The Dramatic Values in Plautus Part 7

PHILEM. (_Pettishly._) Well, then?

SC. What is it?

PHILEM. Look me over anyhow and see how this becomes me.

SC. The grace of your figure makes everything you wear becoming.

PHILO. (_Aside._) Now for that speech, Scapha, I'll give you some present before the day is out--and so on for a whole long scene.

The quips are amusing in an evident burlesque spirit. Such a scene was easily done on the broad Roman stage, whether it was a heritage from the use of the orchestra in Greek comedy, as LeGrand thinks,[135] or not. In similar vein, clever by-play on the part of the cunning Palaestrio would make a capital scene out of _Mil. 1037 ff._[136] A perfectly unnatural but utterly amusing scene of the same type is _Amph. 153-262_, where Mercury apostrophizes his fists, and the quaking Sosia (cross-stage) is frightened to a jelly at the prospect of his early demise. In Cap. 966, Ilegio, staid gentleman that he is, introduces an exceeding "rough" remark in the middle of a serious scene. The aside of Pseudolus in _Ps. 636 f._ could be rendered as a good-natured burlesque as follows:

"HARPAX. What's your name?

PS. (_Hopping forward and addressing audience with hand over mouth._) The pander has a slave named Surus. I'll say I'm he. (_Hopping back and addressing Harpax._) I'm Surus." Many other scenes were doubtless rendered by one character's thus stepping aside and confiding his ideas to the spectators, as for example _Aul. 194 ff._ and _Trin. 895 ff._ Often our characters blurt out their inmost thoughts to the public, as in _Cas. 937 ff._, with eavesdroppers conveniently placed, else what would become of the plot?

The soliloquy is constantly used to keep the audience acquainted with the advance of the plot[137], or to paint in narrative intervening events that connect the loose joints of the action. This is of course wholly inartistic, but may often find its true office in keeping a noisy, turbulent and uneducated audience aware of "what is going on." In many cases the soliloquy is in the nature of a reflection on the action and seems to bear all the ear-marks of a heritage from the original function of the tragic chorus[138]. It devolved upon the actor by sprightly mimicry to relieve, in these scenes, the tedium that appeals to the reader. So in _Cap._ 909 ff. the _cantic.u.m_ of the _puer_ becomes more than a mere stopgap, if he acts out vividly the violence of Ergasilus; and in _Bac._ 1067 ff. the soliloquy would acquire humor, if confidentially directed at the audience. In _As._ 127 ff., as Argyrippus berates the _lena_ within, it must be delivered with an abundance of pantomime.

2. Lengthy monodies, monologues and episodical specialties.

Frequently the soliloquy takes the form of a long solo pa.s.sage directed at the audience, while the action halts for a whole scene to allow the actor to regale his public with the poet's views on the sins of society, economic topics of the day, or topics of the by-gone days in Athens, and the like. The resemblance to the interpolated song and dance of musical comedy is most striking. The comparison is the more apt, as about two-thirds of the ill.u.s.trative scenes referred to in the next paragraph are in _cantic.u.m_. It is a pity that the comic chorus had disappeared, or the picture were complete. That it is often on the actor's initial appearance that he sings his song or speaks his piece, strengthens the resemblance. But this is a natural growth under the influence of two publics, the Greek and the Roman, notably fond of declamation and oratory.

LeGrand believes this a characteristic directly derived from a narrative form of Middle Comedy embodied in certain extant fragments.[139]

The slave cla.s.s is the topic of many of these monodies: either the virtues of the loyal slave are extolled[140], or the knavery of the cunning slave[141]. The parasite is "featured" too, when Ergasilus bewails the decline of his profession[142], or Peniculus and Gelasimus indulge in haunting threnody on their perpetual lack of food[143]. Bankers, lawyers and panders come in for their share of satire[144]. Our favorite topic today, the frills and furbelows of woman's dress and its reform, held the boards of ancient Athens and Rome[145]. In _Mil._ 637 ff, Periplecomenus descants on the joys of the old bon vivant and the expense of a wife. The delights or pains of love[146], the ruminations of old age[147], marriage reform[148] and divorce[149], the views of _meretrices_ and their victims on the arts of their profession[150], the habits of cooks[151], the pride of valor and heroic deeds[152] are fruitful subjects. In _Cur._ 462 ff.

the _choragus_ interpolates a recital composed of topical allusions to the manners of different neighborhoods of Rome. We have two descriptions of dreams[153], and a clever bit which paints a likeness between a man and a house[154]. In foreign vein is the lament of Palaestra in _Rud._ 185 ff., which sounds like an echo from tragedy. The appearance of the Fishermen's Chorus (_Rud._ 290 ff.) is wholly advent.i.tious and seems designed to intensify the atmosphere of the seacoast, if indeed it has any purpose at all. In this category also belong the revels of the drunken Pseudolus with his song and dance[155], and the final scene of the _St._[156], where, the action of the slender plot over, the comedy slaves royster and dance with the harlot. When Ballio drives his herd before him, as he berates them merrily to the tune of a whip, we have an energetic and effective scene[157].

