154, when Cassius Longinus began to build a
theatre of stone--a law that was not repealed till some years later.
Cf. _Capt._ 11,

'Negat hercle ille ultimis accensus. Cedito:
si non ubi sedeas locus est, est ubi ambules.'

_The Acts._--The plays of Plautus probably went on with few breaks,
during which the audience were entertained with music. Cf. _Pseud._
573,

'Tibicen vos interea hic delectaverit.'

_Diverbium and Canticum._--There was no chorus in Roman comedy, but
part of the play was set to music and sung to the flute. Some MSS.
denote this by C (Canticum); while DV (usually placed only over iambic
senarii) denotes dialogue or soliloquy (Diverbium). Iambic senarii
were spoken; other metres were sung; but the scenes in septenarii
stood midway between the dialogue and the _canticum_. Only about a
fourth of Plautus' verses are in iambic senarii, while in Terence, who
followed Menander in this respect, about half of the verses are in
this form.

_The Characters._--These, with the occasional exception of slaves, are
un-Roman, and exhibit Greek traits belonging to Athens of the time of
the New Comedy. Plautus, unlike Terence, usually alters the names used
in the original Greek plays, and substitutes 'tell-tale names'; so
Parmeno (+paramenon+), 'the faithful slave'; Polemo, 'the
soldier'; Misargyrides, playfully for the _tarpessita_ (banker). The
names are often of Latin derivation; thus Saturio, in _Pers._;
Peniculus, in _Menaech._; Curculio, in _Curc._

_The Language of Plautus_, in spite of the Greek dress his plays assume,
represents essentially the conversational language of his time. Many
Greek features in language are, however, retained. For words kept in the
original Greek cf. +pausai+, +oichetai+, +euge+, +palin+, +epitheken+
(all in the _Trin._); for Greek words Latinized cf. _gynaeceum_,
_parasitus_, _opsonium_, _dapsilis_ (= +dapsiles+); for hybrid new
formations based on Greek cf. _thensaurarius_, _plagipatidae_,
_opsonari_, _pultiphagus_.

_References to manners and customs._--(_a_) Many references to Greek life
are retained from the original, especially in matters relating to dress,
art, and money (Plautus has no reference to Roman money). Such are
_chlamys_, _petasus_, _pallium_, _cyathus_, _cantharus_, _thermopolium_,
_cerussa_, _melinum_ (_pigmentum_), _gynaeceum_, _balineae_,
_ambulacrum_, _porticus_, _fores Samiae_ (_Menaech._ 178), _nummus_ (=
drachma or didrachma), _nummi Philippei_