Copyright
Catherine TracyPublished On
2025-08-28Page Range
pp. 23–34Language
- English
Helpful Information for Reading the Latin Text
- Catherine Tracy (author)
Chapter of: 'Casina' by Plautus: An Annotated Latin Text, with a Prose Translation(pp. 23–34)
This chapter explains some characteristics of Plautine Latin, and the elements of the two most common metres in the play. The first section (called “Plautine Latin”) is a compilation of the main differences between the Latin of Plautus (“Early Latin”) and the Classical Latin that is taught in most introductory Latin textbooks. This includes spelling differences, and word and word-ending differences. The second section (called “The Rhythm of Plautus”) explains the three categories of Plautine metre, what scanning a line of Latin poetry means, and gives specific instructions on the scansion of trochaic septenarii and of iambic senarii.
Contributors
Catherine Tracy
(author)Associate Professor Classical Studies at Bishop's University
Dr. Catherine Tracy completed her BA and MA in Classics at Dalhousie University, and her PhD in Classics at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She now teaches in the Classical Studies department of Bishop's University, in Sherbrooke, QC (Canada). Her research area is Roman social history, ranging from popular power in the Roman republic to the use of Game Theory in the study of strategies in ancient social and political communities. Most recently she has been working on translations and commentaries of the plays of the comic playwright Plautus, with a focus on their social context within mid-republican Rome.