Translated by Henry Thomas Riley
Mostellaria, which has been translated as ‘The Haunted House’, is set in Athens, on a street in front of the houses of Theopropides and Simo. The narrative concerns a young man called Philolaches, who enjoys a carousing lifestyle, while his father is away on business. He has also borrowed a lot of money to buy the freedom of the slave-girl he loves. One day he is having a house party with many friends, when his slave Tranio interrupts the merry-making to announce that Philolaches’ father has returned unexpectedly and will arrive from the harbour at any moment. Amid the general panic, Tranio has an idea. He hustles Philolaches and his friends into the house and locks the door; when his father arrives, Tranio greets him respectfully but pretends that it is dangerous to enter the house as it is haunted…