Adelphoe
Adelphoe (from Greek αδέλφοι; dt. The Brothers ) is a comedy by the Roman poet Terence , written in 160 BC. On the occasion of the funeral games in honor of Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus .
content
The focus is on the educational conflict between the two brothers Ctesipho and Aeschinus. While the former is subject to the strict upbringing of his father Demea, the other, who is brought up liberally by his uncle Micio, has "a free hand". There are always conflicts between Demea and Micio because of the different educational methods, especially since Demea believes she has an impeccable model son in Ctesipho. The actions of Aeschinus, the Pamphila, the daughter of Sostrata, raped and made pregnant, gave Demea enough ammunition to rail against his brother and his methods of upbringing. When Aeschinus does his brother Ctesipho, who is in love with a kithara player , a favor and snatches her from a matchmaker, but tries to give the impression that he is stealing her for himself to cover his brother from his father, all dams break: Sostrata believes Aeschinus is leaving her daughter in favor of the kithara player, and Demea even more intensely denounces Micio's liberal methods. However, after it became clear how the situation is actually arranged, Demea begins to display an exuberant generosity, which, however, is actually at Micio's expense. Aeschinus is now allowed to marry his Pamphila, Ctesipho and his kithara player stay together. Micio, however, is compelled by Demea to marry the old mother of the Pamphila, Sostrata. In the end there is the acceptance of the father by both sons.
background
Like four other comedies by Terence , Adelphoe goes back to a Greek model by the poet Menander . In the prologue , Terence admits that he incorporated a scene from a piece by Diphilos into the Greek original in order to ensure that action is taken quickly and not - as with Menander - to start the piece with a reproducing passage. The upbringing of the two boys, as with the Greek model, represents the overriding storyline. Micio embodies the moderate part, which stands out through modern upbringing methods. In his opinion, fear is not a basis for personal responsibility, but merely a condition for slave obedience. The foundation of his upbringing is not tyranny but camaraderie, which his adoptive son does not fully respect. However, this is the "lubricant" for the comedy, whose entanglements are based on the uncle's exploited liberality. Opposite Micio is his brother Demea, who stands out for his distrust, severity and curmudgeon. In him the realization grows that his son Ctesipho is not the model boy, as he has always believed, since it is precisely this boy who has taken the liberties of youth without his father's knowledge. Until the fourth scene it seems clear that the author prefers the generous position. In the fifth part, however, the plot of the comedy is restructured in such a way that Demea emerges as the unexpected winner in the end. This is also the big difference to Menander, who lets Micio get away much better than Terence. The final reasons are in the dark. It can be assumed that Terence, who had the comedy on the funeral games of Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus , the father of Scipio Aemilianus , wanted to express the distrust of his client Scipio towards liberal Greece. So it is a piece with the peculiarities of its time, in which a strong return to ancient Romanism was “en vogue”.
literature
- Michael von Albrecht : The history of Roman literature . 1st volume, Munich 1994.
- Manfred Fuhrmann : The History of Roman Literature . 2005.
- Rainer Nickel : Lexicon of ancient literature . Artemis & Winkler, Düsseldorf / Zurich 1999. ( Online )
- Herbert Rädle, P. Terentius Afer: Adelphoe. The brothers . Stuttgart 1977.