Editing Plautus (section)

===Vigor and immediacy===
The ''servus callidus'' functions as the exposition in many of Plautus' plays. According to C. Stace, "slaves in Plautus account for almost twice as much monologue as any other character ...  [and] this is a significant statistic; most of the monologues being, as they are, for purposes of humor, moralizing, or exposition of some kind, we can now begin to see the true nature of the slave's importance."<ref>C. Stace. "The Slaves of Plautus", ''Greece and Rome'' 2.15 (1968), pp. 64–77.</ref> Because humor, vulgarity,<ref>MacCary & Willcock (1976), p.12 "the delight in low humour we associate with Plautus"</ref> and "incongruity" are so much a part of the Plautine comedies, the slave becomes the essential tool to connect the audience to the ''joke'' through his monologue and direct connection ''to'' the audience. He is, then, not only a source for exposition and understanding, but connection—specifically, connection to the humor of the play, the playfulness of the play. The ''servus callidus'' is a character that, as McCarthy says, "draws the complete attention of the audience, and, according to C. Stace, 'despite his lies and abuse, claims our complete sympathy'".<ref>Stace 1968, pp. 64–77.</ref> He does this, according to some scholarship, using monologue, the imperative mood and alliteration—all of which are specific and effective linguistic tools in both writing and speaking.

The specific type of monologue (or soliloquy) in which a Plautine slave engages is the ''prologue''. As opposed to simple exposition, according to N. W. Slater, "these ... prologues ... have a far more important function than merely to provide information."<ref>N. W. Slater. ''Plautus in Performance: The Theatre of the Mind''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985, p. 152</ref> Another way in which the ''servus callidus'' asserts his power over the play—specifically the other characters in the play—is through his use of the [[imperative mood]].  This type of language is used, according to E. Segal, for "the forceful inversion, the reduction of the master to an abject position of supplication ... the master-as-suppliant is thus an extremely important feature of the Plautine comic finale".<ref>E. Segal. ''Roman Laughter: The Comedy of Plautus''. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968, p. 122</ref> The imperative mood is therefore used in the complete role-reversal of the normal relationship between slave and master, and "those who enjoy authority and respect in the ordinary Roman world are unseated, ridiculed, while the lowliest members of society mount to their pedestals ... the humble are in fact exalted".<ref>Segal 1968, p. 136</ref>