Source edition
Plautus. Plauti Comoediae, Volume 2. Leo, Friedrich, editor. Berlin: Weidmann, 1896.
Source data
Perseus Digital Library · CC BY-SA 4.0
Cloned and adapted by Humanitext, with ongoing edits.
Summary
This Roman comedy by Plautus depicts the liberation of two kidnapped Carthaginian sisters and the romantic fulfillment of a young man who loves one of them. Set in Aetolia, Greece, the story follows Agorastocles, a young Carthaginian who was kidnapped in infancy, as he seeks to rescue his beloved Adelphasium from the greedy pimp Lycus. Assisted by his clever slave Milphio, Agorastocles hatches a plot to entrap the pimp and ruin him financially. The situation takes a dramatic turn with the arrival of Hanno, a Carthaginian searching for his lost daughters, who turns out to be Agorastocles' uncle. Through mutual recognition, Hanno discovers that the very courtesans held by the pimp are his long-lost daughters. In the end, the pimp is defeated and forced to yield, the sisters reclaim their freeborn status and reunite with their father, and Agorastocles' marriage is secured as the characters prepare to return to Carthage.