SYR. I’ faith, I really do bear with you.

CLIN. We are blest with the life of the Gods.

SYR. I’m taking pains to no purpose, I doubt.

CLIN. Speak; I hear you.

SYR. But still you’ll not mind it.

CLIN. I will.

SYR. This must be seen to, I say, that your friend’s business as well

is placed in a state of security. For if you now go away from us, and

leave Bacchis here, our {old man} will immediately come to know that

she is Clitipho’s mistress; if you take her away {with you}, it will

be concealed just as much as it has been hitherto concealed.

CLIN. But still, Syrus, nothing can make more against my marriage than

this; for with what face am I to address my father {about it}? You

understand what I mean?

SYR. Why not?

CLIN. What can I say? What excuse can I make?

SYR. Nay, I don’t want you to dissemble; tell him the whole case just

as it really is.

CLIN. What is it you say?

SYR. I bid you {do this; tell him} that you are in love with her, and

want her for a wife: that this {Bacchis} is Clitipho’s {mistress}.

CLIN. You require a thing that is fair and reasonable, and easy to be

done. And I suppose, then, you would have me request my father to keep

it a secret from your old man.

SYR. On the contrary; to tell him directly the matter just as it is.

CLIN. What? Are you quite in your senses or sober? Why, you were for

ruining him outright. For how could he be in a state of security? Tell

me {that}.

SYR. For my part, I yield the palm to this device. Here I do pride

myself exultingly, in having in myself such exquisite resources, and

power of address so great, as to deceive them both by telling the

truth: so that when your old man tells ours that she is his son’s

mistress, he’ll still not believe him.

CLIN. But yet, by these means you again cut off all hopes of my

marriage; for as long as {Chremes} believes that she is my mistress,

he’ll not give me his daughter. Perhaps you care little what becomes

of me, so long as you provide for him.

SYR. What the plague, do you suppose I want this pretense to be kept

up for an age? ’Tis but for a single day, {only} till I have secured

the money: you be quiet; {I ask} no more.

CLIN. Is that sufficient? If his father should come to know of it,

pray, what then?

SYR. What if I have recourse to those who say, “What now if the sky

were to fall?”[82]

CLIN. I’m afraid to go about it.

SYR. You, afraid! As if it was not in your power to clear yourself at

any time you like, {and} discover the {whole} matter.

CLIN. Well, well; let Bacchis be brought over {to our house}.

SYR. Capital! she is coming out of doors.

SCENE IV.

_Enter BACCHIS and PHRYGIA, from the house of CHREMES._

BACCH. (_pretending not to see CLINIA and SYRUS._) To a very fine

purpose,[83] upon my faith, have the promises of Syrus brought me

hither, who agreed to lend me ten minæ. If now he deceives me, oft as

he may entreat me to come, he shall come in vain. Or else, when I’ve

promised to come, and fixed the time, when he has carried word back

for certain, {and} Clitipho is on the stretch of expectation, I’ll

disappoint him and not come. Syrus will make atonement to me with his

back.

CLIN. (_apart, to SYRUS._) She promises you very fairly.

SYR. (_to CLINIA._) But do you think she is in jest? She’ll do it, if

I don’t take care.

BACCH. (_aside._) They’re asleep[84]-- I’faith, I’ll rouse them.

(_Aloud._) My {dear} Phrygia, did you hear about the country-seat of

Charinus, which that man was showing us just now?

PHRY. I heard of it.

BACCH. (_aloud._) That it was the next to the farm here on the

right-hand side.[85]

PHRY. I remember.

BACCH. (_aloud_) Run thither post-haste; the Captain is keeping the

feast of Bacchus[86] at his house.

SYR. (_apart._) What is she going to be at?

BACCH. (_aloud._) Tell him I am here very much against my inclination,

and am detained; but that by some means or other I’ll give them the

slip and come {to him}. (_PHRYGIA moves._)

SYR. (_coming forward._) Upon my faith, I’m ruined! Bacchis, stay,

stay; prithee, where are you sending her? Order her to stop.

BACCH. (_to PHRYGIA._) Be off.

SYR. Why, the money’s ready.

BACCH. Why, then I’ll stay. (_PHRYGIA returns._)

SYR. And it will be given you presently.

BACCH. Just when you please; do I press you?

SYR. But do you know what {you are to do}, pray?

BACCH. What?

SYR. You must now go over to the house of Menedemus, and your equipage

must be taken over thither.

BACCH. What scheme are you upon, {you} rascal?

SYR. What, I? Coining money to give you.

BACCH. Do you think me a proper person {for you} to play upon?

SYR. It’s not without a purpose.

BACCH. (_pointing to the house._) Why, have I any business then with

you here?

SYR. O no; I’m only going to give you what’s your own.

BACCH. {Then} let’s be going.[87]

SYR. Follow this way. (_Goes to the door of MENEDEMUS, and calls._) Ho

there! Dromo.

_Enter DROMO from the house._

DRO. Who is it wants me?

SYR. Syrus.

DRO. What’s the matter?

SYR. Take over all the attendants of Bacchis to your house here

immediately.

DRO. Why so?

SYR. Ask no questions. Let them take what they brought here with them.

The old gentleman will hope his expenses are lightened by their

departure; for sure he little knows how much loss this trifling gain

will bring him. You, Dromo, if you are wise, know nothing of what you

do know.

DRO. You shall own that I’m dumb. (_CLINIA, BACCHIS, and PHRYGIA go

into the house of MENEDEMUS, and DROMO follows with BACCHIS’S retinue

and baggage._)

SCENE V.

_Enter CHREMES from his house._

CHREM. (_to himself._) So may the Deities prosper me, I am now

concerned for the fate of Menedemus, that so great a misfortune should

have befallen him. To be maintaining that woman with such a retinue!

Although I am well aware he’ll not be sensible of it for some days to

come, his son was so greatly missed by him; but when he sees such a

vast expense incurred by him every day at home, and no limit to it,

he’ll wish that this son would leave him a second time. See-- here

comes Syrus most opportunely.

SYR. (_to himself, as he comes forward._) {Why} delay to accost him?

CHREM. Syrus.

SYR. Well.

CHREM. How go matters?

SYR. I’ve been wishing for some time for you to be thrown in my way.

CHREM. You seem, then, to have effected something, I know not what,

with the old gentleman.

SYR. As to what we were talking of a short time since? No sooner said

than done.

CHREM. In real earnest?

SYR. In real.

CHREM. Upon my faith, I can not forbear patting your head {for it}.

Come here, Syrus; I’ll do you some good turn for this matter, and with

pleasure. (_Patting his head._)

SYR. But if you knew how cleverly it came into my head----

CHREM. Pshaw! Do you boast because it has turned out according to your

wishes?

SYR. On my word, not I, indeed; I am telling the truth.

CHREM. Tell {me} how it is.

SYR. Clinia has told Menedemus, that this Bacchis is your Clitipho’s

mistress, and that {he} has taken her thither with him in order that

you might not come to know of it.

CHREM. Very good.

SYR. Tell me, please, {what you think of it}.

CHREM. Extremely {good}, I declare.

SYR. Why yes, pretty fair. But listen, what a piece of policy still

remains. He is then to say that he has seen your daughter-- that her

beauty charmed him as soon as he beheld her; {and} that he desires her

for a wife.

CHREM. What, her that has just been discovered?

SYR. The same; and, in fact, he’ll request that she may be asked for.

CHREM. For what purpose, Syrus? For I don’t altogether comprehend it.

SYR. O dear, you are {so} dull.

CHREM. Perhaps so.

SYR. Money will be given him for the wedding-- with which golden

trinkets and clothes---- do you understand me?

CHREM. To buy {them}----?

SYR. Just so.

CHREM. But I neither give nor betroth my daughter {to him}.

SYR. But why?

CHREM. Why, do you ask me? To a fellow----

SYR. Just as you please. I don’t mean that in reality you should give

her to him, but that you should pretend it.

CHREM. Pretending is not in my way; do you mix up these {plots} of

yours, so as not to mix me up {in them}. Do you think that I’ll

betroth my daughter to a person to whom I will not marry her?

SYR. I imagined {so}.

CHREM. By no means.

SYR. It might have been cleverly managed; and I undertook this affair

for the very reason, that a short time since you so urgently requested

it.

CHREM. I believe you.

SYR. But for my part, Chremes, I take it well and good, {either way}.

CHREM. But still, I especially wish you to do your best for it to be

brought about; but in some other way.

SYR. It shall be done: some other {method} must be thought of; but as

to what I was telling you of,-- about the money which she owes to

Bacchis,-- that must now be repaid her. And you will not, of course,

now be having recourse to this method; “What have I to do with it? Was

it lent to me? Did I give any orders? Had she the power to pawn my

daughter without my consent?” They quote that saying, Chremes, with

good reason, “Rigorous law[88] is often rigorous injustice.”

CHREM. I will not do {so}.

SYR. On the contrary, though others were at liberty, you are not at

liberty; all think that you are in good and very easy circumstances.

CHREM. Nay rather, I’ll at once carry it to her myself.

SYR. Why no; request your son in preference.

CHREM. For what reason?

SYR. Why, because the suspicion of being in love with her has been

transferred to him {with Menedemus}.

CHREM. What then?

SYR. Because it will seem to be more like probability when he gives it

her; and at the same time I shall effect more easily what I wish. Here

he comes too; go, {and} bring out the money.

CHREM. I’ll bring it. (_Goes into his house._)

SCENE VI.

_Enter CLITIPHO._

CLIT. (_to himself._) There is nothing so easy but that it becomes

difficult when you do it with reluctance. As this walk of mine, for

instance, though not fatiguing, it has reduced me to weariness. And

now I dread nothing more than that I should be packed off somewhere

hence once again, that I may not have access to Bacchis. May then all

the Gods and Goddesses, as many as exist, confound you, Syrus, with

these stratagems and plots of yours. You are always devising something

of this kind, by means of which to torture me.

SYR. Will you not away with you-- to where you deserve? How nearly had

your forwardness proved my ruin!

CLIT. Upon my faith, I wish it had been {so}; just what you deserve.

SYR. Deserve? How so? Really, I’m glad that I’ve heard this from you

before you had the money which I was just going to give you.

CLIT. What then would you have me to say to you? You’ve made a fool of

me; brought my mistress hither, whom I’m not allowed to touch----

SYR. {Well}, I’m not angry then. But do you know where Bacchis is just

now?

CLIT. At our house.

SYR. No.

CLIT. Where then?

SYR. At Clinia’s.

CLIT. I’m ruined!

SYR. Be of good heart; you shall presently carry to her the money that

you promised her.

