Asides in New Comedy and the Palliata - Leeds International ...

Leeds International Classical Studies 3.3 (2003/04)
ISSN 1477-3643 (http://www.leeds.ac.uk/classics/lics/)
© Eckard Lefèvre
Asides in New Comedy and the Palliata *
ECKARD LEFÈVRE (FREIBURG)
ABSTRACT: It is shown that the ways in which asides are used in New Comedy
and in the Palliata are worlds apart. Although the Roman poets do use some
techniques occurring in New Comedy, the Greek models do not offer any
instances that employ asides in a similarly excessive and comic manner as the
Plautine plays do
There are several forms of asides in drama. If one does not define this notion
too strictly, asides can be divided into two categories: asides spoken by characters
who participate in a dialogue (I), and asides of characters who overhear a dialogue
between others (II). Some subcategories will be taken into account in what
follows.
When in Goethe’s Faust Mephistopheles has made fun of the young student
for long enough and is beginning to get bored, he suddenly talks to himself: 1
2009 Ich bin des trocknen Tons nun satt,
Muß wieder recht den Teufel spielen.
(I’ve had enough of a sober tone,
it’s time to play the real devil again.)
In this case a dialogue is interrupted for a moment by a character who comments
on his own role (type Ia).
When Mephistopheles talks to Madame Martha and Gretchen, he says about
the latter in an aside:
3007 Du gut’s unschuldig’ Kind!
(You innocent!)
This time, a dialogue is interrupted for a moment by a character who comments
on the role of another (type Ib).
When Mephistopheles enters Auerbach’s Cellar together with Faust and sees
the merry revellers, he remarks in an aside:
2161 Dem Volke hier wird jeder Tag ein Fest.
Mit wenig Witz und viel Behagen
Dreht jeder sich im engen Zirkeltanz,
Wie junge Katzen mit dem Schwanz.
2165 Wenn sie nicht über Kopfweh klagen,
Solang’ der Wirt nur weiter borgt,
Sind sie vergnügt und unbesorgt.
*
I would like to thank Dr Gesine Manuwald and Dr Stefan Faller for their excellent translation of
my text into English.
1
The English translation of Faust follows Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust I & II, Ed. and
Translated by S. Atkins (Boston 1984).
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ECKARD LEFÈVRE, ASIDES IN NEW COMEDY AND THE PALLIATA
(Here, for these people, every day’s a holiday.
Without much wit, but with great satisfaction,
they whirl in narrow, separate rounds
like kittens chasing their own tails.
And if they can’t complain of headache
and still have credit with the landlord,
they’re pleased with life and free of cares.)
Here a scene is commented on by a character who is not involved in the dialogue
(type IIa). In this case the people overheard also comment on those newly
arrived; for instance Frosch says a little later:
2174 Laßt mich nur gehn! Bei einem vollen Glase
2175 Zieh’ ich, wie einen Kinderzahn,
Den Burschen leicht die Würmer aus der Nase.
Sie scheinen mir aus einem edlen Haus.
Sie sehen stolz und unzufrieden aus.
(Leave it to me! Before they’ve drunk a glass of wine
I’ll worm their secrets out of them
as easily as you pull out a baby-tooth.
I think that they’re aristocrats,
since they look haughty and dissatisfied.)
Here people who comment on a scene and are not involved in the dialogue are
commented on by others (type IIb).
After the Lord has discussed human beings in general and Faust in particular
with Mephistopheles, the latter says, remaining alone on stage:
352 Es ist gar hübsch von einem großen Herrn,
So menschlich mit dem Teufel selbst zu sprechen.
(It is quite decent of a mighty lord to chat
and be so human with the very devil.)
In this case a preceding dialogue is commented on by a character who remains
alone on stage. This kind of aside could be termed a—shortened—exit monologue
(type IIc).
It is obvious that even more subcategories of asides might be defined. 2 But
since this phenomenon shall be dealt with only in general terms in what follows,
further classification does not seem to be necessary.
1. Palliata
Plautus
All of the types of aside mentioned above occur very often in the Palliata. In
the Amphitruo Plautus uses asides with dazzling virtuosity. The first examples will
2 For general instructive remarks on this topic, cf. the analyses done by Schaffner 1911; Haile
1913; Kraus 1934; Duckworth 1952, 109-14; Barbieri 1966; Bain 1977; Moore 1998.
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ECKARD LEFÈVRE, ASIDES IN NEW COMEDY AND THE PALLIATA
be taken from this play. 3 Its first scene alone contains (depending on one’s method
of counting) 52 asides.
