As

THE greater part of the prologues to the Plautine plays being spurious and prefixed to the comedies of the poet long after his death, it is very doubtful whether the prologue to the Aulularia can be held to have been written by the poet himself. It is true, none of the arguments alleged against the rest of the prologues by Ritschl (Par. 1 209-226) can be applied to this: on the contrary, this prologue is remarkably distinguished for its simple grace and unaffected language. regards the question of its being required or not, we agree entirely with Thornton, who justly observes: There seems to be no reason, why any account at all need be given for how many generations the treasure had remained undiscovered in the old miser's family,' though at the same time it is obvious that for the purpose of giving such information no fitter person could be selected than the Lar familiaris. Moreover, the introduction of this deity is quite conformable to the habit of the writers of the so-called New Comedy (see Meineke, Men. et

Philem. rell. 1823 p. 284) which Plautus seems to have followed here as well as in the prologues to the Rudens and the Trinummus. On these grounds, I was originally inclined to attribute this prologue to Plautus himself (de Aulul. p. 29), but without taking into consideration a metrical reason subsequently suggested by Brix, viz. that the writer uses the word avónculus v. 34 as quadrisyllabic, while Plautus himself has it as trisyllabic aúnculus (v. 677. 772. 792), in accordance with a popular pronunciation which we find confirmed by several inscriptions. It seems therefore safer to return to Bernhardy's opinion (Römische Litteraturgeschichte, 1865, p. 442) who ascribes this prologue to an older hand than the others, though we may allow the universal character and even the whole idea of it to be taken from Plautus' original prologue.

v. 2. Lar familiaris, the tutelar deity of the house and family. "The Roman Lases, at a later time called Lares, are subordinate deities of a kind and helpful disposition; their

activity is displayed in field and garden, on roads and in pathways, in town and hamlet, on the vault of heaven and in the deep of the sea, as is proved by the epithets given to them; but above all they are held to be the benevolent and helpful spirits of the dear homestead and house, the genial blessing of whom pervades the whole family, and makes it thrive (Preller, Röm. Mythol. p. 71 sq. 486 sq. 2nd ed.). The name is in Etruscan Las-a, in Latin Las-es, Lar-es, (Lar-a, Larunda 'the mother of the Lares') and has been justly derived from the root las 'to desire or wish,' whence we have in Latin las-c-ivu-s, in Gothic lus-tu-s, Old High Germ. lus-ti, lust.' Las-a, Las-es, Lar-es would thus mean 'well-wishing, benevolent' spirits like the Holden in German mythology." Corssen, Etrusker, I p. 246. See also our note on Trin. 39.

School Latin Grammar, § 182, 9, and for the explanation of the present tenses possideo and colo see Key, L. G. § 1455 e, note+, and § 458.-colo incolo, as v. 693. Here the notion of guarding the house is involved, in the same way as in Virgil's expression nemorum cultrix Latonia virgo (Aen. x1 557) not only 'inhabitant,' but protectress too is

meant.

5. patrique avoque 'for the advantage of-:' see Key, L. G. § 977.-habet = habitat (cf. v. 21) according to an idiom which is pretty frequent in Plautus.

7. thensaurus is the genuine Plautine form which, in consequence of the thin pronunciation of the letter n, afterwards became thesaurus. In the same way we have Megalensia = Megalesia, comp. Corssen 1 251 sqq. omnis is acc. plur. 'unknown to all:' see Dräger, Histor. Syntax 1 § 304 (p. 621). It is very natural that clam should govern the accusative in early Latin, as it is an adverb formed from the root cal seen in Greek καλύπτω and Καλυψώ, and was originally calam (comp, palam).

8. The syllables ans mě ut form a dactyl, according to a metrical law explained Introd. p. 69.

9. Donatus (on Ter. Ad.

prol. 1) observes that quoniam is here used in its original sense of a temporal conjunction, being but a compound of quom and iam. Plautus has it so not unfrequently, e.g. Trin. 112 quoniam hinc iturust ipsus in Seleuciam. ibid. 149 quoniam hinc profectust ire peregre Charmides. We may observe the same change of the two notions of temporality and causality in the German conj. weil, which has now almost entirely lost its temporal sense, though this was the original one. Nevertheless, Schiller uses it as an equivalent to the English while, Wilhelm Tell, act sc. 2 'weil ich ferne bin, führe du mit klugem sinne das regiment des hauses.' See also my note on Trin. 14.-The words ita avido ingenio fuit might stand in brackets, at least they do not influence the construction of the sentence: 'when he was about to die, he did not-such was his avaricious dispositionreveal the secret to his son.'

10. id here and v. 8 denotes

the secret in general, and should not be referred to thensaurus, though a gloss in a Vienna ms. suggests 'nota thesaurum neutro genere dici.' But in the present prologue it is doubtless masculine, see v. 12, and such it is indeed wherever it occurs in Plautus. For the indefinite and somewhat loose employment of the neuter pronoun the student may consult my note on Trin. 405.

13. Comp. Hor. Serm. II 6, 1 hoc erat in votis: modus agri non ita magnus.

18. impendio is here used as an adverb. Cicero has it so in his epistles, ad Att. x 4, 9 at ille impendio nunc magis odit senatum. See Afranius 351 indies impéndio | ex désiderio mágis magisque máceror, and Ter. Eun. 587 impendio magis animus gaudebat mihi. In later latinity, e. g. in Appuleius and Ammianus Marcellinus, we meet with the same adverbial use of impendio.

23. For mihi see Introd. p. 23.-cotidie, instead of quo