T. H. M. Gellar-Goad has studied Plautine comedy in depth, having written several articles prior to this commentary, plus a monograph on Curculio in the Bloomsbury Ancient Comedy Companions series (2021). He has made the most of this knowledge, moving with great ease through a wealth of material on the play. The result of this long-term engagement is an excellent book that provides a multifaceted approach to the text, written with great verve and humour.

Readers delving into this book will find everything they need to appreciate and, above all, enjoy Plautus’ text: extensive grammatical and syntactical commentary, explanation of Greek words and their function within the Latin context (e.g. tirannus, 139), detailed metrical analysis, stylistic analysis of the Roman author’s difficult archaic style, information about his life and work and the type of comedy he composes. They will also find a useful general introduction that vividly presents everything one needs to know or may be curious to learn about Curculio. Of enormous value for the uninitiated are interpretations of terms such as metatheatre — the main example here is the presence of the costume supplier in the play, who, as G.-G. notes, creates one of the most hilarious moments, playing himself instead of pretending to be a character in the play, and speaking directly to the audience. One of the most original contributions in the introduction, which examines the play’s reception, is G.-G.’s convincing argument that Terence was influenced by Curculio when composing his Phormio.

Particularly evident here is the wealth of interpretative commentary on scenes and individual verses, accompanied by analysis of all aspects of the work. In explaining ancient Greek and Latin terms and verses G.-G. offers perceptive, sensitive comments, such as the suggested religious parallel between the genius (143) uttered by the parasite and the Opportunitas (143) uttered by Phaedromus, or the explanation to the modern reader that the phrase saluum gaudeo te uenire (143) is a heartfelt rather than a formulaic greeting, as safe return from travel was not always guaranteed. There are also theatrical comments, such as the use of props (deriving information from Ketterer) and theatrical observations, such as audience expectations of how the soldier will sound once the parasite has imitated his voice. Geographical locations, religious customs and the cultural environment of ancient societies are thoroughly explained and accompanied by maps giving all the place names that appear in the work. Anyone teaching the play will welcome the reference, for instance, to the taverns that have been excavated in Pompeii, as they bring Plautus’ words (141) to life.

G.-G. has mastered a considerable amount of secondary literature in multiple languages, adding his own original comments and in-depth interpretations, comparing lyrics with passages from wider Latin and Greek literature. The end result is a book that will prove extremely useful not only for students of all levels, directors and actors, but also for scholars, who would do well to use it as a reference work before proceeding to their own analysis. As he has studied and assimilated the very latest bibliography to an enviable degree, providing detailed analysis (one need only look, for example, in his exhaustive analysis of the characters’ names or the lyrical parts of the work), this book is a worthy replacement for earlier commentaries on Curculio.

The value of the book is self-evident to anyone leafing through it. All the same, it is perhaps worth commenting briefly on some minor, moot points that in no way detract from the overall effect. Firstly, it is argued that the alcoholism of the old slave and procuress Leaena may be a mechanism for healing the trauma of her slavery (18). This is not evident from the text as we have it: old drunkards are in general ridiculed in Greco-Roman comedy, as G.-G. himself correctly observes later on (103). They are characters whose penchant for wine is exploited comically by comedy writers, and they are not always slaves, if one considers the drunken women in Aristophanes. For this particular passage from Curculio, G.-G. successfully draws a parallel with the Roman statue of a drunken old woman, which obviously represents a type in comedy — and this is another advantage of the book, the connection between what Plautus writes and what is presented by other arts, thus offering a more comprehensive, pluralistic picture of his world. It is also debatable whether actors were illiterate and could not read Plautus’ script but instead learned their lines by ear (21). Performers were often Greek slaves who may have been teachers of Roman children; Plautus himself was of low social status, but he knew the languages of his time, such as Greek. Moreover, the famous Plautine actor Roscius (in a later period) was literate enough to write a treatise on acting. Lastly, the discussion of Phaedromus’ paraklausithyron could have made use of the contribution by S. A. Frangoulidis in S. J. Harrison & S. Frangoulidis (eds), Generic Interfaces in Latin Literature: Encounters, Interactions and Transformations (2013), 267–81.

Such quibbles could be made about almost any book. The indisputable fact, in my opinion, is that G.-G.’s commentary is an easily accessible, scholarly work that admirably fills the gap in contemporary scholarship on Curculio, and is a welcome addition to the rather small number of commentaries on Roman comedy more generally.