Dialoghi delle cortigiane in Plauto e Terenzio

In Plautus’ and Terence’s comedies there are many dialogues between courtesans, in which we often read a contrast between bona and mala meretrix. A linguistic and stylistic study of the passages of Asinaria, Mostellaria, Cistellaria and Hecyra highlights the peculiarities of Plautin and Terentian style, also in comparison with Menander’s and Apollodorus’ fragments. At the end, an excursus on Lucian’ Dialogues of courtesans and on the surviving of the thema in the theatre of English Renaissance.