When Leonida enters (_As._ 267 ff.) as the running slave, he is still out
of breath at 326-7! Stasimus in _Trin._ 1008 ff., though his mission is
also proclaimed as desperately urgent, pauses to declaim on public morals!
Considerable light has been thrown upon this subject recently by the
dissertation of Weissman, _De servi currentis persona apud comicos
Romanes_ (Giessen, 1911), though his explanation of the _modus operandi_
is inconclusive. Langen has commented on it at some length,[125] but
offers no solution. Weise frankly admits:[126] "Wie sie gelaufen sind, ist
ein RAtsel fur uns." LeGrand[127] follows Weise's conclusion that it is an
imitation from the Greek and in support of this instances Curculio's use,
while running, of the presumed translations from the Greek: _agoranomus_,
_demarchus_, etc. He also cites as parallels some unconvincing phrases from
fragments of New Comedy, while developing an ingenious theory that the
device is a heritage from the Greek orchestra, where it could have been
performed with a hippodrome effect. Terence berates the practice,[128] but
makes use of it himself.[129]
Weissman's conclusions are worth a summary. He notes the following as the
usual essential concomitants: 1. It is mentioned in the text that the
slave is on the run. 2. He is the bearer of news of the moment; 3. He
fails to recognize other characters on stage; 4. He is halted by the very
man he is so violently seeking. He cites as the genuine occurrences of the
_servus_ or _parasitus currens_, besides the passages mentioned above,
_Cap._ 781 ff., _Ep._ 1 ff., 192 ff., _Mer._ 111 ff., _Per._ 272 ff.,
_St._ 274 ff. Furthermore, he argues convincingly that this was an
independent Roman development without a prototype on the Greek stage and
neatly refutes Weise and LeGrand by proving that there are no extant Greek
fragments sufficient to furnish a ground for any but the most tenuous
argument. Above all, he correctly interprets the poet's aim with the
dictum: "Praeterquam quod hac persona optime utitur ad actionem bene
continuandam id maxime spectat ut per eam _spectatorum risum_ captet." And
this from a German youth of twenty-two!
It is in his attempt to explain the mechanism that we believe Weissman
fails. He essays an exegesis of each passage, though the separate
explanations are naturally similar. It will suffice to quote one, that to
_As._ 267 ff.: "Hoc nullo modo aliter mihi declarari posse videtur nisi
sic: Oratio Leonidae currentis maior est quam ut arbitrari possimus
currentem semper eum habuisse eam. Ex versu 290 Leonidam de celeritate sua
remisisse plane apparet. Quod semel solum eum fecisse cum non satis mihi
esse videatur, saepius--bis vel ter--per breve tempus eum cursum suum
interrupisse, circumspexisse, Libanum autem non spectavisse (hoc consilium
poetae erat, licentia poetica est) et hoc modo per totam scaenam cursum
suum direxisse arbitror."
It will be observed that for lack of any tangible evidence he very
properly makes use of subjective reasoning. Now it has long been the
opinion of the writer that the maximum of comic effect (and that this was
the purpose of the _servus currens_ there can surely be no doubt) could
best be obtained by the actor's making a violent and frenzied pretense of
running while scarcely moving from the spot. Consider the ludicrous
spectacle of the rapidly moving legs and the flailing arms, with the
actor's face turned toward the audience, as he declaims sonorously of his
haste to perform his vital errand, while making but a snail's progress.
Truly then his plea of exhaustion would not be without excuse! This is an
explanation at once simpler, more potentially comic, more in accord with
what we predicate as the spirit of Plautus, and furthermore we have seen
roars of laughter created by the similar device of a low comedian in a
modern extravaganza. Taking advantage of the same subjective license, we
see nothing in Weissman's theory to offset our opinion. But, what is more,
our subjective reconstruction is given color by a shred of tangible
evidence. Suetonius (_Tib._ 38) refers to a popular quip on the emperor
that compares him to an actor on the classic Greek stage: "Biennio
continuo post ademptum imperium pedem porta non extulit; ... ut vulgo iam
per iocum Callip(p)ides vocaretur, quem cursitare ac ne cubiti quidem
mensuram progredi proverbio Graeco notatum est." That this Callipides was
the a1/2'IEuroI?I--III"I(R)I, mentioned by Xenophon (_Sym._ III. 11), Plutarch
(_Ages._ 21 and _Apophth. Lacon._: s. v. _Ages._), Cicyero (_Ad. Att._
XIII. 12) and possibly by Aristotle (_Poet._ 26.), seems highly plausible.
Compare the _saltus fullonius_ (Sen. _Ep._ 15.4).
Most amusing of all is Plautus' introduction of a parody on the parody,
when Mercury rushes in post-haste crying (_Amph._ 984 ff.):
"Make way, give way, everybody, clear the way! I tell you all: don't you
get so bold as to stand in my road. For, egad! I'd like to know why I, a
god, shouldn't have as much right to threaten the rabble as a mere slave
in the comedies!"
And perhaps _St._ 307 is a joke on the running slave: Sed spatium hoc
occidit: brevest curriculo: quam me paenitet? That violent haste was
considered a slavish trait is evidenced by _Poen._ 523-3.