Sonderdrucke aus der Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg
ECKARD LEFÈVRE
Politics and society in Plautus' "Trinummus"
Originalbeitrag erschienen in: Ruth Scodel (Hrsg.): Theater and society in the classical world. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Pr., 1993, S. 177-190 Politics and Society in Plautus' Trinummus Eckard Lefevre
Plautus' Trinummus is generally characterized by professions of high- mindedness and by moral maxims. Thus it is unsurprising that J. Kam- mermeister and G.E. Lessing were already impressed by its tone:
The play is both tasteful, and it sets forth the model of a good and loyal friend, and it is full of useful aphorisms.'
Second to the Captivi, this is the finest play among Plautus' comedies. He adapted it from a Greek original by Philemon, who gave his play
a much more decent title, namely: "The Treasure " 2
Lessing considered the Trinummus worth adapting for the German stage; in 1750, he modeled his comedy "Der Schatz" upon Plautus' play. The classical scholar O. Ribbeck was similarly impressed by the tone of the Trinummus:
The Trinummus, one of the deepest plays, gives an appealing picture of steadfast noble-mindedness in the good old days, when a man could still rely on a friend's word. This noble-mindedness is primarily represented by brave Callicles, but throughout is supported and em- phasized by the other characters as well. It is not just the old men who participate in the plot in unusually large numbers as the natural exponents of solid principles; the two young men, however different a view of life they hold, also start from exactly the same ground. How this attitude is transferred from the father to the son is shown by the morally packed conversation between Philto and the amiable Lysiteles. Even the rascal Stasimus, who fully shares in the gaiety of
177 8 Theater and Society in the Classical World
his master's life, is brimming with reflections on faithfulness and uprightness. But nevertheless modern, loose ideas have already shot up like weeds, and they are nearly overgrowing the more austere ideas of the fathers. Again and again this development is deplored. 3
Other scholars, however, held quite a different view. 4 U. v. Wilamowitz- Moellendorff s damning judgment, for instance, is well known: after recommending the study of Plautine comedy in school, he put up the warning sign "but please, not the rίn , "S and explained his view- point in an obvious inversion of Lessing's judgment:
In the Trinummus Philemon set out to become more serious, deeper, more Menandrian [than in the Mostellaria], but the result can hardly be called satisfactory. For the Trinummus is boring, even for a Plautine play, and it is only for its old-fogeyish prudery that the Trinummus is given preference, since this play seems more decent and virtuous. Perhaps I am too severe, but as a senior high-school student I had to act the Maskarill in Lessing's "Der Schatz," a play we should not have been bothered with. Thus I read the Trinummus, and this play at first spoiled my pleasure in Plautine comedy, the more so since I next read the Captivi. It is rather impossible to fully put out of mind those first impressions. 6
Shortly after, U. Jachmann, too, expressed open dislike of the moral πάθος o e " u , e ose y o e i uous rίn , " which he ascribed to Philemon:
... in Philemon's Θησαυρός e oi o sma i is i e mo a i y i s om e e y o e a e a i g a e y u u ( a ks o au us wi e eac i g o i o i II 4, we a e a e i c i e o u away i III 2, w e e i emo as you g ysi e es s ike u us e same so g, a e is ow e e es ai e y au us. A i a y, a i es 028 ., e e e s a e S asimus, w o u o e a ac e e Sa c o a sa i suc a e es i g way, s a s eac i g. u o u a e y e e au us agai makes imse ea , a eas i e o e. 8
It is not surprising that attempts have been made to give special political meaning to the moral professions in the Trinummus. T. Frank, writing a year after Jachmann, considered the play an authentic witness Politics and Society in Plautus' Trinummus / 179 of the quarrel between Cato and the Scipios, which from 190 B.C. onwards had grown overtly sharper, leading to the notorious trials and ultimately to Africanus' exile:
To summarize, I think that the Trinummus was played at the Mega- lensian games of 187 and that it contains several allusions to the all- engrossing debates then going on between the partizans of Scipio and of Cato. The nature of these allusions is interesting. Plautus does not mention names—that was tabu after the experiences of Naevius—and he even guards himself so far as to give to Stasimus a plausible motivation in personal experience for his sermon on morals (1.1023). He contents himself with harping on words and phrases that everybody had heard in the public debates and that had become common talk, and he skilfully weaves these into his dialogue, sometimes with a humorous twist. However, it is not difficult to see that his sympathy is with the Catonian side. His dislike for the arrogance of the haughty
nobles overriding law rings quite sincere. ... 9
Plautus—a partisan of Cato ! 10 This view has become more and more popular. In 1952 F. Della Corte stated:
... while in the Miles and in the Cistellaria at the end of the 3rd century Plautus was still supporting the political views of the phil- hellenic and Scipionic circle, later in 190 his sympathies had gone over to Cato with irreverent allusions to Scipio and to Ennius. 11
The idea that Plautus basically approved of Cato's moral outlook was strongly affirmed by O. Jurewicz in 1959:
In conservative ideology, Plautus as well as Cato adopted the same position, that of domestic opposition against the modern movements of Greek culture, which by that time had successfully invaded various social strata... .
