''Adelphoe'' (also ''Adelphoi'' and ''Adelphi''; from Greek ᾰ̓δελφοί, ''Brothers'') is a play by Roman

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Terence Publius Terentius Afer (; – ), better known in English as Terence (), was a Roman African playwright during the Roman Republic. His comedies were performed for the first time around 166–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought ...

, adapted partly from plays by

Menander Menander (; grc-gre, Μένανδρος ''Menandros''; c. 342/41 – c. 290 BC) was a Greek dramatist and the best-known representative of Athenian New Comedy. He wrote 108 comedies and took the prize at the Lenaia festival eight times. His re ...

and Diphilus. It was first performed in 160 BC at the funeral games of Aemilius Paulus. Exploring the best form of child-rearing, the play inspired

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and world ...

's '' The School for Husbands''. ''Adelphoe'' was Terence's last play and is often considered his masterpiece.

Plot

Demea, father to Aeschinus and Ctesipho, decides to separate his children and raises Ctesipho while allowing his brother Micio to raise Aeschinus. Demea is a strict authoritarian father, and Micio is permissive and democratic. Ctesipho falls in love with a slave-girl musician, but is afraid of exposing his romantic interest due to the strict education he's received from Demea. Therefore, Aeschinus, in order to help his brother, decides to steal the girl away from the slave-dealer Sannio, accepting all blame for the affair. Demea and Micio spar over who did a better job at raising their sons. After a long monologue comparing his methods with his brother's, Demea decides to emulate his brother's urbanity and openhandedness as a means of critique. In the last hundred lines of the play, Demea gives away a great deal of money and a large estate, convinces his brother to free two of his slaves, and then finally delivers a closing speech decrying all such liberality: "I will tell you: I did it to show you that what they think is your good nature and pleasantness did not happen from a true life, nor from justice and goodness, but from flattery, indulgence, and largess, Micio" (lines 985–988). He then offers to his sons that he will be their strict father if they so desire him to be, but if they prefer to stay with Micio, they can. Both boys choose to submit to Demea, with Micio's approval. At the end of the play, Ctesipho keeps his loved one, Aeschinus celebrates his marriage to Pamphila, Sostrata's daughter, and Micio is made to marry Sostrata.

Characters

*Micio - Demea's brother and adopted father of Aeschinus *Demea - Micio's brother and father of Aeschinus and Ctesipho, raised Ctesipho *Sannio - A procurer, owner of the slave "Music Girl" *Aeschinus - son of Demea, raised by Micio *Syrus - slave of Micio *Ctesipho - son of Demea raised by Demea *Canthara - Sostrata's servant *Geta - Sostrata's slave *Hegio - close friend of Sostrata's late husband *Pamphila - daughter of Sostrata *Music Girl - slave of Sannio *Dromo - Demea's slave *Sostrata - widowed woman who lives next to Micio *Parmeno - a slave The main characters in terms of number of lines spoken or sung are: *Demea (28%) *Micio (23%) *Syrus (14%) *Aeschinus (10%) *Sannio (7%) *Hegio (5%) *Geta (5%) *Ctesipho (4.5%) *Sostrata (2.5%) *Canthara (1%) Ctesipho, Sostrata, and Canthara sing all their lines. The three old men Demea, Micio, and Hegio speak most of theirs, in iambic senarii, singing only occasionally.

Metrical structure

Terence's plays are traditionally divided into five acts. However, it is not thought that these divisions go back to Terence's time. Also, the acts themselves do not always match the structure of the plays, which is more clearly shown by the variation in metres. In both Plautus and Terence's plays the usual pattern is to begin each section with iambic senarii (which were spoken without music), then a scene of music in various metres, and finally a scene in trochaic septenarii, which were apparently recited to the accompaniment of (a pair of reed pipes). In his book ''The Music of Roman Comedy'', Moore calls this the "ABC succession", where A = iambic senarii, B = other metres, C = trochaic septenarii. In the ''Adelphi'' the ABC pattern is less evident than it is in some other plays such as the Phormio. There are eight metrical sections, but only three of these have the expected ABC structure. According to Moore, in this play (Terence's last) Terence shows a mastery of metre, moving from one metre to another to express mood and emotion as required.

Prologue

*Prologue: ia6 (25 lines) ::Terence defends himself against critics who accuse him of adding a scene from a play by Diphilus to a comedy by Menander;The scene from Diphilus is 2.1 (lines 155–96); A. S. Gratwick (1987), ''Terence: The Brothers'', p. 43. and also those who say that he received help in his writing. He tells the audience that the actors in the first scene, not the prologue, will explain the background.

The abduction of the music girl

*Act 1.1–1.2: ia6 (129 lines) ::Micio worries because his son Aeschinus, adopted from his brother Demea, has been out all night ::Demea criticises his brother Micio because Aeschinus has forcibly abducted a music-girl *2.1 (from 155): mixed metres (mostly ia8 and tr7) (42 lines) ::The pimp Sannio attempts to prevent Aeschinus abducting the girl, and gets beaten up. *2.1 (from 197): tr7 (12 lines) ::Sannio rues his situation (soliloquy).

