The Pot of Gold: Plautus

Lesson: The Pot of Gold: Plautus

Paper: European Classical Literature
Lesson Developer: Nidhi Verma
College/ Department: Maitreyi College,
University of Delhi

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 The Pot of Gold: Plautus
The Pot of Gold

Aulalaria

Titus Maccius Plautus

Undated Bust of Plautus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plautus

Titus Maccius Plautus (circa 254-184BC): Life and Works

Not much is known about the life of Plautus. Titus Maccius Plautus was born around 254
BC in Sarsina, Umbria, in present day Italy. As a young boy he left his village and joined
a travelling theatre group. It is believed that he later reached Rome, where he began to
work as a stage assistant and actor. He is even said to have worked as a carpenter on
the sets, according to William Harris, in his article on Roman Comedy.

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 The Pot of Gold: Plautus

Plautus’ Name

A Roman citizen was entitled to three

names. On attaining Roman
citizenship, Plautus took the names
Titus Maccius Plautus. Plautus means
“splay-foot” or flat footed. The word is
derived from “planis pedibus”—which
means flat-footed.

Picture of Plautus

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Plautus#/media/File:Plautus.gif

Plautus was exposed to Greek theatre and Greek New Comedy, especially the comedy of
Menander, when he joined the Roman army as a soldier and travelled across Southern
Italy. (At some point early in his career, it is known that he gave up acting to become a
Roman soldier). He returned to become a trader, but was not successful. He lost all his
merchandise at sea and, at the age of forty-five, is said to have been reduced to such
poverty that he was forced to become a miller—who would go from home to home
offering to grind corn for his customers using a hand-mill. While he was a hand-miller
Plautus began to write comedies in the style of Menander.

Menander (342 BC-290 BC) was a famous and prolific Greek comic dramatist. He is said
to have written more than a hundred comedies, of which only one—Dyskolos—is
available to us. He was a student of Theophrastus at the Lyceum.

Plautus’ earliest plays, Addictus and Saturio, were written while he was still a hand-
miller, travelling from door to door. His comedies became a success and he soon became
a full-time dramatist. Plautus chose to rework Menander’s plays instead of just
translating them. He introduced local Roman colour in the plays. Though he borrowed
the plot and characters from the original play, he would add his own brand of slapstick
comedy and raucous humour to the play. Plautus also introduced music, song and dance
in his plays. Today, this aspect of his plays is lost to us as very little of Roman comedy
has remained for the modern world to study. He is said to have written more than 130
plays, but we have access to only 21 of them in the present age. They are written in
Latin and are possibly the earliest works of Roman literature we have access to. Some of
his most famous works are The Pot of Gold, The Menaechmi, Stichus, Amphitryon and

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The Swaggering Soldier. However, researchers face a problem when analysing his work
since several of his manuscripts are incomplete.

Plautus’ Epitaph

Postquam est mortem aptus Plautus, Comoedia

Luget. Scena est deserta; dein Risus Ludus

Jocusque et Numeri innumeri simul omnes collacrimarunt.

Since Plautus is dead, comedy mourns,

Deserted is the stage, then Laughter, Jest and Wit

And Melody’s countless numbers all together wept.

Attributed to Plautus himself, his epitaph suggests how he saw himself as different from
other playwrights of his time, who lay stress on morality, and missed the laughter which
the audience enjoyed so much.

Plautus is counted among the two greatest dramatists of the Roman comedy—“Fabula
Palliata”, the other of course being Terence.

Publius Terentius Afer (195 BC-159 BC)

Terence was a slave of the Roman senator Ternetius Lucanus, who was so impressed by
his talent that he not only encouraged him to write, but gave him his freedom as well.
He wrote six plays in his short career—from 166 BC to 160 BC. These were Andria (The
Andrian Girl) in 166 BC; Hecyra (The Mother-in-Law), Heauton Timoroumenos (The Self-
Tormentor, Eunuchus (The Eunuch), Phormio and Adelphi (or Adelphoe; The Brothers).
Terence, like Plautus, adapted plays from the Greek New Comedy, but unlike him used a
more refined Latin in his works. His language is considered the norm of pure Latin. Even
though he died at the young age of 35, his work has had a huge impact on European
drama.

Menander was a huge influence on Plautus, and Aulularia is thought to be inspired from
one of Menander’s lost comedies. Plautus’ comedy is mostly situational, with a lot of
complications in the action, which may arise from mistaken identity, deliberate
concealing of information or the villainy of a wily character. It relies equally on surprises
and the predictability of familiar characters and situations. The satire is genial in tone,
and whatever the outcome, the characters learn something from the action of the play.
Plautine comedy gives us an insight into Roman local life, because even though he is
influenced by the Greek New Comedy, he places his own characters in his contemporary

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society and makes them speak Latin. Unlike Terence, who wrote his plays in Greek and
set them in Athens, Plautus changed the settings of his plays to several places across
Italy.

