[189]
In Conclusion
In contrast to these grotesqueries certain individual scenes and plays
stand out with startling distinctness as possessed of wit and humor of
high order. The description by Cleaereta of the relations of lover,
mistress and _lena_ is replete with biting satire (_As._ 177 ff., 215
ff.). The finale of the same play is irresistibly comic. In _Aul. _ 731
ff. real sparks issue from the verbal cross-purposes of Euclio and
Lyconides over the words "pot" and "daughter." The _Bac._ is an excellent
play, marred by padding. When the sisters chaff the old men as "sheep"
(1120 ff.), the humor is naturalistic and human. The _Cas._, uproarious
and lewd as it is, becomes excruciatingly amusing if the mind is open to
appreciating humor in the broadest spirit. The discourse of Periplecomenus
(_Mil._ 637 ff.) is marked by homely satirical wisdom. In the _Ps._ the
badinage of the name-character is appreciably superior to most of the
incidental quips. Pseudolus generously compliments Charinus on beating him
at his own game of repartee (743). When Weise (_Die Komodien des Plautus_,
p. 181) describes _Ps._ IV. 7 as "eine der ausgezeichnetsten Scenen, die
es irgend giebt," his superlative finds a better justification than usual.
When Menaechmus Sosicles sees fit "to put an antic disposition on," we
have a scene which, while eminently farcical, is signally clever and
dramatically effective.
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