The Plautine character is never a consistent human character. He is rather
a personified trait, a broad caricature on magnified foibles of some type
of mankind. There is never any character development, no chastening. We
leave our friends as we found them. They may exhibit the outward
manifestation of grief, joy, love, anger, but their marionette nature
cannot be affected thereby. That we should find inconsistencies in
character portrayal under these circumstances, is not only to be expected,
but is a mathematical certainty. The poet cares not; they must only dance,
dance, dance!
Persistent moralizers, such as Megaronides in the _Trin._, who serve but
as a foil from whom the revelry "sticks fiery off," descend themselves at
moments to bandying the merriest quips (Scene I.). In _Ep._ 382 ff., the
moralizing of Periphanes is counterfeit coinage. Gilded youths such as
Calidorus of the _Ps._ begin by asking (290 f.): "Could I by any chance
trip up father, who is such a wide-awake old boy?", and end by rolling
their eyes upward with: "And besides, if I could, filial piety prevents."
The Menaechmi twins are eminently respectable, but they cheerfully purloin
mantles, bracelets and purses. Hanno of the _Poen._ should according to
specifications be a staid _pater familias_, but Plautus imputes to him a
layer of the _Punica fides_ that he knew his public would take delight in
"booing." And the old gentleman enters into a plot (1090) to chaff
elaborately his newly-found long-lost daughters, whom he has spent a
lifetime in seeking, before disclosing his identity to them (1211 ff.).
Saturio's daughter in the _Per._ is at one time the very model of maidenly
modesty and wisdom (336 ff.), at others an accomplished intriguante and
demi-mondaine (549 ff., esp. 607 ff.). When the plot of the _Ep._ is
getting hopelessly tangled, of a sudden it is magically resolved as by a
deus ex machina and everybody decides to "shake and make up."
Slaves ever fearful of the mills or quarries are yet prone to the most
abominable "freshness" towards their masters. The irrepressible Pseudolus
in reading a letter from Calidorus' mistress says (27 ff.):
"What letters! Humph! I'm afraid the Sibyl is the only person capable of
interpreting these.
"CAL. Oh why do you speak so rudely of those lovely letters written on a
lovely tablet with a lovely hand?
"PS. Well, would you mind telling me if hens have hands? For these look to
me very like hen-scratches.
"CAL. You insulting beast! Read, or return the tablet!
"PS. Oh, I'll read all right, all right. Just focus your mind on this.
"CAL. _(Pointing vacantly to his head._) Mind? It's not here.
"PS. What! Go get one quick then![162]."
In order that the machinations of these cunning slaves may mature, it is
usually necessary to portray their victims as the veriest fools. Witness
the cock-and-bull story by which Stasimus, in _Trin._ 515 ff., convinces
Philto that his master's land is an undesirable real estate prospect.
Dordalus in _Per._ (esp. 493 ff.) exhibits a certain amount of caution in
face of Toxilus' "confidence game," but that he should be victimized at
all stamps him as a caricature.
LeGrand is certainly right in pronouncing the cunning slave a pure
convention, adapted from the Greek and so unsuitable to Roman society that
even Plautus found it necessary to apologize for their unrestrained
gambols, on the ground that 'that was the way they did in Athens!'[163]
Certain of the characters are caricatures _par excellence_, embodiments of
a single attribute. Leaena of the _Cur._ is the perpetually thirsty
_lena_: "Wine, wine, wine!"[164] Cleaerata of the _As._ is a plain
caricature, but is exceptionally cleverly drawn as the _lena_ with the
mordant tongue. Phronesium's thirst in the _Truc._, is gold, gold, gold!
The _danista_ of the _Most._ finds the whole expression of his nature in
the cry of "Faenus!"[165] Assuredly, he is the progenitor of the modern
low-comedy Jew: "I vant my inderesd!" Calidorus of the _Ps._ and
Phaedromus of the _Cur._ are but bleeding hearts dressed up in clothes.
The _milites gloriosi_ are all cartoons;[166] and the perpetually
moralizing pedagogue Lydus of the _Bac._ becomes funny, instead of
egregiously tedious, if acted as a broad burlesque.
The panders[167] are all manifest caricatures, too, especially the famous
Ballio of the _Ps._, whom even Lorenz properly describes as "der
Einbegriff aller Schlechtigkeit," though he deprecates the part as "eine
etwas zu grell and zu breit angefuhrte Schilderung."[168] "Ego scelestus,"
says Ballio himself.[169] He calmly and unctuously pleads guilty to every
charge of "liar, thief, perjurer," etc., and can never be induced to lend
an ear until the cabalistic charm "Lucrum!" is pronounced (264).
The famous miser Euclio has given rise to an inordinate amount of
unnecessary comment. Lamarre[170] is at great pains to defend Plautus from
"le reproche d'avoir introduit dans la peinture de son principal
personnage <Euclio> des traits outres et hors de nature." Indeed, he
possesses few traits in accord with normal human nature. But curiously
enough, as we learn from the _argumenta_ (in view of the loss of the
genuine end of the _Aul._), Euclio at the _denouement_ professes himself
amply content to bid an everlasting farewell to his stolen hoard, and
bestows his health and blessing on "the happy pair." This apparent
conversion, with absolutely nothing dramatic to furnish an introduction or
pretext for it, has caused Langen to depart from his usual judicious
scholarship. After much hair-splitting he solemnly pronounces it
"psychologically possible."[171] LeGrand points out[172] that his change
of heart is not a conversion, but merely a professed reconciliation to the
loss. But there is no need for all this pother. The simple truth is that
Plautus was through with his humorous complication and was ready to top it
off with a happy ending. It is the forerunner of modern musical comedy,
where the grouchy millionaire papa is propitiated at the last moment
(perhaps by the pleadings of the handsome widow), and similarly consents
to his daughter's marriage with the handsome, if impecunious, ensign.