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kind and rather dim-witted gentleman who is dominated by his wife,
perplexed by his young son, and bamboozled by his slaves. The lady of the
house is Domina, daughter of a great Roman general, rich, smart, and
tough, who commands all around her and goads everyone with the fear of
her wrath. Her personal slave, Hysterium, who “lives to grovel,” tries to
stay out of trouble, but is swept up in Pseudolus’ convoluted devices. Next
door is the house of Lycus, a successful panderer, who has just relocated
his prosperous business and its assorted female inventory next door.
When Hero, Pseudolus’ innocent young master, peaks inside the brothel
window, he falls desperately in love with one of the courtesans. Just then,
his parents set off to the country on a family visit, leaving Hysterium in
charge and instructing him to keep Hero away from the ladies next door,
on pain of death. But Hero wants the girl, Philia, and strikes a deal with
Pseudolus: if he can get Hero his true love, Pseudolus will win what he
most desires, his freedom. Pseudolus comes up with a scheme to enter the
House of Lycus by pretending to be buyers. When they discover that
Philia is a virgin and has been sold to a great captain, who comes to claim
her that very day, Pseudolus fabricates a story about a plague in Crete and
tricks Lycus into believing the girl is ill, while generously offering to keep
her in the House of Senex until the captain arrives. Pseudolus hopes to
buy enough time to allow Hero to elope with Philia, and he blackmails
Hysterium into helping him with his dangerous scheme.
Things begin to get complicated when Philia refuses to break her contract
with the captain and run away with Hero (“an honest virgin . . . what
a horrible combination!”), forcing Pseudolus to come up with another
plan. Meanwhile, Senex has contrived to return home early, only to find
Philia in his house. She believes that he is the captain coming to claim her
as his property, so she offers herself to him. Pseudolus explains that Philia
is the new household maid. With Hysterium’s help, they shuffle Senex
into the empty house of another neighbor, Erronius, an elderly citizen.
But Erronius wanders home unexpectedly, having failed in his long search
for his two children “who were stolen in infancy by pirates.” Erronius
wears a ring embossed with a gaggle of geese, and declares both of his
children wear the same ring. To keep Erronius from entering his house
and finding Senex, Pseudolus pretends to be a soothsayer and tells him his
house is haunted; to buy time, he orders Erronius to run circles around
the city to get rid of the fabricated ghost. Lycus, fearing the fatal consequences
of selling a sick virgin to the captain, persuades Pseudolus to
switch identities with him. Pseudolus accepts the deal, and moves all
the courtesans into the House of Senex.
160 A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE FORUM (1966)