Lo schiavo Sagaristione e l'ethos del patrono: un'indagine sugli schemata nel Persa plautino

This paper examines a brief kinesic sequence in a passage from Plautus (Persa 306–311) on which scholars have offered divergent interpretations. In particular, the expressions “subnixis alis me inferam” and “ansatus ambulat” are re-examined in the light of the iconographic tradition relating to Greek comedy, in which the notion of “schema”—understood as a physical, postural or kinesic arrangement through which a character’s personality and emotions are expressed—is of central importance. In particular, the paper puts forward the hypothesis that Plautus here parodies the illustrious “schema” of “sophrosyne”, reducing it to the comic register.