SOURCE: "Plautus," in The Comic Theatre of Greece and Rome, W. W. Norton & Company, 1977, pp. 118-34.

In the excerpt below, Sandbach analyzes Plautus's use of language, observing: "Words were a source of delight" for the playwright.

Plautus, the most original and vigorous writer of Roman comedy, came from Sarsina in Umbria, half-way between modern Florence and Rimini. It was an Italian town subjected to the Romans a dozen years before his birth. Whether Plautus was his real name or one humorously adopted for professional purposes [the name means "flat-footed"], and whether he had been an actor before he was a writer are questions which admit of fascinating discussion but no certain answer; fortunately they are of no importance to the historian of drama. Nothing shows that he acted in or produced his own plays, but he gives a strong impression that he understood the theatre for which he...