Rudens (play)

Rudens
Written by	Plautus
Characters	Arcturus (the star-god) Daemones Sceparnio (Daemones' slave) Plesidippus Trachalio (Plesidippus' slave) Palaestra (Labrax's prostitute) Ampelisca (Labrax's prostitute) Labrax (pimp) Charmides (Labrax's friend) Piscatores (fishermen) Ptolemocratia (priestess) Turbalio (Daemones' slave) Sparax (Daemones' slave) Gripus (Daemones' slave)
Setting	shore near Cyrene, before Daemones' house and a shrine of Venus

Rudens is a play by Roman author Plautus, thought to have been written around 211 BC. Its name translates from Latin as 'The Rope'. It is a comedy, which describes how a girl, Palaestra, stolen from her parents by pirates, is reunited with her father, Daemones, ironically, by means of her pimp, Labrax. The story is, however, far more complex; in particular, humour is derived from the interactions between slaves and masters, and the changes in friendships throughout. The play is set in Cyrene, in northern Africa, although the characters come from a range of cities around the Mediterranean, most notably, Athens.

Rudens is introduced by a prologue given by Arcturus, before the play properly opens with a dialogue between Daemones, an elderly Athenian man, and his slave, Sceparnio; Sceparnio's cheekiness towards his master, who seems to lack the strength to contest this behaviour, is the provision of humour from the outset. Shortly after this, a young Athenian man called Plesidippus appears onstage, to seek information politely from Daemones. The interaction between slave and master (or rather, stranger) is shown again, as Sceparnio gives Plesidippus an extremely cold reception, showing his rudeness but also, possibly, his care for Daemones, seemingly protecting him from a stranger. After some argument (indirectly) between Sceparnio and Plesidippus, the latter finally asks Daemones (by way of a physical description) whether he has seen Labrax recently at the temple of Venus, which is nearby, on the coast of Cyrene, Libya. He also describes Labrax as bringing with him two girls, who are later to be named as Ampelisca and Palaestra. Suddenly, Daemones is drawn away from the conversation with Plesidippus, noticing two men, shipwrecked, attempting to swim towards the shore; Plesidippus immediately leaves with his friends, in the hope that one of them might be Labrax. After he has left, the scene develops, with Sceparnio spotting a boat in the turbulent sea, containing two girls. He engages in a detailed commentary of the girls being knocked around on the sea, and then being thrown out. Daemones, however, growing tired of the events, sharply tells Sceparnio that, should he wish to dine at his master's expense, he should get back to work.

The play shifts, then, to the two girls who were thrown out of the boat, into the sea, and subsequently separated. It opens with the first girl, Palaestra, lamenting her situation; she first focuses on the fact that she is in an unknown country, and that the gods have punished her unjustly, before being troubled by her loneliness. Indeed, she suggests that her ordeal would be less awful if her companion, Ampelisca, were with her. Elsewhere on the coast, Ampelisca is similarly upset; however, her reaction is one more resembling absolute despair. She states that she wishes to die, and that she has nothing to live for; nevertheless, she is driven to continue by the prospect that her friend might be alive. Ampelisca's soliloquy is cut short, when Palaestra hears a voice. After some consideration and careful listening, the girls realise that they have heard each other's voices, and follow them. Finally, the two girls turn around a rock and meet each other, grasping each other's hands with joy. With nowhere to go, the girls can see only the temple of Venus in the distance, and so decide to go in that direction.

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