The Pot of Gold and Other Plays (Penguin Classics)
by E. F. Watling, Plautus
List Price:
Our Price: $6.96
You Save: $6.04 (46%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.19 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: E. F. Watling, PlautusEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1965-09-30
ISBN: 0140441492
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Book Reviews of The Pot of Gold and Other Plays (Penguin Classics)
Book Review: Slice-of-life ancient history
Summary: 5 Stars
I agree with another reviewer that this collection of plays makes a good history lesson, but for me the lesson went beyond the development of people's sense of humor over time. Plautus avoids philosophy and politics, skipping right to slice-of-life stories about ordinary people, stories that today would be considered situation comedies. (Several of the plays in this book were amalgamated into the modern-day musical "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.") Reading this book gave me a sense of what life on the streets of ancient Rome was like.
A final comment about whether Plautus should be considered Greek or Roman. Plautus wrote in Rome more than 200 years after the classical Greek playrights Aeschylus, Euripides and Aristophanes and more than 100 years after the "new comedy" of the Greek Menander. He borrowed Greek plots and set his own plays in Greece, but I regard this as a convention (much as 20th century playwrights habitually set theirs in New York City) and to me the attitudes of Plautus' characters seem Roman more than Greek.
Summary of The Pot of Gold and Other Plays (Penguin Classics)
One of the supreme comic writers of the Roman world, Plautus (c.254-184 BC) skilfully adapted classic Greek comic models to the manners and customs of his day. This collection features a varied selection of his finest plays, from the light-hearted comedy "Pseudolus", in which the lovesick Calidorus and his slave try to liberate his lover from her pimp, to the more subversive "The Prisoners", which raises serious questions about the role of slavery. Also included in this title are "The Brothers Menaechmus", which formed the prototype for Shakespeare's "The Comedy of Errors", and "The Pot of Gold", whose old miser Euclio is a glorious study in avarice. Throughout, Plautus breathes new, brilliant life into classic comic types - including deceitful twins, scheming slaves, bitter old men and swaggering soldiers - creating an entertaining critique of Roman life and values.Entertainment Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Entertainment Books
Cash: The Autobiographyby Johnny Cash
HarperOne; Published: 2003-10-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.95
Price in other shops:
The Long Hard Road Out of Hellby Marilyn Manson, Neil Strauss
HarperEntertainment; Published: 1998-02-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $20.20
Price in other shops:
Miss Americaby Howard Stern
Harpercollins; Published: 1995-11; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $3.44
Price in other shops:
It's Raining Pigs & Noodlesby Jack Prelutsky
Greenwillow Books; Published: 2000-08-22; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $4.87
Price in other shops:
Behold the Bold Umbrellaphant: And Other Poemsby Jack Prelutsky
Greenwillow Books; Published: 2006-09-26; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $9.64
Price in other shops:
Walk This Way: The Autobiography of Aerosmithby Aerosmith, Stephen Davis
It Books; Published: 2003-02-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.94
Price in other shops:
Anthology for Musical Analysisby Charles Burkhart
Harcourt Brace & Company; Published: 1994; Spiral-bound; Book
Best price: $150.00
Complete Idiot's Guide to Throwing a Great Partyby Patty Sachs, Phyllis Cambria
Alpha; Published: 2000-10-12; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.10
Price in other shops:
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Cigarsby Tad Gage
Alpha; Published: 1997-09-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops:
The New Comics Anthologyby Daniel Clowes, Eddie Campbell, Jaimie Hernandez, Gilbert Hernandez, Harvey Pekar, Gary Panter, Peter Bagge, Peter Kuper, Chris Ware
Collier; Published: 1991-09-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $53.56
Similar Books and other products
Satyricaby Petronius
University of California Press; Published: 1997-07-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.50
Price in other shops:
Metamorphoses (Oxford World's Classics)by Ovid
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2009-04-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.03
Price in other shops:
The Aeneid of Virgil (Bantam Classics)by Virgil
Bantam Classics; Published: 1981-09-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.88
Price in other shops:
Stoic Philosophy of Seneca: Essays and Lettersby Lucius Annaeus Seneca
W. W. Norton & Company; Published: 1968-09-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
The Rise of Rome: Books One to Five (Oxford World's Classics) (Bks. 1-5)by Livy, T. J. Luce
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2009-07-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
Idylls (Oxford World's Classics)by Theocritus
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2008-10-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.63
Price in other shops:
As The Romans Did: A Sourcebook in Roman Social HistoryOxford University Press, USA; Published: 1998-01-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $47.99
Price in other shops:
The Twelve Caesars (Penguin Classics)by Suetonius
Penguin Classics; Published: 2007-12-18; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.50
Price in other shops:
Selected Works (Penguin Classics)by Marcus Tullius Cicero
Penguin Classics; Published: 1960-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.03
Price in other shops:
On the Nature of Things, Translated by Martin Ferguson Smith (Hackett Classics Series)by Lucretius, Martin Ferguson Smith
Hackett Pub Co; Published: 2001-09-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.55
Price in other shops: