nd this idea is actually parodied in _As._ 384 ff. No,
Plautus did not allow his public to languish for want of noise.

3. Burlesque, farce and extravagance of situation and dialogue.

Under this head we include such conscious strivings for comic as are
frankly and plainly exaggerated and hyper-natural.

a. True burlesque.

This is in effect pure parody, cartooning. Patent burlesque of tragedy
appears in _Trin._ 820 ff. (_Charmides returns from abroad._)

"CHAR. To Neptune, ruler of the deep, and puissant brother unto Jove and
Nereus, do I in joy and gladness cry my praises and gratefully proclaim my
gratitude; and to the briny waves, who held me in their power, yea, even
my chattels and my very life, and from their realms restored me to the
city of my birth," etc., etc.

To tickle the ears of the groundlings, this must have been delivered in
grandiloquent mimicry with all the paraphernalia of the tragic style.
Horace notes a kindred manifestation of this tendency (to which he himself
is pleasingly addicted), in _Ep._ II. 3.93 f.:

Interdum tamen et vocem comoedia tollit
Iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore.

Tragic burlesque is again beautifully exemplified in _Ps._ 702 ff. The
versatile Pseudolus after a significant aside: "I'll address the fellow in
high-sounding words," says to his master Calidorus:

"Hail! Hail! Thee, thee, O mighty ruler, thee do I beseech who art lord
over Pseudolus. Thee do I seek that thou mayst obtain thrice three times
triple delights in three various ways, joys earned by three tricks and
three tricksters, cunningly won by treachery, fraud and villainy, which in
this little sealed missive have I but erstwhile brought to thee....

CHAR. The rascal's spouting like a tragedian."

When Sosia, in the first scene of _Amph._ (203 ff.), turgidly describes
the battle between the Thebans and Teleboans, he is parodying the
Messenger of tragedy. Another echo from tragedy is heard at the end of the
play, when Jupiter appears in the role of deus ex machina.[116]

Burlesque of character and calling puts in an occasional appearance. The
recreant Sosia in _Amph._ 958 ff. mimics the dutiful slave. _As._ 259 ff.
contains an ironical treatment of augury, while in 751 ff. the poet has
his satirical fling at the legal profession.

b. True farce.

This is of course the comedy of situation and finds its mainstay in
mistaken identity. The _Men._ and _Amph._ with their doubles are
farce-com