Plautus

[ceebeegee]

I was on fiyuh today in class. My method of note-taking is paying off--constant synthesis of all this stuff. (And plus the fact that the Punic Wars are infinitely more interesting than the Italic Wars--elephants crossing the Alps, cool! Endless wars with the Samnites, booooo-ring.) The professor was talking about the cultural shifts that started in the 2nd century BC and referred to "political precedents that had already been compromised. He asked if we knew who he meant--I thought it was Scipio Africanus but I didn't say anything and he said (yup) "Scipio Africanus. Can anyone tell me why?" My hand shot up, he called on me, and I Hermione'd "Because of his success in Spain during the 2nd Punic Wars, he was appointed to Consul before having been elected praetor or questor, plus his term was extended indefinitely." Aw yeah! Then later he was talking about the cultural Hellenization that happened in Rome following Rome's imperialism in the eastern Mediterranean--this included things like coinage, the beginning of Roman history (i.e., Romans writing their own narrative) and the introduction and adaptation of Greek theater. He said something like "Plow-oooh-tus, does anyone know who that is?" No one said anything and as he started to write it on the board I realized who it was and I blurted out "I know who he is!" He pointed to me and I said "Plautus was a Roman playwright who wrote comedies which were known for their use of stock characters like the scheming slave, the lovers, the doddering old fool..." I thought, but didn't say, "he may be more familiar to modern-day musical comedies through A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum which is based on his plays." Although it occurred to me later--the script of Forum says that it takes place "200 years before the birth of Christ, a day in Spring." (I've done that show twice, and that setting always amused me.) But slavery wasn't really introduced in Rome until a little later (sometime after the Macedonian Wars when the Roman economy asploded). However Plautus didn't really compose original works--he adapted Greek plays to Roman tastes. Hence the anachronism.