(Scene 17) Simo returns home from the forum (cf. 561) and meets an

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1 (Scene 17) Simo returns home from the forum (cf. 561) and meets an exuberantly triumphant Ballio, who mistakenly believes that he has delivered Phoenicium into the hands of the real Harpax. The scene has been subjected to much analytical dismantling; Leo and other editors have bracketed , and Zwierlein 1991: considers 1067, , 1075 and 1098 to be post-plautine interpolations. It is assumed here throughout that, with the exception of 1073, the entire passage is genuine. METRE: iambic senarii (p. x) uiso I m going to see. rerum: partitive with quid. meus Vlixes: while the Homeric Odysseus is a formidable warrior and legitimate hero, he is also a clever speaker and trickster, and in post-homeric literature he experiences a general devaluation of character (see further Stanford 1954). In Greek drama, his capacity for deception, intrigue and unprincipled action is often (negatively) highlighted (e.g. Soph. Phil.). At Men. 902, Menaechmus of Epidamnus pejoratively labels Peniculus my Ulysses because the parasite has betrayed his patron s confidence by informing Menachmus wife about his planned day of extramarital festivity. The Plautine seruus callidus openly celebrates such traits as his malitia (e.g a, Am ), and elsewhere in P. the figure of Odysseus embodies what can be termed his comic heroism (cf. Sharrock 1996: and p. x), i.e. the ability of the clever slave to devise and successfully execute deceptive plots. Chrysalus in Bac. explicitly identifies himself with Odysseus in his famous monody (925-78), where he also at length likens his exploits in deceiving his master to the capture of Troy. Simo later must admit that Pseudolus has outdone Odysseus and the trick of the Trojan horse (1244). Fraenkel 2007:

2 45-71 convincingly argued that grandiose mythological comparisons such as these are marks of Plautine originality. The name Vlixes passed into the proverbial (i.e. as a type of conniving manipulator): cf. its modification by meus here and at Men. 902, and Suetonius assertion (Cal. 23) that Gaius referred to his great grandmother Livia as Vlixes stolatus. For the formation of the name see Sihler 1995: 151 and signum: the Palladium, an image of Pallas Athena (for signum of a statue et sim. see OLD 12) that ensured the safety of Troy so long as it remained in the city (see further Austin 1964 on Verg. A ). In a nighttime raid, Odysseus and Diomedes infiltrated Troy and stole the statue, thereby fulfilling one of the preconditions for Troy s fall. Simo is unaware that Simia, under Pseudolus direction, has just absconded with Phoenicium (Scene 15) from Ballio-town (cf. 384 oppidum). Chrysalus (1063n.) similarly refers to his successful machinations against his master in terms of stealing the Palladium (Bac. 958 ibi signum ex arce iam apstuli). arce Ballionia: P. takes the Trojan conceit to ridiculous extremes by substituting this mock epic periphrasis describing Ballio s brothel for the expected arce Troiana (vel sim.). For the application of the language of siege warfare to Ballio s house here cf. Pseudolus own words, 384 hoc ego oppidum admoenire, ut hodie capiatur, uolo fortunate... fortunatam: the celebratory polyptoton underscores Ballio s ignorance here. cedo gimme. Only the singular and the plural imperative cette of this verb (< an IE root *do to give: cf. Sihler 1995: 119.3) survive.

3 manum: this suggests that the exuberant Ballio may have been very tactile throughout the scene (with the exception of his deadpan metatheatrical lines about his pimpishness: , 1095). Cf n. For non-verbal behaviors in P. see Panayotikis The rapid verbal exchange here was probably accompanied by lively gestures (cf. 1065n.) uenit homo ad te?: i.e. Pseudolus. Cf. 1079n. quid est igitur boni then what s the good news? (boni is partitive with quid) minae uiginti: cf. 404n. sanae et saluae sunt: the phrase seems to personify the minae; for the alliteration see p. x hodie: cf. 413n. quas aps te est instipulatus Pseudolus: cf The over-confident Ballio foolishly proposes a wager of twenty minae that he in effect has already lost, in that, as the audience knows, the forces of Pseudolus have taken possession of Phoenicium. This sponsio (the third such verbal contract in the play: cf , ), according to Williams 1956: 445 is no idle whim, but arises immediately from the consideration that the great enemy of the people and of our heroes is Ballio. Without it, only Simo would be the loser at the end of the play, with great offence to poetic justice hercle: with the exception of Cist. 52, where the meretrix Gymnasium speaks, only men swear by Hercules in extant Latin. Cf. 1101n ille: i.e. Pseudolus.

