THE SUBJECT.
PAMPHILUS, the son of Laches by his wife Sostrata, being at the time enamored
of Bacchis, a Courtesan, chances, one night, in a drunken fit, to debauch
Philumena, the daughter of Phidippus and Myrrhina. In the struggle he takes
a ring from her, which he gives to Bacchis. Some time afterward, at his
father's express desire, he consents to marry. By chance the young woman
whom he has ravished is given to him as a wife, to the great joy of her
mother, who alone is aware of her misfortune, and hopes that her disgrace
may be thereby concealed. It, however, happens otherwise ; for Pamphilus,
still retaining his passion for Bacchis, refuses for some time to cohabit
with her. Bacchis, however, now rejects the advances of Pamphilus, who by
degrees becomes weaned from his affection for her, and grows attached to his
wife, whom he has hitherto disliked. Meantime, however, he is suddenly
called away from home. During his absence, Philumena, finding herself
pregnant, in consequence of her misfortune before her marriage, fearing
detection, especially avoids the company of her mother-in-law. At length she
makes an excuse for returning to the home of her own parents, where she
remains. Sostrata thereupon sends for her, but is answered that she is ill,
on which she goes to see her, but is refused admittance to the house. On
hearing of this, Laches blames his wife as being the cause of this
estrangement. Pamphilus now returns, and it so happens that, on the day of
his arrival, Philumena is brought to bed of a child. Impatient to see her,
Pamphilus rushes into her room, and to his great distress finds that this is
the case. Myrrhina thereupon entreats him to keep the matter secret, and
begs him, if he refuses to receive her daughter back again, at least not to
ruin her reputation by divulging it. As he now declines either to take back
his wife or give his reason for so doing, Laches suspects that he is still
enamored of Bacchis, and accordingly sends for her, and expostulates with
her. She, however, exonerates herself; on which the old man, supposing that
Philumena and her mother are equally ignorant with himself as to his son's
motives, begs her to call on them and remove their suspicions. While she is
conversing with them, they recognize the ring upon her finger which
Pamphilus had formerly taken from Philumena. By means of this it is
discovered that Pamphilus himself is the person who has ravished Philumena;
on which, overjoyed, he immediately takes home his wife and son.