M01. ERE’$ DEBT T0 PLAUTU$ ARE TERENCE

Thesis $0? §§w Degree 05 M. A.
MICHEGMJ 33517333; ENE’JERSITY

Carmen Eudith Sodeflund

1957

THE$\S

MOLIERE'S DEBT
TO
PLAUTUS AND TERENCE

by
Carmen Judith Soderlund

A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Arts in Michigan State University

East Lansing, Michigan
1957

Department of Foreign Languages

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
Dedication
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Chapter

I. Biographical Sketches of rlautus, Terence
and P101151? 0 o o o o o o o o o o 0 o o o o o o 3

II. Theatrical Conventions of Republican Rome and
Seventeenth Century France . . . . . . . . . . . 17

III. Moliere and Plautus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
IV. Moliére and Terence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . M6
v. ConCluSionS O O O 0 O O O O O O O O 0 O O O O O 59

Bibliography 0 O 0 O O O O O O O O O O C O O O O

DEDICATIO

Hoc opus dedico doctori Hermanno Thorntoni

sub cuius perita directione id confeci. Gratias
praecipuas ago doctori Guilelmo Seamani qui

sua benignitate et admonitionibus me adiuvavit.

Denique, id dedico meae matri amatissimae.

FOREWORD

An author's work is the product or wnat he has heard,
what he has observed, or what he has read. All geniuses are
in some way eclectic in temperament. Moliere was no exception.
A writer who wrote as rapidly and prodigiously as he did could
scarcely avoid turning for inspiration at one time or another
to the works of other dramatists.

In this thesis, the writer has undertaken to define
the Plautine and Terentian elements in five of holiere's
comedies: L'étourdi, L'Ecole des Maris, Amphitryon, L'Avagg,

and Les Fourberies de Scapin.

 

In the first chapter, an attempt is made to demonstrate
that holiere was well acquainted with his sources and that
his genius was undoubtedly akin to that of the Latin play-
wrights.

One cannot assess the character of Moliére's debt to
Plautus and Terence if one is not familiar with the plays of
these writers which served as his models. For this reason,
we have presented the originals of the French comedies and
then, by comparison and contrast, proceeded to show how far

the Latin dramatists left their mark on holiére‘s plays.

CHAPTER I

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES on
PLAUTUS, TERENCE AND MOLIERs

A. Titus Maccius Plautus

Our information about the life of Plautus is very
scant. The salient facts of his life have been pieced to-
gether, so to speak, from remarks made by Cicero, Aulius
Gellius1 and others.

Tradition has it that Titus Maccius Plautus was born
in Sarsina, a city in the region of Umbria in north central
Italy. The date of his birth is given as 25h B. C. It is
said that Plautus came at an early age to Rome, where he
worked in theatrical productions. Whether he was an actor,
a producer, or simply a stage-hand is not definitely known.
Most scholars favor the view that he was an actor.2 After
having made some money in the theater, he invested in a trading
business and lost his fortune. Apparently, he travelled in
this business for he returned penniless to Rome where neces-
sity forced him.to work at a baker's mill. While thus occupied,

he wrote three plays, which have been lost. Encouraged by

 

1Aulius Gellius, a Roman writer of the second century,
A. D.

2Duckworth, The Nature of Roman Comedy, p. 51; W. Bears,
The Roman Stage, p. 353 P. W.“Harsh, K Handbook of Classical

Drama, p. 333.

success, he gave himself entirely to the writing of comedies
based on Greek originals. He died at the age of seventy in
18h B. C.

This biographical sketch of Plautus is the subject of
extensive controversy. Scholars argue that most of these
facts were either purely legendary or were invented by Roman
biographers in view of their lack of reliable information.
Bears in particular is very skeptical of these biographical
accounts. He says: "the biographical details given by late
writers may be nothing more than illegitimate inferences from
passages in extant or lost plays."3

A controversial point is Plautus' name. Some scholars
question whether in his lifetime he was known as Titus Maccius
Plautus. They indicate that the evidence of antiquity re-
garding his name is inconsistent. We are told that in the
prologue of the Asinaria his name appears as Maccus alone; in
the prologue of the Mercator, it appears as Titus and in a
manuscript of the fourth century A. D. as T. Maccius Plautus.
The question is still to be settled. The most accepted view,
however, is that in his days, Plautus bore all three names.u
It is also proposed by competent scholars that Plautus' middle
name was originally Maccus, which was later changed to

Maccius. This, they argue, strongly suggests that Plautus

 

3w. Bears, op. cit., p. 38.
”G. E. Duckworth, op. cit., pp. h9-SO.

was an actor, since Maccus was the name of one of the stock
characters in the Atellan farces. In the words of Mr. Duck-
worth:
The exact source of the playwright's name will

probably never be known but his close knowledge of

the theater and his wide range of comic devices make

it extremely likely that he had perSonal experience

on the stage as an actor before he turned to the

writing of plays based upon Greek models.5

Concerning Plautus' works, it is interesting to note

that in antiquity as many as one hundred and thirty plays
were attributed to him. Roman scholars drew up lists of plays
which they considered the product of his workmanship. In the
time of Cicero (70 8.0. - h} 8.0.), the historian Varro exam»
ined these plays and acknowledged only twenty-one which he
believed were truly Plautine according to the general con-
census of opinion. These twenty-one comedies were henceforth
known as fabulae Varronianae. Modern editions of Plautus’
plays coincide with the twenty-one plays attributed to him
by Varro. The latter drew up another list of plays which
he himself considered Plautine because of their style. Of
this second list nothing is known. As Bears says, "it seems
clear that apart from the Varronianae fabulae there were

genuine plays of Plautus which have not come down to us."6

The following is a list of the twenty extant plays of Plautus.7

 

51b1d., p. 50.

 

6W. Bears, op. cit., p. 36.

7For a list with their dates of production and English
titles, see G. E. Duckworth, o . cit., pp. 52-53.

1.
2.
3.
h.
S.
6.
7.
8.
9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

1h.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

AMPHITRYON
ASINARIA
AULULARIA
BACCHIDES
CAPTIVI
CASINA
CISTELLARIA
CURCULIO
EPIDICUS
MENAECHMI
MERCATOR
MILES GLORIOSUS
MOSTELLARIA
PERSA
POENULUS
PSEUDOLUS
RUDENS
STICHUS
TRINUMMUS
TRUCULENTUS

The twenty-first play is the Vidularia, of which only

fragments remain.

Attempts have been made to establish the

chronology of the dates on which these comedies were produced

but scholars differ in their views.

Both Bears and Duckworth

agree that definite dates are known for only two plays:

the Stichus (200 B. C.) and the Pseudolgp (191 B. 0.).8
The writer wishes to impress upon the reader's mind

that the authenticity of a great many details of Plautus'

life are questioned by competent scholars. However, in the

words of Mr. Duff, "even though few of the traditional records

are unimpeached, there is left a solid basis for amazement

at the greatness of Plautus.”9 The same can be said of

Terence, whose life we shall discuss next.
B. Publius Terentius Afer

Our knowledge of Terence is not as meager as that which

we possess of Plautus. Scholars have drawn from two main
sources in studying Terence's life. These are the Life of
Terence written by Suetonius and upon which Donatus based
his commentary on Terence;10 and the dramatist's own prologues
to his plays. I

The following is the most generally accepted account

of his life.

Publius Terentius Afer was born in Carthage in the

year 195 B. C.11 In his boyhood, he was brought to Rome as

 

Sh 8w, Beare, op. cit., p. 38; G. E. Duckworth, op. cit.,
p. o

9J. W. Duff, A Literary History of Rome from the
Origins to the Close of the Golden Age, p. 161.

10Suetonius, a second-century historian, Donatus, a
Roman writer and grammarian of the fourth century.

11Some scholars give as the date of his birth the year

185 B. C. Cf. Duckworth, o . cit., p. 57; Duff, op. cit.,
p. 203; Harsh, op. cit., p. 373 and Beare, op. cit., p. 61.

a slave to Senator Terentius Lucanus. The latter, won over
by the talents of the young slave, educated him and gave him
his freedom. As was the custom with manumitted slaves,
Terence took the name of his former master and added to it
the surname of Afer. Terence became a close friend of Scipio
Africanus Minor and Gaius Laelius. These two aristocrats
were the leaders.of a coterie of writers and lovers of liter-
ature with a marked interest in Hellenistic culture. Their
friendship with Terence gave rise to accusations by other
dramatists that he had been aided by them in the composition
of his plays. Terence is said to have started on his literary
career by reading his play, the Andria, to Caecilius, an
older writer of comedies. Terence wrote six plays which were
produced within a six-year period from 166 B. C. to 160 B. C.
The year following the production of his last play, he left
on a Journey to Greece. From this trip he never returned,
and his death remains a mystery.

As in the case of Plautus, scholars point out many
inconsistencies in the dramatist's biography. Beare is again
the sharpest in his criticisms. He asserts that the methods
of Roman scholarship were most uncritical and that Suetonius'
Life of Terence was merely the author's invention.12 Terence's
name is one of the controversial issues. Some argue that

Terence's cognomen, Afer, was an indication of African blood.

 

12Bears, op. cit., p. 83.

As evidence to the fallacy in such an opinion, Bears gives
the example of Domitius Afar, a praetor of Rimes, who was not
of African origin though he bore the cognomen §§23.13 Mr.
Tenney Frank says that the inference that Terence was African
is unfounded and stems from an ignorance of the semantics of
the word Afer. Mr. Frank also suggests that Terence might
have been of Italian or Greek stock.“+

As for the view that Scipio and Laelius collaborated
with Terence in the composition of his comedies, it is unani-
mously rejected by modern scholars. The latter bring to our
attention that even some Roman commentators gave evidence that
Terence was older than the two young nobles and therefore
could not have been aided by them.15

It was mentioned above that Terence's prologues to his
plays were a source of information for his biographers. In
them.he defended himself against the attacks made by other
dramatists regarding his methods of composition. Terence's
most bitter enemy was the poet Luscius Lanuvinus. He and
16

others charged Terence with plagiarism and contaminatio.

By plagiarism in those days was meant the reworking of

 

13LOCo Cite

1u’T. Frank, "0n Suetonius' Life of Terence," American
Journal of Philology, Vol. Sh (1933): PP. 272-73.

