Plautus and Terence: Five Comedies: Miles Gloriosus, Menaechmi, Bacchides, Hecyra and Adelphoe

by Terence and Plautus

Book Overview

This is a book worthy of high praise. . . . All versions are exceedingly witty and versatile, in verse that ripples from one's lips, pulling all the punches of Plautus, the knockabout king of farce,... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 087220362X
• ISBN13: 9780872203624
• Release Date: September 1999
• Publisher: Hackett Publishing Company
• Length: 411 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Not literal, but entertaining

If you are looking for a literal translation, or at least one that conveys the original word choice/style, look elsewhere. If you can read the Latin yourself but want something that better conveys the spirit and humor of the comedies, this is a good choice. I used this in tandem with the original Latin for a 300 level Latin class, and it was useful in that it contrasted well with our own rather stilted and unfunny translations.

Old Time Comedy

Although it's been forty years since I have read any Roman comedy in the Latin, I can still enjoy what Plautus and Terence wrote over two thousand years ago. As for the translations, the rhyme scemes used for the different characters and parts of the plot make the play come to life. While laughing at the unfolding story I marveled at the ryhmes and the alliterations. It also didn't hurt that Dr. Douglass Parker was my advisor at the University of California at Riverside, lo those many years ago.