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Pseudolus
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Scenes 17-20Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Scene 17 Summary
Ballio tells Simo he can rest assured that the twenty minae he bet with Pseudolus are “safe and sound” (1069). When Simo expresses doubt, Ballio tells him that if Pseudolus steals Phoenicium, Ballio will give Simo the twenty minae himself. He also suggests that if Phoenicium has been turned over to Calidorus, Simo can take her for himself. Ballio informs Simo that he met Pseudolus and that Pseudolus insulted him, which he didn’t mind, for not caring about insults makes the insults worthless. When Ballio explains that Pseudolus can’t take Phoenicium because the Macedonian soldier’s slave returned for her, Simo worries that Pseudolus has “put some scheme together” (1096). Ballio says the seal on the letter is proof; Simo says he will prepare to send Pseudolus to the mill. A man in a cloak approaches, and the two men wonder who he is and what he’s doing.
Scene 18 Summary
Harpax says he does not associate with the kind of slave who “can’t remember to do his duty without being reminded” (1104) or slaves “who declare themselves free men / The instant they’re out of their masters’ sight” (1105-06). He himself, he says, promptly and reliably carries out his master’s orders; he “fear[s] master even when he’s not around, so I won’t have to be afraid / When he’s here!” (1114-15). He complains that Surus (Pseudolus pretending to be Ballio’s slave) never came to tell him Ballio had returned, so he is taking the initiative to seek out Ballio: he must “pay off / The pimp, get the girl, and get out of here!” (1121-22).
Ballio tells Simo that Harpax is “the usual prey I hunt: / He wants a whore, I want his money” (1124-25). He calls men who visit his prostitutes “bankrupt fools” (1133) who spend their time “[e]ating, drinking, loving my ladies” (1134), and then mocks Simo for not partaking in the same activities.
Harpax knocks at Ballio’s door. Ballio and Simo approach, and Harpax asks if Simo is Ballio. Simo, aghast, corrects him; Ballio reminds Simo that he would “be hounded by your creditors in the forum / Without a penny to your name, if a certain pimp didn’t always bail you out” (1145-46).
When Harpax explains that he has the five minae from the Macedonian soldier to pay for Phoenicium, Ballio pulls Simo aside: he believes Pseudolus has hired Harpax to pretend to be the soldier’s slave. Simo says they should “have some fun with this phony messenger” (1167). Ballio quizzes Harpax on the circumstances surrounding his coming to be enslaved by the soldier; Harpax easily answers the questions, prompting Simo to note that “he’s as nimble as can be” (1175). Harpax asks if they are “insane” (1179). When Ballio makes a sexually-suggestive joke about Harpax and the soldier, Harpax tells him to “[g]o to hell!” (1182) and demands Ballio give him the prostitute. Ballio and Simo ask how much he paid for the rented cloak, hat, and sword. Harpax insists he bought them with his own “private funds” (1188); Ballio suggests he means with his “own private parts” (1189).
Ballio tells Harpax to stop the games, and that he should tell Pseudolus that Harpax has already taken the girl. When Harpax insists he’s actually Harpax and that he gave Ballio’s slave the sealed letter, Ballio understands that Pseudolus has tricked him. Harpax demands the twenty minae back. Simo likewise demands twenty minae, and Ballio is appalled that he would “collect on that bet [he] was only kidding about” (1224). Ballio, lamenting that he is “ruined” (1228), reluctantly draws Harpax away so he can pay him, telling Simo he’ll deal with him tomorrow. Simo lies in wait for Pseudolus, asking, “What mortal is more clever, cunning and crafty?” (1243). He also says he intends to pay the twenty minae he owes him for the bet.
Scene 19 Summary
Pseudolus emerges from Simo’s house. Drunk on wine, he staggers about, commenting on the pleasures of life: elegant parties, good food, and a lover’s embrace. He explains that he and Calidorus have “spent this merry day” (1268) with these pleasures in celebration of “my feat and / Our enemy’s defeat” (1269-70). Pseudolus describes the lewd dances he performed at the requests of the guests and how he hoped to win more attention from his lover until he fell down and couldn’t get back up, to the amusement of the other guests. Having left to “shake off [his] hangover” (1282), he seeks to remind Simo of their bet.