15Duckworth, op. cit., p. 58.

By contamination is understood the process of inserting
material from one Greek play into another to make one Latin

play.

10

material which had already been adapted from the Greek by
other Latin writers.17 Terence answered to the charge of
plagiarism by declaring that if he had used material already
employed by others he had done so unknowingly. Concerning
the second charge, he admitted that he had been guilty of
contamination but added that in so doing he was only following
the example of his predecessors. This admission by Terence
has led many to believe that he had made many improvements
upon his Greek models.

Terence wrote only six plays. There are many theories
as to the order in which his six comedies were produced. The

chronology below is the most generally accepted.18

1. ANDRIA 166 B. C.
2. HECYRA 165 B. C. (first failure)
3. HEAUTON 163 B. C.

11. EUNUCHUS 161 a. C.

5. PHORMIO 161 B. C.

6. ADELPHOE 160 B. C.

7. HECYRA 160 B. C. (second failure)

8. HECYRA 160 B. c. '

Plautus and Terence have sustained their popularity
through the centuries. This fact is indeed the best commen-

dation of their genius. It is unfortunate that our information

‘—

17G. E. Duckworth, op. cit., p. 63.

18For more details concerning the chronology of the
cOmedies see W. Bears, op. cit., p. 86.

11

about their lives is so limited, but this ignorance is more

than compensated by the legacy of their works.
c.~ Moliere

When one considers holiere, one is treading on firmer
ground. Though there are gaps in his biography, the most
important details of his life are quite clear. Much has been
written about the French playwright and the reader who wishes
to study him further will have access to excellent biographies.
For this reason, we shall limit our discussion of his life.

Jean-Baptiste Poquelin19 was born in Paris on or around
January 15, 1622. He belonged to a respectable bourgeois
family, his father being an upholsterer who had acquired the
rights to the title of valet de chambre tgpissier ordinaire
du roi. He was barely ten when his mother, Marie Crease,
died. A year later, Jean Poquelin the elder married Catherine
Fleurette. It has been hinted that Moliére was not happy
with his step-mother but this opinion is dismissed by biographers
as an unjustified conjecture.

Little is known of the dramatist's childhood. We are
told that he was taken to the theater by his maternal grandfather
and that he took pleasure in watching the mountebanks at the
Pent-Neuf. It is most likely that as a boy Moliere went to the

theatre but, as Mr. Taylor says, "he was obliged to spend too

 

19Moliere is a pseudonym which he adopted.

12

many years at school to have had much leisure for intimacy
with buffoons and mountebanks."20

Jean-Baptiste received an excellent education. He
attended the exclusive College de Clermont conducted by the
Jesuits.21 Here he received a thorough training in the
humanities and excelled as a student of Latin. Of the curri-
culum at the College de Clermont, Mr. Taylor says:

The course of study was devoted mainly to Latin
classics: Caesar, Sallust, Virgil, Ovid, Cicero,
the poets from Horace to Juvenal; and of far more
importance to a futugg dramatist, the comedies of
Plautus and Terence.

This description is sufficient to make one realize how
comprehensive must have been Moliere's training in the classics.
At the College, young Poquelin became acquainted with the Prince
of Conti, whose patronage he later enjoyed. A good friend he
acquired there was Chapelle. The story goes that it was
Chapelle's father who invited the Epicurean philosopher Gassendi
to instruct his son and some of the latter's friends, among
whom.was Moliere. After he completed his studies at the College,
Moliere probably studied law at Orleans.

As previously said, Moliere's father had the honorable
position of valet de chambre tapissier ordinaire du roi. One

of the duties of this office was the making of the royal bed,

an honor not to be disdained. Jean Poquelin had obtained the

 

20H. C. Chatfield-Taylor, Moliere, p. 12.

21This school was later renamed Lycée Louis-le-Grand.

ZZChatfield-Taylor, op. cit., p. 1k.

13

succession of this post for his son. But, to his father's

disappointment, Moliere renounced his rights of succession

to the title and declared his decision of becoming an actor.
After he rejected the future his father had prepared

for him; Moliere made an association with the Bejarts, a

family of actors. On June 30, l6h3, together with the Béjarts

and some other actors, he organized a theatrical company which

they called L'Illustre Theatre. At this time, Jean-Baptiste

Poquelin adopted the name Moliere. To quote M. Auger, "il

prit le nom de Moliére, afin sans doute que ses parents

n'eussent pas a lui reprocher de trainer at de prostituer 1e

leur sur des tre/teaux."23 For a theater, the company rented

a tennis-court called Le Jeu de Paume des Metayers. Here

they stayed a year and later moved to another jgu de paume,

La Croix Noire. But the Illustre Theatre was a failure. In

 

July, l6h5, Moliére was imprisoned for debt on charges made
by his creditors. His father paid the debts and Moliere was
released; but this was the end of L'Illustre Theatre. 0f its
members only Moliére and the Bejarts remained. Together, they
departed for the provinces.

From l6h§ to 1658, Moliére and his comrades toured the
south of France. They joined the troupe of a certain Monsieur

Dufresne who enjoyed the patronage of the Duc d'Epernon, gover-

nor of Guyenne. Later, they became the protegés of the Prince

 

23E. Auger, ”Vie de Moliere," Oeuvres de Moliére,
V01. 1, p. 1.11.

of Conti. By this time Moliere had assumed the direction of
the troupe. These years of wandering were rich in experience
for Moliere and his actors. During this period he wrote many
amusing farces described by M. Auger as "de petites piéces
bouffonnes, qui etaient jouees a 1'improvisade, comma les
farces italiennes, dont elles n' étaient qu'une imitation."2h

In 1658, no longer a group of inexperienced actors,
Moliere's troupe returned to Paris. Monsieur, the king's
brother, accorded them his favor and in October of that year,
Moliere made his debut at the Louvre before the King and his
court. Their performance of Corneille's Nicomede was a fail-
ure but Moliére's farce Le Doctor amoureux was well liked and
the pleased monarch gave Moliere the theater of the Petit-
Bourbon, to be shared with the Italian actors. There, the
dramatist obtained his first Parisian success with the presen—
tation of Les Precieuses ridicules in 1659. Moliere did not
stay long at the Petit-Bourbon. In 1660 he was forced to
move. This time the King granted him the use of another the-
ater, the Palais-Royal, which he kept till his death.

To attempt a discussion of Moliere's dramatic achieve-
ments from the time he arrived in Paris until his death in
1673 would be beyond the scope of this study. It suffices to
say that these fifteen years (l658-l673) were the most brilliant

of his literary career. His masterpieces were written and

 

21‘Ibid., p. lxiii.

15

produced during this period. His success earned him the
jealousy of other playwrights and the hatred of many bigoted
people. He had to refute many slanderous attacks against his
private and professional life. But he enjoyed the friendship
of some of the greatest men of the time, among whom were
Boileau, La Fontaine and the painter Mignard.2§ The King
called upon him frequently to perform before the court and
made no effort to conceal his marked favor for the dramatist.
In short, Moliére had reached the peak of his career.
In 1662, Moliere married Armando Bejart, sister of

his leading actress, Madeleine. Contemporaries recalled that
Moliére had once been very fond of Madeleine and that in her
youth she had had an illegitimate daughter. His enemies in-
sinuated that Armando was the child of Moliere and Madeleine
and that the dramatist's marriage was incestuous. Modern
sCholars have made careful research on this question and their
general beliefs are very well summed up by Mr. Chapman, who
says:

Although contemporary opinion did consider Armando

as the daughter of Madeleine, it did not believe her

to be the daughter of holiere but rather of one of

the numerous lovers with whom the pubgéc credited

Madeleine as well as other actresses.

Moliére was unhappy in his marriage. He was twenty

years his wife's senior and she was an incorrigible flirt.

—_¥

25For a detailed account of Moliere and his friends,
see Chatfield-Taylor, op. cit., pp. 306-330.

26Peroy Chapman, The Spirit of holiéro, p. 113.

16

They separated for some time and were reconciled in 1667.
After this date, Moliére's health began to fail under the
strain of work and his domestic problems. He had been troubled
throughout his life with a constant cough. On February 17,
1673, during the fourth performance of Le Malade imaginaire
his struggle with death began. After the play was over he was
taken to his home, where he died a few hours later. As actors
were excommunicated by the church, he was refused Christian
burial; but, thanks to the king's intercession, he was buried
in consecrated ground in the cemetery of the Church of St.
Joseph, at night and in the presence of a few intimate friends.
Moliére wrote and produced twenty-nine comedies. Below

we list those which we consider most representative of his

genius:27
LES PRHCIEUSES RIDICULES 1659
L'HCOLE DES senses 1662
LE TARTUFFB 166k

DOM JUAN 0U LE FESTIN as PIERRE 1665

LE MISANTHROPE 1666
LE MabECIN MALGRH LUI 1666
L'AVARE 1668
LE BOURGEOIS GENTILHOMME 1670
LES FEMMES SAVANTHS 1672
LE MALADE IMAGINAIRE 1673

27For a complete list of his works in chronological
'Irder, see F. K. Turgeon and A. C. Gilligan, The Principal
(Amiedies of Moliére, "Biography," p. 10.

17

CHAPTER II

STAGE CONVENTIONS IN REPUBLICAN HOME
AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURY FRANCE

It is difficult for a modern man to evaluate a Roman
play written and produced in Republican Home. To aid his com-
prehension of comedy as it existed in the days of Plautus and
Terence, it would be profitable to consider the dramatic con-
ventions of the time.

Roman drama received a starting impulse from the govern-
ment. The latter realized the advantages of pleasing the elec-
torate and established the public games for securing its favor.
In Mr. Beare's words, "from the beginning the Roman theater
was supported and supervised by the State."1 These public
games took place during the celebrations of various religious
festivals during the year. The major festivals in the second
century were: the ludi romani in honor of Juppiter Optimus
Maximus, the lpdi plebeii also in honor of Juppiter, the lag;
Apollinares in honor of Apollo, and the ludi Megalenses in
honor of the Magna Mater. The ludi scaenici, or dramatic per-
formances, formed part of these religious festivals which
lasted several days. Anywhere from one to four days were de-
voted to the ludi scaenici during the celebration of a festi-

val. Mr. Duckworth estimates the number of days devoted to

 

1w. Bears, The Roman Stagg, p. 7.

l8

drama each year "at about eleven, after 191 B. C. perhaps as
many as seventeen."2 Dramatic performances were also given
on particular occasions such as funeral games, triumphs and
dedication of temples. Scholars differ as to where the per-
formances took place. Bears suggests that "they would be
shown in an improvised theatre, erected perhaps near the
temple of the god in whose honor the festival was given."3
Most authors, however, agree that plays given in connection
with funeral games were shown in the forum.

