Editing Plautus (section)

{{Short description|Roman comic playwright (c. 254 – 184 BC)}}
{{About||the Roman noble|Rubellius Plautus|the genus also known as ''Pinguinus''|Great auk}}
{{Infobox writer
| name             = Plautus
| image            = Plautus 18th century engraving (cropped).jpg
| caption          = Imaginary 18th-century portrait 
| birth_date       = {{circa}} 254 BC
| birth_place      = [[Sarsina]], [[Umbria]], [[Roman Republic]]
| death_date       = 184 BC
| death_place      = [[Rome]], Roman Republic 
| nationality      = [[Roman Republic|Roman]]
| period           = [[Roman Republic]] 
| genre            = [[Roman comedy]]
|language=[[Latin]]
| occupation       = playwright
}}

'''Titus Maccius Plautus<ref>It has been suggested that the correct spelling was '''Maccus''', since that is how it is spelled in ''[[Asinaria]]'' line 11. Ritschl's proposal to read ''Maccius'' in that line has generally not been accepted, since it breaks a metrical law, and it was later withdrawn by Ritschl himself: W. Beare (1937), "Titus Maccus Plautus", ''Classical Review'', Volume 53, 4; W. M. Lindsay (1922), ''Early Latin Verse'', p. 90; C. Questa (2007) ''La Metrica di Plauto e Terenzio'', p. 217.</ref>''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|l|ɔː|t|ə|s}} {{respell|PLAW|təs}}; {{circa}} 254 – 184 BC) was a Roman [[playwright]] of the [[Old Latin]] period. His [[comedy|comedies]] are the earliest [[Latin literature|Latin literary works]] to have survived in their entirety. He wrote [[Fabula palliata|Palliata comoedia]], the genre devised by [[Livius Andronicus]], the innovator of Latin literature. The word '''Plautine''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|p|l|ɔː|t|aɪ|n}} ({{respell|PLAW|tyne}}) refers to both Plautus's own works and works similar to or influenced by his.