Phormio

Acts

• 1
  Act 1

  Two cousins have gotten into trouble while their fathers were abroad. One has married a poor girl; the other is in love with a music-girl. The parasite Phormio facilitated both.

  274 lines
• 2
  Act 2

  The fathers return. Demipho tries to annul his son's marriage. Phormio defends it with brazen legal arguments and shameless lying.

  359 lines
• 3
  Act 3

  Chremes has a secret: he has a second family in Lemnos. The poor girl his nephew married turns out to be connected to this secret.

  174 lines
• 4
  Act 4

  Chremes tries to pay Phormio to take the bride off the family's hands. Phormio takes the money and gives it to the other cousin to buy his music-girl.

  211 lines
• 5
  Act 5

  The secret wife is exposed. Chremes' wife is furious. Phormio reveals everything to save himself. The poor bride is discovered to be Chremes' own daughter — making the marriage the very one the fathers wanted. Phormio keeps the money.

  529 lines