Admission to the plays was free and all expenses were
defrayed by the State. There were officials, aediles or
praetors, in charge of the games. These often supplemented
the State appropriations with contributions of their own.

What was the procedure followed in the production of
a play? The dominus_gregis, or manager of a troupe, was the
link between the officials in charge of the games, the drama-
tists and the public. The producer-manager made a contract
to produce a play with the officials in charge of the games.
He then bought the script from the playwright, hired the
actors and made all the necessary arrangements for the pro-
duction. Once the play was in the hands of the dominus gregis
he kept it and could repeat its performance as often as he

wished.

77 2George E. Duckworth, The Nature of Rgman ngfifixo
p. e

3W. Bears, op. cit., p. 15h.

19

The dramatist had no control over the play after
it left his hands, and received nothing but the original
purchase price, even though the play might be produced
more than once.”
The producer-manager also bought the costumes which he gave
to the chora us, or property-manager, who in turn distributed
them to the actors.

It is often said that the manager of a theatrical
company was a freedman who had most of the actors as his
slaves. There are different views on the matter. The author
of this work does not agree with Mr. Beare's opinion that
"the very fact that actors were organized in a troupe under
a dominus suggests something not far removed from slave
status."5 It is evident that Mr. Beare is thinking of the
literal meaning of the word dominus. In all likelihood, the
acting profession was young and offered little by way of
financial rewards; but it is more plausible to assume with
Mr. Duckworth that at this time actors "were mostly alien
and freedman."6

The size of theatrical troupes is not definitely known.
The general opinion is that they must have been limited in
number; perhaps six or seven actors to a company. Related to

the question of the size of the troupes is that of the doubling

of roles. Several scholars support the view that Roman actors

 

LLG. E. Duckworth, o . cit., p. 7h.
5w. Bears, op. cit., p. 159.
6G. E. Duckworth, op. cit., p. 76.

20

took more than one part in a play. If one accepts the opinion
that the Romans wore masks, it seems quite plausible that
actors might have doubled in their roles. But caution must

be exercised not to assume that a Roman comedy could be per-
formed with an extremely limited number of actors.

Now for the structure of the theater itself. In repub-
lican Rome there were no permanent theaters like those of imp
perial times. Attempts had been made throughout the second
century to build some but construction had been arrested be-
cause of opposition to theaters as harmful to public morals.
"The first permanent stone—theater at Home was that built by
Pompey in 55 B. C."7 The Plautine theater was structurally
simple. It consisted of two main parts: the scaena or stage
proper, and the 23123 or auditorium. As was mentioned before,
where the dramatic performances took place is not known. It
is certain, however, that theaters were improvised outdoors
in suitable spots as convenience dictated. The wooden stage
was built temporarily for the performance and afterwards
probably taken down. At first the spectators stood in the
area around the stage but later seats were probably furnished
for the audience. Again, whether the Roman theaters of that
time had seats or not is a controversial issue. Both Bears
and Duckworth favor the view that seats were provided for the

public of Plautus and Terence.8 It is interesting to note

 

71b1do , P. 800

‘ 8See Bears, op. cit., Ch. XXI and Duckworth, op. cit.,
pp. 60-61.

21

that "reservation of seats for senators and eguites had been
a practice from Republican times onwards. . . ."9
Stage—setting in the Plautine and Terentian theater

was quite rudimentary. The stage proper represented for the
most part a street in Athens. The background was made of
boards nailed together and painted to represent two or three
houses with doors opening onto the stage. Usually, there
were three doors facing the scene. In many plays, there was
an altar in front of the houses. Actors entered the stage
not only through the doors of the imaginary houses but also
through the two wing entrances. The wing on the spectator's
right led to the fpggm, the entrance on his left to the harbor
and the Open sea. The angiportum was supposedly a street off
the stage and running parallel to it through which the charac-
ters could reach their houses from the back. In other words,
it represented a street in the city which connected the forum
with the harbor. Beare says of the angiportum:

It is a device which enables the dramatist to escape

at times from the general rule that a character who

leaves the stage by a particular door or wing must

return by the same door or wing.

Thus scenery in the Roman theater was reduced to a

nunimum. As the stage represented a street, all action and

dialogue took place outdoors. The stage was continuously

k

9Beare, op. cit., p. 162.

10Ibid., p. 173.

22

open to view and the scenery remained unchanged throughout
a performance. The use of the curtain was not yet known.

The costumes worn by the actors of the fabulae palliatae,
as Plautus' and Terence's comedies are called, were modelled
upon the dress of the ordinary Greek citizens portrayed in the
plays. Their costumes may be described as follows: actors
wore a long undergarment called tunica. Over this tunica was
a mantle called allium; the one worn by women was called a
22115. The mantle of free persons was long; that of soldiers
or slaves was short. This short cloak was called a chlamys.
All characters wore the thin sandal or slipper, the soccus.
The soccus was characteristic of comedy just as the cothurnus
or high buskin was of tragedy. Farce actors went barefooted.

Wigs of different colors were used, white for old
men, black for young and red for slaves, but there
is no good authority f r the statement that slaves
always wore red wigs.13

Masks seemed to have been used by actors of second
century Home. It must be added here that evidence on the
subject of masks is confused. As was mentioned above, the
choragus or property-manager apportioned the costumes to the
actors. Costumes were expensive and must have been selected
with care. Beare believes that the tendency was "to reduce
the property manager's outfit to a limited number of costumes

12
of as few types and as simple style as possible."

11G. E. Duckworth, op. cit., p. 69.
12w. Beare, op. cit., p. 179.

23

There is considerable evidence that Plautus and Terence
did not divide their plays into acts. They wrote them for
uninterrupted presentation. "Continuous performance which
is the negation of act-division was the rule for ancient
drama from Aeschylus to Terence."13

During the Empire, Rome built magnificent theaters.

But unfortunately progress in the drama did not go hand in
hand with the splendor of the buildings. Tragedy and comedy
were replaced on the imperial stage by the mhme and pantomime.
To all indications, the dramatic standards of the Empire were
far below those of the Republic.

In seventeenth-century France, Paris played the dominant
rSle in the development of the drama. It was here that the-
aters were permanently established, plays were published, and
many troupes were formed. In discussing the theatrical prac-
tices of Moliere's time, we shall then focus our attention
on the Parisian theatrical scene.

When Moliére arrived at Paris in 1658 from his sojourn
in the provinces, there were already two French troupes es-
tablished in the city. These were the troupe of the Hatel de
Bourgogne and that of the Marais. The former specialized in
tragedy; the latter had developed the "machine" plays. The

leading actor of the H6tel was Bellerose; that of the Marais

was Montdory.

k 4

13Ibid., p. 209.

2h

There were also some foreign troupes settled in Paris
by the second half of the century. They were a troupe of
Spanish actors and an Italian company. The Spanish troupe had
come to Paris in 1660 before Louis XIV married Marie-Therese,
and departed in 1673. Commenting on them, M. Despois said
that they failed to get the acceptance of the Parisian public
and remained simply "les comédiens de la reine."1h _The Italian
actors, on the other hand, made themselves felt in the capital.
They had first come to Paris in the sixteenth century and did
not leave the city until their expulsion in 1697. Twice the
Italians shared a theater with Moliere's troupe--first at
the Petit-Bourbon, secondly at the Palais Royal. Speaking
on their popularity, Mr. Lancaster said:

They had no influence upon tragedy. But they may
well have helped develop French farce and have made
French actors reali e the importance of gesture and
facial expression.1

As for Moliére's troupe, when it settled in Paris in
1658 it was given the privilege of sharing the theater of the
Petit-Bourbon with the Italians. When reconstruction of the
Louvre began, Moliére and his troupe were forced to move.

They then secured for themselves the Palais-Royal, which they
also occupied with the Italian actors.

Thus, in the seventeenth century, we had three impor-

tant groups of actors working in Paris. The troupe of the

h

luEugene Despois, Le Theatre Frangais sous Louis XIV,
P. 72. .

15Henry C. Lancaster, A History of French Dramatic Liter-
ature in the Seyenteenth Century, Part V,_"Recapitulation§

P. 12.

 

25

H8tel, the troupe of the Marais and Moliere's troupe du roi.
Each company excelled in its own field; all vied with each
other in friendly competition.

French actors, however, did not confine themselves to
the capital. Wandering troupes traveled not only through the
provinces but also went into the Low Countries, Germany, and
England. "Traveling troupes became agents for the spread of
French culture and an invaluable school for actors who were
to enter Parisian companies."16

In what types of theaters did the various troupes

- . n
N ,3}... :31'1‘. T. w'

“it. ~- ‘ i“:.':j‘ 1.“

perform? Provincial troupes played in any hall which was
temporarily made into a theater foretheirwperformances. The
troupes established in Paris played invbuildings eféaEEEEET
the performance of plays. The structure of these permanent
theaters can be described as follows. They were rectangular
halls divided into two main areas, the theatre or stage and
a flat auditorium called the parterre. There were tiers of
boxes along the sides of the room. Benches were placed at
the back of the hall, which was known as the amphitheatre,
except for the performances of "machine" plays. ~Thewstagagwas
relatively small in comparison to the Roman stage,1vhich was
said'to be as much as 60 yards long. Though the stage was
Peserved for actors, persons of noble rank sat on benches

RC“ ~,,« "H r‘ if; ‘1
Situated on both wings of the stage. This;custom,was—netv

‘

16Ibid., p. 13.

26

suppressed until 1759. A good description of the stage as it
was set in those days is given by M. Despois:
La scene est trés petite. Si les proportions sont
bien observees, elle n' a guere plus de trois hauteurs
d' homme. Des spectateurs placés sur le theatre per-
mettent d'en Juger; ils sont debout derriere le rideau,
et l'ecartent curieusement a droite et a gauche pour
voir ce qui se passe dans la salle; ils sont enfermes
dans une double balustrade qui partant de l'angle du
théatre ou descend la toile, fait retour en arriere en
décrivant un quart de cercle. On voit que cette disposi-
tion supprime absolument les premieres coulisses. Les
acteurs ne peuvent venir que du fond de la scene, et l'on

concoit que la decoigtion se trouve a peu pres reduite
a la toile de fond.

