Asides in New Comedy and the Palliata - Leeds International ...

ECKARD LEFÈVRE, ASIDES IN NEW COMEDY AND THE PALLIATA
be taken from this play. 3 Its first scene alone contains (depending on one’s method
of counting) 52 asides.
Type Ia: In the dialogue between Mercurius (Mercury) and Sosia (341-454), the
latter has six asides (407b-9, 416-7, 423-6, 429b, 431-2, 4 441-9). For example, the
slave, with his back against the wall, says about himself:
423 argumentis vicit, aliud nomen quaerundum est mihi.
nescio unde haec hic spectavit. iam ego hunc decipiam probe;
425 nam quod egomet solus feci, nec quisquam alius adfuit,
in tabernaculo, id quidem hodie numquam poterit dicere.
Type Ib: On the other hand, Sosia reflects on the mysterious stranger:
416 egomet mihi non credo, quom illaec autumare illum audio;
hic quidem certe quae illic sunt res gestae memorat memoriter.
Type IIa: Sosia’s extremely long monologue (153-291) is accompanied by seven
commenting asides spoken by Mercurius, who overhears him (176-9, 185, 248-9,
263-70, 277-8, 5 284-6, 289-90)—an unusually extensive way of commenting.
Mercurius’ first aside runs as follows:
176 satiust me queri illo modo servitutem:
hodie qui fuerim liber, eum nunc
potivit pater servitutis;
hic qui verna natust queritur.
Each of Mercurius’ comments is funny and thus aimed at the audience only. None
of them advances the action on stage.
When Iupiter takes leave of Alcumena in I 3, Mercurius stands nearby and
comments on the dialogue between the lovers several times:
506 nimis hic scitust sycophanta, qui quidem meus sit pater.
510 edepol ne illa si istis rebus te sciat operam dare,
ego faxim ted Amphitruonem esse malis quam Iovem.
515 accedam atque hanc appellabo et subparasitabor patri.
numquam edepol quemquam mortalem credo ego uxorem suam
sic ecflictim amare, proinde ut hic te ecflictim deperit.
It is only Mercurius’ comments that endow the scene with a comic dimension.
Type IIb: In I 1, after Sosia has noticed Mercurius, a fairly long dialogue follows,
during which the two characters comment on each other without talking to each
other (292-340). The dialogue begins as follows:
292 SO. sed quis hic est homo quem ante aedis video hoc noctis? non placet.
ME. nullust hoc metuculosus aeque. SO. mi in mentem venit,
illic homo hoc denuo volt pallium detexere.
295 ME. timet homo: deludam ego illum.
3 Cf. Lefèvre 1999, 39-41 (employing slightly different subcategories).
4 Oniga 1991, 105 thinks the aside already starts at line 431.
5 The apostrophe to Nox is a reaction to Sosia’s preceding digression on astronomical issues.
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