Plautus
Sir Thomas More. Sir Thomas Wiat. Henry Earl of Surrey. SirThomas Chaloner. Sir Thomas Smith. Sir Thomas Eliot. Bishop Gardiner.Sir Nicolas Bacon, L.K. Sir Philip Sidney. Master Richard Hooker.Robert Earl of Essex. Sir Walter Raleigh. Sir Henry Savile. Sir EdwinSandys. Sir Thomas Egerton, L.C. Sir Francis Bacon, L.C.
“Which will secure a long age for the known writer.”—Horat. deArt. Poetica.
Parrhasius. Eupompus. Socrates. Parrhasius. Clito. Polygnotus.Aglaophon. Zeuxis. Parrhasius. Raphael de Urbino. Mich. AngeloBuonarotti. Titian. Antony de Correg. Sebast. de Venet. Julio Romano.Andrea Sartorio.
Livy, Sallust, Sidney, Donne, Gower, Chaucer, Spenser, Virgil,Ennius, Homer, Quintilian, Plautus, Terence.
“Æneas dedicates these arms concerning the conqueringGreeks.”—Virg. Æn. lib. 3.
“If it were allowable for immortals to weep for mortals, theMuses would weep for the poet Nævius; since he is handed to the chamberof Orcus, they have forgotten how to speak Latin at Rome.”
Words in this poem
- walter v. i.
- To roll or wallow; to welter. [Obs. or Prov. Eng. & Scot.] [See Welter.]
- mich v. i.
- To lie hid; to skulk; to act, or carry one's self, sneakingly. [OE. michen; cf. OE. muchier, mucier, to conceal, F. musser, and OHG. muhhen to waylay. Cf. Micher, Curmudgeon, Muset.]
- allowable a.
- Praiseworthy; laudable. Hacket. [F. allouable.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Plautus is in the public domain. This text is taken from Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter and Some Poems, Project Gutenberg ebook #5134; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ben Jonson, Plautus, in Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter and Some Poems (1616), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #5134, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/jonson-poems/plautus.html, id L23823.
Form and metre
Plautus is 18 lines in 6 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 3 -AA- polygnotus · angeloA · romanoA · sartorio
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Sir Thomas More. Sir Thomas Wiat. Henry Earl of Surrey. Sir | 15 | ·/˘··/˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Thomas Chaloner. Sir Thomas Smith. Sir Thomas Eliot. Bishop Gardiner. | 18 | /˘····/˘··/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Sir Nicolas Bacon, L.K. Sir Philip Sidney. Master Richard Hooker. | 18 | ·/˘/˘···/˘/˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Robert Earl of Essex. Sir Walter Raleigh. Sir Henry Savile. Sir Edwin | 20 | /˘··/˘·/˘/˘·/˘····/˘ |
| Sandys. Sir Thomas Egerton, L.C. Sir Francis Bacon, L.C. | 16 | /˘·/˘/˘···/˘/˘·· |
| “Which will secure a long age for the known writer.”—Horat. de | 14 | ··˘/······/··· |
| Art. Poetica. | 4 | ···· |
| Parrhasius. Eupompus. Socrates. Parrhasius. Clito. Polygnotus. | 18 | ······/˘·········· |
| Aglaophon. Zeuxis. Parrhasius. Raphael de Urbino. Mich. Angelo | 19 | ·········˘/·····/˘· |
| Buonarotti. Titian. Antony de Correg. Sebast. de Venet. Julio Romano. | 21 | ····/˘/˘········/˘˘/· |
| Andrea Sartorio. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Livy, Sallust, Sidney, Donne, Gower, Chaucer, Spenser, Virgil, | 14 | ····/˘·//˘/˘/˘ |
| Ennius, Homer, Quintilian, Plautus, Terence. | 11 | ··/˘·····/˘ |
| “Æneas dedicates these arms concerning the conquering | 12 | ·/˘···˘/˘·/˘ |
| Greeks.”—Virg. Æn. lib. 3. | 4 | ···· |
| “If it were allowable for immortals to weep for mortals, the | 16 | ···˘/˘·˘/˘···/˘· |
| Muses would weep for the poet Nævius; since he is handed to the chamber | 19 | /˘····/˘·····/˘··/˘ |
| of Orcus, they have forgotten how to speak Latin at Rome.” | 15 | ·····˘/˘···/˘·· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.