The connection of the two names—on the one side Cato, who, even though without justification, has been handed down to posterity as the personification of all human and civil virtues, and on the other side the frivolous Plautus, who nowadays frequently is considered `immoral'—is paradoxical only in appearance.12 80 Theater and Society in the Classical World
Particular attention was directed to the Trinummus by D.C. Earl and E. Ma ό i i 60. o e assages ci e y a k, Ea a e ysi e es s eec o is ie es o icus a i es 642 6 , a , e e i g o o y ius , 2 , e co c u e :
The closeness with which Lysiteles' reproaches against Lesbonicus resemble those brought against Scipio is remarkable. Clearly Plautus is here writing in the same tradition. We may even note some slight verbal parallels... .
It is obvious that the passage of the Trinummus ... is in the tradition not only of Polybius but also of Ennius and the Scipionic Elogia. 13
Ma ό i, owe e , e e i g o i o s wo s o a ice a esse o ysi e es i II 2, oi e ou :
Is there anybody, who upon reading these lines, could miss the striking resemblance to Cato's exhortation addressed to his son? O. Jurewicz rightly points out that Cato and Plautus take the same view in rejecting luxury, cooks, education, hetaerae, Greeks, Greek literature and phi- losophy, medical doctors [sic]—and, let me add: foreign cult and the soothsayers. It is as if Plautus had modeled his ideal of education directly upon Cato. See Mostellaria (120-21, 126-27).... 14
Plautus, another Cato then? Nevertheless, still in 1974 E. Segal was so convinced of the moral pathos of the Trinummus as to think that the Roman virtutes portrayed in this play transcended "Catonian or Scipionic factions" and reflected the conservative mood of those days; 15 as Segal suggested, in openly praising these virtues, Plautus had been working to gain the favour of the aediles, upon whose payments the playwright was dependent. 16 Can we then judge the moral statements of the play as equal to those of contemporary Roman tragedy? In this connection it deserves note that the seriousness of the moral message of the Trinummus has been doubted. In 1944, Ph. W. Harsh had already argued against Lessing's admiring judgment, arguing that there were certainly some excellent scenes of "high comedy," especially in the first part of the play, but that the "climax falls off disappointingly into obvious farce. " 17 Indeed, the moralizing tone is not at all equally balanced throughout and, above all, is obviously dismissed at the end, Politics and Society in Plautus' Trinummus / 181 the ultimate goal of every plot in a play. Two articles of the seventies went a step further in perceiving that even the "moral" passages can hardly be looked upon as serious throughout but are, indeed, repeatedly undermined and distorted by certain devices, as if to caricature the atmosphere of strict morality. While in 1970 J.P. Stein had still given his article the title "Morality in Plautus' Trinummus," in 1979 W.S. Anderson was even more straightforward, giving his article the subtitle "The Absurdity of Officious Morality." Even though these two scholars did not place the passages that will now be discussed in the center of their argument, they nevertheless paved the way for a deeper understanding. In the following discussion the first scenes of the Trinummus (I 1-II 2) will be examined, since it is here that moral reflection is particularly em- phasized. The relation between the Trinummus and the Thesauros, how- ever, will be dealt with only to the extent necessary for evaluating the moral claim. To briefly sketch the plot of the play: Charmides, a merchant by profession, has gone overseas. Before leaving, he had entrusted his friend Callicles with the care of his son Lesbonicus and his daughter dur- ing his absence. As the play opens, Megaronides, a friend of Callicles, appears on stage in order to scold the latter (I 1). The reason becomes clear in the ensuing scene (I 2): Megaronides has learned that Callicles has bought Charmides' house from Lesbonicus, an action he considers inap- propriate because of the young man's prodigality, since now, as Megaro- nides assumes, Lesbonicus has even more money to waste. Thus Callicles is forced to reveal that a treasure lies buried in the house (hence the title of the Greek original), a fact unknown to Lesbonicus. When the young man offered the house for sale, Callicles, as he explains, bought it himself in order to preserve it for his friend Charmides. Thus it becomes apparent that the accuser (Megaronides) has complained, and that the accused (Callicles) has been under suspicion, for no reason. Megaronides' en- trance monologue already appears somewhat quaint (23-38):
