Plautus, Volume 4: The Comedies: v. 4 (Complete Roman Drama in Translation) - Hardcover

Slavitt

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080185072X ISBN 13: 9780801850721

Publisher: John Hopkins University Press, 1995

Synopsis

"The works of Plautus," writes Palmer Bovie, "mark the real beginning of Roman literature." Part of a four-volume set containing all twenty-one surviving comedies of perhaps one of Western literature's greatest dramatists, this text brings together five translations. Born in Sarsina, Umbria, in 254 B.C., Plautus is said to have worked in Rome as a stage carpenter and later as a miller's helper. Whether authentic or not, these few details about the playwright's life are consistent with the image of him one might infer from his plays. Plautus was not "literary" but rather an energetic and resourceful man of the world who spoke the language of the people. His dramatic works were his way of describing and portraying that world in a language the people understood. Since Plautus's career unfolded against the background of the Second Punic War, it is not surprising that his prologues often end with a wish for the audience's "good luck against your enemies" or that the plays have their share of arrogant generals, boastful military captains, and mercenary adventurers. But other unforgettable characters are here as well - among them Euclio, in the "Aulularia", the model for Moliere's miser. These translations aim to communicate the vitality and verve of the originals.

About this title

About the Authors

David R. Slavitt is a poet, translator, novelist, critic, and journalist. He is author of more than seventy works of fiction, poetry, and poetry and drama in translation.

Palmer Bovie has published many translations of classical Roman literature, including The Georgics of Virgil, The Satires and Epistles of Horace, Cicero: Nine Orations, Epigrams of Martial, De Rerum Natura of Lucretius, and Terence: The Comedies.

Edition details

• Publisher: John Hopkins University Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 080185072X
• ISBN 13: 9780801850721
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 392