Mercator, or The Merchant, is a Latin comedic play for the early Roman theatre by Titus Maccius Plautus.
He purchased Pasicompsa and brought her with him to his home in Athens where he now ponders how to prevent his father from discovering his love.
He tells her he bought her on behalf of her own master, and Pasicompsa is pleased, believing Lysimachus to mean Charinus.
After they exit into Lysimachus's house, Demipho enters and attempts to justify what he believes he has earned with age.
Dorippa returns home from the countryside earlier than expected, and she and Syra (whose name is meant to imply her Syrian ethnicity[2]) discover Pasicompsa in the house, believing her to be Lysimachus's mistress.
Lysimachus returns home and tries to explain to his wife that he is only looking after Pasicompsa temporarily, but when the cook hired for that night's feast arrives, Dorippa becomes only more sure of her suspicions and exits into her house crying.
Eutychus returns home to find Syra outside, who urges him inside to see his father's mistress.
[5] Greek plays had a "chorus" or dance interlude between acts to represent the passing of time.
Charinus plays the role of the adulescens amator, Demipho is the senex, and Pasicompsa is the meretrix.
[10]: 2 Other familiar characters are the "running slave" (Acanthio), the old nurse (Syra), the hired cook,[11] the indignant wife (Dorippa), and the helpful friend (sodalis opitulator) (Lysimachus and Eutychus).
[12] The plot is relatively straightforward and is most easily compared to that of the Casina, which also revolves around a conflict between the adulescens and senex.
[14] Their mercantile backgrounds seem to carry over into the rest of their lives; in many lines, Charinus and Demipho speak about Pasicompsa in language characterizing her as a commodity to be traded, rather than as a person.