amicum castigare ob meritam noxiam inmoene est facinus, verum in aetate utile 25 et conducibile. nam ego amicum hodie meum concastigabo pro commerita noxia, invitus, ni id me invitet ut faciam fides. nam hic nimium morbus mores invasit bonos; ita plerique omnes jar sunt intermortui. 182 / Theater and Society in the Classical World
30 sed dum illi aegrotant, interim mores mali quasi herba inrigua succrevere uberrume; neque quicquam hic nunc est vile nisi mores mali; eorum licet jar metere messem maxumam: nimioque hic pluris pauciorum gratiam 35 faciunt pars hominum quam id quod prosint pluribus. ita vincunt illud conducibile gratiae, quae in rebus multis opstant odiossaeque sunt remoramque faciunt rei privatae et publicae.
[Reproving a friend when he deserves it is an unpleasant job, but sometimes useful and proper. For I shall reprove—as he deserves—a friend of mine today: unwillingly, except insofar as proving my loyalty is an inducement. For this disease has attacked our moral values: almost all of them are half-dead by now. But while these are sick, corruption has grown up like weeds in watered soil. Nothing's useful here anymore except corruption; there's a vast harvest of that for the taking. There's much more care about toadying to a few than about the common good. So this toadyism overcomes what's really right and useful; it gets in the way of all kinds of things; it's detestable; it gets in the way of business whether public or private.]
The monologue has three parts: 1. Megaronides has made up his mind to criticize Callicles (23-27); 2. mores mali are spreading rapidly (28- 33); 3. The public welfare is impaired by the predominance of a few (34- 38). It is obvious that Megaronides goes too far in connecting his friend with the universal corruption of morals (if he even intends the connec- tion). But it is completely incomprehensible that CaI1ic1es has anything whatsoever to do with political party-egoism. There is no indication at all that he cringes before anyone and, so by doing, loses sight of the public welfare. Indeed, at this point Megaronides' verbosity seems quite uncalled for. Accordingly, Brix-Niemeyer note briefly and to the point: "These laments over high prices and cliquism have been added extra causam: the old gentleman's jeremiad is flowing quite charmingly at the moment, and tirades of this sort, to be sure, always and everywhere meet an appreciative audience. Some scholars, however, erroneously be- lieve that this passage reflects a piece of original Plautine artistry." 18 F. Conrad probably was quite right to eliminate this last sentence; 19 hardly Politics and Society in Plautus' Trinummus / 183 any poet has taken more pleasure in arguing extra causam than Plautus. Megaronides' pathos seems hollow right from the start of the play. At the end of the second scene (12) Megaronides has made a downright fool of himself by his excessive enthusiasm. The awkwardness of the situation he realizes himself, at least to some extent, in his exit monologue ( 222 :
nihil est profecto stultius neque stolidius 200 neque mendaciloquius neque argutum magis, neque confidentiloquius neque peiiurius quam urbani adsidui cives quos scurras vocant. atque egomet me adeo cum illis una ibidem traho, qui illorum verbis falsis acceptor fui, 2ο qui om ia se simu a sci e eque quicquam sciu . quo quisque i a imo a e au a i u us sciu , sciu i quo i au em e egi ae i e i , sciunt quod Ιυηο a u a as cum Io e quae neque futura neque sunt, tamen illi sciunt. 210 falson an vero laudent, culpent quem velint, non flocci faciunt, dum illud quod lubeant sciant. omnes mortales hunc aiebant Calliclem indignum civitate hac esse et vivere, bonis qui hunc adulescentem evortisset suis. 2ι ego e eo um e is amige a o um i scie s osi ui amicum cas iga um i o ium. quod si exquiratur usque ab stirpe auctoritas, und' quicquid auditum dicant, nisi id appareat, famigeratori res sit cum damno et malo, 22ο oc i a si ia , u ico ia o o, pauci sift faxim qui sciant quod nesciunt, occlusioremque habeant stultiloquentiam.
