Today I finished reading Plautus’ Mostellaria for a class that I’m going to teach this spring. Mostellaria in Latin means little monster, but because in this case the monster in question refers to a ghost, it’s usually translated as The Haunted House. I had quoted this play back in an earlier post so today I’ll talk about it in more depth.
First a little background on Roman comedy generally. Roman comedy can best be described as having started in 240 BCE when Livius Andronicus produced a Latin translation (or possibly a loose adaptation) of a play by the Athenian comedian Menander. After 240 BCE, comedies were regularly performed as part of certain festivals, such as the ludi plebis, or for special occasion, such as the funerals of important figures or to help commemorate the construction of new temples. Unfortunately for us, none of Livius’ plays survive. We do however have 21 plays of Plautus and six by Terence. Plautus’ plays are in fact the oldest of the surviving bits of Latin poetry, as Plautus lived from c. 250 to c. 180 BCE.
Plautus’ Mostellaria is set in Athens and the plot concerns a lazy, but wealthy son, having to confront his father who has been away in Egypt for three years, unaware that his son Philolaches has been doing nothing but feasting, drinking, whoring and generally wasting his money. Actually, that’s not fair to Philolaches: in addition to feasting he has borrowed a rather hefty sum of money, 16 minae, in order to manumit Philematium, who is now his mistress. Philolaches’ trusty, but wily slave, Tranio uses his power of deception to persuade the father that Philolaches isn’t home because their house is now haunted.
I will probably write a piece on Tranio in the future, as he is a perfect example of a stock figure in Latin literature: the callidus servus, the clever slave. But despite Tranio being a stock figure, Plautus nonetheless is able to use him to great effect. What I want to write about today is how Philolaches and Philematiums’ relationship shapes our understanding of Roman manumission.
First, some problems. To some extent all of Plautus’ places were influenced by Greek plays, something that is easily evident by the setting, in this case Athens, and by the Greek names of his characters (a scholar counted that out of the 270 names in Plautus’ corpus, 250 are Greek). Furthermore, at the beginning of a number of Plautus’ plays are notes on the production. These didascaliae, the technical term for these particular notes, often list the year of the original production, some comments on the type of music used and sometimes mention what Greek play that Plautus used for inspiration. For a long time, scholars treated Plautus not as an author but simply as a translator. However, such a position is no longer in vogue, in part because our increased knowledge of Greek comedy makes it clear that while Plautus was very much indebted to the Greeks, he was also an innovator.
Back to manumission. Unfortunately for us, the freedwoman Philematium only appears in Act 1 scene 3, but that particular scene provides a lot of material to comment on the power relationship among masters, slaves and freedwomen. In this scene, Philematium is talking to her slave woman Scapha about how much she loves Philolachus, and indeed loves him so much that she ignores Scapha’s advice to take up other lovers in case Philolachus ever ditches her for a new flame. What these two women do not know is that Philolachus himself is spying on them. While he spies on the women, he continuously talks to the audience about how he will punish Scapha when she bad mouths him and reward her when she praises him. Because Philematium only declares her love for him, Philolachus only has good words for her, which he articulates in the following way:
“If I don’t set her free all over again, fair Philematium
As a reward for that noble oration”
Translation by Palmer Bovie
First a little background on Roman comedy generally. Roman comedy can best be described as having started in 240 BCE when Livius Andronicus produced a Latin translation (or possibly a loose adaptation) of a play by the Athenian comedian Menander. After 240 BCE, comedies were regularly performed as part of certain festivals, such as the ludi plebis, or for special occasion, such as the funerals of important figures or to help commemorate the construction of new temples. Unfortunately for us, none of Livius’ plays survive. We do however have 21 plays of Plautus and six by Terence. Plautus’ plays are in fact the oldest of the surviving bits of Latin poetry, as Plautus lived from c. 250 to c. 180 BCE.
Plautus’ Mostellaria is set in Athens and the plot concerns a lazy, but wealthy son, having to confront his father who has been away in Egypt for three years, unaware that his son Philolaches has been doing nothing but feasting, drinking, whoring and generally wasting his money. Actually, that’s not fair to Philolaches: in addition to feasting he has borrowed a rather hefty sum of money, 16 minae, in order to manumit Philematium, who is now his mistress. Philolaches’ trusty, but wily slave, Tranio uses his power of deception to persuade the father that Philolaches isn’t home because their house is now haunted.
I will probably write a piece on Tranio in the future, as he is a perfect example of a stock figure in Latin literature: the callidus servus, the clever slave. But despite Tranio being a stock figure, Plautus nonetheless is able to use him to great effect. What I want to write about today is how Philolaches and Philematiums’ relationship shapes our understanding of Roman manumission.
First, some problems. To some extent all of Plautus’ places were influenced by Greek plays, something that is easily evident by the setting, in this case Athens, and by the Greek names of his characters (a scholar counted that out of the 270 names in Plautus’ corpus, 250 are Greek). Furthermore, at the beginning of a number of Plautus’ plays are notes on the production. These didascaliae, the technical term for these particular notes, often list the year of the original production, some comments on the type of music used and sometimes mention what Greek play that Plautus used for inspiration. For a long time, scholars treated Plautus not as an author but simply as a translator. However, such a position is no longer in vogue, in part because our increased knowledge of Greek comedy makes it clear that while Plautus was very much indebted to the Greeks, he was also an innovator.
Back to manumission. Unfortunately for us, the freedwoman Philematium only appears in Act 1 scene 3, but that particular scene provides a lot of material to comment on the power relationship among masters, slaves and freedwomen. In this scene, Philematium is talking to her slave woman Scapha about how much she loves Philolachus, and indeed loves him so much that she ignores Scapha’s advice to take up other lovers in case Philolachus ever ditches her for a new flame. What these two women do not know is that Philolachus himself is spying on them. While he spies on the women, he continuously talks to the audience about how he will punish Scapha when she bad mouths him and reward her when she praises him. Because Philematium only declares her love for him, Philolachus only has good words for her, which he articulates in the following way:
“If I don’t set her free all over again, fair Philematium
As a reward for that noble oration”
Translation by Palmer Bovie