CLIT. You do prate away. --Where from?

SYR. From your own father.

CLIT. Perhaps you are joking with me.

SYR. The thing itself will prove it.

CLIT. Indeed, then, I am a lucky man. Syrus, I do love you from my

heart.

SYR. But {your} father’s coming out. Take care not to express surprise

at any thing, for what reason it is done; give way at the proper

moment; do what he orders, {and} say but little.

SCENE VII.

_Enter CHREMES from the house, with a bag of money._

CHREM. Where’s Clitipho now?

SYR. (_aside to CLITIPHO._) Say-- here I am.

CLIT. Here am I.

CHREM. (_to SYRUS._) Have you told him how it is?

SYR. I’ve told him pretty well every thing.

CHREM. Take this money, and carry it. (_Holding out the bag._)

SYR. (_aside to CLITIPHO._) Go-- why do you stand still, {you} stone;

why don’t you take it?

CLIT. Very well, give it me. (_Receives the bag._)

SYR. (_to CLITIPHO._) Follow me this way directly. (_To CHREMES._) You

in the mean while will wait here for us till we return; for there’s no

occasion for us to stay there long. (_CLITIPHO and SYRUS go into the

house of MENEDEMUS._)

CHREM. (_to himself._) My daughter, in fact, has now had ten minæ from

me, which I consider as paid for her board; another {ten} will follow

these for clothes; and then she will require two talents for her

portion. How many things, {both} just {and} unjust, are sanctioned by

custom![89] Now I’m obliged, neglecting my business, to look out for

some one on whom to bestow my property, that has been acquired by my

labor.

SCENE VIII.

_Enter MENEDEMUS from his house._

MEN. (_to CLINIA within._) My son, I now think myself the happiest of

all men, since I find that you have returned to a rational mode of

life.

CHREM. (_aside._) How much he is mistaken!

MEN. Chremes, you are the very person I wanted; preserve, so far as in

you lies, my son, myself, and my family.

CHREM. Tell me what you would have me do.

MEN. You have this day found a daughter.

CHREM. What then?

MEN. Clinia wishes her to be given him for a wife.

CHREM. Prithee, what kind of a person are you?

MEN. Why?

CHREM. Have you already forgotten what passed between us, concerning a

scheme, that by that method some money might be got out of you?

MEN. I remember.

CHREM. That self-same thing they are now about.

MEN. What do you tell {me}, Chremes? Why surely, this Courtesan, who

is at my house, is Clitipho’s mistress.

CHREM. So they say, and you believe it all; and they say that he is

desirous of a wife, in order that, when I have betrothed her, you may

give him {money}, with which to provide gold trinkets and clothing,

and other things that are requisite.

MEN. That is it, no doubt; that money will be given to his mistress.

CHREM. Of course it is to be given.

MEN. Alas! in vain then, unhappy man, have I been overjoyed; still

however, I had rather any thing than be deprived of him. What answer

now shall I report from you, Chremes, so that he may not perceive that

I have found it out, and take it to heart?

CHREM. To heart, {indeed}! you are too indulgent to him, Menedemus.

MEN. Let me go on; I have {now} begun: assist me in this throughout,

Chremes.

CHREM. Say then, that you have seen me, {and} have treated about the

marriage.

MEN. I’ll say {so}-- what then?

CHREM. That I will do every thing; that as a son-in-law he meets my

approbation; in fine, too, if you like, tell him also that she has

been promised him.

MEN. Well, that’s what I wanted--

CHREM. That he may the sooner ask of you, and you may as soon as

possible give him what you wish.

MEN. It is my wish.

CHREM. Assuredly, before very long, according as I view this matter,

you’ll have enough of him. But, however that may be, if you are wise,

you’ll give to him cautiously, and a little at a time.

MEN. I’ll do {so}.

CHREM. Go in-doors {and} see how much he requires. I shall be at home,

if you should want me for any thing.

MEN. I certainly do want you; for I shall let you know whatever I do.

(_They go into their respective houses._)

ACT THE FIFTH.

SCENE I.

_Enter MENEDEMUS from his house._

MEN. (_to himself._) I am {quite} aware that I am not so overwise, or

so very quick-sighted; but this assistant, prompter, and director[90]

of mine, Chremes, outdoes me in that. Any one of those epithets which

are applied to a fool is suited to myself, such as dolt, post,

ass,[91] lump of lead; to him not one can {apply}; his stupidity

surpasses them all.

_Enter CHREMES, speaking to SOSTRATA within._

CHREM. Hold now, do, wife, leave off dinning the Gods with

thanksgivings that your daughter has been discovered; unless you judge

of them by your own disposition, and think that they understand

nothing, unless the same thing has been told them a hundred times.

But, in the mean time, why does my son linger there so long with

Syrus?

MEN. What persons do you say are lingering?

CHREM. Ha! Menedemus, you have come opportunely. Tell me, have you

told Clinia what I said?

MEN. Every thing.

CHREM. What did he say?

MEN. He began to rejoice, just like people do who wish to be married.

CHREM. (_laughing._) Ha! ha! ha!

MEN. Why are you laughing?

CHREM. The sly tricks of my servant, Syrus, {just} came into my mind.

MEN. Did they?

CHREM. The rogue can even mould the countenances of people.[92]

MEN. That my son is pretending that he is overjoyed, is it that you

mean?

CHREM. Just so. (_Laughing._)

MEN. The very same thing came into my mind.

CHREM. A crafty knave!

MEN. Still more would you think such to be the fact, if you knew more.

CHREM. Do you say so?

MEN. Do you give attention then?

CHREM. Just stop-- first I want to know this, what {money} you have

squandered; for when you told your son that she was promised, of

course Dromo would at once throw in a word that golden jewels,

clothes, {and} attendants would be needed for the bride, in order that

you might give the money.

MEN. No.

CHREM. How, no?

MEN. No, I tell you.

CHREM. Nor yet your son himself?

MEN. Not in the slightest, Chremes. He was only the more pressing on

{this} one point, that the match might be concluded to-day.

CHREM. You say what’s surprising. What did my {servant} Syrus do?

Didn’t even he {say} any thing?

MEN. Nothing at all.

CHREM. For what reason, I don’t know.

MEN. For my part, I wonder at {that}, when you know other things so

well. But this same Syrus has moulded your son,[93] too, to such

perfection, that there could not be even the slightest suspicion that

she is {Clinia’s} mistress!

CHREM. What do you say?

MEN. Not to mention, then, their kissing and embracing; that I count

nothing.

CHREM. What more could be done to carry on the cheat?

MEN. Pshaw!

CHREM. What do you mean?

MEN. Only listen. In the inner part of my house there is a certain

room at the back; into this a bed was brought, {and} was made up with

bed-clothes.

CHREM. What took place after this?

MEN. No sooner said than done, thither went Clitipho.

CHREM. Alone?

MEN. Alone.

CHREM. I’m alarmed.

MEN. Bacchis followed directly.

CHREM. Alone?

MEN. Alone.

CHREM. I’m undone!

MEN. When they had gone into {the room}, they shut the door.

CHREM. Well-- did Clinia see {all} this going on?

MEN. How shouldn’t he? He was with me.

CHREM. Bacchis is my son’s mistress, Menedemus-- I’m undone.

MEN. Why so?

CHREM. I have hardly substance to suffice for ten days.[94]

MEN. What! are you alarmed at it, because he is paying attention to

his friend?

CHREM. His “she-friend” rather.[95]

MEN. If he {really} is paying it.

CHREM. Is it a matter of doubt to you? Do you suppose that there is

any person of so accommodating and tame a spirit as to suffer his own

mistress, himself looking on, to--

MEN. (_chuckling and speaking ironically._) Why not? That I may be

imposed upon the more easily.

CHREM. Do you laugh at me? You have good reason. How angry I now am

with myself! How many things gave {proof}, whereby, had I not been a

stone, I might have been fully sensible {of this}? What was it I saw?

Alas! wretch that I am! But assuredly they shall not escape my

vengeance if I live; for this instant--

MEN. Can you not contain yourself? Have you no respect for yourself?

Am I not a sufficient example to you?

CHREM. For {very} anger, Menedemus, I am not myself.

MEN. For you to talk in that manner! Is it not a shame for you to be

giving advice to others, to show wisdom abroad {and yet} be able to do

nothing for yourself?

CHREM. What shall I do?

MEN. That which you said I failed to do: make him sensible that you

are his father; make him venture to intrust every thing to you, to

seek and to ask of you; so that he may look for no other resources and

forsake you.[96]

CHREM. Nay, I had much rather he would go any where in the world, than

by his debaucheries here reduce his father to beggary! For if I go on

supplying his extravagance, Menedemus, in that case my circumstances

will undoubtedly be {soon} reduced to the level of your rake.

MEN. What evils you will bring upon yourself in this affair, if you

don’t act with caution! You’ll show yourself severe, and still pardon

him at last; that too with an ill grace.

CHREM. Ah! you don’t know how vexed I am.

MEN. Just as you please. What about that which I desire-- that she may

be married to my {son}? Unless there is any other step that you would

prefer.

CHREM. On the contrary, both the son-in-law and the connection are to

my taste.

MEN. What portion shall I say that you have named for your daughter?

Why are you silent?

CHREM. Portion?

MEN. I say so.

CHREM. Alas!

MEN. Chremes, don’t be at all afraid {to speak}, if it is but a small

one. The portion is no consideration at all with us.

CHREM. I did think that two talents were sufficient, according to my

means. But if you wish me to be saved, and my estate and my son, you

must say to this effect, that I have settled all my property on her as

her portion.

MEN. What scheme are you upon?

CHREM. Pretend that you wonder at this, and at the same time ask him

the reason why I do so.

MEN. Why, really, I can’t conceive the reason for your doing so.

CHREM. Why {do I do so}? To check his feelings, which are now hurried

away by luxury and wantonness, and to bring him down so as not to know

which way to turn himself.

MEN. What is your design?

CHREM. Let me alone, and give me leave to have my own way in this

matter.

MEN. I do give you leave: is this your desire?

CHREM. It is so.

MEN. {Then} be it so.

CHREM. And now let your son prepare to fetch the bride. The other one

shall be schooled in {such} language as befits children. But Syrus----

MEN. What of him?

CHREM. What? If I live, I will have him so handsomely dressed, so well

combed out, that he shall always remember me as long as he lives; to

imagine that I’m to be a laughing-stock and a plaything for him! So

may the Gods bless me! he would not have dared to do to a widow-woman

the things which he has done to me.[97] (_They go into their

respective houses._)

SCENE II.