Type Ia: In the dialogue between Mercurius (Mercury) and Sosia (341-454), the
latter has six asides (407b-9, 416-7, 423-6, 429b, 431-2, 4 441-9). For example, the
slave, with his back against the wall, says about himself:
423 argumentis vicit, aliud nomen quaerundum est mihi.
nescio unde haec hic spectavit. iam ego hunc decipiam probe;
425 nam quod egomet solus feci, nec quisquam alius adfuit,
in tabernaculo, id quidem hodie numquam poterit dicere.
Type Ib: On the other hand, Sosia reflects on the mysterious stranger:
416 egomet mihi non credo, quom illaec autumare illum audio;
hic quidem certe quae illic sunt res gestae memorat memoriter.
Type IIa: Sosia’s extremely long monologue (153-291) is accompanied by seven
commenting asides spoken by Mercurius, who overhears him (176-9, 185, 248-9,
263-70, 277-8, 5 284-6, 289-90)—an unusually extensive way of commenting.
Mercurius’ first aside runs as follows:
176 satiust me queri illo modo servitutem:
hodie qui fuerim liber, eum nunc
potivit pater servitutis;
hic qui verna natust queritur.
Each of Mercurius’ comments is funny and thus aimed at the audience only. None
of them advances the action on stage.
When Iupiter takes leave of Alcumena in I 3, Mercurius stands nearby and
comments on the dialogue between the lovers several times:
506 nimis hic scitust sycophanta, qui quidem meus sit pater.
510 edepol ne illa si istis rebus te sciat operam dare,
ego faxim ted Amphitruonem esse malis quam Iovem.
515 accedam atque hanc appellabo et subparasitabor patri.
numquam edepol quemquam mortalem credo ego uxorem suam
sic ecflictim amare, proinde ut hic te ecflictim deperit.
It is only Mercurius’ comments that endow the scene with a comic dimension.
Type IIb: In I 1, after Sosia has noticed Mercurius, a fairly long dialogue follows,
during which the two characters comment on each other without talking to each
other (292-340). The dialogue begins as follows:
292 SO. sed quis hic est homo quem ante aedis video hoc noctis? non placet.
ME. nullust hoc metuculosus aeque. SO. mi in mentem venit,
illic homo hoc denuo volt pallium detexere.
295 ME. timet homo: deludam ego illum.
3 Cf. Lefèvre 1999, 39-41 (employing slightly different subcategories).
4 Oniga 1991, 105 thinks the aside already starts at line 431.
5 The apostrophe to Nox is a reaction to Sosia’s preceding digression on astronomical issues.
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ECKARD LEFÈVRE, ASIDES IN NEW COMEDY AND THE PALLIATA
On the whole, Sosia has no less than 20 asides, commenting on Mercurius’
remarks about him (292, 293b-4, 295b-9, 304b-7a, 308a, 309a, 310-11, 312b,
313b-4a, 317, 319-20, 321b, 323a, 324, 325b-6, 328a, 329-30, 331b-2, 334, 335b-
40). It goes without saying that Mercurius has 19 asides in between. Thus this way
of continuously commenting on each other is carried to extremes in a way that
cannot be surpassed.
Whereas in I 3 the comic effect on a low level is caused only by the
comments contrasting with the action on a high level, the two speakers of low
social status in I 1 create the comic effect by their comments on each other.
Type IIc: After the introductory dialogue both Sosia and Mercurius summarize
what happened. Sosia says:
455 abeo potius. di immortales, opsecro vostram fidem,
ubi ego perii? ubi immutatus sum? ubi ego formam perdidi?
an egomet me illic reliqui, si forte oblitus fui?
nam hicquidem omnem imaginem meam, quae antehac fuerat, possidet.
vivo fit quod numquam quisquam mortuo faciet mihi.
Mercurius says:
463 bene prospere hoc hodie operis processit mihi:
amovi a foribus maxumam molestiam,
465 patri ut liceret tuto illam amplexarier.
The Amphitruo owes a great deal of its effect to the comic asides. If Mercurius
were taken out of I 3, the scene would lose its comic potential. It could then rather
be part of a tragedy. Sosia’s famous battle-account in I 1 would also lack its
incomparably comic dimension without the two comments by Mercurius in 248-9
and 263-70. This section, too, would then be more appropriate in a tragedy. 6
In particular, Plautus has his favourite characters make their witty remarks in
asides—surely to the audience’s delight. An especially sophisticated example can
be found in the Epidicus: the play’s eponymous slave comments on the dialogue
between the two young men Stratippocles and Chaeribulus (type IIa), in which
the former threatens to flog the slave if he will not provide him with the money he
needs:
124 salva res est: bene promittit. spero, servabit fidem.
