Staging Entrapment: On the Boundaries of the Law in Plautus’ Persa

  • Adele C. Scafuro
Chapter

Zusammenfassung

Many characters of New Comedy exhibit what might be called a ’forensic disposition’. More overtly, the disposition reveals itself as characters easily discuss and debate the intricacies of such laws as those pertaining to epikleroi,1 as they seek the advice of legal experts for drawing up documents or for furthering their understanding of the law,2 as they act as arbitrators of their neighbors’ disputes,3 call on witnesses to testify to contractual agreements or wrongful acts,4 offer to torture their slaves for evidence or even bring their tortured victims on the stage,5 threaten suits against their adversaries,6 frame their friends and enemies to gain their ends,7 complain of the litigious conduct of others,8 and sometimes fear that their own conduct will be seen in that same unflattering light.9

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag GmbH Deutschland 1993

Authors and Affiliations

  • Adele C. Scafuro
    • 1
  1. 1.Brown UniversityUSA

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