Greek mythology. Cosmogony

I don't care about you! Don't scare me!

Therapontigon (to Phaedrom)

It was said in front of me and in front of Likon.

I believe, I believe.

Well, now listen, pimp. Here's my solution.

The girl is free, he is her brother, she is his sister.

She's marrying me. Return the money to him.

This is my judgment.

Ferapontigon

You will fall into the catapult on the string,

If you don't give me my money back.

Cappadoc

The matter is decided, Phaedrus,

Not according to your conscience, I swear, and you will harm yourself.

720 And let them destroy you, warrior, all the gods and goddesses!

Well follow me!

Ferapontigon

Where there?

Cappadoc

Yes to my money changer -

To the praetor: I usually pay all my debts there.

Ferapontigon

No, to the catapult, not to the praetor. Pay now!

Cappadoc

May you fail! Clear? May you burst!

Ferapontigon

That's how you are!

Cappadoc

Yes, that's it.

Ferapontigon

I know very well, these fists are mine.

I will humble you with this.

Cappadoc

Well, get it.

Ferapontigon

Warrior, come to dinner with us: our wedding will be today.

Ferapontigon

May you and I be lucky! Spectators, clap!

Translation from Latin by A. Artyushkov

The title of the play comes from the Latin aulula, a diminutive of aula - "pot". It is impossible to indicate the original of this comedy, since many Greek playwrights of the 4th–3rd centuries. BC e. they wrote comedies "on this plot, but none of them reached us. The following facts help to establish the date of the first production of the comedy. This is, firstly, the abolition in 195 BC of the law of Oppius, which prohibited women from traveling on city ​​in carriages if they do not travel from the city to their estate. Plautus protests against the abolition of this law through the mouth of Megadorus in this comedy. In addition, since the play mentions the post of Ceres, established only in 191, then, according to Apparently, the comedy was written no earlier than 191 BC The comedy gave rise to numerous imitations, the most famous of which is Molière’s “The Miser.”

Significant names of the characters in the comedy: the cooks - Anfrak - “coal” and Congrion named after the sea fish conger - “sea eel”, the slave Strobilus - the “top”, the slave Stafila - the “bunch of grapes” (meaning her penchant for wine).

CHARACTERS

Lar, Euclio's god of the hearth.

Euclio, old man.

Stafila, the old maid.

Megadorus, an old man, Euclio's neighbor.

Eunomia, his sister.

Lyconides, her son.

Strobilus, slave

Anfrak, cook.

Congrion, cook.

Pifodik, slave.

Phaedra, daughter of Euclio.

A street with two neighboring houses - Euklion and Megador. Temple

the goddess of Fidelity and an altar in front of him.

Don't know who I am? I'll tell you briefly:

I am Lar home, from this house,

Where, as you can see, I came from. Here

I've been living for many years, I was a patron

To the father and grandfather of the new owner.

His grandfather entrusted me with gold with a prayer

Hidden treasure: in the middle of its hearth

He buried it and begged me to protect it.

10 And he died; I was so greedy in my soul,

That I didn’t want to show it to my son,

I preferred to leave him in poverty,

Just don't point out the treasures.

He left him a small piece of land,

Let him live in great labor and be in poverty.

When he died, he entrusted the treasure to me,

I began to look closely to see if it would turn out

I honor my son more than his father,

But he respected me less and less,

20 He gave me fewer and fewer honorable gifts,

And I treated him accordingly.

But then he died, and his son remained,

This one, he is now the master of the house,

Exactly the same disposition as my father and grandfather,

His daughter lives with him, she is a gift to me every day

Brings wine, incense or something

Similar, he puts wreaths. So in honor of her

I allowed Euclion to find that treasure,

So that he could more easily give his daughter away in marriage.

A certain noble young man performed on her

Violence: he knows who she is

30 She doesn’t know him, just like the father himself

Doesn't know about the violence against his daughter.

I'll do what this old neighbor does

He will ask her to be his wife, all then,

To make it easier for that young man to marry her:

The old man is the one who thinks to marry her,

He is the youth who disgraced her

It's a holiday on Cererin, and it's my uncle's.

But now the old man is screaming: he always does this.

He's driving the old woman away, so she wouldn't know the secret.

33. Periodization of Roman literature
Periodization

1. The pre-classical period is characterized first, as in Greece, by oral folk literature, as well as by the beginning of writing. Until half of the 3rd century. BC. this period is usually called Italic. Rome extended its power to all of Italy. From the middle of the 3rd century. BC. written literature is developing.

2. The classical period of Roman literature - the time of crisis and the end of the republic (from the 80s to the 30th year of the 1st century BC) and the era of the Principia of Augustus (until the 14th year of the 1st century AD)

3. but already at the beginning of the 1st century AD. The features of the decline of the classical period are quite clearly outlined. This process continues until the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD. This time can already be called the post-classical period of Roman literature. Here we should distinguish between the literature of the heyday of the empire (1st century) and the literature of the crisis, the fall of the empire (2-5 centuries AD)

The same mythology is preserved, but some of the names of the gods are changed: Juno, Venus.

^ Periodization of Roman literature, its features. In the middle of the 3rd century. BC e., when the Greeks had their classical literature behind them, and the Hellenistic one had already reached its peak, in the western part of the Mediterranean, in Italy, the second literature of ancient society began to develop - Roman. Rome, the central community of the Latin tribe, which led the unification of Italy, creates its own literature, parallel to Greek, and creates it in its own Latin language. Roman literature served as a transmission link between Greek and Western European literatures. The formative role of antiquity for Western European literature was based until the 18th century. on the influence of the Roman rather than the Greek variant. Both in the Renaissance and in the 17th - 18th centuries. Greek literature was perceived in Europe through the prism of Rome. The worldview and ideological forms developed in Greece at different stages of its historical path turned out to be suitable for the second ancient society, the Roman one, at the corresponding moments of its development. “Borrowing” from the Greeks therefore played a very significant role in the most diverse areas of Roman culture, in religion and philosophy, in art and literature. However, by “borrowing” from the Greeks, the Romans adapted what they borrowed to their needs and developed it in accordance with the specific features of their history. The stylistic forms of Roman literature represent a repetition, but at the same time a modification of Greek stylistic forms, and Roman literature as a whole is the second version of ancient literature, as a special stage of the world-historical literary process. According to tradition, which dates back to the Renaissance, Roman literature is usually divided into periods corresponding to the stages of development of the literary Latin language, which distinguishes between “archaic” Latin, “classical” (“golden” and “silver”) and “late” Latin. From this point of view, Roman literature is periodized as follows. I. The most ancient period - before the appearance of literature on the Greek image in Rome (before 240 BC). II. Archaic period - before the beginning of Cicero’s literary activity (240 - 81 BC). III. Golden age of Roman literature: a) the time of Cicero - the heyday of Roman prose (81 - 43 BC), b) the time of Augustus - the heyday of Roman poetry (43 BC - 14 AD .). IV. The Silver Age of Roman literature - until the death of Emperor Trajan (14 - 117 AD). V. Late Imperial Period (117 - 476 AD)

1. 
   ^ Roman theater from the Republican era

After the victorious end of the first Punic War, at the festive games of 240 BC, it was decided to stage a dramatic performance. The production was entrusted to the Greek Livius Andronicus, who was enslaved by a Roman senator, who gave him the Latin name Livius. After his release, he remained in Rome and began teaching Greek and Latin to the sons of the Roman nobility. This teacher staged a tragedy and probably also a comedy at the games, which he revised from the Greek model or, perhaps, simply translated from Greek into Latin. This production gave the first impetus to the development of Roman theater.

From 235 BC The playwright Gnaeus Naevius (circa 280-201 BC) begins to stage his plays on stage. He was a native of a Latin town in Campania and belonged to a plebeian family. After the end of the first Punic War, in which he took part, Naevius settled in Rome and began to engage in literary activities.

Gnaeus Naevius can rightfully be called the first original Roman poet. His poems (saturas), dramas, and the epic poem “The Punic War” were distinguished by their independence in artistic and ideological terms.

At the beginning of his dramatic activity, Naevius wrote tragedies based on the Greek model on the theme of the Trojan cycle of myths. But soon he performed tragedies based on subjects from Roman history. The Romans called this tragedy pretext. Later, pretexts used not only historical but also modern events as plots.

However, Naevius achieved his greatest fame in the field of comedy (unlike the Greek playwrights, he wrote works in two genres). Naevius was the creator of the palliata-literary comedy, which was a reworking of the neo-Attic, i.e. everyday Greek comedy. Palliata was staged in Rome during the 3rd-2nd centuries. BC. It got its name from the Greek wide plashapallium, since the action of the palliata always took place somewhere in Greece and its heroes wore Greek clothes.

Although Naevius adhered to the Greek originals, he processed them much more freely than Livius Andronicus. Naevius was the first to use the so-called contamination, i.e. a combination of two or three Greek storylines in Roman comedy. It is possible that Naevius became the founder of the Roman national comedy-togata.

Plautus (about 254-184 BC). The successor of Naevius' work as a comedian was his younger contemporary Titus Maccius Plautus. His work dates back to the period when Rome was transforming from an agricultural community into the strongest state, first of the Apennine Peninsula, and then of the entire Mediterranean basin.

According to the unanimous assessment of the ancients, Plautus was the most brilliant representative of the palliata. The favorite character of Plautus is a cunning, crafty slave who helps the young master settle love affairs. The secret of Plautus’s success lies, first of all, in the fact that his comedy, being an adaptation of the Greek ones, is original in spirit, and vividly captures the features of Roman life. Plautus sympathizes with the plebeian lower classes of a slave-owning society and condemns people seeking profit.

Plautus knew how to skillfully combine new Attic comedy with elements of folk Roman atellana, with its buffoonery, liveliness of action, with its sometimes obscene but witty jokes.

A large place in the comedies of Plautus is given to singing and music. In the new Attic comedy, singing and music were used only during intermissions. In Plautus, the musical element predominates in some comedies. These are cantics (from the Latin canto - “I sing”). Some of the cantikas were arias, others were performed in recitative to musical accompaniment.

