Recordings
of Plautine Cantica
by Timothy
J. Moore
Department
of Classics
The University of Texas
at Austin
Pseudolus 1246-1280a
In some cantica Plautus jumbled various meters together without
producing distinct blocks. At Pseudolus 1246-1280a Pseudolus
enters drunk, celebrating his victory over his master and the pimp
Ballio. The ponderous bacchiac quaternarii with which the song
begins reflect not solemnity, but Pseudolus’ struggle to stay on his
feet. That struggle is, at first, largely successful, and the
bacchiacs are mostly regular. When Pseudolus comes to the subject
of falling, though, cretics and ithyphallics, along with four
resolutions, reflect his increasing unsteadiness. Then bacchiac
quaternarii return, first slow to reflect the struggle of one wrestling
with wine, then heavily resolved as Pseudolus notes his own drunkenness.
Pseudolus then begins his report of the party that has occurred indoors
in a variety of meters. A dominance of long syllables and some
sing-song metrical parallelism reflect his self-satisfaction as he
begins the account and generalizes about parties.
The generalizations continue in some longer trochaic and anapestic
verses. In his excitement, as he moves from kissing to more
erotic imagery, Pseudolus sings almost all anapests. After a crux
during with the meter is uncertain, Pseudolus returns to bacchiacs,
elegantly framing a pair of bacchiac quaternarii with bacchiac cola:
the usually “serious” meter suits well his mock moralizing.
Next Pseudolus turns back from generalizations to his own party, and
jaunty cretics contribute to his playfulness. Mock seriousness
then leads back to bacchiacs, which end in a remarkable string of 14
long syllables.
The intense slowing builds
suspense for the dance that follows. Pseudolus dances to ionics,
no doubt using the lewd steps that often accompanied ionic
verses. The ionics conclude with another set of long syllables,
which give a sense of deliberateness to the demonstration.
His audience requests an encore, and Pseudolus does more reporting with
demonstration, this time in cretics, appropriate for the unsure footing
that leads ultimately to his fall. When he gets up, ready to move
on, Pseudolus sings a single trochaic septenarius. Trochaic
septenarii often suggest that the plot of a play will resume after time
has been dedicated to things such as humor, explanation, or the
expression of emotion. A single trochaic septenarius like this,
therefore, is a kind of false start, suggesting that things will move
when they don’t. In fact this is the silliest false start in
Roman comedy, as Pseudolus’ planned movement is interrupted by a great
fart that stops him in his tracks. More cretics follow as
Pseudolus and his companions laugh over his fall.
Text
Recording
last modified 3 June
2010 by timmoore@mail.utexas.edu