The stage setting was quite simple. In the first part
of the century, the system used was Is decor simultane.18
Later the stage setting was reduced to represent a parlor
where the action took place.

(ggpizgry to the Roman practicegyFrench actors of the
seventeenth century procured their own costumes. Each actor
had his own dramatic wardrobe though it has been said that
"on avait bien la ressource de louer des habits."19'

Although French and Roman troupes were similarly organ-
ized, the former were of a very democratic character. Actors
of a troupe worked on a share basis. They met frequently and
decided their problems collectively. 'The manager of a troupe

was elected by its members and received no salary for his

 

17E. Despois, op. cit., 129.

18A system by which several localities are represented
simultaneously on the stage.

19E. Despois, op. cit., p. 133.

27

services. "They formed stock companies in both senses of the
word."20

Plays were purchased by the actors directly from the
dramatists. They paid the writer a lump sum for the right
to act his plays. At other times, the troupe gave the author
two shares of the total receipts when his playvvas first pro-
duced.

"0ne aspect that cannot be omitted in a discussion of
the theatre in France under Louis XIV is that of government
subsidy. The three Parisian troupes were subsidized at one
time or another of their existence. The troupe of the H5te1
received 12,000 francs a year. That of the Marais and
Moliére's troupe received 6,000 francs annually.

[Eh Rome, dramatic performances.were given as part of
religious festivals. The theaters were in the open air and
the plays were given during the day;]LIn Paris, performancesi
were given‘élso;during the daytime in any of the three es—
tablished theaters. Early in the century, curtain-time was
at two o'clock in the afternoon. Later, ". . . cing heures
sgmble avoir fini par stre l'heure ordinaire." 21

”Admission to Parisian theaters was not free(§s in
Republican Romeg? Actors depended on the public for financial
support. \There were variations in prices but in Moliere's

time 15 sous was the admission price to the parterre; an ecu
20Lancaster, op. cit., p. 21.

21E. Despois, op. cit., p. lho.

‘ "L

28

or half a lgpig paid for a seat on the stage or in a box. For
the premiere of a play, charges were doubled. "Doubling was
not_employed for one-act plays and was usually limited to the
early performances of new full-length plays given in the winter
season, which ran from November 2 to Easter."22

[1t has been said that Roman actors performed an average
of eleven days out of a year.?§].French actors performed regu-
larly three days a week until 1680, when performances were
given every day. Yet French theaters closed often.t They
closed two weeks at Easter, on all religious holidays, when
there was mourning at court or sickness among its members.
Summer was their dead season and at this time of the year
theaters suffered severe competition from other places of
amusement.

Recapitulating the discusSion of theatrical conventions
in gecond century Rome and seventeenth-centurytirfnce;eone cAJL
Eeaches some surprising conclusions. -Though centuries of
civilization had elapsed between the two theaters, certain
similarities are apparent.§ Audiences were{§gualli}hetero-
geneous.§’Playwrights wrote not for a select few, but for a
mixed public. The stage setting was(in both casesEsimple and
costumes were reduced to the essentials. Though the organi-
zation of thfatri cal companies differed in various ways, one

could almost equate the structure of the troupes as follows:

h

22Lancaster, op. cit., p. 18.

23See above, p. 2.

29

 

 

 

 

Roman gggx French Troupe

Dominus gregis Directeur g2 troupe
Choragus Le fripier ou.le decorateur
Prologue L'orateur d3 lg troupe
Dissigpatores Les ouvreurs g2_1pgg§,

 

 

g9 theatre et d'amphithéatre

Histrionep Les acteurs

 

 

The above is a very schematic equation of the organization
of troupes but it illustrates the fact that, small as Roman
troupes were, they had all the elements of the well-organized
French company of Moliére's days.

Anyone will enjoy reading a play by Plautus, Moliere
or Terence. But his understanding of the merits of the work
will undoubtedly be increased by an appreciation of the work

entailed in its composition and presentation.

30

CHAPTER III
MOLIihe AND PLAUTUS

The following works are usually quoted as illustrating
Moliere's dependence on Plautus: L'Ftourdi, Amphitryon, and
L'Avare. In this chapter we shall examine these plays and
attempt to define the Plautine features in them.

First in order of production was L'Fmourdi. This play

is slightly related to Plautus' Bacchides.l

Let us turn for
a moment to the plot of this Latin comedy. Two Athenian
young men, Pistoclerus and Mnesilochus, live in the same
vicinity where they have grown together from childhood. As
the play begins, Pistoclerus is in Athens where he is leading
a merry life and carrying on an affair with the courtesan
Bacchis. Mnesilochus is in Ephesus where he has been sent
by his father, Nicobulus, to collect a debt which a friend
owed him. On his way to Ephesus, Mnesilochus stopped at
Samnos where he fell victim to the charms of a courtesan
called Bacchis of Samnos. This girl, however, was in the
service of a captain, Cleomachus, and he takes her with him
to Athens. Mnesilochus writes to his friend Pistoclerus

asking him to look for his sweetheart in Athens and, if he

can, free her from the hands of the captain. Pistoclerus

‘_‘

lCritics propose that Plautus influenced Moliere in
‘this case only indirectly, via Barbieri's adaptation of the
.Egpchides in Italian: L'Inavvertito.

 

31

complies with his friend's request. He not only finds the
girl but discovers she is the sister of his mistress, who also
bears the name Bacchis. This is the situation when Mnesilochus
returns, accompanied by his slave, Chrysalus. The latter
learns from.Pistoclerus that, although he has found the where-
abouts of Mnesilochus' girl, he cannot buy her freedom for
lack of money. Chrysalus takes matters into his own hands.

He invents a story to deceive Nicobulus, his master's father,
and see that the latter keeps for himself the money he has
brought from Ephesus. Chrysalus' scheme is successful. But,
Mnesilochus overhears a conversation between Pistoclerus'
father and tutor in which his friend is accused of loose con-
duct and of keeping a mistress named Bacchis. Mnesilochus
assumes that Pistoclerus is having an affair with his girl

and decides to return all the money he had to his father and
tell him that Chrysalus' story was a lie. He does so and,

to his distress, discovers later that there are two courtesans
by the same name and that Pistoclerus had been courting his
girl's sister, Bacchis of Athens. Once he realizes his mis-
take, Mnesilochus' chief concern is to get money to free his
sweetheart from Cleomachus. He turns for help to his slave
Chrysalus, who engineers a second trick to obtain money from
Nicobulus. He succeeds in deceiving Mnesilochus' father and
his master purchases Bacchis' freedom. It is not long before
Nicobulus discovers he has been the victim of Chrysalus' in-

trigues. He rushes to seek out Mnesilochus and meets

32

Pistoclerus' father, whom he informs of the immoral behavior
of their sons. In the final scene, we see the old fathers
yielding to the seductions of the two Bacchides and banqueting
with their sons and the two courtesans.

/

L'Etourdi is simply a comedy of situations. The play

 

takes place in Messina, Italy. Two young men, Lelie and
Leandra, love Célie, a pretty slave-girl owned by an old man
named Trufaldin. Mascarille, Lelie's valet, devises numerous
schemes to help his master win the girl he loves but each time
Lelie, "l'étourdi," upsets Mascarille's plans to aid hum.

Some of the plans which Lelie frustrates are: 1) Mascarille
causes Seigneur Anselmo to drop his purse full of money in
order to steal it and procure money to purchase Célie. But,
Lelie finds it and returns it to Anselme before Mascarille
could even steal the purse. 2) By pretending that Lelie's
father, M. Pandolfe, has died, Mascarille persuades old
Anselme to lend money to Lelie for defraying the funeral ex-
penses. Anselme discovers that Pandolfe is still alive and
gets back his money from Le’iie by making the latter believe
that he has given him false coins. 3) The cunning valet in-
troduces into Trufaldin's house Lelie disguised as an Armenian
merchant who brings the old man news of his long-lost son.
Lelia gives himself away at the dinner-table by courting
Celie and thus arouses Trufaldin's suspicions. Furthermore,
lLélie confesses his masquerade to Célie and is overheard by

irrufaldin's god-daughter, who in turn puts the old man 52.

33

courant. h) Finally, hearing that Celie has been purchased
by a gypsy called Andres, Mascarille disguises himself as an
innkeeper and offers to accommodate the couple in his place;
but Lelia explains to Andres that Mascarille is his valet and
that the so-called inn is his own home. He also confesses to
Andres that he is madly in love with cello. To all appear-
ances, Lelie has lost Celie with his blunderings, but a series
of unexpected recognitions solves his problem. Andras, the
gypsy, is discovered to be Trufaldin's son and Célie's brother,
and Trufaldin turns out to be a well-to-do nobleman. Lelie
marries Célie and his rival, Leandra, returns to his former
sweetheart, Hippolyte.

From the above synopses, it is apparent that Plautus
contributed little to Moliere's Lfétourdi. The two comedies
have entirely different plots. There is not one scene in the
French play for which we can trace its equivalent in Th2.

Bacchides. Moliere probably drew from Plautus the character

 

of Mascarille who, like the slave Chrysalus, is the victim of
his master's blunders. However, all similarity between
L'Htourdi and The Bacchides ceases here.

Moliere imitated Plautus very closely in his Amphitryon.
The latter is modeled chiefly upon Plautus' play of the same
name. The plots of both comedies are basically the same: In
a prologue, Mercury explains that his father, Jupiter, has
fallen in love with beautiful Alcmena whose husband, the

3h

Theban general, Amphitryon, is away at war.2 Jupiter has
assumed the appearance of Amphitryon to deceive Alcmena and

is now spending the night in her company. Mercury himself

has adopted the figure of Sosia, Amphitryon's slave, and is
acting as his father's valet. It is early morning and Jupiter
is still visiting with Alcmena. At this moment, the real
Sosia arrives with news from his master: Amphitryon has

won the war and will soon return to be with his wife. As
Sosia is approaching Amphitryon's palace, Mercury comes out,
questions him, gives him a sound beating and drives him away
claiming that he is Sosia himself. The bewildered slave goes
off to tell Amphitryon the strange reception he received at
the hands of his "other self." In the interim, Jupiter, still
feigning to be Amphitryon, tells Alcmena he must go back to
his troops, bids her good-bye and leaVes. A few hours later,
the real Amphitryon appears expecting a warm welcome. He is
surprised when he is coldly received by Alcmena, who thinks
that he is testing her fidelity with his quick return. Amphi-
tryon asks Alcmena for an explanation of her aloofness and is
startled when she tells him that he has just left her that
very morning. Immediately, Amphitryon's astonishment turns
to»jealousy and he accuses his wife of disloyalty. Though

deeply hurt by her husband's charges, Alcmena receives them

g

2In the French play, Moliere substitutes for this pro-
logue a dialogue between hercury and Night.