4 hodie: cf. 413n Scan A B C / D a a B C / D A B c D (for word-end after the third and seventh elements rather than the more usual fifth see p. x). eam and tuo are both long monosyllables here by synizesis (p. x). hodie: cf. 413n. ut promisit: cf , where of course neither Ballio nor Simo was present (for Plautine disregard for verisimilitude in such matters in general see p. x). [1073] The line = 116, where it fits the boastful character of Pseudolus. It perhaps crept into the text here because of 1072 ut promisit (cf. 1072n.) omnibus: the final syllable is short (by apocope: p. x) despite the consonant following in modis And what is more, you should even keep the woman as a gift for yourself. As dono clearly shows, Ballio means that, if he loses the bet, he will pay Simo twenty minae and give him Phoenicium to boot; pace Willcock 1987 n. ad loc., the offer to keep her and the payment of twenty minae cannot be the same thing. Casting aside the question of whether or not the promise of Phoenicium is an inelegant (see Willcock ad loc.) Plautine addition to his lost Greek source (cf. p. x), the immediate purpose of the brash wager is to further intensify Ballio s inevitable downfall (cf n.). Nor does it seem necessary to excise this line on the ground that Calidorus, not Simo, has Phoenicium at the play s end: The dramatist s aim is not to tie up the loose ends (which are only loose if you want them to be), but to create the theatrical effect of Ballio offering as a gift which a pimp would never do the girl he has already lost (Sharrock 1996: 162-3).

5 habeto: P. usually uses the future imperative with precision. Cf , Mer. 770 cras petito; dabitur. nunc abi, and Lindsay 1907: periculumst: p. x. quod sciam as far as I know. stipularier: this form of the passive infinitive is already archaic in P. (cf. Skutsch 1985 on Enn. Ann. 574), where, for metrical convenience, it is mostly relegated to lineend in iambo-trochaic verse ut concepisti uerba in accordance with the solemn terms you ve set. Cf. 353, 1056 and OLD s.v. concipio 12a actumst: p. x sed conuenistin hominem? I.e. Pseudolus. Editors bracket on the ground that Ballio s answer here seems contradictory to that given to the similar question in But precision and nimbleness of tongue are part of the pimp s standard arsenal of tricks (cf , and for the conventional character of the leno see p. x). In 1067 Ballio is technically correct when he says that Pseudolus did not meet with him (i.e. alone), and at any rate the pimp is at that point more eager to tell Simo that Pseudolus (as he mistakenly believes) has failed to secure possession of Phoenicium. Nor does it seem significant that several scenes have passed since Ballio met with Pseudolus and Callidorus, as Ballio makes it perfectly clear, and with typically Plautine self-conscious theatricality (1081-3), that he is referring to the encounter cum flagitatione in Scene 3. immo ambo simul More precisely, I met the both of them together (as if to clarify his negative response in 1067 by immo here). There is a permissible D /A hiatus between immo and ambo (p. x); the line scans A B C D A / b b C D A B c D.

6 1080 quid ait? Simo s focus throughout is on what Pseudolus, i.e. not Pseudolus and Calidorus, is up to hence the 3 rd person singular verbs here (cf homo and 1079 hominem). quid narrat What s his story? 1081 nugas theatri theatrical nonsense (for Plautine metatheatricality see p. x). P. normally refers to the (physical) theater by reference to some part of it (e.g. cauea, scaena) and has theatrum only here, but this is not sufficient cause to deem the line the work of a later interpolator; cf. Naev. com. 72 Ribbeck = 69 Warmington quae ego in theatro hic meis probaui plausibus. in comoediis: the plural is used here to indicate in comic theater (in comoedia would indicate a specific play). Cf. Am. 987 quam seruolo in comoediis, Men. 7 atque hoc poetae faciunt in comoediis, and Mos optumas frustrationes dederis in comoediis lenoni: for the figure of the comic pimp see p. x. quae pueri sciunt the stuff (even) kids are aware of i.e. kids stuff. pueri here indicates that children were part of the remarkably diverse body of individuals who made up the audience of Roman comedy: see Poen and p. x. Marshall 2006: 138 speculates that pueri were conditioned to boo villains such as the comic pimp immediately upon their entrance malum: Callidorus and Pseudolus never address Ballio as male in the flagitatio of Scene 3 (357-70), but they do unload maledicta (357: cf. 359 mala multa and 372 malaque dicta) on him there. scelestum: cf. 354 and 360 sceleste.

