Titus Maccius Plautus, Trinummus

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Philemon’s

Thesaurus

(“Treasure”), tentatively dated to the rule of Demetrius Poliorcetes in Athens (392-287 BC), provided the Greek original for Plautus’ play, whose title,

Trinummus

, refers to a sum of money worth three

nummi

(singular:

nummus

): the

nummus

was a silver coin of small value. The play is set in Athens before the houses of Charmides and Megaronides. The house of Philto is also nearby.

In the play’s prologue, the goddess Luxury sends her daughter Poverty into Lesbonicus’ house because he wasted his father Charmides’ fortune. Following Luxury’s departure, the elderly Megaronides chastises his friend Callicles, another elderly Athenian, for being greedy. Callicles explains that when Charmides realized he was becoming poor, Charmides entrusted to Callicles his

1257 words

Citation: THORBURN, JOHN. "Trinummus". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 October 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21416, accessed 19 March 2024.]

21416 Trinummus 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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