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Jupiter visits Alcmena disguised as her husband Amphitryon, while Mercury impersonates the servant Sosia to delay the returning husband. The resulting confusion gives way to the revelation that Alcmena has borne twins, one fathered by Jupiter.
Demaenetus helps his son Argyrippus obtain money to be with the prostitute Philaenium, using two slaves' impersonation and trickery to obtain payment for donkeys. The money comes with the condition that Demaenetus also gets a night with Philaenium, but the plan is exposed to his wife Artemona.
Miserly Euclio guards a pot of gold while trying to arrange his pregnant daughter Phaedria's marriage. His wealthy neighbor Megadorus proposes to her; Lyconides confesses to having made her pregnant, and a slave steals the gold. The surviving manuscript breaks off before the conclusion.
Joannes Burmeister's Neo-Latin reworking of Plautus's comedy, recast as a biblical drama featuring Achan and Rahab from the Book of Joshua.
Two sisters named Bacchis are courtesans in Athens. Mnesilochus and Pistoclerus each fall for one sister, while the clever slave Chrysalus deceives Mnesilochus's father into providing money; the comedy ends with the sisters charming the two fathers as well.
War captives Philocrates and his slave Tyndarus switch identities so Philocrates can travel to exchange himself for Hegio's captured son. After their deception is exposed, Tyndarus is sent to the quarries, but the return of Hegio's other son and a confession reveal Tyndarus is the child stolen from Hegio years earlier.
An Athenian father and son both seek the enslaved Casina as a concubine and each arranges for her to marry a favored slave. The father's wife outmaneuvers him by disguising the son's armour-bearer as the bride, humiliating the would-be lovers and exposing the father's scheme.
Selenium, a young woman raised by the courtesan Melaenis, loves Alcesimarchus, whose father plans another marriage. As their families clash, a casket containing a child's rattle reveals that Selenium is the daughter of senator Demipho and his wife Phanostrata, allowing her to marry Alcesimarchus.
Phaedromus loves Planesium, enslaved by a dealer, and sends the parasite Curculio to obtain money to free her. When that fails, Curculio steals a soldier’s ring and uses it to trick the banker into paying for her. The ruse is exposed, but Planesium proves to be the soldier’s freeborn sister, allowing her to marry Phaedromus.
The clever slave Epidicus repeatedly tricks his master Periphanes into giving him money to satisfy Periphanes’s son Stratippocles, who has fallen for different captive women. When Epidicus’s deceptions are exposed, the captive girl proves to be Periphanes’s long-lost daughter; the father and daughter reunite, Stratippocles is freed from an incestuous match, and Epidicus wins his freedom and a reward.
A Florentine comedy about the miser Ghirigoro and his obsession with money, alongside Alamanno’s pursuit of Fiammetta. Romantic intrigue and the trouble caused by greed eventually lead Ghirigoro to declare that he will change his way of life.
Two twin brothers, separated as children, arrive unknowingly in the same city. Their resemblance causes a chain of mistaken identities involving a stolen cloak, a dinner, a bracelet, and accusations of madness until they recognize one another and reunite.
In Athens, young merchant Charinus loves Pasicompsa, a slave he has brought home from Rhodes. His father Demipho also falls for her and schemes to acquire her, prompting a comic contest of deception and a dispute between father and son.
The boastful soldier Pyrgopolynices has abducted Philocomasium from her Athenian lover. The clever slave Palaestrio and their neighbors stage a series of deceptions—including pretending Philocomasium has a twin and inventing a new admirer—to free her and reunite the lovers, while exposing and humiliating the soldier.
While his father is overseas, Philolaches borrows money to free the woman he loves and hosts a party. On his father's unexpected return, the slave Tranio invents a haunting to conceal the revelry and debt, spinning further deceptions until the truth emerges and the father forgives them.
The slave Toxilus devises a scheme with fellow slave Sagaristio to buy freedom for Lemniselenis, who is held by the pimp Dordalus. They trick Dordalus into buying Saturio’s daughter, disguised as a Persian’s captive; Saturio then reclaims her and takes Dordalus to court, while the others celebrate the pimp’s loss.
Agorastocles, a young man in love with Adelphasium, plots with his slave Milphio to trick the slave-dealer Lycus. Hanno arrives from Carthage searching for his daughters and discovers that Adelphasium and her sister are his lost children; he also recognizes Agorastocles as his cousin's son. The family is reunited, and Hanno consents to Agorastocles marrying his daughter.
