Terence: The Eunuch (Aris & Phillips Classical Texts)

by Terence, A.J. Brothers

When first performed, The Eunuch was a great success. Today, with its larger-than-life characters (particularly the boastful soldier Thraso and the toady Gnatho), its farcical and exaggerated humour and its vigorous action, it strikes the modern reader as the funniest and most Plautine of Terence's six comedies.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Classics, Theatre, Comedy, Fiction, School

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 162

About the author

Publius Terentius Afer (c. 195/185–159 BC), better known in English as Terence, was a playwright of the Roman Republic, of North African descent. His comedies were performed for the first time around 170–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and, later on, impressed by his abilities, freed him. Terence, apparently, died young, probably in Greece or on his way back to Rome. His six verse comedies, that were long regarded as models of pure Latin, form the basis of the modern comedy of manners.

One famous quotation by Terence reads: "Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto", or "I am a human being, I consider nothing that is human alien to me." This appeared in his play, Heauton Timorumenos.

Reviews

[Oblomov · Rating 2 out of 5]

When (admitedly skim-)reading Terence's Adelphoe, I was surprised it felt closer to Shakespeare in tone than Aristophanes, and it was the same for this comedy too. The sarcastic sycophants, the pathetic lovers, the machinations of devious servants, the dead pan deliveries, all of it seemed great. The plot is convoluted, with long lost siblings, jealous lovers and an infatuated man pretending to be a eunuch so he can be near the object of his desire. It sounded like a proper farce and it indeed it was, with some highly entertaining dialogue. But then... We get the rape episode.

The Greek myths I'm reading this year are terrible for the sheer amount of sexual assaults, and I thought I could have a break from it with some Roman literature, but aren't I a naive moron?.
Some things do not translate well to a contemporary audience: A man pretending to be a eunuch rapes a slave girl. But wait, it's fine, because he's actually a free citizen and she's the long lost sister of a free citizen, so he can just marry the victim. This plot 'resolution' is not so much breaking the humour, as shattering it and pissing on the shards.
It's not even played as some nauseating 'she liked/respected it in the end' thing, like in The Fountainhead, as the victim becomes mute and distraught; she's very clearly traumatised by the incident. Those around her are initally ready to kill the villain for it, but even the girl's own foster-sister just shrugs when she realises the rapist's her boyfriend's brother.
That this is, you know, a morally reprehensible act was not supposed to be entirely lost on the Roman audience either, because one woman (the maid who'd been entrusted with the raped girl), still wants vengeance for it, so sets her sights on the devious servant who arranged for the fake eunuch to be brought to the house. And it seems he at least might get his comeuppance, or the plan to have the victim marry the rapist might fall apart, all in one big shit storm when the brothers' father storms in, and maybe the joke is he'll make the pretend eunuch an actual eunuch, but... No. Everything's fine, it all works out as planned, everyone gets married, and we never hear another word spoken from the girl again. Holy shit...

It's a bit too visceral for a modern reader to simply shrug off as 'a product of the time', and I feel extremely uncomfortable and exceptionally annoyed, because I had been genuinely enjoying the play till that horrible moment. I think my respect for Roman playwrites declines slightly with each new play I read, though I will be trying a Plautus play next, a man I've never tried before, but I'll be leaving Terence alone for a very long while because, in short:

[albertocalzzada · Rating 4 out of 5]

leído para enterarme del trabajo personal, la verdad que ha estado chulo

[Nuriia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una obra de teatro corta y divertidísima, me ha encantado

[Manuel Alfonseca · Rating 2 out of 5]

ENGLISH: Essentially, this comedy has the same plot as Andria: A young maiden, who turns out to be a long-lost Athenian citizen, has become the lover of a young man who at the end of the comedy marries her. In this comedy the young man rapes her, posing as an eunuch.

In this case, however, the older generation (the parents of the young men) is absent. Their place is taken by a soldier and his parasite, the first of which woos the same prostitute as the older brother of the main character.

In this comedy, Terence was accused by his competitors of having plagiated the character of the soldier and the parasite from a Roman dramatist. He defends himself in the prologue by claiming that he took them directly from a Greek comedy by Menander. Apparently, copying from a Greek author was correct, but it was frowned upon if you did it from a Roman author.

SPANISH: Esta comedia tiene un argumento muy parecido al de Andria: una joven doncella, que resulta ser una ciudadana ateniense perdida desde niña, se ha convertido en la amante de un joven que al final de la comedia se casa con ella. En esta comedia el joven la viola, haciéndose pasar por un eunuco.

En este caso, sin embargo, la generación más vieja (los padres de los jóvenes) está ausente. Su lugar lo ocupan un soldado y su parásito, el primero de los cuales corteja a la misma prostituta que el hermano mayor del protagonista.

En esta comedia, Terencio fue acusado por sus competidores de haber plagiado el personaje del soldado y el parásito de un dramaturgo romano. Se defiende en el prólogo, aduciendo que los tomó directamente de una comedia griega de Menandro. Aparentemente, copiar de un autor griego era correcto, pero copiar de un autor romano estaba mal visto.

