Editing Plautus (section)

==Surviving plays==
*''[[Amphitryon (Plautus play)|Amphitruo]]'' (''missing a large segment towards end'')
:The play is set in [[Thebes, Greece|Thebes]] in Greece. While the general, Amphitruo, is away fighting a war, the god Jupiter visits his house and sleeps with his wife Alcumena, disguising himself as her husband. Jupiter's son Mercury, disguised as Amphitruo's slave Sosia, keeps watch outside, and when the real Sosia turns up bringing news of the victory, Mercury teases him and beats him up. When Amphitruo turns up, Alcumena is surprised to see him back so soon. There is a quarrel and Amphitruo accuses her of adultery. He goes off to fetch a witness. Then Jupiter comes back for a second session with Alcumena, and when Amphitruo returns, Mercury, still disguised as Sosia, climbs on the roof and mischievously pelts him with tiles. (''There is a gap in the manuscripts here''.) Amphitruo, infuriated, is about to burst into the house and kill everybody, when suddenly there is a thunderclap; a nurse comes out and reports that Alcumena has given birth miraculously to two boys (one of them Hercules). Finally Jupiter appears and explains everything to Amphitruo.

*''[[Asinaria]]'' ("The Comedy of Asses")
:Demaenetus, an Athenian gentleman, tells his slave Libanus that he knows his son Argyrippus is in love with a prostitute, Philaenium, but has no money to pay for her. He asks the cunning Libanus to find the money by cheating his wealthy wife Artemona or her steward Saurea. Libanus is at a loss for a plan until his fellow slave, Leonida, by chance meets a stranger who has come to pay a debt to Saurea for some donkeys which had earlier been sold to a certain merchant. Leonida pretends to be Saurea, and he and Libanus gull the stranger into handing the money over to Leonida. The money is given to Argyrippus but with the stipulation that his father is to be allowed to spend the first night with Philaenium. But a rival lover, Diabolus, who wants Philaenium for himself, and arrives too late with his money, out of jealousy asks his parasite (hanger on) to inform Artemona what is going on. She storms to the brothel in a fury and drags her husband away to his great embarrassment, leaving Argyrippus to enjoy Philaenium by himself.

*[[Aulularia|''Aulularia'' ("The Pot of Gold")]] (''missing ending'')
:A miserly old man, Euclio, has found a pot ({{lang|la|aula}}) of gold in his house, and keeps checking that no one has stolen it. His wealthy neighbour Megadorus comes to ask for the hand of Euclio's daughter Phaedrium, unaware that she was earlier raped and is heavily pregnant. Soon Megadorus's slave Strobilus arrives with two hired cooks to prepare a wedding feast; he instructs one of the cooks, Congrio, to go to Euclio's house and start work. When Euclio returns he is alarmed, thinking his gold is being stolen, and he chases Congrio out into the street. Euclio decides to hide the pot first in a neighbouring temple, and later in a grove outside the city, but he is spied on each time by a slave of Megadorus's nephew Lyconides.<ref>This slave is also called "Strobilus" in the text, but many scholars believe that he is not same slave as the Strobilus in the first half.</ref> Euclio is horrified to find that his gold has been stolen despite his precautions. At this point Lyconides confesses to Euclio that he raped Phaedrium and wishes to marry her. Later Lyconides discovers that it was his slave who stole the gold, and he insists that it must be returned. (''The manuscript breaks off here, but from the ancient summary it seems that Lyconides returned the gold to Euclio, who consented to the marriage and gave him the gold as a dowry''.)

*[[Bacchides (play)|''Bacchides'' ("The Bacchis Sisters")]]
:(''The first few scenes of the play are missing.'') The young man Mnesilochus is in love with a courtesan called Bacchis. While he is abroad, his friend Pistoclerus falls in love with Bacchis's twin sister, also called Bacchis. Mnesilochus returns from his two-year stay in Ephesus, where he had been sent by his father Nicobulus to collect some money. Mnesilochus's cunning slave Chrysalus deceives Nicobulus into thinking that part of the money is still in Ephesus; in this way Mnesilochus will be able to keep some of the money to pay for Bacchis's services. But when Mnesilochus hears that Pistoclerus has a girlfriend called Bacchis, in his anger he gives all the money to his father, keeping none back. Too late, he learns from Pistoclerus that there are two Bacchises. He begs Chrysalus to play another trick on his father to get the money he needs. Chrysalus tells Nicobulus that Mnesilochus has been making love to the wife of a soldier called Cleomachus who is threatening to kill Mnesilochus. To protect his son, Nicobulus willingly promises to pay 200 gold pieces. Later, in yet another deception, Chrysalus persuades Nicobulus to pay another 200 gold pieces to prevent his son committing perjury. But shortly afterwards when Nicobulus meets the soldier he learns that Bacchis is only a courtesan who owed the soldier money. Furious, Nicobulus and Pistoclerus's father Philoxenus go to the Bacchises' house to confront their sons; the two sisters come out and charm them and persuade them to come in and enjoy the party.

