The Roman Poets of the Republic Part 18

Tranio in the 'Mostellaria' is, in readiness of resource and resolute mendacity, a not unworthy member of the fraternity to which Pseudolus, Chrysalus, and Palaestrio belong. He is, besides, something of a fop and a fine gentleman, and all his relations with his young and old master, with Simo and the Banker, are conducted with perfect urbanity.

Yet the 'Mostellaria' is certainly one of those plays to which the criticism of Horace--

Securus cadat an recto stet fabula talo,--

is peculiarly applicable. No less suitable 'Deus ex machina' than the c.r.a.pulous Callidamates can well be imagined for the purpose of reconciling a justly incensed father and master of a household to the profligate extravagance of his son, and the audacious mystification of his slave.

Several other plays turn upon similar 'frustrationes.' Two of the best of these are the 'Curculio' and the 'Epidicus.' Though there are lively and humorous scenes in nearly all his plays, and the language is generally sparkling and vigorous, yet the sameness of situation and character, and the unrelieved tone of light-hearted merriment and mendacity with which this cla.s.s of play is pervaded soon pall upon the taste. A few, the 'Cistellaria' and the 'Poenulus,' for instance, turn upon the incident of a free-born child being stolen in infancy, and recognised by her parents before she has fatally committed herself to the occupation for which she has been destined. But these are not among the best executed of the Plautine plays. In the 'Stichus' we enjoy the unwonted satisfaction of making acquaintance with two wives who really care for their husbands: and the parasite Gelasimus in that play is as amusing as the characters of the same kind in the Captivi, Curculio, Menaechmi, Persa, etc. But the absence of incident, coherent plot, and adequate _denouement_, must prevent this play from being ranked among the more important compositions of Plautus. A few however still remain to be noticed as among the most serious or the most imaginative efforts of his genius. The 'Aulularia,' 'Trinummus,'

'Menaechmi,' 'Rudens,' 'Captivi,' and 'Amphitryo,' are much more varied in their interest than most of those already mentioned, and each of them has its own characteristic excellence.

The interest of the 'Aulularia' turns entirely on the character of Euclio. Whether or not this embodiment of the miser owes much to the original creation of Plautus, it is certainly realised by him with the greatest truth and vivacity. The whole conception is thoroughly human and original; and though nothing can be more complete than the hypochondriacal possession which his one idea has over his imagination, the character is not presented in an odious or despicable light. In this respect it differs from the frequent presentment of the miserly character in Roman satire, and in most modern works of fiction. Perhaps, except Silas Marner and Pere Goriot, there is no other case of a miser being conceived with any human-hearted sympathy.

His exaggerated sense of the value of the smallest sum of money is like a hallucination, arising out of the unexpected discovery of a great treasure after a life of poverty has made pinching and sparing a second nature to him. But this hallucination has left him shrewdness, honesty, pluck, a certain dignity, shown in his relation to Megadorus, and abundance of a grim humour; and it seems to have cleared away, in the _denouement_ of the piece, under the influence of fatherly affection[65]. There are none of the baser or more brutal characters of the Plautine comedies introduced into this play. Eunomia is a rare specimen of a virtuous woman; Megadorus of a worthy and kindly old man, with a didactic tendency which makes him a little wearisome; the 'young lover' shows an honourable loyalty in the reparation of his fault. Though none of these subsidiary characters are conceived with anything like the force and vivacity of Euclio, yet after reading the humours of ancient life, as exhibited in the 'Asinaria,' 'Casina,' and 'Truculentus,' we feel a sense of relief in finding ourselves in such respectable company. The genius with which the chief character of the play is conceived and executed is sufficiently attested by the fact that it served as a model to the greatest of purely comic dramatists of modern times.