125 sine meo sumptu paratae iam sunt scapulis symbolae.
This aside is, of course, not to be taken seriously. 7 The joke mainly consists in the
pun on the word symbolae, as Henricus Stephanus explains very well: 8
Symbolæ erant collectæ, seu pecuniæ, quæ ab iis, qui c o m m u n i s u m p t u
erant una cœnaturi conjectabantur, ut verbo Agellii utar, quo ille quasi nativam
vim toà sumb£llein, unde sumbol», ob oculos posuit ... Ad hanc igitur
significationem Poëta igitur alludens, jocosa metaphora utitur, & sumbol¦j
vocat t¦j sumballomšnaj plhg£j. tanquam videlicet verbero iste non unius,
6 Cf. Lefèvre 1999, 12-15 (with further literary references).
7 ‘Epidicus speaks ironically’ (Duckworth 1940, 179).
8 The quotation follows Gronovius 1664, 359.
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ECKARD LEFÈVRE, ASIDES IN NEW COMEDY AND THE PALLIATA
sed plurium manibus verbera esset accepturus. Lepide etiam addit ad discrimen,
sine meo sumptu.
The comment sounds so bombastic that it is difficult to grasp its arrogance
completely. Epidicus ironically says that it is great to earn ‘a feast of blows’ 9
without doing anything oneself. 10 The droll metaphor points to a popular manner
of speaking.
Another original use of asides in Plautus is the following: he often has one
character admire the deceptive play of another and thereby underlines his brilliant
behaviour. When in Persa the Virgo leads Dordalus, the pimp, to believe that she
is someone other than she really is, Toxilus, the intriguing slave, comments (type
Ib): 11
622 ah, di istam perdant! ita catast et callida.
ut sapiens habet cor, quam dicit quod opust!
634 tactust leno; qui rogaret, ubi nata esset diceret,
lepide lusit.
639 ita me di bene ament, sapienter! 12
In these cases ‘the comments of a spectator on stage help to characterize the
deception as a play within a play’. 13 Thereby the play becomes metatheatrical. The
actions are to be understood in a double way and thereby gain their characteristic
appeal; ‘this metatheatrical effect is characteristic of Plautus.’ 14 Here asides are
made use of with virtuosity.
Plautus also employs asides in contexts other than his much favoured ones
involving slaves. In Aulularia they are used nearly exclusively in order to
characterize Euclio, the miser. 15 In several scenes he relates the remarks of his
dialogue partners to his own situation or world-view; thus its strangeness becomes
obvious to the audience. Of course, in these cases, too, there is an unparalleled
comic effect. Plautus deliberately puts the figure of Euclio, who has traits of a
fool, on a socially ‘low’ level. Thus the asides ‘fit’ in with his character.
In II 2 there is a number of asides, which endow the dialogue between Euclio
and his neighbour Megadorus with comic elements, but which also splendidly
characterize the manic tendencies of their speaker (type Ib). As a reaction to
Megadorus’ friendly greeting, Euclio states in an aside:
184 non temerarium est ubi dives blande appellat pauperem.
185 iam illic homo aurum scit me habere, eo me salutat blandius.
9
Duckworth 1940, 180.
10
Cf. Amph. 371 (Sosia earns a flogging from Mercurius ingratiis).
11
Cf. Lefèvre 2001b, 79.
12
‘Toxilus now becomes commentator and interpreter for the audience as she tells her riddling
tale’ (Slater 1985, 49).
13 Lowe 1989, 395-6.
14 Lowe 1989, 396.
15 Cf. Lefèvre 2001a, 115-7.
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ECKARD LEFÈVRE, ASIDES IN NEW COMEDY AND THE PALLIATA
Naudet comments on this remark as follows: 16
At considera poetæ artificium in hac scena, quantis miseriis laboret suspicax,
trepidus, omnia tuta timens 17 ille auri occultator, et quam stulte, perturbante
animum sollicitudine, ipse suomet indicio thesaurum prodat, dum nihil
defossum habere se gestit profiteri, et occupat prævertere nil tale quæritantem.
Hæc non Plautus fingit, natura ipsa loquitur.
