91

In each of his comedies, Plautus asserts he is bringing something “new”, i-e something unheard of. Showing first that this difference is not that of the comedy from its Greek model but that of the comedy from the other Roman ones, this article is focused on this particular mode of rewriting which is the update of a theatrical codification, and questions the part of “new” that a ritual theatre, which is defined a contrario by its permanence, can contain. Noticing that in every play, this assertion of novelty comes along systematically, in the same movement, with a statement of conformity to tradition, the article tries finally to understand how the novelty, far from marking a break from the comical codification the public is waiting for, allows on the contrary its traditional functioning.