''Querolus'' (''The Complainer'') or ''Aulularia'' (''The Pot'') is an anonymous Latin comedy from

late antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...

, the only Latin drama to survive from this period and the only ancient Latin comedy outside the works of

Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus ( ; 254 – 184 BC) was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by Livius Andro ...

and

Terence Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a playwright during the Roman Republic. He was the author of six Roman comedy, comedies based on Greek comedy, Greek originals by Menander or Apollodorus of Carystus. A ...

Title and origins

In his prologue to the spectators the author first says ''Aululariam hodie sumus acturi'' (‘We are going to perform the ''Aulularia'' today’), then offers a choice of title: ''Querolus an Aulularia haec dicatur fabula, vestrum hinc iudicium, vestra erit sententia'' (‘Whether this play is called ''Querolus'' or ''Aulularia'' will be your judgement, your decision’). The archetype of the surviving manuscripts seem to have had the title ''Aulularia'', along with a false attribution to Plautus, who had also written an '' Aulularia''. Modern scholars generally use the title ''Querolus'' to avoid confusion with Plautus’ ''Aulularia''. Date and place of composition are uncertain. Mention of lawlessness ''ad Ligerem'' (‘by the Loire’) suggests a Gallic origin and perhaps an early fifth-century date, if it refers to a

Bagaudae Bagaudae (also spelled bacaudae) were groups of peasant insurgents in the western parts of the late antiquity, later Roman Empire, who arose during the Crisis of the Third Century and persisted until the very Decline of the Roman Empire, end of th ...

uprising. The work is addressed and dedicated to a certain Rutilius (perhaps

Rutilius Namatianus Rutilius Claudius Namatianus (fl. 5th century) was a Roman Imperial poet, best known for his Latin poem, ''De reditu suo'', in elegiac metre, describing a coastal voyage from Rome to Gaul in 417. The poem was in two books; the exordium of the fi ...

), a ''

vir illustris The title ''vir illustris'' () is used as a formal indication of standing in late antiquity to describe the highest ranks within the senates of Rome and Constantinople. All senators had the title ''vir clarissimus'' (); but from the mid fourth ce ...

'' of higher social standing than the author.

Metre and language

Although the text is printed as prose, the author was clearly trying to give the effect of the metres of Plautus. Sentences and phrases regularly end with the line endings of a

trochaic septenarius In ancient Greek and Latin literature, the trochaic septenarius (also known as the trochaic tetrameter catalectic) is a form of ancient poetic metre first used in 7th century BC Greek literature. It was one of the two most common metres of Roman ...

or iambic senarius; and there is a tendency to trochaic sequences at the start of the next unit. In the middle however the metrical form of a Plautine verse is only occasionally preserved. The language used also has many reminiscences of early Latin comedy, both occasional archaisms and imitations or borrowings of whole phrases.

Subject matter

Plot

The plot concerns the attempt by a pretended magician, Mandrogerus, to cheat the poor and grumpy Querolus of a treasure hidden in his house. Querolus’ father Euclio, dying abroad, had confided the location of the treasure to Mandrogerus. After Euclio’s death Mandrogerus was supposed to show Querolus the treasure and receive a half share as reward. Instead he tricks Querolus into allowing him to remove his ‘bad fortune’ from his house – the pot with the gold within it. On inspection, the pot seems to be a funerary urn, with only ashes inside it. Mandrogerus throws the pot back into Querolus’ house. It breaks and reveals the gold hidden within. When Mandrogerus learns of the gold, he returns and attempts to claim his share by his agreement with Euclio; but his own account leaves him with a choice of a charge of theft or sacrilege. Finally Querolus takes pity on him and allows him to remain as his dependent.

