Il lessico dei veleni in Plauto

Plautus’s poison lexicon is examined through the instances of specific terms (venenum, toxicum, potio, and veneficus) occurring in his comedies. Particular attention is given to the effects of love filters, to the gender dynamics that see female poisoners represented as witches enchanting men, and to the use of ‘poisoner’ as an insult against low-class men. Such disparate usages convey an emphasis on the comical employment of poison as a dramatic device on the part of Plautus, absent in the Greek models.