COMIC DEVICES AND CONVENTIONS

 

COMIC DEVICES

MISTAKEN IDENTITY

One comic device that is a favorite in Roman comedy and in later comic dramas all the way up to the present day is mistaken identity, either as an intended act of deception or as accidental.  A chance mistaken identity is the basic  premise of the recent film, the romantic comedy The Trouble with Cats and Dogs starring Janeanne Garofalo. In The Swaggering Soldier, there is an example of purposeful deception when Palaestrio has Philocomasium pretend to be her own twin sister to confuse the slave Sceledrus.
 

COINCIDENCE:

The modern reader must learn to expect implausible coincidences as stock and trade of Roman comedy.  For example, we are told by Palaestrio in the delayed prologue of the play that, when the soldier kidnaps the girl in Pleusicles’ absence, Palaestrio sets off by ship to Naupactus to tell his master of this turn of events. On his sea voyage, Palaestrio is taken captive by pirates and given by them as a gift to the soldier, who is back in Ephesus with Philocomasium (99-121).

A lesser coincidence occurs near the end of the play. Palaestrio thinks aloud that he needs the presence of Acroteleutium, Milphidippa, and Pleusicles and then points out how well Opportunity (personified as a goddess) supports his efforts, when he sees these very people coming (1132-36). Palaestrio seems to mock this happy coincidence in which the expression of a wish seems to bring about fulfillment.  In fact, he might be ridiculing coincidence as an attribute of  comedy. If this is what Palaestrio is doing, this would be an example of breaking the dramatic illusion because he would be calling the audience’s attention to the fact that the action of the play is a fictional creation of the author and not reality.  The audience no doubt found this coincidence and Palaestrio’s remark amusing.

SURPRISE AND INCONGRUITY

A time-honored comic device is to set up the audience to expect one thing and then surprising them with the unexpected.  A modern example of this device, which the ancients called para prosdokian (‘contrary to expectation’), was heard recently in a TV sitcom.  A female character, who had had sex with a man on a first date and never heard from him again said: “No matter what, I will always remember him fondly - as an asshole!”  Plautus uses this device several times in The Swaggering Soldier. Here are two examples (575 & 1086-87):  This comic device appears in another passage in which Palaestrio gives his view how the gods should dispense justice (725-30): Palaestrio speaks these lines with all the moral seriousness of a philosopher and what is the reward for the moral improvement of mankind?  Something as mundane as cheaper grain as a compensation for good behavior!

Finally, a noteworthy example of this device appears in another Plautine play, the Pseudolus (1228): “I’ll give you a worthy punishment - I’ll – make you my wife.”

At the heart of surprise as a comic device is incongruity, the discrepancy between what normally expected and what the comic author gives them.  In The Swaggering Soldier there is good deal incongruity in the matter of characterization, which is typical of Roman comedy.  For example there is the slave who orders free-born characters around (Palaestrio), the boastful soldier who is really a sniveling coward (Pyrgopolynices), the ardent lover who is timid and apologetic about his love and plays a minor role in rescuing the girl from the soldier (Pleusicles).  Perhaps the most incongruous character in the play is the old man, Periplectomenus.  In Greek and especially in Roman culture, old age was supposed to exhibit a conservative seriousness with little tolerance for the irresponsibility of youth.  But in this play Periplectomenus reveals a playboy character, disdaining the usual responsibilities of life: marriage and children.  He is ready to give his all in helping the young man get back together with his prostitute girlfriend.1  One supposes that Periplectomenus would have not been so liberal if Pleusicles had been his own son.  Fathers in Roman comedy often strongly disapprove of their sons’ cavorting with women of easy virtue.  In any case, in this play Plautus has not employed the father as a "blocking figure" to interfere with a young man's love affair.  That function is performed by Pyrgopolynices alone.

