Plautus' Curculio

by Plautus, John Wright

Plautus' Curculio, the shortest of the twenty surviving comedies by ancient Rome's master dramatist, certainly is among his best. It has all the characteristics that make Plautus a perennial favorite among readers of Latin: archetypal characters such as the braggart warrior and the greedy parasite, a seminal plot based on greed and deception, and the powerful, inventive verbal style that for two thousand years has been the playwright's chief claim to critical attention.

For all those reasons, the Curculio is an excellent introduction to an important and appealing ancient writer. In the revision of the American Philological Association edition, the introduction and notes have been expanded and a vocabulary has been added. Because it retains the standard scholarly Latin text, it will be useful even to advanced readers of Plautus.

Genres: Classics, Plays, Drama

120 pages, Paperback

Published January 13, 1993

About the author

Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest works in Latin literature to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus. The word Plautine refers to both Plautus's own works and works similar to or influenced by his.

Reviews

[Illiterate · Rating 3 out of 5]

A typical Plautus comedy but with a parasite in the role of the clever slave. Includes amusing swipes at bankers.

[Aleksy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Znów, te plautyńskie sztuki nie robią wrażenia niczym, poza tłumaczeniem. Fabuły palliat są niesamowicie formulaiczne i nudne. Chociaż tutaj plus za pieśń Lwicy do wina, to akurat się Plautowi udało XD

Profesor Ewa Skwara naprawdę wykonuje tytaniczną pracę na rzecz śmieszności tekstu🫶 Można powiedzieć, że mega moc(z)ne.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, there's a reason everyone studies the Greeks rather than the Romans, as this is another derivative work that has some shining moments but still comes off as fan art from a Roman who really dug Aristophanes.

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

This play focuses on the two young lovers kept apart motive, which is a standard element of comedy. It also includes stock characters like the braggart soldier (Therapontigonus), the evil pimp (Cappadox), the greedy money-lender (Lyco), and the cunning slave (Curculio, though he's not actually a slave here, just a hanger on), in addition to the young lovers Phaedromus (the male lover) and Planesium (the female ingénue who is chaste but owned by Cappadox). The goal of the play basically is for Planesium and Phaedromus to get together, but Therapontigonus is in their way because he has bought Planesium--though he hasn't delivered the money yet. So, Curculio, happening to meet Therapontigonus in a different city where he's gone to unsuccessfully seek money, happens to be invited to dinner with the solider, who happens to tell Curculio that he's going to get the money and then to pick up Planesium, and that Lyco will only release the money to the person with Therapontigonus' signet ring. Whereupon, Curculio gets the soldier drunk and steals the ring so that Phaedromus can forge papers with Therapontigonus' seal in order to get the money and buy Planesium. This scheme goes to plan until Therapontigonus shows up and begins asking Lyco and Cappadox some pretty pointed questions. Further, when Planesium recognizes the ring that Curculio stole, it's revealed that she and Therapontigonus are siblings, at which point he obviously is less keen on taking her as a concubine, not least because she was freeborn and therefore there are problems with enslaving her. This is an important plot point because Cappadox had repeatedly reiterated that if anyone asserted that Planesium was freeborn, he would return the money. So, Therapontigonus gets his money back, the siblings are reunited, and the soldier agrees to the marriage between his sister and Phaedromus. And Curcilio secures a promise that Planesium will always make sure he's well-fed, which is his big goal in life.
https://youtu.be/8Qpg4EJ7dyk

[Drianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A serviceable student edition. I think the notes still should've been *way* more helpful if the imagined audience was, in fact, students who'd never read Plautus before; I got the feeling that the author had forgotten how much some of the peculiarities and archaisms in Plautus' language confuse students. The glossary was good.
I hadn't read the play itself before; it felt like so much *less*... effort? than other plays. Phoned-in, as it were. It would have the benefit of being short, though, for students, and having some of the major character types and a (for Plautus) reasonably well worked-out "clever" ploy.

[Dante · Rating 2 out of 5]

nie porwało mnie jakoś niesamowicie, inne komedie Plauta bardziej mi się podobały, ale to także może być kwestia tego, że to była już końcówka semestru i już miałam dość lektur lol

[kendra · Rating 3 out of 5]

i read this so many times while correcting assignments that i think i could stage a one man production of it from memory

[Hope · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall probably one of the favorite plays I read for my greek and roman comedies class.