BUFFONE

PLOT The King of Sparta has decreed that henceforth only women need to worship Cynthia, goddess of change; men are to be exempt. Cynthia takes revenge. The King dies, but his son Menander begins his reign by confirming the edict and marrying Favorina, daughter of a senior counsellor. Malindo plots with Cassius, Governor of Epirus, to murder Menander and the peers as they watch a play, but Malindo’s letter falls into the hands of the playwright Perillus, who writes a special prologue to warn Menander. Malindo is beheaded, the Spartan army mobilized, and Cassius repelled. Malindo’s estate is given to Amilcar, son of the new favourite, Pheudippe, who is himself allowed to marry Lucilla, Menander’s sister. Reading Lucan tempts Pheudippe to aspire to be King, and these thoughts are reinforced by the invisible influence of Malindo’s ghost. Against his better judgement, Pheudippe confides in Lucilla, encouraging her jealousy that Favorina has supplanted her as the top woman at court. Their plan has three heads: Pheudippe will corrupt Laelio, Captain of the Guard, to assassinate Menander; Amilcar will kill Favorina; and they will secure control of the corn supply in order to starve the people into submission. Amilcar has his own agenda, however. He is sexually attracted to Favorina, tells her about the plot in confidence, and invites her to help him circumvent it: he will abduct her with her assistance and procure someone to confess to her murder and implicate Lucilla; once Lucilla has been executed, Favorina will come out of hiding. What Favorina doesn’t know is that Amilcar also intends to rape her. Famine strikes Sparta. Pheudippe is accused of causing it by hoarding corn, but he persuades Menander that this was provident anticipation of the inevitable. Vindicated, Pheudippe invites Menander to a banquet at his house, where he is to be killed; but in the event the loyal Laelio kills Pheudippe himself. Menander is outraged and will not believe Laelio’s story of Pheudippe’s treason. News arrives that Favorina has been murdered, and Menander rails against Cynthia. Realizing she will have to continue her vengeance, the goddess drives him mad. The old statesman Euphorbus puts on an antic disposition to keep him company. Amilcar tells Favorina that Menander is dead and advises her to remain in hiding, but she resists his attempts to seduce her. Pheudippe’s ghost haunts Menander, identifies his surviving accomplices, and reveals that Favorina is still alive, but the…