HYPERBOLE (EXAGGERATION)

Since flattery is so important in this play, it is not surprising that there are many examples of comic hyperbole. In the very first scene of the play, the parasite Artotrogus throws himself wholeheartedly into his task of hyperbolic flattery in order to ensure his place at the soldier’s dinner table.

The parasite praises the soldier as a man brave, lucky, of royal bearing, and a warrior surpassing Mars in military virtues.  The hyperbole is exactly what we expect of a parasite, who must earn his food by winning the good will of his provider.  Pyrgopolynices perhaps engages in some boasting, if he really asks if Mars was the one he saved on the battlefield (13), but the text is uncertain. More flattery comes from the parasite when he speaks of Pyrgopolynices “blowing away” legions (17). It is clear that Pyrgopolynices is eating up this praise when he calls this victory “nothing.” (19). The parasite picks up on the word “nothing” and continues his flattery with his comment that “this is indeed nothing in comparison with other things I might tell of (19-20).”  Then the parasite carelessly speaks of Pyrgopolynices breaking the “arm” of an elephant in India and then quickly corrects himself with “leg” (26-27).  Since the soldier seems to be enjoying the exaggerations, Artotrogus is encouraged to go even farther in absurdity. The parasite claims that, if the soldier had really tried, he could have smashed through the hide, guts, and bone of the elephant (28-30).

The parasite then makes a show of tallying the enemy soldiers that the soldier has killed in one day on a wax tablet: 150 in Cilicia, 100 in Scythia, 30 Sardinians and 60 Macedonians (42-45).2  Of course, Cilicia and Scythia are too far apart for the soldier to have fought in these two places in one day.  The same holds true for Sardinia and Macedonia, but the soldier is certainly not concerned with truth.  When the parasite totals up the killings, his number is absurdly 7000 instead of the correct total of 340, which is itself no doubt exaggerated (46). But hyperbole is the essence of flattery and the soldier is willing to accept this absurd arithmetic because of his desire for glory even at the cost of the truth. The parasite’s success leads him to even greater flights of fancy when he says that the soldier would have killed 500 with one blow in Cappadocia, had his sword not been dull (52-53).

Milphidippa, Acroteleutium’s maid, also resorts to hyperbole in her flattery of the soldier:  “Was there ever any man worthier to be a god (1043)? This occasions a cynical aside from Palaestrio to help the audience keep a proper perspective:  “By god, he is not really a human being, for I believe there is more humanity in a vulture” (1043-44). The maid then presents her mistress’ ring to the soldier (1049) and adds more flattery calling him “my Achilles” and adding the epithets “city-sacker” and “killer of kings” (1054-55).

Palaestrio follows Milphidippa’s lead by adding that Pyrgopolynices sires “pure warriors” who live for 800 years with the women he makes pregnant (1077-78).  The soldier takes the slave’s cue and ups the ante: his sons live for a 1000 years (1079).  Then, spurred on by Milphidippa, he indulges in further hyperbolic fantasy, claiming that he himself was born the day after Jupiter was born (1082).  Palaestrio tops off this orgy of flattery by adding that, if Pyrgopolynices had been born a day before Jupiter, he would have ruled heaven (1083).

The soldier himself boasts of divine ancestry (1265). When Palaestrio says that every woman loves the soldier at first sight, Pyrgopolynices adds in confirmation that he is “a descendant of Venus” (i.e., he has special powers of sexual attraction inherited from the goddess).  In fact, this assertion will be sarcastically thrown back in his face twice later in the play (1413, 1421).  Although the audience is expected to be amused by this outrageous claim, it should be noted that it was not unusual for aristocratic families in Greece and Rome to trace their origin to a divinity.  The Julian clan at Rome (of which Julius Caesar was a member about a century after this play) claimed that they were descended from Venus.  There is no evidence, however, that the soldier’s assertion of divine origin in this play has anything to do with the Julian family.

