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The second act of Plautus' Mostellaria begins (348ff.) with the panicstricken return from Piraeus of the slave Tranio. He has seen at the harbour his master Theoropides, just returned from abroad; now immediate and drastic action will be needed to prevent him from discovering what his son Philolaches (abetted by Tranio) has been up to during his absence. The first essential is to hustle Philolaches and his drinking-companions indoors before the old man has time to get home. Only when that has been done will Tranio have leisure to think out a plan for duping his master. It takes 28 lines (371–98) to clear the stage; then, having at last got the drinking-party safely inside the house, Tranio can tell Philolaches what he wants him to do. His final instruction (404) is:
Clauem mi harunc aedium Laconicam iam iube ecferri intus: hasce ego aedis occludam hinc foris.
page 26 note 1 Turner, E. G., New Fragments of the Misoumenos of Menander (London, 1965), 14.Google Scholar
page 27 note 1 Also found in the Suda s.v. Λακωνικα⋯ κλεῐδες.
page 28 note 1 An additional reason (suggested to me by Mr. G. Eatough) was perhaps to symbolize emphatically Tranio's control of the situation.
page 29 note 1 Beare, W., The Roman Stage (London, 1964)Google Scholar, chap. 25. Though I cannot accept all the arguments in this chapter, the proof that there were no intervals seems completely convincing.
page 30 note 1 ‘The Ghost of a Play’, translated by Kenneth McLeish, produced on the Third Programme on 12th September and 19th October 1969. I am indebted to the producer, Mr. Raymond Raikes, for these details.
page 30 note 2 Webster, T. B. L., Studies in Later Greek Comedy (Manchester, 1953), 134 n. 2.Google Scholar
