Menander and Plautus: a Comparison
The similarity in Plautus's plays and the work of Menander were already known by the time Menander's work was rediscovered in the Cairo codex. Yet, although it was known that the Roman works were adaptations of the Greek originals, the degree to which they were adapted was uncertain. The stock characters that appear in Menander's work influenced Plautus, who took the characters and formed them into something original and Roman. In the following paper I will discuss the stock characters that Menander developed, chiefly in the Dyskolos, which survives almost intact. I will then compare these characters to the works of Plautus, and discuss the similarities and differences between each author.