is a Rabelaisian ebullition, stimulated by the novel contact with

Rufus quidam, ventriosus, crassis suris, subniger.

Magno capite, acutis oculis, ore rubicundo, ad modum

Magnis pedibus;

Cum hirquina barba;

Adulescentem strenua facie, rubicundum, fortem;

Harpax, in the same play,

Recalvom ac silonem senem, statutum, ventriosum

Tortis superciliis, contracta fronte, etc.--

Pol hic quidem fungino generest: capite se totum tegit.

Illurica facies videtur hominis: eo ornatu advenit;

and later--

Mira sunt

Loca contemplat, circumspectat sese, atque aedis noscitat.

Ubi portu eximus, homines remigio sequi,

Neque aves neque venti citius, etc.,

or the account which Curculio gives of his encounter with the

soldier, tersely, rapidly, and vividly, as if he were recalling

writes letters with the forms of courtesy, and with the ease and

'Nugas theatri: verba quae in comoediis

Solent lenoni dici, quae pueri sciunt.'

'Vt vobis victi Poeni poenas sufferant.'

genuine, and also the speech of _Auxilium_ in the Cistellaria.]