CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION

Evening Star, Issue 19666, 20 September 1927, Page 4

CLASSICAL ASSOCIATION

ADDRESS OH PLAUTUS The Otago Classical Association’s meeting last night at the Museum was presided over by Mr W. J. Motrelly the lecturers being Messrs B. H. Howard and A. T. M'Naughton, whoso subject was ‘Plautus,’ tho Roman Comedy Poet.’ Mr Howard opened the lecture with a description of tho theatrical world of Plautus’s day. The Romans, like the Greeks,, ho said, had no fixed price for admission, and the pcrlormaiico of plays was a part of public worship occurring four times, a year during tho celebration of tho great religious festival. In addition to these fixed performances there might ho others from time to time during games instituted for tho propitiation of the gods, in thanksgiving, or in the celebration of the opening of a temple or a public building. There was no permanent theatre, the stage being of wood, erected and taken down as required. The spectators -brought their own chairs, or, failing that, they sat, stood, reclined, or crouched on the ground. Tho audience was composed of two sections—an intellectual minority and a vast illiterate and vulgar majority. The great gulf between the two classes could never be bridged, as the .dilleven ce in social standing forbade it. Their tastes were in strong opposition, and a play written for the intellectuals could not fall to displease the mob, which began to interrupt when its interest waned. A synopsis of the life of Plautus was given by Mr M'Naugbton, who said that the poet was born somewhere about tho year 254 n.c. in a small town called Tarsina, in tho district of Umbria—one of the north-easterly Adriatic provinces of Rome. Not much, was known of bis life, but with what they knew and what they could guess it was possible to piece together a file story which was not wholly fanciful ami imaginary He probably came to Rome ns a lad in bis teens, and they were told that he found employment among the workmen ami carpenters engaged bv those who staged plays in Rome. Although this work was probably casual, ami it appeared that at some time or another ho saved some money with which be engaged in ioreign trade, his ventures in this direction, however, proved to bo bis ruin, and he bad to enter the service of a miller and turn the hand-mill —a very low-casto occupation. But even during this drudgery he managed to find time to turn to good account his knowledge of the stage, and, oven more, his knowledge of life. The first fruits wore three comedies which ho sold to a theatrical manager, wjio produced them with decided success. Tho money 1 rom those enabled him to devote his tune solely to producing comedies, which occupation he followed until his death nearly forty years afterwards. Scores of comedies were supposed to have been written by him, but of those only about twenty had come down to students of the present day fairly intact, which would seem to indicate that they enjoyed a wide currency and became nn essential part ot tho national literature. , . „ Mr Howard referred to the influence of Plautus on playwrights of later years. Many of bis plots bad boon used as a basis for the plays of moro modern authors. Among English writers who had used Pjautus for cither plot or dramatic idea were Shakespeare Jansen, Hey wood, Drydon, and_ lidding, and among the French Moliero stood out. As a matter of 1 act, tho greatest of French comic dramatists —Tristan Bernard—used tho plot of ‘ Menacchmi as late as 1908 in his ‘ Jumeaux Anglais.’ Plautus’s reputation had varied through the ages. All broad-minded Romans of the literary world recognised his merit, and even Cicero paid tribute to his dramatic powers. Quintilian ami Horace supplied the only invidious notices, but Stilo remarked that if the muses had wished to speak Latin they would have done so through tho ups ol Plautus. Pliny the younger and Aulus Gollius spoke of him with unstinted praise, hut, •unfortunately, from that time ho wont into eclipse, through the Middle Ages ami later, though those who were so silent on his merits did not hesitate to use his store ol plots. It was not until the nineteenth century that contemporary criticism began to realise again his true worth. From that date his favor had gone on increasing until the present day, when popular vote placed him far above lus immediate successor and rival— Icrcnco. Tho speakers concluded with readings from several of Plautus’s comedies, which amply illustrated the text of their lecture.