To make the point clearer, it might be added: haec neque poeta quidam Graecus
finxit. A little later Euclio says:
188 anus hercle huic indicium fecit de auro, perspicue palam est,
quoi ego iam linguam praecidam atque oculos ecfodiam domi.
On the whole, Euclio has six asides of this kind in little more than 30 lines: 184-5,
188-9, 194-8, 200-2, 207-8, 216. The large number alone makes it clear that one
has entered the world of farce.
In III 5 Megadorus delivers a long monologue on the luxuries of women,
which brings to mind the argument over the lex Oppia. It gains a distinct profile
through Euclio’s comments, which are not noticed by Megadorus (type IIa). The
three asides (496-7, 503-4 and 523-4) of the secret listener increase the comic
effect that is inherent in the speech alone already.
496 ita di me amabunt ut ego hunc ausculto lubens.
nimis lepide fecit verba ad parsimonia.
503 ut matronarum hic facta pernovit probe!
moribus praefectum mulierum hunc factum velim.
523 compellarem ego illum, ni metuam ne desinat
memorare mores mulierum: nunc sic sinam.
Whereas in II 2 Euclio comments on Megadorus’ words by means of asides during
the dialogue itself (type Ib), he voices his views on them unnoticed in III 5 (type
IIa).
In III 6 Euclio once again behaves in the manner typical of him and comments
on his partner’s remarks in comic asides (type Ib). Once again Megadorus is his
victim. In the first passage he uses the technique of relating an expression used by
Megadorus to his treasure (like in 188) and to throw suspicion on Staphyla (like
188-9):
547 illud mihi verbum non placet ‘quod nunc habes’.
tam hoc scit me habere quam egomet. anus fecit palam.
In the second passage he interprets a well-meant word of his partner in peiorem
partem, as he usually does:
574 scio quam rem agat:
575 ut me deponat vino, eam adfectat viam.
post hoc quod habeo ut commutet coloniam.
16 1830, 266.
17 Cf. Virgil, Aen. 4.298.
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ECKARD LEFÈVRE, ASIDES IN NEW COMEDY AND THE PALLIATA
ego id cavebo, nam alicubi apstrudam foris.
ego faxo et operam et vinum perdiderit simul.
Plautus cannot get enough of comic effects of this kind. He really carries the use
of asides to extremes.
Terence
In comparison with Plautus’ excessive use of asides, Terence is more
restrained. It is not necessary to pay special attention to him in this context: as far
as Plautus’ kinds of asides occur in Terence, he could have got to know them from
Plautus directly. But even a superficial reading shows that there is little that is
comparable in Terence.
A glance at Terence’s most burlesque comedy, the Eunuchus, shall suffice to
illustrate this idea. In scene I 2, containing more than 120 lines, Parmeno, who
sometimes plays the ‘fool’, has two asides only (type Ib):
87 ceterum
de exclusione verbum nullum?
178 labascit victus uno verbo quam cito!
These comments are moderate and appropriate. The same holds true for
Parmeno’s asides during Gnatho’s entrance monologue in II 2. Even if one
assumes that Strouthias in Menander’s Kolax delivers a similar speech on which
‘Gnatho’s monologue is modelled (whether closely or not)’, 18 it is not necessary
that a slave comments on it in Menander, as Parmeno does in Terence (type IIa):
254 scitum hercle hominem! hic homines prorsum ex stultis insanos facit.
265 viden otium et cibus quid facit alienus?
That is appropriate, as Donatus observes, commenting on line 254: mire Terentius
longae orationi interloquia quaedam adhibet, ut fastidium prolixitatis evitet, velut
nunc Parmeno procul audiens Gnathonem haec loquitur; referring to the second
instance he says: rursus Parmeno et facetias dicit et distinguit longiloquium
parasiti (1). If one believed that Terence took over the listener’s asides together
with the monologue, a comparison with Megadorus’ monologue commented on by
Euclio in Aulularia III 5 would make it clear how little Menander (just like
Terence) capitalized on such a situation in terms of comic elements. 19 But
structural criteria alone would already be an obstacle. 20
As soon as Gnatho notices Parmeno, the latter remarks (type Ib):
18 Brown 1992, 107. See also Denzler 1968, 65-6.
19 Sure enough, Parmeno’s words are ‘caustic asides’ (Goldberg 1986, 109).
20 As Denzler 1968, 68 has been able to demonstrate, there is a large number of ‘interrupted’
eavesdropping monologues of comparable length (22 and 10 long lines) in Plautus, whereas there
are none in Menander and only two more in Terence, namely ‘in den Monodien des Pamphilus An
241ff. (10 und 12 Langverse), wo die Gestaltung als Lauscher-Monolog wohl von Terenz stammt,
und des Geta Ad 299ff. (6 und 10 Langverse), wo Terenz wohl gegenüber der Vorlage erweitert
hat’.
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ECKARD LEFÈVRE, ASIDES IN NEW COMEDY AND THE PALLIATA
269 hisce hoc munere arbitrantur
270 suam Thaidem esse.
This aside is completely integrated into the action. A little later, when the two
tease each other, the double aside is used in a very prominent way (type Ib):
274 GN. uro hominem. PA. ut falsus animist.
This exchange—just like the complete dialogue—sounds more like a Roman
argument than a text by Menander. It could be derived from Plautus. On the other
hand, Parmeno’s next comment on Chaereas’ appearance in II 3 is once again
integrated into the action and without any comic effect (type IIa):
297 ecce autem alterum!
nescioquid de amore loquitur: o infortunatum senem!
hic vero est qui si occeperit,
300 ludum iocumque dices fuisse illum alterum,
praeut huius rabies quae dabit.
It continues like that.
Asides are used with virtuosity in III 1 when Parmeno comments on the
dialogue between Thraso and Gnatho (type IIa) and Gnatho on his part endows
Thraso’s remarks with mocking asides (type Ib). It cannot be proved in this
context, but it seems that this dialogue on three levels owes a lot to Terence, who
obviously follows in Plautus’ footsteps. The same holds true for the ‘besiegingscene’,
IV 7. Whatever occupies the same place in Menander, the parasite there
probably has hardly any reason to exclaim about his coward ‘employer’ (type Ib):
782 illuc est sapere: ut hosce instruxit, ipsus sibi cavit loco.
Even if in places Terence composes in a ‘Plautine’ manner, on the whole, he
differs from his predecessor.
2. Nša
Of course, using asides is no Plautine invention. 21 It is a sign of vivid drama
in general, including Menander’s. Nevertheless there are big differences between
Plautus and Menander in this point as well as in others. It is like emerging from
the noisy activity in a suburb and entering the well-ordered world of the
bourgeoisie.
In Samia the characters speak in asides several times. In the third act the cook
has four asides during the serious quarrel between Chrysis and Demeas (type
IIa): 22
375 toioàt' Ãn tÕ kakÒn: manq£nw.
(So that’s what caused the trouble! [Now] I understand!)
383 tÕ pr©gm' Ñrg» tij st…n: prositšon.
(What happened is a row. I must come forward.)
21 It is, however, «un potente e diversificato espediente in Plauto» (Slater 1999, xxviii).
22 The English translation of Menander follows W.G. Arnott (ed.), Menander III (Cambridge,
Mass., and London 2000).
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ECKARD LEFÈVRE, ASIDES IN NEW COMEDY AND THE PALLIATA
386 t… st…n:
((in the background again) What is this?)
387 oÜpw d£knei.
Ómwj––
(Now he’s not lashing out.
Still,––)
‘Die Parallelität ist schwerlich ein Produkt des Zufalls: zuerst spricht er jeweils
einen Satz a parte, der soll die Aufmerksamkeit des Publikums auf ihn lenken und
ihm selber zugleich den Anlaß geben, näher heranzukommen (... 375 ... 386), dann
folgt der Entschluß, in die Auseinandersetzung einzugreifen (... 383 ... 387)’. 23
The way of using asides is completely guided by the action. In the fourth act,
during the argument with Moschion, Demeas ‘schwankt ... zwischen direkter
Anrede in der zweiten Person und beiseite gesprochenen Partien in der dritten
Person.’ 24 He has two asides (type Ib):
454 dhlad¾] presbeÚeta… tij prÒj me: deinÒn.
([It’s quite plain!] A man here’s come to parley with me! Awful!)
456 DE. deinÕn ½dh. sunadike‹ m' oátoj––
MO. t… fÍj;
DE. –– perifa]nîj. t… g¦r prosšrceq' Øpr ke…nhj: ¢s[mšnJ
crÁn g¦r aÙtù toàto d»pou ge[gonš.]
(DE. Really awful! He’s joined her in wronging me––
MO. (not hearing what Demeas is saying to himself)
[What’s that?]
DE. (still talking to himself)
––[clearly]. Otherwise, why come in her support? He should
Surely have been [pleased] that this has [happened.])