Plautus's plays are dynamic; they are imbued with the pathos of inexhaustible energy and healthy optimism. At the same time, the characters of his heroes themselves are static, devoid of complexity and psychological depth. The poet pays main attention to the eventual side, and everything that concerns the internal development of the image is simplified and recedes into the background. Nevertheless, the grotesque technique characteristic of Plautus makes his characters theatrically expressive.

From Plautus, 20 comedies have come down to us in full and one in fragments. Almost all comedies begin with a prologue. The prologues are much longer than in the new Attic comedy, but serve the same purpose. They tell about the events that preceded the start of the action and how the intrigue will develop. The plot of many comedies was so confusing that it was difficult for viewers to follow the progress of the action without first becoming familiar with the content.

The comedies of Plautus lived a long historical life, although in the Middle Ages Plautus was thoroughly forgotten: theologians believed that there was a lot of immorality in his plays. But during the Renaissance, Plautus was resurrected again for the European theater. His plays are translated, various adaptations and imitations are created. The motifs of Plautus' comedies were processed by numerous playwrights: Ariosto, Arentino, Shakespeare, Molière and others.

Terence (circa 185-159 BC). Publius Terentius Afr, who, like Plautus, worked in the genre of palliata, belonged to the next generation of playwrights. A native of Carthage, Terence was brought to Rome as a boy, where he became the slave of a Roman senator. Noticing the young man's outstanding abilities, the senator gave him a good education and then set him free. Terence was on friendly terms with many famous people who were part of the circle of the enlightened patrician Scipio the Younger, a supporter of Greek culture and Greek education.

Terence wrote six comedies, all of which survive. As a rule, he borrows the plots of these comedies from Menander, and deliberately emphasizes their Greek flavor. The conflicts in Terence's comedies are of a family nature, and the playwright's main goal is to humanize morals.

Terence usually does not have such dynamics in the development of events as Plautus; he also abandons the theatrical means and techniques of atellana that his predecessor readily used - buffoonery, rude and juicy jokes, direct appeal to the audience during the action, etc. But Terence strives to give a more in-depth psychological description of his characters, creating interesting, life-like images.

One of the most famous comedies, "Brothers" (160 BC), raises the question of the education of youth. New views are winning in comedy, the representatives of which believe that one must be lenient towards the tricks of young people, educate them not with orders and punishments, but with good advice.

Terence's comedies introduced Roman audiences to a world of more complex emotional experiences than those of Plautus's heroes (albeit limited to family boundaries). In this respect, his works are closer to their common primary source, Menander.

Terence can be called the forerunner of the new European drama. The European theater has repeatedly turned to his work. The influence of his comedies "Formion" and "Brothers" is felt in the work of Moliere.

A new interest in the humanistic tendencies of the playwright arose in the 18th century, during the period of the formation of bourgeois “philistine” drama. Diderot considered Terence his predecessor, Lessing in "Hamburg Drama" gave a detailed analysis of "The Brothers", considering this comedy exemplary.

Atellana- (from lat. fabula atellana, fables from Atella) short farcical performances in the spirit of buffoonery, named after the city of Atella (modern Aversa) in Campania, where they originated.

PALLIATA(from Latin pallium - cloak) - “comedy of the cloak” (fabula palliata), Rome. comedy 3-2 centuries BC e., in which the actors performed in Greek. suits. For P. rome plots. comedians usually used Greek originals through contamination. neoattic comedy. P. depicts the everyday life and private life of an ordinary person. The constant types of P. are stingy old fathers, dissolute, wasteful sons, clever dexterous slaves, greedy pimps, boastful warriors, hetaeras, hangers-on (parasites). Rome. political conditions excluded the possibility of open social satire; Greek titles, names of characters, as well as figures of mercenary warriors, parasites, etc., alien to Rome, made it possible to formally see in P. a picture of the corrupted Greeks. morals, but through this picture the features of Rome shine through. life. Famous authors P. - Naevius, Plautus, Caecilius Statius, Terence; others are known only from scant fragments and play titles.

1. 
   ^ Dramaturgy of Plautus, “Kubishka”.

In the comedy "Treasure" ("Aulularia"), Plautus portrayed the poor man Euclio, who found a treasure. Instead of using the money in business, in the household, he buries it and suffers for whole days, afraid that someone will find his treasure. Euclion became a miser. Plautus deliberately exaggerates this trait of his hero. Euclion is so stingy that, according to the slave Strobilus, he regrets that the smoke from his hearth flies outside, that, when visiting the barber, his master takes away nail clippings with him; he feels sorry for his breathing, and therefore he covers his mouth with a handkerchief at night; While washing, he cries: “It’s a pity to spill water.”

In contrast to Euclion, his neighbor Megador is depicted. This is a rich merchant. He conducts a large trade, but he does not have even a shadow of hoarding. Megador is a widower and wants to marry again, but he is not looking for a rich bride with a large dowry.

Megador likes the daughter of the poor man Euclion, Phaedra, and he proposes marriage. Euclion at first refuses to marry Phaedra to this rich man: he imagines that Megadorus has learned about the treasure and is only wooing his daughter out of a desire to get gold. He says:

^ What power is there in gold!
I think he already heard that I keep a treasure at home,
That’s why he opened his mouth and stubbornly pursued kinship (265-267).

Meanwhile, Megador had no idea of ​​taking possession of the treasure, since he did not know about it; on the contrary, he did not have any selfish calculations, and he even believed that it would be better to live in the world if rich men always married poor girls - then there would be more harmony in the family, more order, less unnecessary luxury.

Megadorus speaks indignantly about the extravagance of the bride-wives, who only think about clothes and pleasures. His monologue is given at a fast pace, it consists either of short sentences or sentences with a mass of homogeneous members, which emphasizes Megador’s irritation (these features are captured in the Russian translation):

But Megadorus did not manage to marry Euclio’s daughter, since his nephew Lyconides became friends with her and they are expecting a child. Meanwhile, Lyconidas's slave, having spied where the treasure was hidden, stole it. Euclion is in despair. He runs in horror, shouting: “I’m lost! I’m dead!”

Plautus masterfully uses one of the theatrical techniques in this scene - an appeal to the audience, as well as one of the characteristic comic techniques of qui pro quo. Euclion shouts, addressing the audience: “Help, I pray. Point out the one who dragged him away!” Lyconides, having heard this speech of Euclion, full of despair, decided that the old man had learned about his daughter’s dishonor, so he runs up to him and says: “I confess that I did the act that disturbed your spirit.” Euclion understood the young man’s words as a confession of stealing a treasure.

Thus, Lyconides, full of consciousness of his guilt, says that love and wine are to blame for the fact that he took Euclio’s daughter Phaedra. Euclion, thinking only about the theft of the treasure, shouts: “How dare you touch someone else’s property?” Lyconides, referring to his connection with Phaedra, says, without naming a name: “Since, however, he touched it, it’s better that he stays with me.”

These words cause an even greater outburst of anger in Euclion, since he understands them in the sense that Lyconides considers it a legitimate matter - if he has already taken the treasure, then let it remain with him. Therefore, the old miser shouts that he will take the young man to the praetor if he does not return what he took. Lyconides is completely perplexed about what needs to be returned. Then Euclion shout: “What did you steal?” Only then does Lyconides realize that he and Euclio are talking about different things.

The end of the play has not reached us. From the retelling of this comedy made by some Roman grammarian, it is clear that the gold was returned to Euclion and Lyconides married his daughter. In the end, Euclio, as can be seen from one fragment, gives his gold to the newlyweds, citing the fact that there is a lot of trouble with him. “I had no peace either night or day,” he says, “but now I will sleep.”

Such an ending contradicts the character traits of Euclion, and it is possible that in the Neo-Attic comedy, the plot of which was used by Plautus, there was no such pronounced type of miser; Plautus himself created him, and he left the ending the same as in the Neo-Attic comedy.

The language of Plautus's heroes is colorful - it contains many colloquial expressions, sayings, and proverbs. So, Euclion says about his maid Stophila: “The beast has eyes on the back of her head.” He, not believing the sincerity of the rich man Megador, says, turning towards the audience: “He says bread with one hand, a stone in his other.” Scolding the cook Congrion for his inability to save money, Euclion remarks with annoyance: “If you are generous on a holiday unwisely, there will be a shortage on weekdays.” This proverb is similar to ours: “Even a fool knows the holiday, but does not remember everyday life.” Plautus often introduces a play on words into the speeches of the heroes, which gives them a comic character, although sometimes difficult to translate into Russian. So, the slave Strobilus, having spied where Euclion buried his treasure, hopes to steal it and says: “Gold is found - so I will dedicate a full and faithful measure of wine to Fidelity” (621-623). Here is a comparison of consonant Latin words with different roots: fidelitas - “loyalty” and fidelia - “wine vessel” (“full measure of guilt”).

^ 5. Style and language of Plautus' comedies.

Plautus loves to portray dexterous, intelligent, energetic slaves who usually help out their far from intelligent and passive masters. This image of a clever servant then runs like a red thread in the works of many Western European comedians - Shakespeare, Moliere, Goldoni, Beaumarchais. The image of Pseudolus is very interesting. This hero amazes with his resourcefulness, extraordinary energy and inexhaustible wit. His speeches contain a lot of proverbs, puns, jokes, sometimes somewhat frank and rude. So, he says to his young master, who is crying in despair because he cannot buy back his beloved girl from the pimp:

^ And she’s unlikely to like these tears:
Pouring water into a sieve is the same (103-105).

Plautus sometimes creates new words for comic effect; for example, in the comedy "The Tricks of the Parasite" Curculion says that his patron, the military leader Therapontigon, conquered such countries as Gluttony (Peredia) and Drinking (Parebibesia). For comedy, Plautus sometimes creates new words from combining Greek words with Latin ones, for example, the name Pseudolus - from the Greek word psey-dos - “lie” and the Latin word dolus - “cunning”.

