The Study Guide for The Menaechmi Twins |
A Study Guide for The Menaechmi Twins By Plautus To accompany the performance by Theater Ludicrum |
The Life of Plautus Aulus Gellius (c.A.D. 150) tells us a little about the life of Plautus. He was born in Sarsina, a small Umbrian town in the mountainous area northeast of Rome, perhaps in 254 B.C. He made money in operis artificium scaenicorum. This probably means he was a "stage-hand." He then lost his money in an overseas shipping investment and was put in jail for debt. In jail he was made grind flour with a device called a trusatiles. In prison he reportedly wrote plays, the "Bondsman" (Addictus) and "Fatso" (Saturio) among them. From this we gather that he was able to pay off his debt and begin a successful career as a playwright. Plautus lived and wrote during and immediately after the Second Punic. He died during the censorship of Cato the Elder, in 184 B.C. Dramatis Personae The list of characters in a play are called the dramatis personae. Personae may mean "mask" as well as "character." Scholars have debated the use of masks in the original Plautine performances. Some scholars believe one actor played several parts. The characters are listed in the order of appearance. Below is the dramatis personae of the Menaechmi. Prologus Peniculus parasitus Menaechmus I adulescens Erotium meretrix Cylindrus coquos Menaechmus II adulescens (Sosicles) Messenio servus Matrona Senex Medicus Prologus We know that some prologues were written later than the original production. After you've seen the Menaechmi, discuss if the prologue is necessary. What information does the prologue provide that the audience needs to know? Peniculus Peniculus mean "little tail." The ancients used ox-tails or horse tails as brushes. It is also a near pun with the Latin word penis. Discuss if Puff (used in Theater Ludicrum's production) is an appropriate translation. What English word would you use for peniculus? Parasitus is a Latin word borrowed form the Greek, meaning "guest" or one who eats with another." Menachumus The two Menaechmi brother are twins with nearly opposite moral character. Having had different life experiences, we accept this. What about intelligence? Studies on twins have shown interesting results. Twins may be either fraternal or identical. Fraternal twins, or dizygotic twins, are developed from two ova fertilized by two sperms. They can even be different sexes. Identical twins, or monozygotic twins, develop from one ovum and one sperm. Studies have shown that fraternal twins differ in I.Q. tests as much as other, non-twin, siblings. But correlation of I.Q. is much greater for identical twins. Discuss the following data: 1. Non twin siblings reared apart in different households have a 30% correlation of I.Q. 2. Dizgotic twins reared in the same household have a 50% correlation of I.Q scores. 3. Monozygotic twins reared apart in different households have a 75% correlation of I.Q. scores. The name Menaechmus, although not a Roman name, was probably familiar to the Roman audiences. Menaechmus was a Greek mathematician who solved the problem of how to double the size of a cube. The legendary King Minos of Crete was unhappy with the size of his son Glaucus' tomb and wanted to double its volume. One mathematician mistakenly advised that he could do this by doubling the length, width and height. But this does not double the volume. The volume of a cube 2x2x2 would be 8 cubic feet. Doubling length, width and height, 4x4x4, would be 64 cubic feet. What formula is needed to result in 16 cubic feet? This was one of the problems discussed at Plato's Academy. Then the mathematician Menaechmus, who lived near Cynzius, Asia Minor, circa 380-320 BC, found the solution. He also discovered that cutting a cone by a plane not parallel ot the base produces ellipses, parabolas and hyperbolas. . Erotium Erotium means "love thing" in Greek, a fitting name for a prostitute. The Latin word for "prostitute" is meretrix, a word related to mereo, -ere "to earn or merit." Proper women in ancient Greece and early Rome could not own property. A woman's property, including her clothing were legally her husband's or father's. A woman's father or family gave her some property, called a dowry, when she married which was controlled by her husband. If the husband and wife divorced, the dowry would have to be returned to the wife's father or family. A woman who earned money herself was considered improper. Messenio Menaechmus (formerly Sosicles) has a slave named Messenio. His name recalls the ancient city of Messene, modern Messina, located on the northeast corner of Sicily. The Messinians invited the Carthagians to help