Roman Comedy XVII: Plautus’s Mercator, or The Merchant of Athens

Posted byTriumvir ClioPosted inRoman Comedy, The Romans

Merchants buy and sell and get in a pickle in Plautus’s Mercator.

A scene in Latin
And English
And another in English
And since I talked about the matrona character, here’s a more stereotypical version of her.
Discussion Prompts
  1. If you were directing this today, what would be your vision? Setting? Dream cast? Etc.? Why?
  2. AP Credit: Discuss the two families seen and the parallels between Charinus and Eutychus.
  3. What do you think of the matrona character type as presented in this play?
  4. Which merchant is the “mercator” of the title? Why?
  5. AP Credit: Discuss the role of Pasicompsa as a non-free character.

Published by Triumvir Clio

I have a BA in History and Classical Civilization from Loyola University Chicago and an MPH from Western Michigan University. I've been a geometry teacher, a religion teacher, a writing tutor. I'm a writer, a knitter, a dancer, a singer, an actor. And, yes, for fun I like to reread everything that was assigned while getting my classics degree.

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