[There's certainly nothing more stupid, idiotic, false, more facile, with more nerve, more perjured than those busy city-types they call scurrae. And I put myself right in the same class, by believing the lies of those people, who pretend to know everything and know nothing: they know what everybody is thinking, or will think; they know what the king whispered to the queen; they know what story Juno told Jupiter; they 84 Theater and Society in the Classical World
even know what isn't and never will be. They praise or blame whom- ever they want, truly or falsely, they don't give a fig, as long as they know what they like to know. Everybody said this Callicles didn't deserve to live in this city, because he'd cheated this young man of his property. And I, without really knowing, on the basis of what these gossips said, went rushing to censure an innocent friend! But if one investigated their original sources—where they get what they hear and repeat—and unless they could reveal it, it meant loss and trouble for the gossip—if that were to happen, it would be a public benefit, and, there would be few, I guess, who would know what they didn't know, and their stupid talk would be a lot less conspicuous.]
In these words, the complete bankruptcy of Megaronides' mission is revealed. The question then arises whether these words also signify the bankruptcy of Megaronides' morals as a whole. 20 How are we to accept that a seriously concerned citizen allows himself to be misled about a friend's true character by the gossip of idlers? Scurrae, as delightfully translated in Georges' dictionary, i.e., are Pflastertreter (loafers), Stutzer (dandies), Zierbengel (coxcombs), and Lafjen (fops). 21 And indeed, Mega- ronides himself scornfully comments on them. Since he obviously appears so well informed about the stultiloquentia of the scurrae, he ought to have been aware of the possible consequences. Therefore, it obviously misses the truth to say that Plautus set out (only) to criticize the sinister doings of the Scurrae; more accurately, one must state that Plautus has compromised Megaronides' credulity, and perhaps, what is more, his carelessness. Megaronides' behavior has been regarded as Greek by R. Hunter:
With his entrance monologue (v. 23-38) Megaronides immediately
places himself in a class of comic characters , the most familiar member of which is Chremes in the opening scene of Terence's Heautonti- morumenos. These are characters who stick their noses into other eo e s usi ess ey a e πολυπράγμο ες. A e e ie ce G eek au ie ce wou k ow a Mega o i es co em s imse om is ow mou , a y e e o e sce e e as ea ise is o y. 22
Nevertheless, if one is convinced that the compromising downfall of Politics and Society in Plautus' Trinummus / 185 the curiosus Chremes was brought about not by Menander but by Ier- ence, 23 one will be all the more inclined to attribute the curiosus Mega- ronides to Plautus. There are several reasons for believing this. In this connection , however, we can address only one point.
When Megaronides enters, he states (23-26):
amicum castigare ob meritam noxiam inmoene est facinus, verum in aetate utile
et conducibile . nam ego amicum hodie meum concastigabo pro commerita noxia.
