Literature of antiquity and the Middle Ages - Summary - 2019
Curculion
Titus Maccius Plautus (approx. 250-184 BC e)
Kurkulion means "Bread Worm". This is the nickname of the one-eyed hawk-hunter, the trick and the glutton that leads the intrigue in this comedy. His breadwinner and patron is a passionate young man; The girl that this young man loves belongs to the evil wizard, and she needs to be redeemed as soon as possible. There is no money, and they can not get their lovers; all hope for the clever Curculion. The young man sent him to another city - to ask for a loan from his friend, and he secretly climbs to his kindest. The builder is sick, the young man is greeted by a drunkard, for a jug of wine, ready for anything. The old woman sings the glory of guilt: "Oh, wine! ah, wine! the best gift for me! .. "The young man sings a serenade of door hinges, which now open the door and release a lover to him:" Hey, hooks! you hooks, hello with my whole soul! .. "The old slave looks at how lovers are kissing, and grumbling: "It's good to love reasonably, but insanely - to nothing." Everyone is waiting for the return of Kurkulion - will he bring money or not?
Kurkulion is easy to read - he is already running around the stage: "Hey, acquaintances, unfamiliar, away from the road, away from the path! / I have to serve my service! Whoever crashes, take care, / So that I do not knock it down with my chest, head or foot! / Be the king, be the lord, be at least from the police, / Be the boss, be a sorrow, be a lazy slave, - / Everything flickers from my way to the street! .. "
He is grasped, held, treated, questioned. It turns out that all the noise is in vain: there is no money, but there is a hope for cunning. In a neighboring town, Kurkulion accidentally met a brave warrior, who, it turns out, also noticed the same girl and had already agreed with the bidder about her purchase. Money for this lies in preserving the mufflers, which will give them to the one who will present to him as a symbol of the ring a seal with a warrior. Kurkulion got involved with the warrior in the company, they drank, drank, began to play bone, one fell less, another more, Kurkulion thought himself to be winning, dragged a drunken warrior ring from his finger and was so. Here it is - for such a service, it is not a sin to feed him to the bile!
Work begins. Having tasted tightly, the Kurkulion is to a muffle with a letter sealed with the same seal: a fighter, a sword breaking the elephant. In the letter it is written: I suppose, a warrior such, I order to change such a payment to the seller so much and so much, and the submitter of this letter to transfer the bought out girl. "And you somebody like that?" - "I am his servant." - "And what did he himself not come up with?" - "The thing is busy: he puts a monument to his exploits - how he defeated Persia and Syria, Obzhorya and Opingania, Aivia and Vinokuria: half a mile in three weeks." - "Well, when so, I believe that you are from him: another such nonsense will not come up with." And, having stopped interrogating, he changed money to the bidter, and he left with Kurkulion for the scene - to the girl.
Unexpected pause: on the empty scene, the chorague, the master of the actor's troupe, goes out and talks to the audience. This is all that remains of the choir, once occupying so much space in the comedies. Khorag teases the audience: "Want to tell you where to find someone on the forum? At such a temple there are liars, at such a kind of moto, at the well, at the wells, at the canal, in the gallows, in the court, in crocheted works, and at the same time in potsuchek ... "Meanwhile, the winner gives a girl to Kurkulion, and he, satisfied, leads her to her master, anticipating a lunch for a reward.
Suddenly there appears a brave warrior - he slept, his head rushed, rushed to his knees - there was no money, hurrying to the voyeur - the girl is gone. "Where to find Kurkulion, a worm of the wrong?" / "Yes, look for wheat grain, you'll find at least a thousand!" / "Where is he?" where is he help, dear spectators! / Who will find it will help - I will give a reward!.."
And his ring is a fighter with a sword breaking an elephant - at Kurkulion, and the girl looks and wonders: she was exactly the same ring with her father! The soldier burst into a young man: "Give me my slave!" "She is free," says the young man, "if you want, we will go to court, just say first: is this your ring?" - "My". - "And where's he from you?" - "From my father." - "What was your father's name?" and mother? and a nurse? "-" Yes, then ". - "My dear brother! - shouting the girl, rushing to the warrior on the neck. Did not you have a sister, who was lost in childhood? "There is a joyous recognition: what is the happiness that the gods did not allow the brother to be married to his sister! The wedding of a young man and a girl is foretold; Now you have to deal with the vendor - how dared he trade a free girl? The one is scared, the girl is even sorry for the old man: "Pity him, he did not offend me, I entered, so I came out honest!" "Okay, - says the warrior, - let it return the money, and I, so be it, in court I will not pull it, nor from a catapult I will not shoot them ". The collector pays, a feast is prepared for a ransom, and Kurkulion rubbing the belly, waiting for a well-deserved treat.