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. Witness the imitation by Shakespeare in _The
Comedy of Errors_, IV. 4, and in spirit by modern farce; for instance, in
_A Night Off_, when the staid old Professor feels the recrudescence of his
youthful aspirations to attend a prize-fight, he simulates madness as a
prelude to dashing wildly away.
The following from _Rud._ (160 ff.) is theatrical but tremendously
effective and worthy of the highest type of drama. Sceparnio, looking
off-stage, spies Ampelisca and Palaestra tossed about in a boat. He
addresses Daemones:
"SC. But O Palaemon! Hallowed comrade of Neptune ... what scene meets my
eye?
DAE. What do you see?
SC. I see two poor lone women sitting in a bit of a boat. How the poor
creatures are being tossed about! Hoorah! Hoorah! Fine! The waves are
whirling their boat past the rocks into the shallows. A pilot couldn't
have steered straighter. I swear I never saw waves more high. They're safe
if they escape those breakers. Now, now, danger! One is overboard! Ah, the
water's not deep: she'll swim out in a minute. Hooray! See the other one,
how the wave tossed her out! She is up, she's on her way shoreward; she's
safe!"
Sceparnio clasps his hands, jumps up and down, grasps the shaking Daemones
convulsively and communicates his excitement to the audience. It is a
piece of thrilling theatrical declamation and must have wrought the
spectators up to a high pitch. In general, the _Rud._ is a superior play.
In _Cas._ 229 ff. there is developed a piece of faithful and entertaining
character-drawing, as the old rouA(C) Lysidamus fawns upon his militant
spouse Cleostrata, with the following as its climax:
"CLE. (_Sniffling._) Ha! Whence that odor of perfumes, eh?