It is very amusing too, when Jupiter in _Amph._ 861 ff. strolls in and
speaks his little piece to the pit:
"JUP. I am the renowned Amphitruo, whose slave is Sosia; you know, the
fellow that turns into Mercury at will. I dwell in my sky-parlor and
become Jupiter the while, ad libitum."[158]
Even in olden times Euanthius censured this practice (_de Com._ III.
6)[159]:
nihil ad populum facit actorem velut extra comoediam
loqui, quod vitium Plauti frequentissimum.
Naturally we shall hardly consider under this head the speech of the whole
_grex_, or the "Nunc plaudite" of an actor that closes a number of the
plays. It is no more than the bowing or curtain-calls of today[160],
unless it was an emphatic announcement to the audience that the play was
over.
B. _Inconsistencies and carelessness of composition_.
We have referred above to the voluminous mass of inconsistencies,
contradictions and psychological improbabilities collected by Langen in
his _Plautinische Studien_. He really succeeds in finding the crux of the
situation in recognizing that these features are inherent in Plautus'
style and are frequently employed solely for comic effect, though he is
often overcome by a natural Teutonic stolidity. He aptly points out that
Plautus in his selection of originals has in the main chosen plots with
more vigorous action than Terence.
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