them because they feared the hegemony of Syracuse. Later, when they wanted to get rid of the Carthaginians, they asked Rome for aid. Rome sent troops and this intervention is considered the spark that started the Second Punic War between Rome and Carthage. Messenio is a fitting name for a loyal slave since Messene remained loyal to Rome throughout the Second Punic War. Matrona and Ancilla During the Second Punic War Sumptuary Laws were enacted that forbade spending money on luxury items. The Lex Oppia restricted women from wearing more than half an ounce of gold, or multi-colored clothing, or to ride in a horse-drawn vehicle in town, unless as part of a religious ceremony. In 195 BC women demonstrated in the Forum for the repeal of the Lex Oppia. Cato criticized the demonstration, saying that the early Romans did not allow women out of the house without guardians. Supporters of the repeal defended the demonstration. They said that Roman women had often participated in politics and cited three legendary instances: the intervention of the Sabine women to stop the war between their fathers and their Roman husbands, the women who turned back Coriolanus' army, and the gold volunteered by Roman women to ransom Rome after its capture by the Gauls. How might a Roman audience, living under the Lex Oppia, react to Menaechmus' stealing luxury items from his wife? Cylindrus Cylindrus means "cylinder" or "roller" such as would be used for leveling ground or a cook's rolling pin, Mythological references in The Menaechmi Hippolyta The ninth labor of Hercules was to bring back the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. The Amazons were warlike women who lived without men. They only meet their neighbors once a year to have children. The Amazons only reared the girls. Mars, the god of war, gave Hippolyta a girdle for her prowess in war. Hippolyta fell in love with Hercules and would only remove the girdle for him. But Juno stirred up the Amazon and drove them to attack Hercules. Fearing treachery, Hercules killed Hypolyta and took the girdle from her dead body. Tithonus Tithonus was the brother of Priam, the King of Troy. The goddess Aurora (Dawn) fell in love with him and carried him away. Aurora begged the gods to make Tithonus immortal, which they did. Tithonus was given immortality but not eternal youth. He withered away into a grasshoper. He lost all his senses and strength, yet could not die. Castor and Pollux Jupiter loved the girl Leda and disguised himself as as swan and made love with her. On the same night Jupiter made love with Leda. So did Tyndareus, her husband and King of Sparta. Thus Leda bore two sets of twins, one immortal and one mortal. The immortal twins were Helen and Pollux. The mortal were Clytemnesta, who murdered her husband Agamemnon, and Castor. Castor and Pollux are also known as the Dioscuri, the youths of Zeus. Pollux was a boxer and Castor was a spearman. The brother were devoted to each other. When Castor was killed in a fight, Pollux shared his immortality with him. They were said to give aid to warriors and sailors. Castor and Pollux rode on white horses and were believed to have helped the Romans at the battles of Lake Regillus and Sagrea. They make up the constellation Gemini, the Latin word for "twins." Nestor After Niobe boasted that she was more fortunate than the goddess Leto, Leto's children Apollo and Artemis (Diana) slew all but one of her children. This child, Chloris, later married and had a child called Nestor. Apollo granted Nestor all the years that he had taken from his uncles and aunts. After living through three generations, Nestor went to Troy as the wise and honored advisor. Dionysius Many mortals have outlawed the worship of Dionysius (Bacchus) the god of wine. Lycurgus put him in prison. The god punished him by driving him mad. Dionysius made Lycurgus believe his son Dryas was a vine. When Lycurgus pruned the vine, he cut off his son's arms and legs. When Pentheus, King of Thebes, forbade the Dionysian worship and dressed up as a woman to spy on the secret ceremonies, Dionysius drove him mad and made him confuse his mother for an animal and kill her. Calchas Calchas was a soothsayer for the Greeks during the Trojan War. Plautine Performance What would the original Plautine performance have been like? The comedies would have been performed on outdoor, temporary wooden stages. We are unsure exactly where these temporary stages would have been in ancient Rome. Since remains of theaters have been found connected with temples from the second century B.C., some believe the plays of Plautus may have been presented on the steps of the Temple of Cybele on the Palatine. Others