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| Trinummus | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Plautus |
| Setting | Athens |
Trinummus is a comedic Latin play by the early Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. It is called Trinummus "The Three Coins" because in the play an imposter (sycophantes) is paid three coins to dress up as a messenger from Syria. According to the prologue, the play is adapted from one called Thesaurus ("The Treasure") by the Greek playwright Philemon.
The play opens with a Prologue delivered by the goddess Extravagant Living (Luxuria) and her daughter Poverty (Inopia). They explain that the house behind them is occupied by a young man who has used up all his father's money and has become poor.
An Athenian gentleman, Callicles, is reproached by his friend Megaronides for having purchased the house of his neighbour Charmides, who is away in Syria, at a cheap price from Charmides' spendthrift son Lesbonicus. Callicles explains that he has not done anything dishonourable, but that he wanted to protect the house and the treasure which Charmides told him is buried in it for his friend, to avoid Charmides' wealth being frittered away by his son's extravagance.
Meanwhile the young man Lysiteles, who lives next door, tells his father Philto that he wishes to marry Charmides' daughter, without receiving a dowry, since he is anxious to help Lesbonicus. Philto goes to Lesbonicus to ask for the sister's hand in marriage for Lysiteles. He says that he will agree to the marriage even though Lesbonicus has no money for a dowry. Lesbonicus, however, refuses, as it would dishonour his sister. He offers some land as a marriage portion, but Charmides's slave Stasimus, trying to prevent any more of his master's property being lost, puts Philto off by telling him that the land is poisoned.
When Stasimus tells Callicles about the proposal, Callicles goes to consult his friend Megaronides, who suggests that Callicles should use Charmides' buried treasure as a dowry. Callicles likes the idea, but fearing that Lesbonicus will claim the treasure for himself if he hears about it, he devises a plan to dress up an imposter in Syrian costume for three coins (Latin trinummus) and make him pretend that he has been sent bringing dowry money from Charmides.
At this point Charmides suddenly arrives back and has an amusing conversation with the imposter. At first Charmides reproaches Callicles for buying up the house, but when Callicles explains everything Charmides is delighted. Lysiteles is allowed to marry Charmides' daughter, and Lesbonicus is betrothed to Callicles' daughter.
Plautus's plays were divided up probably in Renaissance times into five acts. However, it is not thought that these divisions go back to Plautus's time, since no manuscript contains them before the 15th century. [1] Also, the acts themselves do not always match the structure of the plays, which is more clearly shown by the variation in metres.
In Plautus's plays a common pattern is to begin each section with iambic senarii (which were spoken without music), then one or more passages of music in various metres, and finally a passage in trochaic septenarii, which were apparently sung or recited to the accompaniment of tibiae (a pair of reed pipes). Moore calls this the "ABC succession", where A = iambic senarii, B = other metres, C = trochaic septenarii. [2]
Compared with some other plays, the Trinummus has a relatively simple metrical structure, namely:
There is one polymetric song (compared with five in Pseudolus) and two short passages in anapaests. Otherwise the whole play consists of iambic senarii and trochaic septenarii.
Poenulus, also called The Little Carthaginian or The Little Punic Man, is a Latin comedic play for the early Roman theatre by Titus Maccius Plautus, probably written between 195 and 189 BC. The play is noteworthy for containing text in Carthaginian Punic, spoken by the character Hanno in the fifth act. Another remarkable feature is the sympathetic portrayal of the character of the Carthaginian Hanno at a time when only a few years previously the Romans had suffered huge losses in the 2nd Punic War fought against the Carthaginian general Hannibal.
Menaechmi, a Latin-language play, is often considered Plautus' greatest play. The title is sometimes translated as The Brothers Menaechmus or The Two Menaechmuses.
Pseudolus is a play by the ancient Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. It is one of the earliest examples of Roman literature. Pseudolus was first shown in 191 B.C. during the Megalesian Festival, which was a celebration for the Greek Goddess Cybele. The temple for worship of Cybele in Rome was completed during the same year in time for the festival.
Rudens is a play by Roman author Plautus. Its name translates from Latin as "The Rope;" in English translation it has been called The Shipwreck or The Fisherman's Rope. It is a Roman comedy, which describes how a girl, Palaestra, stolen from her parents by pirates, is reunited with her father, Daemones, ironically, by means of her pimp, Labrax. The play is set on the coast of Cyrene, in north Africa, although the characters come from a range of cities around the Mediterranean, most notably, Athens.
Aulularia is a Latin play by the early Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. The title literally means The Little Pot, but some translators provide The Pot of Gold, and the plot revolves around a literal pot of gold which the miserly protagonist, Euclio, guards zealously. The play's ending does not survive, though there are indications of how the plot is resolved in later summaries and a few fragments of dialogue.
Captivi is a Latin play by the early Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. The title has been translated as The Captives or The Prisoners, and the plot focuses on slavery and prisoners of war. Although the play contains much broad humor, it is a relatively serious treatment of significant themes compared to most of Plautus’ other comedies. Plautus himself points out the difference in tone between this play and his other works in Captivi’s prologue.
