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Dramatis Personae LACHES,¹ an aged Athenian, father of Pamphilus. PHIDIPPUS,² an aged Athenian, father of Philumena. PAMPHILUS,³ son of Laches. SOSIA,⁴ servant of Pamphilus. PARMENO,⁵ servant of Sostrata. SOSTRATA,⁶ wife of Laches. MYRRHINA,⁷ wife of Phidippus. BACCHIS,⁸ a Courtesan. PHILOTIS,⁹ a Courtesan. SYRA,¹⁰ a Procuress.

Scene.— Athens ; before the houses of LACHES, PHIDIPPUS, and BACCHIS.

THE SUBJECT PAMPHILUS, the son of Laches by his wife Sostrata, being at the time enamored of Bacchis, a Courtesan, chances, one night, in a drunken fit, to debauch Philumena, the daughter of Phidippus and Myrrhina. In the struggle he takes a ring from her, which he gives to Bacchis. Some time afterward, at his father’s express desire, he consents to marry. By chance the young woman whom he has ravished is given to him as a wife, to the great joy of her mother, who alone is aware of her misfortune, and hopes that her disgrace may be thereby concealed. It, however, happens otherwise; for Pamphilus, still retaining his passion for Bacchis, refuses for some time to cohabit with her. Bacchis, however, now rejects the advances of Pamphilus, who by degrees becomes weaned from his affection for her, and grows attached to his wife, whom he has hitherto disliked. Meantime, however, he is suddenly called away from home. During his absence, Philumena, finding herself pregnant, in consequence of her misfortune before her marriage, fearing detection, especially avoids the company of her mother-in-law. At length she makes an excuse for returning to the home of her own parents, where she remains. Sostrata thereupon sends for her, but is answered that she is ill, on which she goes to see her, but is refused admittance to the house. On hearing of this, Laches blames his wife as being the cause of this estrangement. Pamphilus now returns, and it so happens that, on the day of his arrival, Philumena is brought to bed of a child. Impatient to see her, Pamphilus rushes into her room, and to his great distress finds that this is the case. Myrrhina thereupon entreats him to keep the matter secret, and begs him, if he refuses to receive her daughter back again, at least not to ruin her reputation by divulging it. As he now declines either to take back his wife or give his reason for so doing, Laches suspects that he is still enamored of Bacchis, and accordingly sends for her, and expostulates with her. She, however, exonerates herself; on which the old man, supposing that Philumena and her mother are equally ignorant with himself as to his son’s motives, begs her to call on them and remove their suspicions. While she is conversing with them, they recognize the ring upon her finger which Pamphilus had formerly taken from Philumena. By means of this it is discovered that Pamphilus himself is the person who has ravished Philumena; on which, overjoyed, he immediately takes home his wife and son.

THE TITLE OF THE PLAY. PERFORMED at the Megalensian Games; Sextus Julius Caesar and Cneius Cornelius Dolabella being Curule Aediles. The whole was not then acted. Flaccus, the freedman of Claudius, composed the music to a pair of flutes. It was composed wholly from the Greek of Menander.¹¹ It was performed the first time without a Prologue. Represented a second time; Cneius Octavius and T. Manlius being Consuls.¹² It was then brought out in honor of L. Aemilius Paulus, at his Funeral Games, and was not approved of. It was repeated a third time; Q. Fulvius and L. Marcius being Curule Aediles. L. Ambivius Turpio performed it. It was then approved of.¹³

THE SUMMARY OF C. SULPITIUS APOLLINARIS. PAMPHILUS has married Philumena, to whom, when a virgin, he formerly, not knowing who she was, offered violence; and whose ring, which he took off by force, he gave to his mistress, Bacchis, a Courtesan. Afterward he sets out for Imbros, not having touched his bride. Having become pregnant, her mother brings her over to her own house, as though sick, that her mother-in-law may not know it. Pamphilus returns; detects her being delivered; conceals it; but determines not to take back his wife. His father imputes this to his passion for Bacchis. While Bacchis is exculpating herself, Myrrhina, the mother of the injured girl, by chance recognizes the ring. Pamphilus takes back his wife, together with his son.

Hecyra. Publius Terentius Afer (Terence). Henry Thomas Riley (Translator), George Colman (Translator). Ney York. 1874.

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Current edition Perseus

Hecyra; The Mother-in-Law (English) (Terence. The Comedies of Terence. Riley, Henry Thomas; Colman, George, translators. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1872.)

Editions (1)

Hecyra Perseus (Terence. Publii Terentii Comoediae Sex. Parry, Edward St. John, editor. London: Whittaker and Co.; George Bell, 1857.) — front focus

FABULAE INTERLOCUTORES.

BACCHIS, meretrix, amica Pamphili. LACHES, senex, pater Pamphili. MYRRHINA, mater Philumenae. PAMPHILUS, filius Lachetis et Sostratae. PARMENO, servus. PHIDIPPUS, senex, pater Philumenae. PHILOTIS, meretrix. SOSIA, servus. SOSTRATA, mater Pamphili. SYRA, anus, lena.

