Free kindle book and epub digitized and proofread by project gutenberg. In athens, pleusicles was crazy for a courtesan named philocomasium. In pot of gold, a roman comedy by plautus, a man by the name of euclio discovers that he has a pot of gold. Only about 40% of plautus text is in the standard spoken rhythm of latin and greek drama, the iambic trimeter or its latin variant the senarius 6footer. The pot of gold by plautus was the basis for molieres miser.
The play is easy to read and the author makes fun of peoples characteristics. Its main character is euclio, a man who has been plunged into a personal crisis by finding a pot of gold. Guided by the household god, euclio has found the gold buried by his grandfather, because the god wants his kind daughter to have a dowry. The master was sent on a journey, a government quest. The business failed, but his plays made him famous. Little is known of the life of titus maccius plautus. Pot of gold 343 less bromia quickly enters, though her subsequent account reveals that a great deal of time is supposed to have elapsed. The pot of gold and other plays by plautus is a collection of plays by the roman dramatist reflecting on the roman society through sarcasm,satire and humour. While pleusicles was away, the soldier came to athens, and made advances to philocomasium. On attaining roman citizenship, plautus took the names titus maccius plautus. The pot of gold is an example of plautuss dramaturgy at its best. This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry and has been proofread to a medium level of accuracy. Plautus plays most of them can be found in english online at the perseus site.
Euclio is not a bad person, but he cannot cope with his fortune. Free ebook the pot of gold and other plays by plautus across multiple fileformats including epub, doc, and pdf. The plays ending does not survive, though there are indications of how the plot is resolved in later summaries and a few fragments of dialogue. Aulularia, an aged athenian named euclio has a pot of gold. The pot of gold, titus maccius plautus book summary. Megadorus sends cooks to euclios house to prepare the wedding banquet. Maccius plautus, curculio, or the forgery, introduction. He considers it an honor to have had his wife adulterated by jupiter. A dynamic table of contents allows you to jump directly to the work selected. Plautuss broad humor, shown in some of the earliest surviving latin plays, reflects roman manners and contemporary life. An epitaph on plautus has the goddess comedy in deep mourning and the stage empty. In the meantime, megadorus asks his daughter in marriage, and his proposal is accepted.
Aulularia is a latin play by the early roman playwright titus maccius plautus. One has to read plautus to understand the evolution of comedy genre. Amphitryon, recog nizing the unmistakable signs of divinity, is thoroughly placated. The play on which he based his aulularia the pot of gold has not survived. Student performance of aulularia at the luther jenkins greek theater, university of richmond, april 1986. In the course of the play, euclio moves the pot of gold several times because he is afraid that the gold.
All plautus plays have prologues by a character of the play which. Plautus pot of gold, the prisoners, the brothers menaechmus, the swaggering soldier and pseudolus by anonymous and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at. Amphitryo, asinaria, aulularia, bacchides, captivi by. Plautus was a popular comedic playwright while roman theatre was still in its infancy and still largely undeveloped. This collection features a varied selection of his finest plays, from the lighthearted comedy pseudolus, in which the lovesick calidorus and his slave try to liberate his lover from her pimp, to the more subversive. For more than seventy years, penguin has been the leading. He supposedly emigrated to rome to start up a shipping business and write plays on the side to earn extra income. One of the supreme comic writers of the roman world, plautus c. Plautus s broad humor, shown in some of the earliest surviving latin plays, reflects roman manners and contemporary life. The pot of gold and other plays by plautus, paperback. Jul 01, 2004 the pot of gold and other plays by plautus is a collection of plays by the roman dramatist reflecting on the roman society through sarcasm,satire and humour. Although the characters bear greek names but they are essentially roman in their mannerism. For the love of heaven,faith, dont be more faithful to him than to me.