_Enter MENEDEMUS, with CLITIPHO and SYRUS._

CLIT. Prithee, is it really the fact, Menedemus, that my father can,

in so short a space {of time}, have cast off all the {natural}

affection of a parent for me? For what crime? What so great enormity

have I, to my misfortune, committed? {Young men} generally do {the

same}.

MEN. I am aware that this must be much more harsh and severe to you,

on whom it falls; but {yet} I take it no less amiss {than you}. How it

is so I know not, nor can I account for it, except that from my heart

I wish you well.

CLIT. Did not you say that my father was waiting here?

_Enter CHREMES from his house._

MEN. See, here he is. (_MENEDEMUS goes into his house._)

CHREM. Why are you blaming me, Clitipho? Whatever I have done in this

matter, I had a view to you and your imprudence. When I saw that you

were of a careless disposition, and held the pleasures of the moment

of the first importance, and did not look forward to the future,

I took measures that you might neither want nor be able to waste this

{which I have}. When, through your own {conduct}, it was not allowed

me to give it you, to whom I ought before all, I had recourse to those

who were your nearest relations; to them I have made over and

intrusted every thing.[98] There you’ll always find a refuge for your

folly; food, clothing, and a roof under which to betake yourself.

CLIT. Ah me!

CHREM. It is better than that, you being my heir, Bacchis should

possess this {estate of mine}.

SYR. (_apart._) I’m ruined irrevocably! --Of what mischief have I,

wretch that I am, unthinkingly been the cause?

CLIT. Would I were dead!

CHREM. Prithee, first learn what it is to live. When you know that, if

life displeases you, then try the other.

SYR. Master, may I be allowed----?

CHREM. Say on.

SYR. But {may I} safely?

CHREM. Say on.

SYR. What injustice or what madness is this, that that in which I have

offended, should be to his detriment?

CHREM. It’s all over.[99] Don’t you mix yourself up {in it}; no one

accuses you, Syrus, nor need you look out for an altar,[100] or for an

intercessor for yourself.

SYR. What is your design?

CHREM. I am not at all angry either with you (_to SYRUS_), or with you

(_to CLITIPHO_); nor is it fair that you {should be so} with me for

what I am doing. (_He goes into his house._)

SYR. He’s gone. I wish I had asked him----

CLIT. What, Syrus?

SYR. Where I am to get my subsistence; he has so utterly cast us

adrift. You are to have it, for the present, at your sister’s, I find.

CLIT. Has it then come to this pass, Syrus-- that I am to be in danger

even of starving?

SYR. So we only live, there’s hope----

CLIT. What {hope}?

SYR. That we shall be hungry enough.

CLIT. Do you jest in a matter so serious, and not give me any

assistance with your advice?

SYR. On the contrary, I’m both now thinking of that, and have been

about it all the time your father was speaking just now; and so far as

I can perceive----

CLIT. What?

SYR. It will not be wanting long. (_He meditates._)

CLIT. What is it, then?

SYR. It is this-- I think that you are not their {son}.

CLIT. How’s that, Syrus? Are you quite in your senses?

SYR. I’ll tell you what’s {come} into my mind; be you the judge. While

they had you alone, while they had no other source of joy more nearly

to affect them, they indulged you, they lavished upon you. Now a

daughter has been found, a pretense has been found in fact on which to

turn you adrift.

CLIT. It’s very probable.

SYR. Do you suppose that he is so angry on account of this fault?

CLIT. I do not think {so}.

SYR. Now consider another thing. All mothers are wont to be advocates

for their sons when in fault, {and} to aid them against a father’s

severity; ’tis not so {here}.

CLIT. You say true; what then shall I now do, Syrus?

SYR. Question them on this suspicion; mention the matter without

reserve; either, if it is not true, you’ll soon bring them both to

compassion, or else you’ll {soon} find out whose son you are.

CLIT. You give good advice; I’ll do so. (_He goes into the home of

CHREMES._)

SYR. (_to himself._) Most fortunately did this come into my mind. For

the less hope the young man entertains, the greater the difficulty

with which he’ll bring his father to his own terms. I’m not sure even,

that he may not take a wife, and {then} no thanks for Syrus. But what

is this? The old man’s coming out of doors; I’ll be off. What has so

far happened, I am surprised at, that he didn’t order me to be carried

off from here: now I’ll away to Menedemus here, I’ll secure him as my

intercessor; I can put no trust in our old man. (_Goes into the house

of MENEDEMUS._)

SCENE III.

_Enter CHREMES and SOSTRATA from the house._

SOS. Really, sir, if you don’t take care, you’ll be causing some

mischief to your son; and indeed I do wonder at it, my husband, how

any thing so foolish could ever come into your head.

CHREM. Oh, you persist in being the woman? Did I ever wish for any one

thing in {all} my life, Sostrata, but that you were my contradicter on

that occasion? And yet if I were now to ask you what it is that I have

done amiss, or why you act thus, you would not know in what point you

are now so obstinately opposing me in your folly.

SOS. I, not know?

CHREM. Yes, rather, {I should have said} you do know; inasmuch as

either expression amounts to the same thing.[101]

SOS. Alas! you are unreasonable to expect me to be silent in a matter

of such importance.

CHREM. I don’t expect it; talk on then, I shall still do it not a bit

the less.

SOS. Will you do it?

CHREM. Certainly.

SOS. Don’t you see how much evil you will be causing by that course?

--He suspects himself {to be} a foundling.

CHREM. Do you say {so}?

SOS. Assuredly it will be so.

CHREM. Admit it.

SOS. Hold {now}-- prithee, let that be for our enemies. Am I to admit

that he is not my son who {really} is?

CHREM. What! are you afraid that you can not prove that he is yours,

whenever you please?

SOS. Because my daughter has been found?[102]

CHREM. No; but for {a reason} why it should be much sooner believed--

because he is just like you in disposition, you will easily prove that

he is your child; for he is exactly like you; why, he has not a single

vice left him but you have just the same. Then, besides, no woman

could have been the mother of such a son but yourself. But he’s coming

out of doors, {and} how demure! When you understand the matter, you

may form your own conclusions.

SCENE IV.

_Enter CLITIPHO from the house of CHREMES._

CLIT. If there ever was any time, mother, when I caused you pleasure,

being called your son by your own desire, I beseech you to remember

it, and now to take compassion on me in my distress. A thing I beg and

request-- do discover to me my parents.

SOS. I conjure you, my son, not to entertain that {notion} in your

mind, that you are another person’s child.

CLIT. I am.

SOS. Wretch that I am! (_Turning to CHREMES._) Was it this that you

wanted, pray? (_To CLITIPHO._) So may you be the survivor of me and of

him, you are my son and his; and henceforth, if you love me, take care

that I never hear that speech from you {again}.

CHREM. But I {say}, if you fear me, take care how I find these

propensities existing in you.

CLIT. What {propensities}?

CHREM. If you wish to know, I’ll tell you; being a trifler, an idler,

a cheat, a glutton, a debauchee, a spendthrift-- Believe me, and

believe that you are our {son}.

CLIT. This is not the language of a parent.

CHREM. If you had been born from my head, Clitipho, just as they say

Minerva was from Jove’s, none the more on that account would I suffer

myself to be disgraced by your profligacy.[103]

SOS. May the Gods forbid it.

CHREM. I don’t know as to the Gods;[104] so far as I shall be enabled,

{I will} carefully {prevent it}. You are seeking that which you

possess-- parents; that which you are in want of you don’t seek-- in

what way to pay obedience to a father, and to preserve what he

acquired by {his} industry. That you by trickery should bring before

my eyes-- I am ashamed to mention the unseemly word in her presence

(_pointing to SOSTRATA_), but you were not in any degree ashamed to

act thus.

CLIT. (_aside._) Alas! how thoroughly displeased I now am with myself!

How much ashamed! nor do I know how to make a beginning to pacify him.

SCENE V.

_Enter MENEDEMUS from his house._

MEN. (_to himself._) Why really, Chremes is treating his son too

harshly and too unkindly. I’m come out, therefore, to make peace

{between them}. Most opportunely I see them {both}.

CHREM. Well, Menedemus, why don’t you order my daughter to be sent

for, and close with the offer[105] of the portion that I mentioned?

SOS. My husband, I entreat you not to do it.

CLIT. Father, I entreat you to forgive me.

MEN. Forgive him, Chremes; do let them prevail upon you.

CHREM. Am I knowingly to make my property a present to Bacchis? I’ll

not do {it}.

MEN. Why, we would not suffer {it}.

CLIT. If you desire me to live, father, do forgive me.

SOS. Do, my {dear} Chremes.

MEN. Come, Chremes, pray, don’t be so obdurate.

CHREM. What {am I to do} here? I see I am not allowed to carry this

through, as I had intended.

MEN. You are acting as becomes you.

CHREM. On this condition, then, I’ll do it; if he does that which I

think it right he {should do}.

CLIT. Father, I’ll do any thing; command me.

CHREM. You must take a wife.

CLIT. Father----

CHREM. I’ll hear nothing.

MEN. I’ll take it upon myself; he shall do so.

CHREM. I don’t hear any thing from {him} as yet.

CLIT. (_aside._) I’m undone!

SOS. Do you hesitate, Clitipho?

CHREM. Nay, just as he likes.

MEN. He’ll do it all.

SOS. This course, while you are making a beginning, is disagreeable,

and while you are unacquainted with it. When you have become

acquainted with it, {it will become} easy.

CLIT. I’ll do it, father.

SOS. My son, upon my honor I’ll give you that charming girl, whom you

may soon become attached to, the daughter of our neighbor Phanocrata.

CLIT. What! that red-haired girl, with cat’s eyes, freckled face,[106]

{and} hooked nose? I can not, father.

CHREM. Heyday! how nice he is! You would fancy he had set his mind

upon it.

SOS. I’ll name another.

CLIT. Why no-- since I must marry, I myself have one that I should

pretty nearly make choice of.

SOS. Now, son, I commend you.

CLIT. The daughter of Archonides {here}.

SOS. I’m quite agreeable.

CLIT. Father, this now remains.

CHREM. What {is it}?

CLIT. I want you to pardon Syrus for what he has done for my sake.

CHREM. Be it so. (_To the Audience._) Fare you well, and grant us your

applause.

FOOTNOTES

[Footnote 1: See the Dramatis Personæ of the Andria.]

[Footnote 2: From μενὸς, “strength,” and δῆμος, “the people.”]

[Footnote 3: From κλίνω, “to incline,” or from κλινὴ,

“the marriage-bed.”]

[Footnote 4: From κλειτὸς, “illustrious,” and φῶς, “light.”]