*[[Captivi|''Captivi'' ("The Captives")]]
:The play is set in [[Aetolia]] in western Greece. An old man, Hegio, has been buying up prisoners-of-war from [[Elis]] in the hope of exchanging one of them for his own son, who has himself been captured in Elis. Among Hegio's captives are a young man, Philocrates, and his loyal slave Tyndarus, who have swapped identities so that Philocrates can go back to his family in Elis. The plan works, and Philocrates goes home. Meanwhile another Elian captive, Aristophontes, recognises Tyndarus and inadvertently informs Hegio what has happened. Tyndarus is sent to hard labour in a stone quarry. Later a parasite/hanger-on Ergasilus excitedly brings news that Hegio's son has arrived at the harbour. Philocrates arrives, together with Hegio's son, Philopolemus, bringing a run-away slave called Stalagmus. When Stalagmus is interrogated he reveals that Tyndarus is none other than Hegio's long-lost son whom Stalagmus had kidnapped and sold years before. Tyndarus is rescued from his punishment and reunited with his father.

*''[[Casina (play)|Casina]]''
:A father and son, Lysidamus and Euthynicus, are both in love with the beautiful Casina, a 16-year-old girl who was adopted into their family as a baby. The father sends his son abroad on a trip and plans for Casina to marry his farm-manager Olympio, so that he can use her as a mistress whenever he likes without his wife Cleostrata knowing. When Cleostrata discovers his intention, she plans for Casina to marry Euthynicus's servant Chalinus, to keep her safe until Euthynicus returns. When, after lots are drawn, her plan fails, she dresses up Chalinus as Casina and sends him into the bedroom of the neighbour's house where Lysidamus is planning to spend the night with Casina. The husband is exposed, and Casina is kept safe for Euthynicus's return.

*[[Cistellaria|''Cistellaria'' ("The Little Casket")]] (''missing large segments'')
:A young courtesan, Selenium, is in love with her first and only lover, a wealthy young man called Alcesimarchus, who has promised to marry her. But she is distressed to hear that Alcesimarchus is now engaged to marry another girl. Selenium believes she is the daughter of the courtesan Melaenis, but in fact her birth mother is Phanostrata, the mother of Alcesimarchus's fiancée. By chance Melaenis overhears Phanostrata's slave, Lampadio, who had been ordered to expose Selenium as a baby, telling his mistress that he had found the old woman who had picked her up, and that he learnt that she had given the baby to be adopted by a courtesan called Melaenis. Melaenis immediately hurries off to fetch the recognition tokens which she has been keeping in a small casket ({{lang|la|cistella}}). The casket is accidentally dropped in the street by the maid; it is found by Lampadio and shown to Phanostrata, who recognises the tokens. Alcesimarchus is now free to marry his beloved Selenium and all ends well. 

*''[[Curculio (play)|Curculio]]'' 
:Phaedromus is a young man in [[Epidaurus]] in Greece, who is in love with a girl Planesium owned by a pimp Cappadox. Lacking the money to purchase her, Phaedromus had sent Curculio, a "parasite" (hanger-on), to [[Caria]] to borrow money from a certain friend. When he returns, Curculio tells Phaedromus that the friend had no money, but that he, Curculio, had met a soldier called Therapontigonus, who had told him that he intended to buy Planesium for himself. Curculio had stolen the soldier's signet ring and hurried back to Epidaurus. Wearing a disguise and carrying his forged letter, he tricks the banker Lyso into paying the money to Cappadox, and so is able to purchase Planesium for Phaedromus. Planesium, however, recognises the ring as one that had once belonged to her father, and when the soldier arrives in Epidaurus he in turn recognises a ring which he had once given to her. Phaedromus is able to marry Planesium, and, because Planesium proves to be free-born, Cappadox is obliged to return the money that was paid for her.
          
