The Little Carthaginian. Pseudolus. The Rope

by Plautus, Paul Nixon (Translator)

Plautus (Titus Maccius), born about 254 BCE at Sarsina in Umbria, went to Rome, engaged in work connected with the stage, lost his money in commerce, then turned to writing comedies.

Twenty-one plays by Plautus have survived (one is incomplete). The basis of all is a free translation from comedies by such writers as Menander, Diphilus, and Philemon. So we have Greek manners of Athens about 300-250 BCE transferred to the Roman stage of about 225-185, with Greek places, people, and customs, for popular amusement in a Latin city whose own culture was not yet developed and whose manners were more severe. To make his plays live for his audience, Plautus included many Roman details, especially concerning slavery, military affairs, and law, with some invention of his own, notably in management of metres. The resulting mixture is lively, genial and humorous, with good dialogue and vivid style. There are plays of intrigue ("Two Bacchises, The Haunted House, Pseudolus"); of intrigue with a recognition theme ("The Captives, The Carthaginian, Curculio"); plays which develop character ("The Pot of Gold, Miles Gloriosus"); others which turn on mistaken identity (accidental as in the "Menaechmi"; caused on purpose as in" Amphitryon"); plays of domestic life ("The Merchant, Casina, " both unpleasant; "Trinummus, Stichus, " both pleasant).

The Loeb Classical Library edition of Plautus is in five volumes.

Genres: Plays, Classics

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 185

About the author

Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest works in Latin literature to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus. The word Plautine refers to both Plautus's own works and works similar to or influenced by his.

Reviews

[Koen Crolla · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an undergrad with too much spending money I accumulate a lot of Loebs but, like most, usually only use a small part of them, so I made the decision a while back not to review them, even if they're noteworthily bad (like Postgate's treatment of Tibullus). I'm making an exception for this one, though, because it's noteworthily good.

By way of formalities I should say De Melo's introductions are of exceptional quality, providing more and more nuanced context than is typically the case, and his translation of the Latin seems, at a glance, good (I haven't stepped through it word by word), and includes helpful stage directions not present in the original and clarifying footnotes he definitely could have gotten away with not writing. His treatment of these plays isn't just adequate for the student looking for a handhold in translation, but actually enjoyable in its own right to the non-Latin-speaking layperson. This is perhaps not unique among the Loebs, but it's certainly not as common as you'd want.
That's not what I was looking for or why I think it's a cut above the rest, though—my interest was in Poenulus.

Poenulus, or The Little Carthaginian, is a play by Plautus that was written (adapted from a Greek original, likely Alexis' lost Karkhedonios) a few years after the end of the Second Punic War and a few decades before the destruction of Carthage in the Third. That in itself makes it notable enough, but what makes it unique is that it also contains a number of passages in Punic, including an extended monologue immediately followed by its Latin translation. (It's also what introduced the greeting ave, from the Punic for 'live!', to the Roman vernacular, though this, while true, is not yet the common view.)
As Roman audiences are generally taken not to have spoken Punic themselves, these passages have universally been left untranslated by modern translators, who at any rate have not tended to be up to the task of translating them anyway. De Melo follows this for the main text, but then goes above and beyond in a long and very un-Loeb-like appendix that includes a brief introduction to the Punic language and then steps through these passage to make sense of them where possible, and to frankly point out where sense cannot be made. This is what makes this a truly exceptional Loeb, and a model for all future Loebers to aspire to.

There are other, longer, more nuanced treatments of the Punic passages in Plautus, but they're all much more expensive, or much harder to find, or outdated. For someone who wants to read about these passages without turning that into a research project in its own right, this Loeb isn't just an unexpected option, but a genuinely good choice.

(Pseudolus and Rudens are nice plays too, whatever.)

[Emi · Rating 4 out of 5]

the romans really acted like the american entertainment markets today-

what the greeks could do, they would copy and turn them into classics (ie. why we have the aenid)

[Ross · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Little Britain" didn't invent comedy and neither did Plautus but he was making people laugh more than 2000 years earlier. Read it in translation to see that classical literature wasn't all boring and the read the Loeb edition to find out more of what made the audience laugh then (most modern translators accept that some jokes can't be translated readily but Nixon's rendition is better than most and has notes on the literal meanings).

[Titas Choudhury · Rating 4 out of 5]

I still laugh with the Roman audience, 2 millennia later. Plautus sure knew what he was doing.

[Hannah]

read The Little Carthaginian for class

w/o review

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wolfgang de Melo has provided an absolutely fantastic translation of Plautus that allows his readers to experience at once the colloquial effect of the language involved and the occasionally archaic and high tone of the original Latin's own archaisms. Furthermore, he proves himself skilled at converting any verbal or cultural puns seamlessly into the English. His footnotes are never superfluous and always insightful, and his experience as a linguist and top-notch philologist shine through from every corner of his work.

This is easily the best Loeb I have in my possession. Entertaining, well edited, informative, and deeply erudite.

[Nathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Plautus' Romanized translations of Greek New Comedy. He improves upon his models with their pimps, slaves, lecherous old men and lecherous youths, with the innovation of a lecher of indeterminate age.