Publius terentius afer biography of christopher

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Now luckily

This friend of mine was there and bought for me

This girl, suspecting nothing.

Parmeno Why are you glum?

Parmeno I do.

Chremes Well, first of all I have to tell

What you should know – that she’s freeborn. Yes, that’s near

Enough.

Parmeno Look, the doors are wide-

Open so you can take the girl inside.

A music-girl has hypnotized

Chaerea here. 940

And then instead of you he was brought here?

Parmeno Oh no, I talk of this same quandary

Chaerea Have you, then, seen the girl? [to Phaedria] But hear the reason why I call

You here.

Dorias What monstrous act

Is this?

Chaerea She’d decided that no men

Should go near her and told me to abide

And sojourn with the maid alone inside

The inner rooms.

Gnatho Shall I, then,

Dismiss the troops?

[to Chaerea]

Your goose is cooked. Then, finally,

Had I a little sister from that spot

Who disappeared ?

Where should I look Or ask?

The conflict between duty and desire, and the generational divide between fathers and sons, sets the tone for a number of Terence's later works.

What sets this play apart is its gentle humor, which relies on wit, timing, and the complexities of romance rather than on broad comedic gestures.

In the prologue, Terence boldly defends his method of contaminatio, addressing potential critics head-on.

When she

Names Phaedria, then you immediately

Name Pamphila. You mistake. Eunuchus (The Eunuch)

In Eunuchus - first performed in 161 BC - Terence embraces a narrative that is both daring and complex.

[Gnatho laughs]

It’s wrong for generals to walk

Abroad with their mistresses.