‘Primumdum huic esse nomen urbi Diphilus
Cyrenas voluit.’
18. Stichus, performed B.C. 200 ludis plebeis, as we learn from the didascalia, ‘Graeca Adelphoe Menandru acta ludis plebeis Cn. Baebio C. Terentio aed. pl. ... C. Sulpicio C. Aurelio coss.’ This cannot be the Adelphi imitated by Terence, the fragments of which do not bear the least resemblance to the Stichus. It may be a second Adelphi by Menander. Others read ‘Philadelphoe’ in the above didascalia. Part of the play has been lost, and it shows traces of two distinct editions. The scene is Athens.
19. Trinummus.—The original was Philemon’s Θησαυρός, as seen from the didascalia, ‘Graeca Thensaurus Philemonis acta ludis Megalensibus.’ Some indication of the date is got from l. 990,
‘Vapulabis meo arbitratud et novorum aedilium.’
The only festival that would suit the term novi aediles is the ludi Megalenses[11] as from B.C. 266 to 153 the new magistrates entered on office on the Ides of March. This festival was not of a scenic character till B.C. 194, consequently the Trinummus must be after that date. The mention of Syrian slaves in l. 542 also makes it probable that this is one of the latest works of Plautus. The scene is Athens.
20. Truculentus.—The original is unknown. The play was written in Plautus’ old age, probably about B.C. 189. The text has suffered greatly. The scene is Athens.
21. Vidularia.—Only fragments are extant. It is thought to have been modelled on a play called Σχεδία by Menander.
Argumenta.—These are in senarii, and give a summary of each play. Two sets are found. The first set are acrostic, and are extant for all the plays except the Vidularia and the Bacchides. The second series was probably written by Sulpicius Apollinaris in the second century A.D. There are only five of them extant in the MSS., and fragments of other two.
Prologues.—These (which were usual in the Old and the New Comedy) gave the name of the piece and the author, the original and its author, the scene of the play, and a partial list of characters. In the Prologue also the poet often asked the favour of the audience. Prologues to fourteen plays are extant. The part of the prologue Plautus (like the New Comedy) assigned either to a god, as in the Rudens to Arcturus, or to one of the characters, as in the Mercator to a youth (cf. Mil. and Amph.), or to an actor addressing the audience in the name of the poet, as in the Truculentus. All the prologues have suffered from interpolation, but those of Amph., Merc., Rud., and Trin., and the second parts of those of Mil. and Aul., are founded on what Plautus wrote. The prologues in Cas., Poen., and Capt., are due to later hands. That the prologues are interpolated is shown by their diction; the wit is often poor, and the language un-Plautine, or imitated closely from Plautus’ genuine works. The prologues in their present form probably date from a period shortly after that in which Terence flourished, when there was a want of new plays, and people went back to Plautus. This is shown by the references to fixed seats for the spectators (Poen. 15, Amph. 65, and Capt. 11), which were forbidden by a S.C. passed in B.C. 154, when Cassius Longinus began to build a theatre of stone—a law that was not repealed till some years later. Cf. Capt. 11,
‘Negat hercle ille ultimis accensus. Cedito:
si non ubi sedeas locus est, est ubi ambules.’