Quid igitur? quoniam hic servos quoque parteis habet. Faciam, sit, proinde ut dixi, Tragicocomædia.

As a specimen of Plautus's humour and character, we may take the following description of a servant's life in place, from the first speech of Sosia, the Currens Servus, in the first scene of the same play:

Quid faciam nunc, si Tresviri me in carcerem compegerint?
Inde cras e promptuaria cella depromar ad flagrum?
Nec caussam liceat dicere mihi, neque in hero quicquam
auxilii siet?

Nec quisquam sit quin me omnes esse dignum deputent : ita
Quasi incudem me miserum homines octo validi cædant: ita
Peregre adveniens hospitio publicitus accipiar?

Hæc heri immodestia coegit, me qui hoc

Noctis a portu ingratis excitavit.

Nonne idem hoc luci me mittere potuit?
Opulento homini hoc servitus dura est?
Hoc magis miser est divitis servos :
Noctesque diesque assiduo satis superque est,
Quo facto, aut dicto adest opus, quietus ne sis.

In comparing our two poets, it will be necessary to guard against the supposition, that Terence is all art, and Plautus all rough nature and humour. The latter has contrivance abundantly at command, though he had not arrived at the double plot; and is peculiarly happy in the little circumstances of which he lays hold, to help forward his fables. Of this there is an example in the Miles Gloriosus, Actus 2. Scena 4. v. 27. :

PA. Pergin', sceleste, intendere, atque hanc arguere? PH. Ecastor ergo

Mihi haud falsum eveniat somnium, quod noctu hoc somniavi.

Palæstrio finding it difficult to make Sceledrus disbelieve the evidence of his own eyes, Philocomasium artfully introduces this dream of hers, for the purpose of reconciling the belief they wished to impress, which was so necessary to the success of their object, with what he had actually seen; and the appearance of Philocomasium as her own twin sister immediately afterwards, persuades Sceledrus, prepared as he was by the previous recital, and by the anticipated feeling, "ita dorsus totus prurit," "prius ob oculos sibi caliginem obstitisse."

There are some points of humour in Plautus, of which no modern language would admit. Of this kind is the following speech of Hegio, in the Capteivi, Actus 1. Scena 2. v. 56.:

Multis et multigeneribus opus est tibi
Militibus. primum dum opus est Pistoriensibus.
Opus Paniceis, opus Placentinis quoque,
Opus Turdetanis, opus est Ficedulensibus:
Jam maritumi omnes milites opus sunt tibi.

There is a sort of untranslateable pun on the names of places, as Pistorium and Placentia, Italian towns, ascribing to the inhabitants, by inference, the pre-eminence in certain trades, which were in necessary request for furnishing out entertainments. The Pistorienses are both Pistorians and bakers, of which he says there are "genera aliquot:" the Placentini, both Placentians and pastry-cooks, &c.

Among the writers of modern comedy, Moliere comes in closest contact both with Plautus and with Terence. L'Ecole des Maris is obviously taken from the Adelphi of Terence, but with an

addition of interest congenial with the French taste. In the Adelphi, two old men of opposite characters, a father and an uncle, educate a son and a nephew on totally opposite systems. In L'Ecole des Maris, two guardians have each a female ward committed to their charge; and, as in the Latin play, one is severe and the other indulgent; but in the French play, both are lovers. The converse of Moliere's subject was beautifully treated by Garrick, in a little piece called The Guardian, the hint of which was taken from La Pupile of Monsieur Fagan, a writer who seems to have formed himself on the elegant model of Terence. But nothing can exceed the art with which Moliere, in his Amphitrion, has borrowed from Plautus, who had before availed himself of Euripides and of Archippus, as the originals who had treated this subject among the Greeks, and from them the Latin poet introduced it to his countrymen. Moliere has shown a very just taste, both in his alterations and additions. The French critics assign the superiority to their own poet; but this can scarcely be conceded, were it only on the consideration that he is so much further removed from originality. Rotrou had produced the comedy of Les Sosies thirty years before Moliere. His Céphalie is a transcript of Plautus's Thessala; and their only use in the fable is as confidantes of Alcmena. But Moliere's Cléanthis, by being made the wife of Sosia in addition to her other connection with the plot, is rendered a more important and entertaining personage.

Another instance of Moliere's felicity in changing and adding, occurs in the conclusion of the

piece. Plautus has recourse to the old pis-aller of machinery: and Amphitruo concludes gravely, though perhaps with a little touch of sarcasm :

Nunc, spectatores, Jovis summi causa clare plaudite.

In Moliere, Sosia finishes with a stroke of humour. After observing that on such delicate occasions, the selection of complimentary phraseology is a matter of difficulty between the parties, he says:

Le grand Dieu Jupiter nous fait beaucoup d'honneur,
Et sa bonté, sans doute, est pour nous sans seconde;
Il nous promet l'infaillible bonheur

D'une fortune, en mille biens féconde,

Et chez nous il doit naître un fils d'un très-grand cœur,
Tout cela va le mieux du monde;
Mais enfin coupons aux discours;
chacun chez soi doucement se retire.
Sur telles affaires toujours,

Et

que

Le meilleur est de ne rien dire.

Moliere took the hint of L'Avare, and a great part of the comedy itself, from the Aulularia of Plautus. The Latin title is derived from aula, or olla, the diminutive of which is aulula. This signifies a pot, in which the old miser Euclio kept the treasure he had found. The very humorous conduct of the scene, in which Euclio in the Latin, and Harpagon in the French play, receive the proposition for the marriage without a portion, is implicitly adopted by Moliere, who has also been bold enough to adopt Euclio's address to the spectators, after Strobilus has stolen his treasure. The passages are so strongly illustrative of the

spirit of both, that I shall transcribe them at length :

Obsecro vos ego, mihi auxilio,

Oro, obtestor, sitis, et hominem demonstretis, qui eam

abstulerit,

Qui vestitu et creta occultant sese, atque sedent quasi sint frugi.

Quid ais tu? tibi credere certum est. Nam esse bonum, e vultu cognosco.

Quid est? quid ridetis? novi omnes.

complures.

Scio fures esse hîc

Hem, nemo habet horum! occidisti. dic igitur, quis habet?

nescis !

Heu me miserum, miserum! perii male perditus! pes

sume ornatus eo.

Tantum gemiti et malæ molestiæ hic dies mihi obtulit, Famem et pauperiem: perditissumus ego sum omnium in

terra.

Nam quid mihi opus est vita, qui tantum auri perdidi ?
Quod custodivi sedulo. Egomet me defraudavi,
Animumque meum, geniumque meum.

ficantur,

Meo malo et damno: pati nequeo.

Nunc eo alii læti

Qui peut-ce être? Qu'est-il devenu? Où est-il ? Où se cache-t-il? Que ferai-je pour le trouver? Où courir? Où ne pas courir? N'est-il point là? N'est-il point ici? Qui est-ce? Arrête. Ren-moi mon argent, coquin.

Ah! c'est moi. Que de gens assemblés ! Je ne jette mes regards sur personne qui ne me donne des soupçons, et tout me semble mon voleur. Hé? De quoi est-ce qu'on parle là? De celui qui m'a dérobé? Quel bruit fait-on là-haut? Est-ce mon voleur qui y est ? De grâce, si l'on sçait des nouvelles de mon voleur, je supplie que l'on m'en dise. N'est-il point caché là parmi vous Ils me regardent tous, et se mettent à rire.

?

In both these instances comic despair is carried to the utmost; and Harpagon, seizing on his own