*''[[Epidicus]]''
:The slave Epidicus's young master Stratippocles returns from the war in Thebes, bringing a captive girl he has fallen in love with. He orders Epidicus to find 40 ''minae'' to pay for her. This alarms Epidicus, since earlier Stratippocles had made him find the money to buy a different girl, and Epidicus had done this by fooling Stratippocles' father Periphanes into believing that the girl was his daughter. Epidicus has an idea. He convinces Periphanes that Stratippocles is still in love with his music girl and has borrowed money to buy her. To prevent this, Epidicus suggests that Periphanes should buy the girl himself, and sell her to a certain army officer for a profit. Periphanes pays, but Epidicus brings him a different music-girl hired for the day and hands the money to Stratippocles. When the officer arrives he tells Periphanes it is not the same girl he wanted to buy. Now Philippa, a woman that Periphanes had raped years before, arrives, looking for her daughter who has been captured in the war. She and Periphanes recognise each other, but when he brings out the girl who Epidicus told him was their daughter, Philippa says it is not her. Epidicus is now in big trouble since he has fooled Periphanes twice. But by a lucky chance, when the captive arrives, Epidicus recognises her: she is Philippa's daughter. Periphanes is so delighted to have found his missing daughter that he forgives Epidicus and gives him his freedom. 

*''[[Menaechmi]]''
:The play is set in [[Epidamnos|Epidamnus]]<ref>Modern [[Durrës]], on the coast of what is now Albania.</ref> in western Greece. The play opens when Peniculus, a "parasite", arrives at the house of Menaechmus hoping to be given dinner. Menaechmus comes out, quarrelling with his shrewish wife. He tells Peniculus that he is going to give a cloak (actually his wife's) to his girlfriend the courtesan Erotium, who lives next door. They persuade Erotium to invite them to dinner, and while waiting they go to the forum for drink. Meanwhile Menaechmus's twin brother, also called Menaechmus, arrives from Syracuse with his slave Messenio, looking for his long-lost twin. Erotium greets him warmly, invites him in for dinner and afterwards gives him the cloak requesting it to be altered. A series of misunderstandings follows, during which the first Menaechmus gets tied up by his father-in-law and a doctor who think he has gone mad; he is rescued by Messenio. The two brothers finally meet. The first Menaechmus decides to auction off all his goods (including his wife) and return to Syracuse with his brother. Messenio claims his freedom for rescuing Menaechmus I.

*[[Mercator (play)|''Mercator'' ("The Merchant")]]
:Charinus, son of the Athenian merchant Demipho, met a beautiful girl called Pasicompsa in Rhodes and has brought her back to Athens. He intends to pretend that he has bought her as a maid for his mother. But his father catches sight of Pasicompsa at the port, and wants her for himself. He tells his son that Pasicompsa is too beautiful to be a maid, and insists she must be sold. He arranges for his friend Lysimachus to buy her and take her to his (Lysimachus's) house. But Lysimachus's wife returns unexpectedly from the country and when a cook turns up to prepare a feast there is a row. Lysimachus's son Eutychus, who is a friend of Charinus, learns from a maid that Pasicompsa is inside the house. He fetches Charinus, who was about to go abroad in despair, and brings him to rescue Pasicompsa. Afterwards Eutychus meets Lysimachus and Demipho and chastises Demipho for his disgraceful behaviour.

*[[Miles Gloriosus (play)|''Miles Gloriosus'' ("The Braggart Soldier")]]
:The play is set in [[Ephesus]]. A boastful soldier, Pyrgopolynices, has abducted a courtesan, Philocomasium, from Athens. A resourceful slave, Palaestrio, has separately been captured and is now working in the same house. Palaestrio's former master, the young Athenian Pleusicles, is in love with Philocomasium and has come to Ephesus to rescue her; he is lodging next door with a jovial old bachelor called Periplectomenus. Palaestrio has made a hole in the wall between the houses so that Philocomasium can visit Pleusicles. Unfortunately the lovers are spotted by Sceledrus, one of the soldier's servants. Palaestrio comes up with a plan to pretend that the girl next door is Philocomasium's twin sister, and he and Periplectomenus have fun tricking not very bright Sceledrus while Philocomasium pops out first from one door then the other. Palaestrio now thinks up another plan. He gets a resourceful local courtesan Acroteleutium and her maid Milphidippa to pretend that Acroteleutium is the wealthy owner of the house next door, and that she is madly in love with the soldier. The plan works, and Pyrgopolynices orders Philocomasium to depart to make room for his new bride. But when he goes next door to claim his bride he is thoroughly beaten up by Periplectomenus's servants.