NAMES

The names of the important characters in this play are a significant name, that is, they have a meaning.  This meaning most often seems to have a connection with the roles these characters play in the drama.  For example, the name Palaestrio is derived from the Greek verb “to wrestle,” which should not be taken literally here.  In this play Palaestrio “wrestles” intellectually with the problem of allowing his original master Pleusicles to meet with his girlfriend while she is in the soldier’s possession and then of rescuing the girl from the soldier.  Pyrgopolynices, the name of the soldier, is a compound of three words: purgos (‘tower’), polu (‘much’), and nike (‘victory’).  In combination, this name would mean something like “he who has enjoyed many a victory over cities (towers were part of city walls).  The Moses Hammond edition of the play3 suggests “mighty conqueror of fortresses.”

Other significant names in the play:

Artotrogus means ‘bread-chewer’, an appropriate name for a parasite who spends all his time with the task of keeping himself well-fed at the expense of others.

Periplectomenus comes from a Greek verb that means either ‘to embrace’ or ‘to entwine’.  If the name is from the verb ‘to embrace’, it may refer to his amatory propensities (637-41); if, ‘to entwine’, it probably refers to his supporting role in Palaestrio’s intrigue.

Philocomasium means ‘party-loving girl’, an appropriate name for a prostitute.

Pleusicles is made up of two words: the verb ‘to sail’ and the noun ‘glory’.  The name probably refers to the young man’s disguise as a ship captain.

Acroteleutium means literally ‘the highest end’, i.e., she’s the top or the best.  It may be a reference to her expertise as a prostitute.

Sceledrus cannot be definitely linked with any known Greek word.  Some see a Latin derivation from scelus ("crime") and in fact there are puns in the play based on scelus (289, 330, 494).  It, however, would be unusual for a character to have a Latin-based name and Sceledrus  is not a scoundrel, just dumb.

There is also some comic point to the length of some of these names.  Although Greek names tend to be long, names like Pyrgopolynices, Periplectomenus, Philocomasium, and Acroteleutium are a bit longer than usual.  Long names have been used for comic effect even in modern times.  For example, Preston Sturges, the master director of romantic comedies in the early 1940’s was fond of this device.  Three of his characters are named "Trudy Kockenlocker," "John D. Hackensacker," and "Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith."  Besides their length, the first two names also sound funny and the third is incredibly pompous.  We can see this combination of exaggerated length and comic sound when Pyrgopolynices mentions an enemy commander he fought against: Bumbomachides (son of roaring battle) Clytomestoridysarchides.4  The soldier, in order to amplify his exploits, gives names of heroic length to his enemies.

VIOLENCE

Violence as a comic device involves both verbal violence and representations of physical violence on-stage.  Real violence only occurs at the end of this play, but there are many threats of injury. One comic device employed in this scene is the threat of violence to slaves (e.g., threat of breaking slaves’ legs in 156-57 or of death in 163) or the fear of capital punishment expressed by slaves (e.g., 180, 183-4).

Although we might not think violence to slaves as particularly funny, an audience of free Roman citizens no doubt found this subject hilarious.  Slaves in ancient Rome were as a matter of course subject to all sorts of violence if they displeased their masters and could even be put to death by crucifixion for any attempt at rebellion. Holt Parker5 provides a plausible explanation of this obsession with punishment of slaves in Plautus’ comedies.  Plautus was writing at a time (late 3rd century, early 2nd century BC) when there was an enormous influx of slaves into Rome as the result of various wars.  At the same time, because adult male citizens were away in the army, there was a heightened fear of slave rebellion.  The references to violent punishments for slaves in the plays of Plautus were designed to assuage this fear and remind the slave owners in the audience of the power they had to impose physical punishment on their slaves.  The humor of these references is the result of the normal human tendency to mock what we fear.

