Part I, Short Identifications (8 points each, 64 points total)
tragicomedy: word coined by Mercury in the prologue of Amphitryon to describe a mythical burlesque/travesty, i.e. a play that combines characters associated with tragedy (treating these lightly, however) with those of comedy. It does not necessarily involve the combination of serious and comic elements as is implied in modern usage of the word.
Pamphilus: marries Philumena in Terence’s Hecyra, whom he had unknowingly raped before their marriage; they seem destined to enjoy a happy marriage after Bacchis’ intervention near the end of the play.
Alcmena: the wife of Amphitryon in Amphitryon; she appears virtuous and loyal toward her husband, but is also comically characterized as a sensualist (i.e., by the standards of the ideal Roman matrona) in her affair with Jupiter.
deus ex machina: “the god from the device” who appears at the end of play to tie up the play’s loose ends, as Jupiter at the end of Amphitryon, where he is perhaps lifted to the top of the two-storey stage backdrop on a crane.
Periplectomenus: the old, misogynistic bachelor of Miles Glorisous who aids Pleusicles in his complicated pursuit of Philocomasium.
Euripides’ Alkmene: referred to at the beginning of Rudens (with reference to the previous night’s storm), perhaps to signal the play’s running dialogue with tragedy.
Matrona: generic character name for the woman of the house; Menaechmus I’s wife is called thus in Menaechmi, i.e. she is never given a proper name.
Euclio: the miser, the main character of Pot of Gold, whose anxiety and paronoia over his treasure alienates him from society.
Pyrgopolynices: stereotypical braggart soldier of Miles Gloriosus, punished for his lechery at the end of the play with the threat of castration.
bellum iustum: “just war,” the Roman concept that wars are necessarily undertaken from a defensive posture and on justifiable grounds; the procedure to establish just cause for war is described in Sosia’s messenger’s speech in Amphitryon, where victory is taken as confirmation that the gods agree with the Thebans’s undertaking of war against the Teleboans.
Venus: Roman goddess of love whose temple/shrine is part of the North African shoreline scene of Rudens. Her birth from the sea underlies an important theme in the play.
instrumentum vocale: “a tool with a voice,” the Roman writer Varro’s description of a slave, an extraordinarily harsh way of describing a human being, but common in the ideologies of cultures who institutionalize slavery.
Part II, Commentary (30 points each, 180 points total)
Passage 1 (Plautus, Amphitryon 50-62)
(1) Plautus, Amphitryon.
(2) Mercury, in the prologue, explains the unusual nature of this play to the audience;
(3) some possible talking points for elaboration:
a. Mercury explains that the play is a tragicomedy (he coins the term here), in that it combines figures of both tragedy (“important people and gods”) and comedy (“there’s a slave’s part”); cf. “tragicomedy” in the IDs above;
b. this is probably the first time a mythical travesty has been performed in Rome and Mercury goes to great length to allay the audience’s possible fear and confusion (e.g. about the genre, possible religious propriety, etc.);
c. the play is of course a comedy, albeit a special type of comedy, and Mercury here is also easing the audience into the notion that he and Jupiter will appear as actors in the play proper (i.e. not merely as prologist or deus ex machina).
Passage 2 (Terence, Adelphoe 41-58)
(1) Terence, Adelphoe.
(2) in a monologue near the beginning of the play, Micio delineates the differences between his brother and himself;
(3) some possible talking points for elaboration:
a. Micio establishes not only the personal differences between himself and his brother here, but also the play’s main themes (city vs. country, liberal vs. authoritarian parenting, the role of the paterfamilias in the family);
b. we learn of the unusual arrangement whereby Micio has become Aeschinus’ adoptive father, a factor which seems to inform his parenting philosophy, and perhaps the play’s surprise ending (where the boys embrace their biological father);
c. while this early monologue and Micio’s congenial character in general lead us to believe that his character and method of parenting will prevail, it turns out that his son has not kept him “in the loop” about something so important as the rape/pregnancy of Pamphila (cf. also the ending, where Micio must make some concessions to Demea).
Passage 3 (Plautus, Menaechmi 966-83b)
(1) Plautus, Menaechmi.
