Plautus: The Comedies, Volume I

Plautus - Complete Roman Drama in Translation #1

by David R. Slavitt, Palmer Bovie (Editor)

"The works of Plautus," writes Palmer Bovie, "mark the real beginning of Roman literature." In these lively new translations, which effectively communicate the vitality and verve of the originals, the plays of Plautus are accessible to a new generation.

Plays and translators:

Volume 1: Amphitryon, Constance Carrier. Miles Gloriosus, Erich Segal. Captivi, Richard Moore. Casina, Richard Beacham. Curculio, Henry Taylor

Volume 2: Rudens, Constance Carrier. Aulularia, Palmer Bovie. Bacchides, James Tatum. Mercator, George Garrett. Truculentus, James Tatum

Genres: Drama

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 186

About the author

David Rytman Slavitt was an American writer, poet, and translator, the author of more than 100 books.
Slavitt has written a number of novels and numerous translations from Greek, Latin, and other languages. Slavitt wrote a number of popular novels under the pseudonym Henry Sutton, starting in the late 1960s. The Exhibitionist (1967) was a bestseller and sold over four million copies. He has also published popular novels under the names of David Benjamin, Lynn Meyer, and Henry Lazarus. His first work, a book of poems titled Suits for the Dead, was published in 1961. He worked as a writer and film critic for Newsweek from 1958 to 1965.
According to Henry S. Taylor, winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, "David Slavitt is among the most accomplished living practitioners" of writing, "in both prose and verse; his poems give us a pleasurable, beautiful way of meditating on a bad time. We can't ask much more of literature, and usually we get far less." Novelist and poet James Dickey wrote, "Slavitt has such an easy, tolerant, believable relationship with the ancient world and its authors that making the change-over from that world to ours is less a leap than an enjoyable stroll. The reader feels a continual sense of gratitude."

Reviews

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

As I noted in my review of another translation of Plautus, his works involve extravagant mistaken identities, unbelievable coincidences, and, of course, lost twins. While some plays, like The Prisoners, touch on the meaning of freedom, most feature stock characters (the clever slave, the boasting general, the lovelorn youth, etc.) and stock situations (i.e., purchasing a girlfriend from slavery). The stage action consists of silliness, slap stick, punning, alliteration and general mayhem.

I don’t know how far these translation vary from the original, but they are disconcerting as they seem to try too hard to be entertaining for a modern audience. I wish they were clearer where they were taking liberties. (And I wish the introductions provided more context for the world of Rome 300 BC, particularly around the issue of slavery.)

The Complete Roman Drama in Translation series is good – not great. It provides a nice set of all the extant plays, but the translators seem to focused on making the plays more relevant to modern audiences rather than providing accurate translations.

Volume 1

The Braggart Soldier – *** This is a moderately entertaining play in which the slave Palaestrio outwits his master, the braggart soldier. This has a bit more suspense as the plot is almost revealed, but otherwise it is resolved in without much ado.

The Captive – **** This is probably Plautus’ best play, telling a story of freedom lost and won. There is no clever slave to resolve the issue – things work out more by fate. In fact, if Philocrates hadn’t switched places with his slave, the ending would have been the same. But that’s a quibble. This does have more honest emotion than Plautus’ other plays.