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Not till then was the second half of the fable of Amphitruo performed, with unmistakable references to the future birth of a Hercules of the House of Este.
Whether he ever Went beyond the New Comedy of Athens for his originals, is uncertain; But within it he ranges freely over the whole field, and the twenty Extant pieces include specimens of almost every kind of play to which the name of comedy can be extended. The first on the list, the famous Amphitruo, is the only surviving specimen of the burlesque.
The Amphitruo remains, even now, one of the most masterly specimens of this kind. The version of Moliere, in which he did little by way of improvement on his original, has given it fresh currency as a classic; but the French play gives but an imperfect idea of the spirit and flexibility of the dialogue in Plautus' hands.
There were among them Pseudotragoediae, which Teuffel thinks were the same as the Hilarotragoediae, or Rhinthonicae, so called from their inventor Rhinthon; though others class them with the Komodotragodiai, of which Plautus's Amphitruo is the best known instance.
In the only remnant of the mock-heroic comedy of this period the -Amphitruo- of Plautus there breathes throughout a purer and more poetical atmosphere than in all the other remains of the contemporary stage.
In the only remnant of the mock-heroic comedy of this period the -Amphitruo- of Plautus there breathes throughout a purer and more poetical atmosphere than in all the other remains of the contemporary stage.
The Amphitruo is somewhat difficult to class; if, as has been suggested above, it be assigned to the old comedy, it will be a Palliata. Horace speaks of Plautus as a follower of Epicharmus, and his plots were frequently taken from mythological subjects.
The Roman tragi-comedy after the type of the -Amphitruo- of Plautus was no doubt styled by the Roman literary historians -fabula Rhinthonica-; but the newer Attic comedians also composed such parodies, and it is difficult to see why the Ionians should have resorted for their translations to Rhinthon and the older writers rather than to those who were nearer to their own times. III. VI In Italy
The Roman tragi-comedy after the type of the -Amphitruo- of Plautus was no doubt styled by the Roman literary historians -fabula Rhinthonica-; but the newer Attic comedians also composed such parodies, and it is difficult to see why the Ionians should have resorted for their translations to Rhinthon and the older writers rather than to those who were nearer to their own times. III. VI In Italy
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