Plautus is a great master of rhythm. He uses a variety of meters in comedies, trying to connect them with the mood of the characters. Thus, in the comedy “The Tricks of the Parasite,” depicting the joy of an old woman who smelled the smell of wine, he suddenly switches from iambic rhythm to dactylic:

^ The old fragrant wine suddenly filled my nostrils.
I love him passionately. Through the darkness it beckons me (96 et seq.).

In the comedy “The Trickster Slave,” Plautus changes his rhythm when he needs to convey the drunken babble of Pseudolus:

^ Where? Wait! Stay still, legs!
When I fall, who will pick me up?
If I fall, it will be a shame for you (1246 et seq.).

Comedies were very popular among the plebeian masses, captivating with their wit, dynamism, and extraordinary richness of language.
Titus Maccius Plautus - the most prominent Roman comedian (mid-3rd century - 184 BC). Closely connected with the traditions of Italian folk theater. About 130 comedies were attributed to Plautus, but 21 were singled out as truly Plautian, including “Treasure”, “The Tricks of the Parasite”, “The Boastful Warrior”, “The Trickster Slave” and others, see No. 45.

In his comedies, Plautus mostly portrays young merchants, often trading in overseas lands, showing conflicts between children with their fathers that interfere with their personal lives, conflicts with pimps from whose hands they need to snatch their beloved girls, and with moneylenders from whom they have to borrow money. In comedies, Plautus’s hatred of moneylenders and pimps is everywhere felt. The most striking images are smart, dexterous, energetic slaves. They help their young owners arrange their personal lives. Language close to the audience. The main characters are grotesque, their features are hyperbolic. The colloquial iambic hexameter is replaced by the seven-meter. trochaic or eight hundred. anapest. Chora, as in Neo-Attic. there is no comedy.

1. 
   Terence

At 160 BC. Terence staged the comedy "Brothers". The plot is taken from the comedy of the same name by Menander, and, in addition, a scene from one of the comedies of the Greek comedian Diphilus is used. The comedy "Brothers" reveals the problem of education. It depicts two brothers, Mikion and Demea. Mikion lives in the city, he is a merchant of wide scope, and Demea lives in the village, he is a large landowner. Demea has two sons - Aeschines and Ctesiphon. Aeschines was taken into his care by Mikion, he adopted him, and Ctesiphon lives with his father in the village.

Demea raises her son in the spirit of old traditions: he is strict with him, does not give him money for entertainment, and predicts a bride for him according to his wishes. And Mikion in the city raises his adopted nephew, Aeschines, in a completely different, new way: he is gentle with him, does not forbid him to have fun among young people. Mikion himself speaks about his education system, based on a mutual feeling of love and trust between parents and children:

Demea scolds his brother for such a gentle upbringing and believes that he will spoil Aeschines and the young man will become a spendthrift and a reveler. Meanwhile, although Demea holds her son Ctesiphon with a tight rein, youth still takes its toll, and the young man, secretly from his father, has fun with his friends and brother Aeschines, and falls in love with a hetaera flutist.

He wants to free the girl, ransom her from the pimp to whom she belongs, but he has no money. The pimp is going to take the flutist to Cyprus, and Ctesiphon, out of love for the girl, is ready to follow her. When Aeschines found out about this, in order to save his brother, he stole the hetera from the pimp.

The news of this reached Demea, and he scolds his brother, believing that all these ugly actions of the young man are the result of a gentle upbringing. When it turns out that Aeschines forcibly took the hetaera away from the pimp not for himself, but for his brother Ctesiphon, that Ctesiphon is in love with the hetaera, then Demea understands that his education system did not produce positive results.

The comedy ends with a scene borrowed by Terence from the comedy of Diphilus. Demea ironically invites brother Mikion to show his gentleness even more towards the people around him: to marry the mother of his daughter-in-law, to set free the slave Sirus, who helped Aeschines in everything, and to rent out a plot of land to his daughter-in-law’s closest relative, a poor man.

This ending somewhat disrupts the flow of the comedy, but it was in the taste of the majority of the Roman public, who still believed that one could not do without strict measures in the matter of education. Apparently, Terence also believed that it is necessary to wisely show gentleness towards them in raising children, but also due demands.

It is not for nothing that one of the heroes, old man Khremet, in the comedy “The Self-Tormentor” says: “I am a man! Nothing human is alien to me” (“Homo sum et nihil humanum a me alienum puto”). This expression of Terence became an aphorism that has survived to this day.

^ 4. Style and language.

Terence did not show as much independence in depicting characters as Plautus, although both of them used plots and images of Greek comedians.

It is not without reason that Terence’s biographer tells us Julius Caesar’s review of this Hellenophile writer:

Caesar already noted in a poetic address to Terence his “pure speech.” Cicero also speaks about the excellent literary language of this comedian:

Indeed, Terence's heroes speak in an elegant literary language. There are no rude vernacular expressions in their speech, almost no archaisms, but it also does not have the richness that is characteristic of the language of Plavtov’s characters.

In terms of composition, Terence's comedies are close to the comedies of Menander, but Terence builds prologues better than his teacher: he does not reveal in them the content of the plays in advance and, thanks to this, keeps the audience in suspense throughout the entire theatrical performance.

Terence was mainly appreciated in the circles of educated Hellenistic aristocrats. But later, during the Roman Empire, Terence's comedies became more popular. Many grammarians began to study and interpret them. Commentaries on Terence's comedies have reached us, compiled by the grammarian Donatus (IV century AD), who, in the process of analysis, often compares the text of Terence's comedies with those Greek comedies from which the Roman comedian took plots and images.
General characteristics of Terence's creative work. Comedy "Brothers". Terence is a writer from the Scipio group. In the 60s II century This group was influential. She fought the aggressive foreign policy aspirations of trade and usury capital, insisted on handouts to the Italian peasantry. Terence's comedies belong to the same “operetta” genre of the Roman palliata as the works of Plautus; they are also adaptations of Greek plays of the “new” comedy, but also ideologically and stylistically they are sharply different from the comedies of Plautus. "Mother-in-law." The prologue, an appeal to the audience, never serves expositional purposes in Terence. The exposition is given in the introductory scenes, but sometimes retains independence in the sense that a special figure is introduced for it, who listens and accompanies the story about the initial situation with remarks and no longer participates in the action. From the prologue to "The Mother-in-Law" we learn that this play failed twice. During the first production (in 165), the public did not watch it, becoming interested in the fist fighters and the rope dancer. When “The Mother-in-Law” was staged a second time (in 160), the audience ran away after the first act to watch the gladiators. Only during the third production (in the same year 160) the play was successful. There is not a single “comic” image in “Mother-in-Law”; The few scenes involving slaves provide a light touch of humor that never devolves into buffoonery. There is no intrigue here; The development of the action follows from the characters' personalities. The play is designed to elicit the viewer's sympathy for ordinary, good people who are entangled in a difficult situation. One of the most common themes of the “new” comedy is the conflict between fathers and sons based on the love interests of young people. The problem of education is posed in full in “Brothers”. For Rome, the trend of Menander's "Brothers" was unacceptable, and the Roman poet considered it necessary to give some revenge to Demea, the representative of the beginning of severity. The moral of Terence's play is obviously that both the principle of Demea and the principle of Mikion are one-sided, that the right line lies somewhere in the middle

1. 
   ^ General characteristics of Lucretius’ poem “On the Nature of Things” (see the world of Sophia)

Lucretius wrote a six-book poem entitled “On the Nature of Things” (or perhaps simply “On Nature,” which was the title of numerous poems of Greek natural philosophy). This poem is written in dactylic hexameter - also by analogy with Greek didactic poems. Apparently, Lucretius did not bring it to its final form, because many rough edges are felt in the middle of the poem, and the very end is missing.

Formally, Lucretius’s poem is, as Lucretius himself repeatedly admits, a poetic presentation of the philosophy of Epicurus, who lived in Greece at the turn of the 4th-3rd centuries. BC. One can also add to this the dependence of Lucretius on the earlier natural philosophers of Greece. In essence, the use of Greek natural philosophers pales in Lucretius before the power of his own poetic talent.

^ 3. Contents of the poem.

Each of the six books of the poem is characterized by some general tendency, which is not so difficult to formulate.

The first book of the poem has an introduction dedicated to Venus (1-43), the ancestor of the Roman people, with a request for the establishment of peace on earth. The formal contradiction of such an introduction with the materialism of Lucretius does not relate to the essence of the matter, because here we find only a tribute to the traditional appeal of poets to the deity at the beginning of their works, and immediately after this appeal Lucretius gives a sharp criticism of religion, depicting its enormous harm in human history.

The main content of the first book is the doctrine of the primary substances of existence, namely, atoms and emptiness (265-634), and the resulting doctrine of the infinity of matter and space, the infinity of worlds and, consequently, the boundlessness of the world. And since atoms are indestructible, Lucretius puts forward another general thesis: nothing appears from nothing, and nothing disappears into nothing, therefore, the will of the gods, whose existence Lucretius does not deny, does not interfere in any way with the order of the universe.

The second book contains a number of previous ideas. The gods do not participate in the world in any way; the cult of the Great Mother is depicted and her functions are depicted, but not to justify this cult, but only as a symbol of life-giving nature (588-569). Nevertheless, the second book is a big step forward in the development of atomistic teaching.

The properties of atoms and the emergence of complex bodies from simple and heterogeneous atoms are depicted here (660-699).

Particular attention is drawn to the beginning and end of the second book: at first, Lucretius talks about the wisdom and tranquility of a person who is on the seashore and does not participate in sea storms, during which ships sink; in conclusion, Lucretius has a famous argument that the movement in the world is gradually slowing down and that the “eternal death” of the world is approaching (1105-1174). The third book, like the first, praises Epicurus (1-30). Basically, this entire book sets out the proof of the materiality of the spirit and soul. Lucretius puts into the mouth of the nature he personified an instruction to man about the need to maintain complete peace of mind and drive away all fears and horrors at the thought of death (31-829, 830-1094).