(2) Messenio returns after being sent to an inn by Menaechmus II several scenes earlier, and addresses the audience regarding his view of slavery;
(3) some possible talking points for elaboration:
a. the “good slave” speech Messenio delivers here is a set-piece in Roman comedy, though it more usually is ironic or somehow undercut by the slave’s behavior in the play;
b. Messenio enjoys a close relationship with Menaechmus II, which stands in marked contrast to Menaechmus I’s flawed relationships with his subordinates in Epidamnus;
c. the extent to which Messenio’s relationship with his master is idealized (i.e. it probably reflects a fantasy of Roman slave owners) will shortly come to fulfillment when he chooses to stay with his master as a freedman after the twins' identity puzzle is solved.
Passage 4 (Plautus, Aulularia 90-100)
(1) Plautus, Aulularia.
(2) Euclio reveals his absurdly miserly character early in the play by giving these orders to Staphyla as he is about to leave his house (to get a public handout);
(3) some possible talking points for elaboration:
a. the incivility of the Euclio is highlighted by his denial of such basics as fire and water to fellow human beings (cf. formula for Roman exile);
b. his miserliness has thus led him to suffer a deeply anti-social neurosis that isolates him from the human community altogether;
c. the paradox of refusing admittance to Lady Luck (all the more striking to a Roman audience because Fortuna is a goddess worshipped throughout ancient Italy) shows how this neurosis has developed to such an extent that it causes Euclio to act against his own best interests.
Passage 5 (Plautus, Rudens 1235-53)
(1) Plautus, Rudens.
(2) Daemones (Speaker 1) tells Gripus (Speaker 2) his views on honesty, moral probity, etc.;
(3) some possible talking points for elaboration:
a. Daemones’ uncompromising morality is entirely in line with the just universe described by Arcturus in the prologue;
b. the cynical Gripus, who represents a more down-to-earth “comic” perspective on morality, contrasts starkly with the idealistic view of Daemones;
c. the metatheatrical debate here reflects the play’s persistent bi-play between tragedy and comedy, serious morality and self-interested pragmatism, etc. (can comedy in fact be didactic?)
Passage 6 (Plautus, Miles Gloriosus 1434-37)
(1) Miles Gloriosus.
(2) Pyrgopolynices ends the play by confessing the error of his ways;
(3) some possible talking points for elaboration:
a. Pyrgopolynices’ confession of guilt here seems surprising, given his stock characterization throughout, and is perhaps only brought about by the immediate threats of violence against him;
b. the typical miles gloriosus—marked by vanity, ignorance, self-delusion—seems incapable of rehabilitation or grasping the inappropriateness of his behavior; hence the surprising self-awareness here;
c. given the above, perhaps the ending, abrupt as it is, is meant to be absurdly arbitrary (as is typical of Plautine comedy), and Pyrgopolynices is not really meant to have experienced a moral revelation.
Passage 7 (Plautus, Captivi 51-66)
(1) Plautus, Captivi.
(2) the prologist prepares the audience for the unusually serious Plautine play to be performed;
(3) some possible talking points for elaboration:
a. the prologist mostly speaks in earnest, as Captivi is an ethically challenging play that for the most part is free of the usual cast of New Comedy’s demimonde;
b. the surprising assertion that “all battles will take place offstage” seems especially intended to alert the audience to the very serious (i.e. “tragic”) implications of some aspects of this play;
c. the prologist’s claim that “what follows here is fact for us actors” points to the actors’ status as slaves in real life, and so is an extremely striking example of Romanization, in so far as it invites the audience to contemplate the relevance of slavery to the acting company.
Passage 8 (Terence, Hecyra 865-68)
(1) Terence, Hecyra.
(2) Pamphilus (Speaker 1) and Bacchis (Speaker 2) agree not to reveal the whole story to anyone else;
(3) some possible talking points for elaboration:
a. Bacchis, who has just tied up the play’s loose ends, shows herself to be a “hooker with a heart of gold” (and one of Terence’s most interesting characters);
b. there is psychological realism in the agreement not to reveal more than is necessary or expedient (this reflects Terence’s Menandrian tendency toward naturalistic depiction of character and situation);
c. the reference to not doing things as they usually are done “in comedies” is a neat example of how Terence subtly combines metatheatrical devices with plot and character (here to comment on the comparative artificiality of other, more typical comedies).