Plautus , (born c. 254, Sarsina, Umbria?—died 184 bc), Roman comic playwright. Little is known for certain about his life, but tradition holds that he was associated with the theatre from an early age. Like other Roman playwrights, he borrowed plots and dramatic techniques from Greek authors, especially New Comedy playwrights such as Menander. His plays, written in verse, were often farces marked by cases of mistaken identity and opportunities for slapstick, and he popularized character types such as the braggart soldier and the sly servant. Twenty-one of his comedies—among the earliest surviving works in Latin—are extant, including The Pot of Gold, The Captives, The Two Menaechmuses, The Braggart Warrior, and Pseudolus. His work influenced European comedy from the Renaissance onward, notably William Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors (1592–93) and Molière’s The Miser (1669).
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