著者

岩崎 務

出版者

京都大学西洋古典研究会

雑誌

西洋古典論集 (ISSN:02897113)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.22, pp.249-259, 2010-03-28

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In the Menaechmi of Plautus there are many expressions about binding and restrictions and we find situations in which people are bound or restrained. On the other hand, some people are set free at the end of the play. Messenio who saved Menaechmus I (the twin in Epidamnus) from kidnapping wishes to be released from slavery and Menaechmus I, who is mistaken for Menaechmus II (the twin from Syracuse), agrees with him. Furthermore, Menaechmus I achieves reunion with his brother and tries to leave Epidamnus for his homeland after selling off all his possessions. The motifs of restraint and release are constituent factors throughout this play. As far as restrictions and release are concerned, Peniculus seems the one who tries to set Menaechmus I free from his house. But, fundamentally, he wants Menaechmus I to stay in his own house, because that way he can get invited to meals more surely. So he is always on the lookout for his master just outside the doors. On the other hand, Messenio attempts to get a grip on Menaechmus II by giving him wise advice, but, ignored by his master, he fully realizes that he is just a slave. Peniculus' behavior forms a strong contrast to Messenio's. The former, who wants to be bound to the house, fails to follow Menaechmus I and loses a chance to enjoy an expensive dinner, while the latter, who deplores his state of enslavement, saves Menaechmus I from abduction and on that account is released from slavery. It is uncertain whether the Menaechmi is based on any Greek original. However, we can discern a symmetrically built structure behind this play. Plautus often brings in farcical elements or Romanizes some scenes in the play to please the Roman audience, even if it may mean spoiling a well-balanced structure and realism of the original. This play also has such scenes where the motifs of restrictions are more prominent (446-65, 571-97, etc.). Menaechmus I as the head of the household controls his family members. However, it is often the wife with a large dowry (uxor dotata), always scolding her husband in the house, who is in control. Outside the house, too, he is bound by various customs and human relations typical of the Roman society. Here it is emphasized that not only slaves but also free men like him, the head of the household, encounter restrictions in this social system. Occasionally he is bound by duties towards a client, a parasite or a slave, who should otherwise be subject to his own authority. This play ends with the divorce of Menaechmus I from his wife in contrast to other comedies which usually end happily with young lovers' marriage. The story after Menaechmus I's coming to Epidamnus is not related in detail in the play. From the information provided by the prologue we are under the impression that the Epidamnian merchant was a benefactor for the kidnapped twin because he made the twin his inheritor and let him marry a wealthy man's daughter, though he committed the crime of kidnapping. Therefore the audience is likely to question Menaechmus I's behavior at the end of the play. To make this ending happy and appropriate for comedy, Plautus had to emphasize Menaechmus I's state of captivity by various expressions concerning a restricted situation. Menaechmus I loses his wealth and the status of the head of the household but he is released from his shackles and becomes a truly free person. His escape from the maze of restrictions of everyday life features in the play more prominently than the theme of kidnapping and restrictions imposed by living in a foreign land.