ὦ μῆτερ, ἱκετεύω σε, μὴ ’πίσειέ μοι
τὸν Μισγόλαν· οὐ γὰρ κιθαρῳδός εἰμ’ ἐγώ.
The mother, however, insists, in spite of the young man’s professions of (imaginary?) wealth (Fr. 2), in carrying off her daughter to the rich lover’s house, where, however, the hero also manages to turn up and make some cutting remarks on the family portraits (Fr. 3).[258] He then succeeds in making the mother drunk (Fr. 4), and so, we are led to believe—for the end is again veiled in obscurity—is enabled to elude her vigilance.[259]
Further evidence as to the character of this style of art may be obtained by studying several of the plays of Plautus, such as the Truculentus, the Mercator, or the Mostellaria, which seem to have been adapted directly from Greek works of this class, without being in any way influenced by the later romantic ideas.
But while the incidents which occur in the individual plays are naturally of an endless variety, certain broad features are recognisable throughout this literature.
Firstly, not only is love for an Hetaera enthusiastically praised, but it is specially described as the one love in life worth loving. The advantage of the Hetaera over the wife is such a stock subject, that it will be unnecessary to do more than mention one or two of the most striking passages in which the feeling finds expression, such as that cited in Athenaeus, xiii. 559 A, from the Athamas of Amphis:
εἶτ’ οὐ γυναικός ἐστιν εὐνοϊκώτερον
γαμετῆς ἑταίρα; πολύ γε καὶ μάλ’ εἰκότως.
ἡ μὲν νόμῳ γὰρ καταφρονοῦσ’ ἔνδον μένει,
ἡ δ’ οἶδεν ὅτι ἢ τοῖς τρόποις ὠνητέος