say the stages would have been erected outside the pomerium (the official boundary of the city) Pompey's Theater and the Theater of Marcellus are both outside the pomerium. Post holes in the Forum suggest that temporary wooden amphitheaters could have bee constructed there in the second century B.C. It is possible that the plays of Plautus were performed in these structures. It wasn't until 56 B.C. that Pompey had first permanent stone theater in Rome constructed. The plays of Plautus owe a lot to Greek drama, especially Greek New Comedy, which are sometimes mentioned in the prologues. It is thought that the early Italian improvisation tradition, as found in unscripted Atellan Farce, has also influenced Plautine theater. The stock characters of Pappas, Dossenus, Bucco, Manduccus and Maccus (the Clown) repeatedly appear in Atellan Farce. Some believe that Titus Maccius Plautus took his nomen from the name of the Atellan Farce clown. Plautus set his plays in Greek cities which no doubt were exotic to the Roman audience. The texts suggest the Plautus' actors had experience with improvisation and that Plautine theater required that actors "be in the moment." This problem of making a scripted play appear as fresh as an improvisation is one of the central questions in theater. Dramaturges from Shakespeare and Moliere to Stanislavisky and Lee Strasburg have wrestled with this very problem. A Tour of the Ancient World through The Menaechmi Plautus wrote his comedies immediately after, and during, the Second Punic War (218 to 201 BC). The original audience of the Menaechmi would have been familiar with the story of a contemporary Syracusan mathematician, Archimedes, who invented war machines used by Syracuse against the Romans during the Second Punic War. The Roman general Marcellus, mentioned in The Aeneid, led the siege against Syracuse which had gone over to the Carthaginian side in 210 BC. [The Romans launched an attack against Syracuse] that might well have proven successful, had it not been for the presence in Syracuse at that time of one particular individual--Archimedes. Archimedes, unrivalled in his knowledge of astronomy, was even more remarkable as the inventor and constructor of types of artillery and military devices of various kinds, by the aid of which he was able to lift by one finger as it were, to frustrate the most laborious operations of the enemy. [Marcellus attacked Syracuse with sixty quinquiremes. These quinquiremes were lashed together in pairs and] employed to carry towers, several storeys high....[ Archimedes countered this elaborate sea-borne attack with artillery of varying size. Roman ships too-close for the artillery] he dealt with by using a swing-beam and grapnel. The method was this: the swing-beam projected over the wall and an iron grapnel was attached to it on a heavy chain; the grapnel was lowered on to a vessel's bow, and the beam was then swung up, the other arm being brought to the ground by the shifting of a leaden weight; the result was to stand the ship, so to speak, on her tail, bow in the air. Then the whole contraption was suddenly let go, and the ship, falling smashed as it were from the wall into the water (to the great alarm of the crew) was more or less swamped even if it happened to come down on an even keel. -- Livy, XXIV.34, Aubrey de Selincourt, trans. The "iron hand"of Archimedes from a detail of a wall painting in the Uffizi Museum, Florence, painted by Giulio Parigi circa 1600. Despite Archimedes' inventions, the Romans eventually took Syracuse and Archimedes himself was killed by victorious Romans. The city was turned over to the [Roman] troops to pillage as they pleased.... Many brutalities were committed in hot blood and the greed of gain, and it is on record the Archimedes, while intent upon figures which he had traced in the dust, and regardless of the hideous uproar of an army let loose to ravage and despoil a captured city, was killed by a soldier who did not know who he was. Marcellus was distressed by this; he had him properly buried and his relatives inquired forto whom the name and memory of Archimedes were an honor and protection.... The booty taken [from Syracuse] was almost as great as if it had been Carthage herself, Rome's rival in power, which had fallen. The destruction and plundering of Syracuse seems unnecessarily harsh and cruel to us, especially considering the city's earlier support of Rome by the its ruler Hiero before his death in 215 BC. The Roman historian Livy records Heiro's generosity. About this time [216 BC] a [Syracusan] fleet arrived at Ostia from Hiero, with a cargo of supplies. The Syracusan spokesman said . . .that Hiero was so