Sublesta fide. Un amico di ‘dubbia lealtà’ tra Menandro e Plauto

One of the characteristics of the Plautine elaboration of the Greek originals is the important role assigned to fides, in its legal meaning both for the public and private spheres. The purpose of this paper is to give an illustration of it in the Bacchides, where the unusual but expressive expression sublesta fides can be found, which echoes legal concepts. Leaving aside the controversial reconstruction of his text, it is interesting to see how this phrase enables Plautus to translate the legal concepts that are echoed in Menander’s Dis exapaton and which correspond to the legal expressions used by the Greek writers of Roman history.