Negotiating with Sannio

*2.2 (from 209): tr8 (1 line), ia8 (18 lines) ::The wily slave Syrus negotiates with Sannio. *2.2 (from 228): ia6 (26 lines) ::Sannio argues with Syrus about the injustice. *2.3 (from 254)–2.4: ia8 (34 lines) ::Ctesipho sings of his gratitude for his brother's help (soliloquy). ::Aeschinus continues the negotiation with Sannio.

Sostrata's distress

*3.1 (from 288): mixed tr7/ia8 (17 lines) ::Sostrata, whose daughter Aeschines has secretly married, shares her anxieties with the nurse Canthara. *3.2 (from 305): mainly ia8 (16 lines) ::Sostrata's slave Geta expresses his distress at Aeschinus's treachery (soliloquy). *3.2 (from 321): tr7 (9 lines) ::He informs Sostrata about the abduction. *3.2 (from 330): ia8 (25 lines) ::Sostrata sings of her distress.

Syrus teases Demea

*3.3 (from 355)–3.5: ia6 (163 lines) ::Demea is anxious because his son Ctesipho was involved in the abduction. ::Syrus sends him off to the farm on a fruitless search. ::Geta asks Sostrata's relative Hegio to help; Demea overhears. *4.1 (from 517): mixed metres (tr8, tr7, ia8) (10 lines) ::Syrus reassures Ctesipho that his father is in the country. *4.1 (from 527)–4.2: ia8 (14 lines) ::Syrus advises Ctesipho on how to deceive his father. Ctesipho begs him not to tell Demea where he is. Suddenly Demea returns unexpectedly. *4.2 (from 541): tr7 (51 lines) ::Syrus sends Demea off on a wild goose chase through the city.

Aeschinus is determined to do the right thing

*4.3 (from 592): ia8 (18 lines) ::Micio apologises to Hegio for the wrong done to Sostrata's daughter. Hegio thanks him and asks him to come and reassure Sostrata. *4.4 (from 610): polymetric song (8 lines) ::Aeschinus, very agitated, sings of his disastrous situation. *4.4 (from 618): tr7 (1 line), tr8 (6 lines) ::Aeschines describes how he met Sostrata on her way to fetch a midwife, and how she rejected him. *4.4 (from 625)–4.5: tr7 (13 lines) ::He approaches Sostrata's door, determined to set the record straight

Micio teases Aeschinus

*4.5 (from 638): ia6 (41 lines) ::Micio comes out of the door and teases Aeschinus, pretending that Pamphila is going to marry a stranger. *4.5 (from 679): tr7 (28 lines) ::Aeschinus bursts into tears and his father reveals the truth. *4.5 (from 707): ia7, ia8 (8 lines) ::Aeschinus sings of his delight in his father (soliloquy).

Demea calms down at last

*4.6 (from 713)–5.3: ia6 (142 lines) ::Demea returns furious after his fruitless search for Ctesipho. ::He reproaches Micio about Aeschinus's marriage. ::Syrus, drunk, infuriates Demea even more. A slave comes out to call Syrus in. ::Demea realises Ctesipho is in Micio's house and rushes inside. ::Micio tries to calm Demea, who has discovered Ctesipho's misbehaviour. *5.4 (from 855): tr7 (27 lines) ::Demea reflects on the error of his ways and determines to teach Micio a lesson.

Demea surprises everyone

*5.5 (from 882)–5.8: ia6 (52 lines) ::Demea surprises Syrus and Geta by speaking to them both affably. ::He surprises Aeschinus by hurrying on the marriage preparations. ::He also suggests that Micio must marry Sostrata. *5.8 (from 934): ia8 (22 lines), ia6 (2 lines), ia8 (1 line) ::Micio is horrified by the idea, but Demea insists, and says he must also reward Hegio with a farm. (ia8) ::Micio is forced to accept (ia6). *5.9 (from 959): tr7 (39 lines) ::In addition Demea stipulates Micio must free Syrus and his wife and lend him some money too.

Classical Tradition

Henry Fielding Henry Fielding (22 April 1707 – 8 October 1754) was an English novelist, irony writer, and dramatist known for earthy humour and satire. His comic novel ''Tom Jones'' is still widely appreciated. He and Samuel Richardson are seen as founders ...

in ''

Tom Jones Tom Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tom Jones (singer) (born 1940), Welsh singer * Tom Jones (writer) (1928–2023), American librettist and lyricist *''The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling'', a novel by Henry Fielding published in ...

'' (1749, Book XIV, ch. VIII) models Mr Nightingale and his brother after Terence’s ''Adelphoe.'' Fielding writes: “They had always differed in their sentiments concerning the education of their children … For young Nightingale was his uncle’s godson, and had lived more with him than with his father.” Again in Book XVIII, ch. XIII: “These brothers lived in a constant state of contention about the government of their children, both heartily despising the method which each other took.”

References

External links

* * *
The play's Latin text
at TheLatinLibrary.com
Adelphoe at Perseus Digital Library
by David Christenson {{Authority control Works by Terence Plays about families