This thesis comprises an introduction, a lemmatic commentary, and indices. The introductory chapter, apart from a brief discussion of a more general nature, investigates the play and the relation it bears to Philemon's Emporos, its lost Greek model, especially with regard to the actdivisions of the Greek play and the pacing of the action in Plautus' adaptation. The commentary is provided to address problems posed by the Latin text, notably those of exegesis, textual criticism, metre, grammar, humour, imagery, staging, and the relationship to the Graeco-Roman comic tradition. An attempt is also made to distinguish between elements which may reflect the Greek comic tradition and those which suggest Plautine origin. In recent work about Plautus and Philemon it has been argued that the plot of the Emporos underwent far-reaching changes at the hands of Plautus, but the author of this thesis argues for the essential unity of the Mercator and for Plautus' conservative treatment of the plot of the Greek original, at the same time allowing for the fact that Plautus may have Romanised, exaggerated, and extended Philemon's play at certain points. By its structure, metrical arrangement, pacing, juxtaposition of contrasting types, parallel arrangement of core scenes, and the recurrence of key imagery, themes and motifs, the Mercator proves to be a carefully conceived, effectively balanced, and well-composed play.

Inaug.-diss.--Marburg.

Issued also as Thèse, Paris. / Bibliography: p. [321]-334.

Inaug.-Diss.--Leipzig. / Vita. "Index librorum": p. 5-6.

The first of these chapters was presented in 1904 as the author's Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pa. The material for the second was prepared by the author while Harrison Fellow for Research in the same University in 1904-1905. cf. p. 5.

The theory of powerless speech suggests that speakers in powerless social positions use more “powerless” speech acts than their social superiors. This report will use two such powerless speech acts, hedges and tag questions, to examine the interplay between the power relationships of Roman comedy and the language of its characters. The results of this study show that Republican Latin does not always follow the theory’s predictions, suggesting that hedges and tag questions may not be powerless speech acts in Latin; that the theory may need to be modified in order to accommodate Latin; or that the Saturnalian nature of Roman comedy prevents the expected outcome of powerless language. / text

The existence of specific lexical features marking the speech of female characters in Roman Comedy is signalled in scholiastic literature, and has been confirmed by modern quantitative research. This thesis, focusing on the comedies of Plautus, investigates the question of why the playwrights made specific linguistic choices for female personae. / Greek and Roman literary theory stipulated that the speech of women in drama had to be constructed so as to reveal the speakers' feminine nature. Philosophical doctrines that construed gender as a polar opposition evince a fundamental distinction, defining male as 'bond' and female as 'boundless'. The association of female with boundlessness, it is argued, also determines woman's position with respect to speech. A study of Greek New Comedy reveals that the reflections on female nature and expression found there depict woman as adverse to limits, a concept which Plautus seems to have subsequently adapted from his sources. / Donatus's scholia to Terence characterize female speech as disorderly and disrespectful of the norms of verbal interaction. Concrete linguistic patterns are rationalized as symptoms of 'softness' and querulousness, both representing the female propensity to violate interpersonal limits. The text of Plautus, examined for meta-textual asides on female speech, confirms the scholiast's observations. An inquiry into the Plautine perception of blanditia reveals that female mannerisms are interpreted as tokens of a contagious moral disorder, and that they earmark the feebleness of female (and effeminate) personae. The otherness of female complaints, emphasized during the performance of palliata by both verbal and para-verbal means, is intimately associated in the text of the comedies with the chaos within women's minds. Female speech patterns in Plautus thus illustrate the concept of infirmitas sexus.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1903. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisor: Timothy Moore. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.