Scene 20 Summary
Simo sees Pseudolus, “the worst human being alive” (1285). Pseudolus admits to being “wreathed and wasted” (1287), and Simo comments on Pseudolus’s attitude, how he has “[n]ot an ounce of respect in him on my account” (1289). He also chides Pseudolus for drinking so much. In discussing how Ballio was tricked and Phoenicium is free, Pseudolus tells Simo “[i]t’s the girl’s fault” (1311). He also asks Simo where his money is, and Simo gives it to him, woefully commenting on how Pseudolus “takes my money and mocks me too!” (1316). Simo laments that he’s “humbling” (1319) himself to Pseudolus and asks if Pseudolus really intends to take his master’s money. Pseudolus responds he will take it “[w]ith absolute pleasure” (1321) and that if he hadn’t succeeded, Simo wouldn’t have had any mercy on him. Simo promises to take revenge, and Pseudolus says he’s “got a strong back” (1325). Pseudolus then suggests Simo have a drink with him, surprising Simo; the two eventually walk off together, with Simo asking if they should invite the audience and Pseudolus responding that they never invite him but that if the audience decides to “show your approval of the / Play and cast by applauding now” (1334-35), he’ll invite them for another performance.
Scenes 17-20 Analysis
Pseudolus has often used military language to describe his escapades. In Scene 17, Simo, too, employs military language when he wonders what his “Ulysses has accomplished” (1063), referring to the Roman name for the Greek warrior Odysseus. He again compares him to Ulysses in Scene 18, when he asks “[w]hat mortal is more clever, cunning and crafty” (1243) and says “[h]e’s got it all over Ulysses himself” (1244)—an assessment he offers even after having realized his slave has tricked him out of twenty minae. In contrast, Harpax boasts of his integrity, noting that he carries out orders “whether master’s present or absent” (1113) and doesn’t speak with slaves “who declare themselves free men / The instant they’re out of their masters’ sight” (1105-06). The fact that Harpax, an obedient, loyal slave, is outsmarted, whereas the conniving, thieving Pseudolus celebrates victory, reinforces that in the world of Pseudolus, the subversive often are most successful.
Scene 15 is the first time a woman appears since Scene 2, when Ballio chastised and threatened his troupe of prostitutes. The prostitutes themselves don’t speak; similarly, in Scene 15, Simia emerges from Ballio’s house with Phoenicium, who weeps but doesn’t speak. The women’s silence seems to represent their powerlessness and the fact that their lives are in the men’s hands. We see Phoenicium only in the process of being transferred from one man to another. In Scene 17, Ballio tells Simo that if he chooses, he “can even have the girl as a gift for [him]self” (251). When Simo, conceding defeat to Pseudolus, tells Pseudolus that he is “a horrible, horrible person!” (1310), Pseudolus responds by blaming Phoenicium: “It’s the girl’s fault” (1311), he says. Women in Pseudolus, when they are seen, are cast as property and corrupting forces, below even the cook and the young boy prostitute, both of whom, at the very least, address the audience and share their opinions.
The power struggle exists solely between men and, as has been seen, demonstrates that the power does not rest where we might suspect. In the final scene, when Simo confronts Pseudolus about Pseudolus’s successful scheme, Pseudolus is utterly shameless, presenting himself as “[y]our very own Pseudolus, wreathed and wasted!” (1287). He asks whether Simo can “see / How stinkin’ drunk [he is]” (1296-97) and, in answer to Simo’s disbelief that he’s “[w]alking around drunk / In the middle of the day” (1298-99), states flatly, “I felt like it” (1299). Despite his previous brief moment of nervousness over being sent to the mill, Pseudolus seems to have no fear of his master; in fact, after receiving the bet money owed to him by Simo, he invites him for a drink, going so far as to tease that joining him for a drink will be a way for Simo to “get half or more of this cash back” (1328). Not unaware of the irony of this role reversal, Simo asks, “What should I do with him? He takes my money and mocks me too” (1316). There is, Pseudolus suggests, nothing to be done. This power inversion, which renders masters inferior and clever slaves triumphant, is not only normal but accepted. That Simo diligently pays the bet, confers with Pseudolus over whether to invite the audience for a drink, and even admits he’s “not at all” (1331) angry with Pseudolus for tricking him, suggests that all is fair in Pseudolus’s world. That the villain, Ballio, is defeated and the lovelorn Calidorus wins the object of his affection suggests that the inversions aren’t so nonsensical after all.
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