INTRODUCTION. THE Hecyra takes its name from the fact that its plot turns upon the misunderstanding between a mother and daughter-in-law. Colman has translated the word step-mother; but ἑκυρά is etymologically, and in meaning, the same word as socrus, a mother-in-law; and there is the same close connexion between the correlative words νυός and nurus, a daughter-in-law. The story of the play is as follows: A young man named Pamphilus, son of Laches and Sostrata, used to keep company with one Bacchis. One night as he was going to her house, rather the worse for wine, he met Philumena, the daughter of Phidippus and Myrrhina, on the road, and offered her violence, both of them being ignorant who the other was. She could not get any thing from him which could serve as a clue to his recognition; but he in the struggle managed to tear from her finger a ring, which he carried to Bacchis and gave to her. A short time after this he was married; for his father was very anxious to break off his intimacy with Bacchis, and to see his son quietly settled down, that he might have some prospect of domestic comfort in his old age; and he never let his son have any peace till he consented to take to himself a wife. By a strange coincidence the wife selected for him was this very Philumena, whom he had met at night on his way to his mistress’s house; and her mother was only too glad to have her married, hoping that she would be saved from public disgrace. But things did not turn out as smoothly as she expected; for Pamphilus did not at first shake off his old love, but continued to visit Bacchis every day, and totally avoided the company of his wife. Gradually, however, a change took place. Bacchis, being annoyed at the marriage of Pamphilus, behaved with great coldness and caprice towards him. Philumena, on the other hand, bore his neglect with the greatest patience and good temper. And so it came about that Pamphilus abandoned Bacchis altogether, and became devotedly attached to his wife. At this moment a relation of his father’s dies at Imbros, and Pamphilus is despatched to the spot to look after his property, his wife being left with her mother-in-law Sostrata. But this arrangement does not last long. Philumena, finding that she has no hope of concealing her situation from her mother-in-law, begins to avoid her, and to withdraw from her company as much as possible; till, at last, she goes to her own mother on the pretence of attending a family sacrifice, and stays with her, refusing to return to her mother-in-law. Sostrata sends for her, but in vain; and she goes to see her, but is refused admittance.

This brings us to the beginning of the Second Act of the play, where the action really commences; for all that we had hitherto is merely a kind of prologue. Laches, Pamphilus’ father, has now heard of this estrangement between his wife and his daughter-in-law, and comes into town to look into the matter. Priding himself much upon his wonderful knowledge of every thing that is going on, he lays it down decidedly that Sostrata alone is to blame; that all mothers-in-law hate their daughters-in-law, and that she must have driven Philumena away by her unkindness; and he is more confirmed in his opinion by the statement of Phidippus that his daughter refuses to come back to Laches’ house while her husband is away. Sostrata in vain endeavours to clear herself. At this moment Philumena’s expected child is born; and Pamphilus returns home at the critical moment. Hearing that his wife is ill, he rushes into the house to see her, and there discovers the whole state of the case. Myrrhina entreats him to keep the matter quiet, and he so far retains his affection for his wife that he promises to do so, and is wretched at the thoughts of a separation from her, though he comes to the conclusion that after this child’s birth, the son of he does not know whom, it is impossible for him ever to receive her back into his house. Meanwhile he sees the necessity of getting rid of his slave Parmeno, who will otherwise be sure to discover what is going on. So he sends him off on two errands, the last of which keeps him fully employed at a distance the rest of the day.

The body of the play is occupied by the indignant expostulations of the two fathers with Pamphilus, and with their wives. Now that Pamphilus has a son, Laches cannot conceive why he should not take his wife home again; and Phidippus is furious with him, with Laches, and with Myrrhina his wife. Sostrata comes to the determination of leaving town, and going to live with her husband in the country, hoping that her absence will remove the last obstacle to Philumena’s return; but notwithstanding this, Pamnphilus still persists in his refusal to receive his wife, and at last the old men come to the conclusion that he must be still carrying on his old love affair with Bacchis, and determine to send for her, and to endeavour by fair means or foul to break off her intimacy with Pamphilus. Bacchis is accordingly sent for, and she completely clears herself and Pamphilus from the suspicion, and further undertakes to explain the real state of affairs to Myrrhina and Philumena. This brings out the true history of Philumena; and Bacchis is able to inform Pamphilus that his wife was the owner of the ring which she had received from him. This entirely changes Pamphilus’ view of the case, and he is beside himself with delight. This play is not remarkable for any of the spirit which generally appears in Terence’s plays. The event on which the plot of the play depends, and the circumstances of Philumena’s illness, having necessarily to be kept in the background, gives an air of restraint to the whole piece. Indeed, within the whole action, properly so called, there is no incident except the discovery of the ring. The plot is much more simple, and the characters less interesting than those of any other play; and in the treatment of the character of the slave we notice a marked departure from the ordinary idea of that part. The Parmeno of the Hecyra is a very different personage from his namesake of the Eunuchus. He is merely sententious and inquisitive; and the only amusement which we get out of him is that he is very anxious to discover his master’s secret, and that his curiosity is not gratified.