The Origin of Greek Comedy

Greek Comedy first developed with Susarion, said to be the earliest comic poet. Susarion
belonged to Megaris. Greek Comedy was also influenced by the Phallic processions
common in Greek society. The coarse humour at these festivals—where actors played
out bawdy plays—was the origin of comedy. These village festivals were held in honour
of Greek god of fertility, Dionysus. A band of young men would take out a procession
while dancing and singing. They jested and indulged in comic banter, invariably
parodying myths, legends and heroes. Such a procession was called a comus, the song
was a comoedia, or a comedy. By Aristotle’s time comedy had been established as a
branch of drama. Like tragedy, it did have a chorus and the actors wore masks. Plato
saw comedy as anything that excites laughter in the audience. These plays were then
regulated by the state, and comedy became an important source of our insights into
Greek society.

The Athenian drama was not spread across the whole year, but restricted to two
seasons—the two festivals of Dionysus—the Lenaea and the City Dionysia. Plays, both
comedies and tragedies, were performed from morning to evening, with no breaks.
Thus, every performance was a contest. All the plays were competing for prizes offered
by the state. A jury would take the final decision.

Greek Comedy has been broadly divided into three phases—Old Comedy, Middle Comedy
and New Comedy.

Greek Old Comedy

The Old Comedy began around 450 BC, from the bawdy revelry of the Dionysian festival.
The comic genre allowed the actors to be audacious in their criticism. The writers and
players had the licence to abuse or criticise any person or institution they wished. Since
there were no restrictions imposed by the authorities, the playwrights picked subjects
which the common people disliked and then proceeded to shower the most violent abuse
on them, which the audiences enjoyed thoroughly. Comic drama drew some elements
from tragedy—the masked players, the chorus, the scenery and the stage mechanism
were quite similar. The earliest and most famous playwright of the Old Comedy was
Aristophanes (446-386 BC). Aristophanes cloaks his bitter satire in humour and employs
buffoonery to expose the hypocrisy of his characters. The commonest targets of his
attacks were politicians, philosophers and writers. For instance, in The Clouds, Socrates

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is the target of his satire, while in The Frogs he ridicules Euripides. Brander Mathews
calls his caricatures of individuals the Greek equivalent of a collection of caricature-
cartoons from a modern comic newspaper. Aristophanes influenced several European
writers such as Cervantes, Jonathan Swift and Voltaire.

The Middle Comedy

The Middle Comedy can be said to have existed between the 5th century BC and the 4th
century BC. Though there is no clear transition between the Old and Middle Comedy,
there are three important features that differentiate the two. Middle Comedy did not
have a chorus. Secondly, no public characters were represented on the stage, which had
been common for Old Comedy. The last difference was in the theme. Instead of
targeting individuals, the focus of ridicule was general human shortcomings or a general
social class. In the words of Alfred Bates, “The one was caricature and lampoon, the
other was criticism and review” (Bates 29). The period of the Middle Comedy was very
prolific, even though it did not produce any geniuses. The tragic playwrights, Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and even Homer’s work was parodied to generate laughter in the audience.
After Aristophanes, the middle comedy abandoned the chorus and developed the
dramatic elements of the play such as the plot and the characters.

The Middle Comedy lasted till the middle of the 4th century BC, when Philip of
Macedon invaded Athens. The New Comedy, which followed the Middle Comedy, lasted
through the reign of the Macedonians—from the 4th century BC to 260 BC.

The New Comedy

The Greek New Comedy was a satiric comedy which was prevalent in Athens from
around 320 BC to 3 BC. The New Comedy took common people with familiar vices like
miserliness, jealousy, pride and such like as the target of its satire. In contrast to the
Old Comedy, which had for its subject public figures and events, the New Comedy took
common people and their everyday life as a theme. With the change of the subject from
the lofty to the mundane, the role of the chorus also changed. Instead of occupying a
place of importance in the play, they were reduced to being a band of musicians and
singers who would supply intermittent entertainment. The New Comedy relied on stock
characters like the cruel father, the jealous husband, the cunning slave, the trickster
merchant and the boastful soldier. The characters of a love story would find cruel
relatives in their way. Typically though, when one of the lovers would be revealed to be
of high birth, the lovers would be united. Mistaken identity and siblings separated at
birth were also common themes.

While the lyrical-burlesque plays of Aristophanes represent the Old Comedy, the New
Comedy’s most celebrated playwright was Menander. Menander’s plays are not extant,

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yet we have many fragments available, along with the Latin adaptations of Plautus and
Terence. In fact, the New Comedy, especially Menander’s work, has been preserved
more through its Roman adaptations by Plautus and Terence than through the original
texts. From these adaptations, one can gather his style. Menander’s comedies anticipate
the modern Comedy of Manners. The plot is wittily constructed, using characters the
audiences would immediately identify with. The New Comedy was a reflection of
Athenian society—with characters like the conceited cook, the mercenary soldier, the
cunning servant and the miserly father. Menander did away with the chorus, but used
masks which gave the audience a clue about the nature of the character. There were ten
distinct masks for young men, nine for old men and seven for slaves (Mathews 101).
Since the open theatre was huge, the masks helped the audience to recognise the
character and identify his motives. Love became a concern in these plays. Interestingly,
though New Comedy holds up a mirror to society, it does not make any attempts to
improve it or suggest any changes.