Dramatic technique

It seems unlikely that the author of the work was expecting it to be performed on stage in its original context. More probably it may have been read out as an entertainment at a banquet. But it is clear that the play is written to be performable within the conventions of ancient drama; and many aspects of dramatic technique, such as the preparation and motivation of entrances and exits, are carefully observed. Many scenes are extended far beyond the demands of the plot for their own interest. The play opens with an extended discussion between Querolus and the household Lar, who, in the style of popular philosophy, compels Querolus to admit that his dissatisfaction with life is unjustified and that there is nothing that he can reasonably desire. Querolus’ slave, Pantomalus, has a long monologue complaining of his unreasonable master, which rather reveals his own idleness and dishonesty. Mandrogerus advises Querolus about the various occult powers from which one can seek aid, a scene mocking superstitious beliefs, but also, perhaps, covertly alluding to corrupt civil servants, whose favour must be sought with bribes.

Models

There are several similarities to Plautus’ ''Aulularia'' in the play: the grumpy character of Querolus; a pot of gold; the appearance of the Lar of his house and his role in leading Querolus to discover the gold; a theft. In addition the grumpy house owner in Plautus is called Euclio, the name of Querolus’ father; some see the work as a kind of sequel to Plautus’ play.

Reception and modern editions

The play had some success in the Middle Ages and provided Vitalis of Blois in the twelfth century with the model for his own ''Aulularia''. Since the renaissance, however, it has been largely neglected. One exception is the satirical novelist

Thomas Love Peacock Thomas Love Peacock (18 October 1785 – 23 January 1866) was an English novelist, poet, and official of the East India Company. He was a close friend of Percy Bysshe Shelley, and they influenced each other's work. Peacock wrote satirical novels ...

, who devoted an essay to it in his ''Horae Dramaticae'' of 1852. The first printed edition is that of (Paris 1564). Only the most recent critical editions, Jacquemard-Le Saos (1994) and Brandenburg (2024) make use of an important witness, the seventeenth century copy of a lost manuscript from Reims.M.D. Reeve, ‘Tricipitinus’s Son’, ''Zeitschrift für Papyrologie und Epigraphik'' 22, 1976, 21–31. The ending of the work is missing (although evidently the plot is complete and very little text has been lost). In the manuscripts, it is followed without a break by the (also fragmentary) '' Lex convivalis'', which some regard as a part of the play.

References

*''Editions'' **Brandenburg, Y. ''Aulularia sive Querolus'' (Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter) 2023. **Ranstrand, G. ''Querolus sive Aulularia, Incerti Auctoris Comoedia una cum Indice Verborum'' (Göteborg) 1951. **Jacquemard-Le Saos, C. ''Querolus (Aulularia)'' (Paris: CUF) 1994. *''Translations'' **Duckworth, G. E. ''The Complete Roman Drama'' (New York: Random House) 1952, vol. II p. 891–952. **O'Donnell, R. D
''The "Qverolvs", Edited with an Introduction and Commentary''
PhD diss., University of London, 1980. *''Bibliography'' **Lassandro, D. and Romano, E. ‘Rassegna bibliografica degli Studi sul ''Querolus''’, ''Bolletino di Studi Latini'' 21, 1991, 26–51. *''Studies'' **Cavallin, S. ‘Bemerkungen zu Querolus’ ''Eranos'' 49, 1951, 137–58. **Küppers, J. ‘Zum “Querolus” (p. 17.7–22 R) und seiner Datierung’ ''Philologus'' 123, 1979, 303–323. **Küppers, J., ‘Die spätantike Prosakomödie “Querolus sive Aulularia” und das Problem ihrer Vorlagen’, ''Philologus'' 133, 1989, 82–103.

Notes

External links

*
Le Querolus, comédie latine anonyme
', L. Havet (ed.) in ''Bibliothèque de l'école des hautes études'', 41° fascicule, Paris, P. Vieweg, Libraire-éditeur, 1880. *
Aulularia sive Querolus. Theodosiani aevi comoedia Rutilio dedicata
', Rudolfus Peiper (ed.), Lipsiae in aedibus B. G. Teubneri, 1885. {{Authority control Ancient Roman plays Late Latin literature