nation. It is of
course conceived in a burlesque spirit. What would become of the comic
action if Menaechmus II simply walked up to Menaechmus I and remarked:
"Hello, brother, don't you remember me?"

That the seven months of _Most._ 470 miraculously change into six months
in 954 is the sort of mistake possible to any writer. In the _Amph._ 1053
ff., Alcmena is in labor apparently a few minutes after consorting with
Jupiter; but the change of acts _may_ account for the lapse of time, here
as in _Cas._ 530 ff.

But after the exhaustive work of Langen, we need linger no longer in this
well-ploughed field. We repeat, the evidence all points irresistibly to
the conclusion that Plautus is wholly careless of his dramatic machinery
so long as it moves. The laugh's the thing!

The _St._ is an apt illustration of the probable workings of Plautus'
mind. The virtue of the Penelope-like Pamphila and Panegyris proves too
great a strain and unproductive of merriment. The topic gradually vanishes
as the drolleries of the parasite Gelasimus usurp the boards. He in turn
gives way to the hilarious buffoonery of the two slaves. The result is a
succession of loose-jointed scenes[177]. The _Aul._ too is fragmentary and
episodical. The _Trin._ is insufferably long-winded, with insufficient
comic accompaniment. The _Cis._ is a wretched piece of vacuous
inanity[178].

4. Roman admixture and topical allusions.

Plautus' frequent forgetfulness of his Greek environment and the
interjection of Roman references--what De Quincey calls "anatopism"--is
another item of careless composition too well known to need more than
passing mention. The repeated appearance of the _Velabrum,_[179] or
_Capitolium,_[180] or _circus,_[181] or _senatus_, or _dictator_,[182] or
_centuriata comitio,_[183] or _plebiscitum,_[184] and a host of others in
the Greek investiture, becomes after a while a matter of course to us. We
see however no need to quarrel with _forum_; it was Plautus' natural
translation for {~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH PSILI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER GAMMA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER RHO~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER ALPHA WITH TONOS~}. But it all adds inevitably and relentlessly to
our argument--Plautus was heedless of the petty demands of technique and
realism. His attention was too much occupied in devising means of
amusement.

The occasional topical allusions belong in the same category as above; for
example, the allusion to th