From Greek Roots to Roman Stages

The story of Roman literature begins not with a whisper, but with the raucous laughter echoing through Plautus’s twenty surviving comedies written between 205-184 BCE. While Latin literary tradition traces its origins to Livius Andronicus’s staged play in 240 BCE, Plautus’s works represent the earliest complete surviving texts. These comedies borrowed heavily from Greek “New Comedy” models—particularly the works of Menander and his contemporaries from a century prior. Like their Greek predecessors, they were composed in verse, but with crucial differences in performance context. Greek comedies formed the centerpiece of religious festivals in permanent Athenian theaters, while Roman versions were temporary stage productions amid varied entertainment options during religious celebrations, attracting audiences across social classes.

Plautus didn’t merely translate; he transformed. The 1968 discovery of a tattered papyrus fragment from Menander’s Dis Exapaton (The Double Deceiver) revealed Plautus’s creative adaptation process in Bacchides (494-561 lines). He preserved the core plot but merged scenes, rearranged character entrances to maintain continuous action (Roman comedies typically performed without breaks), and injected jokes into lengthy monologues. Most strikingly, he expanded non-musical Greek passages into longer verses accompanied by flute music—a signature Roman innovation.

The Plautine Formula: Slaves, Songs, and Social Satire

Three elements define Plautus’s revolutionary approach:

1. The Cunning Slave Archetype: Characters like Chrysalus in Bacchides (renamed from the Greek “Syrus”) became protagonists who reveled in deception as an art form. Their boastful monologues often parodied Roman military triumphs, as when Chrysalus compares his scheming to the Trojan War (925+ lines), declaring his “victory” without needing an actual triumphal procession.

2. Musical Experimentation: Plautus expanded musical components far beyond Greek originals. His cantica—operatic solo or duet passages using varied meters—appeared disproportionately in opening scenes to hook audiences. A slave’s frenzied entrance in Mercator (111+ lines), complaining about crowded streets, showcases this energetic style.

3. Cultural Hybridity: While settings remained nominally Greek, Plautus peppered dialogues with Roman references—magistrates’ edicts (Pseudolus 143-172), legal client systems (Menaechmi 571+), and phrases like “living like Greeks” (pergraecari), a distinctly Roman critique of hedonism.

Terence: Refinement and Moral Complexity

Emerging a generation later (160-150 BCE), Terence’s six comedies marked a stylistic departure. Where Plautus prioritized slapstick, Terence preserved Greek New Comedy’s nuanced character studies and coherent plots, evident in works like:

– Andria: A romantic mix-up resolved by discovering a girl’s true Athenian citizenship
– Hecyra: A marital crisis stemming from undisclosed rape and pregnancy
– Eunuchus: A youth impersonating a eunuch to assault a girl later revealed as his social equal

Terence faced criticism for “contaminating” Greek originals by combining scenes from multiple plays, as in Eunuchus, where he inserted a braggart soldier from another Menander work. His prologues—a new feature—defended these choices while revealing theatrical challenges, like Hecyra’s failed performances due to rowdy crowds preferring gladiator shows.

Enduring Legacies

Both playwrights fundamentally shaped Western theater:

– Plautus’s influence appears in Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors (adapted from Menaechmi) and Molière’s The Miser (from Aulularia).
– Terence’s sophisticated dialogues became Latin teaching standards for centuries, though his famous line “Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto” (“I am human: nothing human is alien to me”) was originally delivered by a nosy, comic character.

The unresolved debate in Terence’s Adelphoe—whether strict or permissive parenting proves superior—demonstrates his willingness to complicate moral messages, leaving audiences to ponder life’s ambiguities amid the laughter.

Ennius: The Epic Foundation

Though primarily a comic study, Roman literary development demands acknowledgment of Quintus Ennius (239-169 BCE), whose epic Annales established Latin dactylic hexameter. His dream-vision of Homer’s spirit (Annales opening) symbolized Latin literature’s growing confidence in adapting Greek forms, while battle narratives like his tribute to Fabius Maximus (“Unus homo nobis cunctando restituit rem…”) crafted a distinctly Roman heroic idiom that would inspire Virgil.

From Plautus’s boisterous slaves to Terence’s ethical dilemmas and Ennius’s martial verses, these pioneers transformed borrowed Greek templates into a vibrant literary culture that still echoes in modern storytelling. Their works remind us that Roman comedy was never mere imitation—it was reinvention with a distinctly irreverent, innovative spirit.