35

with a great deal of composure. Amphitryon, in his anger,
departs to find a witness who can prove to Alcmena that he
has just arrived in Thebes.3 Jupiter then reappears on the
scene. This time, he has come to pacify outraged Alcmena
and win back her favor. He assures her that he has never
doubted her innocence and that "his accusations" were all in
fun. Alcmena forgives him and they go inside the house.
Shortly afterward, Amphitryon returns, without a witness,
but accompanied by a friend who has come to help him solve
the mystery in his household. Mercury, still disguised as
Sosia, closes the door to Amphitryon, insults him, and treats
him as an intruder.h The true Sosia soon comes with another
three of Amphitryon's comrades. At the sound of voices out-
side, Jupiter comes out of the palace and meets the real '
Amphitryon face to face. The stupified onlookers are selected
as judges to decide who is the true Amphitryon. Jupiter him-
self, however, reveals his identity, confesses the trick he
has played, and reassures Amphitryon of Alcmena's innocence.
Although Moliere followed the story of Plautus' Amphi-
tgpg_in his adaptation of this play, there are several dif-

ferences observable between the French and Latin comedies.

 

3In Plautus' comedy, Amphitryon offers as a witness
Alcmena's relative, Naucrates; in Mdliere's play, he proposes
as.a witness Alcmena's own brother.

“In Plautus' Amphitruo the incidents which follow do
not appear since Act III is lost and only fragments of it
are extant. So, I shall relate the meeting between Jupiter
and Amphitryon as it appears in the French play.

..,.e,..iws .... tastelage

36

First, Moliere altered the prologue of his Latin source. In
Plautus, the prologue is an expository monologue spoken by
IMercury. In Moliére's hands, this prologue becomes an amusing
conversation between Mercury and Night in which the author
gives the comedy its burlesque tone. Indeed, we are made
aware that the story is nothing but a play when we hear la Hui;
tell Mercure who is complaining of his attire:
Que voulez-vous faire a cela?
Les poétes font a leur guise:
Ce n'est pas la seule sottise \
Qu'on voit faire a ces Messieurs-la.
Mais contra eux toutefois votre ame a tort s'irrite,S
Et vos ailes aux pieds sont un don de leur soins.

Mercure replies:

Oui; mais, pour aller plus vite,6
Est-co qu'on se lasse moins?

As we said before, Moliere borrowed the plot entirely
from Plautus. He has, nevertheless, made some changes in the
general structure of the play by introducing various scenes.
Since Moliere created the character of Cleanthis, Sosia's'
wife, all the scenes in which she appears have been added by
Moliere to Plautus' play. These scenes are:

a) Act I, Scenes 3 and h.
b) Act II, Scenes 3, h, 5, part of 6, and 7.
In Act III, Moliere is almost completely independent of Plautus

 

5Moliere, Amphitryog, Prologue, verses 39-hh: P. 359.
61bid., verses h5-uo, p. 359.

flFEnma a. Janene»... . HES.

37

and the only scene which is comparable to one in the Latin
Amphitruo is the first one.6

It is in his treatment of the characters in the Amphi-
pgygp that Moliere displays best his skill as an adapter.
While keeping the case of his Classical source in its entirety,
he added five characters: four Theban captains and Cleanthis,
Sosie's wife. This last addition enabled him.to present an
excellent contrast between the manage of Amphitryon-Almmena
and that of their servants, Scale-Cleanthis. Moliére has also
transformed Plautus' Jupiter into a seventeenth century French-
man. When he is trying to cajole angry Alcmena he sounds
like Alceste reconciling himself with Celimene. Note the
refinement of Jupiter's speech in the lines below:

Mais mon coeur vous demands grace;
Pour vous 1a demander Je me jette a genoux,
Et 1a demands au nom.de la plus vive flamme,
Du plus tendre amour dont une ame
Puisse Jamais bruler pour vous.
Si votre coeur, charmante Alcméne,
Me refuse la grace ofi j'ose recourir,
Il faut qu'une atteinte soudaine
M'arrache, on me faisant mourir,
Aux dures rigueurs d'une peine
Que je ne saurois plus souffrir.7

Amphitryon and Alcmena do not change their characters when
transplanted to French soil. Alcmena is Just as virtuous and

dignified; Amphitryon is through and through a soldier very

6Moliere of course was in a way forced to be original
in his third act, since Plautus' text is incomplete here and
besides Moliere changed considerably the conclusion of the
Latin play.

7Hollere, 0p. cit., Act 11, So. 6, verses 1359-1369.

Aflnfievfl.i 1"; v.— .I.I.Z.H .._. 42¢”! _ “—1.
_..._. _

 

38

much in love with his wife. Sosia ascends a little in the
social scale; in Moliere's play he is a valet instead of a
slave.

The last and most important change Moliére made to his
:model was the denouement. In the Latin Amphitruo, Jupiter
confesses his escapade to Amphitryon, who is honored to learn
that his wife has been loved by the gods. In the French
comedy, Jupiter confesses his escapade to Amphitryon but the
latter remains silent. It is Sosia who adds the last humor-
ous touch to the play with his priceless comment: "Le
seigneur Jupiter sait dorer 1a pilule."8

In short, Moliére followed Plautus' Amphitruo in de-
tails of plot and development but he inserted in his imitation
new scenes and new characters and imparted to his Amphitryon
a completely different tone which made it more acceptable to
his French audience.

The third play in our consideration is L'Avare.
Moliere based his comedy on Plautus' Aulularia although other
sources are also quoted as his models. Below we give brief
resumes of both the French and the Latin comedies. A

The Aulularia is the story of a poor man, Euclio,
and what happens to him.after he finds in his house a small
pot of gold. The play opens with an expository prologue by
the household god in which the 13; tells us that out of regard

for Euclio's daughter he has caused her father to find this

8Ibid., Act III, Sc. 10, verse 1912, p. #70.

39

treasure. He also informs us that he will see to it that
Euclio marries his daughter to the very young man who has
wronged her at the festival of Ceres. Next to Euclio lives
Megadorus, an elderly, wealthy man. His sister Eunomia has
persuaded him to marry and he has chosen as his future wife
Euclio's daughter. Megadorus ignores that his nephew,
Lyconides, has violated his neighbor's daughter. When Mega-
dorus comes to ask Euclio for his daughter's hand, Euclio at
once suspects that he knows of his treasure; he consents,
however, to the marriage provided Megadorus does not expect
the bride to bring a dowry. Megadorus agrees and offers to
defray the expenses of the wedding feast. Euclio leaves

for the forum.and, while he is away, the cooks sent by Mega-
dorus arrive at his house to prepare the wedding banquet.
Euclio returns and drives the cooks out while he goes inside
to make sure his gold is still safe. Once reassured, he lets
the cooks back into the house but leavesItaking with him his
pot of gold which he hides in the Temple of Faith. Lyconides'
slave follows Euclio and sees him as he buries his treasure.
Euclio discovers he has been watched by the slave and after
carefully examining him hurries off with his gold to transfer
it to another place of concealment. The slave has followed
Euclio once more and this time succeeds in stealing the
treasure. When Euclio discovers his loss, his grief knows

no bounds. He bewails his misfortune in a very exalted

8°1tloquy which is overheard by Lyconides. The latter thinks

ho

that Euclio is lamenting his daughter's disgrace and confesses
that he is the author of the offense; Euclio believes that
Lyconides is confessing the theft of the pot of gold. Even-
tually, Euclio realizes his mistake and consents to the
marriage of Lyconides and his daughter. The ending of the
play is lost but it is presumed that Euclio recovered his
treasure and gave it to his daughter as a wedding gift.

The plot of LfAvare bears slight resemblance to that
of the Aulularia. Harpagon, a prosperous French bourgeois,
lives in a fine house surrounded by servants. He has two
children, Cleante and Elise. Valera, a young man who has in—
troduced himself into Harpagon's house in the capacity of
steward, is in love with Elise. Cleante, the.miser's son,
loves Marianne, a girl of the neighborhood who lives in
penurious circumstances with her mother. To pursue his con-
quest of Marianne, Cleante needs money; so he turns to borrowing
it from a usurer who demands a high rate of interest. Cleante
is brought to meet the.money-lender and to his surprise dis-
covers that it is his own father. A highly dramatic scene
ensues between father and son in which Cleante rebukes Harpagon
for his unscrupulous practices. The breach between the miser
and his son begins to appear inevitable. To complete alienating
his children, Harpagon declares his intentions of marrying
Elise to an elderly, wealthy man named Anselmo, and of marrying
Marianne himself. His children refuse to accept their father's

plans. Cleante is determined to marry Marianne, and Elise to

 

”a”... 5. ...._....; 1...!!!

hl

marry Valera in absolute disregard of Harpagon's wishes. At
this moment, Harpagon discovers the disappearance of a casket
full of money which he had buried in his garden. He is beside
himself with grief and his despair is beyond measure. La
Fléche, Cleante's valet, has stolen the cassette and given it
to his master. Harpagon suspects Valere and has sent for the
police. Here, M. Anselme appears very opportunely. In the
presence of Anselme, Valera declares his identity and it turns
out to be that he is the brother of Marianne. It appears
further that Valére and Marianne are the long-lost children

of Seigneur Anselme and all are happily reunited. Anselme
yields Hlise to his newly-found son. Cleante, who had the
lost cassette in his possession, promises to restore it intact
to his father if the latter approves his marriage to Marianne.
Harpagon consents and recovers his money.