[Footnote 5: See the Dramatis Personæ of the Andria.]

[Footnote 6: From Syria, his native country.]

[Footnote 7: From σώζω, “to preserve,” or “save.”]

[Footnote 8: From ἀντὶ, “in return,” and φιλῶ, “to love.”]

[Footnote 9: From Bacchus, the God of Wine.]

[Footnote 10: From Phrygia, her native country.]

[Footnote 11: _Being Consuls_)--M. Juventius Thalna and Ti.

Sempronius Gracchus were Consuls in the year from the Building of

the City 589, and B.C. 164.]

[Footnote 12: _Assigned to an old man_)--Ver. 1. He refers to the

fact that the Prologue was in general spoken by young men, whereas

it is here spoken by L. Ambivius Turpio, the leader of the

Company, a man stricken in years. The Prologue was generally not

recited by a person who performed a character in the opening

Scene.]

[Footnote 13: _That I will first explain to you_)--Ver. 3. His

meaning seems to be, that he will first tell them the reason why

he, who is to take a part in the opening Scene, speaks the

Prologue, which is usually spoken by a young man who does not take

part in that Scene; and that he will then proceed to speak in

character (eloquor), as Chremes, in the first Scene. His reason

for being chosen to speak the Prologue, is that he may be a

pleader (orator) for the Poet, a task which would be likely to be

better performed by him than by a younger man.]

[Footnote 14: _From an entire Greek one_)--Ver. 4. In

contradistinction to such Plays as the Andria, as to which it was

a subject of complaint that it had been formed out of a mixture

(contaminatus) of the Andrian and Perinthian of Menander.]

[Footnote 15: _Which from a two-fold plot_)--Ver. 6. Vollbehr

suggests that the meaning of this line is, that though it is but

one Play, it has a two-fold plot-- the intrigues of two young men

with two mistresses, and the follies of two old men. As this Play

is supposed to represent the events of two successive days, the

night intervening, it has been suggested that the reading is

“duplex-- ex argumento-- simplici;” the Play is “two-fold, with

but one plot,” as extending to two successive days. The Play

derives its name from the Greek words, ἑαυτὸν, “himself,” and

τιμωρουμενὸς, “tormenting.”]

[Footnote 16: _To be a Pleader_)--Ver. 11. He is to be the pleader

and advocate of the Poet, to influence the Audience in his favor,

and against his adversaries; and not to explain the plot of the

Play. Colman has the following observation: “It is impossible not

to regret that there are not above ten lines of the Self-Tormentor

preserved among the Fragments of Menander. We are so deeply

interested by what we see of that character in Terence, that one

can not but be curious to inquire in what manner the Greek Poet

sustained it through five Acts. The Roman author, though he has

adopted the title of the Greek Play, has so altered the fable,

that Menedemus is soon thrown into the background, and Chremes is

brought forward as the principal object; or, to vary the allusion

a little, the Menedemus of Terence seems to be a drawing in

miniature copied from a full length, as large as the life, by

Menander.”]

[Footnote 17: _A malevolent old Poet_)--Ver. 22. He alludes to his

old enemy, Luscus Lavinius, referred to in the preceding

Prologue.]

[Footnote 18: _The genius of his friends_)--Ver. 24. He alludes to

a report which had been spread, that his friends Lælius and Scipio

had published their own compositions under his name. Servilius is

also mentioned by Eugraphius as another of his patrons respecting

whom similar stories were circulated.]

[Footnote 19: _As he ran alone in the street_)--Ver. 31. He

probably does not intend to censure this practice entirely in

Comedy, but to remind the Audience that in some recent Play of

Luscus Lavinius this had been the sole stirring incident

introduced. Plautus introduces Mercury running in the guise of

Sosia, in the fourth Scene of the Amphitryon, l. 987, and

exclaiming, “For surely, why, faith, should I, a God, be any less

allowed to threaten the public, if it doesn’t get out of my way,

than a slave in the Comedies?” This practice can not, however, be

intended to be here censured by Plautus, as he is guilty of it in

three other instances. In the Mercator, Acanthio runs to his

master Charinus, to tell him that his mistress Pasicompsa has been

seen in the ship by his father Demipho; in the Stichus, Pinacium,

a slave, runs to inform his mistress Philumena that her husband

has arrived in port, on his return from Asia; and in the

Mostellaria, Tranio, in haste, brings information of the

unexpected arrival of Theuropides. The “currens servus” is also

mentioned in the Prologue to the Andria, l. 36. See the soliloquy

of Stasimus, in the Trinummus of Plautus, l. 1007.]

[Footnote 20: _A quiet Play_)--Ver. 36. “Statariam.” See the

spurious Prologue to the Bacchides of Plautus, l. 10, and the Note

to the passage in Bohn’s Translation. The Comedy of the Romans was

either “stataria”, “motoria”, or “mixta”. “Stataria” was a Comedy

which was calm and peaceable, such as the Cistellaria of Plautus;

“motoria” was one full of action and disturbance, like his

Amphitryon; while the “Comœdia mixta” was a mixture of both, such

as the Eunuchus of Terence.]

[Footnote 21: _What in each character_)--Ver. 47. “In utramque

partem ingenium quid possit meum.” This line is entirely omitted

in Vollbehr’s edition; but it appears to be merely a typographical

error.]

[Footnote 22: _How little work is done here_)--Ver. 72. Vollbehr

thinks that his meaning is, that he is quite vexed to see so

little progress made, in spite of his neighbor’s continual

vexation and turmoil, and that, as he says in the next line, he is

of opinion that if he were to cease working himself, and were to

overlook his servants, he would get far more done. It is more

generally thought to be an objection which Chremes suggests that

Menedemus may possibly make.]

[Footnote 23: _I am a man_)--Ver. 77. “Homo sum: humani nihil a me

alienum puto.” St. Augustine says, that at the delivery of this

sentiment, the Theatre resounded with applause; and deservedly,

indeed, for it is replete with the very essence of benevolence and

disregard of self. Cicero quotes the passage in his work De

Officiis, B. i., c. 9. The remarks of Sir Richard Steele upon this

passage, in the Spectator, No. 502, are worthy to be transcribed

at length. “The Play was the Self-Tormentor. It is from the

beginning to the end a perfect picture of human life, but I did

not observe in the whole one passage that could raise a laugh. How

well-disposed must that people be, who could be entertained with

satisfaction by so sober and polite mirth! In the first Scene of

the Comedy, when one of the old men accuses the other of

impertinence for interposing in his affairs, he answers, ‘I am a

man, and can not help feeling any sorrow that can arrive at man.’

It is said this sentence was received with an universal applause.

There can not be a greater argument of the general good

understanding of a people, than their sudden consent to give their

approbation of a sentiment which has no emotion in it. If it were

spoken with ever so great skill in the actor, the manner of

uttering that sentence could have nothing in it which could strike

any but people of the greatest humanity-- nay, people elegant and

skillful in observation upon it. It is possible that he may have

laid his hand on his heart, and with a winning insinuation in his

countenance, expressed to his neighbor that he was a man who made

his case his own; yet I will engage, a player in Covent Garden

might hit such an attitude a thousand times before he would have

been regarded.”]

[Footnote 24: _Take off my shoes_)--Ver. 124. As to the “socci,”

or low shoes of the ancients, see the Notes to the Trinummus of

Plautus, l. 720, in Bohn’s Translation. It was the especial duty

of certain slaves to take off the shoes of their masters.]

[Footnote 25: _To spread the couches_)--Ver. 125. The “lecti” or

“couches” upon which the ancients reclined at meals, have been

enlarged upon in the Notes to Plautus, where full reference is

also made to the “coena” or “dinner,” and other meals of the

Romans.]

[Footnote 26: _Provide me with dress_)--Ver. 130. It was the

custom for the mistress and female servants in each family to make

the clothes of the master. Thus in the Fasti of Ovid, B. ii.,

l. 746, Lucretia is found amidst her female servants, making a cloak,

or “lacerna,” for her husband. Suetonius says that Augustus

refused to wear any garments not woven by his female relations.

Cooke seems to think that “vestiant” alludes to the very act of

putting the clothes upon a person. He says, “The better sort of

people had eating-dresses, which are here alluded to. These

dresses were light garments, to put on as soon as they had bathed.

They commonly bathed before eating, and the chief meal was in the

evening.” This, however, does not seem to be the meaning of the

passage, although Colman has adopted it. We may here remark that

the censure here described is not unlike that mentioned in the

Prologue to the Mercator of Plautus, as administered by Demænetus

to his son Charinus.]

[Footnote 27: _Neither movables_)--Ver. 141. “Vas” is here used as

a general name for articles of furniture. This line appears to be

copied almost literally from one of Menander, which still exists.]

[Footnote 28: _To sell my house_)--Ver. 145. On the mode of

advertising houses to let or be sold among the Romans, see the

Trinummus of Plautus, l. 168, and the Note to the passage in

Bohn’s Translation.]

[Footnote 29: _Toward your children_)--Ver. 151. The plural

“liberos” is here used to signify the one son which Menedemus has.

So in the Hecyra, l. 217, the same word is used to signify but one

daughter. This was a common mode of expression in the times of the

earlier Latin authors.]

[Footnote 30: _Festival of Bacchus, “Dionysia”_)--Ver. 162. It is

generally supposed that there were four Festivals called the

Dionysia, during the year, at Athens. The first was the Rural, or

Lesser Dionysia, κατ᾽ ἀγροὺς, a vintage festival, which was

celebrated in the “Demi” or boroughs of Attica, in honor of

Bacchus, in the month Poseidon. This was the most ancient of the

Festivals, and was held with the greatest merriment and freedom;

the slaves then enjoyed the same amount of liberty as they did at

the Saturnalia at Rome. The second Festival, which was called the

Lensea, from ληνὸς, a wine-press, was celebrated in the month

Gamelion, with Scenic contests in Tragedy and Comedy. The third

Dionysian Festival was the Anthesteria, or “Spring feast,” being

celebrated during three days in the month Anthesterion. The first

day was called πιθοίγια, or “the Opening of the casks,” as on that

day the casks were opened to taste the wine of the preceding year.

