Summary
Prologue
The scene is a street in Epidamnus in front of the houses of Menaechmus I and Erotium. An unidentified figure, probably the parasite Brush, provides the prologue, in which he begins by offering both good wishes and introducing the work of Plautus. He explains that the action and setting are very Greek, as they are in Athens, and that the audience will be hearing the truth.
This is the story of an old merchant who lived in Syracuse and had two sons that were identical twins and could not be told apart, even by their mother. When the boys were seven the father filled his ship with his goods and put one of the twins in the hold for safekeeping. They traveled to the market at Tarentum, and the other twin stayed behind.
While in Tarentum the boy wandered away and was found by a rich Epidamnian merchant. The boy’s actual father was filled with despair at losing his son and died not long after. The grandfather changed the remaining son’s name to that of his brother who was stolen away—Menaechmus.
The old merchant from Epidamnus who adopted the boy had no other children and bestowed upon Menaechmus all his money and a wife and a dowry. That man died during a storm, leaving Menaechmus very rich.
The remaining twin, Menaechmus, has journeyed to find his brother. He and his slave have been searching for a long time and he has now arrived in the right place, though he does not yet know it.
Act I
Scene 1
Brush, the parasite whose real name is Peniculus, addresses the audience. He explains that people don’t need to be enslaved to stay put; rather, if you just feed them and provide them all the drink they want, they’ll stay by your side no matter what.
Currently, he adds, he is going to Menaechmus I’s house where he hopes to engage in one of the man’s abundant meals. It has been awhile since Brush has been there, as he has been stuck at home with visiting family, but now he is ready for Menaechmus I’s hospitality.
He sees the door open and Menaechmus I emerge.
Scene II
Menaechmus I [note: this is how Plautus distinguishes between the brothers, with the brother who lives in Epidamnus referred to as Menaechmus I and the traveling brother referred to as Menaechmus II] comes out of his house, wearing his wife’s dress under his cloak. He calls back to his wife, saying she is stupid and a little mad and she should stop asking him where he is going and what he is doing every time he goes out. She is more like a customs officer than a wife, and this bothers him given how much he has provided for her. After he closes the door he addresses the “philandering husbands” (63) in the audience and tells them to congratulate him, for he has taken a dress of his wife’s to give to his mistress.
Brush is listening and approaches Menaechmus I, who at first is startled. Once he relaxes, he asks if Brush wants to see something “gorgeous” (63). Brush wants it to be food, but Menaechmus I shows him the dress. Brush gives him the praise he wants, but says he will stay out of his quarrel with his wife. Menaechmus I suggests they go somewhere else to eat, which Brush enthusiastically agrees to.
They begin walking, and Brush says that Menaechmus I would be a good racing driver because he is so good at looking back to see that his wife is not following them. Menaechmus I asks Brush to smell the dress he is bringing to Erotium, his mistress, and says he will give it to her and ask her to have dinner prepared for the three of them.
Before Brush can knock at Menaechmus I’s command, Erotium emerges.
Scene 3
Menaechmus I greets her and asks if she can have dinner prepared, as well as copious drinks. She says it will be done. He extols her beauty and she is pleased, especially when she sees the dress.
Menaechmus I removes the dress from over his clothes and brags of how much it cost and how he stole it away from under his wife’s nose. After he tells Erotium what kind of food he wants, he says he and Brush will pass the time drinking and will come back later.
Scene 4
After the men leave, Erotium calls for her cook, Cylindrus, and orders him to purchase the provisions and prepare them. When Cylindrus asks how many there will be, and receives the answer, he comments that “that makes ten, then, because a parasite does as well as eight ordinary men” (67).
Act II
Scene 1
Menaechmus II and his slave, Messenio, have arrived in Epidamnus. Messenio is complaining about how long this search for his master’s twin brother has been, and that he is sure they are "looking for a dead man among the living” (68). Menaechmus II chastises him and says he will never stop looking until someone proves his brother is dead.
Messenio then says their money is running out and that they better be careful because Epidamnus is “full of rakes and tremendous drinkers; a lot of swindlers and spongers live here, and everybody knows their women are the most seductive in the whole world. That’s why the place is called Epidamnus; scarcely anyone can come here without getting damned” (69).
Menaechmus II sighs and says he will take the purse because Messenio is liable to get in trouble. Messenio agrees, and hands it over.
Scene 2
Cylindrus returns from the market with the provisions and espies Menaechmus II. He worries that he is early to the dinner, but has to say hello, which he does.
Menaechmus II is curious that this man seems to know his name, and that the man calls Messenio his “parasite.” Cylindrus suggests that Menaechmus II is too early for dinner, which Menaechmus II finds an odd comment. He asks where Cylindrus saw him before, and Cylindrus states that he obviously knows Erotium is his mistress.
