The Pot of Gold gives us an insight into Roman life at that time—especially the position of the women and slaves. The System Of Dowry In The Pot Of Gold, it’s by Lar Familiaris that the audience is informed that Euclio’s grandfather, being a superb miser, had buried a pot of gold within the central hall of his house. The play is a satire that depicts the anxiety that greed, avarice, and miserliness brings. A deity reveals a pot of gold to Euclio so that he can use the money as dowry for his daughter Phaedria’s wedding. The plot revolves around Euclio’s attempts to protect the gold and hide it from the others.
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. 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.
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 was instrumental in introducing music, song and dance as a part of plot in his plays. 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 The Swaggering Soldier. However, researchers face problems while dealing with his works since several of his manuscripts are incomplete.
Plautus is counted among the two greatest dramatists of the Roman comedy—“Fabula Palliata” or “Palliata Comoedia”, the other of course being Terence. 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 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. 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 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. 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.
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