At the beginning of the second scene he talks of Callicles' cu/pa t b l (44 . At the end of this scene he confesses that he was about to rebuke his friend without being thoroughly informed as to his mis- conduct: insciens / prosilui amicum castigatum innoxium (215-16). He almost overstates his case when in line 187 he refers to himself as a t t r, w o as ee e ea e y Ca ic es: παύσαιΡ: v t t torem tuom (" Stop: you have overcome your censurer"). It is obvious that t r is meant as a leitmotiv of Megaronides character. The word castigator is still ringing in the ears of Callicles (and the audience) when Callicles later — apparently with some irony—remarks that he will go to his castigator for a word of advice: ibo ad meum castigatorem atque ab eo consilium petam ("I shall go to my censurer and seek advice from him ," 614). The term castigare, however, is not nearly as loose in meaning as, for instance, obiurgare, used in just the same sense in lines 68 and 70. 24
Castigare is definitely a technical term, which , at least in later times, designated the business of the censor. Thus Livy, referring to 214 B.C., talks of castiganda vitia in connection with the censors : censores ... ad mores hominum regendos animum adverterunt castigandaque vitia
("Censors .. . pay attention to regulating morals and censuring vice," 24, 18, 2). For the year 204 B.C. a castigatoo inconstantiae populi censoria ("A censorial rebuke of the fickleness of the people") is mentioned (29, 37, 16); and for the year 184 B.C., when Cato applied for the censorship, he writes: et simul L. Valerio sufffragabatur: i110 uno collega castigare n v , fl tί t pr r v r r p ("And at the same time
L. Valerius was elected with that one colleague one can rebuke new- fangled wrongdoing and bring back old-fashioned morality," 39, 41, 4).
In this instance , castigare appears almost as a key word for Cato's 86 Theater and Society in the Classical World censorial program! An easily remembered expression—who could have failed to learn it?—occurs in Horace's laudator temporis acti: He is a castigator censorque minorum, a "rebuker and censor of his juniors," (Α . Ρ 174), on which C.O. Brink comments: "castigator, an archaic and rarish word, first known from Plautus, but here only in classical Latin verse. The context lends a `censorious' notion to both terms." 25 Thus, according to Livy and Horace, the terms castigator and censor are closely connected, and it is Livy's castigare flagitia used for Cato's censorship 26 that suggests it is an old expression. If this is true, the audience of the Trinummus was reminded of Cato not only by Megaronides' conduct but also27 by his terminology! 28 In addition to Megaronides, another senex is compromised: Philto, the father of Lysiteles. This can be discussed here only very briefly. Philto's conversation with his son in II 2 is typical in this regard. 29 He preaches morality and propriety. But when it becomes necessary to act on those principles, things have obviously changed. Upon hearing that his son has made up his mind to help his friend, he refuses to accept the plan from the very start. Without even knowing why Lesbonicus is in trouble, he denies his virtus (336-37). As far as money is concerned, his irony becomes almost nauseating. Finally he gives in for two reasons: he won't deny his son anything (357), 30 and in doing so he provides an example of "doting love." Above all, however, he responds to fama, gratia, and amicitia, 31 and thus makes it fully apparent that he is acting from shallow motives, not from his sense of moral propriety. Whereas Lysiteles' motives are idealistic, Philto's are practical. As was noted a o e, Ma ό i e a e i i o, Ca o makes imse ea . A e we o i k a Mega o i es a i o e ese Ca o es o cou se i qui e a o e se se a Ma ό i e ie e ? I a y case, ey a e mo a i e s w ose se mo s seem o e o e, i o o ow. Precisely because Megaronides and Philto are of the same stamp, it becomes clear that in Megaronides Cato was not to be portrayed and attacked as a politician in relation to his feud with the Scipios. One may rather conclude that Plautus aimed at portraying the "moralizer" Cato, whose inconsistency was well known. Cato argued against usury 32 and 34 none the less practised usury; 33 he took public actions against the usurers and from selfish motives caused the downfall of a law against the usurers. 3 S He made propaganda for parsimony and at the same time owned quite a number of estates. 36 In this connection one may ask Politics and Society in Plautus' Trinummus / 187 whether Kammermeister was right to consider "Megaronides" as "emp- tor aedium" : 37 a great landowner who is preaching hollow morality? Obviously Cato was a nuisance to Plautus not as a politician but as a moralizer. Segal aptly stated that the "decade between Cato's consulship and censorship was a moralizing crescendo, culminating in what Livy calls tristis et aspera in omnis ordines censura (`A censorship severe and harsh towards all classes,' 39, 44, 1)."38 If Plautus was against Cato, that does not necessarily mean that he sided with Scipio. One may quote E. Kornemann's characterization of the quarrel in order to understand where Plautus' criticism is relevant:
When the leadership of the opposition [sc. to Scipio] finally came into the hands of the stubborn Cato, in addition to everything else the repellent weapon of the political scandal-trial was employed against the greatest Roman of the period. 39
Stubbornness—this trait has been a favorite target for ridicule for the comic playwrights throughout the ages. Plautus was interested not in politics but in the vita humana—even in the case of Cato. D. Gagliardi aptly commented on Plautus' political views:
Plautus' "politics" consist exclusively in the occasional allusion to events or persons of Rome; it never goes beyond a lucky hit, a ready wit, a lively imagination, not born from the fervor of civil passions, but rather from the liking, always topical, for echoing, jokingly, some situation of the moment or for hurling jibes against the powerful, the most visible men of his time.... 40 But this is a matter of occasional and harmless hints, of sales more or less happy (to repeat Horace's phrase), spoken solely from the desire to spice with a pinch of top- icality an art completely skilled in the purely comical, which finds laughter in the infinite range of universal interests. The spirit of the palliata is far from that of ancient Greek comedy, and the Plautine Weltanschauung takes a different attitude from the Aristophanic men- tality. In his full poetic spontaneity, in short, Plautus is completely free of political or critical concerns which would, however, have se- riously cracked the very strong artistic unity--comic-lyric and musical- fantastic—which he successfully attained in his comedies and which is the most genuine and also the deepest characteristic of his comedy.41 88 Theater and Society in the Classical World
Modern criticism has frequently considered the Trinummus "bor- ing," 42 but in fact the play is most exciting. What today appears tiresome was in its time quite explosive. The audience of the Trinummus was kept in breath-taking suspense—in still greater suspense than that experienced in listening to the jests of the other Plautine plays. For during this per- formance Cato and Catones enter and harp on morality, but this morality was no morality. In those days between 187 and 184 B.C., when the quar- rel had grown rather bitter, hardly any opponent of Cato dared to say so; Maccus, however, dared!
NOTES
