Plautus and His Dramatic Successors in the Republican Period

This chapter discusses the standing of Plautus in the middle to late Republican period, when his plays were popular with audiences, were studied by scholars, and were points of reference for other dramatists. In particular, this contribution analyzes reactions by Plautus's dramatic successors in his own dramatic genre (fabula palliata) and related ones (fabula togata, fabula Atellana) to Plautine comedy, using the motif of the contrast between town and country as a paradigmatic case study