*[[Mostellaria|''Mostellaria'' ("The Ghost")]]
: A young man, Philolaches, is in love with a courtesan Philematium, and in his father's absence has borrowed money to buy her. Suddenly, while he and his friend Callidamates are partying, his slave Tranio brings news of the father's return. Tranio ushers everyone inside the house and when the father, Theopropides, arrives, deceives him into thinking that the house is haunted by a ghost and cannot be entered. Next Tranio tricks the neighbour, Simo, into letting Theopropides inspect his house, which Theopropides has been told is for sale. While Tranio is off-stage, Theopropides meets two of Callidamates's slaves and realises that he has been tricked by Tranio. He is determined to punish him. But Callidamates appears and begs Theopropides to forgive both Philolaches and Tranio.

*[[Persa (play)|''Persa'' ("The Persian")]]
:The cunning slave Toxilus, who is looking after his master's house while he is away, is in love with Lemniselenis, a courtesan owned by the pimp Dordalus, who lives next door. He persuades his friend Sagaristio, another cunning slave, to lend him the money needed to buy her, promising to get the money back from Dordalus by a trick. Meanwhile he persuades another friend, the parasite Saturio, to lend his daughter for the trick. Sagaristio dresses up as a Persian, and sells the girl to Dordalus for a large sum pretending she is an Arabian captive. Immediately afterwards Saturio comes to reclaim his daughter from Dordalus on the grounds that she is an Athenian citizen and drags him off to court. Since no guarantee was given at the time of the sale, the money does not have to be returned, and Toxilus and Sagaristio celebrate their victory.

*[[Poenulus|''Poenulus'' ("The Little Carthaginian")]]
:The play is set in [[Calydon]] in central Greece. A young man, Agorastocles, is in love with a slave-courtesan Adelphasium owned by a slave-dealer Lycus. He and his slave Milphio spot Adelphasium and her sister in the street and each try to win her over, but she rejects their overtures. Milphio suggests a plan to send Agorastocles' estate-manager Collybiscus to Lycus's house pretending to be a rich customer. Agorastocles brings some witnesses to observe Collybiscus taking a lot of money into the house. They trick Lycus into denying that any slave with money has come to the house, and Agorastocles threatens to take him to court. Lycus flees. Now a [[Ancient Carthage|Carthaginian]] traveller comes to the town, speaking in Punic, looking for his two lost daughters, who had been captured in childhood by pirates. Hanno recognises Agorastocles from a monkey-bite scar as the son of his late cousin. He also discovers that Adelphasium and her sister are his daughters. There is a joyful reunion and Agorastocles declares that he will go back to Carthage with Hanno and the girls.

*''[[Pseudolus]]''
:The young man Calidorus is distressed because his beloved, the slave-courtesan Phoenicium, has been sold to a Macedonian army officer. He is unable to find the 20 ''minae'' needed to buy her. The cunning slave Pseudolus promises to help. In the next scene, Phoenicium's owner, the slave-dealer Ballio, brings all his slaves and courtesans out into the street and berates them angrily, ordering them to prepare a feast for his birthday. Later, Pseudolus meets Calidorus's father Simo and bets him 20 ''minae'' that Phoenicium will be free by the end of the day. At this point Harpax, a servant of the officer, arrives bringing the balance of the money to be paid for Phoenicium. Pseudolus pretends to be Ballio's steward, and Harpax hands him a letter from the officer to Ballio. Now Pseudolus dresses up another cunning slave, Simio, as Harpax and sends him to meet Ballio. The plan works and Phoenicium is released. When the real Harpax returns, Simo and Ballio think that this just is one of Pseudolus's tricks and tease the boy lewdly. Too late, they realise that he is genuine. Ballio has to pay Simo the 20 ''minae'' he has bet that Pseudolus will not get the better of them, and Simo has to pay Pseudolus 20 ''minae'', although Pseudolus, who by this time is very drunk, generously offers to return Simo half the money if he will attend a party with him. 

*[[Rudens (play)|''Rudens'' ("The Rope")]]
:Two girls, Palaestra and Ampelisca, escape from the sea after a shipwreck off the coast of north Africa and seek refuge in a nearby temple of Venus. The young slave Trachalio, who is in love with Ampelisca, discovers them there. Now the slave-dealer Labrax, accompanied by his business-partner Charmides, who have also been shipwrecked, arrive. When he learns that the girls are in the temple, Labrax goes in to seize them. The girls are rescued by Trachalio, with the assistance of Daemones, who lives next door to the temple. Trachalio fetches his young master, Plesidippus, who is in love with Palaestra and has already paid Labrax a deposit to buy her. Plesidippus takes Labrax to court to sue him for fraud. In the second half of the play, Daemones' slave Gripus appears, dragging a basket which he has rescued from the sea. Trachalio finds him and, suspecting that the case contains Labrax's money and the tokens which will enable Palaestra to prove her identity, prevents him from stealing it by holding on to the rope by which Gripus is dragging the basket. Daemones is delighted to discover from the tokens that Palaestra is his own long-lost daughter. He forces Labrax to give Gripus the reward he had promised. Daemones uses the money to buy freedom for Gripus and Ampelisca, and invites everyone to dinner. 

