Hecyra
The story concerns a young man, Pamphilus, who has a girlfriend, the courtesan Bacchis, but is forced by his father to marry a neighbour's daughter Philumena.
A comedic element is provided by a lazy gossip-hungry slave, Parmeno, who is made to run around on errands and is kept in the dark about what is happening.
By chance, the woman chosen for him is Philumena, and she alone knows that she had been raped by an unidentified man, and she hopes that her disgrace is concealed.
She returns to her parents' home, where Sostrata seeks her, but Philumena claims illness and will not allow the mother-in-law inside the house.
Myrrhina, the wife of Phidippus, then begs him to keep the pregnancy a secret, but he declines to take back Philumena.
The action takes place in the street in front of two houses, that of Pamphilus's family, and that of Philumena's next door.
The metrical analysis below is based on the database Meters of Roman Comedy by Timothy Moore, published by the Washington University in St Louis.
Trochaic septenarii (tr7) are used in several passages when the characters show their ignorance about what is really going on, such as when Laches accuses his wife of mistreating Philumena.