Even though no visual proof of the costumes of the Greek Comedy remains, one
can surmise the costumes worn by the players. The actors wore a thin buskin and masks
which were lighter than those of their tragic counterparts. The chorus wore costumes
too, which were connected to the theme of the play. For instance, in Aristophanes’ The
Wasps, the chorus have huge stings on their masks. The Greek New Comedy was
enacted with masks and readily identifiable costumes, which was a feature that Plautus
and Terence continued in their plays. The braggart soldier is a typical New Comedy
character which both Roman playwrights adapted—complete with mask, tunic, shield and
sword.

Roman Theatre in Orange, France

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_theatre

The design of the stage also influenced the Roman comedy. The Proscenium, or wooden
stage, was 5 feet high, and had an altar. The orchestra sat between the stage and the

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front row. The actor’s changing rooms were to the rear of the stage. The open stage had
no fixed backdrop. The stage would usually represent a street in Athens and the action
was fast-paced since no frequent change in backdrop was required. The wall behind the
stage had three doors which facilitated the entry and exit of the players.

A Roman theatre in present day Bosra, Syria

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_ancient_Rome

Menander was the most famous playwright of the Greek New Comedy. He wrote more
than a hundred plays, and won several prizes in the Lenaia festival. He wrote around
320 BC and though most of his plays are lost, his works are known through their
influence on the Romans, Plautus and Terence. These playwrights not only translated,
but adapted Menander’s plays to suit their audiences. Some of his most well-known
plays are The Grouch or Dyscolus, The Arbitration or Epitrepontes and The Girl from
Samos or Samia. His work remains only in fragments, and Dyscolus is the only play that
survives in its entirety. Menander modelled his plays on Euripides and attempted to
present a realistic view of life and emotions of the common people. Many Roman
playwrights imitated Menander, chief among them Terence, who was called ‘dimidiatus
Menander’ by Caesar. Terence’s Eunuchus, Timorumenos, Andria and Adelphi are all said
to have been based on Menander’s work. Plautus’ The Bacchides and Stichus are based
on Menander’s The Double-Deceiver and Brotherly-Loving Men.

Euripides (485 BC-406 BC), was one of the greatest tragic dramatists of ancient
Greece. Medea and The Bacchae are among his most famous works. Only 19 of the 90
plays he is believed to have written have survived. He follows the tragic playwrights
Aeschylus and Sophocles. Euripides won four times at the Dionysian festivals. His plays
explore new facets of the characters he portrays, and several of his heroes show fallible
aspects which had not been examined by other dramatists. His female characters are
also remarkably strong, especially Medea and Hecuba.

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Roman Comedy

The Roman Comedy was influenced by Greek comic theatre when the Romans conquered
Greece. This led to several Latin adaptations of Greek comedy. The Roman playwrights
rewrote and adapted the plays into Latin, keeping the scene of the action in Athens, but
introducing Roman characters and topical situations. The Roman plays were performed
for the general public thrice a year. They were also performed at times of celebration, as
when a high official took up a new charge. The actors were often slaves, who could hope
for freedom if they impressed an important official with their performance. The Roman
theatres too were modelled on the Greek theatres, but unlike the Athenian theatre, its
audience was not representative of all classes. The Roman audience largely comprised of
men from the lower classes. To cater to this audience, the comedy was coarse and
vulgar. Any sensitive portrayal of ideas and characters would have been lost on them.
The Roman dramatist also had to make sure that he could hold his audience’s attention,
since they would leave the moment they were distracted by anything more interesting—
even if it were a brawl in a nearby street. It is said that Terence’s performances were
famously disrupted once when the audience heard of a tightrope walker performing
nearby. Another time the audience of his play Hecyra abandoned the play to see some
gladiators.
Given the composition of the audience, which was no better than a mob, the
Roman dramatists gave a prologue at the beginning of the plays which explained the
opening of the story and gave hints about how the plot would unfold. All Plautus’ plays
have prologues by a character of the play which introduces the audience to the
complications of the plot.

Umberto Eco’s take on Roman Comedy

Aristotle’s Poetics is the earliest treatise on dramatic theory. The book on tragedy is
available to us, but the second book, in which Aristotle did suggest an outline of a theory
of the genre of comedy, is lost to us.

In his first novel, The Name of the Rose (1980), a historical murder mystery, Umberto
Eco (1932-2016) finds the solution to the murder in the contents of Aristotle’s book on
Comedy. In the novel, the only manuscript of Aristotle’s treatise on comedy is destroyed
in a fire that ruins the monastery library which has important books of classical learning.
Although no copy of this work survives, Eco describes Aristotle’s second book of Poetics
so well that it is difficult to guess how much of the details are fact and how much Eco’s
clever surmises about the book.

The stage was a plain platform, with a wall as a background. The wall may have doors
which could represent the houses of some characters. The Roman actors’ speeches were
accompanied by a flautist sometimes. This gave the impression of a recitation. Some of

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the dialogues were even set to music, like songs. Sometimes a singer came on the stage
to sing a song, while the comedian merely mimed the scene. The Roman dramatists tried
to sustain the interest of their audience at all times. They introduced local colour into the
play and tried to make it as topical as possible. Plautus used Athens as the scene of his
plays but he picked characters, dialogues and situations which the audience would
identify with and enjoy. Even though he drew his plots from Menander, his sketches of
the common Roman people found great popularity. Plautus was practical in his outlook,
and made sure his plays were bawdy and vulgar enough to appeal to his audience’s
tastes.