L’Avare is a reworking of Plautus' Aulularia. Moliere
as usual handled the theme of his Latin source in his own way.
Harpagon is indeed of the progeny of Euclio but there is a
great difference in their characters. Euclio is a poor man
who has suddenly acquired money and becomes obsessed with
its possession. His avarice is not the result of innate
greed but more the proauct of his desire to preserve his
treasure at all costs. This is very well brought out in the

following monologue:

h2

discrucior animi, quia so come abeundum est mihi.
nimis herdkzinuitus abeo. sed quid agam scio.
nam noster nostrae qui est magister curiae
dividere argenti dixit nummos in uiros;
id 31 relinquo ac non peto, omnes ilico
me suspicentur, credo, habere aurum domi.
nam veri simile non est hominem pauperem
pauxillum parui facere quin nummum petat.

9

Harpagon, on the other hand, is a man dominated by his avarice.
He has the means to live in relative elegance but is very
close-fisted to his cnildren and servants. He does not wish

to spend money even in necessary items like food and clothes.
He loves money so much that he lends it at exhorbitant rates
of interest in order to increase his fortune. Maitre Jacques,

his cock and coachman, paints vividly his character when he

says to Frosine:

. . . tu no connais pas le Seigneur Harpagon.

Le Seigneur Harpagon est de tous les humains l'humain

le moins humain, le mortel de tous les mortels le plus dur
et le plus serre.. 11 n' est point do service qui pousse
sa reconnaissance jusqu'a lui faire ouvrir les mains.

De la louange, de l'estime, de la bienveillance en
paroles, et de l'amitie tant qu 'il vous plaira; mais

de l'argent, point d'affaire. II n 'est rien de plus sec
et de plus aride que ses bonnes graces et ses caresses;
et donner est un.mot pour qu'il a tant d'aversion, qu '11
he dit jamais: "Je vous donne," mais, "Je vous prete

le bon jour. " 10

Further comparison of the two plays under consideration shows
that,in L'Avare, only two characters can claim.a Latin origin
besides Harpagon: Anselme and La Fleche. Moliere apparently

modeled the first after Megadorus and the second after

9Plautus, Aulularia, Act I, Sc. I, verses 105-112.
10Moliere, L'Avare, Act II, Sc. IV, p. 105.

1L3

Lyconides' slave. In the Aulularia Euclio has only one
daughter and a servant; in L'Avare Harpagon has two children,
two lackeys, one servant and a cook-coachman. There are
eight speaking parts in the Latin comedy; there are fourteen
in the French play.

It is in the plot of L'Avare that the Plautine influence
is more pronounced. The Aulularia supplied Moliere with several
scenes and situations. The most striking of these 13 the
scene where Harpagon laments the loss of his cassette. The
monologue is too long to quote in its entirety; below we give
those lines which we think paraphrase Euclio's in the

Aulularia.

Harpagon

. . . C'en est fait, /
je ne puis plus; je me meurs, Je suis mort, je suis enterrel
N'y a-t-il personne qui veuille me ressusciter, en me
rendant mon cher argent, ou en m'aprennant qui l'a pris?
Euh? que dites-vous? Ce n 'est personne. Il faut, qui que
ce soit qui ait fait le coup, qu'avec beaucoup de soin on
ait epie l'heure; et l'on a choisi Justement le temps
que je parlais a mon traitre de fils . . .

Que de gens assembles!

Je ne jette mes regards sur personne qui ne me donne des
soupcons, et tout me semble mon voleur. Eh' de quoi
est-ca qu' on parle la? De celui qui m.'a derobe?
Quel bruit fait on la-haut? Est-ce mon voleur, je
supplie que l'on me dise. N'est-il point cache’la
parmi vous? Ils me regardent tous, et se mettent
a rire. Vous verrez qu 'ils ont olpart sans doute
au vol que l'on m'a fait . .

Compare the above with Euclio's monologue:

A

llIbid., Act IV, Sc. VIII, p. 175.

Periil interiil occidii quo curramf quo non curram?
tene, tene. quem? quis?
nescio, nil video, caecus eo atque equidem quo eam aut ubi
sim aut qui sim
nequeo cum.animo certum investigare. opsecro ego vos,
mi auxilio,
oro, optestor, sitis et hominem demonstratis, quis eam
apstulerit.
quid ais tu? tibi credere certum est, nam esse bonum et
voltu cognosco.
quid est? quid ridetis? novi omnis, scio fures esse hic
compluris,
qui vestitu et creta occultant sese atque sedent quasi
sint frugi.
hem, nemo habet horum? occidisti. dic igitur, quis
habet, nescis.12

Moliere took from Plautus also the joke about "les autres

mains."13 In the Aulularia, too, Moliere found the idea for

 

his use of the phrase, sans dot. In the Latin play, it is
to Megadorus that Euclio keeps repeating that he cannot give
his daughter a dowry. Plautus also gaVe holiere the situation
of the scene in which Harpagon mistakes Valere's sin for
another. Below we cite some lines of that scene with its
Latin equivalent.

Harpagon

e o o M318,
dis-moi, qui t'a porte a cette action?

Valere
Helas. me Is demandez-vous?
Harpagon '
Oui, vraiment, je te le demands.
Valére

Un dieu qui parte les excuses
de tout ce qu'il fait faire: l'Amour.
Harpagon.
L'Amour?
.Valere~
Oui.

 

12Plautus, op. cit., Act IV, Sc. IA, verses 713-20.
lBSee Plautus, op. cit., Act IV, Sc. IV, verse 6hl-62.

RS

Euclio
quid ego demerui
adulescens, mali
quam ob rem ita faceres meque meosque perditum ires
liberos?
Lyconides 1h
deu' mihi impulsor fuit, is me ad illam inlexit.
L'Avare then provides a good example of holiere's indebtedness
to Plautus. We must admit, however, that Moliere's play is
superior to the Latin comedy. L'Avare is a complete character
study of a miser; the Aulularia is not. Plautus seemed to
stress the ridiculous aspects of Euclio's character solely
to create laughter; Moliere stressed the miserliness of
Harpagon to make us reflect (while laughing) on the evil

effects such a vice has upon human relations.

 

l"Hiclicgr'e, op. cit., Act V, Sc. III, p. 187; Plautus,
op. cit., Act IV, Sc. IX, verses 735-37.

 

 

1,6

CHAPTER IV
MOLIERE AND TERENCE

Literary historians tell us that Terence exercised
some influence on Moliere. They also say that evidence of
this influence is noticeable in two of the French writer's
works: L'Hcole des Maris and Les Fourberies de Scapin.1
In this chapter we shall consider what are the Terentian
elements in these two comedies of Moliére.

First, we shall discuss L'Hbole des Maris. This play
has a theme similar to Terence's Adelphoe. In the Latin
comedy, we have two elderly brothers, Demea and Micio.
Aeschinus, one of Demea's sons, has been adepted by his
uncle, Micio, who has brought him up in Athens with kindness
and indulgence. Ctesipho, Demea's other son, has remained
in the country with his father who has educated him with
harshness and restraint. Demea reproaches his brother Micio
for spoiling Aeschinus. Micio in turn condemns Demea for his
severity with Ctesipho. This is the central idea of the
comedy, the clash between the educational policies of Micio
and Demea. We soon learn, however, that both systems are

equally at fault. The two young men have not come up to

their parents' expectations. Aeschinus is quite the libertine.

 

1See Duckworth, The Nature of Roman Comedy, pp. hoe-
h07.

(III-J. a- 4.3.5.41. . a“... is

LL?

He has wronged a maiden and concealed the incident from his
father Micio. Ctesipho is no better than his brother. He is
weak-willed, secretive and shy to the point that he prefers
others to carry the blame for his licentious conduct. Ctesipho
has allowed Aeschinus to abduct his mistress Bacchis on his
behalf and run the risk of the punishment involved in the ab-
duction. So, both youths have been equally spoiled. Finally
the distressed parents learn of their sons' escapades and
this proves to them how their systems have failed.

As its title implies,2 the merit of the Adelphoe re-
sides mainly in the excellent characterization of Demea and
Micio. Not only do they differ in their views but also in
their temperaments. Micio is tolerant, sociable, and under-
stands the ways of men. Demea is obstinate and very conser-
vative. Terence drives home this contrast between them when
Micio says:

is meo dissimili studiost iam inde ab adulescentia:

ego hanc clementem vitam urbanam atque otium

secutus sum et, quod fortunatum isti putant,

uxorem numquam habui. ille contra haec omnia: 3

ruri agere vitam; semper parce ac duriter se habere....
Naturally, at the beginning of the play Micio gets our sym-
_pathy; but at the end, he fades into the background and Demea

draws our attention. Demea realizes that hicio's compliance

has earned him popularity and the affection of Aeschinus and

 

2Adelphoe means The Brothers.
3Terence, Adel hoe, Act I, So. I, verses hO-hb, p. Zhb.

hB

Ctesipho. He then decides to change his way of life and win
back his sons. In an exalted soliloquy Demea reasons with
himself: ’

age age nunciam experiamur contra, ecquid ego possiem

blande dicere aut benigne facere, quando hoc prouocat.

ego quoque a meis me amari et magni fieri postulo:

81 id fit dando atque obsequendo, non posteriores feram.u
Then, in a few humorous scenes, Demea proceeds to give Micio
a dose of his own medicine or suo sibi gladio iugulare. He
first suggests that Micio give the slave Syrus his freedom,
then a plot of land for their kinsman Hegio, and finally he
persuades Micio to marry Sostrata, Aeschinus' future mother-
in-law. Thus Micio falls victim of his own fault--compliance.
He cannot say no to Demea's propositions. Astonished at his
brother's transformation, he asks Demea: "quae res tam
repente mores mutauit tuos?"5 Demea replies to him sharply
and then turns to Aeschinus with the poet's solution to the
divergent systems. His answer can be summed up by the old
saying in medid stat virtus. The best system is a compromise
between two extreme views. Both brothers were wrong.

The plot of L'école des Maris develops a problem
analogous to that of the Adelphoe. Two elderly brothers,
Ariste and Sganarelle are the guardians of two young orphans,

Leonor and Isabelle. These two girls are sisters. Ariste

 

uIbid., Act I, Sc. IV, verses 877-80, p. 283.
5Ibid., Act V, Sc. IX, verse 98h, p. 288.

- :1!

