Considered to be Plautus's greatest play, Menaechmi; Or, The Twin-Brothers is the story of two twin brothers, Menaechmus and Sosicles, who are separated at age seven when their father takes Menaechmus on a business trip. This classic play, which provided the inspiration for Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, draws heavily on the theme of mistaken identity.

Plautus was the single greatest influence on Western comedy. In fact, Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors and Moliere's the Miser are two subsequent classics directly based on Plautine originals. Plautus himself borrowed from the Greeks, but his jokes, rapid dialogue, bawdy humor, and irreverent characterizations are the original work of an undisputed genius. The comedies printed here show him at his best, and Professor Segal's translations keep their fast, rollicking pace intact, making these the most readable and actable versions available. This volume includes, The Braggart Soldier, e Brothers Menaechmus, The Haunted House, and The Pot of Gold.

About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

This anthology includes his best plays and also seeks to give some idea of his range. His forte was farce, and these selections exemplify at least two of his favorite farcical devices: mistaken identity (Amphitryon) and the lecherous old codger (Casina). The Pot of Gold reveals what Plautus could do with the subtler humor to be evoked from character.

This title contains the full text of Plautus's Rudens, supplemented with an Introduction, extensive vocabulary and detailed textual notes.

This book contains the latin text of Plautus's Pseudolus, with a detailed introduction including sections on Greek new comedy, figures of language and thought and the presentation of the text. The edition also includes a bibliography, extensive notes and and a metrical synopsis.

Titus Maccius Plautus is better known in English as Plautus, a prolific Roman playwright of the Old Latin period.

As can be expected little is known of his early life. Accounts are reconciled that he was born in Sarsina, a small town in Emilia Romagna in northern Italy, around 254 BC.

He first worked in the theatre as a stage-carpenter or scene-shifter. It would take quite some time for his acting talent to develop and then to be recognised. Redolent of the characters he originally portrayed he adopted the names 'Maccius' (a sort of clownish stock-character popular in farces) and 'Plautus' (to mean flat-footed or flat-eared, like a hounds' ears). In acting he appears to have met with some success and from it a regular income.

An account now suggests that he then returns to manual labor and to have used his spare time to study Greek drama, especially the New Comedy of Menander. Whatever the impulse it is clear that he would, between c. 205 BC and the time of his death in 184 BC write a large and significant canon of plays. Indeed, his name became a byword of theatrical success.

His comedies are, in the main, sourced from standard Greek models and this includes his reworking and adapting the plays of the earlier Greek playwrights for a Roman audience, adding local nuance and cultural aspects to ensure both their acceptability and understandability.

These works are the earliest surviving intact works in Latin literature. Unfortunately, of the 130 plays which are attributed to him a mere 20 survive intact and a further 30 only in part or fragmented form.

The historical context within which Plautus wrote can be seen, to some extent, in his comments on contemporary events and persons.

In Plautus's lifetime Rome was becoming increasingly powerful, gathering influence and flexing its undoubted muscle to its greater good. The 17 year Second Punic War (218 BC - 201 BC) where for many years Italy itself was rampaged by Hannibal and his armies before his own final, crushing defeat back in Africa were seismic events in the Ancient world, with hundreds of thousands killed and entire regions of Europe overrun and devastated. Against this horrific backdrop Roman theater was at the early stage of development and still dependent on the earlier Greek classics for a supply line of stories and characters. Expanding empires tend to appropriate from other cultures and call it their own.

Plautus was a popular comedic playwright, who along with his near-contemporary, Terence, was able to integrate these earlier works into the demands of a vast new cultural, economic and military power that was growing at an incredible rate.

Plautus died in Rome in 184 BC.

This collection of plays captures the comedic genius of Plautus, one of the most important playwrights from classical Roman antiquity. Plautus adapted most of his plays from earlier Greek stories, making him essential in helping to preserve the history and integrity of Greek theatre. What makes Plautus extraordinary, though, is that he kept the essence of the Greek shows while evolving the language to fit contemporary Roman tastes. He refused to let the renovations of the story be compromised by ultimate life-lessons or other philosophical teachings; instead, Plautus focused on the everyday life of his fellow Roman citizens. His plays also contained some of the earliest examples of slapstick humor, making them significant in the history of comedic theatre. Through the use of clever wordplay and by drawing upon well-known archetypes, Plautus created a type of theater that would influence such future masters of the stage as Moliere and Shakespeare. Collected together here the reader will find a representative collection of eight plays in translations by Paul Nixon and Henry Thomas Riley. This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

Miles Gloriosus or Braggart Warrior is one of the best-known and liveliest Roman comedies. It shows Plautus at his ablest in ingenious plot construction, vivid characterization, fast-moving action, and humorous dialogue.

