Plautus, Curculio 53-54

‘There’s no smoke without fire.’

semper tu scito, flamma fumo est proxima;
fumo comburi nil potest, flamma potest.

Know this always: a flame is very close to smoke. With smoke a thing can’t be burnt; with a flame, it can.

Plautus, The Captives 617

Somewhere between ‘between a rock and a hard place’ and ‘between the devil and the deep blue sea’.

nunc ego inter sacrum saxumque sto, nec quid faciam scio.

Now I am standing between an accursed place and a rock; and I don’t know what to do.

Plautus, The Boastful Soldier 675

et quod in divinis rebus sumptumst, sapienti lucrumst.

And what’s spent on things for the gods is [counted as] profit in the eyes of a wise man.

Plautus, Mostellaria 1181

On his deathbed Beethoven allegedly spoke in Latin the words “Plaudite, amici, finita est comoedia” (described a few years later here). He was alluding to the actors’ exhortation to the audience to applaud, which usually appeared in some form at the end of a Roman comedy. Here’s a line very similar to Beethoven’s:

spectatores, fabula haec est acta, vos plausum date.

Audience, this play has been acted; give us your applause!

Plautus, Menaechmi 72-73

With dry humour Plautus the scene for the rest of the play.

haec urbs Epidamnus est, dum haec agitur fabula:
quando alia agetur, aliud fiet oppidum.

This city is Epidamnus – for as long as we put on this play; when we put on another play it will become another town.

Plautus, The Play With The Asses In, 833

Demaenetus addresses a worthy sentiment to his son Argyrippus.

decet verecundum esse adulescentem.

A young man ought to be respectful.