The development of constructions as illustrated by plautus. Amphitryon, the comedy of asses, the pot of gold, the two. Jul 01, 2004 one of the supreme comic writers of the roman world, plautus c. The pot of gold raja narendra lal khan womens college, rnlk. Plautus plautus name a roman citizen was entitled to three names. The title literally means the little pot, but some translators provide the pot of gold, and the plot revolves around a literal pot of gold which the miserly protagonist, euclio, guards zealously. The playwright was very good at stagecraft and knew exactly what to include and what to change in the play in order to entertain the public. Digital libraries initiative, phase 2 provided support for entering this text. The pot of gold aulularia it is believed that plautus modified and even added parts he himself created to the original plays distortions and loose ends are commonly found in the plots. The translation for these, done by henry thomas riley, was published in 1912, so its not as archaic as some of the others on the perseus site. Plautus was sometimes accused of teaching the public indifference and mockery of the gods. Throughout, plautus breathes new, brilliant life into classic comic types including deceitful twins, scheming slaves, bitter old men and swaggering soldiers. The pot of gold and other plays by plautus librarything.
Although he possesses a fourpound pot full of gold 809. The pot of gold is a play where the main motives are greed, cheapness and gold. Maccius plautus, aulularia, or the concealed treasure. Italydied 184 bce, great roman comic dramatist, whose works, loosely adapted from greek plays, established a truly roman drama in the latin language life. Molieres 17thcentury lavare the miser is the most famous of the later comedies inspired by the aulularia.
At the same time, the roman republic was expanding in power and influence. Plautus plays were very influential well past his lifetime. Stephanie hanson, latin 401 1 plautus pseudolus background o pseudolus was written for the dedication of a temple in 191 bce for the magna mater after the second punic war barsby 60. No matter if they all combine to pile the torments on, i fancy ive got a back of. His source for rudens the rope was a comedy of uncertain title by diphilos 4th century b. Plautus casina is a lively and well composed farce. Plautuss broad humor, reflecting roman manners and contemporary life, is revealed in these five plays.
Ive trusted my gold to your good faith, laid it away in your grove and shrine. The plays ending does not survive, though there are indications of how the plot is resolved in later summaries and a. Amphitryo, asinaria, aulularia, bacchides, captivi by titus maccius plautus. Euclios frantic attempts to keep his pot of gold safe from thieves and phaedrias. It employs stock characters including a miser, young lovers. Plautus prologvs lar familiaris ne quis miretur qui sim, paucis eloquar.
But it is fairly formal, even hifalutin, for such robust and earthy material as plautus. This is why euclio is looking for a different place to hide his gold. The ancient roman dramatist titus maccius plautus254184 b. Little is known for certain about the life and personality of plautus, who ranks with terence as one of the two great roman comic dramatists. This collection features a varied selection of his finest plays, from the lighthearted comedy pseudolus, in which the lovesick calidorus and his slave try to liberate his lover from her pimp, to the more subversive the prisoners. In plautus, the old miser euclio keeps his treasured pot of gold hidden and the. This collection features a varied selection of his finest plays, from the lighthearted comedy pseudolus, in which the lovesick calidorus and his slave try to liberate his lover from her pimp, to the more. The pot of gold aulularia, the prisoners captivi, the brothers menaechmus menaechmi, the swaggering soldier miles gloriosus, and pseudolus. Faq for information about file content and naming conventions. Amphitryo, asinaria, aulularia, bacchides, captivi by titus. The pot of gold or aulularia by plautus is a romantic roman comedy based on a lost new comedy written by the greek playwright menander. Euclio has discovered a pot of gold in his house which he watches with the greatest anxiety. The editors aim is to establish the play as one of the liveliest of ancient comedies, and in their introduction and. Plautus s broad humor, reflecting roman manners and contemporary life, is revealed in these five plays.
See also the what is the directory structure for the texts. Institute of lifelong learning, university of delhi the pot of gold. Titus maccius plautus was born in umbria before 250 bce. Unlike other genres of literature, plautus comedies were the most popular comedies hundreds of years after his death and were constantly being performed in new iterations. Meanwhile, lyconides has understood that he cannot delay any longer.
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