1. Early Italian popular comedy--2. Greek comedy--3. The golden age of drama at Rome--4. Presentation and staging--5. Stage conventions and techniques--6. Theme and treatment--7. Methods of composition--8. Foreshadowing and suspense--9. Characters and characterization--10. Thought and moral tone--11. The comic spirit in character and situation--12. Language and style--13. Meter and song--14. The originality of Roman comedy--15. The influence of Plautus and Terence upon English comedy