{"product_id":"2026200016158-secondhand-the-pot-of-gold-and-other-plays","title":"The Pot Of Gold And Other Plays","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: No dust jacket\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good\u003cbr\u003eMarkings: Previous owner\u003cbr\u003eCondition remarks: Condition as shown in image\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom the rowdy stages of ancient Rome comes one of history's most gifted comic playwrights — Titus Maccius Plautus — whose sharp wit and anarchic energy laid the very foundations of Western comedy. The Pot of Gold and Other Plays brings together a selection of his finest works, centering on Aulularia (The Pot of Gold), a riotous tale of a miserly old man, Euclio, who discovers a hidden treasure and is subsequently consumed by a paranoid obsession to protect it, setting off a cascade of deceptions, mistaken identities, and farcical misadventures that are as hilarious today as they were two millennia ago.\n\nPlautus, writing in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, chronicles the lives of slaves, merchants, soldiers, and young lovers with a democratic irreverence that subverted Roman social hierarchies and gave voice to the common people. His influence on later dramatists — from Shakespeare and Molière to the Broadway musical — is immeasurable, and this collection illustrates precisely why: his mastery of plot construction, his earthy, pun-laden dialogue, and his unfailing instinct for comic timing remain utterly compelling. For anyone seeking to understand the roots of comedy as a literary form, this Penguin Classics edition is an indispensable gateway into a world where laughter is the oldest, and most enduring, form of truth.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49342776377563,"sku":"2026200016158-SECONDHAND","price":10.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/8a736ab4-b8e4-4812-ac6d-de21c334b9e8.png?v=1790049206","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200016158-secondhand-the-pot-of-gold-and-other-plays","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}