HECYRA. ACTA LUDIS MEGALENSIBUS, SEX. IUL. CAESARE CN. CORNELIO DOLABELLA AEDILIBUS CURULIBUS. NON EST PERACTA. MODOS FECIT FLACCUS CLAUDII, TIBIIS PARIBUS. TOTA GRAECA APOLLODORU FACTA EST. ACTA PRIMO SINE PROLOGO. DATA SECUNDO CN. OCTAVIO T. MANLIO COSS. RELATA EST L. AEMILII PAULI LUDIS FUNEBRIBUS. NON EST PLACITA. TERTIO RELATA EST Q. FULVIO L. MARCIO AEDILIBUS CURULIBUS. EGIT L. AMBIVIUS TURPIO. PLACUIT.

PROLOGUS

Hecyra est huic nomen fabulae: haec cum data
1

Nova est novum intervenit vitium et calamitas,

Ut neque spectari neque cognosci potuerit.

Ita populus studio stupidus in funambulo

Animum occuparat. Nunc haec plane est pro nova;
5

Et is qui scripsit hanc ob eam rem noluit

Iterum referre ut iterum posset vendere.

Alias cognostis eius: quaeso hanc nunc noscite.

ALTER PROLOGUS.

PROLOGUS

Orator ad vos venio ornatu prologi:

Sinite exorator sim, eodem ut iure uti senem
10

Liceat quo iure sum usus adolescentior;

Novas qui exactas feci ut inveterascerent,

Ne cum poeta scriptura evanesceret.

In his quas primum Caecili didici novas

Partim sum earum exactus, partim vix steti.
15

Quia scibam dubiam fortunam esse scenicam,

Spe incerta certum mihi laborem sustuli.

Easdem agere coepi ut ab eodem alias discerem

Novas studiose, ne illum ab studio abducerem.

Perfeci ut spectarentur. Ubi sunt cognitae,
20

Placitae sunt. Ita poetam restitui in locum

Prope iam remotum iniuria adversarium

Ab studio atque ab labore atque arte musica.

Quod si scripturam sprevissem in praesentia,

Et in deterrendo voluissem operam sumere,
25

Ut in otio esset potius quam in negotio,

Deterruissem facile ne alias scriberet.

Nunc quid petam mea causa aequo animo attendite.

Hecyram ad vos refero, quam mihi per silentium

Numquam agere licitum est; ita eam oppressit calamitas.
30

Eam calamitatem vestra intelligentia

Sedabit, si erit adiutrix nostrae industriae.

Quum primum eam agere coepi, pugilum gloria,

Funambuli eodem accessit expectatio:

Comitum conventus, strepitus, clamor mulierum
35

Fecere ut ante tempus exirem foras.

Vetere in nova coepi uti consuetudine,

In experiendo ut essem: refero denuo

Primo actu placeo; quum interea rumor venit

Datum iri gladiatores; populus convolat:
40

Tumultuantur, clamant, pugnant de loco:

Ego interea meum non potui tutari locum.

Nunc turba nulla est: otium et silentium est:

Agendi tempus mihi datum est: vobis datur

Potestas condecorandi ludos scenicos.
45

Nolite sinere per vos artem musicam

Recidere ad paucos: facite ut vestra auctoritas

Meae auctoritati fautrix adiutrixque sit.

Si numquam avare pretium statui arti meae,

Et eum esse quaestum in animum induxi maximum,
50

Quam maxime servire vestris commodis,

Sinite impetrare me, qui in tutelam meam

Studium suum et se in vestram commisit fidem,

Ne cun circumventum inique iniqui irrideant.

Mea causa causam hanc accipite, et date silentium,
55

Ut libeat scribere aliis, mihique ut discere

Novas expediat posthac pretio emtas meo.

Notes on the current edition

Hecyra; The Mother-In-Law

1. From λαγχύνω, to obtain by lot or heirship.

2. From φειδω, parsimony, and ἱππὸς, a horse.

3. From πᾶν, all, and φιλὸς, a friend.

4. From σώζω, to save; saved in war.

5. From παρὰ, by, and μένω, to remain.

6. From σωχὼ, to preserve, or save.

7. From μυῤρ a myrtle.

8. From Bacchus, the God of Wine.

9. From φιλοτὴς, friendship.

10. From Syria , her native country.

11. Menander: According to some, this Play was borrowed from the Greek of Apollodorus, a Comic Poet and contemporary of Menander, who wrote forty-seven Plays.

12. Being Consuls: Cneius Octavius Nepos and T. Manlius Torquatus were Consuls in the year from the building of the City 587, and B.C. 166.

13. It was then approved of: Placuit. This is placed at the end, in consequence of the inauspicious reception which had been given to it on the two first representations. See the account given in the Prologues.

Publius Terentius Afer (Terence) Hecyra front

Henry Thomas Riley (Translator), George Colman (Translator)

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FABULAE INTERLOCUTORES.

ALTER PROLOGUS.

Notes on the current edition

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