3. Aulularia (from aulula, ‘a little pot.’)—Neither the original nor the exact time of composition is known. From Megadorus’ tirade against the luxury of women, ll. 478 sqq., it has been inferred that the play was written after the repeal of the Oppian Law in B.C. 195. The end of the play is lost. The scene is Athens.
4. Captivi, a piece without active interest (stataria), without female characters, and claiming a moral purpose; l. 1029,
‘Spectatores, ad pudicos mores facta haec fabulast.’
Some authorities think that the parasite (Ergasilus) is an addition to the original play, which may have belonged to the New Comedy. The scene is in Aetolia.
5. Curculio, so called from the name of the parasite. The Greek original is unknown; but ll. 462-86 contain a speech from the Choragus, in the style of the παράβασις of the Old Comedy. In l. 509,
‘Rogitationes plurumas propter vos populus scivit
quas vos rogatas rumpitis,’
there is probably an allusion to the Lex Sempronia de pecunia credita, B.C. 193. The scene is Epidaurus.
6. Casina, so called from a slave-girl introduced. The original was the Κληρούμενοι of Diphilus. Prol. 31,
‘Clerumenoe vocatur haec comoedia
Graece, Latine Sortientes. Deiphilus
hanc Graece scripsit.’
The inference from l. 979, ‘Nam ecastor nunc Bacchae nullae ludunt,’ that the play was written after the S.C. de Bacchanalibus in B.C. 186, is improbable; the words rather show, as Mommsen[8] believes, an anterior date, when it was not yet dangerous to speak of the Bacchanalia. Some authorities find support for the latter date in the words of the prologue, ll. 9-20 (written after the poet’s death). The text of the play has suffered greatly. The scene is Athens.