Adelphoe

Adelphoe (also written Adelphoi and Adelphi, English: The Brothers) is a play by Roman playwright Terence, adopted partly from plays by Menander and Diphilus. It explores the best form of child-rearing. It was first performed in 160 BC at the funeral games of Aemilius Paulus.^[1]

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 and Aeschinus decides to steal the girl away, accepting all blame for the affair. Demea and Micio spar over who did a better job at raising their sons. At the end of the play, Ctesipho marries the music girl and Aeschinus marries Pamphila.

Characters

• Demea - Micio's brother and father of Aeschinus and Ctesipho, raised Ctesipho
• Micio - Demea's brother and adopted father of Aeschinus
• Aeschinus - son of Demea, raised by Micio
• Ctesipho - son of Demea raised by Demea
• Canthara - Sostrata's servant
• Geta - Sostrata's slave
• Hegio - old man
• Pamphila - daughter of Sostrata
• Music girl
• Dromo - Demea's slave
• Sostrata - woman who lives next to Micio and widow
• Parmeno - a slave^[2]

References

External links

• The play's Latin text at The Latin Library.com.
• The play translated into English on Perseus
• Review in BMCR of 2010 translation by David Christenson