Titus Maccius Plautus, Epidicus

Ulrike Auhagen (Universität Freiburg)
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Epidicum quam ego fabulam aeque ac me ipsum amo

– “The

Epidicus

, a play I love as much as myself”: In Plautus’ Comedy

Bacchides

the slave Chrysalus makes this metatheatrical statement (

Bacch.

214). The often discussed verse makes clear that Plautus must have appreciated his comedy

Epidicus

very much. Like

Pseudolus, Truculentus

and many other plays, it is named after its main character, the slave Epidicus, who dominates the action: The whole play is a demonstration of his enormous cleverness and his various improvised trickeries.

In spite of the author’s presumed fondness, the comedy – which, with only 733 verses, is one of his shortest plays – was not very highly esteemed by scholars. One reason for that might be the very intricate plot: Compared to other Plautine plays, the

1292 words

Citation: Auhagen, Ulrike. "Epidicus". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 April 2013 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=34721, accessed 19 March 2024.]

34721 Epidicus 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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