1. The Captives Plautus Summary
2. Plautus Amphitryon Summary
3. Plautus Menaechmi Summary

Plautus wishes she’d met Laika, the first animal to orbit the earth. She was a stray whom Dr. Yazdovsky put into Sputnik II in 1957. She was happy in space for a few hours, but then the capsule overheated and she died. Most of the dogs, like Laika, are one-way passengers. Plautus talks to the dogs who return whenever she gets the chance. Plautus’ plays are without exception New Comedy palliatae, i.e. Comedies with Greek characters and in Greek dress. As per comedic conventions, the characters are typical stock characters, and the jokes are derived by a combination of verbal wit and comedic situations. Miles Gloriosus The Braggart Soldier Plot Summary 1. A soldier carries off a prostitute from Athens to Ephesus. While a slave wants to report this to his lovesick master, who is abroad on an embassy, he himself is captured at sea and given to that same soldier as a present. Plautus runs away and tries to get in with Americans or Soviets, who are engaged in a race to get a man on the moon. After Plautus spends some time with the playwright Tom Stoppard, a friend of his takes Plautus to the Soviet scientist Dr. Plautus watches for years as they send dogs into space until finally, it’s her turn. The Mostellaria (ten called in English The Haunted House) is one of Plautus' most lively plays and one which contains his most skilfully handled elements of farce. Probably based on a Greek original, Philemon's Ghost, it concerns the scheming slave Tranio's attempts (including the invention of a haunted house) to disguise from his old master the sexual and financial prodigality of his son.

• Ed. by William John Dominik, University of Otago
• The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.1.2: Ancient Roman Writing and Culture (Republic and Empire), -750-476.
• Vol. editors: William John Dominik (University of Otago), Thomas Habinek (University of Southern California), Emily Kneebone (University of Nottingham), Sophia Papaioannou (National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), Jula Wildberger (The American University of Paris)

Context

Plautus’ comedy Persa (‘The Persian’or ‘The Iran man’) is named after the disguise that one ofthe characters adopts as part of an intrigue. For, as in the caseof other plays in the format of (originally Greek) New Comedy, theplot is based on a clever trick in order to obtain money. However,what is unusual about Persa is that almostall dramatis personae are slaves. When one ofthe slaves comes on stage at the beginning of the play, he talksabout a lover in need (1); it soon becomes clear that this refersto the speaker himself. When he explains his situation to a fellowslave in the course of the first scene, the latter wonders …

Citation: Manuwald, Gesine. 'Persa'. The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 04 December 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34722, accessed 22 May 2021.]

The Captives Plautus Summary

Plautus Amphitryon Summary

Plautus Menaechmi Summary

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