The second day was called χοες, from χοῦς, “a cup,” and was

probably devoted to drinking. The third day was called χυτροὶ,

from χυτρὸς, “a pot,” as on it persons offered pots with

flower-seeds or cooked vegetables to Dionysus or Bacchus. The

fourth Attic festival of Dionysius was celebrated in the month

Elaphebolion, and was called the Dionysia ἐν ἄστει, Αστικὰ, or

Μεγαλὰ, the “City” or “great” festival. It was celebrated with

great magnificence, processions and dramatic representations

forming part of the ceremonial. From Greece, by way of Sicily, the

Bacchanalia, or festivals of Bacchus, were introduced into Rome,

where they became the scenes of and pretext for every kind of vice

and debauchery, until at length they were put down in the year

B.C. 187, with a strong hand, by the Consuls Spurius Posthumius

Albinus and Q. Marcius Philippus; from which period the words

“bacchor” and “bacchator” became synonymous with the practice of

every kind of vice and turpitude that could outrage common

decency. See a very full account of the Dionysia and the

Bacchanalia in Dr. Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman

Antiquities.]

[Footnote 31: _Is of service to him_)--Ver. 199. He means that it

is to the advantage of Clitipho that Clinia should be seen to

stand in awe of his father.]

[Footnote 32: _Reasonable men_)--Ver. 205. “Homo,” “a man,” is

here put for men in general who are fathers.]

[Footnote 33: _Of knowing and of pardoning_)--Ver. 218. There is a

jingle intended here in the resemblance of the words

“cognoscendi,” “knowing,” and “ignoscendi,” “pardoning.”]

[Footnote 34: _Is-- fair words_)--Ver. 228. “Recte est.” It is

supposed that he pauses before uttering these words, which mean

“very well,” or “very good,” implying the giving an assent without

making a promise; he tells the reason, in saying that he has

scruples or prejudices against confessing that he has got nothing

to give her.]

[Footnote 35: _Great way from here_)--Ver. 239. That is, from the

place where they are, in the country, to Athens.]

[Footnote 36: _Troop of female attendants_)--Ver. 245. The train

and expenses of a courtesan of high station are admirably depicted

in the speech of Lysiteles, in the Trinummus of Plautus, l. 252.]

[Footnote 37: _In a mourning dress_)--Ver. 286. Among the Greeks,

in general, mourning for the dead seems to have lasted till the

thirtieth day after the funeral, and during that period black

dresses were worn. The Romans also wore mourning for the dead,

which seems, in the time of the Republic, to have been black or

dark blue for either sex. Under the Empire the men continued to

wear black, but the women wore white. No jewels or ornaments were

worn upon these occasions.]

[Footnote 38: _With no worthless woman’s trumpery_)--Ver. 289. By

“nullâ malâ re muliebri” he clearly means that they did not find

her painted up with the cosmetics which some women were in the

habit of using. Such preparations for the face as white-lead, wax,

antimony, or vermilion, well deserve the name of “mala res.”

A host of these cosmetics will be found described in Ovid’s

Fragment “On the Care of the Complexion,” and much information

upon this subject is given in various passages in the Art of Love.

In the Remedy of Love, l. 351, Ovid speaks of these practices in

the following terms: “At the moment, too, when she shall be

smearing her face with the cosmetics laid up on it, you may come

into the presence of your mistress, and don’t let shame prevent

you. You will find there boxes, and a thousand colors of objects;

and you will see ‘oesypum,’ the ointment of the fleece, trickling

down and flowing upon her heated bosom. These drugs, Phineus,

smell like thy tables; not once alone has sickness been caused by

this to my stomach.” Lucretius also, in his Fourth Book, l. 1168,

speaks of a female who “covers herself with noxious odors, and

whom her female attendants fly from to a distance, and chuckle by

stealth.” See also the Mostellaria of Plautus, Act I., Scene 3,

l. 135, where Philematium is introduced making her toilet on the

stage.]

[Footnote 39: _Do hold your peace_)--Ver. 291. “Pax,” literally

“peace!” in the sense of “Hush!” “Be quiet!” See the Notes to the

Trinummus of Plautus, ll. 889-891, in Bohn’s Translation.]

[Footnote 40: _The woof_)--Ver. 293. See an interesting passage on

the ancient weaving, in the Metamorphoses of Ovid, B. vi., l. 54,

_et seq._ See also the Epistle of Penelope to Ulysses, in the

Heroides of Ovid, l. 10, and the Note in Bohn’s English

Translation.]

[Footnote 41: _She was weaving_)--Ver. 294. This line and part of

the next are supposed to have been translated almost literally

from some lines, the composition of Menander, which are still

extant.]

[Footnote 42: _Your Bacchis, whom we are bringing_)--Ver. 310.

Colman has the following remark: “Here we enter upon the other

part of the table, which the Poet has most artfully complicated

with the main subject by making Syrus bring Clitipho’s mistress

along with Antiphila. This part of the story, we know, was not in

Menander.”]

[Footnote 43: _Incur this risk_)--Ver. 337. As to his own

mistress.]

[Footnote 44: _Upon either ear_)--Ver. 342. “In aurem utramvis,”

a proverbial expression, implying an easy and secure repose. It is

also used by Plautus, and is found in a fragment of the Πλοκιὸν,

or Necklace, a Comedy of Menander.]

[Footnote 45: _Still do that which I said_)--Ver. 346. “Perge

porro, tamen istue ago.” Stallbaum observes that the meaning is:

“Although I’m going off, I’m still attending to what you’re

saying.” According to Schmieder and others, it means: “Call on

just as you please, I shall persist in sending Bacchis away.”]

[Footnote 46: _Such great people_)--Ver. 363. “Quos,” literally,

“What persons!”]

[Footnote 47: _Words of double meaning_)--Ver. 372. “Inversa

verba, eversas cervices tuas.” “Inversa verba” clearly means,

words with a double meaning, or substituted for others by previous

arrangement, like correspondence by cipher. Lucretius uses the

words in this sense, B. i., l. 643. A full account of the secret

signs and correspondence in use among the ancients will be found

in the 16th and 17th Epistles of the Heroides of Ovid, in his

Amours, B. i., El. 4, and in various passages of the Art of Love.

See also the Asinaria of Plautus, l. 780. It is not known for

certain what “eversa cervix” here means; it may mean the turning

of the neck in some particular manner by way of a hint or to give

a sidelong look, or it may allude to the act of snatching a kiss

on the sly, which might lead to a discovery.]

[Footnote 48: _A man whose manners-- those persons_)--Ver. 393.

“Cujus-- hi;” a change of number by the use of the figure

Enallage.]

[Footnote 49: _I can scarce endure it_)--Ver. 400. Colman has the

following remark on this passage: “Madame Dacier, contrary to the

authority of all editions and MSS., adopts a conceit of her

father’s in this place, and places this speech to Clitipho, whom

she supposes to have retired to a hiding-place, where he might

overhear the conversation, and from whence he peeps out to make

this speech to Syrus. This she calls an agreeable _jeu de

théâtre_, and doubts not but all lovers of Terence will be obliged

to her father for so ingenious a remark; but it is to be feared

that critical sagacity will not be so lavish of acknowledgments as

filial piety. There does not appear the least foundation for this

remark in the Scene, nor has the Poet given us the least room to

doubt of Clitipho being actually departed. To me, instead of an

agreeable {jeu de théâtre}, it appears a most absurd and

ridiculous device; particularly vicious in this place, as it most

injudiciously tends to interrupt the course of Clinia’s more

interesting passion, so admirably delineated in this little

Scene.”]

[Footnote 50: _It is now daybreak_)--Ver. 410. Though this is the

only Play which includes more than one day in the action, it is

not the only one in which the day is represented as breaking. The

Amphitryon and the Curculio of Plautus commence before daybreak,

and the action is carried on into the middle of the day. Madame

Dacier absolutely considers it {as a fact beyond all doubt}, that

the Roman Audience went home after the first two Acts of the Play,

and returned for the representation of the third the next morning

at daybreak. Scaliger was of the same opinion; but it is not

generally entertained by Commentators.]

[Footnote 51: _How I was affected_)--Ver. 436. “Ut essem,”

literally, “How I was.”]

[Footnote 52: _If a satrap_)--Ver. 452. “Satrapa” was a Persian

word signifying “a ruler of a province.” The name was considered

as synonymous with “possessor of wealth almost inexhaustible.”]

[Footnote 53: _In tasting only_)--Ver. 457. “Pytiso” was the name

given to the nasty practice of tasting wine, and then spitting it

out; offensive in a man, but infinitely more so in a woman. It

seems in those times to have been done by persons who wished to

give themselves airs in the houses of private persons; at the

present day it is probably confined to wine-vaults and sale-rooms

where wine is put up to auction, and even there it is practiced

much more than is either necessary or agreeable. Doubtless Bacchis

did it to show her exquisite taste in the matter of wines.]

[Footnote 54: _Is too acid_)--Ver. 458. “Asperum;” meaning that

the wine was not old enough for her palate. The great fault of the

Greek wines was their tartness, for which reason sea-water was

mixed with them all except the Chian, which was the highest class

of wine.]

[Footnote 55: _Respected sir_)--Ver. 459. “Pater,” literally

“father;” a title by which the young generally addressed aged

persons who were strangers to them.]

[Footnote 56: _All the casks, all the vessels_)--Ver. 460. “Dolia

omnia, omnes serias.” The finer kinds of wine were drawn off from

the “dolia,” or large vessels, into the “amphoræ,” which, like the

“dolia,” were made of earth, and sometimes of glass. The mouths of

the vessels were stopped tight by a plug of wood or cork, which

was made impervious to the atmosphere by being rubbed over with a

composition of pitch, clay, wax, or gypsum. On the outside, the

title of the wine was painted, and among the Romans the date of

the vintage was denoted by the names of the Consuls then in

office. When the vessels were of glass, small tickets or labels,

called “pittacia,” were suspended from them, stating to a similar

effect. The “seriæ” were much the same as the “dolia,” perhaps

somewhat smaller; they were both long, bell-mouthed vessels of

earthen-ware, formed of the best clay, and lined with pitch while

hot from the furnace. “Seriæ” were also used to contain oil and

other liquids; and in the Captivi of Plautus the word is applied

to pans used for the purpose of salting meat. “Relino” signifies

the act of taking the seal of pitch or wax off the stopper of the

wine-vessel.]

[Footnote 57: _With that servant of yours_)--Ver. 473. Dromo.]

[Footnote 58: _What an inlet_)--Ver. 482. “Fenestram;” literally,

“a window.”]

[Footnote 59: _This night with my eyes_)--Ver. 491. Colman has the

following Note here: “Hedelin obstinately contends from this

passage, that neither Chremes nor any of his family went to bed

the whole night; the contrary of which is evident, as Menage

observes, from the two next Scenes. For why should Syrus take

notice of his being up so early, if he had never retired to rest?