The Pot of Gold

Introduction

Like all of Plautus’ plays, The Pot of Gold too is set in Athens. Yet, the themes and issues
he highlights are Roman. His comedies are a reflection of the society of his time. The
characters he describes help the modern researcher to build an idea of the manner in
which society functioned in Plautus’ time. The Pot of Gold gives us an insight into Roman
life at that time—especially the position of the women and slaves.

Women did not enjoy much freedom in Roman times. Their position can be gauged from
Cicero’s statement, “Our ancestors, in their wisdom, considered that all women, because
of their innate weakness, should be under the control of guardians”
(www.theatrehistory.com). So, after the father, it was the husband’s duty to be the
woman’s guardian. In the absence of either, the state recommended a male relative who
would be appointed as guardian. Girls were given the same education as boys, but only
girls from rich families continued their education beyond primary education.

Marriages were arranged, and girls were given dowries. According to Roman custom, the
marriages of girls were arranged at a young age, and the wedding took place when she
became an adult. Interestingly, marriage gave the Roman woman immense freedom. A
Roman wife would be her husband’s companion at all social ceremonies. She would be
seated next to him at banquets and shared control over children, slaves and the
household. Often it was she who supervised the slaves.

Slave labour was common in Roman society. Slaves were either captured from the losing
side of a war or bought from provinces like Turkey. Much of the Roman economy
depended on the exploitation of slaves. The public works were managed by the slaves.
Educated slaves helped in the administration and private industries. Slaves helped in the
household chores. Slaves could also be gladiators, and most actors of the Roman stage
were slaves. They were considered a sign of prosperity for the owner, and even people
with modest means owned slaves. Some households even entrusted the running of the

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entire house on a free slave, or procurator. Slaves could buy their freedom. Some slaves
took up small-time jobs like selling wares or offering services for a fee. This would allow
them to have money of their own, with which they could eventually buy their freedom.

The play The Pot of Gold was titled Aulularia in the original Latin. The setting is a typical
street in Athens, in front of the houses of Euclio and Megadorus. Euclio is an old miser,
who has come in possession of a pot of gold, and guards it fiercely. The entire plot of the
play revolves around Euclio’s attempts at hiding the gold from others, until it is stolen
from him. This makes him learn a lesson, and in the end, he gives it away happily to his
daughter and son-in-law.

While Euclio is preoccupied with hiding his treasure, his daughter Phaedria has been
seduced by Lyconides, a youth who wishes to marry her as she is expecting their child.
Oblivious to this, Euclio has accepted his neighbour Megadorus’ proposal of marriage for
his daughter. Megadorus happens to be Lyconides’ uncle. Lyconides confesses his love
for Phaedria to her father, and while he does so, his slave steals the pot of gold. The
manuscript of the play which survives contains the action only upto this point. Most
editors who have completed the text, including E.F.Watling, have done so from
summaries that have survived or bits of dialogues which are available to them. From the
summaries available to researchers, they have been able to fathom that the ending of
the play is happy, with Lyconides and Phaedria marrying each other, and miserly Euclio
uncharacteristically deciding to give them the pot of gold as a wedding gift.

The Significance of the Title

Megadorus’ speech against dowry can be seen as Plautus’ comment on Roman practices.
It gives an insight into the low position women held in the social ladder. Yet, The Pot of
Gold is first and foremost a satire on miserliness. Euclio’s desperate desire to protect his
pot of gold makes him restless and suspicious of everyone around him. There is comic
irony in the incident where Euclio himself facilitates the slave’s access to the treasure.
Euclio maintains a farce of poverty, even though he has become rich on finding the gold.
He even attends a meeting to seek donations and projects himself as a needy old man.
Euclio’s assent to Megadorus’ proposal for Phaedria stems from his happiness at not
having to provide a dowry for her. Plautus stresses his contempt of Euclio’s miserliness
by giving the steward Strobilus scenes where he narrates stories about Euclio’s
stinginess. For instance, he suggests that if someone stole a grain of salt from Euclio, he
would see it as a serious burglary.

The moral that the play presents is that miserliness is a great vice. The love for riches is
a source of anxiety. Euclio learns this lesson at the end of the play and is shown to
willingly give it away to Lyconides.

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The Plot Construction

The two main strands of the plot are Euclio’s desperate antics to keep his pot of gold
hidden from prospective thieves and Phaedria’s affair with Lyconides. Megadorus’
interest in Phaedria complicates both plot lines. Euclio suspects Megadorus’ sudden
interest in Phaedria as an attempt to rob him of his treasure. On the other hand, his
marriage proposal interferes with Lyconides’ desire to marry Phaedria. Both these plot
lines are interwoven to present situations which cause tremendous laughter. Puns, jokes,
ribaldry and good comic timing keeps the audience riveted to the action. Plautus also
relied heavily on music and songs, which are unfortunately lost to the modern-day
audience, which add variety to the visual experience.

