HumanitiesClassicsLiteratureAncient DramaRoman HistoryTextual CriticismAncient RomeClassical AntiquityRoman ComedyRoman TragedyAncient Dramatic TextsAncient Literary GenresLiterary Merit
The Plautine palliata is conventionally understood to be an adaptation of Hellenistic New Comedy to the very different tastes of a Roman audience. Thanks to a modern tradition of sympathetic Plautine criti cism, a tradition which seems to have begun with Friedrich Leo1 and is especially indebted to Fraenkel's great book on Plautus,2 scholars now have a much higher regard for the literary merit of the Plautine palliata than was once the case.