‘Bezeichnend ist für die Urbanität Menanders, daß der Vater selbst einen im
Ausdruck so gemäßigten Vorwurf wie das sunadike‹ m' oátoj (456) dem Sohne
nicht ins Gesicht spricht.’ 25 The use of asides is completely motivated by ethical
considerations. There are no parallels to Plautine comedy.
In the first act of the Dyskolos there occur several instructive asides. When
Sostratos sees Knemon’s daughter for the first time, he exclaims (type IIa):
191 ð Zeà p£ter
kaˆ Fo‹be Pai£n, ð DioskÒrw f…l[w,
k£llouj ¢m£cou.
(Father Zeus,
Healer Phoebus, dear Dioscuri,
What irresistible beauty!)
23 Blume 1974, 149.
24 Blume 1974, 175.
25 Blume 1974, 175 (cf. also 183 with reference to Sam. 469-70).
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ECKARD LEFÈVRE, ASIDES IN NEW COMEDY AND THE PALLIATA
Sostratos is really moved. The asides are to intensify the action. The young man,
entering the sanctuary, exclaims (type IIc):
201 leuqer…wj gš pwj
¥groikÒj stin. ð [polut…]mhtoi qeo…,
t…j ¥n me sèsai d[aimÒ]nwn;
(A country girl,
yet there’s a kind of poise ... O [honoured] gods,
what power could save me now?)
In both cases the asides spring from ethical thoughts. When, on the other hand, a
little later the slave Daos utters a suspicious aside about Sostratos, the function is
different (type IIa):
212 t… pote boÚleq' oØtos…
¤nqrwpoj:
(This fellow here—whatever does
He want?)
Daos’ remark is guided by the action. It is far removed from Plautine silliness.
Later on, Knemon has a meaningful aside when he sees the sacrificial
procession passing by the house (type IIa):
431 toutˆ tÕ kakÕn t… boãletai;
Ôcloj tij: ¥pag' j kÒrakaj.
(What’s the meaning of
This devilry? A horde! To hell with them!)
The aside serves to shed light on Knemon’s character. It emerges from ethical
categories.
Enough said! The principal difference between Menander and Plautus is
obvious: with regard to asides there is no way leading from one to the other.
3. Improvisatory Drama
W.B. Segdwick comments on the asides in Amphitruo I 3: ‘The way the
tender farewells are interrupted by the sarcastic asides of Mercury reminds one of
Mephistopheles in Faust.’ 26 This is an interesting characterization. One might
think that an English commentator would refer to Christopher Marlowe’s brilliant
drama on Faust in this context. If Segdwick had thought of that, he would
probably have quoted the correct title (The tragical History of) Doctor Faustus,
not just Faust. Mephistopheles does have three asides in Marlowe’s drama. In II 1,
when Faust signs the contract, he says:
O, what will not I do to obtain his soul?
A little later he remarks:
I’ll fetch him somewhat to delight his mind.
26 1960, 96.
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These two statements are both in the A-text of 1604 and the B-Text of 1616. 27
The latter even has a third aside at the end of III 1. There Mephistopheles
exclaims:
So, so, was never devil thus blessed before!
But one has to assume that Segdwick refers to Goethe’s Faust. Goethe only got to
know Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus in 1818—more than thirty years after the
composition of Faust I. Therefore the manner of speaking of his Mephistopheles
does not follow the ways of the English drama. In Dichtung und Wahrheit Goethe
himself says how he became acquainted with the Faust material, namely via the
puppet theatre: ‘Die bedeutende Puppenspielfabel des andern [sc. Faust] klang
und summte gar vieltönig in mir wider.’ 28 Thus it is the puppet show that Goethe
had in his mind when writing the Faust. Marlowe for his part owes a lot to the
‘low’ kinds of drama. One of the characters in Doctor Faustus is Robin, the fool.
During his first appearance on stage in I 4 he instantly makes use of an effective
aside in his dialogue with Wagner. But on the whole Marlowe employs this
technique very sparingly. In England it is common in the ‘low’ morality plays and
interludes; in these kinds of plays the characters called Vice are designed to
display ‘in parodistischer Weise ihre teuflische Gegenwelt zum Göttlichen’ 29
(Mephistopheles!). 30 These Vices love to get into contact with the audience by
means of asides. They—metatheatrically—hold up ‘dem Publikum einen
Spiegel’. 31 Right up to Shakespeare, ‘low’ characters are dominant on the stage—
for example, Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. 32 ‘Oral’ traditions are being
continued here.