The Greek New Comedy was a major influence on Plautus’ plays. Plautus borrows several
elements of this dramatic tradition. Thought to be inspired by Menander’s play Dyskolos,
The Pot of Gold has a well constructed plot. Even though the conclusion of the play is
missing, translators have been able to reconstruct the ending with hints in the prologue
and contemporary summaries available. The ‘Acrostic Argument’ which prefaced some
versions of the play, along with a supplement written at the end of other versions helped
translators to assume an ending in which Euclio gives away the gold as a dowry for his
daughter.

The play has a very compact structure. There are no digressions to distract the audience
from the main storyline. Even the minor characters, such as the steward and the cooks,
throw more light on Euclio’s character apart from contributing to the comic element of
the play. As with all Roman plays, Plautus maintains the Unities of Time, Place and
Action in the play. The action of the play revolves around the theme of avarice and
miserliness. The entire play takes place within a short span of a few hours in a local
street of Athens.

Stock Characters
Comic drama has always used stock characters. A stock character is a character which is
a common social stereotype. They are most commonly used to add to the comic
elements of the play. However, some playwrights have used stock characters to serve
other purposes too, such as to further the action of the play or act as foils to other
characters. Stock characters have typical names or qualities which represent a type, and
this makes it simple for the audience to recognise the character and place it in a certain
context. In Roman comedy, the miser, the intelligent servant and the braggart soldier
are common stock characters. Elizabethan comedy’s most common stock character is the
Fool—Feste, Touchstone and Bottom from Shakespeare’s plays being some examples.
Yet, like Plautus, Shakespeare also developed his stock characters into more than a flat

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character. He gave them sympathetic aspects which made them more complex and
interesting.

One of the major theatrical devices that Plautus relies on to generate the comedy on
stage is the presence of stock characters. Euclio as the old miser is a typical stock
character he uses as a protagonist. Plautus presents him in a genial light. Even though
he acts greedily, Plautus redeems him in the end when he learns a lesson and appears to
be just a good-hearted person who had been misguided by his greed. His first reaction to
Megadorus’ marriage proposal for his daughter is a suspicion that he may be after his
gold. Yet, being the miser he is, he gladly agrees when Megadorus not only does not
demand any dowry, but even offers to pay for the entire wedding.

A Relief in white marble that shows Menander seated with masks of New Comedy. These
masks are said to be Youth, False Maiden and Old Man. Dated 1 BC-early 1 AD

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Relief_with_Menander_and_New_Comedy_Mas
ks_-_Princeton_Art_Museum.jpg

The old yet lusty bachelor is another stock character that Plautus uses. His Megadorus
generates much laughter as the lusty old man thinking of marrying the young and
beautiful Phaedria. A major part of the play’s humour comes from the lavish and
elaborate preparations for his wedding. Plautus manages to draw an interesting parallel
between Euclio’s lust for his gold and Megadorus’ lust for Phaedria. At the end of the
play, like Euclio, Megadorus too is shown to be kind-hearted when he allows Lyconides
and Phaedria to be married.

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An image of a mosaic with the Comedy Mask of the stock character of the Old Slave in
Rome, dated 2 AD

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:01XX_Comedy_Mask_Old_Slave_Altes_Museu
m_anagoria.JPG

The third typical stock character Plautus uses in the play is the intelligent servant.
Staphyla is Euclio’s maid, yet is shown to be far more compassionate and sensible than
he is. Through the action of the play, she shows her concern for Euclio’s increasingly
strange behaviour, and for Phaedria’s pregnancy. Lyconides’ slave too is a clever
character, who is able to steal Euclio’s gold despite all his precautions.

The slave is a comic figure. He is a stock character—the intelligent servant who gets the
better of his masters. His soliloquy on stage—as he waits for Lyconides—reveals to the
audience what he thinks of himself. He enumerates the ways in which he has made
himself useful to his master. Lyconides is the youth Phaedria wants to marry, as she is
expecting his child.

Along with the other minor characters, like the steward and the cooks, the slave’s
speeches provide the audience with a lot of amusement. Lyconides’ slave plays a
significant role in the development of the plot. He overhears Euclio speaking aloud about
the location of his treasure and steals it, leading to Euclio’s total breakdown.

This incident is instrumental in Lyconides winning Euclio’s favour, when he manages to

retrieve Euclio’s gold and return it to him through Megadorus. This makes Euclio readily
accept him as Phaedria’s suitor.

C. Stace opines that the slave’s character is the key to understanding Plautine
originality. Plautus was known to have adapted Greek plays, yet it is in the characters
that he shows his originality when he brings in nuances which were not present in the
original. Stace speaks of the different kinds of slaves that Plautus employs s characters
in the play. There are eight instances of the “servus callidus”, or the “intriguing slave” in

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his plays. Strobilus however, falls in the category of the ‘faithful slave’, who helps his
master.