*''[[Stichus]]''
:Two sisters, Philumena and Pamphila, are complaining that their husbands have been away for three years and their father is pressuring them to remarry. The father Antipho arrives and first asks their advice about his getting a new wife, then broaches the subject of their remarrying; but the sisters firmly refuse. When he has gone, Philumena sends for the parasite Gelasimus; she wants to send him to see if there is news of her husband's ship. Gelasimus arrives, but shortly afterwards a slave boy Pinacium also comes bringing news that the ship has arrived. Gelasimus tries to angle for a dinner invitation but is rebuffed. Philumena's husband Epignomus soon arrives with his slave Stichus: Stichus asks for a day's holiday, which is granted together with some wine to celebrate it. For the third time Gelasimus tries his luck for a dinner invitation, but is rebuffed. Now Pamphila's husband Pamphilippus arrives talking to Antipho, who hints that he would like to be given a music girl; the request is granted. Again Gelasimus angles for an invitation and is rebuffed. In the final part of the play Stichus and his friend Sangarinus celebrate Stichus's safe return with some food and drink and dancing, at which they are joined by their shared girlfriend Stephanium.

*[[Trinummus|''Trinummus'' ("The Three Coins")]]
:An Athenian gentleman, Megaronides, reproaches his friend Callicles for having purchased the house of his neighbour Charmides, who is away in Syria, for a cheap price. Callicles explains that he did this honourably since he wanted to protect the house and the treasure buried in it from the spendthrift habits of Charmides' son Lesbonicus. Meanwhile Lesbonicus's friend Lysiteles tells his father Philto that in order to help Lesbonicus he wishes to marry Charmides's daughter without a dowry. Philto goes to Lesbonicus to propose the match, but the plan is thwarted when Lesbonicus refuses to give away his sister without a dowry, as it would dishonour her. Callicles, when he learns this, consults his friend Megaronides, who advises him to use Charmides' buried treasure as a dowry. When Callicles says he does not want to tell Lesbonicus about the treasure in case he misuses it, Megaronides suggests they hire an imposter for three coins (Latin {{lang|la|trinummus}}), dress him up and make him pretend that he has brought the money from Charmides in Syria. Charmides now arrives back and has an amusing conversation with the imposter. At first Charmides reproaches Callicles for buying the house but when Callicles explains everything, Charmides is delighted. Lysiteles is allowed to marry Charmides' daughter, and Lesbonicus is betrothed to Callicles' daughter.

*[[Truculentus|''Truculentus'' ("The Churl")]]
:A courtesan, Phronesium, has three lovers: Diniarchus, a young man from the city; Strabax, a young farmer; and Stratophanes, an army officer from the east. Diniarchus, returning from abroad, visits Phronesium but is not allowed to enter. It appears that Phronesium has found a baby and she is going to pretend that the baby is Stratophanes' child. Next the soldier Stratophanes arrives but the gifts he brings are not enough and he is refused admission. Diniarchus's cook Cyamus now arrives bringing gifts sent by his master, and the jealous Stratophanes quarrels with him. The farmer Strabax now arrives with money and is admitted. His slave Truculentus, who is following him to prevent him wasting his father's money, himself falls prey to the allurements of Phronesium's maid Astaphium. Now Diniarchus comes back, but since Phronesium is busy with Strabax, he is again refused admission, despite all the presents he had sent. At this moment an old gentleman called Callicles arrives, looking for the baby which his daughter had given birth to after being raped. Two slave-girls, threatened with punishment, inform him that the baby was given to Phronesium and that the father is Diniarchus. Diniarchus begs Callicles for forgiveness, and he offers to make amends by marrying the daughter. However, when he asks Phronesium for the baby, she asks to keep it for a while longer to continue her deception of Stratophanes. When Stratophanes comes he finds Strabax emerging from the house, and quarrels jealously with him, but, despite the fact that Stratophanes pays Phronesium a further huge sum of money, Strabax wins the day.