The fourth book is also devoted to psychology, but with the development of a theory of individual mental abilities. First, the question of knowing things with the help of those images that are separated from things and act on the senses is discussed. Next, individual sensations are considered: vision, hearing, taste, smell, as well as mental ideas (230-836). Lucretius’s presentation here is not consistent throughout. From individual feelings, Lucretius moves on to the theory of the general functions of the human body, discussing hunger and thirst, walking and movement, sleep and dreams, and love experiences (1037-1287).

The fifth book, glorifying Epicurus and denying the participation of gods in world history, is devoted to questions about the origin and development of the world and its current structure (1037-1287); Particular attention is paid to the development of the Earth, which, according to Lucretius, is gradually moving toward exhaustion, and to the periods of development of organic beings along with the development of human culture, ranging from the wild state of people to the times of civilization (772-1457). In the sixth book, Lucretius explains, with the help of his atomism, various phenomena in the field of individual sciences - meteorology, geology and medicine (96-1286).

Summing up the content of Lucretius's poem, it must be said that, despite some deviations to the side, the content develops very consistently and logically, moving from the general to the specific: in the first book - the most general teaching about atoms and emptiness; in the second - about the emergence of complex physical bodies from simple atoms; in the third - about the same atomistic emergence and destruction of spirit and soul; in the fourth - private psychology; in the fifth - the history of the world and man; in the sixth book - a rationalistic explanation of certain areas of nature and life.

^ 4. Worldview of Lucretius.

a) The materialism of Lucretius is the first thing that catches your eye. The world for Lucretius is an objective being that exists outside of human consciousness and independently of it.

b) The concrete expression of this materialistic doctrine is atomism in Lucretius.

Bodies are destructible, but the atoms that make them up are indestructible. Every origin and every death is therefore nothing more than the union and division of atoms. An atom is the smallest particle of matter. So small that it can no longer be crushed further. Atoms have only mechanical properties: density, one or another size, one or another figure and the eternal motion inherent in them by nature. Atoms do not possess any other properties: neither visual, nor auditory, nor olfactory, nor gustatory, nor tactile.

By nature, atoms fall from top to bottom. But in order to form complex bodies from them, Lucretius introduces spontaneous deflection into the concept of the atom, which makes it possible for some atoms to combine with others and thereby form complex bodies. The variety of forms of atoms is limited, since otherwise the complex bodies arising from them could not have their constant qualities.

c) Atomism preached by Lucretius leads to a scientific explanation of the world and to the study of the laws reigning in it instead of religious and mythological ideas, which are regarded at best as childish naivety, and at worst as unreasonableness, leading not only to mistakes and stupidity, but also and to crimes. In this respect, Lucretius went far ahead of Democritus and Epicurus. While in Epicurus science is allowed only for the purpose of freeing man from imaginary fears and horrors, in Lucretius it has a completely independent meaning as a path to establishing an objective picture of the universe. Also, the criticism of mythology and religion takes on a much more energetic and militant character in Lucretius than in Epicurus.

The philosophy of Lucretius is by no means complete atheism. Lucretius only denies the influence of the gods from the finest matter, and therefore from the corresponding atoms. They live a blissful life, not needing any action or worry at all; it would be humiliating for them to create the world and take care of all its endless details. Bearing in mind such a lofty interpretation of the existence of the gods, it must be said that in Lucretius they are not at all an accidental and external appendage to his philosophy. On the contrary, these are the ideals to which the epicure strives, dreaming of escaping all the worries of life and living in his own self-pleasure. Therefore, when Lucretius calls Epicurus a god, this is not at all some fantastic metaphor or hyperbole; he really thought that Epicurus had achieved divine wisdom and serenity, complete freedom from all communication with others.

e) Finally, although Lucretius nowhere expresses his socio-political views in the form of any specific system or doctrine, nevertheless, his disposition against all violence is quite obvious. In a remarkable passage we find a heartfelt picture of man’s bestial struggle for existence, a picture of endless greed, the desire for profit, wealth and fame, and in general a gloomy picture of human vices and crimes that arise on the basis of social inequality and man’s fear of death. Against nobility and power (II, 37-54), social violence, against “proud kings”, against the criminal search for positions and power, against the exhausting work of plowmen and winegrowers, as well as miners, against the sated rich, luxury, debauchery, sophistication of language lovers, against violent war, in defense of universal peace in Lucretius we find the most eloquent words and even entire passionate appeals. Lucretius had absolutely no illusions about the ills of modern society.

But all these storms and cosmic catastrophes alternate in Lucretius with pictures of a peaceful, beautiful and satisfied life, which sometimes even takes on an idyllic coloring. This is the picture of the revival of nature after the rain (I, 250-261).
Lucretius lived in the first half of the 1st century BC, when Rome was painfully transitioning from a republican system to an empire. The Enlightenment developed with its illusions; it was thought that materialistic teaching could strengthen the raging socio-political element. The six-book poem “On the Nature of Things” formally represents a poetic exposition of the philosophy of Epicurus. The poet sharply criticizes religion, teaches about the primary substances of existence, about atoms and emptiness. He says that matter is infinite, nothing appears from nothing, and does not just disappear. Lucretius depicts the cult of the Great Mother as a symbol of living nature. He writes about the wisdom and tranquility of man, but that the movement in the world gradually slows down and the eternal death of the world occurs. Lucretius sets out proof of the materiality of the spirit and calls for maintaining complete calm of spirit and driving away all fears from oneself. He also writes about mental abilities, about the knowledge of things, about human needs. The content develops very consistently and logically, from general to specific.

1. 
   ^ Works of Cicero

Titus Maccius Plautus(?254 BC, Sarsina, Umbria - 184 BC, Rome) - an outstanding Roman comedian, master of palliata. The time of Plautus's literary activity dates back to the end of the 3rd and beginning of the 2nd century. BC.; Only two dates for the production of his comedies are known for sure - in 200 and 191. A prolific and popular playwright among the Roman public, Plautus left a large number of comedies, to which were subsequently mixed many inauthentic plays staged on stage under his name.

Reproducing the usual plots of the “new” comedy and its masks, Plautus’s plays are varied in structure and tone. His direction of processing the Greek originals is that, based on the “new” comedy, the Roman playwright weakens its serious side, introduces elements of buffoonery and farce, brings his plays closer to the more primitive “lower” forms of comic acting, but the degree of this approximation can be quite different. The variety of forms and styles is immediately noticeable in Plautus's prologues. These direct appeals to the public serve different purposes: they communicate, if necessary, the plot background of the play, the title of the original and the name of its author, and almost always contain a request for favor and attention.

The title of the play "Aulularia" comes from the Latin aulula, a diminutive of aula - "pot". The folklore idea of ​​the harm that unexpectedly falling wealth can bring to a person served here as the basis for the creation of a psychologically developed image.

The comedy has given rise to numerous imitations, the most famous of which is Molière's The Miser.

Significant names of the characters in the comedy: the cooks - Anfrak - "coal" and Congrion named after the sea fish conger - "sea eel", the slave Strobil - "top", the slave Staphyla - "bunch of grapes" (meaning her penchant for wine).

Translation from Latin by A. Artyushkov

Collected works in 3 volumes. T. 1. – M.: Terra, 1997.

CHARACTERS

Lar, Euclio's god of the hearth. Euclio, old man.

Stafila, the old maid. Megadorus, an old man, Euclio's neighbor.

Eunomia, his sister. Lyconides, her son.

Strobilus, slave Anfrak, cook.

Congrion, cook. Pifodik, slave.

Phaedra, daughter of Euclio.

Don't know who I am? I'll tell you briefly:

I am Lar home, from this house,

Where, as you can see, I came from. Here

I've been living for many years, I was a patron

To the father and grandfather of the new owner.

His grandfather entrusted me with gold with a prayer

Hidden treasure: in the middle of its hearth

He buried it and begged me to protect it...

This one, he is now the master of the house,

Exactly the same disposition as my father and grandfather,

His daughter lives with him, she is a gift to me every day

Brings wine, incense or something

Similar, he puts wreaths. So in honor of her

I allowed Euclion to find that treasure,

So that he could more easily give his daughter away in marriage.

A certain noble young man performed on her

Violence: he knows who she is

She doesn’t know him, just like the father himself

Doesn't know about violence against daughter

I'll do what this old neighbor does

He will ask her to be his wife, all then,

To make it easier for that young man to marry her:

The old man is the one who thinks to marry her,

He is the youth who disgraced her

It's a holiday on Cererin, and it's my uncle's.

ACT ONE

Euclio

I have never seen such an old woman as vile

Forever! Really, I'm very afraid of her:

He'll sneak up on me by surprise,

Find out where the gold is hidden!

The beast also has eyes on the back of its head.

I’ll go and see where I hid it, is there gold there?

Oh, how much anxiety and worry I have with him!

Stafila

And it’s hard to understand what happened to the owner!

What a disaster! Really crazy:

This is how it drives me out of the house

Ten times a day. Which one, I just don’t understand

The man went crazy!

And here's another thing: how to hide the master's daughter

Dishonor (she's about to give birth)?

Euclio

Exhausted. I need to leave the house!

How diligently I hide it from everyone,

And it seems that everyone knows: everyone knows me

Greeted more kindly than before

ACT TWO

Megador

I would rather die than get married.

However, if you offer one,

So that she comes tomorrow, the day after tomorrow

They took it out the door, then I agree.

Prepare the wedding on this condition.

By the will of the gods, by the labors of my ancestors, I am quite rich,

What do I care about swagger, tons of clients, a sumptuous dowry?

Scream, whims, commands, purple, ivory

On carts, women's clothing - what do I need in them?

These expenses turn all husbands into slaves.

Megador

I’ll tell him a little, I’m sure I’m talking about my matchmaking

To his daughter, he will decide: this is a mockery.

I have never seen anyone who was as stingy as he was due to poverty.

Euclio

So why then are you wooing my daughter?

Megador

I will improve your situation, and you will improve mine.

