Editing Plautus (section)

===Roman society deities===
Plautus was sometimes accused of teaching the public indifference and mockery of the gods. Any character in his plays could be compared to a god. Whether to honour a character or to mock him, these references were demeaning to the gods. These references to the gods include a character comparing a mortal woman to a god, or saying he would rather be loved by a woman than by the gods. Pyrgopolynices from ''[[Miles Gloriosus (play)|Miles Gloriosus]]'' (vs. 1265), in bragging about his long life, says he was born one day later than Jupiter. In ''[[Curculio (play)|Curculio]]'', Phaedrome says "I am a god" when he first meets with Planesium. In ''[[Pseudolus]],'' Jupiter is compared to Ballio the [[pimp]]. It is not uncommon, too, for a character to scorn the gods, as seen in ''[[Poenulus]]'' and ''[[Rudens]]''.

Tolliver argues that drama both reflects and foreshadows [[social change]]. It is likely that there was already much [[skepticism]] about the gods in Plautus' era. Plautus did not make up or encourage irreverence to the gods, but reflected ideas of his time. The state controlled stage productions, and Plautus' plays would have been banned, had they been too risqué.<ref>H.M. Tolliver. "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3292617 Plautus and the State Gods of Rome]", ''The Classical Journal'' 48.2(1952), pp. 49-57.</ref>