Plautus Curculio 2.3

Henry Thomas Riley (Translator)

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Curculio. Plautus. Henry Thomas Riley (Translator). London. 1912.

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Current edition Perseus

Curculio, or The Forgery (English) (Plautus. The Comedies of Plautus, Volume 1. Riley, Henry Thomas, translator. London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1912.)

Editions (1)
Curculio Perseus (Plautus. Plauti Comoediae, Volume 1. Leo, Friedrich, editor. Berlin: Weidmann, 1895.) — 2.3 focus

Notes on the current edition

Curculio, or The Forgery

1. General: Though the Scene is at Epidaurus, he no doubt alludes to the ten Strategi of Athens, who, after the remodelling of the constitution by Cleisthenes, discharged the duties which had been formerly performed either by the King or the Archon Polemarchus. They were elected by the suffrages of the people, and exercised the supreme power in peace and war. See an able article on this subject in Dr. Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities.
2. Tyrant: By the use of the word tyrannus he perhaps refers to the Basileus Archon, or King Archon. of Athens, who was the representative of the ancient kings, in their capacity of high priest. It was his duty to preside at the Lenaea, or older Dionysia, to superintend mysteries and certain games, and to offer prayers and sacrifices in the Eleusinium, both at Athens and Eleusis. The word may, however, be only intended as a general name, like our term potentate.
3. Market-officer: Agoranomus, the market-officer of the Greeks, has been referred to in a Note to the Miles Gloriosus.
4. Denmarch: The Demarchi were the chief officers of the demi, townships or hundreds, in Attica. It was their duty to convene the demus, and take the votes; to register the landed estates, to collect the public rents, and to furnish to the authorities a list of the members of the townships who were fit to serve in war.
5. Comarch: The Comarchi were the prefects, or head officers of each village or framlet in Attica.
6. With baskets: In the sportule, or baskets, the poor, and the parasitical dependants on the rich, carried away the scraps that were given to them after an entertainment was concluded.
7. The gad-abouts: Drapetae. From the Greek δρέμω, to run. He probably alludes to the propensities of the Athenians for gossipping and running about from place to place. Probably, at the time of Plautus, they had begun in considerable numbers to resort to Rome. By his reference to the books, he is, perhaps, more particularly alluding to their Philosophers. The Romans considered it effeminate in civil life to go with the head covered.
8. Hot liquor-shops— The thermopolia have been alluded to in a Note to the Trinummus, l. 1013.
9. Their pearled-barley diet: This passage is necessarily somewhat modified in the translation. The Philosophers, especially the Stoics, who prided themselves on their abstinence, lived principally upon pearled barley.
10. Of your dainty townsmen: He alludes to those opulent townsmen who, to make a show, are keeping more servants than they want; in consequence whereof, these servants have nothing to do but play at ball in the streets, much to the annoyance of the passers-by.
11. Full of bits: He will like the water very well, if it is in the shape of a rich soup, with plenty of meat in it.
12. At my arrival: Ventum. This word gives occasion to a pun here, as, according to the context, it may either meal that I am arrived, or wind. The Parasite says, Give me reason (by providing some victuals) to rejoice that I have arrived. Phaedromus chooses to understand him as saving, Give me some wind, that I may rejoice, and says By all means, and begins to fan him. The other asks what he is doing, or making; to which he replies, Making some air.
13. Are blunted: It is hard to say what plenos means when applied to the teeth—if indeed, that word is the correct reading here.
14. Called on the name: On the custom of invoking their mistresses, when playing at dice, see a Note to the Captivi, Act I., Sc. 1. We are, perhaps, to suppose that the Captain takes off his ring for the purpose of staking it, which would enable Curculio to steal it the more easily.
15. Most losing cast: When playing with the tali, or knucklebone dice, with only four marked sides, they used sets of four. Volturii quatuor (literally, the four vultures) was the most unlucky throw of all, and is supposed to have been four aces.
16. My genial patron: Nutricem; literally, nurse. It has been suggested that the Parasite intended to compliment his entertainer, the Captain, under the name of Hercules, whom he invokes for luck. The Delphin Commentator says that Parasites invoked Hercules because the tenths of entertainments were offered to him, and these were distributed among the needy, in the number of whom they ranked.
17. A first-rate cast: The best throw with the tali was called Venus or Venereus jactus, when the dice turned up 2, 3, 4, and 5. As it war by this throw that the Romans chose the King of the Feast, it received the name of Basilicus, the king’s throw. See the last Scene in the Asinaria.