Hecyra (The Mother-in-Law) is a comedic Latin play by the early Roman playwright Terence. The story concerns a young man, Pamphilus, who has a girlfriend, the courtesan Bacchis, but is forced by his father to marry a neighbour's daughter Philumena. Before the wedding took place Philumena was raped by an unknown man. When a baby is born, Pamphilus at first disowns Philumena, but in the end it turns out that he himself is the father of the baby and husband and wife are reconciled. Much of the play deals with the distress which Pamphilus's behaviour causes himself and his own and Philumena's parents. A comedic element is provided by a lazy gossip-hungry slave, Parmeno, who is made to run around on errands and is kept in the dark about what is happening. The mother-in-law in the title is Pamphilus's mother Sostrata, who is falsely accused of unkindness towards Philumena; but Pamphilus's own mother-in-law Myrrina also has an important role.
The second of Terence's plays to be written (after Andria), Hecyra was a failure at its first two stagings. The first in 165 BC was disrupted when a rumor spread that a tightrope-walker and boxers were about to perform. This upset is referred to in the prologue of Terence's fifth play Phormio, produced in 161 BC. In 160 BC the production was cancelled when the theater was stormed by a group of rowdy gladiator-fans. It was presented successfully only at its third attempt later that same year.
A musical phrase accompanying a single line of Hecyra was copied in the 18th century by Italian composer Arcangelo Corelli from a 10th-century manuscript and was for a long time believed to be all that remains of the entire body of ancient Roman music. However, musicologist Thomas J. Mathiesen comments that it is no longer believed to be authentic.
Hecyra is based on plays by Apollodorus of Carystus and Menander.
Characters
Laches – Athenian gentleman and father of Pamphilus. Sostrata – Wife of Laches. The mother-in-law of the play's title. Pamphilus – Son of Laches and Sostrata. Married to Philumena Phidippus – Athenian gentleman and father of Philumena. Neighbour to Laches Myrrina – Wife of Phidippus. Syra – An old bawd. Philotis – A young prostitute. Bacchis – A courtesan and mistress to Pamphilus. Parmeno – Laches's slave. Sosia – Another slave to Laches. Philumena – Wife of Pamphilus and daughter of Phidippus and Myrrina. She does not appear on stage.
Summary
The son of the elderly Laches and wife Sostrata, a young man named Pamphilus, is enamored with a prostitute, Bacchis, yet in a drunken fit one night, he decides to debauch a young woman named Philumena, the daughter of Phidippus and Myrrhina. After a struggle, he rapes Philumena and from her finger tears a ring, which he afterwards gives to his girlfriend, Bacchis.
After some hesitation, Pamphilus finally consents to an arranged marriage. By chance, the woman chosen for him is Philumena, and she alone knows that she had been raped by an unidentified man, and she hopes that her disgrace is concealed. After the young man and woman are married, Bacchis rejects Pamphilus, and the latter becomes more and more enamored with his new wife.
Pamphilus is then called away from the city, and Philumena finds herself pregnant from the rape. She fears detection, and she especially avoids her mother-in-law, Sostrata. She returns to her parents' home, where Sostrata seeks her, but Philumena claims illness and will not allow the mother-in-law inside the house.
Pamphilus returns home during the birth of the baby, and the situation brings him great distress. Myrrhina, the wife of Phidippus, then begs him to keep the pregnancy a secret, but he declines to take back Philumena. Laches then states that Pamphilus is still enamored with Bacchis, but this supposition is proven untrue. It is then that the stolen ring is discovered by Myrrhina on Bacchis's finger, and Pamphilus realizes the baby is his. He happily takes back his wife and new son.
The location of the play is Athens. The action takes place in the street in front of two houses, that of Pamphilus's family, and that of Philumena's next door.
Metrical analysis
The metrical analysis below is based on the database Meters of Roman Comedy by Timothy Moore, published by the Washington University in St Louis.
The metres used in the play in terms of number of lines are as follows: iambic senarii (ia6): 45% (this metre was unaccompanied, the others sung) trochaic septenarii (tr7): 25% iambic septenarii (ia7): 14% iambic octonarii (ia8): 13% trochaic octonarii (tr8): 3%