Captain, Thraso, being ignorant of the same, has brought {from
abroad} a girl who used wrongly to be called the sister of Thais, and
presents her to {Thais} herself: she {in reality} is a citizen of
Attica. To the same woman, Phaedria, an admirer of Thais, orders a
Eunuch whom he has purchased, to be taken, and he himself goes away
into the country, having been entreated to give up two days to Thraso.
A youth, the brother of Phaedria, having fallen in love with the damsel
sent to the house of Thais, is dressed up in the clothes of the
Eunuch. Parmeno prompts him; he goes in; he ravishes the maiden; but
{at length} her brother being discovered, a citizen of Attica,
betroths her who has been ravished, to the youth, {and} Thraso
prevails upon Phaedria by his entreaties.

THE PROLOGUE.

If there is any one who desires to please as many good men as
possible, and to give offense to extremely few, among those does our
Poet enroll his name. Next, if there is one who thinks[21] that
language too harsh, is {here} applied to him, let him bear this in
mind-- that it is an answer, not an attack; inasmuch as he has himself
been the first aggressor; who, by translating {plays} verbally,[22]
and writing them in bad {Latin}, has made out of good Greek {Plays}
Latin ones by no means good. Just as of late he has published the
Phasma[23] [the Apparition] of Menander; and in the Thesaurus [the
Treasure] has described[24] him from whom the gold is demanded, as
pleading his cause why it should be deemed his own, before the person
who demands it {has stated} how this treasure belongs to him, or how
it came into the tomb of his father. Henceforward, let him not deceive
himself, or fancy thus, "I have now done with it; there's nothing that
he can say to me." I recommend him not to be mistaken, and to refrain
from provoking me. I have many other points, as to which for the
present he shall be pardoned, which, {however}, shall be brought
forward hereafter, if he persists in attacking me, as he has begun to
do. After the AEdiles had purchased the Eunuch of Menander, {the Play}
which we are about to perform, he managed to get an opportunity of
viewing it.[25] When the magistrates were present it began to be
performed. He exclaimed that a thief, no Poet, had produced the piece,
but still had not deceived[26] {him}; that, in fact, it was the Colax,
an old Play of Plautus;[27] {and} that from it were taken the
characters of the Parasite and t