Or would Chremes have reproached Clitipho for his behavior the

night before, had the feast never been interrupted? Eugraphius’s

interpretation of these words is natural and obvious, who explains

them to signify that the anxiety of Chremes to restore Clinia to

Menedemus broke his rest.”]

[Footnote 60: _That they may not perceive_)--Ver. 511. Madame

Dacier observes that Chremes seizes this as a very plausible and

necessary pretense to engage Menedemus to return home, and not to

his labors in the field, as he had at first intended.]

[Footnote 61: _Old age of an eagle_)--Ver. 521. This was a

proverbial expression, signifying a hale and vigorous old age. It

has been suggested, too, that it alludes to the practice of some

old men, who drink more than they eat. It was vulgarly said that

eagles never die of old age, and that when, by reason of their

beaks growing inward, they are unable to feed upon their prey,

they live by sucking the blood.]

[Footnote 62: _Not like those of former days_)--Ver. 524. Syrus,

by showing himself an admirer of the good old times, a “laudator

temporis acti,” is wishful to flatter the vanity of Chremes, as it

is a feeling common to old age, perhaps by no means an unamiable

one, to think former times better than the present. Aged people

feel grateful to those happy hours when their hopes were bright,

and every thing was viewed from the sunny side of life.]

[Footnote 63: _Can no longer support her expenses_)--Ver. 544. He

refers to Menedemus and Bacchis.]

[Footnote 64: _But in case, none the more_)--Ver. 555. “Sed si

quid, ne quid.” An instance of Aposiopesis, signifying “But if any

thing does happen, don’t you blame me.”]

[Footnote 65: _And truly, Chremes_)--Ver. 557. Some suppose that

this is said in apparent candor by Syrus, in order the more

readily to throw Chremes off his guard. Other Commentators, again,

fancy these words to be said by Syrus in a low voice, aside, which

seems not improbable; it being a just retribution on Chremes for

his recommendation, however well intended: in that case, Chremes

probably overhears it, if we may judge from his answer.]

[Footnote 66: _’Tis the truth_)--Ver. 568. “Factum.” “Done for” is

anothor translation which this word will here admit of.]

[Footnote 67: _That he does the same_)--Ver. 577. Clinia.]

[Footnote 68: _Of a prudent and discreet person_)--Ver. 580. This

is said ironically.]

[Footnote 69: _Is there but one way_)--Ver. 583. And that an

immodest one.]

[Footnote 70: _With your wife_)--Ver. 604. Madame Dacier remarks,

that as Antiphila is shortly to be acknowledged as the daughter of

Chremes, she is not therefore in company with the other women at

the feast, who are Courtesans, but with the wife of Chremes, and

consequently free from reproach or scandal.]

[Footnote 71: _Would she really be a security_)--Ver. 606. The

question of Chremes seems directed to the fact whether the girl is

of value sufficient to be good security for the thousand drachmæ.]

[Footnote 72: _You shall soon know_)--Ver. 612. Madame Dacier

suggests that Chremes is prevented by his wife’s coming from

making a proposal to advance the money himself, on the supposition

that it will be a lucrative speculation. This notion is

contradicted by Colman, who adds the following note from

Eugraphius: “Syrus pretends to have concerted this plot against

Menedemus, in order to trick him out of some money to be given to

Clinia’s supposed mistress. Chremes, however, does not approve of

this: yet it serves to carry on the plot; for when Antiphila

proves afterward to be the daughter of Chremes, he necessarily

becomes the debtor of Bacchis, and is obliged to lay down the sum

for which he imagines his daughter is pledged.”]

[Footnote 73: _Has gained a loss_)--Ver. 628. He alludes to

Clitipho, who, by the discovery of his sister, would not come in

for such a large share of his father’s property, and would

consequently, as Syrus observes, gain a loss.]

[Footnote 74: _That she might not be without_)--Ver. 652. Madame

Dacier observes upon this passage, that the ancients thought

themselves guilty of a heinous offense if they suffered their

children to die without having bestowed on them some of their

property; it was consequently the custom of the women, before

exposing children, to attach to them some jewel or trinket among

their clothes, hoping thereby to avoid incurring the guilt above

mentioned, and to ease their consciences.]

[Footnote 75: _Saving of yourself and her_)--Ver. 653. Madame

Dacier says that the meaning of this passage is this: Chremes

tells his wife that by having given this ring, she has done two

good acts instead of one-- she has both cleared her conscience and

saved the child; for had there been no ring or token exposed with

the infant, the finder would not have been at the trouble of

taking care of it, but might have left it to perish, never

suspecting it would be inquired after, or himself liberally

rewarded for having preserved it.]

[Footnote 76: _I see more hopes_)--Ver. 659. Syrus is now alarmed

that Antiphila should so soon be acknowledged as the daughter of

Chremes, lest he may lose the opportunity of obtaining the money,

and be punished as well, in case the imposition is detected, and

Bacchis discovered to be the mistress of Clitipho and not of

Clinia.]

[Footnote 77: _A man can not be_)--Ver. 666. This he says by way

of palliating the cruelty he was guilty of in his orders to have

the child put to death.]

[Footnote 78: _Unless my fancy deceives me_)--Ver. 668. “Nisi me

animus fallit.” He comically repeats the very same words with

which Sostrata commenced in the last Scene.]

[Footnote 79: _Retribution_)--Ver. 668. “Infortunium!” was the

name by which the slaves commonly denoted a beating. Colman has

the following remark here: “Madame Dacier, and most of the later

critics who have implicitly followed her, tell us that in the

interval between the third and fourth Acts, Syrus has been present

at the interview between Chremes and Antiphila within. The only

difficulty in this doctrine is how to reconcile it to the apparent

ignorance of Syrus, which he discovers at the entrance of Clinia.

But this objection, says she, is easily answered. Syrus having

partly heard Antiphila’s story, and finding things likely to take

an unfavorable turn, retires to consider what is best to be done.

But surely this is a most unnatural impatience at so critical a

conjuncture; and, after all, would it not be better to take up the

matter just where Terence has left it, and to suppose that Syrus

knew nothing more of the affair than what might be collected from

the late conversation between Chremes and Sostrata, at which we

know he was present? This at once accounts for his apprehensions,

which he betrayed even during that Scene, as well as for his

imperfect knowledge of the real state of the case, till apprised

of the whole by Clinia.”]

[Footnote 80: _With my sides covered_)--Ver. 673. He most probably

alludes to the custom of tying up the slaves by their hands, after

stripping them naked, when of course their “latera” or “sides”

would be exposed, and come in for a share of the lashes.]

[Footnote 81: _Runaway money_)--Ver. 678. “Fugitivum argentum.”

Madame Dacier suggests that this is a bad translation of the words

of Menander, which were “ἀποστρέψειν τὸν δραπέταν χρυσὸν” where

“χρυσὸς” signified both “gold” and the name of a slave.]

[Footnote 82: _If the sky were to fall_)--Ver. 719. He means those

who create unnecessary difficulties in their imagination. Colman

quotes the following remark from Patrick: “There is a remarkable

passage in Arrian’s Account of Alexander, lib. iv., where he tells

us that some embassadors from the Celtic, being asked by Alexander

what in the world they dreaded most, answered, ‘That they feared

lest the sky should fall [upon them].’ Alexander, who expected to

hear himself named, was surprised at an answer which signified

that they thought themselves beyond the reach of all human power,

plainly implying that nothing could hurt them, unless he would

suppose impossibilities, or a total destruction of nature.”

Aristotle, in his Physics, B. iv., informs us that it was the

early notion of ignorant nations that the sky was supported on the

shoulders of Atlas, and that when he let go of it, it would fall.]

[Footnote 83: _To a very fine purpose_)--Ver. 723. “Satis pol

proterve,” &c. C. Lælius was said to have assisted Terence in the

composition of his Plays, and in confirmation of this, the

following story is told by Cornelius Nepos: “C. Lælius, happening

to pass the Matronalia [a Festival on the first of March, when the

husband, for once in the year, was bound to obey the wife] at his

villa near Puteoli, was told that dinner was waiting, but still

neglected the summons. At last, when he made his appearance, he

excused himself by saying that he had been in a particular vein of

composition, and quoted certain lines which occur in the

Heautontimorumenos, namely, those beginning ‘Satis pol proterve me

Syri promissa huc induxerunt.’”]

[Footnote 84: _They’re asleep_)--Ver. 730. “Dormiunt.” This is

clearly used figuratively, though Hedelin interprets it

literally.]

[Footnote 85: _Farm here on the right-hand side_)--Ver. 732. Cooke

suggests that the Poet makes Bacchis call the house of Charinus

“villa,” and that of Chremes “fundus” (which signifies “a

farm-house,” or “farm”), for the purpose of exalting the one and

depreciating the other in the hearing of Syrus.]

[Footnote 86: _The feast of Bacchus_)--Ver. 733. This passage goes

far to prove that the Dionysia here mentioned as being celebrated,

were those κατ᾽ ἀγρους, or the “rural Dionysia.”]

[Footnote 87: _Let’s be going_)--Ver. 742. Colman here remarks to

the following effect: “There is some difficulty in this and the

next speech in the original, and the Commentators have been

puzzled to make sense of them. It seems to me that the Poet’s

intention is no more than this: Bacchis expresses some reluctance

to act under the direction of Syrus, but is at length prevailed

on, finding that he can by those means contrive to pay her the

money which he has promised her.”]

[Footnote 88: _Rigorous law_)--Ver. 796. Cicero mentions the same

proverb in his work De Officiis, B. i., ch. 10, substituting the

word “injuria” for “malitia.” “‘Extreme law, extreme injustice,’

is now become a stale proverb in discourse.” The same sentiment is

found in the Fragments of Menander.]

[Footnote 89: _Are sanctioned by custom_)--Ver. 839. He inveighs,

perhaps justly, against the tyranny of custom; but in selecting

this occasion for doing so, he does not manifest any great

affection for his newly-found daughter.]

[Footnote 90: _Assistant, prompter, and director_)--Ver. 875. The

three terms here used are borrowed from the stage. “Adjutor” was

the person who assisted the performers either by voice or gesture;

“monitor” was the prompter; and “præmonstrator” was the person who

in the rehearsal trained the actor in his part.]

[Footnote 91: _Dolt, post, ass_)--Ver. 877. There is a similar

passage in the Bacchides of Plautus, l. 1087. “Whoever there are

in any place whatsoever, whoever have been, and whoever shall be

in time to come, fools, blockheads, idiots, dolts, sots, oafs,

lubbers, I singly by far exceed them all in folly and absurd

ways.”]

[Footnote 92: _Mould the countenances of people_)--Ver. 887. He

means that Syrus not only lays his plots well, but teaches the

performers to put on countenances suitable to the several parts

they are to act.]

