Translations
- Henry Thomas Riley, 1912: full text
- Paul Nixon, 1916–38
- George E. Duckworth, 1942
- James Tatum, 1983
- David M. Christenson, 2010
- Wolfang de Melo, 2013 [9]
| Truculentus | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Plautus |
| Characters | Diniarchus, an Athenian young man Astaphium, maid to Phronesium Truculentus, slave of Strabax Phronesium, a courtesan Stratophanes, a soldier Cyamus, servant of Diniarchus Strabax, a young farmer Callicles, an Athenian gentleman maid, slave of Callicles Syra, hairdresser of Phronesium attendants |
| Setting | a street in Athens, before the houses of Phronesium and Strabax |
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.
The title means "Truculent (or Surly)", referring to the bad-tempered slave who tries to prevent his young master Strabax from wasting money on his love affair with the courtesan Phronesium, but who later himself falls for the charms of her maid Astaphium.
According to Cicero, the Truculentus was written in Plautus's old age. De Melo argues in his edition that certain references (such as falsis de pugnis in line 486, a reference to a speech of Cato made in 190 BC, or Homeronida ("son of Homer") in line 485, a possible reference to a play by Ennius produced in 187 BC) make it probable that the play was produced in 186 BC. [1]
The play mostly revolves around the interactions between the courtesan Phronesium, her maid Astaphium, and three young men. Phronesium, the main prostitute, relentlessly persuades every male she encounters to give her all their money, by means of trickery or more often by simple flirtation. The three men are more than happy to comply with her wishes, although they complain frequently of their regrettable situation. They are essentially under her spell, and are completely unable or unwilling to do anything to break free from it. Her alluring outward façade masks her cold and greedy true nature.
Diniarchus, the young man most often at her house, has almost entirely lost his wealth to her by the play's beginning. By this point, he's all too familiar with who she really is and the games she plays. He even assists her with deceiving other men, but nonetheless continues to be her victim as well.
The main deception is played on the soldier Stratophanes. He had lived with Phronesium prior to the play's beginning, and before leaving the city had made many promises to her about what she'd have if they were to start a family together. Phronesium decides to borrow someone's baby and pretends she has just given birth to it, claiming when the soldier returns that it is his. He begins lavishing her with gifts; however, these are not enough for her insatiable appetite. She attempts to gain more by making him jealous, feigning excitement over the gifts of Diniarchus, and later pretending to be in love with a third man, Strabax, her rather dimwitted farming neighbor.
Throughout the play, Phronesium's maid Astaphium (who is more of a protégée to Phronesium than a maid) attempts to seduce the men as well. Almost as skilled in the art of seduction as her mentor, she works her feminine charms on several of them, and is even successful in charming the only one of them who resisted, Truculentus.
The slave from whom the play gets its name, Truculentus, attempts to protect his dimwitted master Strabax from wasting the family's fortune at the whorehouse. Although he puts up a good fight at first, some chinks in his armor are soon revealed as he can't help but stare at Astaphium during their encounter. Later he drops all opposition and joins the rest of the men in becoming completely helpless to their control.
The play is brought to a close when a gentleman called Callicles arrives, looking for the baby his daughter had as a result of being raped. Pointed out by Callicles' maid, Diniarchus confesses that he is the father. He agrees to a shotgun wedding with the mother, and goes to get the baby back from Phronesium. However, Phronesium gets her way as always and keeps the baby until she decides she no longer needs it. Diniarchus, as well as the other men, have learned nothing by the play's end.
The five acts into which Plautus's plays are traditionally divided are believed to date from Renaissance times and do not go back to Plautus himself. [2] However, the metrical schemes of the plays often indicate how they can be divided into different sections. A common pattern is for a section to begin with iambic senarii, then a passage or passages in other metres, rounded off by a passage in trochaic septenarii. Timothy Moore calls this the "ABC succession". [3] It appears that the "A" sections (iambic senarii) were unaccompanied, the others sung or recited to the music of a pair of pipes known as tībiae .
According to this scheme, the play Truculentus can be divided into five metrical sections, which correspond roughly but not exactly to the traditional acts. There is a symmetrical pattern, with the first and fifth sections about Diniarchus, the second and fourth about Strabax and his slave Truculentus, while the middle section is about the tricking of Stratophanes.
Although the music which accompanied the words is now lost, it is clear that the different metres had different qualities. For example, iambic septenarii are often associated with courtesans. [4] In this play the majority of the 95 iambic septenarii lines are sung by Astaphium, and the remainder by Diniarchus in conversation with her.
The overall scheme, taking A = iambic senarii, B = other metres, C = trochaic septenarii, is as follows:
As frequently occurs in Plautus's comedies, the third of the five sections is taken up with a trick carried out to obtain money. In this play the trickster is Phronesium, who dresses up in maternity clothes and uses a baby as a prop in order to deceive the soldier Stratophanes.
Andria is a Roman comedy adapted by Terence from two Greek plays by Menander the first being Samia and the other being Perinthia. It was the first play by Terence to be presented publicly, and was performed in 166 BC during the Ludi Megalenses. It became the first of Terence's plays to be performed post-antiquity, in Florence in 1476. It was adapted by Machiavelli, whose Andria was likewise the author's first venture into playwriting and was the first of Terence's plays to be translated into English ca. 1520. The second English translation was by the Welsh writer Morris Kyffin in 1588.
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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.
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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.
Casina is a Latin comedy or farce by the early Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. Set in ancient Athens, the play describes how an Athenian gentleman and his son are both in love with the same slave-girl, Casina. The old man tries to conduct a secret affair with Casina by having her marry his farm-manager; but his plan is foiled by his wife, who dresses her son's armour-bearer up as the bride and sends him into the bridal chamber in place of Casina.
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.
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 is paid three coins to dress up as a messenger from Syria. According to the prologue, the play is adapted from one called Thesaurus by the Greek playwright Philemon.
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.
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.