Euclio

That's what comes to mind. You're a rich man

And he is influential, just like I am a poor man from the poor.

I’ll marry my daughter to you (it occurs to me):

You are like a bull, and I am like a donkey. Should we harness the two of us?

I can’t carry the load level, the donkey fell into the mud and lies:

The bull will not turn around, as if there is no donkey in the world.

You will become my enemy, and everyone around you will laugh at me.

There is no stall for me either here or here if things go wrong like this.

Donkeys will tear you to pieces with their teeth, and bulls will press you with their horns.

Leaving donkeys for oxen is a very big risk for me.

Megador

To become related to honest people is the best thing.

Euclio

But there is no dowry!

Megador

Let be! If you have a good disposition, this dowry will suffice.

Euclio

I don't want you to think that I found some kind of treasure.

Megador

I have no dispute

I don't foresee it. As for the wedding, why not now?

Can't we handle it?

Strobilus

Our old man's cracker is dryer than pumice.

And when he goes to bed, he covers his mouth with a bag.

Anfrak

Strobilus

And so as not to lose your breath in your sleep...

I wash my face a little, and cries: it’s a pity to spill water!

Even if you ask for a loan from hunger, it won’t give.

Once I cut the nails of a barber:

He collected and took with him all the scraps.

In my spare time I would tell you hundreds of cases.

ACT THREE

Euclio (leaves the house, feeling the pot of gold)

Here, with me! Wherever I go, I’ll take it with me now.

I won’t leave him in such danger!

At least everyone go to the house now, cooks and flute players,

And bring with you, perhaps, even a whole regiment of slaves.

Fry quickly and cook as long as you want.

Megador

I think if only everyone did this

Rich, married without dowry

For the poor - there would be more among citizens

Consent, they would know much less

We are envious: how envious we are now!

And the wives would be in greater fear,

And our expenses would decrease.

For most it would be much better

Only with a minority would the fight take place, with the greedy.

Their greed and complete gluttony

There is no law or limit.

Euclio (to the side)

With what pleasure I hear this.

Says great about being thrifty!

Megador

The husband has complete dowry in his power:

A wife with a dowry means ruin for her husband.

Euclio

Potty! You have many enemies!

They look at the gold hidden in you.

I decided to do this: I’ll take you away

To the Temple of Fidelity, it will be better hidden there.

You know me, Fidelity, I know you. Look,

Don't change your name when you

I'll trust you with my goodness!

ACT FOUR

Strobilus

My lord loves the daughter of poor Euclion,

I learned the news: they are marrying her to Megador.

He sent me to find out what was going on here.

So as not to arouse suspicion, I will sit here on the altar,

I can see from here what’s going on here and there.

Euclio

Loyalty! I conjure again, again, save my treasure:

I entrusted the gold to you and hid it in the grove of the temple.

Strobilus

What do I hear! What did he say, gods! Full of gold

Hid the pot in the temple! Loyalty, be no less to me

Faithful than him! The father of the girl whom

My master is in love, I must think. I'll come in here

Inside, to the temple, and I’ll rummage through everything there to see if I can find it somewhere

Gold while he's busy.

Euclio (returns)

Oh, no wonder the raven shouted from the left, not good. Trouble!

My heart, like a skilled dancer, immediately jumped.

There's a pounding in my chest. But why am I standing? Run quickly!

Here is the fidelity I place my trust in

I wanted to: she almost wiped my nose.

If it weren't for the raven's help, I would have died

There is a Silvana Grove outside the city, in the wilderness,

The bush is frequent, I will choose a place there.

It is better to give Faith to Sylvan than to Fidelity.

Lyconide

I said everything. You're just like me now

You know everything about your daughter Euklionova.

Eunomia

You know yourself how much I always want

Your desires to see fulfillment.

I hope I can get this from my brother,

And it's fair if it's true that,

By getting drunk, you dishonored that girl.

Strobilus

Having left here then, I was much earlier

On the spot I climbed a tree there too,

I look to see where the old man hides the gold.

When he left, I climbed down from the tree,

I'm digging up a treasure... I'll hide it at home.

Euclio

I'm lost! I'm dead! I'm killed!

On the ground! What is life to me? How much gold do I

Lost it, and how I guarded it!

I robbed myself, and now

Everyone is happy about my ruin and evil!

I can't bear to endure this.

Lyconide

Who is here in front of our house crying and wailing like that?

It's Euclio, I see! I'm lost! Case solved!

He already found out about his daughter’s birth, of course!

I confess, I did.

Euclio

What do I hear from you!

That act that disturbed your spirit,

Why did I offend you so much?

Why did you decide to destroy me, my children?

Lyconide

God pushed me to do this, he drew me to her.

I admit my wrongdoing, all my responsibility.

And I came to ask you: forgive me from the bottom of my heart!

Euclio

Touch how you dared to touch my goods

Without me?

Lyconide

Wine is guilty and love.

Having done something stupid, I came myself and apologize.

Euclio

She’s not yours, you knew: you shouldn’t touch her.

Lyconide

Once, however, he touched it, it’s better to let it stay

Euclio

I'll drag you to the praetor! I'll file a complaint, I swear

If you don't return it.

Lyconide

Return it to me? What?

Euclio

What was mine that he stole?

Lyconide

I? Stole yours? Where? What's happened?

No, tell me, what are you looking for?

Euclio

My gold is in a jar. You yourself admitted that you took it.

Lyconide

No, I didn’t say it, I didn’t take it.

I don’t know either your jar or your gold.

Euclio, before you, before your daughter:

For what I unwittingly did wrong, forgive me too

Join her in legal marriage. I confess to you

I offended your daughter on Cererin day:

I succumbed to the influence of wine and the ardor of youth.

Is it a problem that you became a grandfather right before your daughter’s wedding?

Count the tenth month from the festival of Cererin yourself,

That’s why my uncle sent me a refusal because of me.

Euclio

It's just death!

After one misfortune, others just fall.

ACT FIVE

Strobilus

A pot full of gold.

Four pound...

I stole this from Euclio, the old man.

Lyconide

Where is the gold?

Strobilus

In my box. Now I want

I ask you to let me go freely.

Lyconide

I repeat, return everything.

Strobilus

Even if you kill me, you won’t get anything from me here.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The end of the play did not come. Since the list of characters in the last scene of the manuscript mentions, among other things, Euclio, it follows that he also took part at the end of the scene. In addition, from the poetic summaries (arqumentum) of this comedy, belonging to some Roman grammarian around the 2nd century. AD, it is clear that the gold was returned to Euclio. Overjoyed, he marries his daughter to Lyconides and gives them gold as a dowry. Judging by the very few passages preserved by the Latin grammarians, he is glad to have finally got rid of this treasure, for which he had to dig ten holes a day, and not know rest day or night, and can now sleep.

Terence "Mother-in-Law"

Publius Terence Afr(about 190-159 BC) - the most talented representative of ancient Roman comedy after Plautus.

According to the tastes of the time, Terence was not original; As a model for himself, he chose mainly the Greek comedian Menander, without translating him, however, literally and borrowing entire scenes from other Greek writers. In the art of composing his plays from the works of two authors or from two works of the same author (the so-called contamination), Terence achieved considerable skill, but this, at the same time, indicates the poet’s lack of his own inventiveness.

Terence's comedy "The Mother-in-Law" is a reworking of a play by a little-known follower of Menander, Apollodorus of Carystus. Apollodorus developed a plot about a husband who committed violence against his future wife, i.e. the plot of the “Arbitration Court” of Mennader, with the same resolution of the conflict with the help of a noble hetaera.

From the prologue to "The Mother-in-Law" we learn that this play failed twice. It wasn't until the third production that the play was successful. Indeed, if the audience was expecting bright comic impressions or the usual buffoon figures, “Mother-in-Law” could not help but disappoint them. While in Plautus every scene has a certain comic effect, in Terence there is very little that is “funny.” There is not a single “comic” image in “Mother-in-Law”; The few scenes involving slaves provide a light touch of humor that never devolves into buffoonery. There is no intrigue here; The development of the action follows from the characters' personalities. The play is designed to elicit the viewer's sympathy for ordinary, good people who are entangled in a difficult situation. "Mother-in-Law" is more of a "drama" than a "comedy".

Terence. Comedy. – M.: Fiction, 1985. (Series “Library of Ancient Literature”).

Translation from Latin by A. V. Artyushkov

DIDASCALIA

Greek play, Apollodorus. Composed by the fifth. Played for the first time without a prologue in the consulate of Gnaeus Octavius ​​and Titus Manlius. Performed a second time in honor of Lucius Aemilius Paulus at funeral games, I did not like it. Performed for the third time under the curule aediles Quintus Fulvia and Lucius Marcia. I liked it.

GAYA SULPICIA APOLLINARIA

Pamphilus takes Philumena as his wife - she

He had caused offense before, in girls.

And, forcefully removing the ring from his finger, he gave it away

To the mistress Bacchides. After that

He left for Imbr, he did not touch his wife.

Pregnant woman - mother takes (father-in-law does not know)

To yourself as if sick. And Pamphilus for childbirth

He returned secretly, but he doesn’t want to accept

Wives. He is blamed for his connection with Bacchida

Father; at the acquittal of Bacchides mother

Offended, Mirrina recognizes the ring.

Pamphil takes his wife and child here.

Laches, old Parmenon, slave

Sostrata, his wife Sosia, slave

Pamphilus, his son Bacchides, hetaera

Phidippus, the old neighbor of Philotis, hetaera

Mirrina, his wife Sira, the old woman pimp

Second prologue

Here is a lawyer in a prologue suit.

Let me be a happy lawyer,

You let me take advantage in my old age

The right that I enjoyed as a young man

It will happen that the new play will fail,

Then I helped her grow old too

With the poet, so that creation does not perish.

...Now you favor

My personal request to meet you.

The comedy "Mother-in-Law" is being staged here again.

I could never play it in silence:

Such a misfortune happened to her!