This edition of the Latin text is fully and very helpfully annotated. The substantial introduction considers the antecedents of Plautus's drama in Greek New Comedy and in Italic farce, his mixture of Greek and Roman both in language and in the life portrayed, and his stagecraft, language, and meter.

Mostellaria, also known as The Haunted House, is a comedic play written by the ancient Roman playwright Plautus. The play tells the story of a young man named Philolaches who lives a life of luxury and extravagance, spending all of his father's money on parties and women. When his father returns from a trip and discovers the extent of his son's spending, he cuts off his allowance and forbids him from seeing his lover, a courtesan named Philematium.Desperate to continue his lifestyle, Philolaches enlists the help of his servant Tranio to sneak Philematium into his father's house, which he has temporarily vacated. However, the house is haunted by the ghost of a former owner, who appears to Philolaches and his friends in various disguises, causing chaos and confusion.As the play progresses, Philolaches must navigate his father's return, the presence of the ghost, and his own guilt over his actions. With the help of Tranio and other servants, he attempts to cover up his misdeeds and reconcile with his father.Mostellaria is a classic example of Roman comedy, featuring mistaken identities, slapstick humor, and social commentary. It explores themes of greed, deception, and the consequences of one's actions, while also providing a lighthearted and entertaining story.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

Funny happenings.

The rollicking comedies of Plautus, who brilliantly adapted Greek plays for Roman audiences ca. 205-184 BC, are the earliest Latin works to survive complete and are cornerstones of the European theatrical tradition from Shakespeare and Molière to modern times. This fourth volume of a new Loeb edition of all twenty-one of Plautus' extant comedies presents The Little Carthaginian, Pseudolus, and The Rope with freshly edited texts, lively modern translations, introductions, and ample explanatory notes.

Still funny after two thousand years, the Roman playwright Plautus wrote around 200 B.C.E., a period when Rome was fighting neighbors on all fronts, including North Africa and the Near East. These three plays--originally written for a wartime audience of refugees, POWs, soldiers and veterans, exiles, immigrants, people newly enslaved in the wars, and citizens--tap into the mix of fear, loathing, and curiosity with which cultures, particularly Western and Eastern cultures, often view each other, always a productive source of comedy. These current, accessible, and accurate translations have replaced terms meaningful only to their original audience, such as references to Roman gods, with a hilarious, inspired sampling of American popular culture--from songs to movie stars to slang. Matching the original Latin line for line, this volume captures the full exuberance of Plautus's street language, bursting with puns, learned allusions, ethnic slurs, dirty jokes, and profanities, as it brings three rarely translated works--Weevil (Curculio), Iran Man (Persa), and Towelheads (Poenulus)--to a wide contemporary audience.

Richlin's erudite introduction sets these plays within the context of the long history of East-West conflict and illuminates the role played by comedy and performance in imperialism and colonialism. She has also provided detailed and wide-ranging contextual introductions to the individual plays, as well as extensive notes, which, together with these superb and provocative translations, will bring Plautus alive for a new generation of readers and actors.

One of the supreme comic writers of the Roman world, Plautus (c.254-184 BC), skilfully adapted classic Greek comic models to the manners and customs of his day. This collection features a varied selection of his finest plays, from the light-hearted comedy Pseudolus, in which the lovesick Calidorus and his slave try to liberate his lover from her pimp, to the more subversive The Prisoners, which raises serious questions about the role of slavery. Also included are The Brothers Menaechmus, which formed the prototype for Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, and The Pot of Gold, whose old miser Euclio is a glorious study in avarice. Throughout, Plautus breathes new, brilliant life into classic comic types - including deceitful twins, scheming slaves, bitter old men and swaggering soldiers - creating an entertaining critique of Roman life and values.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

The book, The Captivi and the Mostellaria, has been considered important throughout the human history, and so that this work is never forgotten we have made efforts in its preservation by republishing this book in a modern format for present and future generations. This whole book has been reformatted, retyped and designed. These books are not made of scanned copies of their original work and hence the text is clear and readable.

