 The master-slave relationship between Philocrates and Tyndarus is also portrayed with a sensitivity rare in Plautus, who actually congratulates himself on his unaccustomed seriousness in the play’s prologue.Still, Plautus offers enough horseplay, especially by Ergasilus, to keep a Roman audience from souring on his “noble” aspirations.The German poet and philosopher Gotthold Ephraim Lessing famously pronounced "Captivi" to be the finest play ever staged.