3. Direct address of the audience.

It is a well-established principle that the most intimate cognizance of the spectator's existence is a characteristic of the lowest types of dramatic production (v. Part I, -- 1, fin.). The use of soliloquy, aside and monologue all indicate the effort of the lines to put the player on terms of intimacy with his public. But even this is transcended by the frequent recurrence in jocular vein of deliberate, conscious and direct address of the audience, when they are called by name. In _Truc._ 482 Stratophanes says: Ne expectetis, spectatores, meas pugnas dum praedicem.... In _Poen Truc._ 597 we are told: Aurumst profecto hic, spectatores, sed comic.u.m; i. e., "stage-money." During a halt in the action of the _Ps._ (573) we are graciously informed: Tibicen vos interibi hic delectaverit. Mercury's comments (_Amph._ 449-550 pa.s.sim), probably with copious buffoonery, on the leave-taking of Jove and Alemena contain the remark (507): Observatote, quam blande mulieri palpabitur. At the close of the _Men._ (1157 ff.) Messenio announces an auction and invites the spectators to attend.

When Euclio discovers the loss of his h.o.a.rd, he rushes forth in wild lament. In his extremity he turns to the audience (_Aul._ 715 ff.):

"EUC. I beg, I beseech, I implore you, help me and show me the man that stole it. (_Picking out one of the spectators, probably a tough looking "bruiser", and stretching out his hand to him._) What do _you_ say? I know I can trust _you_. I can tell by your face you're honest. (_To the whole audience, in response to the laughter sure to ensue._) What's the matter?

What are you laughing at?" etc.

Moilere has imitated this scene very closely in _L'Avare_ (IV. 7), with a super-Plautine profusion of verbiage.

In _Mil._ 200 ff. Periplecomenus obligingly acts as guide and personal conductor to the manoeuvers of Palaestrio's mind, while it is in the throes of evolving a stratagem. Palaestrio of course indulges in vivid, pointed pantomime:

"PER. I'll step aside here awhile. (_To audience, pointing to Palaestrio._) Look yonder, please, how he stands with serried brow in anxious contemplation. His fingers smite his breast; I trow, he fain would summon forth his heart. Presto, change! His left hand he rests upon his left thigh. With the fingers of his right he reckons out his scheme. Ha!

He whacks his right thigh!" etc.

It is very amusing too, when Jupiter in _Amph._ 861 ff. strolls in and speaks his little piece to the pit:

"JUP. I am the renowned Amphitruo, whose slave is Sosia; you know, the fellow that turns into Mercury at will. I dwell in my sky-parlor and become Jupiter the while, ad libitum."[158]

Even in olden times Euanthius censured this practice (_de Com._ III.

6)[159]: nihil ad populum facit actorem velut extra comoediam loqui, quod vitium Plauti frequentissimum.

Naturally we shall hardly consider under this head the speech of the whole _grex_, or the "Nunc plaudite" of an actor that closes a number of the plays. It is no more than the bowing or curtain-calls of today[160], unless it was an emphatic announcement to the audience that the play was over.

B. _Inconsistencies and carelessness of composition_.

We have referred above to the voluminous ma.s.s of inconsistencies, contradictions and psychological improbabilities collected by Langen in his _Plautinische Studien_. He really succeeds in finding the crux of the situation in recognizing that these features are inherent in Plautus'

style and are frequently employed solely for comic effect, though he is often overcome by a natural Teutonic stolidity. He aptly points out that Plautus in his selection of originals has in the main chosen plots with more vigorous action than Terence. We shall have occasion to quote him at intervals, but desire to develop this topic quite independently.

1. Pointless badinage and padded scenes.

Strong evidence of loose construction and lack of a technical dramatic ideal is contained in the large number of scenes padded out with pointless badinage, often tiresome, often wholly episodical in nature, as the monodies, and putting for a time a complete check on the plot. The most striking of these is _Aul._ 631 ff., when Euclio, suspecting Strobilus of the theft of his gold, pounces upon him and belabors him:

"STR. (_Howling and dancing and making violent efforts to free himself._) What the plague has got hold of you? What have you to do with me, you dotard? Why pick on me? Why are you grabbing me? Don't beat me! (_Succeeds in breaking loose._)

EUC. (_Shaking stick at him._) You first-cla.s.s jailbird, do you dare ask me again? You're not a thief, but three thieves rolled into one!

STR. (_Whining and nursing bruises_) What did I steal from you?

EUC. (_Still threatening._) Give it back here, I say?

STR. (_Trembling and edging off._) What is it you want me to give back?

EUC. (_Watching him narrowly._) You ask?

STR. I tell you, I didn't take a thing from you.

EUC. (_Impatiently._) All right, but hand over what you did take!

(_Pause._) Well, well!

STR. Well, what?

EUC. You can't get away with it.

STR. (_Bolder._) Look here, what do you want?...

EUC. (_Angrier and angrier._) Hand it over, I say! Stop quibbling! I'm not trifling now!

STR. Now what shall I hand over? Speak out! Why don't you give the thing a name? I swear I never touched or handled anything of yours.

EUC. Put out your hands.

STR. There you are! I've done so. See them?

EUC. (_Scrutinizing his hands closely._) All right. Now put out the third too.