[Mrs Kenobi✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thais ❤️

[Illiterate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably his funniest play. Is the Plautian subplot (braggart soldier and parasite) more amusing than the Terentian main plot?

[Joseph Bradford · Rating 1 out of 5]

A bunch of beastly men (and, less so, a couple of ladies) being idiots, a rapist as hopeful protagonist who gets to marry his victim, generally a show of the most repulsive and degraded culture.

[عادل صلاح يوسف · Rating 4 out of 5]

شئ عجيب مسرحية عرضت سنة ١٦١ ق . م وتشعرك بالألفة أسلوب هادئ واضح ، حتى عند الصراع لايقل هدوءا ، اللغة مهذبة راقية تناسب الموضوع وزماننا هذا ... من مقدمة المؤلف ~ ليس هناك من شئ يقال الآن إلا وقد قيل ذلك من قبل ، ولهذا ينبغي عليكم عدلا أن تدركوا الأمر وأن تصفحوا عن الكتاب الجدد إن عرضوا قصصا سبق للقدامى أن عرضوها قال ذلك لأنه انتقد إنه قد نقل لقصته شخصيتين من الشاعر اليوناني ميناندر ، مزج قصتين لإخراج قصة واحدة

[Enex94 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dificil de entender... pero... interesante ;)

[Silvio Curtis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for a Roman literature survey course. A comedy, but basically impossible to read as one - except maybe as an exercise in extreme cultural relativism - because the central joke is how a teenage boy disguises himself as a eunuch in order to rape a teenage girl. It would need only small changes in tone to work as a tragedy with the victim's free prostitute stepsister, Thais, as the tragic heroine. There are several other characters and a fairly complicated plot, like Andria, the other Terence play that I've read so far. Some of those side elements are pretty funny, especially the back-and-forth between the boastful soldier Thraso, who is trying to win over Thais, and his sycophantic hanger-on Gnatho.

[Iqra Tasmiae]

Read of it while reading "An Essay of Dramatic Poesy" by Dryden.

Didn't like the end where Phaedria allows Captain to see Thais for material gains. Even if Thraso was being duped yet it didn't become a genuine lover to allow this. Yes if Thais should have wanted it and Phaedria would have done it with her consent then it would have been a different matter. But here when Thais will supposedly have to entertain Thraso, whom she most probably finds irritating, it seems that despite being loyal to Phaedria she doesn't get back what she deserves.

Link to text- https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22188...

[nevaeh galluccio · Rating 2 out of 5]

This play is not a very fun or satisfying read. The framing of atrocities in the comic lens is frankly just uncomfortable and unfunny. Chaerea is supposed to be this goofy teen but he is a monster of a human being. Poor Pamphila being a non-speaking role makes the play more tragic - I can’t imagine hearing about what she goes through and just seeing her silently linger on stage. The backdrop of the aftermath of the Roman atrocities is simply not a great setting for a comedic piece. None of the characters are likable besides the enslaved people who get little to no dialogue and the implications of Pamphila’s treatment after they find our her heritage is icky.

[TAB · Rating 1 out of 5]

My friend Jaime has a great point I keep turning over in my head: you will see Katniss get scalded, bit, psychoactively stampeded, heartbroken, but you will never see her get raped. Most other literature from this play to A Song of Ice and Fire employs rape whenever either as a cheap way to illustrate brutality or in the case of this play, for a laugh. But don't worry everything ends happy in a marriage, so yeah I think I'm fairly certain that ancient comedy is not my thing though I guess it is interesting to see how we have been making the same dick and fart jokes since antiquity.

[Eskil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jeg må ærlig innrømme at jeg er en enkel ung mann. Når jeg ser en fornærmelse i en gammel bok ler jeg. Når den er skrevet på vers deklamerer jeg med. Og denne boka har alt dette, pluss de klassiske greske sjangertrekkene; utspekulerte slaver, menn som forgriper seg på kvinner uten å bli straffa for det, bitchy slaver, ynkelige snyltegjester. Good stuff! Hvorfor er dette med i alle stykkene til Terrents? Fordi alt som kan bli sagt har blitt sagt allerede, jf. poeten selv.

[Fani Tr Kem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Μια τυπική κωμωδία του είδους fabula palliata (λατινική κωμωδία με ελληνικούς χαρακτήρες). Πολλά στοιχεία της πλοκής και της δομής του έργου τότε ήταν συνηθισμένα, αλλά στις μέρες μας ίσως ξενίσουν. Παρ' όλα αυτά μπορούμε να καταλάβουμε τις ιδέες και την νοοτροπία των καλλιτεχνών και του κοινού μιας εποχής. Το φινάλε διχάζει: Άλλοι θα το αποδεχθούν ως ευχάριστο κι άλλοι θα το αμφισβητήσουν ως μη συμβατό με τη μέχρι τώρα πορεία των ηρώων.

