Cistellaria home Plautus (Dramata)

Cistellaria

Author: Plautus
Date: c.200 B.C.
Model: Menander Synaristosai (Women at Breakfast)

Texts and Commentaries

Latin text on-line at the Perseus Project (Leo 1895)
Lindsay, W.M. 1904-1905. T. Macci Plauti Comoediae. 2 vols. Clarendon: Oxford.
Nixon, Paul. 1916-38. Plautus. 5 vols. Loeb Classical Library 61. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 2:99-179.
Ernout, Alfred. 1932. Plaute. 7 vols. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. 3:7-55.

English Translations available

Riley, Henry Thomas. 1912. The Comedies of Plautus. 2 vols. London: G. Bell and Sons. 2:185-208.

Translation on-line at the Perseus Project

Nixon, Paul. 1916-38. Plautus. 5 vols. Loeb Classical Library 61. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 1:99-179.
George Duckworth. 1942. The Complete Roman Drama. 2 vols. New York: Random House. 1:321-54.
R.H.W. Dillard. 1995. Plautus: The Comedies, eds. David R. Slavitt and Palmer Bovie. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press. 4:175-230.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

THE GOD OF HELP - speaks the prologue
DEMIPHO - a merchant of Lemnos
ALCESIMARCHUS - a young man of Sicyon
SILENIUM - daughter of Phanostrata and Demipho
LAMPADISCUS - servant of Demipho
PHANOSTRATA - wife of Demipho
MELAENIS - a Procuress
HALISCA - her servant
A PROCURESS - the mother of Gymnasium
GYMNASIUM - a Courtesan

Act and Scene	Lines	Characters	Action
I.i	1-120	Silenium A Procuress Gymnasium	When the play opens, all the characters are discussing Silenium’s love interest, the young Alcesimarchus. The Procuress tries to talk her out of her feelings, but Silenium leaves her house to go find him.
I.ii	121-149	A Procuress	The Procuress tells the audience, among other things, that she is drunk and talks too much while she is drunk. She also explains her relationship with Silenium. She tells them that she stole Silenium from her mother as a favor for her friend, a Courtesan.
I.iii	150-203	The God of Help	The God of Help comes on stage to speak the prologue. He is upset because the Procuress steals part of his thunder by talking about Silenium. He tells the story of how Phanostrata was raped by Demipho. She then had a baby girl, Silenium, who was to be killed. Before she was killed, she was stolen by the Procuress and given to Melaenis. Later, Demipho decides to marry Phanostrata and figure out what happened to their daughter.
II.i	204-536	Alcesimarchus Melaenis	They are fighting about Silenium because Melaenis wont approve of her seeing him. Alcesimarchus threatens to kill her, Silenium, and himself if she doesn’t back off.
II.ii	537-543	Lampadiscus	Lampadiscus is on the street after having talked to the Procuress. He wonders why she didn’t tell him of Silenium’s location.
II.iii	544-631	Melaenis Lampadiscus Phanostrata	Melaenis overhears Lampadiscus and Phanostrata talking about his encounter with the Procuress. Melaenis gets worried that they will know it is her who raised Silenium. She approaches Lampadiscus, gives him the third degree about what Phanostrata and he talked about, and realizes she must bring Silenium back to her parents.
III.i	632-652	Melaenis Alcesimarchus Silenium Halisca (silent)	Just as Melaenis is preparing to bring Silenium over to her parents' home, Alcesimarchus comes up frantically and threatens to kill himself. In a panic to get his sword, Halisca drops Silenium’s casket which holds her childhood trinkets.
IV.i	653-672	Lampadiscus Phanostrata	Lampadiscus tells Phanostrata that he went back to see the Procuress, but this time she denied telling him any of the things she had said before. Just as they begin to lose hope, Phanostrata sees the trinkets on the ground and recognizes them as Silenium’s.
IV.ii	673-773	Lampadiscus Phanostrata Halisca	Halisca is looking on the ground for the casket she lost. Lampadiscus and Phanostrata question her as to whose casket it may be, knowing full well it is Silenium’s. Halisca finally tells them that Silenium is across the street in Alcesimarchus’ father’s house.
V.i	774-787	Demipho Lampadiscus	Demipho has returned from the senate. Lampadiscus greets him with the news of Silenium’s finding. The Company of Comedians comes out and ends the play.