Off Limits: A Friend's Advice on Love, Plautus Curculio 35-38

Off Limits: The Ultimate Dating Guide to Ancient Rome

Name:  Plautus Date:  254 – 184 BCE Region:  [modern Italy] Citation:  Curculio 35 - 38

In the play Curculio, Palinurus offers Phaedromus advice on navigating dating in Rome. This offers insight into Roman customs on who was eligible for romance (i.e., single adults) and who was off limits (i.e., married people and children).

 Nobody’s going to stop you from walking down a public street, 

But don’t step on anybody else’s metaphorical lawn.

As long as you stay away from a bride, a widow, a young woman,

A young man, and freeborn children, you can love whomever you’d like.

 

 
Latin Text: 

Nemo ire quemquam publica prohibet via;

dum ne per fundum saeptum facias semitam,

dum te abstineas nupta, vidua, virgine,

iuventute et pueris liberis, ama quid lubet.

Plautus [Titus Maccius Plautus; 254 – 184 BCE, modern Italy] was one of the earliest Roman authors that remain extant. He was born in northern Italy in the 3^rd century, and spent the entirety of his life in and around the stage. Although many of his works are lost, we have nearly two dozen of his comedies still extant. The impact of Plautus is still seen today; his works were the basis for the famous musical A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum.