Other writers over the centuries have also written endings for the play, with somewhat varying results (one version was produced by Antonio Urceo in the late 15th century, another by Martinus Dorpius in the early 16th century). Watling devised an ending as it might have been originally, based on the summaries and a few surviving scraps of dialogue. In the Penguin Classics edition of the play, translator E.F. From surviving summaries of the play, we know that Euclio eventually recovers his pot of gold and gives it to Lyconides and Phaedria, who marry in a happy ending. Lyconides confronts his slave about the theft.Īt this point the manuscript breaks off. Lyconides' slave manages to steal the now notorious pot of gold. Eventually Lyconides and his slave appear, and Lyconides confesses to Euclio his ravishing of Phaedria. This leads to much by-play involving preparations for the nuptials.
Phaedria is never seen on stage, though at a key point in the play the audience hears her painful cries in labor.Įuclio is persuaded to marry his daughter to his rich neighbor, an elderly bachelor named Megadorus, who happens to be the uncle of Lyconides. Unknown to Euclio, Phaedria is pregnant by a young man named Lyconides. Euclio is then shown almost maniacally guarding his gold from real and imagined threats.
Lar Familiaris, the household deity of Euclio, an old man with a marriageable daughter named Phaedria, begins the play with a prologue about how he allowed Euclio to discover a pot of gold buried in his house.