When Calidorus learns that his beloved Phoenicium has been sold to a Macedonian officer, his father's slave Pseudolus devises a series of deceptions to free her. He tricks the pimp Ballio and wins a wager from Calidorus's father Simo.
After a storm wrecks the ship of pimp Labrax, two enslaved women escape to shore and seek refuge at a temple. Their friend Trachalio protects them while Labrax tries to reclaim them; a chest recovered from the sea ultimately reveals that Palaestra is the long-lost daughter of Daemones, who reunites her with her family and arranges her marriage.
Marin Držić's Croatian adaptation of Plautus's Aulularia, retitled Skup and set in Dubrovnik.
Two sisters refuse their father's demand that they remarry while their husbands are away at sea. When the brothers return wealthy, the family reunites; meanwhile their slave Stichus celebrates his homecoming with a feast, dancing and his companions.
A storm wrecks Labrax’s plans and gives two captive women an opportunity to escape. Seeking safety at Venus’s shrine, they turn to the elderly Daemones and his unruly slaves for help.
A young Athenian has squandered his father's money. His friend Callicles protects the absent father's house and hidden treasure, then secretly arranges for it to fund a marriage dowry by hiring an impostor to pose as a messenger from Syria. The returning father discovers the deception and approves the marriages.
Courtesan Phronesium and her maid Astaphium manipulate several men into giving them money. Phronesium pretends to have borne a soldier’s child to extract gifts, while the bad-tempered slave Truculentus, who initially tries to protect his master from her, falls for Astaphium. A hidden baby and a mistaken bargain drive the closing deception.
After a coastal storm, an elderly man looks for his missing daughter while two women seek escape from exploitation. Resourceful slaves steer a comic struggle for freedom in this musical stage reworking of Plautus’s Rudens.
In Amsterdam, Warenar is so obsessed with a pot of inherited gold that he neglects his pregnant daughter Klaartje. A servant’s theft of the treasure throws him into panic, while the young lovers’ future becomes entangled with his eventual release from greed.
Jupiter visits Alcmena disguised as her husband Amphitryon, while Mercury impersonates the servant Sosia to delay the returning husband. The resulting confusion gives way to the revelation that Alcmena has borne twins, one fathered by Jupiter.
Demaenetus helps his son Argyrippus obtain money to be with the prostitute Philaenium, using two slaves' impersonation and trickery to obtain payment for donkeys. The money comes with the condition that Demaenetus also gets a night with Philaenium, but the plan is exposed to his wife Artemona.
Miserly Euclio guards a pot of gold while trying to arrange his pregnant daughter Phaedria's marriage. His wealthy neighbor Megadorus proposes to her; Lyconides confesses to having made her pregnant, and a slave steals the gold. The surviving manuscript breaks off before the conclusion.
Joannes Burmeister's Neo-Latin reworking of Plautus's comedy, recast as a biblical drama featuring Achan and Rahab from the Book of Joshua.
Two sisters named Bacchis are courtesans in Athens. Mnesilochus and Pistoclerus each fall for one sister, while the clever slave Chrysalus deceives Mnesilochus's father into providing money; the comedy ends with the sisters charming the two fathers as well.
War captives Philocrates and his slave Tyndarus switch identities so Philocrates can travel to exchange himself for Hegio's captured son. After their deception is exposed, Tyndarus is sent to the quarries, but the return of Hegio's other son and a confession reveal Tyndarus is the child stolen from Hegio years earlier.
An Athenian father and son both seek the enslaved Casina as a concubine and each arranges for her to marry a favored slave. The father's wife outmaneuvers him by disguising the son's armour-bearer as the bride, humiliating the would-be lovers and exposing the father's scheme.
Selenium, a young woman raised by the courtesan Melaenis, loves Alcesimarchus, whose father plans another marriage. As their families clash, a casket containing a child's rattle reveals that Selenium is the daughter of senator Demipho and his wife Phanostrata, allowing her to marry Alcesimarchus.
Phaedromus loves Planesium, enslaved by a dealer, and sends the parasite Curculio to obtain money to free her. When that fails, Curculio steals a soldier’s ring and uses it to trick the banker into paying for her. The ruse is exposed, but Planesium proves to be the soldier’s freeborn sister, allowing her to marry Phaedromus.
The clever slave Epidicus repeatedly tricks his master Periphanes into giving him money to satisfy Periphanes’s son Stratippocles, who has fallen for different captive women. When Epidicus’s deceptions are exposed, the captive girl proves to be Periphanes’s long-lost daughter; the father and daughter reunite, Stratippocles is freed from an incestuous match, and Epidicus wins his freedom and a reward.
A Florentine comedy about the miser Ghirigoro and his obsession with money, alongside Alamanno’s pursuit of Fiammetta. Romantic intrigue and the trouble caused by greed eventually lead Ghirigoro to declare that he will change his way of life.
Two twin brothers, separated as children, arrive unknowingly in the same city. Their resemblance causes a chain of mistaken identities involving a stolen cloak, a dinner, a bracelet, and accusations of madness until they recognize one another and reunite.
In Athens, young merchant Charinus loves Pasicompsa, a slave he has brought home from Rhodes. His father Demipho also falls for her and schemes to acquire her, prompting a comic contest of deception and a dispute between father and son.
The boastful soldier Pyrgopolynices has abducted Philocomasium from her Athenian lover. The clever slave Palaestrio and their neighbors stage a series of deceptions—including pretending Philocomasium has a twin and inventing a new admirer—to free her and reunite the lovers, while exposing and humiliating the soldier.
While his father is overseas, Philolaches borrows money to free the woman he loves and hosts a party. On his father's unexpected return, the slave Tranio invents a haunting to conceal the revelry and debt, spinning further deceptions until the truth emerges and the father forgives them.
The slave Toxilus devises a scheme with fellow slave Sagaristio to buy freedom for Lemniselenis, who is held by the pimp Dordalus. They trick Dordalus into buying Saturio’s daughter, disguised as a Persian’s captive; Saturio then reclaims her and takes Dordalus to court, while the others celebrate the pimp’s loss.
Agorastocles, a young man in love with Adelphasium, plots with his slave Milphio to trick the slave-dealer Lycus. Hanno arrives from Carthage searching for his daughters and discovers that Adelphasium and her sister are his lost children; he also recognizes Agorastocles as his cousin's son. The family is reunited, and Hanno consents to Agorastocles marrying his daughter.
When Calidorus learns that his beloved Phoenicium has been sold to a Macedonian officer, his father's slave Pseudolus devises a series of deceptions to free her. He tricks the pimp Ballio and wins a wager from Calidorus's father Simo.
After a storm wrecks the ship of pimp Labrax, two enslaved women escape to shore and seek refuge at a temple. Their friend Trachalio protects them while Labrax tries to reclaim them; a chest recovered from the sea ultimately reveals that Palaestra is the long-lost daughter of Daemones, who reunites her with her family and arranges her marriage.
Marin Držić's Croatian adaptation of Plautus's Aulularia, retitled Skup and set in Dubrovnik.
Two sisters refuse their father's demand that they remarry while their husbands are away at sea. When the brothers return wealthy, the family reunites; meanwhile their slave Stichus celebrates his homecoming with a feast, dancing and his companions.
A storm wrecks Labrax’s plans and gives two captive women an opportunity to escape. Seeking safety at Venus’s shrine, they turn to the elderly Daemones and his unruly slaves for help.
A young Athenian has squandered his father's money. His friend Callicles protects the absent father's house and hidden treasure, then secretly arranges for it to fund a marriage dowry by hiring an impostor to pose as a messenger from Syria. The returning father discovers the deception and approves the marriages.
Courtesan Phronesium and her maid Astaphium manipulate several men into giving them money. Phronesium pretends to have borne a soldier’s child to extract gifts, while the bad-tempered slave Truculentus, who initially tries to protect his master from her, falls for Astaphium. A hidden baby and a mistaken bargain drive the closing deception.
After a coastal storm, an elderly man looks for his missing daughter while two women seek escape from exploitation. Resourceful slaves steer a comic struggle for freedom in this musical stage reworking of Plautus’s Rudens.
In Amsterdam, Warenar is so obsessed with a pot of inherited gold that he neglects his pregnant daughter Klaartje. A servant’s theft of the treasure throws him into panic, while the young lovers’ future becomes entangled with his eventual release from greed.