About the work
Eunuchus premiered in 161 BC at the Ludi Megalenses and derives from Menander's comedy Eunouchos. According to ancient tradition it was performed twice on the same day and bought by the aediles for 8,000 sesterces — the highest sum ever paid for a play up to that time.
Plot
The Athenian Phaedria loves the courtesan Thais, who is courting the boastful soldier Thraso to obtain Pamphila: a girl kidnapped by pirates as a child, raised by Thais as a foster-sister, whose Athenian family Thais wants to trace. Phaedria's brother Chaerea falls for Pamphila at first sight and sneaks into Thais's house disguised as a eunuch, where he rapes her. Only once Pamphila is revealed to be a freeborn Athenian can Chaerea marry her, while Phaedria and Thais are reconciled.
Cultural significance
Eunuchus was the most successful play of Terence's lifetime and stayed in view for centuries: Augustine quotes it in the 'City of God', and Dante gives the character Thais a cameo in the 'Divine Comedy'.