Mostellaria

" As Easily as a Fox Eats a Pear " (Plaut. Most. 559): a Homoerotic Pun In Plautus' Mostellaria, Tranio, who has already persuaded his master, Theopropides, that his house is haunted is afraid that his trickeries will be revealed. Theopropides reports to him that he has spoken to his neighbor, Simo, whose house has allegedly been bought by Philolaches, Theopropides' son. He recounts Tranio's fake story about the haunted house, which is new to Simo, so the slave, encourages his master to find an arbiter. Thus, he will win the case easier than a fox eats a pear (559 Tam facile vinces quam pirum volpes comest). The proverb is unique in both Greek and Latin literature. The fox, a common metaphor of cunning and trickery, sometimes symbolizes the sexual predator, whose object of desire is the grape, a fruit suggesting an immature boy or girl. A probable transposition changed the grape into another provocative fruit, the pear, which was a phallic symbol. So the meaning is that Theopropides will win the case easier than the foxy pederast subjugates the young man. If we accept that there is a hidden homoerotic meaning, then the-humoristic-case of Theopropides and Simo will be the only one in Plautus involving two free men and not a master and a slave.

According to the manuscripts the title of a well-known Plautine comedy is either "Mostellaria" (codd. BCD), either "Mustellaria" (cod. A). In this article we attempt to explain the exact meaning of the title(s), giving various possible interpretations.

The primary interest of this paper is to observe the action of two personae in Plautus’ Mostellaria, Philematium, a meretrix, and her ancilla, Scapha, and to understand the way their interaction makes the multiple nuances of this stock character evident. Both female characters appear, talking to each other, only in the first act of this comedy (v. 157 to 312). Considering some features that have been understood as metatheatrical, this essay attempts to point out the value of some elements in the aforementioned scene, despite its brevity. In the passage, it seems that the actions of these two characters, with the help of a mirror, throw light in the allusions to the different roles usually played by the meretrices in the fabula palliata, and also to significant scenic aspects of the ancient theatre. Some of the final thoughts  discuss how our understanding of the plot and the acts of its characters are affected by the emerging nuances of the meretrix’ stock character and how it amplifies the comical effects in the play.

Esta é uma tradução do latim para o português brasileiro dos versos 157 a 312 da peça Mostellaria de Tito Mácio Plauto, comediógrafo do séc. III a.C. A passagem corresponde ao que se convencionou delimitar como terceira cena do primeiro ato dessa comédia. Nela figuram duas personagens femininas, que, embora não contracenem novamente no restante da ação, são parte do motor do plano do escravo Tranião, que envolve os fantasmas mencionados no título da peça. Filemácia, jovem meretriz, e Escafa, sua velha escrava, que outrora também fora prostituta, conversam sobre o modo como se sucedem as relações entre os jovens apaixonados e as meretrizes, alegados alvos da sua paixão. As notas que acompanham a tradução procuram ora elucidar passagens mais obscuras (seja em termos de edição de texto ou de tradução), ora chamar a atenção do leitor para os aspectos metateatrais que, a nosso ver, caracterizam a cena em cotejo.

Palavras-chave: Plauto; Mostellaria; meretrizes; metateatro; tradução.

Abstract: This is a translation from Latin to Brazilian Portuguese of Titus Maccius Plautus' Mostellaria, 157-312. In this passage, the third scene of the first act of this comedy, two female characters perform. Although they do not act together again in the play, they are central to Tranio's plan, which includes the ghosts mentioned in the play title. Philematium, a young meretrix, and Scapha, her ancilla, that were also a prostitute, talk about how evolve the relationship between the young lovers and the alleged target of their love, the prostitutes. Along the translation there are footnotes that try to elucidate obscure passages (in terms of text or translation issues) or to highlight metatheatrical aspects which seem to us central to the scene here translated.

Pogost motiv v rimski paliati so medgeneracijski konflikti. Medtem ko očetje največkrat poudarjajo konvencionalno moralo in kažejo varčnost, že kar skoporitost, se sinovi v njihovi odsotnosti radi predajajo razvratu: zapravljajo denar, popivajo in se spuščajo v razmerja s heterami, ponavadi ob pomoči kakega nabritega domačega sužnja. Ker vlada v komediji saturnalijski narobe svet, na koncu »zmagajo« sinovi in sužnji, ki so tudi glavni junaki teh komedij. Tu in tam pa Plavt sinovom položi na jezik besede, ki odstopajo od njihovega siceršnjega ravnanja in jih prikažejo v odgovornejši luči. Njegova najrazvpitejša »moralistična« komedija je Trinovčevo (Trinummus), vendar zasledimo moralno navdahnjene vložke in značajske lastnosti tudi v drugi komediji s podobnim izhodiščem, ki deluje veliko bolj razposajeno: v Hišnem strahu (Mostellaria). Ob primerjavi mladih protagonistov v Plavtovih komedijah Hišni strah in Trinovčevo ugotovimo, da je komedija Trinovčevo občutno bolj moralistična od H...

A common motif in the Roman palliata is the conflict between generations. While the fathers usually uphold conventional morality and display frugality bordering on miserliness, the sons indulge themselves in their absence, squandering money, drinking, and consorting with meretrices, usually with the complicity of a clever family slave. Since the comedy genre depicts an upside-down, Saturnalian world, the final victory belongs to the son and slave as the comic protagonists. Now and then, however, the son is made to express an untypical sentiment which shows him in a more responsible light. Plautus' most notoriously 'moralising' comedy is Trinummus, but moralising passages and character traits may likewise be traced in another Plautine play starting from a similar situation, the much rowdier Mostellaria. A comparison between the young protagonists of Mostellaria and Trinummus reveals that while the latter play is indeed more inclined to moralise, not even the former can be regarded as a pure farce in the tradition of Asinaria. While the father and son of Asinaria, struggling for the same meretrix, seem to invite nothing but ridicule, the young protagonist of Mostellaria, his best friend, and his mistress display some character traits which should have found favour even with a Cato Censorius.