tratud et novorum aedilium.'

The only festival that would suit the term _novi aediles_ is the _ludi
Megalenses_[11] as from B.C. 266 to 153 the new magistrates entered on
office on the Ides of March. This festival was not of a scenic
character till B.C. 194, consequently the _Trinummus_ must be after
that date. The mention of Syrian slaves in l. 542 also makes it
probable that this is one of the latest works of Plautus. The scene is
Athens.

20. _Truculentus_.--The original is unknown. The play was written in
Plautus' old age, probably about B.C. 189. The text has suffered
greatly. The scene is Athens.

21. _Vidularia_.--Only fragments are extant. It is thought to have
been modelled on a play called +Schedia+ by Menander.

_Argumenta._--These are in _senarii_, and give a summary of each play.
Two sets are found. The first set are acrostic, and are extant for all
the plays except the _Vidularia_ and the _Bacchides_. The second
series was probably written by Sulpicius Apollinaris in the second
century A.D. There are only five of them extant in the MSS., and
fragments of other two.

_Prologues._--These (which were usual in the Old and the New Comedy)
gave the name of the piece and the author, the original and its
author, the scene of the play, and a partial list of characters. In
the Prologue also the poet often asked the favour of the audience.
Prologues to fourteen plays are extant. The part of the prologue
Plautus (like the New Comedy) assigned either to a god, as in the
_Rudens_ to Arcturus, or to one of the characters, as in the
_Mercator_ to a youth (cf. _Mil._ and _Amph._), or to an actor
addressing the audience in the name of the poet, as in the
_Truculentus_. All the prologues have suffered from interpolation, but
those of _Amph._, _Merc._, _Rud._, and _Trin._, and the second parts
of those of _Mil._ and _Aul._, are founded on what Plautus wrote. The
prologues in _Cas._, _Poen._, and _Capt._, are due to later hands.
That the prologues are interpolated is shown by their diction; the wit
is often poor, and the language un-Plautine, or imitated closely from
Plautus' genuine works. The prologues in their present form probably
date from a period shortly after that in which Terence flourished,
when there was a want of new plays, and people went back to Plautus.
This is shown by the references to fixed seats for the spectators
(_Poen._ 15, _Amph._ 65, and _Capt._ 11), which were forbidden by a
S.C. passed in B.C.