Greece and Rome (Second Series)

Table of Contents - 2007 - Volume 54, New Surveys in the Classics 37 (Comedy)  

Review Article

V PLAUTUS

N. J. LOWE

Abstract

If Plautus had a real name, it seems never to have been known or inquired after. ‘Titus Maccius Plautus’ means something like ‘Willy McBozo Greasepaint’, and the disquieting proliferation of variants in the manuscripts is the equivalent of indecision over whether ‘McBozo’ should be spelled with a ‘Mac-’ and a small B. Plautus is a variant form of planipes (‘flatfoot’), attested as a nickname for performers in the barefoot Latin mime; Maccius means ‘son of Maccus’, the buffoonish hero of the Oscan fabula Atellana; while even the innocuous-looking praenomen Titus was used as a pet name for the male organ of business.

(Online publication June 02 2008)