The 'Trinummus,' if less amusing than most of the other plays of Plautus, is one of the most unexceptionable in moral tendency; and one at least of the personages in it, Philto, in his union of shrewd sense and old-fashioned severity with a sarcastic humour and real humanity of nature is quite a new type, distinguishable from the hard fathers, the disreputably genial old men, and the mere worthy citizens, who are among the stock characters of the Plautine comedy. There is no play in which the struggle between the stricter morals of an older time and the new temptations is more clearly exhibited: and though vice is finally condoned, or at least visited only with the mild penalty of an unsolicited marriage, the sympathies of the audience are entirely enlisted on the side of virtue. Lesbonicus is a prodigal of the type of Charles Surface, whose folly and extravagance are redeemed by good feeling and a latent sense of honour: and if it is not easy to acquit Lysiteles of a too conscious virtue, one must remember how difficult it always is for a comic dramatist to make the character of a thoroughly respectable young man lively and entertaining. But the whole piece, from the prologue, which indicates the way which all prodigals go, to the end,--the good sense, worth of character, and friendly confidence exhibited in the relations of Megaronides and Callicles,--the honourable love of Lysiteles for the dowerless sister of his friend,--the pious humanity and humility of such sentiments as these in the mouth of Philto--

Di divites sunt, deos decent opulentiae Et factiones: verum nos homunculi Scintillula animae, quam quom extemplo emisimus, Aequo mendicus atque ille opulentissimus Censetur censu ad Acheruntem mortuos[66],--

the denunciation by Megaronides of the 'School for Scandal,' which seems to have flourished in Athens as similar inst.i.tutions do in our modern cities,--enable us to believe that the citizen life of the Greek communities, after the loss of their independence, may not have been so utterly hollow and disreputable as some of the representations of ancient comedy would lead us to suppose.

There is much greater originality of plot, incident, and character, though, at the same time, a much less unexceptionable moral tendency in the 'Menaechmi,' the model after which Shakspeare's 'Comedy of Errors' was composed. The plot turns upon the likeness of twins, who have been separated from each other from childhood: and granting this original supposition,--one perfectly conformable to experience,--the many lively and humorous situations arising out of their undistinguishable resemblance to one another, are natural and lifelike. We feel, in the incidents which Plautus brings before us, none of that sense of unreality which the complication of the two Dromios adds to the 'Comedy of Errors.' The play is enlivened also by the element of personal adventure, arising out of the experiences of the second Menaechmus in his search for his brother over all the coasts of the Mediterranean. The two brothers (whether or not this was intended by the poet) are like in character, as well as in outward appearance; and they are both, in their hardness and knowledge of the world, in the unscrupulousness with which they gratify their love of pleasure, and the superiority which they maintain over their dependents, entirely distinct from the weak and vacillating 'amantes ephebi' of most of the other plays. The character of the 'parasite' is not very different from that in some of the other plays, except that in his vindictiveness for the loss of his _dejeuner_, and his love of mischief-making, he comes nearer to the type of the 'scurra' than of the faithful client of the house, who is best represented by the Ergasilus of the 'Captivi.' But in the fashionable physician who is called in by the wife and father-in-law of the first Menaechmus, to examine into and prescribe for his condition, we are introduced to a new type of character which certainly seems to be drawn from the life.

After reading the scene in which this personage is introduced, one might be inclined to fancy that, notwithstanding the advance of medical science, certain characteristics of manner and procedure had become long ago stereotyped in the profession.

These three plays show Plautus at his best in regard to the delineation of character, to moral tendency, to the conduct of a story by means of humorous incidents and situations. The three which still remain to be considered a.s.sert his claim to some share of poetic feeling and genius, and to at least some sympathy with the more elevated motives and sentiments which dignify human life. The 'Rudens'

