LATIN LITERATURE- TERENCE

 "Andria", scene I. 

The first scene is about Simo, Pamphilus' father, talking to his freedman, Sosia, about Pamphilus and his wedding. Simo wanted Pamphilus to marry Philumena, but then he discovers that he's in love with Glycerium, a woman from Andria that Pamphilus got pregnant. Not only Simo wanted his son to marry Philumena, but also Chremes, Philumena's father. He complained to Simo that Pamphilus wasn't going to marry his daughter, instead he was going to marry Glycerium. Although, all that was part of Simo's plan, to pretend Pamphilus was going to marry Glycerium but at the end he wanted him to marry Philumena. 

Then Simo and Sosia kind of discuss the bad things about marrying Glycerium, and explain why they shouldn't get married. After that, the scene ends with Simo telling Sosia that was the plan and that he had to pretend the wedding was real, terrify Davus, Pamhilus' slave in case he was making a scheme helping Pamphilus to marry Glycerium. Also, he said that there was no doubt that his son didn't wish for a wife.

This play is on of the six comedies of Terrence, it was actually the first one he wrote. This genre, comedy, is very different than what I thought it was. I thought it would all fun and laughs, but it's actually about a love story about a man trying to marry a woman that his dad doesn't approve. In class we saw comedy kind of a subgenre of drama. I think that's why a comedy doesn't have to be all funny. Probably as the play goes on it gets a little funny because from what I read it sounds like a love story to me. Also, I found this play very interesting from the beginning. It has a great background, but a little confusing at the beginning because of all the characters' strange names. Most of the time I don't like romantic stories, but I find this comedy very amusing.

Link of the play: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/22188/22188-h/files/terence1_2.html#andria