Classics 351
February 3, 2022

Portrait of Terence, 9th century CE manuscript

*Examination #1: take-home, due Thursday, February 10 (by 11:59pm in D2L Assignments Folder)*

Terence's Eunuchus

• Chaerea's boast (Scene 10, cont.)
  
  Eunuchus 604-612
  Chaerea
                                  An opportunity            
  Like that handed to me, brief and unexpected as it was, but so longed for!           
  Do you think I was going to pass it up? Then I would have been a eunuch for real!
  Antipho
  Damn straight about that. But what about our party? What’s happening with that?
  Chaerea
  It’s all ready.
  Antipho
        Good man! Where? Your house?
  Chaerea
                          No, at our freedman Discus’ house.
  Antipho
  That’s a long way from here. All the more reason to rush. You’ve got to change clothes!          
  Chaerea
  But where, damn it? I’m practically banished from home now. I’m afraid                         
  My brother’s there, or even worse, my father’s back from the farm by now.
  Antipho
  My place is close by and you can change there. Let’s go.
  
  
• gender implications of soldier-in-training Chaerea's costume?
  
  
• reaction to the sexual assault in Eunuchus (vs. usual treatment of rape in New Comedy)?
  
  Eunuchus 645-646
  Pythias (with Phaedria, back from the country, and Dorias)
  The scumbag! It just wasn’t enough for him to have his way with her!                            
  He had to rip up the poor girl’s clothes and tear her hair out on top of it all!
  
  Eunuchus 658-660
  Pythias
  Whatever he was, all the evidence clearly shows he did what he did.
  The girl’s all in tears, and can’t even say what happened when you ask her.
  But that paragon of manhood? Nowhere to be found!
  

• Thais/Chremes sub-plot?
  
  
• Scene 17: cowardly soldier's farcical army (Sanga the Cook & Co.) marches on Thais's house; Chremes declares sister freeborn (804) & exits to get Sophrona the nurse
  
  [In a speech before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on January 13, 2009 in which she assessed current and future American foreign policy, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cited Roman political scientist Thraso:
  
  I believe that American leadership has been wanting, but is still wanted. We must use what has been called 'smart power,' the full range of tools at our disposal—diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal, and cultural—picking the right tool, or combination of tools, for each situation. With smart power, diplomacy will be the vanguard of foreign policy. This is not a radical idea. The ancient Roman poet Terence, who was born a slave and rose to become one of the great voices of his time, declared that 'in every endeavor, the seemly course for wise men is to try persuasion first.'
  
  Clinton here refers to Eunuchus 789, “A wise man should pursue all options before resorting to force”]

• Thais learns of Chaerea's rape from Pythias (Scene 18)
  
  Eunuchus 817-821 (Thais to Pythias)
  Damn it, would you stop speaking in tongues with me?
  “I know,” “I don’t know,” “He went away,” “I wasn’t there.”
  Whatever it is, just give it to me straight.
  The girl’s clothing is torn, she’s crying, and won’t say a word.            
  The eunuch’s gone. Why? What happened? Speak up!
  
  
• Thais’s reconciliation with Chaerea, still dressed in eunuch's "flashy outfit" (Scene 19)
  
  Eunuchus 865ff.
  Thais
  Enough of this! Chaerea, this behavior doesn’t become you.
  Even if I completely deserved to be mistreated by you,                              
  You had no right to behave like this.
  My goodness, now I don’t have a clue as to what I should do about this girl!
  You’ve completely messed up all my plans,
  And I don’t think I can return her to her family.
  That would have been the right thing to do and was what I wanted,                
  So that I’d get some long-term advantage for myself, Chaerea.
  Chaerea
  I hope from now on there will be a long-lasting bond between our families, Thais.
  Often in cases like this one, a great friendship
  Grows out of what was a very bad beginning.
  Maybe this whole thing was the will of some god?    
  Thais
  Goodness me, I’m certainly willing to accept that view of it all! 
  Chaerea
  That’s just what I hoped. And there’s one thing you should know:
  I did it out of love and I didn’t intend to insult you.
  Thais
                             I understand,
  And it’s for just that reason that I’m more disposed to forgiving you.
  You didn’t imagine I was so without human feelings                          
  Or so naïve that I don’t appreciate the power of love.
  Chaerea
  As the gods are my witness, I love you too, Thais! ...
                             
  Chaerea
  ... Now I really need your full support in this matter,                
  And I’m surrendering myself to your protection:
  I hereby accept you as my patron. Please, Thais!
  I’ll simply die if I can’t marry her!
  Thais
  But what if your father—
  Chaerea
              Huh? Oh, he’ll agree to it for sure
  If she’s a citizen.
  
  
• Parmeno & Chaerea as Plautine clever slave & lovesick young master wannabes
  
  Eunuchus 925-940 (Parmeno’s gloating as “clever slave”)
  Parmeno is in for some much deserved glory!
  To downplay the fact that without any fuss or financial
  Outlay I made what’s usually
  A very difficult and expensive affair (seeing as the
  Girl belongs to a greedy prostitute) all possible—
  There is this additional achievement I think I especially deserve a prize for:                       
  I found a way for a young man to learn
  All about the character and customs of prostitutes
  At an early age, so that this newfound knowledge might inspire his
  Eternal hatred of them! Hookers! When they’re out in public
  With their lovers and daintily picking at their dinner, what could be                                           
  More refined, better groomed or simply elegant? 
  But to get a picture of their dirty squalid life at home,
  How disgustingly ugly they really are, and how they
  Greedily gobble up dark bread dipped in leftover gravy!
  Knowing all this can be a young man’s salvation!

• Pythias’s revenge on Parmeno (Terence's subtle metatheater): "I actually used to think you were a very clever fellow" (1011); Parmeno gives up his young master to Chaerea's father (Scene 22), who finds him in eunuch's dress (Scene 23)

• Final compromise (Scene 26) between Thraso (via Gnatho), Chaerea & Phaedria; what does this mean for Thais?
  
  
  *PERFORMANCE of Scene 26 (1049-1094): Finn (Gnatho), Katheryn (Phaedria), Veronica (Chaerea), Viktor (Thraso)*
  
  
  Eunuchus 1089-1094 (the cynical ending)
  Gnatho
  Well! They just didn’t know who you are, so I revealed
  The real Thraso to them by praising all your great deeds and your virtues.             
  It was successful!
  Thraso
           Good work! I really owe you one.
  I’ve never yet found a place where people didn’t adore me.
  Gnatho
  Didn’t I tell you the man simply exudes genuine Attic sophistication?
  Phaedria
  He’s exactly as you described him.