is inferior to several of the other plays in purely dramatic interest; but it has all the charm and freshness of a sea-idyll. The outward picture imprinted on the imagination is that of a bright morning after a storm, of which the effects are still apparent in the unroofing of the villa of Daemones, in the wild commotion of the sea[67], in the desolation of the two shipwrecked women wandering about among the lonely rocks where they have been cast ash.o.r.e, in the touching complaint of the poor fishermen deprived by the storm of their chance of earning their daily bread. The action, which consists in the rescue of innocence from villainy, and in the recognition of a lost daughter by her father, entirely enlists both the moral and the humane sympathies. There is imaginative as well as humorous originality in the soliloquies of Gripus, and in his altercation with Trachalio; and a sense of sardonic satisfaction is experienced in contemplating the plight of Labrax (a weaker and meaner ruffian than Ballio) and his confederate chattering with cold and bewailing the loss of their illgotten gains. But the peculiar charm of the play, as compared with any of those which have been already noticed, is the sentiment of natural piety--not unlike that expressed in the 'rustica Phidyle,' of Horace[68]--by which the drama is pervaded. This key-note is struck in the prologue uttered by Arcturus, whose function it is to shine in the sky during the night, and during the day to wander over the earth, and report to Jove on the good and evil deeds of men:--

Quist imperator divom atque hominum Iuppiter, Is nos per gentis hic alium alia disparat, Hominum qui facta, mores, pietatem et fidem Noscamus, ut quemque adiuvet opulentia[69].

The affinity of piety to mercy is exhibited in the part played by the priestess of Venus--

Ma.n.u.s mihi date, exurgite a pedibus ambae, Misericordior nulla mest feminarum[70];

and the natural trust of innocence and good faith in divine protection is exemplified by the confidence with which the shipwrecked women take refuge at the altar of Venus:--

Tibi auscultamus et, Venus alma, ambae te opsecramus Aram amplexantes hanc tuam lacrumantes, genibus nixae, In custodelam nos tuam ut recipias et tutere, etc.[71]

Even the moral sentiment expressed is of a finer quality than the maxims of rough good sense and probity which we find, for instance, in the Trinummus. When Gripus tells his master that he is poor owing to his scrupulous piety--

Isto tu's pauper, quom nimis sancte piu's--

the answer is in a higher strain than that familiar to ancient comedy:--

O Gripe Gripe, in aetate hominum plurimae Fiunt transennae, [illi] ubi decipiuntur dolis.

Atque edepol in eas plerumque esca inponitur, Quam siquis avidus poscit escam avariter, Decipitur in transenna avaritia sua.

Ille qui consulte, docte atque astute cavet, Diutine uti ei bene licet partum bene.

Mi istaec videtur praeda praedatum irier, Maiore ut c.u.m dote abeat hinc quam advenerit.

Egone ut quod ad me adlatum esse alienum sciam Celem? minume istuc faciet noster Daemones.

Semper cavere hoc sapientes aequissumum'st, Ne conscii sint ipsi maleficii suis.

Ego nisi quom lusim nil morer ullum lucrum[72].

The 'Captivi' was p.r.o.nounced by the greatest critic of last century to be the best constructed drama in existence. Though probably few will now be found to a.s.sign to it so high a place, yet, if not the best, it certainly is among the very best plays of Plautus, in respect both of plot and the dramatic irony of its situations. But it possesses a still higher claim to our admiration in the presentment of at least one character of true n.o.bleness. And the originality of the conception is all the greater from the fact that this heroism is embodied in the person of one who has been brought up from childhood as a slave. There are not many of the plays of Plautus calculated to raise our ideas of human nature; but the loyal affection of Tyndarus for his young master, his self-sacrifice, the buoyancy, courage, and ready resource with which he first meets his dangers, and the manly fort.i.tude with which he accepts his doom--

Dum ne ob malefacta, peream: parvi id aestimo.