The Women Characters

A study of Plautine plays shows that in all the plays available to us, there are 154 male
characters, but only 54 female characters. In fact three of his plays don’t have any
female characters—Captivi, Pseudolus and Trinummus. Of course, the major reason for
this is the non-availability of female actors. The female roles were performed by men,
and it was easier to give the women minor non-speaking parts. The Greeks did not have
major roles for women in their plays, and since Plautus’ plays were fashioned from them,
he too chose to follow the same convention. Further, it can be argued that the bias
Plautus shows against women is one that is a reflection of his society. In Athenian and
Roman society, women were not expected to be seen in public. Their work was to take
care of their household and stay within the confines of their homes. Thus, the plays do
not have many women characters on the stage, and those that do come onstage belong
to the lower classes.

Ann Raia argues that Plautus’ female characters fall into five stereotypical categories—
the puella, the matrona, the meretrix, the ancilla and the anus. The puella is the young
maiden, who the young hero may want to seduce. The matrona is the married woman,
the meretrix the courtesan, the ancilla the handmaid and the anus the old woman. In
The Pot of Gold, the three women characters all fit into a category. Staphyla is an anus,
or old woman, the sister is the matrona, and Phaedria is the puella.

Staphyla

Despite Euclio’s poor treatment of her, Staphyla is a faithful servant to him and
Phaedria. She is a uni-dimensional character, whose only role is that of an elderly slave.
She plays an important role in the story development since she informs the audience of
Phaedria’s pregnant condition. Her exchanges with Euclio provide comedy and also affirm
Lar Familiaris’ description of Euclio’s nature. Her speeches throw light on Euclio’s
character as a miserly wretch. Her speech puts Euclio in place, when she says that the
house is so dirty that Dame Fortune would never set foot in it. She is an old woman, and
even though she has served as Euclio’s housekeeper for a long time, he does not trust
her and treats her unkindly. Her presence in the play may not contribute to the action,
yet her character serves to highlight the theme of the play—the futility of greed.
Staphyla is sympathetic to Phaedria’s condition and wants to protect her from social
ostracism.

Eunomia

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 The Pot of Gold: Plautus
Eunomia is a matrona, and her conversation with Megadorus presents a very
stereotypical picture of women. For instance she says women often talk too much. She
appears twice on stage in the course of the play. As Megadorus’ sister, she shows her
concern that he is not married yet, and suggests a middle-aged woman for him. It is to
Eunomia that Megadorus reveals that he wishes to marry Phaedria. In her second
appearance Eunomia tries to dissuade her brother from his decision as she wants her
son to marry Phaedria. As with all of Plautus’ matronas, Eunomia too is an
unsympathetic figure. However, since her role as mother and sister is the one
highlighted in the play, she does not appear shrewish and cunning like most matronas.

Phaedria

Phaedria is a puella—she is the object of the young hero’s affection, and it her marriage
which will signal the happy ending of the play. All the actors in Plautus’ time were men,
and so, interestingly, Phaedria never makes an appearance on stage, even though we
hear her screams during her labour. She is mentioned by the other characters. Lar
Familiaris speaks of her devotion to him. He also apprises the audience of her seduction
by Lyconides. Phaedria’s future has been decided by her father in her absence. First he
decided to marry her to Megadorus, and later, at Megadorus’ behest, and at the return
of his gold, to Lyconides. Since she cannot make any contribution to the action of the
play, she doesn’t appear on the stage at all. She is completely under her father’s control.
Her name does appear in the list of characters, so it is possible that she may have
appeared at the end of the play.

The Role of Lar Familiaris

Lar Familiaris is the household god of Euclio’s house. While the miserly Euclio does not
worship Lar Familiaris, his daughter Phaedria performs the necessary ceremonies to
appease the resident spirit of the house. He is the first character to come onto the stage.
Since he is a God, he is not visible to the characters of the play. Lar Familiaris presents
the Prologue of the play, which sets the stage for the action that follows. It is by Lar
Familiaris that the audience is informed that Euclio’s grandfather, being a great miser,
had buried a pot of gold in the central hall of his house. This wealth had remained
undiscovered until Lar Familiaris, in his pity for Euclio’s impoverished condition, and his
appreciation of Phaedria’s devotion, guided Euclio to the treasure. As the household
deity, Lar Familiaris seems to influence the action. As he announces in his Prologue, he
influences Megadorus to wish to marry Phaedria. Megadorus has not married earlier, so
his sudden interest in marrying Phaedria has a simple explanation here. Lar Familiaris
also tells the audience in the Prologue that Phaedria has been seduced by Lyconides,
Megadorus’ nephew, and she is now expecting their child.

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 The Pot of Gold: Plautus
Sources of Comedy

The comedy in the play arises mainly from the dramatic irony of the action. Despite
Euclio’s obsessive attempts to protect his pot of gold, it is stolen from him. Funnily, it is
his own fault that the slave gets his hands on Euclio’s treasure. Comical situations also
arise from the dialogue. Witty descriptions of characters and recalling past incidents by
Strobilus, Euclio and other characters add to the humour. Euclio’s description of Staphyla
in an early scene is demeaning no doubt, but raises much laughter in the audience. The
main source of humour remains Euclio who, in his frantic attempts at preserving his gold
and his suspicion of the others, is hilarious. The play is replete with instances of comic
irony, when there is a gap between the dialogues and the intent of the character, and
the subsequent action. For instance, the exchange between Euclio and Lyconides is a
classic example of Plautus’ wonderful dramatic irony. Lyconides meets Euclio, who
laments the loss of his gold. Lyconides misinterprets it, and assumes that Euclio is
talking about Phaedria. He then admits that he is the cause of Euclio’s unhappiness,
which leads to Euclio suspecting him to be the thief.

