Bacchides (play)

The Bacchides of the pre-classical Roman poet Plautus Titus Maccius are a comedy ( Fabula palliata ) and are based on a model of the Greek poet Menander titled Δὶς ἐξαπατῶν (Dis exapaton ) to German The Zweimalbetrüger.

The plot

The starting point is that Mnesilochus, a young Athenian, has on a business trip to Ephesus mentioned in the courtesan Bacchis from Samos, hereinafter Bacchis S love. Bacchis S, however, is bound by a contract on a year to the soldiers Cleomachus. The only way to win Bacchis S itself, is for Mnesilochus is refunded to the soldiers the annual rent in the amount of 200 gold pieces. Just recently returned from Ephesus is now to swindle the slave of Mnesilochus the desired amount of money from his father Nicobulus Chrysalus. Chrysalus served the father then an adventurous story lies on the Son had to deposit the money at Ephesus the priest of Artemis, to bring it to safety before adjustments. Nicobulus finally believes Chrysalus the story, which is a sum of money for an indefinite amount available. However Mnesilochus overheard a conversation between Lydus, the educator of his best friend Pistoclerus, and Philoxenus, whose father; Lydus condemned the disgraceful goings between the Bacchis and Pistoclerus. However, this is not the Bacchis S but her twin sister, a courtesan of Athens, hereinafter referred Bacchis A. Mnesilochus is deeply disappointed by the behavior of his friend and confesses the Father, the fraud. ( The presence of this first deception in Menander is clearly backed by the papyrus fragments. )

There now follows the second scam in the wake of the first letter scene. The slave learns of the failed company and now wants a fortiori be tricked the old man; he dictated to Mnesilochus a letter, in which he himself is accused of concocting a new scam. The slave hands over his " Bellerophonbrief " and proves to be credible by showing his young master. Nicobulus want to pay 200 gold pieces for his alleged wife the soldiers now to redeem the son of the shame and the punishment that would await him. The scam was successful.

After the second successful history of lies to Chrysalus boasts that he is an equal to Odysseus, and promises with the help of a second letter, ie with a third scam to swindle more money from the old Nicobulus for the maintenance of the two girls. The slave passes Nicobulus again a letter from the son with the request for an additional 200 pieces of gold, which he owed the Bacchis S. The old man pays willingly to separate the son of the woman. He brings two money bags: the one he gives Chrysalus, the others he makes himself to Cleomachus the soldiers. The fraud is again successful.

Reception

For a long time is hotly debated and controversial alike by science, the extent to which Plautus on his template - that Menander's Dis exapaton - based, and whether he adapted the play for the Roman audience and fashioned in free design or only as a translator from the Greek functioned. Through greater papyrus finds in the sixties of the last century, this question could be at least partially resolved. By the finds has become clear that Plautus had accounts for at least an entire scene and another for highly extended and embellished. Whether this procedure was continued in the further course of the play by Plautus, however, can not be determined beyond all doubt. What is certain is that he, even if partly free, holding on to its template. Remarkable in this context is the discrepancy between the number of scams on the piece of Plautus and Menander in Dis exapaton ( The Zweimalbetrüger ). In the Bacchides there are three scenes fraud, whereas, according to the title are likely to be only two in the display exapaton. This led over the last decades numerous publications on this issue.

The problem of the number of scams

As described, Plautus Menander's Dis exapaton used as a template for his Bacchides, and therefore it raises the fundamental question: to what extent he remains faithful to its Greek original, or what he has changed or hinzugedichtet? This question arises only because of the obvious discrepancy in the number of scams that arises from the title of the Greek original.

There are now other ways to tackle this problem; one hand there are approaches to bring about a solution to the problem on the way of textual criticism and on the other hand, there are attempts to accomplish this because of content aspects. For the way of textual criticism, Otto Zwierlein decided; was his concern and is the crystallization of the real Plautus us from the traditional " contaminated " texts. Through the elimination of all seemingly spurious passages therefore would the supposedly real Plautus, from which one could draw conclusions regarding the Dis exapaton. But with such an approach more questions seem to arise than answers. There is no reason to believe, especially after the recent papyrus finds that Plautus has taken his Menandervorlage one to one. And even if this should be so, there is no certainty that not even Plautus ' original was contaminated in some way. In addition, the Roman comedy pursued objectives other than the Greek New Comedy. The Romans laid emphasis on biting and sometimes bawdy humor and especially slapstick, due in part to the strong design of individual scenes and the omission of unimportant things, which was not essential to the understanding of the play, culminated. This is especially evident in the typical Roman Canticles. The Greeks on the other hand loved subliminal irony and comedy; the psychological depth of the characters and the development of the people were more important than crude antics. Alone thereto can be seen how little an adjusted Plautus on the "Dis exapaton " says. Because of its scenic changes to its submission Plautus one must probably ascribe a certain independence. The most sensible way to solve the problem to come ultimately to the track, is probably a combination of textual criticism and a consideration at the content level.

Source editions

• W. Geoffrey Arnott: Menander I. Aspis to Epitrepontes, Cambridge 1979
• John, Plautus: Bacchides, Warminster 1991 ²
• Oscar T. Seyffert: Titi Macci Plauti Comoediae, Leipzig 1902
• Walther Ludwig ( ed.): Plautus / Terence. Ancient comedies in two volumes, Volume I, Translator of Wilhelm Binder, Stuttgart 1974
• Kurt litter / litter Ursula: Menander. Pieces, Leipzig 1975