Si ego hic peribo, ast ille, ut dixit, non redit, At erit mi hoc factum mortuo memorabile, Me meum erum captum ex servitute atque hostibus Reducem fecisse liberum in patriam ad patrem, Meumque potius me caput periculo Hic praeoptavisse quam is periret ponere[73]--

enable us to feel that some of the glory of the older and n.o.bler Greek tragedy still lingered in the Athens of Menander, and has been reproduced by Plautus with imaginative sympathy. Yet perhaps even to this play the criticism of Horace,

Quam non adstricto percurrat pulpita socco,

in part applies. The old slave-tricks of mendacity and unseasonable joking, which are a legitimate source of amus.e.m.e.nt in the 'Pseudolus'

and similar plays, jar on our feelings as inconsistent with the simple dignity of the character of Tyndarus and the heroic part which he has to play.

There are none of the plays of Plautus which it is so difficult to criticise from a modern point of view as the 'Amphitruo.' On the one hand the humour of the scenes between Mercury and Sosia is not surpa.s.sed in any of the other comedies. There is no pa.s.sage in any other play in which such power of imagination is exhibited, as that in which Bromia tells the tale of the birth of Alcmena's twins--

Ita erae meae hodie contigit: nam ubi partuis deos sibi invocat, Strepitus, crepitus, sonitus, tonitrus: subito ut propere, ut valide tonuit.

Ubi quisque inst.i.terat, concidit crepitu: ibi nescio quis maxuma Voce exclamat: 'Alc.u.mena, adest auxilium, ne time: Et tibi et tuis propitius caeli cultor advenit.

Exurgite' inquit 'qui terrore meo occidistis prae metu.'

Ut iacui, exurgo: ardere censui aedis: ita tum confulgebant[74].

Nor is there, perhaps, anywhere in ancient literature a n.o.bler realisation of the virtue of womanhood than in the indignant vindication of herself by Alcmena,--

Non ego illam mihi dotem esse duco, quae dos dicitur, Set pudicitiam et pudorem et sedatum cupidinem, Deum metum et parentum amorem et cognatum concordiam, Tibi morigera atque ut munifica sim bonis, prosim probis[75].

On the other hand, it is difficult to understand how the part played by Jupiter, and the comments of Mercury upon that part, should not have shocked the religious and moral sense even of the Athenians of the age of Epicurus and of the Romans in the age when they were first made familiar with the Sacred Chronicle of Euhemerus. Perhaps the Romans made a distinction between the Jupiter of Greek mythology and their own Jupiter Optimus Maximus, and may have thought that what was derogatory to the first did not apply to the second. Or, perhaps, some clue to the origin of the Greek play may be found in a phrase of the Rudens,

Non ventus fuit, verum Alc.u.mena Euripidi[76].

Was the Greek writer partly parodying, in accordance with the tradition of the old comedy, partly reproducing a tragedy of Euripides? and was the representation first accepted as a recognised burlesque of a familiar piece? In any case its production both at Athens and Rome must be regarded partly as a symptom, partly as a cause, of the rapid dissolution of religious beliefs among both Greeks and Romans.

As in the case of other productive writers there is no absolute agreement as to which are the best of the Plautine plays. Without a.s.signing precedence to any one over the other, a preference may be indicated for these five, as combining the most varied elements of interest with the best execution--_Aulularia_, _Captivi_, _Menaechmi_, _Pseudolus_, _Rudens_; and for these, as second to the former in interest owing to some inferiority in comic power, artistic execution, or natural _vraisemblance_, or owing to some element in them which offends the taste or moral sentiment--_Trinummus_, _Mostellaria_, _Miles Gloriosus_, _Bacchides_, _Amphitruo_. These ten plays alone, without taking the others into account, show both in their incidents, scenes, and characters, how much wider Plautus' range of observation was than that of Terence. Even within the narrow limits of the characters most familiar to ancient comedy--the 'amans ephebus,' the 'meretrix blanda,' the 'fallax servus,' the 'bragging captain,' the 'parasite,' the 'leno,' the 'old men'--good, kindly, severe, genial, sensual and disreputable,--we find great individual differences. More than Terence, Plautus maintains a dramatic and ironical superiority over his characters. This is especially shown in his treatment of his young lovers and the objects of their despairing affection. The former exhibit various shades of weakness, from the mere ineffectual struggle between the grain of conscience left them and the attractions of pleasure, to the sentimental impulse to end their woes by suicide. The latter show varying degrees of attraction, from a grace and vivacity that reminds German critics of the Mariana and the Philina in 'Wilhelm Meister,' to the hardness and astuteness of the heroines of the 'Truculentus' and the 'Miles Gloriosus.' Plautus cannot be said to care much about any of them except as objects of amus.e.m.e.nt and of the study of human nature. Nor, on the other hand, has he any hatred of his worst characters. He has the true dramatist's sympathy with the vigorous conception of Ballio--the same kind of sympathy which made that part a favourite one of the actor Roscius. His characters are interesting and amusing in themselves; they are never used as the mere mouthpieces of the writer's reflexion, wit, or sentiment. It is, of course, impossible to determine definitely how far he was an original creator, how far a merely vigorous imitator. But he is so perfectly at home with his characters, he makes them speak and act so naturally, he is so careless about those minutiae of artistic treatment of which a mere translator would be scrupulously regardful, that it seems most probable that the life with which he animates his conventional type is derived from his own exuberant vitality and his many-sided contact with humanity.

