Review date: 15/3/1999
Publisher: Penguin
Published: translation 1965
Plautus' plays proved a goldmine of ideas for later writers, who plundered him in much the same way as he himself plundered Greek authors. They would obviously use Plautus rather than the originals because Latin was better known and Latin texts more readily available than Greek ones, and many of the originals would have already been lost, if they ever existed. (In some cases, Plautus may well have amalgamated several sources, or fit stock situations into existing works.) With Aulularia, Plautus' play provided at least some of the inspiration for Molière's The Miser, though there are several differences introduced by the French author.
While in Molière's play, Harpagon is miserly in nature from beginning to end, Euclio is a poor man who discovers treasure in his house and becomes miserly because he is so bowled over by his good fortune. The treasure, as his Lar Familiaris (household god) explains in the prologue, was hidden by Euclio's grandfather who was able to accumulate it because his reverence for the Lar brought him good fortune. Now, Euclio has been able to discover it so that he can use it to provide a dowry for his daughter, Phaedria (who is never seen on stage), because she also has the right attitude to the household gods.
As it stands, the text of the play is clearly incomplete - it has no ending - and E.F. Watling has provided a convincing denouement based on a surviving fragment which seems to indicate a happy ending.
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