CAPTIVI, cap-te'-ve ('The a comedy of Plautus, declared by Lessing to be the finest piece that had ever been put upon the stage. Such an estimate, even from so great a literary critic, savors rather of enthu siasm than of judgment. But the play has unusual merits. The plot, while simple, is very closely woven; the deception and its disastrous discovery, upon which the action turns, are handled to a certain extent in the spirit of tragedy; and the portrayal of character is so sympathetic that the interest of the audience is aroused almost equally for the deceivers and for the deceived. Plautus himself, both in the prologue and in the epilogue, dwells upon the elevation of tone which distinguishes this play from the usual run, and expresses his re gret that playwrights find few comedies, such as this, through which good men may be made better. This conception of the function of comedy is very rare indeed in Plautus, whose chief concern was to make his plays amusing but not necessarily edifying. In 'The Cap
tives' the moral lesson is the more impres sively taught because the hero has known only the life and outlook of a slave ever since he was stolen from home in early childhood. But this slave has the soul of a gentleman, and no scene in the play is greater than that in which, after the discovery of his real status, he fear lessly defends his loyalty to the master, now happily beyond reach, for whose sake he has impenlled his own life. There is a vivacious translation in the 'Loeb Classical Library' by Paul Nixon, 'Plautus, Volume I' (New York 1916). Consult also the excellent chapters on Plautus in Sellar, W. Y., (Roman Poets of the Republic) (3d ed., reissued, Oxford 1908) and Duff, J. W., 'A Literary History of Rome' (2d ed.. London 1910).