Soliloquies

A soliloquy is a very useful dramatic device. It is a speech by a character onstage when

no other characters are present. So, the character is speaking to himself, or that he
speaks his thoughts out aloud to the audience. Thus, the main aim of the soliloquy is to
convey a character’s intentions to the audience. Drama does not have the benefit of a
narrative. While in a novel or a short story the narrative voice gives the reader an insight
into a character’s thoughts and motives, the actors of a play need to rely on the
soliloquy to achieve the same effect. The soliloquy is thus used to explain a character’s
motives and actions. It can also be the means to apprise the audience of past or future
events in the play. No doubt the most popular soliloquy in drama is Hamlet’s in William
Shakespeare’s tragedy of the same name:

To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep

Hamlet’s famous soliloquy gives the audience an insight into Hamlet’s thoughts after he
learns that his father has been murdered. This soliloquy explains much of Hamlet’s
actions in the play. He is afraid to die, but he does not feel that his life is worth living
either.

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 The Pot of Gold: Plautus
The Pot of Gold has several soliloquies. At the beginning of the play, Euclio’s
soliloquy informs the audience of his intention to pretend to be poor in order to get a
donation. This gives the audience an insight into Euclio’s true nature. The slave too,
makes a long soliloquy when he enters. His soliloquy not just acquaints the audience
with his nature, but also anticipates some twists and turns in the action of the play.
Megadorus’ speech about dowry can also be classified as a soliloquy. Of course, in this
case, the soliloquy has a listener on the stage. Unknown to Megadorus, Euclio overhears
his views on dowry and decides that it would suit him to marry his daughter to
Megadorus. In this way, the soliloquy helps move the action of the play forward.

The Ending

In a surprise ending, Euclio gives away the pot of gold to Lyconides as a dowry for his
daughter. When Megadorus returns Euclio’s pot of gold, he suggests Lyconides’ marriage
to Phaedria, to which Euclio readily agrees. Euclio announces that he would be happy if
the money went to someone whom it could help. He realises that possessing the pot of
gold has brought him nothing but misery. He did not have a moment of peace while he
had the gold. He hopes he will be able to sleep restfully now that he has given it away.
Though this ending is not plausible at first, since it is not consistent with Euclio’s
character, we have to accept it from the various surmises made by researchers.

Adaptations of Plautus’ Plays

Earliest records of the English theatre suggest that Plautus’ Miles Gloriousus, or The
Swaggering Soldier was staged at Oxford University around 1522. The theatre journal of
Queens College has an entry of a “comoedia Plauti” in 1522. The play was also enacted
in 1564 by the Westminster school. Cardinal Wolsey is said to have hosted a
performance of The Brothers Menaechmi at his house by the students of St. Paul’s
School in 1527.

In Europe, the Renaissance saw several adaptations of Aulularia. Giovanni Battista Gelli
published The Basket, La Sporta, in Florence in 1543. In 1555, a Croatian play The
Miser, by Marin Drzic, had the same plot. Ben Jonson’s The Case is Altered (1597), was
also based loosely on The Pot of Gold. In Denmark a play Karrig Nidding, or The Stingy
Miser, by Hieronymus Justesen Ranch also picked up the storyline of Plautus’ original. In
the 16th century, Warenar, a Dutch play, and Aulularia, a German adaptation, were
made. Yet, by far, the most popular adaptation of Plautus’ Aulularia has been Moliere’s
(1624-1673) French play, L’Avare which was performed in 1668. Even the English Poet
Laureate, Thomas Shadwell (1642-1692), made famous for his bad poetry by John
Dryden (1631-1700) in Mac Flecknoe, is said to have modelled his The Miser on this
play. In the 19th century, the famous English novelist and dramatist Henry Fielding
adapted the play as The Miser in 1823.

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 The Pot of Gold: Plautus
Not just The Pot of Gold, but several other plays of Plautus have been adapted across
time periods and languages. The other play most widely translated and adapted has
been The Brothers Menaechmi. Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors is based on this
story of two pairs of separated twin brothers which creates a laugh riot. Big Business,
starring Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin, is a popular English movie which makes the twin
pairs women. In India, Plautus’ play became famous through the Shakesperian version.
In 1869, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar adapted the play into a novel, Bhranti Bilash. The
novel was later made into a Bengali movie Bhrantibilas, with Uttam Kumar in the lead.
Kishore Kumar’s Do Dooni Chaar (1968), with the same plot remains a popular film even
today.

ISHWAR CHANDRA VIDYASAGAR

In India, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar adapted Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors in his

Bengali novel Bhranti Bilash (1869). Vidyasagar's efforts were an attempt to bring about
a change in the way people saw literature by exposing them to Western ideas and
thought, including Shakespeare and the Romantics during the Bengal Renaissance.

