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Home  »  library  »  BIOS  »  Plautus (c. 254–184 B.C.)

C.D. Warner, et al., comp.
The Library of the World’s Best Literature. An Anthology in Thirty Volumes. 1917.

Plautus (c. 254–184 B.C.)

Plautus, Titus Maccius (plâ’tus or plou’tus). A celebrated Roman comic poet; born at Sarsina in Umbria, about 254? B.C.; died at Rome in 184 B.C. According to Varro, 130 comedies passed current in his time as written by Plautus; but of these Varro considered only 21 genuine. Twenty of these are extant. In their plots, leading incidents, and characters, and even in the outlines of the dialogues, they are borrowed from Greek originals; but Plautus fairly makes this borrowed material his own. (See Critical and Biographical Introduction).