7 peiurum: cf. 363 periure and 351 hominum periurissume; per(i)urus is almost a stock epithet of pimps in Roman comedy; cf. 975, Capt. 57 hic [i.e. in this play] neque periurus leno est, Ter. Ad leno sum, fateor, pernicies communis adulescentium, / periurus, pestis, Rud. 126 and ergo haud iratus fui That s exactly why I didn t get mad. For Ballio s marked self-awareness regarding his conventional role cf. 289 non lenoniumst [i.e. to give proper moral advice], his casual responses to the name-calling at , and p. x What s the point of badmouthing the sort of a person who thinks nothing of it and doesn t deny anything? For Ballio s attitude here see 1084n Scan A B C D A / B C D A B c D (with synizesis of ei: p. x). quanti: genitive of (indefinite) value with a verb of rating, valuing aut sim (G&L , LHS II 72-4). nec recte dicere to speak harshly to (OLD s.v. recte 4c) nihili: for the genitive see 1085n. infitias non eat: lit. who would not go into denials (litotes for who d admit it ); the subjunctives here (faciat, eat) are generalizing quid non metuam est ab eo? After the excursuses on the new wager (1070-2, 1075nn.) and the earlier encounter with Calidorus and Pseudolus (1079n.), Simo picks up on Ballio s assertion in 1066 (nihil est quod metuas) meministi tibi me dudum dicere: Ballio has not just told Simo that he sold Phoenicium to the soldier, though he perhaps may be presumed to have done so when the two met offstage, i.e. in the forum (cf ) Scan A B c D a / B c D a b b c D (with synizesis of eam: p. x).

8 ueniisse: perfect infinitive of ueneo, lit. to go up for sale (as a slave) Scan a a B C D a / B C D A B c D. em Well look Ballio, in all his ignorance, is quite animated. For the versatile colloquial interjection em (originally an imperative of emo, take ) see further Luck 1964: illius: scan as a spondee (with syncope of the ultima: cf. Questa 1967: 108). seruos: nominative (for the orthography see p. x) qui inter me atque illum militem conuenerat That the soldier and I had agreed upon. qui: this refers to the sumbolus (1092) hau multo prius: i.e. in Scene unde ea sit mihi? Now where would I get that [i.e. bona fides]? Ballio again metatheatrically refers to the stereotypically untrustworthy character of the comic pimp: cf. 1084n. and p. x Just take care the fellow hasn t crafted some scheme. Scan a B c c D A / B C D A B C D. illic: Pseudolus. sit contechnatus: a hybrid coinage (Latin con- + Greek τέχνη, art, craft, cunning ) to neatly describe the activities of Plautine comedy s most capable con-man and poet/playwright figure, whose own name is similarly a hybrid (p. x). Cf. 401, 403nn. and p. x epistula atque imago: cf

9 1098 Sicyonem: i.e. to Sicyon near Corinth, where, according to Simia at least (995), the mercenary Macedonian solider is currently stationed bene hercle factum: accusative of exclamation, used extensively in colloquial Latin (Lindsay 1907: 29-30, LHS II 48-9). hercle: 1070n quid... coloniam? What s keeping me from making Pseudolus sign up for the colony of Grindstonia? 1099 Pseudolum: this form of prolepsis ( Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ) is especially common with facio in P. (Lindsay 1907: 27-8) Molas coloniam: the colony of Molae here is P. s comic invention. The threat to force Pseudolus to join this fictional colony is a clever variant on the ubiquitous, more directly expressed threat to consign disobedient slaves to the mill (or mines), so as to perform tedious and debilitating labor (e.g. 494, 534) there. The plural Molae is appropriate here, both as it is often used as the equivalent of the singular (OLD 1b) and ancient city-states names were often plural chlamydatus wearing a chlamys, a Greek-style coat or cape worn by soldiers and travelers, and so appropriate dress for Harpax, the soldier s (real) minion. The audience will recall that Ballio had ironically asked virtually the same question (963 quis hic homo chlamydatus est...?) at the approach of the supposititious Harpax. edepol: both men and women frequently swear by Pollux in comedy, whereas only women swear by Castor (ecastor, mecastor). Cf. 1070n nisi ut opseruemus other than that [I know] we should watch... Cf. OLD s.v. nisi 6c.

10 quo eat: quo scans as a short syllable in prosodic hiatus (p. x) and the final syllable of eat retains its original long quantity, as is usual in P. (p. x). The line scans a a B C D A / b b C D A B c D.

Commentary (Christenson), Pseudolus (Scene 4) Left alone onstage, Pseudolus, in what is a kind of set-piece for clever

Commentary (Christenson), Pseudolus 394-414 394-414 (Scene 4) Left alone onstage, Pseudolus, in what is a kind of set-piece for clever slaves in P., contemplates the apparent powerlessness of his situation.