[Footnote 93: _Has moulded your son_)--Ver. 898. “Mire finxit.” He

sarcastically uses the same word, “fingo,” which Chremes himself

employed in l. 887.]

[Footnote 94: _Substance to suffice for ten days_)--Ver. 909.

“Familia” here means “property,” as producing sustenance. Colman,

however, has translated the passage: “Mine is scarce a ten-days’

family.”]

[Footnote 95: _ His she-friend rather_)--Ver. 911. Menedemus

speaks of “amico,” a male friend, which Chremes plays upon by

saying “amicae,” which literally meant a she-friend, and was the

usual name by which decent people called a mistress.]

[Footnote 96: _And forsake you_)--Ver. 924. Madame Dacier observes

here, that one of the great beauties of this Scene consists in

Chremes retorting on Menedemus the very advice given by himself at

the beginning of the Play.]

[Footnote 97: _Which he has done to me_)--Ver. 954. Colman has the

following Note: “The departure of Menedemus here is very abrupt,

seeming to be in the midst of a conversation; and his re-entrance

with Clitipho, already supposed to be apprised of what has passed

between the two old gentlemen, is equally precipitate. Menage

imagines that some verses are lost here. Madame Dacier strains

hard to defend the Poet, and fills up the void of time by her old

expedient of making the Audience wait to see Chremes walk

impatiently to and fro, till a sufficient time is elapsed for

Menedemus to have given Clitipho a summary account of the cause of

his father’s anger. The truth is, that a too strict observance of

the unity of place will necessarily produce such absurdities; and

there are several other instances of the like nature in Terence.”]

[Footnote 98: _Intrusted every thing_)--Ver. 966. This is an early

instance of a trusteeship and a guardianship.]

[Footnote 99: _It’s all over_)--Ver. 974. “Ilicet,” literally,

“you may go away.” This was the formal word with which funeral

ceremonies and trials at law were concluded.]

[Footnote 100: _Look out for an altar_)--Ver. 975. He alludes to

the practice of slaves taking refuge at altars when they had

committed any fault, and then suing for pardon through a

“precator” or “mediator.” See the Mostellaria of Plautus, l. 1074,

where Tranio takes refuge at the altar from the vengeance of his

master, Theuropides.]

[Footnote 101: _Amounts to the same thing_)--Ver. 1010. “Quam

quidem redit ad integrum eadem oratio;” meaning, “it amounts to

one and the same thing,” or, “it is all the same thing,” whether

you do or whether you don’t know.]

[Footnote 102: _Because my daughter has been found_)--Ver. 1018.

This sentence has given much trouble to the Commentators. Colman

has the following just remarks upon it: “Madame Dacier, as well as

all the rest of the Commentators, has stuck at these words. Most

of them imagine she means to say, that the discovery of Antiphila

is a plain proof that she is not barren. Madame Dacier supposes

that she intimates such a proof to be easy, because Clitipho and

Antiphila were extremely alike; which sense she thinks immediately

confirmed by the answer of Chremes. I can not agree with any of

them, and think that the whole difficulty of the passage here, as

in many other places, is entirely of their own making. Sostrata

could not refer to the reply of Chremes, because she could not

possibly tell what it would be; but her own speech is intended as

an answer to his preceding one, which she takes as a sneer on her

late wonderful discovery of a daughter; imagining that he means to

insinuate that she could at any time with equal ease make out the

proofs of the birth of her son. The elliptical mode of expression

so usual with Terence, together with the refinements of

Commentators, seem to have created all the obscurity.”]

[Footnote 103: _By your profligacy_)--Ver. 1036. It is probably

this ebullition of Comic anger which is referred to by Horace, in

his Art of Poetry:

“Interdum tamen et vocem Comœdia tollit,

Iratusque Chremes tumido delitigat ore:”

“Yet sometimes Comedy as well raises her voice, and enraged

Chremes censures in swelling phrase.”]

[Footnote 104: _I don’t know as to the Gods_)--Ver. 1037. “Deos

nescio.” The Critic Lambinis, in his letter to Charles the Ninth

of France, accuses Terence of impiety in this passage. Madame

Dacier has, however, well observed, that the meaning is not “I

care not for the Gods,” but “I know not what the Gods will do.”]

[Footnote 105: _And close with the offer_)--Ver. 1048. “Firmas.”

This ratification or affirmation would be made by Menedemus using

the formal word “Accipio,” “I accept.”]

[Footnote 106: _Freckled face_)--Ver. 1060. Many take “sparso ore”

here to mean “wide-mouthed.” Lemonnier thinks that must be the

meaning, as he has analyzed the other features of her countenance.

There is, however, no reason why he should not speak of her

complexion; and it seems, not improbably, to have the same meaning

as the phrase “os lentiginosum,” “a freckled face.”]

* * * * *

* * * *

ADELPHI; THE BROTHERS,

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.

DEMEA,[1] Brother, aged Athenian.

MICIO,[2] Brother, aged Athenian.

HEGIO,[3] an aged Athenian, kinsman of Sostrata.

ÆSCHINUS,[4] son of Demea, adopted by Micio.

CTESIPHO,[5] another son of Demea.

SANNIO,[6] a Procurer.

GETA,[7] servant of Sostrata.

PARMENO,[8] servant of Micio.

SYRUS,[9] servant of Micio.

DROMO,[10] servant of Micio.

PAMPHILA,[11] a young woman beloved by Æschinus.

SOSTRATA,[12] a widow, mother of Pamphila.

CANTHARA,[13] a Nurse.

A Music-girl.

_Scene._--Athens; before the houses of MICIO and SOSTRATA.

THE SUBJECT.

MICIO and DEMEA are two brothers of dissimilar tempers. Demea is

married, and lives a country life, while his brother remains single,

and resides in Athens. Demea has two sons, the elder of whom,

Æschinus, has been adopted by Micio. Being allowed by his indulgent

uncle to gratify his inclinations without restraint, Æschinus has

debauched Pamphila, the daughter of a widow named Sostrata. Having,

however, promised to marry the young woman, he has been pardoned for

the offense, and it has been kept strictly secret. Ctesipho, who lives

in the country with his father under great restraint, on visiting the

city, falls in love with a certain Music-girl, who belongs to the

Procurer Sannio. To screen his brother, Æschinus takes the

responsibility of the affair on himself, and succeeds in carrying off

the girl for him. Demea, upon hearing of this, censures Micio for his

ill-timed indulgence, the bad effects of which are thus exemplified in

Æschinus; and at the same time lauds the steady conduct and frugality

of Ctesipho, who has been brought up under his own supervision.

Shortly after this, Sostrata hears the story about the Music-girl, at

the very time that her daughter Pamphila is in labor. She naturally

supposes that Æschinus has deserted her daughter for another, and

hastens to acquaint Hegio, her kinsman, with the fact. Meantime Demea

learns that Ctesipho has taken part in carrying off the Music-girl,

whereon Syrus invents a story, and screens Ctesipho for the moment.

Demea is next informed by Hegio of the conduct of Æschinus toward

Pamphila. Wishing to find his brother, he is purposely sent on a

fruitless errand by Syrus, on which he wanders all over the city to no

purpose. Micio having now been informed by Hegio, and knowing that the

intentions of Æschinus toward Pamphila are not changed, accompanies

him to the house of Sostrata, whom he consoles by his promise that

Æschinus shall marry her daughter. Demea then returns from his search,

and, rushing into Micio’s house, finds his son Ctesipho there

carousing; on which he exclaims vehemently against Micio, who uses his

best endeavors to soothe him, and finally with success. He now

determines to become kind and considerate for the future. At his

request, Pamphila is brought to Micio’s house; and the nuptials are

celebrated. Micio, at the earnest request of Demea and Æschinus,

marries Sostrata; Hegio has a competency allowed him; and Syrus and

his wife Phrygia are made free. The Play concludes with a serious

warning from Demea, who advises his relatives not to squander their

means in riotous living; but, on the contrary, to bear admonition and

to submit to restraint in a spirit of moderation and thankfulness.

THE TITLE OF THE PLAY.

Performed at the Funeral Games of Æmilius Paulus,[14] which were

celebrated by Q. Fabius Maximus and P. Cornelius Africanus. L. Atilius

Prænestinus and Minutius Prothimus performed it. Flaccus, the freedman

of Claudius, composed the music for Sarranian flutes.[15] Taken from

the Greek of Menander, L. Anicius and M. Cornelius being Consuls.[16]

ADELPHI; THE BROTHERS.

THE SUMMARY OF C. SULPITIUS APOLLINARIS.

As Demea has two {sons}, young men, he gives Æschinus to his brother

Micio to be adopted {by him}; but he retains Ctesipho: him, captivated

with the charms of a Music-girl, {and} under a harsh and strict

father, his brother Æschinus screens; the scandal of the affair and

the amour he takes upon himself; at last, he carries the Music-girl

away from the Procurer. This same Æschinus has {previously} debauched

a poor woman, a citizen of Athens, and has given his word that she

shall be his wife. Demea upbraids him, {and} is greatly vexed;

afterward, however, when the truth is discovered, Æschinus marries

{the girl} who has been debauched; {and}, his harsh father Demea {now}

softened, Ctesipho retains the Music-girl.

THE PROLOGUE.

Since the Poet has found that his writings are carped at by unfair

{critics}, and that his adversaries represent in a bad light {the

Play} that we are about to perform, he shall give information about

himself; you shall be the judges whether this ought to be esteemed to

his praise or to his discredit. The Synapothnescontes[17] is a Comedy

of Diphilus;[18] Plautus made it into a Play {called} the

“Commorientes.” In the Greek, there is a young man, who, at the early

part of the Play, carries off a Courtesan from a Procurer; that part

Plautus has entirely left out. This portion he has adopted in the

Adelphi, {and} has transferred it, translated word for word. This new

{Play} we are about to perform; determine {then} whether you think a

theft has been committed, or a passage has been restored to notice

which has been passed over in neglect. For as to what these malevolent

persons say, that men of noble rank assist him, and are always writing

in conjunction with him-- that which they deem to be a heavy

crimination, he takes to be the highest praise; since he pleases those

who please you all and the public; the aid of whom in war, in peace,

in private business,[19] each one has availed himself of, on his own

occasion, without {any} haughtiness {on their part}. Now then, do not

expect the plot of the Play; the old men[20] who come first will

disclose it in part; a part in the representation they will make

known. Do you cause your impartial attention to increase the industry

of the Poet in writing.

ACT THE FIRST.

SCENE I.

