Interesting, though somewhat predictable, plays from the Roman Empire. Familiar themes from the classical period - love intrigues, gods, and sneaky servants. As with many plays of the time, the author presents the standard customs of the day with regard to male-female relationships, but in such a way you begin to suspect his sympathies lie with the women. While there are no signs of nascent feminism (I'm not going to reach that far), the author seems to have realized it wasn't particularly easy being a woman without any say, and presented his female characters with some sympathy. One weakness of the collection is that large chunks are missing from all three plays, in one case the ending and in another a key climactic moment. One of the plays had also suffered the indignity of having a prologue and an epilogue tacked on at some later date (possibly within only a few decades of being written), which did little to add to the play. An interesting period piece; I have enjoyed reading this author before. ( )