Course Description:

We will read in Latin two plays by the most popular and funniest Roman comic writer, Plautus: the Amphitryo and the Miles Gloriosus, a play that has inspired Shakespeare’s Falstaff and innumerable other braggarts. In addition to being amusing in their own right and a valuable window on Roman social relationships, Plautus’s plays are the earliest complete Latin works to survive, and preserve Latin as it existed early in its development as a written, literary language; also Plautus’ colloquial language is one of our best sources for Latin as it would have been spoken in daily life.

We will also examine the development and influence of Roman Comedy, as well as the performance aspects of the plays, meter and composition, manuscript tradition, character development, and how comedy reflects Roman society—in part through presentations on scholarly articles. In order to supplement our close readings of the Miles and Amphitryo, we we will also read in English several plays by Plautus, his comedic successor, Terence, one by of their Greek predecessors, Menander, and finally Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors. These investigations will culminate in a piece of original research on an aspect of Roman comedy, its stagecraft, or influence on subsequent literature.

Prerequisites: Students should have completed two courses at the 100-level or equivalent. In exceptional cases, first year students may take this course with permission of instructor.

Conclave: Hall Building 112
Horarium: T/Th 2:30-4:00 P.M.
Magister: Bret Mulligan
Studiolum: Hall Building 008
Inscriptio-E: bmulliga@haverford[dot]edu
Telephonum: x1052
Horae in Studiolo: MWF 1-3, TR 1-2 &
By Appointment (happily)

Updates

Final Requirements

Information on Presentations

Scholarly Articles for Presentations

Rubrics: Standards for Evaluating Class Participation, Presentations, and Written Assignments