It should, however be noted here that no slave in this play receives corporal punishment, not even Palaestrio who deceives and cheats a free man (the soldier).  Paradoxically, only the soldier suffers physically when he is beaten at the end of the play and only avoids castration by paying off Periplectomenus’ cook, Cario. In the real world of ancient Rome a clever slave who outfoxed and swindled his betters would no doubt be subject to physical punishment.  The world of comedy, however, is not the real world.  Part of the fun of comedy is the reversal of everyday values and customs.  In the play world of comedy a clever slave is allowed to behave in a way that in normal circumstances would have outraged the audience. The slave is permitted to behave this way with impunity because he is a sympathetic character, who is not acting in his own interests, but on behalf of his young master against a villainous character like the soldier.6

In the Sceledrus scene Palaestrio uses warnings of possible punishments to frighten Sceledrus into silence about what he has seen.  This is accomplished by frequent and graphic references to the punishments that Sceledrus might suffer if the soldier learns of the girl’s escapades: unspecified manner of death (306, 310, 363, 398, 404), crucifixion7 (279, 372), broken legs (294), having eyes dug out (315, 368, 374), having tongue cut out8 (318), whipping (342, 397).  Again these references to these gruesome punishments and Sceledrus’ reaction to them would have no doubt convulsed the Roman audience with laughter.

OTHER COMIC USES OF LANGUAGE

Plautus often has his characters indulge in playful use of language for comic effect.  For example, he gives an overly elaborate description of Philocomasium’s ability to deceive, presenting one synonym for her ability to trick after another (187-94). In order to highlight Palaestrio’s craftiness, Plautus has Periplectomenus in a long aside describe the slave's planning while the actor playing the slave mimes intense deliberation (202-16)9: Periplectomenus then uses a metaphor of building construction to describe Palaestrio’s scheming (209-10): "He’s building something…the façade supported on a column. [Palaestrio has his chin resting on his hand.] "  The figurative use of the word ‘column’ describing Palestrio’s resting of his chin on his hand reminds Periplectomenus of a real column (211-12): Most scholars understand this comment as a reference to the Roman poet Naevius, a contemporary of Plautus, who may have been chained to a column for insulting a famous noble family, the Metelli, with an deliberately ambiguous line: “It is the fate of Rome that the Metelli have been elected consuls.”10  As noted in the brackets in the quote above, Periplectomenus calls Naevius a “barbarian (i.e., a Roman) poet.” This is a frequent joke in Plautine comedy, in which a Greek character refers to Romans with this derogatory term in front of a Roman audience.  The Romans seem to have enjoyed hearing Greek characters, whom they despised as morally inferior to themselves, expressing contempt for Romans. This is one of the few recognizable Roman references in the play.

Then Periplectomenus switches to a military metaphor for Palaestrio’s ingenuity, which will become a dominant motif in the play (219-25):

Periplectomenus’ metaphor makes Palaestrio a commander of military forces engaging in all the typical military activities. Later in the play Palaestrio also applies military metaphors to his machinations.  In a soliloquy Palaestrio talks about his plans to rescue the girl: “If my troops are well trained, I shall get the girl out of the Captain’s clutches before the day is over (813-15).”  When Palaestrio uses senatorial language in assigning Acroteleutium her duties (“I impose this sphere of duty (provinciam) on you” – the Roman senate assigned such duties to high magistrates), she calls him imperator, i.e., ‘military commander’ (1159-60).  She also refers to Palaestrio’s imperium (= "‘military command") (1197).

The use of military imagery to describe the machinations of the tricky slave is common in Roman comedy.  The incongruity created by describing a marginal member of Roman society like a slave as a military commander, a position highly valued by the Romans, would have been obvious to the audience. The incongruity and irony of this military metaphor in The Swaggering Soldier is even more manifest, if one remembers that Palaestrio is plotting against a soldier: he is using ‘military’ strategy against a military man.

Palaestrio uses a comic oxymoron to interest the soldier in the “matron” next door.  When Pyrgopolynices asks if the woman is married or a widow, Palaestrio replies that she is both.  The soldier then asks how that could be, to which the slave slyly responds that she is married to an old man (with the implication that the husband has one foot in the grave) (964-66).  The fact that a relationship with this woman would be adultery and her husband is too old to make a fuss no doubt appeals to soldier.

