Poenulus

Acts

• Prologue

  Prologue. Two Carthaginian sisters, stolen as children, are held by a pimp. A young Carthaginian, Agorastocles, loves one of them. His slave Milphio devises a plan.

  128 lines
• 1
  Act 1

  Milphio's scheme: plant money on the pimp's premises and then charge him with theft, which will forfeit the girls.

  436 lines
• 2
  Act 2

  The trap is set. The pimp is lured into handling the planted evidence. Witnesses are arranged.

  69 lines
• 3
  Act 3

  A Carthaginian merchant, Hanno, arrives in search of his lost daughters. He speaks Punic — one of the few extended passages of Punic (or pseudo-Punic) in Latin literature.

  401 lines
• 4
  Act 4

  Hanno recognises the sisters. Agorastocles is revealed as his nephew. The pimp loses the girls by law and by right.

  170 lines
• 5
  Act 5

  The reunion is complete. Carthaginian family bonds triumph over the pimp's greed. Hanno claims his daughters. Agorastocles gets his bride.

  663 lines