Hecyra

Hecyra (The Mother-in-Law)^[1] is a comedic Latin play by the early Roman playwright Terence. 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. Before the wedding took place Philumena was raped by an unknown man. When a baby is born, Pamphilus at first disowns Philumena, but in the end it turns out that he himself is the father of the baby and husband and wife are reconciled. Much of the play deals with the distress which Pamphilus's behaviour causes himself and his own and Philumena's parents. 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. The mother-in-law in the title is Pamphilus's mother Sostrata, who is falsely accused of unkindness towards Philumena; but Pamphilus's own mother-in-law Myrrina also has an important role.

The second of Terence's plays to be written (after Andria), Hecyra was a failure at its first two stagings. The first in 165 BC was disrupted when a rumor spread that a tightrope-walker and boxers were about to perform. This upset is referred to in the prologue of Terence's fifth play Phormio, produced in 161 BC. In 160 BC the production was cancelled when the theater was stormed by a group of rowdy gladiator-fans. It was presented successfully only at its third attempt later that same year.^[2]

A musical phrase accompanying a single line of Hecyra was copied in the 18th century by Italian composer Arcangelo Corelli from a 10th-century manuscript and was for a long time believed to be all that remains of the entire body of ancient Roman music. However, musicologist Thomas J. Mathiesen comments that it is no longer believed to be authentic.^[3]

Hecyra is based on plays by Apollodorus of Carystus and Menander.