Customer Reviews

Plautus: Menaechmi

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This is a first class commentary and a must for anyone interested in the history of Roman comedy. The introduction is clear; the explanation of meter is advanced but insightful; the discussion of the Greek origins of the comedy of errors is useful; and the commentary is tailored to the mid- to upper-level Latin student. I used this text for an advanced Latin course and found it quite good. The single drawback is the play itself - its crafting, structure, and sense of humor can appear clumsy and foreign to the tastes of modern students.

Having just completed teaching this text in a course, I'd say there is one main difficulty. This looks like an old typescript done in courier font that's been put into book form. It would benefit from a reset of the font and a more readable design. Other than that, maybe an update with more recent articles on the play would be in order. I'll use it again, but hope Bolchazy Carducci will do a remake. Otherwise a very usable book.

A well-presented, scholarly edition, with copious notes, but the binding on my copy was old and brittle, and fell apart almost instantly. I managed to glue it back together, but with some difficulty, and with the break still being somewhat conspicuous. If you don't want to take that risk, don't get it, because I may not be alone, but if you should get lucky and get a sturdy one, it is marvellous, and the notes are thorough. It is not for the fainthearted, but then that could be said for Latin as a whole, so if you think you are ready for unadapted texts with more trouble spent on scholarship that pedagogy, go for it. There is no vocab section, so you will rely on a dictionary, or less, if you are really clever. If you want more of a beginners' edition, go for Lawall and Quinn instead.