But your understanding will soften the trouble,

Coming to the aid of our efforts.

He put his work under the protection of me and himself

Under your protection, and the malice of the evil ones

Let him not be a victim and a laughing stock

For my own sake, I ask you

My protection and listen to us in silence.

Act one

Parmenon

I loved this Bacchida madly.

But then his father began to ask him: “Get married!”

And he gave the usual arguments

Fatherly: “I’m an old man, you’re the only son,

In my old age I would like support."

But, having seen on the wedding day itself that everything

It’s done and marriage cannot be postponed,

I missed you so much

"I'm dead! What have I done? I'm in trouble!

Lost, poor man! This is unbearable to me!"

A day or two passes, and I

Pamphil somehow takes him out of the house.

Said he still hasn't touched the girl

And that when I got married, I hoped

That there is enough strength to cope with this marriage;

"But mockery of the one who

I decided not to keep it to myself,

It would not bring honor to me, but to the girl

It would cause harm, so I'd rather do it

The same innocent parents

I will return it as I received it from them."

Philotis

From your words,

What an honest and decent character!

Parmenon

And that's mainly

He and her quarreled. That's how he found out

Himself, her and the one who was at home with him,

And he appreciated the characters of both of them.

One of them is how a woman should be

Decent, modest, bashful, manly

Everything takes away grievances, injustices

And he hides insults from others.

Partly out of pity for his wife,

Partly due to the insolence of his mistress

So little by little he fell behind Bacchides

And he transferred love to this one, found it in her

The character is close. Meanwhile on Imbros

The old man died alone - he was his relative;

The inheritance according to the law went to them.

Father sent Pamphilus there from home,

A lover who didn’t want to go.

He left his wife here with his mother.

The old man retired to the village; in the city

It happens rarely.

Philotis

What is it so far, tell me?

Is this marriage fragile?

Parmenon

Things went on peacefully for them for quite some time,

Suddenly I began to hate in a strange way

She is to Sostratus; meanwhile they have no quarrels

There were no complaints at all.

Act two

Lakhet

...Isn't it a shame!

Right? An old woman and a young woman are at enmity!

Isn’t it her fault, you say?

Sostrata

I won't say that.

Lakhet

At your command, your sons will take brides,

Then, on your own orders, they are kicked out.

Sostrata

I will swear that I am not guilty of what my husband accuses me of,

But it’s so hard to justify yourself: it’s firmly driven into your head,

That mothers-in-law are all wrong. I'm not like that, I swear.

I always treated her like my own daughter,

And why this happened to me, I don’t know.

Act three

Pamphilus

Now - is it the wife’s fault, or is it the mother’s fault, I’ll start looking,

If I find it, what else will be left for me besides grief?

Respect for her tells me to bear my mother's grievances,

And I myself am in debt to my wife: she bore with meekness

My injustices and hid them from everyone.

But obviously something important happened to them,

Where did the enmity between them begin and last for a long time?

Parmenon

Perhaps it doesn’t matter...

And why? Yes, an unstable spirit rules their actions.

Almost like children, women are frivolous in their decisions.

Pamphilus

You are hiding a big problem from me.

Parmenon

About your wife

They said she was sick, I don’t know why. Isn't that it?

Pamphilus

As soon as I walked in, I immediately found out what was wrong with her:

She didn’t have time to hide her illness,

She moaned as much as she does in this position.

Seeing, "Scandal!" - I scream and run away from there

With tears, amazed by this disgrace.

Mother is behind me. I was already beyond the threshold. And at my feet

Here she fell down in tears.

And she addresses me with this speech:

“You see for yourself, Pamphil, the reason why she left.

Some scoundrel dishonored her as a girl;

To hide the birth from you and others, she came to us.”

But, remembering that prayer, I cannot hold back my tears!

"By the fate that brought you here today,

We pray to both, human and divine law

Keep silent in front of everyone, hide her misfortune!

If from her, Pamphilus, you experienced affection,

Show her this favor, which is not difficult for you.

As for returning your wife back to you,

Do whatever is most convenient for you, please.

You know about her alone, that she will not give birth to you.

After all, she got together with you after only two months.

And since I got married, it’s already the seventh month.

If it becomes impossible to hide so as not to be noticed,

I will say, he was a bastard. And no one I think

He won't suspect anything, it's so natural -

Consider you the legitimate father. And the child immediately

We'll make it happen. There is no harm to you at all in

Yes, and you’ll hide the vile insult of that unfortunate woman like that,”

I promised and I firmly decided to keep this word.

However, honor does not allow me to take it back,

No, although love and habit strongly pull me towards her,

I cry as I think about what my life will be like

Pamphil (to himself)

But what reason can I give to my father?

Why won’t I take her back? I do not know!

Pamphilus

...I swear to the gods that

That our breakup was not caused by my fault at all.

But since she considers it low for her to

To make a concession to the mother, putting up with her modest disposition,

And it is impossible to reconcile them among themselves in any other way,

Then, Phidippus, I must break up with her or with my mother.

My filial duty tells me to put my mother above.

Act Four

Phidippus

That's why I'm annoyed because you, without asking me,

I dared to act. I forbid from home

Carry the child out wherever you want.

Mirrina

You cannot find a more unhappy woman in the world than me.

It’s clear to me how he will react to the matter, having learned the whole truth...

He forces us to accept the child, but we don’t know the father!

The daughter could not see the rapist’s face in the dark,

Nor take anything off him by which he can be recognized later.

But he tore the ring off the girl’s finger as he left.

What we asked him for, when he finds out,

That we accept someone else's boy as his.

Sostrata

It is quite clear that you suspect me, my son,

That my character forced your wife to leave us,

I didn’t do anything to deliberately arouse hatred in her.

And how much you love me, you completely confirmed today,

What I always expected: your father told me,

How you put me above even your love.

Now I want to repay this with gratitude,

So that you know that I also have filial love

Reward. Whatever is convenient for you will be to my credit:

I decided to go with your father to the village,

My presence will not interfere, it will not remain

There is no excuse for Filumena to return.

Pamphilus

It's still not decided,

What will I do with my wife?

Lakhet

What to do? Yes, sure,

Take it back.

Pamphil (to himself)

And I want it myself and I can barely hold on.

But no, I won’t change my mind! I will follow the benefits.

(Aloud)

If I return it, there will hardly be a happy life!

Phidippus

Oh your wife

It's not my fault. It came from mine

It's all about Myrrhina.

Lakhet

Bring back your wife! And don't resist me anymore!

Pamphilus

Father, whenever she wanted from me

Have children and be married to me,

She wouldn't hide it from me

What she hid, as far as I understand.

Why return?

Lakhet

Mother gave advice

The young woman obeyed.

Why be surprised? How do you think,

Can you find a woman without guilt?

Or a man without wrongdoing?

Yes, you yourself. You're doing it unfairly.

You make up pretexts for discord,

So that you can live with her again,

Remove this witness from yourself

My wife noticed that. What's she like

Was there another reason to leave you?

Phidippus

Just a correct guess! Everything is just like that!

Lakhet

Phidippus! What to do? What advice can you give me?

Phidippus

What to do? See your lover soon

Ask her and accuse her, then threaten her,

So that she doesn’t continue to communicate with him in the future.

Act five

Bacchides

Oh, if only I could find

Something stronger than an oath, which would surely make

You believe me, I would assure you in every possible way,

That Pamphilus I removed since he was married.

Lakhet

Enter the house and give this oath to both women,

Calm them down and clear yourself of all blame.

Bacchides

Fine. You're welcome, I agree.

Bacchides

By the way, Parmenon! Run to Pamphilus quickly.

Tell me, please come.

Parmenon

Bacchides

No, to Filumena.

Parmenon

Nothing more needs to be said?

Bacchides

No, here's another one.

The ring that he once gave me

Recognized by Myrrhina. This is her daughter's ring.

Bacchides

Almost nine months ago, I remember

He runs into me late at night, out of breath,

Without companions, drunk on wine, with this ring.

Confessed that he committed violence on the street

Someone was standing over the girl and in the struggle he stole the ring.

Mirrina recognized the ring on my finger.

"Where?" - asks. I told you all this.

That's how they found out that he had done this with Philumena

And that this child was born from him today.

Pamphilus

You didn't tell your father anything about this?

Bacchides

Pamphilus

There's no need for that. And keep quiet. Why do we, as in comedies,

So do it! Everyone there will know about everything! Who was supposed to know

He knows. Those who should not know need not tell.

Bacchides

That's not enough. I can assure you even more

The point is that this matter remains a secret.

The mother-in-law told her husband that she believed him

The oath taken by me also recognizes my son-in-law as justified.

Seneca "Phaedra"

Lucius Annaeus Seneca or Seneca Jr. or simply Seneca(c. 4 BC - 65 AD) - Roman Stoic philosopher, poet and statesman. Nero's tutor and one of the leading exponents of Stoicism.

Seneca's tragedies do not pose problems, do not resolve conflicts. The playwright of the time of the Roman Empire, who is also a Stoic philosopher, perceives the world as a field of action of a blind, inexorable fate, to which a person can only oppose the greatness of subjective self-affirmation, indestructible firmness of spirit, the readiness to endure everything and, if necessary, to perish.

Attic tragedy, in accordance with its ritual origins, often ended with a happy ending; for Seneca, a successful outcome is already an exception, and from this side his tragedy approaches the tragedy of the New Age.

The central images of Seneca are people of enormous strength and passion, with the will to action and suffering, torturers and martyrs.

In “Phaedra” he comes not from the second “Hippolytus” of Euripides that has come down to us, but from his first tragedy, where Phaedra was a seductress, not a victim. As in Medea, the reader, from the very first appearance of Phaedra, sees the full picture of the passion that gripped her. She herself confesses her love to Hippolytus. After Theseus’s return, she herself accuses her stepson of criminal intentions, and only when they bring Hippolytus’ body torn into pieces, she admits to slander and kills herself near his corpse.

Translation by S. Osherov

Greek tragedy. World Library of Poetry. – Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 1997.

