13 h 59 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 13 h 59 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
A god steals a husband's identity, a miser guards his gold, and clever slaves turn power upside down.
Titus Maccius Plautus brings loud jokes, songs, and quick tricks to these Roman stage comedies. In Amphitryo, Jupiter takes a husband's shape while the slave Sosia faces his own double. In Asinaria, Argyrippus loves the courtesan Philaenium, and his father Demaenetus helps him—but wants a share of the fun. Love and money give everyone reasons to bend the rules.
Aulularia follows Euclio, whose hidden pot of gold brings constant fear instead of peace. Bacchides brings together two sisters called Bacchis and the quick-witted slave Chrysalus, who spins lies to get gold. Captivi takes a different path: Hegio hopes to recover his captured son, while the prisoner Tyndarus trades places with his master. Here, loyalty and friendship stand beside the laughter.
What you’ll discover
- Gods in disguise Enter a Theban household where stolen identities leave Sosia doubting who he is.
- Love with a price Watch a father help his lovesick son while pursuing pleasures of his own.
- Gold without peace Follow Euclio as the fear of losing his treasure takes hold.
- Clever servants seize control Meet Chrysalus, whose quick lies challenge the old men holding the money.
- Friendship under pressure Discover a comedy where exchanged identities put loyalty, rather than romance, at its center.
Who will love it
This is for readers who love clever slaves, quarrelling couples and mistaken identities, and for anyone curious about the roots of farce, from Shakespeare's twins to Moliere's miser.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Plautus turned Greek comedy into Roman farce
- Mercury takes Sosia's face at the door
- A husband and wife cannot agree on yesterday
- A henpecked father helps his son find money
- Two slaves play steward to win the silver
- A miser guards a pot and refuses a bargain
- The pot is moved and the whole street is stirred
- Two sisters named Bacchis and one clever slave
- Two prisoners swap names and a father hopes
- How these plays work and why they last
Who’s who
- MercuryThe messenger god who wears the face of a slave and works cheerfully to help his father Jupiter court a mortal.
- SosiaAmphitryon's slave, a boaster who ran from the battle and loses his own name at his master's door.
- LibanusA quick-witted slave who plots with his fellow slave to cheat a trader so that his young master can see his love.
- EuclioA poor old Athenian who finds buried gold and lives in fear that every visitor wants to take it.
- ChrysalusA slave of Athens who spins grand lies to get gold from an old man for the young lovers.
- PistoclerusA young Athenian and loyal friend who is drawn into the house of the two sisters named Bacchis.
- HegioAn old man who buys prisoners of war in the hope of getting his captured son back.
- TyndarusA captive slave who takes his master's name and risks his life so that his master may go free.
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Anfitrione, Asinaria, Aulularia, Bacchidi, I prigionieri
A god and a slave trade blows at a door in Thebes while a miser guards his pot of gold in Athens.
Medium level10–20 hours to readItaliano
Excellent
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In short
Picture a night that will not end. In Thebes the stars stand still, a slave named Sosia is beaten away from his own front door by a man wearing his face, and a god is busy inside with the general's wife.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Plautus turned Greek comedy into Roman farce
Plautus came from Sarsina in Umbria and is said to have been born around 255 BC. Little else is known for certain. Stories say he worked in a theatre, lost his savings in trade, and wrote his first plays while turning a mill.
Every surviving play adapts a Greek comedy, and the setting is usually Athens. Plautus did not translate closely. He added Roman customs, fresh jokes and a flood of wordplay that no later writer can fully copy.
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- 15-minute summary
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Cite this edition
Titus Maccius Plautus. Amphitryo, Asinaria, Aulularia, Bacchides, Captivi. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/amphitryo-asinaria-aulularia-bacchides-captivi.
Titus Maccius Plautus. (2026). Amphitryo, Asinaria, Aulularia, Bacchides, Captivi. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/amphitryo-asinaria-aulularia-bacchides-captivi
Titus Maccius Plautus. Amphitryo, Asinaria, Aulularia, Bacchides, Captivi. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/amphitryo-asinaria-aulularia-bacchides-captivi.
@book{plautus2026amphitryo,
author = {Titus Maccius Plautus},
title = {Amphitryo, Asinaria, Aulularia, Bacchides, Captivi},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/amphitryo-asinaria-aulularia-bacchides-captivi}
}
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What is Amphitryon about?
Jupiter takes the shape of the Theban general Amphitryon to visit his wife Alcmena, while Mercury takes the shape of the slave Sosia. When the real men return, the household falls into confusion about who is who.
Who wrote these plays and when?
Titus Maccius Plautus, a Roman comic writer who died in 184 BC. Most of his surviving work was written in the last twenty years of his life, and he based it on Greek comedies from the New Comedy tradition.
What is The Pot of Gold about?
A poor old man named Euclio finds a hidden pot of gold and becomes so afraid of thieves that he cannot enjoy it. His fear grows when a rich neighbour asks to marry his daughter.
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