After the young man falls in love with a slave girl called Pasicompsa (meaning “pretty in every aspect”), his father develops an interest in her too! It is believed to have been written around 206 BCE and the narrative of the story revolves around the conflict between a son and a father who are both merchants. The Merchant or Mercator is Plautus’s comedy based on a Greek play of the same name, written by the Athenian poet Philemon. Marble relief with tragic and comic masks, second century CE, via the British Museum Male slave characters were more prominent than female ones in his plays, although he includes three slave girls who have important roles in Miles Gloriosus, Casina, and Truculentus. Some of the most famous works of Roman comedy include Plautus’s Mercator, Miles Gloriosus, Aulularia, Casina, and Truculentus. This character is reoccurring, and he often outwits others and provides humor. Today, around twenty of his works have survived, and in eight of his plays, the character of the “clever slave” is present. Plautus, an ancient Roman comedy writer who wrote around 130 plays, was the one who moved the character of the slave to the front of the action. Slaves on the Stage A marble statue of a Slave, 1st or 2nd century CE, Caelian Hill (Rome, Italy) via the British Museum The comedic relief a slave character brought to a comedy was so important that a character called Mercury in Plautus’ Amphitryon makes an announcement to the audience before an otherwise tragic play: “Since there’s a slave part, I’ll make it a tragic-comedy” ( Amph. Eventually, his slave would be the one responsible for a good outcome concerning his marriage with a young lady who usually remained offstage. While, the character of the young man, eligible for marriage, was often followed by a slave character who protected him from conflicts and led him through challenges. Old men were often deceived by slaves in plays (Eun. In the prologue of the play Eunuchus, Terence names the main components of the comic genre: the slave who rubs shoulders with good matrons, bad prostitutes, the greedy parasite, and the boastful soldier. The stereotypical characters in Roman comedy were: a young man ( adulescens), a father figure ( senex), a slave dealer ( leno), a show-off soldier ( miles gloriosus), a parasite ( parasitus), a mother or a wife ( matrona), and an unmarried young woman ( virgo). To understand slave characters in ancient Roman comedy, we must look at the seven stock characters. These masks would exaggerate the difference in looks between, for example, a young nobleman and a grimacing slave. Masks made from other materials, like bronze or terracotta were probably used as wall and stage decorations. They wore a short tunic and one of the characteristic slave masks which were usually made from lighter materials, such as linen and paste. A slave in ancient comedy was identifiable by his or her appearance. Slaves played a key role in the plots of our surviving ancient Roman comedies. Slave Archetypes in Ancient Roman Comedy Ancient Greek or Roman terracotta comic mask, first century CE, Campania (Italy), via the British Museum After gaining his freedom, he began writing, and he presented Roman audiences with six brilliant comedies. He was bought in Carthage by a senator, who educated him and became fascinated with his talents, eventually setting him free. The second notable writer of Roman comedy, Terence, was interestingly a slave himself. One of Shakespeare’s plays, The Comedy of Errors, is a re-interpretation of the ancient play Menaechmi by Plautus. Even William Shakespeare had a passion for his work. In antiquity, around 130 comedies were attributed to Plautus, and his works represent the oldest Latin literary sources available from that time. On the other hand, slaves in ancient comedy had a voice! The most prominent comedic writers from ancient Rome whose plays were enriched by slave characters are Plautus (2nd or 3rd century BCE) and Terence (2nd century BCE). Varro ( Res Rustica 1.17 ) defined slaves as instrumentum vocale or “talking tools”. In ancient Roman literary sources, slaves appear in agricultural manuals or else remain silent, almost invisible observers. Slaves in Ancient Roman Comedy: Giving a Voice to the Voiceless Entrance of the Theatre, by Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema, 1866, via the Fries Museum, LeeuwardenĪs the Romans began to adopt Greek traditions, they developed a fascination with the theatre, a major source of entertainment.
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