Ramesh Aravind’s movie Ulta Pulta, is a Kannada version. Aamait Asal Eemait Kusal is a
Tulu movie inspired by the Menaechmi story, and Dharmendra has starred in a Punjabi
version in 2014, with the rather obvious title Double di Trouble. Yet, the most popular
version of The Comedy of Errors in Bollywood remains Sanjeev Kumar and Deven
Verma’s Angoor (1982). This movie was Gulzar’s adaptation of Uttam Kumar’s
Bhrantibilas.

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 The Pot of Gold: Plautus
The cover of the video cassette of Gulzar’s Angoor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angoor_(1982_film)

Plautus’ continuing influence on world drama, and not just Western comic drama, can be
seen in the famous playwrights that have followed him—mainly Shakespeare and
Moliere. Although Shakespeare’s most famous adaptation has been from The Brothers
Menaechmi, he does draw on Plautus for his other comic plots and stock characters as
well. In recent times, a musical comedy, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the
Forum, is also based on Plautus.

Glossary

COMIC IRONY Comic irony is a literary technique in which irony creates a humorous
effect. Comic irony comes in many forms, and can derive from ironic dialogues by
characters in a work. It can also arise from the situation presented in the work.

DRAMATIC IRONY Dramatic irony is the irony which is found in a speech or a situation in
drama which is understood by the audience, but not fully comprehended by the
characters of the play. It can also be called situational irony.

ENSEMBLE A group of actors and performers who form a theatrical production.

OLD COMEDY The Greek Old Comedy parodied public figures and events, in contrast to
the New Comedy, which satirises the vices in common people.

SOLILOQUY A soliloquy is a speech made by a character on the stage, presumably with

no one to hear him. The soliloquy is meant to be heard only by the audience, and is a
theatrical device by which the audience is informed about the character’s intentions.

STOCK CHARACTER A stock character is a literary character based on a social

stereotype. Since it is quickly recognised by the audience/reader, it doesn’t require any
building up on the writer’s part.

Bibliography
www.bartleby.com

www.freedictionary.com

www.theatrehistory.com

Bates, Alfred. Ed. The Drama: Its History, Literature and Influence on Civilization, vol. 1
and 2. London: Historical Publishing Company, 1906.

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 The Pot of Gold: Plautus
Bardon, Adrian. “The Philosophy of Humor,” in Comedy: A Geographic and Historical
Guide, ed. by Maurice Charney. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2005.
http://faculty.swosu.edu/frederic.murray/philosophy%20of%20humor_1.pdf Accessed
on 3 March 2016.

Galbraith, David. “Theories of Comedy”. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespearean

Comedy. Ed. Alexander Leggatt. Cambridge: CUP, 2002. Pages 3-17. Print.

Miola, Robert S. “Roman Comedy”. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespearean

Comedy. Ed. Alexander Leggatt. Cambridge: CUP, 2002. Pages 18-31. Print.

Raia, Ann R. “Puella, Matrona, Meretrix: Women in Roman Literature and Life”. Paper
delivered on October 1, 1983, at The Fourth Conference on Greek, Roman, and
Byzantine Studies, at St. Joseph’s College in North Windham, Maine.
http://www.vroma.org/~araia/plautinewomen.html. Accessed on 18-03-2016.

Stace, C. “The Slaves of Plautus” in Greece & Rome, Vol. 15, No. 1 (Apr., 1968), pp. 64-
77. Cambridge University Press The Classical Association Stable URL:
http://www.jstor.org/stable/642260 Accessed on 16-03-2016 06:12.

Watling, E.F. trans. The Pot of Gold and Other Plays by Plautus. London: Penguin
Classics, 1965.

Weblinks

1. Read the e-book here, at Project Gutenburg.

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16564/16564-h/16564-h.htm
2. Download a free copy of Henry Fielding’s The Miser, based on Plautus’ Aulularia.
https://archive.org/details/miser00fiel
3. Watch a wonderful performance of Aulularia performed by the University of
Richmond’s Classical Studies Department at the Luther Jenkins Greek Theater in
April 1992. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBbgfyKnJfU
4. Watch an amateur Turkish theatre group perform Aulularia in Turkish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtHrj5uxRo0
5. Watch a literature book review of EF Watling’s translation of Plautus’ plays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ePY90PoxtI
6. Here’s an interesting map which marks the places most commonly referred to in
The Pot of Gold on a present day map of the world.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/map?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.00
94#

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 The Pot of Gold: Plautus
List of Visuals Used

1. Bust of Plautus. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plautus

2. Image of Plautus from Wikimedia Commons. Source: en:User:Mscottknight -
en:Image:Plautus.gif,PublicDomain,https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?
curid=5012172
3. Image of Roman Theatre at Orange in France.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_theatre
4. Photograph of Roman theatre in Bosra, Syria.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theatre_of_ancient_Rome
5. Cover of Gulzar’s Angoor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angoor_(1982_film)
6. Relief showing the poet Menander seated with his three stock masks of New
Comedy.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Relief_with_Menander_and_New_Comed
y_Masks_-_Princeton_Art_Museum.jpg
7. A mosaic of a Comedy Mask of the stock character of an Old Slave. This was found
in a villa in Centocelle, Rome, and is currently housed in Berlin’s Altes Museum.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:01XX_Comedy_Mask_Old_Slave_Altes_
Museum_anagoria.JPG

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