[Drey Blackbeak · Rating 2 out of 5]

Al principio me estaba gustando, para mí es algo mejor que los de Plauto, pero lo de las violaciones ya me está empezando a tocar los cojones. Ni una sola comedia que no meta a violadores que abusan de tías de las que "están enamorados" Y DESPUES CONSIGUEN CASARSE CON ELLAS

¿Qué costaba pegarle una paliza a Quereas por hacerse pasar por el eunuco? Encima es que se describe como la pobre chica estaba traumatizadísima porque LE HABIA ARRANCADO HASTA EL PELO

[Nicholas Kaplan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Christensen is a surprisingly good translator (he’s the professor I’m reading all these Latin plays for).

However, Eunuchus is everything I wish modern Americans understood about Ancient Rome before the idealize it. If you don’t walk away from this play going “wow, the ancient Romans were freaks” - reread the play.

[es.jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This play is interesting to read to understand cultural relativism and how peoples attitudes change over time, but it is really hard as a modern reader to ignore the central rape plotline. If that didn't exist, it would be a super entertaining comedy.

[Filipa Burnay · Rating 2 out of 5]

4/10 omd malta violação era tão engraçada haha

[Svend Vilhelm Lyngsøe Poulsen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Jeg gider ikke at anmelde den her bog eller hvad man skal kalde den og det må du bare finde dig i

[Santiago González · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bien lograda, de las 4 primeras comedias de Terencio se me ha hecho la mejor y la más graciosa, bastante plautina.

[Gaia · Rating 1 out of 5]

przypomniało mi to dlaczego nie znoszę mężczyzn

[lampia · Rating 3 out of 5]

jakooooo…velmi crazy cas pre zeny

[bri · Rating 1 out of 5]

A rape comedy. An unoriginal one at that.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Roman comedic playwright Terence wrote Eunuchus around 160 BC. Like much early Roman drama it is an adaptation of a Greek original, namely Menander’s Eunochos along with a few elements borrowed from Menander’s Kolakos. The plot initially involves the young man Phaedra’s rivalry against the stupid soldier Thraso for a courtesan, Thais. When Phaedra’s younger brother Chaerea rapes a female slave of Thais’s, having gained access to the house by pretending to be a eunuch, things swiftly become more complicated. Readers today will be horrified by how this rape is used for comic effect (and the title of the play), which just goes to show alien Ancient Rome was to us culturally, even if a lot of the humour in this play has remained perennially fresh over the millennia and there are a lot of passengers where I laughed out loud.

I read this play in the original Latin from the 1999 entry (ISBN 0521458714) in the “Cambridge Greek and Latin Classics” series, where John Barsby offers a new edition of the Latin text (and only the Latin – no English translation here) together with a detailed commentary. In his introduction, Barsby gives us a thorough background in terms of Terence’s biography, the cultural melange that was Rome at the time, and the conventions of Roman drama. For the commentary proper, he has something to say about nearly every line, and he heavily refers to the remarks made about the play by Aelius Donatus, a scholar of the 4th century AD who was nearer to Terence’s time. There are also two appendices, the first of which is an explanation of meter and scansion (as found in early Roman drama in general as well in this particular play of Terence), while the second appendix gathers the (Greek-language) fragments of Menander’s plays that served as a model for Eunuchus.

I have a degree in Classics, but I hadn’t read a book in Latin in a few years when I picked this up on a whim, so I was worried that I would find the text challenging. Instead, Terence’s Latin proved fairly clear and straightforward, and the few unfamiliar words were always present in my pocket Latin dictionary. What makes Barsby’s commentary so helpful is his explanation of idioms where a reader either should not try to parse the words literally, or where a Roman audiences would have understood the phrasing as an amusing reference to mythology or legal terminology.

As great as Barsby commentary is (and as a work of scholarship, Barsby’s achievement is impressive), a flaw is that Barsby fails to describe what Thais was besides merely calling her “a courtesan”. Is she to be identified as a simple Greek hetaira? As a blend of the Greek hetaira and Roman expectations of a prostitute? In spite of Barsby’s detailed description of the rest of the cultural milieu of the play, this major character still remained a mystery to me.

[Mmonchi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Se trata de una comedia clásica de enredo en la que van pasando muchos personajes que van complicando la trama hasta su desenlace final. Muchas de las cosas que pasan son previsibles, aunque hay momentos en que se embarulla demasiado con un exceso de personajes que tienen poca presencia en su desarrollo. Me resulta muy diferente del teatro moderno, la historia es poco real y las relaciones entre personajes extrañas. Supongo que si tuvo tanto éxito en la antigua Roma fue por las referencias veladas a tipos y personas que entonces eran comunes, pero que hoy no reconocemos.

[Xerome · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not entirely unfunny. 3.5.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Christenson provides a very-readable introduction and modern translation of this enjoyable little comedy notable especially for not only being one of the few extant Roman comedies available but also for being one of Martin Luther's favorite plays. Highly recommended for both the student of classical theater as well as the Lutheran disciple.

[Sparrow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Probably just the translation, but I didn't find this play to be very funny :/

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this for my Classical Studies comedies class. I liked it overall, I guess, though a lot of the themes don't carry well to modern day.