Plautus (ca. 254-ca. 184 BC) was a Roman writer. His theatrical genius, vitality, farcical humor, and control of the Latin language rank him as Rome's greatest comic playwright. During the 3d century BC, Roman writers began to imitate the forms and...

Titus Maccius Plautus is the earliest Roman author whose works have survived. His plays, valued especially for their lively stock characters, their exuberant language and meter, and the information they provide on many aspects of Roman culture, have...

Unlike some books being published today, Miola's study produces exactly what its title promises. The beginning point centers around the plays of Plautus, especially Menaechmi, Amphitruo, Mostellaria, Captivi, Miles Gloriosus, Casina, and Rudens, and of Terence, especially Andria, Eunuchus, Hecyra, and Adelphoe. Miola's...

Satiric Advice on Women and Marriage: From Plautus to Chaucer, ed. Warren S. Smith (Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press, 2005). xiv + 295 pp. ISBN 0-472-11426-3. $70.00. This collection of twelve essays is concerned with satiric attitudes towards women and...

In the following two chapters from his book-length analysis of Plautus's work, Anderson first examines the way in which Plautus subverts the conventional love plot in order to transform Greek romantic comedy into Roman comedy. Next, Anderson traces the development of the concept of "heroic badness "—the immoral tendencies shared by humanity and acted on by Plautus's "heroic rogues "—throughout Plautus's comedies.

In the following essay, Lowe compares Plautus's Asinaria to its Greek model Onagos and identifies several aspects of Plautus's comedy which are perhaps Plautine innovations rather than further derivations from Greek materials.

In the following excerpts from his book-length study of Plautus's comedies, Segal sketches Plautus's career as a professional playwright popular with Roman audiences and explores the relationship between Plautine Roman comedy and the Roman holiday mentality.