Editing Plautus (section)

====The lustful old man====
Another important Plautine stock character, discussed by K.C. Ryder, is the ''senex amator''. A senex amator is classified as an old man who contracts a passion for a young girl and who, in varying degrees, attempts to satisfy this passion. In Plautus these men are Demaenetus (''Asinaria''), Philoxenus and Nicobulus (''Bacchides''), Demipho (''Cistellaria''), Lysidamus (''Casina''), Demipho (''Mercator''), and Antipho (''Stichus''). Periplectomenos (''Miles Gloriosus'') and Daemones (''Rudens'') are regarded as ''senes lepidi'' because they usually keep their feelings within a respectable limit. All of these characters have the same goal, to be with a younger woman, but all go about it in different ways, as Plautus could not be too redundant with his characters despite their already obvious similarities. What they have in common is the ridicule with which their attempts are viewed, the imagery that suggests that they are motivated largely by animal passion, the childish behavior, and the reversion to the love-language of their youth.<ref>K.C. Ryder, "The '''Senex Amator''' in Plautus," ''Greece & Rome'' 31.2. (Oct., 1984), pp.181-189.</ref>