This continues to vex Menaechmus II, who denies knowing Erotium and Cylindrus. Cylindrus assumes Menaechmus II is joking, though a bit oddly, and asks if this will be enough food for the three. Messenio tells Cylindrus to stop bothering his master.
Cylindrus cheerfully says he will go inside and prepare the food and will tell Erotium that her patron has returned. Once gone, Menaechmus II and Messenio talk about what has happened. Messenio explains that these “fancy” women send their slaves and maids to the harbor when ships come in to see if men they might entice are newly arrived; then, they bring them back and the men go home ruined. Thus, he concludes, they ought to avoid this situation. Menaechmus II agrees, but when he hears the door opening, he is curious who will exit.
Scene 3
Erotium calls into her house for her slaves to make everything suitable. She espies Menaechmus II and recognizes him as her lover, so she greets him warmly. Menaechmus II is surprised that she is talking to him and concludes she is either insane or drunk. Messenio whispers to Menaechmus II that he warned him, and decides to address Erotium himself.
Messenio asks why Erotium is bothering his master and she laughs that Menaechmus II is a familiar presence here. She asks Menaechmus II inside to sort this all out, and to have the dinner he asked for. He is confounded, especially when she mentions the dress he stole from his wife for her. Erotium is surprised and annoyed by his behavior and suggests he just come inside. Menaechmus II is clearly weakening, and tells Messenio that he will go inside and have some entertainment, regardless of the woman’s addled mind.
Now that Menaechmus II is readying himself to come inside, Erotium asks if he can do one more thing for her—take the dress to the shop to get it embroidered. He agrees, and she heads inside.
Menaechmus II tells Messenio he is going inside and Messenio ought to take care of the sailors in their employ while he is in there. Messenio warns him of his imminent ruin but Menaechmus II waves his warnings off. Messenio grudgingly realizes he is there to take orders, not give them, and calls for the sailors to follow him back to the harbor.
Analysis
Plautus is considered one of the best of the Roman comedy dramatists, notably adapting Greek New Comedy into farcical, fast-paced, and brilliantly ironic plays that were very popular with audiences. The Brothers Menaechmus, for which he is best known, isn’t just famous in its own right, but also because it provided the inspiration for one of William Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies, The Comedy of Errors.
The plot is simple—two twin brothers, accidentally separated at age seven, grow up with very different experiences. Now in adulthood, one brother decides he will go looking for his twin, and, with his faithful slave, finds himself in the very town where his twin resides. What ensues is a series of mistaken identity situations, in which each brother thinks everyone else around him mad due to their claims that he said/did something that the other brother was actually responsible for. In the end, the brothers come face-to-face with each other, realize their relationship, and decide to return to Syracuse, the place where they were born. The plot is simple, short, and sweet. It is filled with hilarious dramatic irony, double entendre, and memorable stock characters—a carping wife, an alluring mistress, an obnoxious parasite, a loyal servant, a dubiously skilled doctor.
The aforementioned aspects of the play have sometimes given rise to claims that the plot is thin, and that, as critic Robert Corrigan says, “We must like Plautus, [such critics] imply, because it is our cultural duty to do so.” Corrigan defends Plautus’s works such as Brothers by reminding us of the nature of farce: “Farce is a surrealistic art. Like the fairy tale and the dream, it is an art of flat surfaces. It is also an art of images. Like a giant collage, it is composed of violent juxtapositions, short, bright flashes, and disparate patterns having no apparent continuity. As a result, through all the external hilarity, we become aware of the childlike truth of its nature and the mysterious quality of its means.” Farce appeals to the senses and the psyche, not merely the intellect. The plot moves quickly through a fantastical world in which plausibility is irrelevant.
In these first acts we get to know the brothers, who certainly do have different circumstances but also aren’t really distinct identities. First, Menaechmus II has a lot less money than his brother, who inherited his adopted father’s fortune. Menaechmus I suffers from an annoying, hyper-vigilant wife (more on gender in the next analysis) and demands of the assembly, but he does find relief in his mistress. Ultimately, though, the brothers are not just physically similar: Eleanor Winsor Leach writes that the brother are “essentially the same,” and the exchanges they have with the other characters reveal a “psychological, as well as physical, similarity.”
As both Menaechmuses interact with the people they meet, whether they know them or not, they evince the same sorts of reactions. Their characters are limited and “each reveals only one or two aspects of a personality.” These personalities are complementary, and “each brother is a personality manqué; the two need not be regarded as separate identities, but rather as separated halves of one complete self.” By the end of the play, Menaechmus II will get to engage in the pleasures Menaechmus I does regularly, while his behavior also helps liberate Menaechmus I from his wife and his unsatisfying Epidamnian life.