It is easy to understand that in the wake of Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus the
touring theatre companies in Germany incorporated plays on Faust into their
programme in the seventeenth century; the puppet theatres, too, took hold of this
effective subject matter. In composing such a Faust, Goethe places himself in the
tradition of a ‘low’ kind of drama, which also includes improvisation every now
and then. It fits in well with this fact that Mephistopheles is the fool of low social
status in that tragedy. Even in Goethe’s Faust II he is conscious of his literary
27
The lines as quoted follow Bevington / Rasmussen 1995.
28
Part II, book 10.
29
Thomsen 1973, 70.
30
‘In den Interludien entwickelt sich ... der Teufel zum vice und schließlich zum clown und fool.
Komische Szenen werden immer breiter ausgestaltet, beherrschen weite Teile auch der moral
interludes und öffnen schauspielerischer Virtuosität, clownesker Schlagfertigkeit und der Fähigkeit
zu plötzlichem Extemporieren die Bühne’ (Thomsen 1973, 92-3).
31
Thomsen 1973, 70. Cf. Riehle 1964, 33: ‘Als sich das Drama mehr und mehr mit der niederen,
alltäglichen Wirklichkeit ‚auffüllte‘, die ein Gegengewicht zum dargestellten Heilsgeschehen
bildete, begannen auch die Schauspieler in unmittelbaren Kontakt mit dem Publikum zu treten und
oft mit komischen, derb-realistischen zur Seite gesprochenen Kommentaren den
Spielzusammenhang zu unterbrechen. Es ist eine bekannte Tatsache, daß die stock-figure des
seelenverführenden Vice in der Moralität seine besondere Freude daran hatte, die Zuschauer direkt
auf seine schlauen Pläne und seine Verstellungskünste aufmerksam zu machen.’ This is also what
slaves do in Plautus, but not in Menander.
32
Even the protagonist of Shakespeare’s early drama Richard III, who comes up with an especially
large number of asides, must be considered in this context. ‘Er ist verwandt mit dem vice, der
populären diabolischen Clownfigur der Moralitätenspiele des Mittelalters’ (Spinner 1973, 153).
11

ECKARD LEFÈVRE, ASIDES IN NEW COMEDY AND THE PALLIATA
origin when he says in answer to the question of the Sphinx in the Klassische
Walpurgisnacht:
7117 Mit vielen Namen glaubt man mich zu nennen –
Sind Briten hier? Sie reisen sonst so viel,
Schlachtfeldern nachzuspüren, Wasserfällen,
7120 Gestürzten Mauern, klassisch dumpfen Stellen;
Das wäre hier für sie ein würdig Ziel.
Sie zeugten auch: Im alten Bühnenspiel
Sah man mich dort als old Iniquity.
(There’s a belief that I have many names.
Are any British here? They’re usually great travellers,
looking for battlefields and waterfalls,
dilapidated walls and dreary ancient sites;
this is an ideal place for them to visit.
My name’s attested in their ancient drama,
where I appeared as Old Iniquity.)
Almost 60 years ago, I often had the chance to watch Punch and Judy shows; to
the children’s delight, Punch continuously speaks in asides in these shows and in
this way becomes an accomplice of his young audience.
One of the techniques of improvisatory drama easiest to learn is the
improvisation of monologues. 33 In doing so, a player acts on his own; complicated
agreements with one or several other actors are not necessary. In the same way a
‘commentator’ only has to follow his own ideas. This technique is an element of
the Commedia dell’arte and German folk comedy of the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries. In this kind of drama the fool has ‘die Angewohnheit, zum
Parkett gewandt, über Reden und Taten der Mitspieler zu räsonieren, deren und
eigene Handlungen ausführlich zu kommentieren und zu glossieren’. 34 Nestroy’s
comedy, too, which is based on the ‘oral’ traditions of Vienna’s theatre, favours
the ‘Unterbrechung der Zuschauerillusion durch ein im Spiel angelegtes
Kunstmittel’, that is caused ‘durch das (vorgeschriebene oder improvisierte) Spiel
der Schauspieler’. 35
3. Conclusion
It has become clear that the ways in which asides are used in New Comedy
and in the Palliata are worlds apart. It is not at all surprising that the Roman poets
do use some techniques occuring in New Comedy. But the Greek models do not
offer any instances that employ asides in a similarly excessive and comic manner
as the Plautine plays do. In this case as in all others it is a mistake to do without
33 Cf. Lefèvre 1991, 195-6.
34 Asper 1980, 124. See also 125: ‘Das Publikum wird von Hanswurst und seinen Gesellen
gleichwohl immer zum Mitwisser erkoren, wenn ihm Gefahr droht, wenn etwas besonders gut
gelungen ist oder wenn ihm im Stück selber das lose Mundwerk verboten wird’.
