PLATTE 



1701 



PLAUTUS 



PLATTE, plat, the most important river of 

 Nebraska and one of the largest tributaries of 

 the Missouri. It is formed by the union of two 

 branches the North and the South Platte 

 each of which has its source in the mountains 

 of Northern Colorado. The head of the main 

 stream is in Lincoln County, in Western Ne- 

 braska. From that point the river flows in a 

 general easterly direction across the state, emp- 

 tying into the Missouri at Plattsmouth. The 

 length of the North Platte, the longer of the 

 two branches, is about 650 miles, and of the 

 main stream, over 200 miles. The region 

 drained by the river and its branches is about 

 84,600 square miles, included in which are some 

 of the best irrigated sections of Colorado and 

 .iska. Navigation on the Platte is of no 

 importance because the stream is shallow. 



PLATTSBURG, plats' burg, N. Y., the 

 county seat of Clinton County, situated in the 

 northeastern part of the state, in a region of 

 much historical interest and now popular as a 

 summer resort. The city is situated at the 

 mouth of the Saranac River, on the west shore 

 of Lake Champlain. Albany is 168 miles south- 

 west and Montreal is seventy-four miles north- 

 . Cumberland Bay, an arm of the lake, 

 forms an excellent harbor. There are steamers 

 to Burlington, Vt., and other lake and river 

 ports; railway transportation is provided by the 

 Delaware & Hudson Railroad. The population, 

 which in 1910 was 11,138, was 12,837 (Federal 

 estimate) in 1916. The area of the city is four 

 and one-half square miles. 



Prominent features of Plattsburg are a state 

 normal school, a Federal building, Y. M. C. A. 

 building and Trinity Park. There are several 

 public libraries, hospitals, and homes for aged 

 women and for children. South of the city are 

 Plattsburg Barracks, a finely-equipped United 

 States military reservation, where a national 

 training camp for soldiers has been established. 

 At Cliff Haven, still farther south, is the Catho- 

 lic Summer School of America. The exports 

 of this port were valued at about $32,000,000 in 

 1915, and the imports, about $28,000,000. Coal, 

 lumber, iron ore and agricultural products are 

 the chief articles of trade. The leading indus- 

 trial establishments are pulp and paper mills, 

 machine shops and a foundry, and manufac- 

 tories of brooms, shirts, sewing machines, type- 

 writers and children's clothing. 



A colony from Long Island and Poughkeep- 

 sie, under the leadership of Zephaniah Platt, 

 settled on this site in 1784. The town was in- 

 corporated the following year, and it became 



a city in 1902. In 1776, off Valcour Island in 

 the vicinity, was fought the first naval battle 

 of the War of Independence, and in 1814 Com- 

 modore Macdonough and General Macomb 

 here defeated British sea and land forces. In 

 commemoration of the latter event, the Federal 

 government and the state have created a fine 

 park near the mouth of the Saranac River, on 

 Lake Champlain. In it stands a memorial 

 monument, a granite shaft 120 feet high sur- 

 mounted by a huge bronze eagle. G.S.N. 



PLAUTUS, plaw'tus, TITUS MACCIUS (about 

 254-184 B.C.), the greatest comic poet and 

 dramatist of ancient Rome, was born at Sar- 

 sina, a village of Umbria. Little is known defi- 

 nitely of his early life, except that he probably 

 went to Rome while a youth and there was 

 first employed in some unknown capacity in a 

 theater. Later he left Rome, setting out on a 

 business venture, but soon returned penniless, 

 when he was forced to earn his living by turning 

 a hand mill for a baker. While thus employed 

 he wrote three plays and their sale enabled him 

 to forsake the drudgery of his work and enter 

 upon a literary career. This was in 224 B.C., 

 and for forty years he continued to write plays 

 which delighted not only enthusiastic play- 

 goers but the literary critics as well. 



He is said to have written 130 plays, at least; 

 of these only twenty are now extant, and it is 

 even uncertain that he was the author of all 

 of these. He borrowed heavily from Greek 

 comic drama, but his own distinct contributions 

 to literature were the development of tin- 

 lyrical element, the vigor of his character de- 

 lineation and the emphasis on national (Ro- 

 man) elements in his humor and in the life he 

 portrayed. 



The best known of his plays, and the one 

 which has been most freely imitated, is his 

 Allies Gloriosus, whose hero is the boasting 

 coward who is finally exposed a popular char- 

 acter for comedy of later centuries. Among 

 the other plays generally associated with his 

 name are Amphitruo, Aulularia, Bacchides, 

 Casina, Cistcllaria, Mcnaechmi, Mcrcator, 

 Stichus, Pcrsa and Vidularia. 



Later dramatists, even the greatest of ihem, 

 have found much in the comedies of Plautus 

 to imitate. His Amphitruo, for instance, is a 

 laughable presentation of twin brothers whose 

 resemblance leads to all sorts of ludicrous mis- 

 takes. This play is of special interest to Eng- 

 lish readers because it formed the basis and 

 furnished more than a hint as to the working 

 out of Shakespeare's Comedy oj Errors. 



