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The Pseudolus, with its love-lorn young man and quick-talking slave who try desperately to wrest the captive heroine away from the scheming pimp, is a typical and masterly example of Plautus's genius. Other plays in this volume, adapted from Greek models to the manners and customs of his day, are invaluable historical documents about Roman life. As fresh, witty and perceptive today as the day they were written, they also introduce many classic comic characters and situations: the confusions surrounding the Menaechmus twins inspired Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors; the old miser in The Pot of Gold became Moliere's L'avare; while the sponger in The Prisoners and the swaggering soldier are undying - and hilarious - comic types.
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