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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 handmiller, 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 Pot of Gold: Plautus 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 SelfTormentor, 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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The Pot of Gold: Plautus 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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The Pot of Gold: Plautus 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 caricaturecartoons 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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The Pot of Gold: Plautus 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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The Pot of Gold: Plautus 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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The Pot of Gold: Plautus 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 Pot of Gold: Plautus 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...