CHARACTERS

Hippolytus. Phaedra.

Phaedra's nurse. Theseus.

Herald. Athenian Choir.

The action takes place in Athens.

The Amazon Antiope gave birth to Theseus Hippolytus, who declared that he would lead a chaste life, for, completely devoted to the hunt, he honored Diana and fled Venus. Phaedra, Hippolytus's stepmother, seduced by his beauty, loses her mind from love. While Theseus is in the underworld, she tries to overcome the chastity of the young man with prayers and flattery, but Hippolytus rejects his shameless wife. Then, in despair, she exchanges love for hatred and, upon Theseus’s return, she slanders her stepson, as if he wanted to dishonor her by force. Hippolytus flees from the godless house, however, when he hurried to a foreign land, a sea bull, sent by Neptune through Theseus’s prayer, unexpectedly appeared before him, and, blocking the way for the chariot, filled Hippolytus’s horses with terror, so that they, not feeling the bridle, took off and overturned the chariot and the body of the fallen young man was dragged over stones and thorns, tormenting him. Having learned about the death of Hippolytus, Phaedra reveals the whole truth to her husband and pierces herself with a sword over the remains of the deceased. Theseus mourns the death of his innocent son and laments his premature anger and cruel sentence. He collects the torn remains and puts them together as best he can.

Nurse

O thou wife of Theseus, blood of Jupiter,

Quickly drive passion out of your pure heart!

Extinguish the flame of criminal love, I pray...

You want to share a bed with father and son,

Take their seed into the bosom of the wicked?

Well, pervert nature with abominable passion!

Phaedra

O nurse,

It's all true, I know. But madness for the worse

Pushes, the spirit obviously rushes towards the abyss...

What can the mind do? Passion rules, conquering,

And the whole soul is in the power of the mighty God.

Nurse

You know how a queen should live.

Fear, for your royal husband will return.

Phaedra

No, love alone rules over me!

His return is not scary to me: under the bright vault

No one came back from those who descended

To the abode of eternal night and silence.

Nurse

I conjure: help yourself!

The desire to be healed is a step towards healing.

Phaedra

There is a way out of troubles: I’ll go

Married. Death will prevent wickedness.

Nurse

There is no hope to assuage her evil illness,

There will be no end to the mad flame...

The poor thing is a burden

To myself, that’s why I’m rushing about.

Don’t complain: grief is no help in misfortune.

Beg the Virgin Goddess for mercy.

Nurse

(prays at Diana's altar)

Three-faced Hecate, condescend to entreaty.

Soften the stubborn, gloomy spirit of Hippolyta, -

Let him listen to us, let him learn himself

To love, let your wild heart burn.

Hippolytus

The source of all evil is woman; she is at heart

She's taking over, the scheming woman. Her fornication -

The cause of wars, fires, extermination,

The collapse of kingdoms, enslavement tribes...

Phaedra

Speech is torn with force, but the obstacle is stronger.

The gods are my witnesses: I don’t want it

What I want.

Hippolytus

What's your problem?

Phaedra

My heart is hot

The madman dried up. Burns secret

Love me...

Hippolytus

Are you burning with pure love for Theseus?

Phaedra

Yes, Hippolytus: I love Theseevo’s face,

That former thing, when for the first time as a youth

The fluff marked the delicate, clean cheeks...

No, the shine of your untidy beauty is brighter:

You're all like your father, but still like your wild mother

You got a piece of beauty.

Only for you, innocent and pure,

I have changed, I have humbled myself to the point of begging.

The end of the torment today - or for me.

Have pity on the one who loves you!

Hippolytus

King of the gods, why

So are you slow to hear and see evil?

Why, ruler of the gods, is your hand empty?

And the sky will not sparkle with three-pronged lightning?

Strike me, strike me with a flying flame

They incinerated me: I am a sinner, I deserve death.

I captured my stepmother.

(Phaedra)

You are vile fornication

You consider me worthy of atrocities

A light subject? I deserve it by severity

Only this? You are more criminal than all women...

Phaedra

Wherever you go, there I go, crazy one.

Proud! I fell at your feet again.

Hippolytus

Don't you dare shamelessly shamelessly the body of an immaculate

Touch! What? Falls into arms again?

I will draw my sword: let him accept the execution according to his deserts.

So! Shameless head by the hair

I'll throw it back at her. Virgo-bow-holder,

Your altar of sacrifice did not know more justly.

Phaedra

Oh, you want to fulfill all my prayers,

Madness to heal. I didn’t dare to pray,

To die clean at your hands.

Hippolytus

No, you won’t even beg death from me!

A defiled sword away from a pure body!

Nurse

The guilt is open. O soul, why are you delaying?

We will attribute unclean love to him.

New atrocities should be used to hide the atrocities.

Who will know if the witnesses are not guilty?

Screams.

Athenians, here! You, faithful servants,

For help! Hippolyte in mad lust

He attacked, oppresses and threatens the mistress with death!

What does a woman’s fury dare not dare to do?

Accusations are being prepared for an innocent person

Monstrous Phaedra, and testimony

Tousled hair and tear-stained cheeks

It will make you believe women’s destructive machinations.

Theseus

Why do you turn away your sorrowful face,

Covering your tears with your dress?

Phaedra

I did not bow to prayers, my spirit is under the sword

He was firm, but the body endured the violence,

And I will wash away the shameful stain with blood.

Theseus

Who, who was the desecrator of our honor?

Phaedra

Who are you least likely to suspect?

Let the sword say that it was thrown by a rapist,

When the crowd of citizens frightened him.

Theseus

Alas, what do I see? Is there a more monstrous evil?

Here are the signs carved into ivory

On the hilt is a kind of Akteian honor.

Where did he run to?

Here is the wild character of a warlike tribe:

It takes a long time to reject Venus - and pure

To betray the body to everyone. The spawn is vile.

The law of the best countries is not defeated.

O life of a liar! Feelings are hidden deeply

A shameful disposition is hidden under the guise of a benevolent...

You, a thicket dweller, a savage, a hermit, a virgin,

Vomited cleanliness on woe is me? become a man

Have you decided to desecrate your father's bed?

...Go exile

To distant nations; hide to the ends of the earth.

You still won’t escape my punishment!

…three wishes

He promised to fulfill me, according to my prayer,

The father of the sea, swearing by the Styx by the waters.

King of the abyss, complete your disastrous gift!

Let Hippolytus leave the world and the youth

He will descend to the shadows that I have angered!

Herald

Alas! Hippolytus died a terrible death.

Theseus

I, a parent, knew before that my son died.

Now the rapist is dead. Tell me everything.

there are identification marks of this girl. A dispute arises about the ownership of the suitcase, reminiscent of a similar scene from Menander’s “Court of Arbitration,” and the old man, invited to be a judge, recognizes his once kidnapped daughter in the girl. As an Athenian citizen, she marries a young man.

The Menaechmas (Twins) are built on the motif of a double, which serves as a source of all sorts of confusion and misunderstandings. Like many other plays of the “new” comedy, Menaechmas has a plot that goes back to a fairy tale. This is a tale of two brothers; the brother goes to look for his missing brother and frees him from the spell of the evil witch. In neo-Attic comedy, all elements of the miraculous are, of course, eliminated. All that remains is the striking resemblance of the two twin brothers. Even their names are the same: after the disappearance of one of them, Menaechmus, the second was renamed and named Menaechmus, after the first. The witch received her everyday embodiment in the image of a grumpy wife, one of those “wives with a dowry” who are often depicted in the “new” comedy. They strive for dominance over their husbands, and husbands seek relaxation in communication with hetaeras. The action of “Menekhm” takes place on the day when the second Menaechmus, after many years of searching, reached the city where the first, once missing, lives. Cheerful and dynamic, this play strings together at a fast pace a chain of comic situations based on the indistinguishability of both brothers, and into this chain are drawn one after another the usual masks of comedy equipment, hetaera and parasite, slave, cook and doctor, wife and old father-in-law, until Finally, the meeting of both Menaechmas does not lead to a final recognition. Of the individual masks, the figure of the gluttonous parasite is the most developed, but it does not go beyond typical caricature features. "Menaechmas" was reworked by Shakespeare into "The Comedy of Errors"; Shakespeare complicated both the plot and the psychological side of the comedy.

Among the changes introduced by Shakespeare was the introduction of a second pair of doubles: the indistinguishable hero twins were joined by equally similar slave twins. This doubling is suggested by another comedy of Plautus, based on the same. "Menekhmas", based on a double, but completely different in style and construction. "Amphitryon" is a comedy with a mythological plot. According to myth, Hercules was the son of Alcmene from Zeus, who appeared to her under the guise of her husband Amphitryon. In Plautus, next to Jupiter (Zeus) - Amphitryon, we find Mercury (Hermes), taking the form of Sosia, Amphitryon's slave. In the prologue to Amphitryon, the play is characterized as a “tragicomedy,” a mixture of tragedy and comedy. This is motivated, from the point of view of ancient literary theory (p. 201), by the fact that both gods and kings and slaves participate in the action; but in reality the confusion goes further, since the difference in the composition of the characters is reflected in the entire structure of the drama, and the figure of the slave remains the only comic mask. Buffoonish scenes alternate with serious, even pathetic ones. The people in this comedy are deceived by the gods. While the deception extends to the slave Sosia or even to Amphitryon, it is interpreted in a comic sense; but the image of the main victim, the meek and loving Alcmene, is presented with complete seriousness. She is the ideal "wife", completely unlike the usual comedy wives. Suspected by her husband, she deflects his accusations with the dignity of insult.

Titus Maccius Plautus- an outstanding Roman comedian, master of palliata. Arriving in Rome, he became a servant in an acting troupe, then engaged in trade, but was unsuccessful, after which he worked for hire and wrote comedies in his free time.

Slaves play a large role in Plautus's plays, thanks to whom the action often unfolds and leads to a denouement. Comedies almost always feature a hanger-on (parasite) and a pimp. Comedies are often based on a love affair, but they all end well for the main character. At the same time, women's roles on stage were performed by men.

