enough at the representation to see and hear plainly." The truth
seems to be that Lavinius managed to obtain admission at the
rehearsal or trial of the merits of the piece before the
magistrates, and that he then behaved himself in the unseemly
manner mentioned in the text.]

[Footnote 26: _Produced the piece, but still had not deceived
him_)--Ver. 24. There is a pun here upon the resemblance in
meaning of the words "verba dare" and "fabulam dare." The first
expression means to "deceive" or "impose upon;" the latter phrase
has also the same meaning, but it may signify as well "to
represent" or "produce a Play." Thus the exclamation in its
ambiguity may mean, "he has produced a Play, and has not succeeded
in deceiving us," or "he has deceived us, and yet has not deceived
us." This is the interpretation which Donatus puts upon the
passage.]

[Footnote 27: _Colax, an old Play of Plautus_)--Ver. 25. Although
Nonius Marcellus professes to quote from the Colax of Plautus (so
called from the Greek +Kolax+, "a flatterer" or "parasite"),
some scholars have disbelieved in the existence of any Play of
Plautus known by that name. Cooke says: "If Plautus had wrote a
Play under the title of 'Colax,' I should think it very unlikely
that it should have escaped Terence's eye, considering how soon he
flourished after Plautus, his being engaged in the same studies,
and his having such opportunities to consult the libraries of the
great; for though all learning was then confined to Manuscripts,
Terence could have no difficulty in coming at the best copies. The
character of the 'Miles Gloriosus' [Braggart Captain] here
mentioned, I am inclined to think the same with that which is the
hero of Plautus's Comedy, now extant, and called 'Miles
Gloriosus,' from which Terence could not take his Thraso.
Pyrgopolinices and Thraso are both full of themselves, both boast
of their valor and their intimacy with princes, and both fancy
themselves beloved by all the women who see them; and they are
both played off by their Parasites, but they differ in their
manner and their speech: Plautus's Pyrgopolinices is always in the
clouds, and talking big, and of blood and wounds-- Terence's
Thraso never says too little nor much, but is an easy ridiculous
character, continually supplying the Audience with mirth without
the wild extravagant bluster of Pyrgopolinices; Plautus and
T