DOUBLE ENTENDRE

Plautus, relying on the superior knowledge of the audience, uses a device generally called by a French name: double entendre (double meaning), which produces comic irony.  For example, when the soldier asks Pleusicles what happened to his eye (the young man is wearing an eye patch on his left eye as part of his disguise) (1306), he playfully answers: “I have an eye (referring to his right eye).”  Since the Latin word for eye, oculus can also mean sweetheart, his reply can also be interpreted ironically by the audience as:  “I am in possession of my sweetheart.” In another example of double entendre, Palaestrio tells the soldier to consider how faithful he has been to his master.  Naturally the conceited soldier thinks that Palaestrio has been a good and faithful slave and says that he has often observed the slave’s fidelity (1364-66).  But of course the audience understands the true meaning of Palaestrio’s words: he has not been faithful to the soldier and has bad intentions toward him. The soldier has been completely duped and does not understand the irony of Palaestrio’s following words:  “You will know truly [how faithful I have been] both previously and especially today (1366-67) (i.e., not faithful at all).”

PUNS

Another typical Plautine comic device is the pun. Of course, it is virtually impossible to reproduce a pun in one language and translators often must change the language of the original if they are going to represent the pun in English. When Philocomasium (speaking to Sceledrus) claims to be her own twin sister, she says that her name is Dicea (436; in Greek, ‘the just woman’).  This leads the slave to a pun.  Sceledrus, not believing Philocomasium and accusing her of doing injury to the soldier by her love-making next door, says that Philocomasium is not dicea, but adicea (= ‘the unjust woman’). The translator of your text must change this name from Dicea to Honoria to represent the pun in English (436-38): In the last scene of the play, when Pyrgopolynices is being threatened with castration, there is an untranslatable pun (not surprisingly ignored by the translator of your text) based on the two meanings of testis: ‘witness’ and ‘testicle’ (1416-22).  A brand new translation of this play by Erich Segal also does not reproduce the pun in English, although his translation ("As a favour, let me leave with testimony to my manhood!") could be adapted to give the  reader in English translation a sense of the pun: "As a favor, let me leave with my testicles as testimony to my manhood!"

BREAKING THE DRAMATIC ILLUSION

Usually comic and tragic dramas pretend to be reality and the audience in order to enjoy the performance to the fullest must suspend disbelief by temporarily accepting it as reality.  Plautus, however, is fond of having his characters express in various ways an awareness of being in a play in a theater with an audience.  In fact, A.S. Gratwick has claimed that a primary characteristic of Plautine comedy is a general awareness on the part of the characters that they are taking part in a play: 11 Although Plautus, like all dramatists, does employ the illusion of reality, often he playfully destroys it.  This technique is called metatheater (literally, "transcending theater"), a term defined by Niall Slater12as "theatrically self-conscious theatre, i.e., theatre that demonstrates an awareness of its own theatricality."  The effect of metatheater is to allow the audience to share with the actors the sense of being in a play.  Metatheater can be accomplished in various ways, such as a character referring to himself/herself as an actor in a play, or referring the action on-stage as a play, or by addressing the audience directly.  An example of this comic device can be found in 861-2 when the slave Lurcio asks the audience not to tell Palaestrio where he’s going: "I’ll get away somewhere, by heck, and put off the evil day.  Don’t tell him, will you?...Promise."  Another example of this device occurs in Periplectomenus’ description of Palaestrio’s agonized deliberations discussed above (213):  "Hah! Now that’s better…that’s a fine attitude…just what a slave in a comedy ought to look like."  Of course, the joke is that Palaestrio really is a slave in a comedy.

