CLAS 357
Plautus' Pseudolus
April 1, 2024

Comic slave mask mosaic (villa at Centocelle, 2nd century CE)
Examination #2 Key

Pseudolus ("The Liar")

*Course Unit V: Psychologizing, Philosophizing and Moralizing about Slavery & Freedom (Plautus, Horace, Seneca, Lucretius – finding true freedom?)*

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)

Intro/Overture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw3BjsGswkQ&list=PL7ENlMnNoSEDi4yyRsKUVNLqL6TOVPCEX&index=2

• Pseudolus debuts at dedication of new temple (Magna Mater), Palatine Hill (April 10, 191 BCE), sacred precinct (ca. 1,500 spectators); Plautus' show-piece meta-comedy about Plautine comedy
  
  Remains of Cybele's ancient temple (Palatine Hill)
  
  
• Pseudolus an "epic" comic hero: "he's got it all over Ulysses and the Trojan Horse!" (1244; cf. 1063-4); admiring master Simo: "Now I think I'll wait right here for my slave Pseudolus, but not / With whips and chains like in other comedies . . ." (1239-40)
  
  
• Pseudolus as creatively resisting slave/writer/director/text (bet with Simo, "You may write all over me with elm-rods . . . as if I were a book", 544-5)

• Scene 1 (no prologue; cf. Casina): typical New Comedy plot = adulescens (a Roman "minor", 303) in love, obstacles to "getting the girl" (Phoenicium's letter, 20 minae), recognition scene & marriage not possible – why?
  
  Plan #1 = cheat Calidorus' father (120ff.), clever slave's proclamation to the entire populace ("DON'T TRUST ME!," 128)
  
  
  Gustave Boulanger, The Slave Market (1882)
  
  
• (younger) master vs. slave: reactions to Phoenicium's tablet/letter?
  
  Pseudolus 74-84 (the Latin exclamation eheu, "alas" or "Waah!")
  Calidorus
  It’s a woeful letter, isn’t it Pseudolus?
  Pseudolus
                     Absolutely wretched!
  Calidorus
  Why aren’t you crying?
  Pseudolus
              I’ve got eyes of pumice. I couldn’t convince them        
  To spill out so much as one single tiny tear.
  Calidorus
  Why’s that?
  Pseudolus
        Oh, I descend from a long line of dry-eyes.
  Calidorus
  Won’t you help me at all?
  Pseudolus
               What can I do for you?
  Calidorus
  Waah!
  Pseudolus
      Waah? Oh, I’ve got plenty of those to spare.
  Calidorus
  This is so depressing! I can’t get a loan anywhere.                                                       
  Pseudolus
  Waah!
  Calidorus
     And I don’t have a penny in the house.
  Pseudolus
                         Waah!
  Calidorus
  And he’s going to take away my girl.
  Pseudolus
                     Waah!
  Calidorus
  That’s supposed to help?
  Pseudolus
               I do what I can. 
  And I happen to have a vault full of "waahs."
  
  
  Christie's auction of 2nd century BCE Greek pornoboskos terra-cotta mask
  
  
• main opponent: Ballio the pimp; Ballio's style of mastery (Scene 2)?
  
  Pseudolus 225-229
  Now as for you, Phoenicium: Your specialty is always being
  On the verge of counting out cash for your freedom.
  You talk the talk, but can never seal the deal.
  You are the sweetie-pie of the upper-crust; unless pies and other provisions
  Pour in today, you and your sore, sorry, crimson cheeks are out on the street tomorrow!
  
  Scene 10: anonymous slave boy's monologue (reminder of Ballio's birthday party after Pseduolus/Charinus/Calidorus scene)
  
  Pseudolus 767-787
  It’s bad enough that the gods make a boy slave it
  For a pimp. But to make him ugly to boot
  Is, in my humble opinion, to double
  His trouble and triple his pain!
  Take my case: my life is a mountain of misery,
  All types of trouble, both little and large,
  And I can’t find a single fellow to love me, and
  To bring me just an ounce of care and concern.
  Now today’s the pimp’s birthday.
  He threatened us all, highest and lowest:
  “Either lavish me with exquisite gifts today,
  Or suffer lavish and exquisite torture tomorrow!”
  What’s someone in my situation supposed to do?
  How’s a have-not to get what the haves have?
  If I don’t come up with a gift for the pimp today,
  I’ll be force-fed urinal cakes tomorrow! [lit., "I'll have to drink fuller's fruit"]
  Oh god, how terribly my master terrifies me!
  And then there’s always that thing I’m just too small for:
  Although the cash can sure stretch out the wallet
  They say it’s all grunts and groans—
  Perhaps I’ll learn how to just grin and bear it.
  
