Note to Hamlet, 2.2.400-401: "poem unlimited: Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor / Plautus too light"


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Hamlet,
Act 2, Scene 2, line 400
poem unlimited: i.e., play which does not limit itself to the neo-classical rules which say that a serious drama should be limited to a single time and place.  Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too light: Seneca (4 B.C.E - 65 C.E.) was a famous Roman author of tragedies. Plautus (c. 254 - 184 B.C.E.) was a famous Roman author of comedies.