[21]
[Sidenote: Lessing] In our citation of opinions we must not overlook that
impressive mile-stone in the history of criticism, the discredited but
still great Lessing. In his "Abhandlung von dem Leben und den Werken des
M. Accius Plautus" Lessing deprecates the harsh judgment of Horace and
later detractors of our poet in modern times. Lessing idealizes him as the
matchless comic poet. That the _Captivi_ is "das vortrefflichste Stueck,
welches jemals auf den Schauplatz gekommen ist," as Lessing declares in
the Preface to his translation of the play, is an utterance that leaves us
gasping.
[Sidenote: Dacier] But Lessing's idea of the purpose of comedy is a
combination of Aristotelian and mid-Victorian ideals: "die Sitten der
Zuschauer zu bilden und zu bessern, ... wenn sie naemlich das Laster
allezeit ungluecklich und die Tugend am Ende gluecklich sein laesst."[22] It
is on the basis of this premise that he awards the comic crown to the
_Cap._[23] His extravagant encomium called forth from a contemporary a
long controversial letter which Lessing published in the second edition
with a reply so feeble that he distinctly leaves his adversary the honors
of the field. How much better the diagnosis of Madame Dacier, who is
quoted by Lessing! In the introduction to her translations of the
_Amphitruo_, _Rudens_ and _Epidicus_ (issued in 1683), she apologizes for
Plautus on the ground that he had to win approval for his comedies from an
audience used to the ribaldry of the _Saturae_.
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