  
  Greek comic slave mask (2nd century BCE)
  
  
• Pseudolus' addresses to audience
  
  Pseudolus 394-405 (after Calidorus exits)
  He’s gone and you’re all on your own, Pseudolus.
  You laid it on thick for your young master and now
  It’s time to bring home the bacon, wherever that is.
  Let’s see: you haven’t got the least bit of a plan, just as
  Much money, and no idea what to do at all either.
  Where to start weaving your web of deceit,
  Or how to bring that design to completion?
  But just like a poet takes up his tablet and though [poeta = "poet", "playwright"]
  He looks for what doesn’t exist at all, he still finds it, and
  Makes complete fiction seem like the truth.
  That’s it! I’ll become a poet and find
  The twenty minae which are nowhere. [utter planlessness]  
  
  
• Scene 5 (older master Simo, Callipho): Pseudolus as Socrates (465) = insolence & intelligence ("You, my slave, are angry with me, your master?", 472); problem of serving two masters ("I didn't want to be the one to establish the terrible precedent / Of having a slave accuse his master before his master", 492-3)
  
  
• bet with Simo ("Cart me off to be your slave if I don't [win the bet]", 520)?
  
  Pseudolus 561-73a (after Simo and Callipho exit)
  I have a sneaking suspicion that you all suspect
  I’ve only promised to do these daring deeds
  In order to entertain you during this play,
  And there’s little chance I’ll do what I promised.
  I’ll keep my word. To the best of my knowledge,
  I don’t know exactly how I’ll do it, but I do know
  That I will. Now, it’s the duty of every actor to be original
  Enough to bring something original on stage:
  If he can’t, let him step aside for someone who can.
  I’d like to slip inside for a while,
  To privately muster my army of tricks.
  I’ll be right back after just a short delay.
  Meanwhile, the piper is here to play for you.
         
  
• Pseudolus' return/false triumph song (Plan #2, 574ff.): Harpax's entrance > improvised scheme, Surus & letter; costumes, props & 5 minae from Calidorus's friend Charinus (Scene 9); Simia aka "Monkeyman" to play Harpax in play-within-play (Scenes 12-15)
  
  
  
  Zero Mostel as Pseudolus
  

  A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966)
  
  Pseudolus bargains for his freedom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOPwb0rOw9c&list=PL7ENlMnNoSEDi4yyRsKUVNLqL6TOVPCEX&index=1

  Soldier scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBaR5g2phBc&list=PL7ENlMnNoSEDi4yyRsKUVNLqL6TOVPCEX&index=3
  
  
  
  Sperlonga Odysseus (1st century CE)
  

• Pseudolus' drunken triumph (Scenes 19-20): settling the score with Simo (master ~ slave)
  
  
  Pseudolus 1320-5 (master's vs. slave's pain; their post-play future?)
  Simo
  Oh, Oh, Oh! [Simo cries heu, heu; cf. eheu, "waah," joke, 79ff.]
  Pseudolus
       Now stop that!
  Simo
            It hurts.
  Pseudolus
               One of us has to be hurting.   
  Simo
  You’re really going to take this from your master, Pseudolus?
  Pseudolus
                             With absolute pleasure.
  Simo
  You won’t give me back just a part of the money?
  Pseudolus
  No. Call me greedy if you want, but you’ll never be a penny richer for that.
  How much pity would you have given my back if I had failed today?
  Simo
  I swear I’ll have my revenge.
  Pseudolus
              Swear all you want. I’ve got a strong back.  
  
  
• final settlement? has Pseudolus found freedom in slavery?
  
  
  University of North Carolina National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute performance of Pseudolus, Scene 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiFOTA3Rn08