35 Hillach 1967, 66. See also 85: ‘In der Beobachterhaltung äußert sich die Figur entweder
nüchtern feststellend, vergleichend, kommentierend oder mit kritischer Wendung analysierend,
ironisch, zugespitzt.’ Here, a similar ‘oral’ tradition as, for instance, in the case of Sosia is
discernible.
12

ECKARD LEFÈVRE, ASIDES IN NEW COMEDY AND THE PALLIATA
source criticism when comparing New Comedy and Palliata. 36 Since it is a
fundamental difference, it is also wrong to use as an argument the fact that the
state of preservation of New Comedy is worse than that of the Palliata. 37 When
analysing the phenomenon of asides, it is not only quantity, but above all quality
that matters.
It certainly is not an easy task to prove the difference, as the models of the
Palliatae are not preserved. But there does exist a ›rmaion, which allows us to
take a glance at Plautus’ comic workshop. In the Bacchides, the friends
Mnesilochus and Pistoclerus say, when they see each other again (534-7):
534 PI. estne hic meus sodalis? MN. estne hic | hostis quem aspicio meus?
535 PI. certe is est. MN. is est. adibo | contra et contollam gradum.
PI. salvos sis, Mnesiloche. MN. salve. | PI. salvos quom peregre advenis,
cena detur. MN. non placet mi | cena quae bilem movet.
The following lines of the Dis exapaton correspond to this greeting:
103 MO. ca‹re, Sèstrate.
SO. kaˆ sÚ.
(MO. Oh, Sostratos,
Hello! SO. (bleakly) Hello.)
In lines 534-5 Plautus has placed a double aside by each of the two characters, in
which they comment on the partner (type IIb), before actually greeting each
other. Then he takes over the short Greek greeting. And after that, he adds the
motif of the welcome banquet—and also the refusal of the invitation by the person
addressed. He has transformed four Greek words into four long lines containing
37 words. But his style is not simply verbose, cosy, or even sentimental. On the
contrary, it is sharp and aggressive. The antithetical structure is especially
remarkable in the following pairs: sodalis—hostis; cena detur—non placet mi
cena. It is a dialogue of contrasts, as the expression contra et contollam gradum
demonstrates. The partners cap the words of the other, first in asides and then
directly. If one takes into account that Plautus has transformed the simple iambic
trimetres of the Greek into sonorous versus quadrati, 38 it is obvious that he
composes an—Italic—argument. 39 The lines are structured and configured in a
dipodic way. Thus one source of Plautine invention becomes clear: he takes over
forms of oral speech, whether the Fescennini 40 or the Atellanae 41 have inspired
him.
36
Exactly this, however, is claimed by Bain 1977, 154: ‘Even so in what follows questions ... of
the relationship of the Roman play to its original have for the most part been ignored.’
37
Again, this is claimed by Bain 1977, 155: ‘If a motif hitherto unattested in Greek New Comedy
is frequently to be found in Plautus, we may suspect that it is in fact Greek in origin. If it is also to
be found in Terence, suspicion hardens into virtual certainty. We must always remember how
much New Comedy was available to Plautus and Terence and how little, comparatively speaking,
is available to us.’
38
On the non-literary tradition of versus quadrati in Rome see Gerick 1996, 27-42.
39
Cf. Wallochny 1992, 182-3.
40
Cf. Gerick 1996, 29.
41
Cf. Gerick 1996, 50-56. On preliterary Atellanae see Frassinetti 1953, 73.
13

ECKARD LEFÈVRE, ASIDES IN NEW COMEDY AND THE PALLIATA
The situation is not different in most other passages. With regard to Euclio’s
numerous asides during Megadorus’ speeches in Aulularia III 5 und III 6 one can
point to the fact that scholars regard the greater part of these scenes as Plautine
invention. 42 For that reason alone already, specific adaptation of Greek techniques
is to be considered unlikely.
42 Cf. Lefèvre 2001a, 76-83.
14

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ECKARD LEFÈVRE, ASIDES IN NEW COMEDY AND THE PALLIATA
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16