DRUNKENNESS

The scene consisting of a conversation between Palaestrio and a fellow-slave named Lurcio does not advance the action at all, but it just an excuse for jokes about drunkenness, a staple of comedy from ancient to modern times.13  Palaestrio wants to talk to Sceledrus, but Lurcio informs him that Sceledrus is sleeping off a drinking spree in the wine cellar (818-24).  Lucrio uses comic hyperbole in his description of the drinking scene in the cellar.  Lucrio, probably in order to avoid involvement in the blame for Sceledrus’ drinking, says that the wine jars were falling over and being emptied of their own accord and the cellar itself was performing a Bacchanal (i.e. dancing ecstatically in the manner of the worshippers of Bacchus14).

CONVENTIONS

PROLOGUE

The dramatic prologue in which an actor (sometimes a character in the play, sometimes not) introduces the play to the audience is a device used in both tragedy and comedy.  In The Swaggering Soldier the prologue, which is normally presented at the very beginning of the play, is delayed until after the opening scene involving Pyrgopolynices and his parasite Artotrogus.  The prologue is delivered by Palaestrio, the central character of the play.  The effect of this prologue is metatheatrical because it is non-illusory.  Palaestrio acknowledges the existence of the audience and the fact they are present to attend a play. He even tells those in the audience who are unwilling to listen to leave so that those interested in the play can take their seats.  The purpose of Palaestrio's prologue is on one level to explain the plot to the audience: On another level, however, Palaestrio with the metatheatricality of his speech makes the audience  co-conspirators in the plot, engaging their sympathy for himself and his master and creating antipathy toward the soldier.15

MONOLOGUE

The monologue is a non-illusory device that allows characters to share with the audience their inner thoughts.  In addition, a monologue helps define the character and often engages the audience's sympathy for the character.  For example, see Palaestrio's monologue in 259-71 in which he establishes his cleverness and determination with  his plan to find the slave who observed Pleusicles and Philocomasium together.  The speech also has the effect of Palaestrio taking the audience into his confidence.

EAVESDROPPING

Eavesdropping is a convention of comedy in which characters listen to the conversation of other characters without their knowledge.  One of the most frequent uses of eavesdropping in comedy is by sympathetic characters to obtain information that they can use to the detriment of the unsympathetic characters.  Eavesdropping in The Swaggering Soldier, however, does not have this function.  Palaestrio and his allies never gain important information by eavesdropping on Pyrgopolynices.  Instead, sympathetic characters in this play allow the soldier to eavesdrop on them to entrap him.  For example, Milphidippa lets the soldier overhear her little soliloquy describing her mistress' "passion" for him (991-98) to confirm his belief in his own irresistability.  Later in the play, Milphidppa and Acroteleutium further ensnare the soldier by allowing him to overhear her false declarations of overwhelming sexual desire for him (1216-66).

ASIDES

Asides are comments spoken by a character to the audience, but by convention are unheard by other characters.  There are numerous examples of this device in The Swaggering Soldier, e.g., the long aside of Periplectomenus describing the intensive deliberation of Palaestrio (200-18), discussed above.  For example, the parasite Artotrogus in a speech that begins as flattery of Pyrgopolynices suddenly reveals his insincerity in an aside (perhaps spoken in a lower voice, but still audible to the audience) (31-35): Asides are natural in eavesdropping scenes in which the listener(s) comments to the audience on what is being overheard.  In the Acroteleutium and Milphidippa eavesdropping scene mentioned above, the soldier and Palaestrio exchange comments on the conversation of the two women (1216-66).


 