Mostellaria is a play by the Roman author Plautus. Its name translates from Latin as "The Ghost (play)". The play is believed to be an adaptation of a lost comedy of the Athenian poet Philemon called Phasma. It is set in a street in the city of Athens.
Bacchides is a Latin comedy by the early Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. The title has been translated as The Bacchises, and the plot revolves around the misunderstandings surrounding two sisters, each called Bacchis, who work in a brothel. It includes Plautus' frequent theme of a clever servant outwitting his supposed superior to get money.
Heauton Timorumenos is a play written in Latin by Terence, a dramatist of the Roman Republic, in 163 BC. The play concerns two neighbours, Chremes and Menedemus, whose sons Clitipho and Clinia are in love with different girls, Bacchis and Antiphila. By a series of deceptions, Chremes' wily slave Syrus dupes Chremes into paying money owed to Bacchis, who is a prostitute. The other girl, Antiphila, is discovered to be Chremes' own daughter, whom he promises in marriage to Clinia.
Truculentus is a comedic Latin play by the early Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. Following the relationships between prostitutes and their customers, it contains perhaps Plautus's most cynical depiction of human nature in comparison with his other surviving plays.
Amphitryon or Amphitruo is a Latin play for the early Roman theatre by playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. It is Plautus’s only play on a mythological subject. The play is mostly extant, but has a large missing section in its latter portion. The plot of the play involves Amphitryon’s jealous and confused reaction to Alcmena’s seduction by Jupiter, and ends with the birth of Hercules. There is a subplot in which Jupiter's son Mercury, keeping watch outside the house while his father is inside, has fun teasing first Amphitryon's servant Sosia, and then Amphitryon himself.
Miles Gloriosus is a comedic play written by Titus Maccius Plautus. The title can be translated as "The Swaggering Soldier" or "Vainglorious Soldier". His source for Miles Gloriosus was a Greek play, now lost, called Alazon or The Braggart. Although the characters in Miles Gloriosus speak Latin, they are Greeks and largely have Greek names, clothing, and customs. The action takes place in Ephesus, a Greek city on the coast of Asia Minor, famous for its Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Curculio, also called The Weevil, is a Latin comedic play for the early Roman theatre by Titus Maccius Plautus. It is the shortest of Plautus's surviving plays.
Mercator, or The Merchant, is a Latin comedic play for the early Roman theatre by Titus Maccius Plautus. It is based on the Greek play Emporos by the Greek comedy playwright Philemon. It is believed to be among Plautus's first plays, possibly written around 206 BC. The central conflict involves a father who falls in love with a slave girl who is, unbeknownst to the father, his son's lover.
Epidicus is an ancient Roman comedy written by T. Maccius Plautus. It is said to have been one of Plautus's favorite works. Epidicus is the name of the main character, who is a slave. The plot takes many turns as Epidicus tries to please his master's son, Stratippocles.
Asinaria is a comic play written in Latin by the Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. In the play an Athenian gentleman, Demaenetus, tells his slave Libanus that he knows his son Argyrippus is having an affair with the prostitute Philaenium next door, and he asks him to try to find some money to pay for the affair. When by chance a stranger comes bringing money owed for some donkeys sold by Saurea, the steward of Demaenetus's wife, Libanus's fellow-slave Leonida pretends to be Saurea, and the two slaves trick the stranger into giving them the money. Argyrippus is given the money on condition that his father is to be allowed to enjoy the first night with the prostitute. But a jealous rival, Diabolus, snitches on Demaenetus to his wife Artemona, who storms to the brothel and prevents her husband from enjoying the girl as well.
Cistellaria is a comedic Latin play by the early Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. The story, set in the Greek town of Sicyon, concerns a girl called Selenium who was exposed as a baby and brought up by a courtesan called Melaenis. By a happy chance it is discovered that her birth mother, married to a senator Demipho, lives next door, enabling her to marry the young man Alcesimarchus who loves her.
Stichus is a comedic Latin play by the early Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. According to a notice transmitted with the play, Stichus was first performed in 200 BC. The same notice informs us that it was adapted from the play Adelphoe by Menander.
Persa is a comedic Latin play by the early Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. Unusually in this play, the lover is not a wealthy young man helped by a cunning slave, but the cunning slave himself. In order to repay the money he has borrowed to buy his girlfriend from the pimp Dordalus who owns her, Toxilus persuades his friend Sagaristio to dress up as a Persian, in order to trick the pimp Dordalus into paying a large sum to buy a girl who is dressed as an Arabian captive, but who is in fact free. The girl's father Saturio then appears and reclaims his daughter.
Phormio is a Latin comic play by the early Roman playwright Terence, based on a now lost play by Apollodorus of Carystus entitled Epidikazomenos. It is generally believed to be Terence's fifth play. It was first performed at the Ludi Romani of 161 BC. Structurally, Phormio is considered to be one of the best Roman comedies.
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