Terence, Phormio front.subject_3

At this point (Act i. Sc. 4) the action of the play commences. Demipho comes back from Cilicia, and immediately hears the unwelcome news that his son has married a pauper; and he at once attacks Geta, Antipho having made a hasty retreat, who defends himself as best he can, and begins the second plot which they have in hand for obtaining money for Phaedria, who is now driven to the last extremity; for Dorio has given him notice that if thirty minae are not forthcoming by the next day, Pamphila, the music girl, will be sold. Geta pretends therefore that Phormio will be very glad to take Phanium off their hands if they will make it worth his while to do so; for he has certain debts, and is already under an engagement to marry a lady who will bring him a sufficient portion to enable him to clear them off. He must therefore have thirty minae, and he will settle the matter for them. After some trouble the affair is arranged. Phormio receives the money, and at once carries it off to Phaedria, who purchases his Pamphila at once, and is made supremely happy; while poor Antipho is more wretched than ever, and accuses Geta of blundering stupidity in thus arranging to get rid of his wife for him. Chremes, meanwhile, has returned from Lemnos, and is in great perplexity about his wife and daughter. He is as anxious as Demipho can be to get rid of this wife of Antipho’s, and does his best to persuade his brother to arrange matters with Phormio. After this affair is settled he goes to make inquiries for his family from Lemnos, when he falls in with Sophrona, and finds to his unbounded astonishment that this wife of Antipho, whom they have been so anxious to get rid of, is no other than his own daughter Phanium. This discovery is imparted to Demipho after an amusing scene of hints rendered necessary by the presence of Nausistrata (Act v. Sc. 3); and the two old men are now as anxious to be off their bargain with Phormio as they were to make it, and above all to get back the thirty minae which the parasite had taken as Phanium’s portion. But they do not find it very easy to manage their scheme. Phormio is ready enough to give up Phanium, but has no intention of parting with the money; and when the old men attempt by fair means or foul to get it back, Chremes discovers to his horror that Phormio has discovered the secret of Phanium’s parentage, which Geta had overheard when Chremes first recognized his daughter in Demipho’s house. The result of all is that Phormio tells the whole story to Nausistrata. Chremes is utterly confounded, and is quite unable to blame his son for his amour with the music girl, when Phaedria describes to Nausistrata the purpose for which the thirty minae were obtained. The play ends with a conditional forgiveness of Chremes, and an invitation to supper for Phormio. In the character of Phormio Terence copied from an original, in which the standing idea of the parasite was strictly observed. See notes on Act ii. Scene 2. We have seen a very different idea, though with the same fondness for good living, worked out in the Eunuchus. See the Introduction to that play. Phormio is, however, a very capital specimen of his class, and shows far more readiness and amiability than most of the tribe. It is not unworthy of remark that this play is said by some to have been acted four times in one year. At all events, this and the Eunuchus, the two most spirited of Terence’s plays, came on the stage within six months.