A Note on the Parallels between Menander's "Dyskolos" and Plautus' "Aulularia"

Abstract

THERE ALREADY EXIST several good surveys of the striking parallels between the Dyskolos and the Aulularia,1 and it is not my intention here either to repeat or even to challenge what previous scholars have said, and often said excellently, about those similarities, which embrace the scenic background, the choice and management of the prologue, the organisation of parts of the plot, the relationship, social and economic milieu, and even characterisation of some of the principals in the two plays, as well as numerous details of language and motif. The purpose of this paper is rather to sketch briefly one of the implications consequent upon the discovery of and research on these parallels, and then to mention one or two further similarities between the two plays that to my knowledge have previously not been discussed, and which seem to me to be of some significance for our understanding of Menandrean methods of composition.2 The first lesson that scholars have learnt from the existence of these parallels is that a plausible old theory, naming as the author of the Greek original of the Aulularia, now appears to be confirmed; the point is most succinctly put by Armin Theuerkauf in his recent dissertation:3 Menander ist als Verfasser des Originals der plautinischen Aulularia nicht unbestritten. Durch den Fund des Dyskolos diirfte das Problem nun aber gel6st sein: Das Original muss geschrieben haben. However, at the same time it is important to remember that this categorical belief in the Menandrean authorship of the original of the Aulularia still seems to rest on evidence that is wholly circumstantial; no absolutely incontrovertible tie exists or has been discovered that would link the name of with the Plautine original4 in