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Plautus, Titus Maccius, 254 BC-184 BC

"The Captiva and the Mostellaria"

Do call him. (HEGIO _goes to the door, and calls_
PHILOCRATES.)
[Footnote 1: _The only cowards_)--Ver. 267. He alludes to the
notion in the heroic times, that it was the duty of a warrior to conquer
or to die, and that it was disgraceful to be made prisoner.]
[Footnote 2: _Wielding the razor_)--Ver. 271. It is hard to say
whether by the word "cuttros," in this passage, razors or scissors are
meant.]
[Footnote 3: _To put on the barber's cloth_)--Ver. 272. He probably
means by this expression that Philocrates has made no preamble, and
shown no hesitation, in commencing at once to dupe the old man.]
[Footnote 4: _Or trim him_)--Ver. 273. He alludes here to the two
kinds of shaving and trimming the beard used by the barbers among the
ancients. The one was close "strictim," when they shaved to the skin; the
other was, when with a pair of scissors they clipped the hair, with the
interposition of a comb. The former fashion was called by the Greeks
[Greek: _skaphion_]; the latter method, which was borrowed from the
Persians, [Greek: _kaepos_]. "Esse in tonstrina," "to be in the
barber's shop," was a proverbial expression to denote "being imposed
upon." Tyndarus is wondering to what extent Philocrates is going to
impose upon Hegio.]
[Footnote 5: _Through the comb_)--Ver. 273. The Greeks and Romans
made their combs of boxwood, much of which was imported from
Paphlagonia.


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