Titus Maccius Plautus
Titus Maccius Plautus, (c. 250-184 BC). Roman comic dramatist. He is said to have written 130 plays, of which 21 survive. These are free translations of lost Greek originals, with complicated plots and witty characterization. The plays were still performed long after Plautus’s death and influenced many later writers. His Menaechmi supplied Shakespeare with the plot of The Comedy o f Errors.