20 comedies have been completely preserved

Plautus- an outstanding representative of palliata", the plots and characters of his plays are the same as in the new Attic comedy, but Plautus made such changes to it that we can talk about Plautus’ theatrical reform. His works often mention ancient Roman gods, customs, officials and institutions, judicial procedures, military affairs, etc. Greek characters (parasites, hetaeras, slaves) receive in a number of cases a purely Roman coloring.When reworking Greek plays, Plautus used contamination.

Plautus's plays are dynamic in the development of action. Movement and liveliness are introduced by his favorite character - a clever, cunning slave who leads all the intrigue of the play and arranges the love affairs of his young master. Scenes of street squabbles, revels, trickery and deceit, dressing up. The dialogues in his plays are based on the spoken language of the Romans of that time. Plautus. introduced living Latin speech into ancient Roman literature. Language is one of the main means of comedy. In his plays there are plays on words, comic neoplasms, metaphors, hyperboles, common proverbs, jokes, swear words, etc. Plautus used various lyrical meters as a means of characterizing characters (a love serenade in Curculion, a triumph over opponents

Analysis "Eggs"

The main character, the city poor Euclion, unexpectedly finds a treasure in the hearth, which was left by his grandfather. This miracle was helped by the god of the hearth, Lar, who was grateful to his daughter. This discovery radically changed his character; he became restless and constantly hid the treasure. His old maid said: “Has the master gone crazy?” A rich neighbor came to him to woo his daughter, but Euclio thinks that he just got wind of the gold. But then he reflected that becoming related to a rich man does not mean leaving this class. Megador says that he doesn’t care about the faithful; he castigates his dowry wives in his monologue. Megador believes that the poor girl will be a good, faithful wife. The old man agrees to marry his daughter to his neighbor. But he is worried - there will be a wedding - there will be thieves. He decided to hide the treasure outside the house: he buried it in a grove under a tree, but the gold was stolen by a slave who was watching him. Euclio returns and finds no gold; he is close to madness. He asks the audience, but they just laugh. A young man, Megador’s nephew Lyconid, comes to the old man and says that he dishonored her at last year’s festival and she is pregnant. He delivers a funny dialogue dui pro guo (confusion). He gladly gives his daughter to Lyconides. And it was his slave who stole the gold. And this gold returns to Euclion, and he gives it as a dowry to his daughter. The motive of a young man’s violence against a free girl, who becomes his wife, is used. In the foreground is gold. Using the example of Euclio, Pl showed how wealth negatively affects a person’s character - like a disease. The power of gold and the stinginess of the old man are ridiculed. Technique of comedy: dialogue-confusion, character’s appeal to the public.

Problems of the works of Tirentius. Their educational nature

Brief description of Lucretius’ poem “On the Nature of Things”

The author of the most striking and significant book in all of ancient Roman literature lived, apparently, in the first half of the 1st century BC. e. That's all we know about him. His full name is Titus Lucretius Carus. Unreliable news reports that he was born in 98 BC. e., and committed suicide in 55 BC. e. But we know the historical time and the events of this time, and in addition, there is the poem “On the Nature of Things” itself.

In a political sense, the time in which Lucretius lived can be called the time the grave agony of Republican Rome and the foreshadowing of the Principate. This was the time of the apogee of Rome’s aggressive policy and the deep internal crisis of the republic, which, in its political forms, turned out to be unsuited to governing the huge power formed as a result of the conquests.

The very beginning of Lucretius’s poem is very characteristic, where he makes a passionate plea to Venus and Mars for the pacification of the Roman state. No less significant in this regard is the introduction to the second book of the poem, where Lucretius portrays a sage who has risen above the world of passions and everyday anxieties and, not without some coldness, looks at the unfortunate and blind people poisoning their existence with a fruitless struggle. It does not follow from this that the “difficult days of the Motherland” left Lucretius indifferent, but he was not interested in the victory of one or another of the fighting political groups, but in ending the struggle that was exhausting Italy.

The inspiration of Lucretius, as he himself repeatedly states, was the famous Greek materialist philosopher Epicurus, who lived at the turn of the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC. e.

Poem "On the Nature of Things"- the only completely extant poetic work in which the teachings of Epicurus are preached by his convinced and passionate follower. However, Lucretius did not reproduce the entire teaching of Epicurus in his poem. He expounded mainly Epicurian physics; As for the doctrine of criteria (canons) and ethics, he touches on them only incidentally. The detailed presentation of the physics of Epicurus is the great merit of Lucretius, because it is precisely this side of Epicurus’ teaching that is of absolutely exceptional interest for the history of scientific thought and materialism.

Lucretius's poem consists of six books. The first two books set forth the atomic theory of the universe, which rejects the intervention of gods in worldly affairs.

The third book is devoted to the teaching of Epicurus about the soul, and provides evidence that the soul is material, mortal, and that the fear of death is absurd. In the fourth book we find a presentation of questions about man, as well as about sensory perceptions, in which Lucretius sees the basis of our knowledge. In the fifth book, Lucretius deals with the problems of cosmogony, explaining the origin of the earth, sky, sea, celestial bodies and living beings. At the end of this book, a brilliant outline of the gradual development of humanity and human culture is given and the question of the origin of language is addressed. The main content of the sixth book is the destruction of superstitious fears through a natural explanation of natural phenomena that affect humans. It talks about thunder, lightning, clouds, rain, earthquakes, the eruption of Etna, the floods of the Nile, various unusual properties of sources and other natural phenomena. This last book ends with a discussion of disease and a description of the widespread pestilence in Athens during the Peloponnesian War in 430 BC. e.

This ending forms an effective contrast with the introduction to the poem, which presents a pathetic glorification of Venus as a symbol of creative and life-giving power.

In his poem, Lucretius gives an explanation of everything that exists, trying first of all to free human thought from all superstitious and false ideas about anything supersensible or mystical.

the main philosophical goal of the poem “On the Nature of Things”: to give a rational and materialistic interpretation of the world. In the work of Lucretius we find, as it were, a vague premonition of many scientific discoveries and problems.

Thus, in Book I, he expresses the law, later scientifically formulated by Lomonosov, about the indestructibility and eternity of matter. Nothing comes from nothing and nothing returns to nothing. Drops of rainwater are transformed into leaves of trees, into grains of bread, into grass, which in turn nourish various breeds of animals and man himself - through a continuous circulation, world life is maintained and renewed.

Lucretius’ deep passionate confidence in the correctness of the philosophy he preaches, the exceptional poetic talent and skill with which he expresses his thoughts, trying to make them not only convincing, but also understandable to every person, make his poem “On the Nature of Things” one of the largest works in the world literature.

The works of Cicero. The main techniques of his oratory.

Cicero’s philosophical views can be judged from the “Tusculan Conversations”, the dialogue “On the Limits of Good and Evil” and from a number of other works: the theory of oratory can be studied from his early work “On Invention”, and from his three main “rhetorical works” - “Brutus”, “About the Orator” and “The Orator”. This last section of Cicero’s works is extremely interesting because in them he appears not only as an excellent expert in his field, but also as a completely independent thinker who has studied the art of oratory both in theory and through many years of brilliant practice. By the time of Cicero, oratory had reached a significant height in Rome and became the subject of careful study, which, in addition to third-party evidence of the speeches of the orators who preceded Cicero (Crassus, Antony, Hortensius and others), whose speeches are known to us only from fragments, is proved by the whole, which has reached us with “Rhetoric to Herennius” - a textbook in which the purely Roman and, moreover, democratic tendencies of its author, whose name has not yet been established in science, are clearly expressed. However, although the development of oratory art, or, better to say, skill, reached great perfection in Rome under Cicero, it, as far as we can judge from the available data, was limited to practical purposes and did not go beyond what a specialist orator needs to master, and, moreover, mainly in the judicial field. This did not satisfy Cicero. Having set himself the task of mentally creating the image of an ideal orator, he demands from those who have entered the oratorical field a steady pursuit of this ideal, although unattainable, like any ideal, from the point of view of Cicero: “After all, the truly eloquent 5 is the one who expresses ordinary objects simply, great ones - sublimely, and the average - with moderation,” says Cicero to Brutus (“Orator” 29, § 100). “This, you say, has never happened. Let it not happen; I’m talking about what I desire, and not about what I actually met, and I return to that ideal image of Plato, which I spoke about before 6: we can comprehend it with our minds, although we do not see it. After all, I am not talking about something that is perfectly eloquent and not about something mortal and perishable, but about that property that the one who possesses will be perfectly eloquent: this property is nothing other than perfect eloquence itself, accessible only to the mental gaze.” Approaching this ideal image of an orator is possible, according to Cicero’s deep conviction, only for a person who has received a high and comprehensive education,7 which includes, as an indispensable condition, fine or artistic literature.

In his treatise “The Orator,” Cicero described the basic techniques of oratory. the speaker’s speech should be filled with a variety of content, indicating the broad education of the speaker. Cicero talks about this many times. Oratory is not empty rhetoric. Already in early rhetoric, Cicero wrote that wisdom in content (prudentia) without eloquence brings little benefit to states, and eloquence without wise content is for the most part too harmful and never brings benefit.

In his treatise “On the Orator,” Cicero demands a versatile education for the orator: “No one should be considered among the orators unless he is distinguished by his knowledge of all the sciences worthy of a free person.” The main content of education, according to Cicero, should be philosophy. And in this regard, Cicero proceeded primarily from his own experience. Thus, eloquence, according to Cicero; should have an educational effect, and in the spirit of the ancient Roman virtus (virtue). Cicero also divides the speaker's speech into three components: High, for talking about important things, medium, for ordinary things, and down-to-earth, for things that are completely simple. The main principle: to speak pompously about the high, to speak about the low simply and clearly. Cicero pays attention to the speaker’s gestures and facial expression when reading a speech. The composition of the speech should be built linearly. Argument and proof. It is especially important to emotionally influence listeners, to assure them that you are right.