In what relation do the plays of Plautus stand to the more serious interests of life? Is he to be ranked among philosophic humourists who had felt deeply the speculative perplexities of this world, whose imagination vividly realised the incongruity between the outward mask that men wear and the reality behind it, and the wide divergence of the actual aims of society from the purified ideal towards which it tends? Is there in him any vein of ironical comment or satirical rebuke? any latent sympathy with any of the objects which move the serious pa.s.sions of moral and social reformers? Or is he merely a great humourist, revelling in the mirth, the absurdities, the ridiculous phases of character, which show themselves on the surface of life? It must be admitted that it is difficult to find in him any traces of the speculative questioning, of the repressed or baffled enthusiasm, of the rebellion against the common round of the world which tempers or inspires some of the greatest humourists of ancient and modern times. His indifference to the problems of speculative philosophy is expressed in such phrases as the

Salva res est: philosophatur quoque iam, non mendax modo'st

of Tyndarus in the Captivi[77], and in the

Sed iam satis est philosophatum

of Pseudolus[78]. Yet to Tyndarus he attributes a sense of religious trust befitting both his character and situation--

Est profecto deus, qui quae nos gerimus auditque et videt, etc.[79],

while Pseudolus easily finds an opposite doctrine to suit his ready, self-reliant, and unscrupulous nature--

Centum doctum hominum consilia sola haec devincit dea, Fortuna, etc.[80]

Probably the truth is that living in an age of active enjoyment and energy, he troubled himself very little about the 'problem of existence'; but that he had thought enough and doubted enough to enable him to animate his more elevated characters with sentiments of natural piety, and to conceive of the ordinary round of pleasure and intrigue as quite able to dispense with them. There is rather an indifference to religious influences or beliefs, than such expressions of scepticism or antagonism to existing superst.i.tions as we find in the tragic poets. The political indifference of his plays has been already noticed. Yet the sentiments attributed to some of his best characters, such as Philto in the Trinummus, Megadorus in the Aulularia[81], imply that he recognised in the growing ascendency of wealth an element of estrangement between the different cla.s.ses of the community. His frequent reference to the extravagance and imperiousness of the 'dotatae uxores' seems to imply further his conviction that the curse of money was a dissolving force, not only of the social and political but also of the family life of Rome.

The first aspect of many of his plays certainly produces the impression of their demoralising tendency. But it is perhaps necessary to be on our guard against judging this tendency too severely from a merely modern point of view. These plays were addressed to the people in their holiday mood, and a certain amount of license was claimed for such a mood (as we may see by the Fescennine songs in marriage ceremonies and in triumphal processions), which perhaps was not intended to have more relation to the ordinary life of work and serious business than the lies and tricks of slaves in comedy to their ordinary relations with their masters.