This is too much for the wife, who calls her father from the house. He adds that he didnt steal her mantle, that a lady gave it to him. He asks her of what he should be ashamed - and, furthermore, why she should address a total stranger so.
His brothers wife sees him, and assuming him to be her husband, demands that he confess his shame. The Syracuse Menaechmus returns, the mantle still over his arm, in search of Messenio, who has left the inn. So the Epidamnus twin finds the doors of both his wife and mistress slammed in his puzzled face, and goes off to get the counsel of his friends. He is stupefied when she declares him a liar and a cheat, and tells him that she has already given him both the mantle and her bracelet. She tells him to return the mantle or stay out of her house, and the husband goes to Erotium to get it, resolving to buy his sweetheart a better one. Now the furious wife, told by Peniculus of her mans trick, rushes out of her house just in time to meet her husband returning from the Forum, expecting Erotiums banquet. He suspects that something is amiss, and hurries off to the inn to tell Messenio of the happy shower of valuables that has been raining upon him. The Syracuse brother, further baffled because the unknown Peniculus addressed him by his name, is pinching his ear to make sure that he is awake when Erotiums maid comes out and hands him a bracelet to be taken to a goldsmith for repair. Quite naturally treated as a stranger, Peniculus angrily rushes to tell the other twins wife of the stolen mantle. He is chuckling over his luck - dinner, kisses and an expensive mantle - all for nothing, when the irate Peniculus, who has lost the Epidamnus twin in the Forum crowd, meets him and berates him for dining before he could arrive. He sends Messenio to the inn, giving him orders to return for his master at sunset.Īfter the meal, he leaves his house with a garland on his head and the mantle over his arm Erotium has told him to have it re-trimmed. He first protests vainly that he hasnt any wife and has just arrived in the city, then begins to realize the possibilities of a dinner and a pretty girl. Peniculus, he answers, is in his baggage - and what dinner is she talking about? The dinner he ordered when he presented his wifes mantle, she replies. This amazes the twin, but Messenio explains that spies of the citys thieves probably have learned his name.Įrotium, tiring of what she considers foolery, tells Menaechmus to come in to dinner and bring Peniculus. He is Menaechmus, of course, replies Erotium. Messenio whispers to his master that the lady undoubtedly is a schemer for his money, and asks her if she knows his master. Why, the business of Venus, Erotium replies coyly. She asks why he hesitates to enter when dinner is ready, and the confused twin asks her, quite formally, what business he has with her. His master gives his purse for safekeeping to the slave who continues his warning against the cunning people of Epidamnus "who think nothing of accosting a stranger" and bilking him of his money, when Erotium steps out of her house and endearingly accosts the Syracuse Menaechmus, thinking him to be his brother. The latter warns him of the depravity of Epidamnus, urging an end to the search for his missing brother since their money is nearly gone. Meanwhile, the twin from Syracuse has arrived with Messenio, his slave. Erotium agrees, and the two men go to the Forum for preliminary drinks while the meal is being prepared. He suggests that a fitting return would include a dinner for himself and Peniculus. The two go to Erotiums door, and the husband presents the mantle with many blandishments.
PLAUTUS MENAECHMI FRANCES MU PROFESSIONAL
He confides to Peniculus, a professional parasite, that he has stolen his wifes mantle and is going to give it to Erotium, a prostitute who lives next door. He is seen leaving his house, berating his spouse as a shrew and a harpy, promising that she shall have good cause for her jealousy. Here, the brother is first shown to be, with good cause, the despair of his jealous wife. He arrives in Epidamnus, unaware that his twin brother is there also.
When the twins are grown to manhood, Menaechmus of Syracuse sets out in search of his brother. Their father dies of sorrow and their grandfather changes Sosicles name to Menaechmus i.e., Menaechmus of Syracuse. During the trip, Menaechmus is abducted and adopted by a businessman who lives in Epidamnus, separating the twins. Moschus decides to take only one of the twins, Menaechmus, with him on a business trip, while the twins are still young. Moschus has twin sons, Menaechmus and Sosicles.
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