Comœdiæ - Plautus, Titus Maccius 250 BC-164 BC; Gronovius, Johann Friedrich 1611-1671 (Leiden Hack, 1664)
Plautus is known for his powerful, humorous and lively, original Latin style. He is primarily concerned with stage effect, not literary effect. Nor does he have any political commitment or social criticism. For his comedies, he used Attic (Greek) comedies as examples, but rendered them very freely and with many changes. Through the masterful use of the Latin vernacular, transposing the action to Roman states, inserting songs and merging pieces from different comedies, he managed to make the pieces into original creations that are cleverly put together.
Plautus probably wrote all his works between the last years of the Second Punic War and his death. The chronology of his works is partly unknown, so they are usually given in alphabetical order.
Complete edition of Plautus' 21 known Comedies,from Aphitruo to the fragments of Vidularia.
Extraordinary title page engraving by P. Phil. decpicting a stage with 4 characters: a dressed monkey; a woman, a sater carying a globe, a warrior with shield and sword.
Includes index
ex libris Andre f. M... (?) (manuscript)
Keywords: 17th Century (1601-1700); Classical Antiquity (8th Century BC-6th Century AD); Play (theater); Comedy; mise-en-scène