Hecyra

Acts

• 1
  Act 1

  Prologue — delivered twice, because the audience walked out the first two times. Terence begs them to listen: this is a comedy, not a gladiator show.

  165 lines
• 2
  Act 2

  Pamphilus has married Philumena reluctantly — he still loves the courtesan Bacchis. But gradually he has fallen in love with his wife. Now she has left.

  155 lines
• 3
  Act 3

  Pamphilus' mother is blamed for driving Philumena away. But the real reason is secret: Philumena is pregnant from a rape before the marriage and is hiding her shame.

  295 lines
• 4
  Act 4

  Pamphilus discovers the truth and is torn. He loves his wife but cannot acknowledge another man's child. He refuses to explain his decision to either family.

  247 lines
• 5
  Act 5

  The courtesan Bacchis is brought in to prove she has no hold on Pamphilus. She recognises the ring Philumena's rapist left behind — it belongs to Pamphilus himself. He attacked her, unknowing, at a night festival. The baby is his.

  199 lines