much grieved by the news of the death of Flaminius and the destruction of his army [of 15,000 men at Lake Trasimene] that no calamity to himself or his kingdom could have moved him more deeply. First, as an omen of success, [the Syracusans] had brought with them a statue of Victory, in gold, of 220 pounds weight, which they begged the Senate to accept and to keep as their own peculiar possession forever. Next, they had on shipboard 300,000 measures of wheat and 200,000 of barley to ensure an adequate supply of food, and would carry as much more as was needed to any port named.... The gifts were backed up by a piece of advice: that the praetor who was serving in Sicily should invade Africa; for if he did, Hannibal, too, would have a war on his hands at home, and Carthage would be less free to send him reinforcements. Livy, XXII.37 The Romans eventually followed Hiero's advice 15 years later when Scipio lead the invasion of Carthage. Hannibal, as predicted, left Italy to defend Carthage. The young Menaechmus in Plautus' comedy is kidnapped in the city of Tarentum while he and his father are visiting the ludi. Tarentum was colony of the Greeks located in the instep of Italy. During the Second Punic War Tarentum changed its allegiance from Rome to Hannibal. Romans would have known about how easily the city was taken during the Pyrric War; the city was so engaged in a theatrical performance that they did not notice the Roman navy entering the harbor. Subduing Tarentum was not so easy for the Romans during Second Punic War. In fact, it was only after the internal betrayal that the Roman imperator Fabius Maximus was able to enter the city. His famed delaying tactics kept the Roman army from entering the city. His constraint is also credited for his taking of Tarentum. [Fabius instructed that a great shouting and uproar would deceive the Tarentines into thinking that his strength lay elsewhere. The Tarentines moved their troops where they heard the cries.] Fabius waited till sufficient time had passed and he could tell...that the guard had been moved from its post, and then gave orders for ladders to be brought to the wall.... From the work of butchery the troops turned to plunder. It is said 30,000 slaves were taken, an immense quantity of silver and silver coins, 3,080 pounds of gold, and almost as many statues and pictures as had adorned Syracuse. Fabius, however, showed a nobler restraint than Marcellus in dealing with this sort of prize: when asked by a clerk what he wanted done with some enormous statues representing gods as warriors, each in his own characteristic and dress and bearing, he replied that the Tarentines could keep their gods, who were clearly angry with them. -- Livy,XXVII.15-16 The Second Punic War was brought to end by Scipio Africanus who, following Hiero's advice, invaded Carthage and caused Hannnibal to leave Italy to defend his homeland. Scipio was famed for his magnanimous behavior. Livy records the following: Having sent for the hostages [from New Carthage] Scipio urged everybody, hostages and prisoners, to keep a good heart, reminding them that they had fallen into the hands of the Romans, a people who preferred to bind men by gratitude rather than by fear, and to have foreign nations linked with them by ties of loyalty and a common purpose not kept, like slaves, in cruel subjection. -- Livy XXVI.49 Note how Plautus plays on Scipio's speech: The parasite Peniculus says: Men who bind prisoners of war with chains and shackle fugitive slaves are, to my mind, fools. You see when you mount more misery to miserable men, they're more likely to want to run away and cause mischief. And somehow they escape their chains.... If you want a man to serve you and not run off, you should chain him with food and drink. A full table binds a man's snout.... Edible chains are tenacious. The more you let them expand, the closer they cling. The Menaechmi takes place in Epidamnus, which the Roman usually called Dyrrhachium, the place of crags. "Epidamnus," the Greek name, means "big loss." Post Play Exercises 1. Make up English names for the characters in the Menaechmi that reflect their foibles. (e.g. Mr. Foolish) 2. Discuss the significance of twins to the Romans. 3. Do you think Plautus' actors wore masks. How would an ancient performance of the Menaechmi differ from Theater Ludicrum's version? 4. Find out as much as you can about Plautus' contemporary Marcus Porcius Cato. What do you think his reaction would have been to the Menaechmi. 5. What evidence is there of the influence of Greek theater? Of Atellan improvisation? 6. Discuss how did Plautus influence Moliere and Shakespeare? |
Ancient engraving of Archimedes |