Truth as a Function of Inequality in Plautus’ Amphitruo

Abstract

The problematic concept of truth lies at the heart of Plautus’ Amphitruo, and it is this, rather than the characters’ social status, that causes the text to oscillate between tragedy and comedy. Using the traditional tools of comedy, the play employs deception to demonstrate, according to Freud’s definition, the inferiority of men to the gods. Conversely, the play appears tragic insofar as it reveals the hollowness of Sosia’s personality (attenuated, therefore, by being in corpore uili; but Amphitruo’s strongest involvement was in a part of the text that has unfortunately been lost). This paper aims to examine the process by which truth is communicated within the socio-familial community and ultimately rejected, not only because of its apparent impossibility, but also due to the exercise of power: the power of the master over the slave (when Sosia is disbelieved by Amphitruo he has a chilling alliteration at line 591: ui uerum uincitur), and the power of men over women. The latter situation is more complex because, before being accused of adultery, Alcmena is mocked by the solidarity of master and slave. The slave acts autonomously and in good faith, but Alcmena misunderstands this, interpreting it as flattery and dependence (mirum quin te aduorsus dicat, line 750).