. - .a-llvr}
’— aJ'ilIV .u

49

is tolerant and complaisant with his ward Leonor. He states
clearly his educational policy when he says:

Soit, mais je tiens sans cesse

Qu' il nous faut en riant instruire la Jeunesse,

Reprendre ses defauts avec grands douceur,

Et du nom de vertu ne lui point faire peur.

A ses jeunes désirs 3' ai toujours consenti,

Et je no me suis point, grace au Ciel, repenti.
Sganarelle, his brother, holds a completely different view
concerning the education of his Isabelle. He keeps her in
his home and deprives her of the pleasures her sister Leonor
enjoys. He wishes:

Qu‘enfermee au logis en personne bien sage

Elle s 'applique toute aux choses de ménage,

A recoudre mon linge aux heures de loisir,

Ou bien a tricoter quelque bas par plaisir;

Qu'aux discours des muguets elle ferme l'oreille,

Et ne sorte jamais sans avoir qui la veille.7
Each tutor wishes to marry his ward. Ariste wins the heart
of Leonor with his kindness and liberality; Sganarelle cannot
win Isabelle with his harshness and lack of understanding.
Besides, in spite of her confinement, Isabelle has fallen in
love with a young man named Valere. With her clever intrigues
Isabelle manages to elope with her lover and marry him.under
the very eyes of her duped guardian. Leonor, her sister,
marries the benevolent Ariste. The latter's system of liberty

and love triumphs over his brother's theory of repression

and restraint.

 

6Moliere, L'Bcole des Maris, Act I, So. II, verses
179’86’ p. 3690

7Ibid., Act I, So. II, verses 119-2h, p. 366.

I- . .fi . H 15.4.] theft...
, _ - trlf

 

After examining the plots of L'école des harp; and the
Adelphoe, one can easily see that they have one thing in com-
mon: they both deal with the problem of the education of
youth. Moliére probably owes to Terence the idea of contrasting
two divergent systems of education.

Besides this point of similarity, there are very few
traces of the Latin comedy in the French play. Certain
scenes in L'Hcole des Maris parallel some in the Adelphoe in
structure, situation and dialogue. But it must be observed
that in these instances, Moliere has adapted mainly the situ—
ation in which the characters find themselves without translating
their words exactly from the Latin. Notethe scenes below in
which we see Ariste and Micio both replying to the censures of

their respective brothers.

we OLE DES MARIS

x Ariste
Elle aime a depenser en habits, linge et noeuds:
Que voulez-vous? Je tache a contenter ses voeux;
Et ce sont des plaisirs qu'on peut dans nos familles,
Lorsque l'on a du bien, permettre aux Jeunes filles.

ADELPHOE

Micio
fores ecfregit: restituentur; discidit
vestem: resarcietur; est - dis gratis -
est unde haec fiant, et adhuc non molesta sunt.

It is clear that here Ariste's words are a different rendering

of Micio's thought.

8Terence it A t I S II 120-22
op. c ., c . , c. , verses , p.
2&9; Moliére, op. cit., Act I, Sc. II, verses 193-96, p. 370.

51

/
Two other scenes in L'Ecole des Maris could also be

compared with similar ones in Terence but our comment upon
them here would be superfluous. It is our belief that there
is only one scene in The School for Hggbangg which Moliere
almost translated from The Brothers of Terence. That scene

we quote below together with its Latin parallel in the

Adelphoe.9

Dbl/COLE DES mais

Sganarelle
Oh: que les voild bien tous formes l'un pour l'autre
Quelle belle famillei Un vieillard insensé
Qui fait le dameret dans un corps tout casse'
Une fille maItresse et coquette supreme;
Des valets impudents: non, la Sagesse meme
N'en viendroit pas a‘bout, perdroit, sens et raison
A vouloir corriger une telle maison.

ADELPHOE
Demea
O Juppiter
hancine vitam: hoscine mores! hanc dementiam!
uxor sine dote veniet; intus psaltriast
domus sumptuosa; adulescens luxu perditus;
senex delirans, ipsa si cupiat Salus,
seruare prorsus non potest hanc familiam.
We have said that Moliere probably adapted the theme
of L'Hcole des Maris in its main aspects from.Terence and that
he is indebted to the Latin playwright for some of the epi-

sodes in his play. However, Moliere has made many innovations

and changes in the structure of the Adelphoe.

 

9Moliere, o . cit., Act I, So. II, verses 251—57, p. 375;
Terence, op. cit., Act IV, Sc. V, verses 757-62, p. 279.

S2

The first change Moliere has made is in regard to
the characters. Though Terence's Demea and Micio are the
ancestors of Sganarelle and Ariste, the rest of the characters
in the French comedy cannot claim a Latin origin. For the two
sons in the Latin play Moliére has substituted two girls whom
he has made the wards instead of the daughters of the two
brothers. He has discarded all minor characters of the Adelphoe
and created in their place Valera, Ergaste and the inimitable
Lisette. Secondly, Moliére has enriched the plot of his
comedy with Isabelle's intrigues. Her schemes dominate the
play in rapid succession whereas in the Adelphoe the intrigue
is very slight, consisting merely of the two young men trying
to hide their escapades from their parents. Thirdly, Molidre
deserves credit for the conclusion of his play. In the Aggl;
hoe, neither of the two systems of education wins out; in
L'Hcole des Marig, it is clear that Moliere prOposes to us
Ariste's.

Finally, a consideration of the titles of the comedies
may prove revealing to us. Moliere called his play The Schog;

for Husbands; Terence called his The Brothers. One could infer

 

that, without neglecting to present an excellent character
study of Ariste and Sganarelle, Holiere's purpose in writing
his play must have been mainly didactical. Terence, on the
other hand, probably intended to emphasize the psychological

study of "The Brothers" first, and teach his audience a lesson

second.

53

Since Terence contributed some of the situations and
the theme of the plot of L'Hcole des Maris, Moliere cannot
be credited with complete originality in the composition of
this play. But, to borrow M. Despois' words, "On voit que
les obligations de Moliere e l'egard de Terence se reduisent
a bien peu de chose."lo

Moliere has borrowed more liberally from Terence in
Les Fourberies de chpin. He has taken his plot mainly from
Terence's Phormio. Briefly the plot of the Latin comedy is
as follows: TwO Athenian brothers, Demipho and Chremes, go
away leaving their sons in the care of a servant called Geta.
Chremes has gone to Lemnos to bring back his daughter in order
that she may marry Antipho, Demipho's son. During the parents'
absence, the two young men fall in love. Antipho has fallen
in love with Phanium, a poor but respectable girl. Phaedria,
son of Chremes, has fallen in love with Pamphila, a slave-
girl. With the help of Phormio, a scheming parasite, Antipho
marries Phanium. Phaedria, on the other hand, is on the verge
of losing his tibicina since he lacks the money to purchase
her from the slave-dealer. This is the state of affairs when
their fathers return. The latter are not long in learning of
Antipho's marriage and determine to have it dissolved. Phormio
agrees with the angry old men that he will marry Phanium if he
is given thirty mépgg--the sum needed by Phaedria to buy his
girl's freedom. The parasite deceives Demipho and Chremes

 

10E. Despois, Notice sur L'Hcole des Maris, p. 339.

SA

and gets the money which he gives to Phaedria. Antipho now
fears he will lose his wife. However, Phanium is discovered
to be the daughter of Chremes. This sudden discovery solves
Antipho's difficulties since he can keep Phanium as his wife.
But all is not over . . . Phormio learns that Phanium is
Chremes' daughter by a secret union in Lemnos. He reveals
this to Nausistrata, Chremes' wife, and gains her favor. The
parasite wins another victory; he can retain the money he had
given to Phaedria and the latter keeps possession of his newly
acquired mistress.

The plot of Les Fourberies de Scapin is very similar.
Argante and Geronte take a business trip and leave their sons
with their respective servants, Silvestre and Scapin. In
their absence, Octave, son of Argante, has married Hyacinthe,
a poor orphan who has been left alone in the world with no
one to look after her except her nurse. Leandre, Geronte's
son, has fallen in love with Zerbinette, une egyptienne, whom
he desires to purchase from the gypsies. The parents return
and the youths turn to Scapin for help. The latter procures
money for the young lovers by deceiving their fathers. He
secures money from Argante, Octave's father, by persuading
him to pay a certain sum to Hyacinthe's brother and avoid a
lawsuit. He dupes Geronte, Leandre's father, by telling him
that the Turks have carried away his son and demand a ransom
of five hundred pounds. After a highly farcical scene in

which Geronte keeps repeating: "Que diable alloit—il faire a~

cette galére?"ll Scapin cheats Géronte out of the desired
amount--the purchase price of Zerbinette. Leandre pays the
gypsies and Zerbinette is brought to Octave's house where she
stays with Hyacinthe. As in the Phormio, the nourrice recog-
nizes Geronte as the father of Hyancinthe. The gypsies tell
Leandre that they had stolen Zerbinette when she was a child
and give him a bracelet which proves to Argante that she was
the daughter he had lost many years ago, Leandra marries Zerbi-
nette and Octave gets the parents' approval of his marriage to
Hyacinthe. Scapin, whose trickeries had become known to Argai
Argante and Geronte, pretends that he is mortally wounded and
gets forgiveness for his intrigues.

From.the above summaries it is evident that holiere
borrowed the framework of his play from Terence's fhormio.
He took almost the entire first act from the Phormio; in the
second act, he adapted the fifth scene from Terence, and in
the third act, he took the seventh scene from his Latin source.
In each of these cases, Moliere generally owes the situation
of the scene to Terence but changes considerably the details
of the dialogue.12 In the scenes below the situation in which
the characters find themselves are identical; but observe

the discrepancies in their speeches:

 

11Moliere, Les Fourberies de chpin, Act II, Sc. VII,
Pp. M75-8M-

12This is,exactly how Moliere handled the material he
borrowed for L'Ecole des Maris.

56

LBS FOURBERIES DE SCAPIN

\ A Scapin
La, tachez de vous composer par
etude. Un peu de hardiesse et
songez a répondre résolument sur
tout ce qu'il pourra dire.
Octave
Je ferai du mieux que je pourrai.
Scapin
gs, essayons un peu, pour vous
accoutumer. Repétons un peu votre
r61e et voyons si vous ferez bien.
Allons. La mine resolue, la téte
haute, les regards assures.