A German version of this paper, which was read at the Symposium on "Theater und Gesellschaft im Imperium Romanum," Mainz, Germany, November 4-6, 1987, has been published in the Sammelband Theater und Gesellschaft im Im Mainzer Forschungen zu Drama und Theater Bd. 4, hrsg. v.-perium Romanum, J. Blänsdorf [in Verb. mit J.-M. Andre u. N. Fick], (Tübingen, 1990): 45-54, entitled "Politik und Gesellschaft in Plautus' Trinummus." I am grateful to Lore Benz for translating my paper into English. 1. J.K. Kammermeister, 862 (wrongly printed 860). 2. G.E. Lessing, "Beiträge zur Historie und Aufnahme des Theaters" (1749), quo e om: G.Ε. essi g, Werke, hrsg. v. H.G. Gopfert, III, bearb. v. K.S. Guthke (München, 1972), 355-510, here: 391. 3. O. Ribbeck, 104. 4. (F) Ritschl took the view that the Trinummus offered "a passably moral, but somewhat Philistine example of family life" (Opuscula Philologica, II [Leip- zig, 1868], 2: 8 . 5. U. v. Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Menander, Das Schiedsgericht (Epitre- pontes), evkl. (Berlin, 1925), vi. 6. Ibid., 165 and n. 2. 7. G. Jachmann, 227. 8. Ibid., 226. 9. T. Frank, 156. 10. Frank's ideas were expressly approved by P.S. Dunkin, Post-Aristophanic Comedy. Studies in the Social Outlook of Middle and New Comedy at both Athens and Rome (Illinois, 1946), 101. Cf. also T. Frank, "Plautus Comments on Anatolian Affairs," in Anatolian Studies pres. to W.H. Buckler (Manchester, , 8 88. 11. F. Della Corte, 72 (_1 81) 12. O. Jurewicz, 53, 54. 13. D.C. Earl, 236, 239. 14. E. Ma ό i, 2 . 15. E. Segal, 262. Politics and Society in Plautus Ttinummus / 189
16. Ibid., 261-63. 17. Ph. W. Harsh, 370. 18. J. Brix, M . Niemeyer ( 18884 , 8. 19. J. Brix, M. Niemeyer, and F. Conrad (1931 6), 56. 20. "Megaronides feels bound by f d (2 to reprimand Callicles for betraying fides et fiducia (117). But Callicles then reveals that it was this very fides et fiducia
(142) and jidelitas ( 164) that inspired both his financial rescue and his discreet silence" (E. Segal, 1974, 255). Cf. also R. Hunter, 1980, 219 n. 20. 21. K.E. Georges , Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches and deutsch-lateinisches Handwörterbuch (Leipzig, 1879-82). Cf. also J. Brix, M. Niemeyer, and F. Conrad, 51: "young , elegant, leisured idlers, fops, dandies who spent their time idly at the market place , the gymnasiums, the public baths and the taverns, hunting up and exchanging news and commenting on everything , cf. Curc. 296. Epid. 15. Most. 15. Poen. 612. 1281. Truc. 491." Cf. now the scholarly article of G. Mazzoli on "Etimologia a semantica dello scurra plautino," in Filologia e Forme Letterarie, Studi off. a F. Della Corte II (Urbino, 1987) 17, 73-92, here especially : 83-84. 22. R. Hunter, 219. 23. As E. Lefevre, 1973. 24. Cf. 6. 25. C.O. Brink, Horace on Poetry, II: The "Ars Poetica" (Cambridge, 1971), 24 . 26. Still, in Plin . Nat. hist. 18. 32 (where Cato is mentioned there is censoria C t ttO. 27. The expression rt t t in line 317 refers to the business of the censors as well, since sarta tecta tueri was part of their job: Cf. T. Mommsen, Römisches Staatsrecht3 II, 1 (Leipzig , 1887 3): 450-51. 28. This does not imply that the Trinummus should be dated in 184. It will do to place the play within the "moral decade" between Cato's consulship and censorship (cf. E. Segal below), though, more probably, toward its end. T. Frank's dating to 187 ("Some Political Allusions ," 156) points in the right direction. 29. For some good remarks on this scene , see J.P. Stein, 9 and W. S. Anderson, 4 . 0. Cf. 4 , 4 . 31. Lines 379, 382 , cf. 376. 32. De agric. praef. 1, Cic. ,Ιf 2, 89. 33. Plut. C t. 21, 6. Cf. D. Kienast, 35. 34. Liv. 32, 27, 4. 35. D. Kienast, 35-36. 36. Cf. P. Thielscher, "Die Zahl von Catos Gütern ," in Des Marcus Cato Belehrung über die Landwirtsehaft (Berlin , 1963 , at 6-8. 37. J. Kammermeister, 862 (wrongly printed 860 a e a i e: "πaτρω u μι ώς άπό ff μεγάρων. " 38. E. Segal, 262.
39. E. Kornemann , Romische Geschichte, 3 beavb . v. H. Bengtson, I: Die Zeit der Republik (Stuttgart, 1954 3), 301 (italics ad hoc). 0 Theater and Society in the Classical World
40. Here the Scipios are mentioned, but Cato should be mentioned too. 41. D. Gagliardi, 173. 42. Cf. U. v. Wilamowitz-Moellendorffs judgment quoted at the beginning. Cf. also E. Segal, 252: "For though Plautus wrote both good plays and bad, this is his only boring one."
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