Théâtre de Plaute. Tome 6 / traduction nouvelle accompagnée de notes, par J. Naudet, ...
Date de l'édition originale: 1831-1838
Collection: Bibliothèque latine-française

Le présent ouvrage s'inscrit dans une politique de conservation patrimoniale des ouvrages de la littérature Française mise en place avec la BNF.
HACHETTE LIVRE et la BNF proposent ainsi un catalogue de titres indisponibles, la BNF ayant numérisé ces oeuvres et HACHETTE LIVRE les imprimant à la demande.
Certains de ces ouvrages reflètent des courants de pensée caractéristiques de leur époque, mais qui seraient aujourd'hui jugés condamnables.
Ils n'en appartiennent pas moins à l'histoire des idées en France et sont susceptibles de présenter un intérêt scientifique ou historique.
Le sens de notre démarche éditoriale consiste ainsi à permettre l'accès à ces oeuvres sans pour autant que nous en cautionnions en aucune façon le contenu.

Pour plus d'informations, rendez-vous sur www.hachettebnf.fr

This school edition was first published in 1960. It includes an introduction discussing date, sources, revivals, manuscripts, metre, arguments and prologues. The Latin text is accompanied by notes explaining the irregularities of Plautus' syntax and metre, and citing relevant parallels and secondary sources. The volume is completed by an index.

Funny happenings.

The rollicking comedies of Plautus, who brilliantly adapted Greek plays for Roman audiences ca. 205-184 BC, are the earliest Latin works to survive complete and are cornerstones of the European theatrical tradition from Shakespeare and Molière to modern times. This fifth volume of a new Loeb edition of all twenty-one of Plautus' extant comedies presents Stichus, Three-Dollar Day, Truculentus, The Tale of a Traveling-Bag, and fragments with freshly edited texts, lively modern translations, introductions, and ample explanatory notes.

Brilliantly adapting Greek New Comedy for Roman audiences, the sublime comedies of Plautus (c. 254-184 BC) are the earliest surviving complete works of Latin literature. The four plays collected here reveal a playwright in his prime, exploring classic themes and developing standard characters that were to influence the comedies of Shakespeare, Molière and many others. In The Ghost, a dissolute son who has squandered his father's money is thrown into disarray when he returns from abroad, a theme that is explored further in the comedy of errors A Three-Dollar Day. In The Rope--regarded by many as the best of Plautus' plays--the shipwreck of a pimp and his slaves leads to the touching reunion of a father and his daughter, while Amphitryo, Plautus's only excursion into divine mythology, offers a cheerful account of how Jupiter became father to Hercules.

For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

Jaime Manrique weaves into his own memoir the lives of three important 20th-century Hispanic writers: the Argentine Manuel Puig, the author of Kiss of the Spider Woman; the Cuban Reinaldo Arenas, author of Before Night Falls; and Spanish poet and playwright Frederico Garcia Lorca.

Théâtre de Plaute. Tome 5 / traduction nouvelle accompagnée de notes, par J. Naudet, ...
Date de l'édition originale: 1831-1838
Collection: Bibliothèque latine-française

Le présent ouvrage s'inscrit dans une politique de conservation patrimoniale des ouvrages de la littérature Française mise en place avec la BNF.
HACHETTE LIVRE et la BNF proposent ainsi un catalogue de titres indisponibles, la BNF ayant numérisé ces oeuvres et HACHETTE LIVRE les imprimant à la demande.
Certains de ces ouvrages reflètent des courants de pensée caractéristiques de leur époque, mais qui seraient aujourd'hui jugés condamnables.
Ils n'en appartiennent pas moins à l'histoire des idées en France et sont susceptibles de présenter un intérêt scientifique ou historique.
Le sens de notre démarche éditoriale consiste ainsi à permettre l'accès à ces oeuvres sans pour autant que nous en cautionnions en aucune façon le contenu.

Pour plus d'informations, rendez-vous sur www.hachettebnf.fr