Titus Maccius Plautus

Latin poet and dramatist, who was born at Mercato Saraceno in Umbria. Some authorities credit him with upto 130 comedies however only 21 are certain. These include: Amphitryo Jupiter, Asinaria (Comedy of Asses), Aulularia (Pot of Gold), Bacchides, Captivi (Prisoners of War), Casina, Cistellaria (Casket-Comedy), Curculio (The Weevil, the name of a parasite in the play), Epidicus, Menaechmi (The Two Menaechmuses), Mercator (Merchant), Miles Gloriosus (Braggart Warrior), Mostellaria (Ghost), Persa, Poenulus (Little Carthaginian), Pseudolus, Rudens (Rope), Stichus, Trinummus (Three-Dollar Day), Truculentus and Vidularia (Tale of a Traveling Chest). Plautus borrowed his plots from the Athenian New Comedy, the leading exponent of which had been Menander. It dealt with the personal preoccupations of ordinary men and women. His New Comedy plots were highly elaborate, consisting largely of numerous confusions, misunderstandings, surprising turns of fortune, and, above all, a great deal of amusing trickery. Plautus achieved immense popularity as a playwright, and repeatedly brought his spectators to their feet in enthusiastic applause. His comedies were revived time after time during the subsequent centuries of antiquity. He influnece can be seen in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, as well as in many of the plays of Ben Jonson.