NOTES

1. George E. Duckworth, The Nature of Roman Comedy: A Study in Popular Entertainment (Princeton 1952): “The instances of a senex [= ‘old man’] assisting an adulescens [= ‘young man’] are rare. Periplectomenus in the Miles [the Latin title of this play is Miles Gloriosus] makes his home available to Pleusicles and, to bring about the overthrow of the soldier, even takes to himself a fictitious wife; he is one of Plautus’ most delightful creations, a lepidus senex [= ‘a charming old man’] who discourses at length on the advantages of bachlorhood (672).”
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2. This scene may have inspired the famous catalogue aria in Mozart’s opera Don Giovianni, in which the Don’s servant Leporello sings a numerical accounting of his master’s sexual conquests throughout Europe.
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3. Miles Gloriosus, edited with an introduction and notes by Mason Hammond, Arthur Mack, Walter Moskalew, revised by Mason Hammond (Cambridge, Mass. 1970) 73.
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4. If this is the correct reading of the name, then the meaning is not clear.  An emendation has been suggested:  ‘Clytomistharnikarchides’ (‘son of a renowned mercenary leader’).
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5. Parker, Holt, “Crucially Funny or Tranio on the Couch: The Servus Callidus [= "the clever slave"] and Jokes about Torture,” TAPA, 119 (1989) 233-246.
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6. See Parker, 241.  Northop Frye (Anatomy of Criticism, Princeton, 1957, 169) in reference to New comedy calls the soldier along with the father and the pimp “blocking characters,” who stand between the young man and his girl friend.  The young man must be helped by the clever slave to either cheat them of the girl or of the money to get the girl. The deception of the father by the son with the help of the slave adds a further dimension of meaning to Roman comedy. In Roman culture the father was a revered and feared figure to who the law gave absolute authority (patria potestas = ‘the father’s power) over his children (of whatever age), including the power of life and death.  In the topsy-turvy world of comedy, the father is often successfully cheated and made a fool of by the clever slave (although not in The Swaggering Soldier) with the encouragement and cooperation of the son.  The son gets his girl against his father’s wishes and the slave occasionally gets his freedom.  The father as an authority figure is a good target for comic mockery. Click here for further discussion of the father in Plautine comedy.
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7. References to crucifixion in the play must be Plautus’ addition to the Greek original.  This form of punishment was probably not practiced at this time in Greece and the allusion to the “gate” apparently refers to an area outside the Esquiline gate at Rome where public executions took place.
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8. Digging out of eyes and the cutting out of tongue would be examples here of the punishments fitting the crime. Sceledrus has seen the girl next door and not told the soldier.
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9. Periplectomenus’ description serves as a stage direction for the actor playing Palaestrio.  As in Greek drama, stage directions are not normally separate from the words spoken by the actors, but are implicit in them. In your text of the play the stage directions in italics within brackets are not in the Latin text, but are the creations of the translator.
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10.  This is an example of Plautus using a character in his play to give voice to a joke about his own fears about what might happen to him if he should offend an important person.  Naevius’ punishment had taken place quite recently (206 BC) and represented a stern warning to playwrights.
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11. "Drama" in The Cambridge History of Classical Literature, vol. II, part I: The Early Republic, ed. E.J. Kenney (Cambridge 1983), 115.
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12. Plautus in Performance (Princeton 1985), 14.
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13. American society of the late 1980’s and the 1990’s looks with disfavor on comic drunkenness.  About fifteen years ago, the American comedian Foster Brooks, who had made a career of being a comic drunk, publicly disavowed such comedy as a result of public pressure and retired.  Just a few years earlier, however, Americans were more tolerant of substance abuse comedy. Cheech and Cong enjoyed success in a string of comic films in which they made fun of drug use.  During the World War I the cocaine comedy was a popular Hollywood genre.
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14.  Although we cannot be sure, this mention of the worship of Bacchus (Dionysus) with its drunkenness and frenzied dancing might have been a contemporary (206 BC) reference to a  growing interest and participation in Bacchic ritual at Rome and Italy in general.  What we do know is that twenty years later, the Roman senate, alarmed by suspicions of gross immorality and political conspiracy, banned Bacchic rites except in the most restricted of circumstances.
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15.  Slater (154): "The prologue...in Plautus, then, seem to function not as [a convention] designed to transmit as briefly as possible the information necessary to understand the play but rather as [a transition] between non-theatrical and theatrical modes of perception - and of course as opportunities for games - playing in and of themselves.  The jokes and banter that seem so irrelevant to a reader actually perform a vital function in alerting the audience to its role in the play and in the workings of the theater."
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