Octave \
Comme cela?
Scapin
Encore un peu davantage.
Octave
Ainsi?
Scapin
Bone 13
PHORMIO
Antipho
obsecro, quid si adsimulo?
satinest?
Geta
garris
Antipho

voltum contemplamini: em,
satine sic est?
Geta
non.
Antipho -
quid si sic?
Geta
propemodum
Antipho
quid sic?
Geta
sat esteeee

 

p.

13Moliere, op. cit., Act I, So. III, pp. h23-2h.

1hTerence, Phormio, Act I, So. IV, verses 209-12,
162.

57

The galley and g5; episodes in which we see farcical humor
at its best are a product of Moliere's invention.15 It was
for this famous scene du sac that Boileau accused holiere of
having "allié Tabarin a Terence."16

As for the characters in both comedies, they could be

equated as follows:

LES FOURBERIHS DH SCAPIN PHORMIO
Scapin Phormio and data
Silvestre Geta
Octave Antipho
Leandra Phaedria
Argante Demipho
Géronte Chremes
Nérine Sophrona

-—-- Nausistrata

---- Dorio
Hyancinthe ----
Zerbinette —---.

From the above equation, we can see that holiere has eliminated
Nausistrata and Dorio but has added to his comedy Hyacinthe

and Zerbinette. The latter, according to Roman custom, did

not appear on the stage in the Latin play. But it is in

Scapin that we notice the greatest transformation. Moliere
seems to have created him out of two characters: Gets and
Phormio. In some scenes Scapin speaks and acts like Geta; in

17

others, like Phormio. Furthermore Scapin dominates the

 

15See Moliére, op. cit., Act II, Sc. VII and Act III,
Sc. II.

16See Paul Mesnard, "Notice sur Les Fourberies de
Scapin, I! p. 3900

17Cf. these scenes: Les Fourberies de Scapin Phormio
Act I, Sc. III Act I, Sc.III
Act I, So. IV Act II, So. I

action; our interest centers on the possible outcome of his

fourberies rather than on the amours of the young men. In

 

Terence, on the contrary, Phormio's trickeries seem secondary
to the difficulties of the young lovers. While Phormio ap-
pears only in the second and fifth acts in the Latin comedy,
Scapin is on the stage from the beginning to end. Scapin
is every inch a rascal valet, not a Roman parasite. He is
more akin to the Plautine servus callidus than to his Terentian
counterpart. One cannot help liking Moliére's Scoundrel,
saying with his foil Silvestre: "L'habile fourbe que voila!"18
The other characters in Les Fourberies de Scapin are very much
like the conventional ggpgg and adulescentes of Roman comedy.
Thus we can say that holiere took the story of the
Phormio, made in it numerous alterations, added to it new
scenes and characters, and changed the tone and import of
his Latin source.
What is then, broadly speaking, Holiere's debt to
Terence? Moliere used Terence's works as a sort of quarry

from which he borrowed fresh ideas that he developed in his

own original way.

 

18Moliere, op. cit., Act I, So. IV, p. u31.

59

CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION

We have examined the Plautine and Terentian elements
in five of Moliere's comedies. In the order of discussion,
these comedies were: L'Htourdi, Amphitryon, L'Avare, L'ficole
des Maris, and Les Fourberies de Scapin. We have verified
the fact that Moliere is in some respects indebted to the two
Latin playwrights, and that he drew from their works the in-
spiration for some of his plays. What is then the nature
of his debt to Plautus and Terence? '

In the first place, Moliere owes to the Latin dramatists
the themes of L'Avare, Amphitryon, L'Htourdi, L'Ecole dgg
Mgggg, and Les Fourbegges de Scapin. The themes of these
comedies coincide with those of their respective Latin origi-
nals. In each of these five works, however, Moliere has
blended his borrowings with material of his own invention
and has thus changed the plot-structure of his Latin models.
Moliere's comedies have more tightly woven plots than the
Latin plays. In most cases, Moliere has compressed the action
in his comedies and eliminated superfluous scenes which the
Latin writers introduced for comic effects. This last point
is evident to us when we observe that, while Plautus' Amphi-
pgygp and Terence's Adelphoe and Phormio were each divided

into five acts, Moliere divided his Amphitryon, L'Ecole des

6O

Mggig, and Les Fourberies de Scapin into three acts instead
of five. We can thus generalize and say that, although
Hollere borrowed the themes for his adaptations from Plautus
and Terence, he gave these themes a novel deveIOpment and
made numerous alterations and innovations in the plots of his
Latin sources.

Moliere's debt to Plautus and Terence is more apparent
in connection with the characters of his plays. He borrowed
from the Latin playwrights some of the conventional figures
of Roman comedy. The Roman ggpgg, adulescentes and p331;
all reappear in Moliere's comedies though habillés a la
francaise. The ggpgg become avaricious French bourgeois; the

D
adulescentes, young Frenchmen in love; and the servi, intriguing

 

valets instead of the cunning slaves of Roman times. Not only
did Moliere transform the characters he took from the Latin
~dramatists and transplant them to a seventeenth century back-
ground; he also added others of his own invention to his
'plays. Some of the characters created by Moliere are:
Cleanthis in Amphitgyon, Marianne, Valére, and Cleante in
L'Avare, Andrés and Hyppolite in L'Htourdi, Hyacinthe and
Zerbinette in Les Fourberies de Scapin, Leonor and Isabelle
in L'Hcole des Marig.

Finally, Moliere's plays (except L'Htourdi) exhibit
some situations which he has taken directly from the Latin
comedies. This point of contact between Moliere and the two

Latin writers has been made clear in our discussion in Chapters

III and IV.

61

The works of Plautus and Terence were a rich mine fromu
which Molidre drew characters and humorous situations. We
can then veryIJell limit the Plautine and Terentian elements
in Moliere to two clearly defined aspects: characters and
situations. For these he is indebted to the Latin writers.

A far more important parallelism, however, can be es-
tablished between the three playwrights. holiere's genius
shows a marked affinity with that of Plautus and Terence. With
the first, he shares the comic verve, the robust, spontaneous
humor and his fondness for the farcical and slapstick. Moliere,
like Plautus, enriches his plays with jokes, puns, songs and
dances. He likes to play with words and, like Plautus, makes
effective use of repetition and alliteration.' At times,
MoliEre's humor is tinged with the coarseness so characteristic
of some of Plautus' most comical scenes. In his use of dramatic
devices and the handling of certain situations, Moliere's close
relationship to Plautus is very apparent. But, in his concep-
tion of dramatic art, he is obviously akin to Terence. The
latter showed a marked tendency toward the creation of a
higher type of comedy. His humor was more restrained, his
comedies more refined in tone that those of his Latin prede-
cessor. One has only to glance at the titles of some of
Terence's plays to notice how he leaned more in the direction
of character comedy. Titles like The Mother-in-Law, The
Brothers, and The Woman of Andrqg are highly suggestive of

Terence's preference for character study. A close observation

62

of Moliere's career reveals to us that, although at first he
cultivated the farce and the comedy of manners, he later wrote
comedies of character. His masterpieces are excellent psycho-
logical studies. Delineation of character appealed strongly
to Moliere and in this respect he is truly Terentian in spirit.
But he surpassed Terence in character portrayal and Plautus
in the use of farcical effects and situations.

Moliere's debt to Plautus and Terence detracts nothing
from the greatness of his genius. He will be remembered not
so much by the works he adapted as by those he created. Had
he limited himself to the imitation of the Latin playwrights,
he would never have attained the eminent position he holds
among the great writers of the world. Posterity will always
see in Moliere the author of Tartuffe, L'Avare, Le Misanthrope,
and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme; it will hardly remember him as

the author of L'Etourdi.

63

BIBLIOGRAPHY
EDITIONS OF PLAUTUS' WORKS
W. M. Lindsay, T. Macci Plauti Commoediae, Vol. 1. Oxford
University Press, London, 1936.
E. J. Thomas, T. Macci Plauti Aulularia. Oxford University
Press, London, 1913.

EDITIONS OF TERENCE'S WORKS

Sidney G. Ashmore, glgTerenti Afri Commoediae. Oxford
University Press, New York, 1913.

 

WORKS OF MOLIERE

 

Moliere, L'Etourdi. Les Grands Ecrivains de la France, Tome 1.
Paris, hachette, 1873. .

, L'Ecole des Maris. Les Grands Ecrivains de la
France, Tome 2. Paris, Hachette, 1875.

, Amphitryon. Les Grands Ecrivains de la France,
Tome 6. Paris, Hachette, 1881. '

, L'Avare. Les Grands Ecrivains de la France, Tome 7.
Paris, Hachette, 1882.

, Les Fourberies de chpin. Les Grands Ecrivains
de la France, Tome 8. Paris, hachette, 1883.
GENERAL REFERENCES
James T. Allen, Stage Antiquities of the Greeks and Romans.
New York, 1927.
Emile Auger, Oeuvres de Moliére, Tome 1. Paris, 1925.
William Bears, The Roman Stage. London, 1950.

61;

Rene Bray, Moliére}homme de Theatre. Paris, 195h.

Percy A. Chapman, The Spirit of Moliere, ed. by Jean-Albert
Baas; Princeton University Press, 19h0.

Eugene Despois, Le Theatre Francais sous Louis XIV. Paris,
Hachette, 1895. 5

George E. Duckworth, The Nature of Roman Comedy. Princeton
University Press, 1952.

J. W. Duff, A Literary History of Rome from the Origin§_to
the Close of the Golden Age. New York, 1932.

Philip W. Harsh, A Handbook of Classical Drama. Stanford
University Press, 19Kh.

Henry C. Lancaster, A History of French Dramatic Literature
in the Seventeenth Century, Part V: Recapitulation,
1610-1709. Baltimore, 19h0.

Gustave Mighaud, Les Luttes de Moliere. Paris, Hachette,
192 .

Gilbert Norwood, The Art of Terence. Oxford University Press,
London, 1923.

, Plautus and Terence. New York, 1932.
H. C. Chatfield-Taylor, holiere, A Biography. New York, 1906.

Frederick K. Turgeon and Arthur C. Gilligan, The Principal
Comedies of Moliere. New York, 1935.

Tenney Frank, "On Suetonius' Life of Terence," American
Journal of Philology, Vol. SA (1933), pp. 259-7 .

 

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