M. Acci Plauti Comoediae

by Titus Maccius Plautus

M. Acci Plauti Comoediae
Title page from M. Acci Plauti Comoediae, George Wythe Collection, Wolf Law Library, College of William & Mary.
Author	Titus Maccius Plautus
Editor	Joannes Fredericus Gronovius
Translator	{{{trans}}}
Published	Lugd. Batav.: Roterod.: Ex Officina Hackiana
Date	1669
Edition	{{{edition}}}
Language	Latin
Volumes	2 volumes in 1 volume set
Pages	{{{pages}}}
Desc.	8vo (21 cm.)
Location	[[Shelf {{{shelf}}}]]
	[[Shelf {{{shelf2}}}]]

Embossed cover detail.

Titus Maccius Plautus was a Roman comic playwright active between c.205 BCE and 184BCE. He was said to have humble origins, which may help explain why his plays were targeted to entertain the majority of the Roman public, rather than the aristocracy. His are the oldest extant Roman works, with 21 plays (20 complete and one remaining only in fragments) of 130 surviving. Plautus freely and generously adapted Greek New Comedy, now lost, to represent and exaggerate Greek life and character in a way which won “the approval of his unsophisticated audience.” He combined Roman stereotypical views of Greeks with extensive word-play and over-the-top humor in his plays which utilized more song and recitation (about two-thirds of the total play composition) than most Roman plays which contained mostly dialogue. By doing this, Plautus essentially wrote musical comedy. The majority of his plays depicted a slave using his wiles and resourcefulness to help his young master further a love affair that was being hindered by another male character, though he uses “a variety of manner” from romance to farce to sentimental comedy. Plautus used stock characters in each of his plays to provide some of the comedic element, often “a boastful soldier, a parasite, and a cook.”

Unfortunately, the work of Plautus is the only extant Latin language—in any form—that survives from the early second century BCE. This is largely due to the complex, difficult language, though it was greatly admired by Romans of the late republic and early emperors. During the Renaissance, Plautus was rediscovered, widely distributed and translated throughout Europe. Henry VII ordered the performance of two of his plays for the French ambassador in 1526, and Plautus’s influence can easily be seen throughout sixteenth-century English comedy. Shakespeare himself used the plots of two plays of Plautus in his own works.

This work was published in 1669 and contains all of Plautus’ extant plays. These include his more popular works: Amphitruo, Aulularia, Capteivei, Bacchides, Mostellaria, Menaechmi, Miles Gloriosus, Pseudolus, Rudens, and Trinummus. Also included are fragments and his complete less popular works: Asinaria, Curculio, Casina, Cistellaria, Epidicus, Mercator, Poenulus, Persa, Stichus, and Truculentus.

Evidence for Inclusion in Wythe's Library

Listed in the Jefferson Inventory of Wythe's Library as "[Plautus] notis varior. 2.v. 8vo." This was one of the books kept by Thomas Jefferson. He later sold a copy to the Library of Congress in 1815, but it no longer exists to verify the edition or Wythe's prior ownership. The Brown Bibliography and George Wythe's Library on LibraryThing include the 1669 edition of M. Acci Plauti Comoediae published in Leiden based on E. Millicent Sowerby's inclusion of that edition in Catalogue of the Library of Thomas Jefferson. The Wolf Law Library purchased a copy of the same edition.

Inscriptions, front free endpaper.

Description of the Wolf Law Library's copy

Bound in contemporary vellum with gilt tooling and gilt centerpieces showing stork and eel on front and back cover. Has fleur-de-lys tooling in corners and on spine. Purchased from Butigenus Bookcase.