e Punic war (_Cis._ 202),[185] the _lex
Platoria_ (_Ps._ 303, _Rud._ 1381-2), Naevius' imprisonment (_Mil. _
211-2), Attalus of Pergamum (_Per._ 339, _Poen._ 664), Antiochus the Great
(_Poen._ 693-4). Again we have a modern parallel: the topics of the day
are a favorite resort of the lower types of present-day stage production.

5. Jokes on the dramatic machinery.

But the most extreme stage of intimate jocularity is reached when the last
sorry pretense of drama is discarded and the dramatic machinery itself
becomes the subject of jest. So in the _Cas._ 1006 the cast is warned:
Hanc ex longa longiorem ne faciamus fabulam. In _Per._ 159-60 Saturio
wants to know where to get his daughter's projected disguise:

"SAT. {~GREEK SMALL LETTER PI~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER OMICRON WITH TONOS~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER THETA~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER EPSILON~}{~GREEK SMALL LETTER NU~} ornamenta?

TOX. Abs chorago sumito. Dare debet: praebenda aediles locaverunt." (Cf.
_Trin._ 858.)

Even the _Ps._, heralded as dramatically one of the best of the plays,
yields the following: Horum caussa haec agitur spectatorum fabula (720);
hanc fabulam dum transigam (562) and following speech; verba quae in
comoediis solent lenoni dici (1081-2); quam in aliis comoediis fit (1240);
quin vocas spectatores simul? (1332). In _St._ 715 ff., the action of the
play is interrupted while the boisterous slaves give the musician a drink.
From the _Poen._ comes a gem that will bear quoting at length (550 ff.):

Omnia istaec scimus iam nos, si hi spectatores sciant.
Horunc hic nunc causa haec agitur spectatorum fabula:
Hos te satius est docere ut, quando agas, quid agas sciant.
Nos tu ne curassis: scimus rem omnem, quippe omnes simul.
Didicimus tecum una, ut respondere possimus tibi.[186]

This is the final degeneration into the realm of pure foolery. It is a
patent declaration: "This is only a play; laugh and we are content." Once
more we venture to point a parallel on the modern stage, in the vaudeville
comedian who interlards his dancing with comments such as: "I hate to do
this, but it's the only way I can earn a living."

6. Use of stock plots and characters.

We must touch finally, but very lightly, on the commonplaces of stock
plots and characters. The whole array of puppets is familiar to us all:
the cunning slave, the fond or licentious papa, the spendthrift son and
their inevitable confreres appear in play after play with relentless
regular