Amphitryon (Plautus play)

Amphitryon or Amphitruo is a Latin play for the early Roman theatre by playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. It is Plautus’s only play on a mythological subject. The play is mostly extant, but has a large missing section in its latter portion. The plot of the play involves Amphitryon’s jealous and confused reaction to Alcmena’s seduction by Jupiter, and ends with the birth of Hercules. There is a subplot in which Jupiter's son Mercury, keeping watch outside the house while his father is inside, has fun teasing first Amphitryon's servant Sosia, and then Amphitryon himself.

Quotes

• Exossatum os esse oportet quem probe percusseris.
  • The face that thou shalt smite in earnest is bound thereafter to be boneless.
    • 318 (Tr. Paul Nixon)

• Satin parva res est voluptatum in vita atque in aetate agunda praequam quod molestum est?
  • Oh, are not the pleasures in life, in this daily round, trifling compared with the pains!
    • 633 (Tr. Paul Nixon)

• Ita cuique comparatum est in aetate hominum;
  ita divis est placitum, voluptatem ut maeror comes consequatur.
  • It is our common human lot, it is heaven's will, for sorrow to come following after joy.
    • 634 (Tr. Paul Nixon)

• Plus aegri ex abitu viri, quam ex adventu voluptatis cepi.
  • I have felt more unhappy at his going than happy at his coming.
    • 641 (Tr. Paul Nixon)

• Virtus praemium est optimum;
  virtus omnibus remus anteit profecto:
  libertas salus vita res et parentes, patria et prognati
  tutantur, servantur:
  virtus omnia in sese habet, omnia adsunt
  bona quem penest virtus.
  • Courage is the very best gift of all; courage stands before everything, it does, it does! It is what maintains and preserves our liberty, safety, life, and our homes and parents, our country and children. Courage comprises all things: a man with courage has every blessing.
    • 648 (Tr. Paul Nixon)
      • Cp. Winston Churchill, in Collier's (27 June 1931), p. 49: "Courage is rightly esteemed the first of human qualities, because, as has been said, it is the quality which guarantees all others."

• Non ego illam mihi dotem duco esse, quae dos dicitur,
  sed pudicitiam et pudorem et sedatum cupidinem,
  deum metum, parentum amorem et cognatum concordiam,
  tibi morigera atque ut munifica sim bonis, prosim probis.
  • Personally I do not feel that my dowry is that which people call a dowry, but purity and honour and self-control, fear of God, love of parents, and affection for my family, and being a dutiful wife to you, sir, lavish of loving-kindness and helpful through honest service.
    • 839 (Tr. Paul Nixon)