_Enter MICIO, calling to a servant within._

MIC. Storax! Æschinus has not returned {home} from the entertainment

last night, nor any of the servants who went to fetch him.[21] (_To

himself._) Really, they say it with reason, if you are absent any

where, or if you stay abroad at any time, ’twere better for that to

happen which {your} wife says against you, and which in her passion

she imagines in her mind, than the things which fond parents {fancy}.

A wife, if you stay long abroad, either imagines that you are in love

or are beloved, or that you are drinking and indulging your

inclination, and that you only are taking your pleasure, while she

herself is miserable. As for myself, in consequence of my son not

having returned home, what do I imagine? In what ways am I not

disturbed? For fear lest he may either have taken cold,[22] or have

fallen down somewhere, or have broken some {limb}. Oh dear! that any

man should take it into his head, or find out what is dearer {to him}

than he is to himself! And yet he is not my son, but my brother’s. He

is quite different in disposition. I, from my very youth upward, have

lived a comfortable town life, and {taken} my ease; and, what they

esteem a piece of luck, I have never had a wife. He, on the contrary

to all this, has spent his life in the country, {and} has always lived

laboriously and penuriously. He married a wife, {and} has two sons.

This one, the elder of them, I have adopted. I have brought him up

from an infant, {and} considered {and} loved him as my own. In him I

centre my delight; this {object} alone is dear to me. On the other

hand, I take all due care that he may hold me equally dear. I give-- I

overlook; I do not judge it necessary to exert my authority in every

thing; in fine, the things that youth prompts to, {and} that others do

unknown to their fathers, I have used my son not to conceal from me.

For he, who, as the practice is, will dare to tell a lie to or to

deceive his father, will still more dare {to do so} to others. I think

it better to restrain children through a sense of shame and liberal

treatment, than through fear. On these points my brother does not

agree with me, nor do they please him. He often comes to me

exclaiming, “What are you about, Micio? Why do you ruin for us this

youth? Why does he intrigue? Why does he drink? Why do you supply him

with the means for these goings on? You indulge him with too much

dress; you are very inconsiderate.” He himself is too strict, beyond

what is just and reasonable; and he is very much mistaken, in my

opinion, at all events, who thinks that an authority is more firm or

more lasting which is established by force, than that which is founded

on affection. Such is my mode of reasoning; and thus do I persuade

myself. He, who, compelled by harsh treatment, does his duty, so long

as he thinks it will be known, is on his guard: if he hopes that it

will be concealed, he again returns to his natural bent. He whom you

have secured by kindness, acts from inclination; he is anxious to

return like for like; present and absent, he will be the same. This is

the duty of a parent, to accustom a son to do what is right rather of

his own choice, than through fear of another. In this the father

differs from the master: he who can not do this, let him confess that

he does not know how to govern children. But is not this the very man

of whom I was speaking? Surely it is he. I don’t know why it is I see

him out of spirits; I suppose he’ll now be scolding as usual. Demea,

I am glad to see you well.[23]

SCENE II.

_Enter DEMEA._

DEM. Oh,-- opportunely met; you are the very man I was looking

for.[24]

MIC. Why are you out of spirits?

DEM. Do you ask me, when we have {such a son as} Æschinus,[25] why I’m

out of spirits?

MIC. (_aside._) Did I not say it would be so? (_To DEMEA._) What has

he been doing?

DEM. What has he been doing? He, who is ashamed of nothing, and fears

no one, nor thinks that any law can control him. But I pass by what

has been previously done: what a thing he has just perpetrated!

MIC. Why, what is it?

DEM. He has broken open a door,[26] and forced his way into another

person’s house, beaten to death the master himself, and all the

household, {and} carried off a wench whom he had a fancy for. All

people are exclaiming that it was a most disgraceful proceeding. How

many, Micio, told me of this as I was coming here? It is in every

body’s mouth. In fine, if an example must be cited, does he not see

his brother giving his attention to business, {and} living frugally

and soberly in the country? No action of his {is} like this. When I

say this to him, Micio, I say it to you. You allow him to be

corrupted.

MIC. Never is there any thing more unreasonable than a man who wants

experience, who thinks nothing right except what he himself has done.

DEM. What is the meaning of that?

MIC. Because, Demea, you misjudge these matters. It is no heinous

crime, believe me, for a young man to intrigue or to drink; it is not;

nor yet for him to break open a door. If neither I nor you did so, it

was poverty that did not allow us to do {so}. Do you now claim that as

a merit to yourself, which you then did from necessity? That is

unfair; for if we had had the means to do so, we should have done {the

same}. And, if you were a man, you would now suffer that {other son}

of yours to act {thus} now, while his age will excuse it, rather than,

when he has got you, after long wishing it, out of the way, he should

still do {so}, at a future day, {and} at an age more unsuited.

DEM. O Jupiter! You, sir, are driving me to distraction. Is it not a

heinous thing for a young man to do these things?

MIC. Oh! do listen to me, and do not everlastingly din me upon this

subject. You gave me your son to adopt; he became mine; if he offends

in any thing, Demea, he offends against me: in that case I shall bear

the greater part {of the inconvenience}. Does he feast,[27] does he

drink, does he smell of perfumes,[28]-- it is at my cost. Does he

intrigue, money shall be found by me, so long as it suits me; when it

shall be no {longer convenient}, probably he’ll be shut out of

doors.[29] Has he broken open a door-- it shall be replaced; has he

torn any one’s clothes-- they shall be mended. Thanks to the Gods,

I both have means for doing this, and {these things} are not as yet an

annoyance. In fine, either desist, or else find some arbitrator

{between us}: I will show that in this matter you are the most to

blame.

DEM. Ah me! Learn to be a father from those who are really so.

MIC. You are his father by nature, I by my anxiety.

DEM. You, feel any anxiety?

MIC. Oh dear,-- if you persist, I’ll leave you.

DEM. Is it thus you act?

MIC. Am I so often to hear about the same thing?

DEM. I have some concern {for my son}.

MIC. I have some concern {for him} too; but, Demea, let us each be

concerned for his own share-- you for the one, and I for the other.

For, to concern yourself about both is almost the same thing as to

demand him back again, whom you intrusted to me.

DEM. Alas, Micio!

MIC. So it seems to me.

DEM. What {am I to say} to this? If it pleases you, {henceforth}-- let

him spend, squander, {and} destroy; it’s nothing to me. If I {say} one

word after this----

MIC. Again angry, Demea?

DEM. Won’t you believe me? Do I demand him back whom I have intrusted?

I am concerned for him; I am not a stranger in blood; if I do

interpose-- well, well, I have done. You desire me to concern myself

for one {of them},-- I do concern myself; and I give thanks to the

Gods, he is just as I would have him; that fellow of yours will find

it out at a future day: I don’t wish to say any thing more harsh

against him. (_Exit._

SCENE III.

_MICIO alone._

MIC. These things are[30] not nothing at all, nor yet all just as he

says; still they do give me some uneasiness; but I was unwilling to

show him that I took them amiss, for he is such a man; when I would

pacify him, I steadily oppose and resist {him}; {and} in spite of it

he hardly puts up with it like other men; but if I were to inflame, or

even to humor his anger, I should certainly be as mad as himself. And

yet Æschinus has done me some injustice in this affair. What courtesan

has he not intrigued with? Or to which {of them} has he not made some

present? At last, he recently told me that he wished to take a

wife,[31] I suppose he was just then tired of them all. I was in hopes

that the warmth of youth had now subsided; I was delighted. But look

{now}, he is at it again; however, I am determined to know it,

whatever it is, and to go meet the fellow, if he is at the Forum.

(_Exit._

ACT THE SECOND.

SCENE I.

_Enter ÆSCHINUS and PARMENO with the MUSIC-GIRL, followed by SANNIO

and a crowd of people._

SAN. I beseech you, fellow-citizens, do give aid to a miserable and

innocent man; do assist the distressed.

ÆSCH. (_to the GIRL._) Be quiet, and now then stand here just where

you are. Why do you look back? There’s no danger; he shall never touch

you while I am here.

SAN. I’ll {have} her, in spite of all.

ÆSCH. Though he is a villain, he’ll not risk, to-day, getting a

second beating.

SAN. Hear me, Aeschinus, that you may not say that you were in

ignorance of my calling; I am a Procurer.[32]

ÆSCH. I know it.

SAN. And of as high a character as any one ever was. When you shall be

excusing yourself by-and-by, how that you wish this injury had not

been done me, I shall not value it this (_snapping his fingers_).

Depend upon it, I’ll prosecute my rights; and you shall never pay with

words for the evil that you have done me in deed. I know those {ways}

of yours: “I wish it hadn’t happened; I’ll take my oath that you did

not deserve this injustice;” while I myself have been treated in a

disgraceful manner.

ÆSCH. (_to PARMENO._) Go first with all dispatch and open the door.

(_PARMENO opens the door._)

SAN. But you will avail nothing by this.

ÆSCH. (_To the GIRL._) Now then, step in.

SAN. (_coming between._) But I’ll not let her.

ÆSCH. Step this way, Parmeno; you are gone too far that way; here

(_pointing_), stand close by him; there, that’s what I want. Now then,

take care you don’t move your eyes in any direction from mine, that

there may be no delay if I give you the sign, to your fist being

instantly planted in his jaws.

SAN. I’d have him then try that.

ÆSCH. (_to PARMENO._) Now then, observe me.

PAR. (_to SANNIO._) Let go the woman. (_Strikes him._)

SAN. Oh! scandalous deed!

ÆSCH. He shall repeat it, if you don’t take care. (_PARMENO strikes

him again._)

SAN. Oh shocking!

ÆSCH. (_to PARMENO._) I didn’t give the sign; but still make your

mistakes on that side in preference. Now then, go. (_PARMENO goes with

the MUSIC-GIRL into MICIO’S house._)

SAN. What is the meaning of this? Have you the sway here, Aeschinus?

ÆSCH. If I had it, you should be exalted for your deserts.

SAN. What business have you with me?

ÆSCH. None.

SAN. How then, do you know who I am?

ÆSCH. I don’t want to.

SAN. Have I touched any thing of yours?

ÆSCH. If you had touched it, you’d have got a drubbing.

SAN. What greater right then have you to take my {property}, for which

I paid {my} money? Answer me that.

ÆSCH. It were better for you not to be making a disturbance here

before the house; for if you persist in being impertinent, you shall

be dragged in at once, and there you shall be lashed to death with

whips.

SAN. A free man, with whips?

ÆSCH. So it shall be.

SAN. Oh, you shameless fellow! Is this the place where they say there

is equal liberty for all?

ÆSCH. If you have now raved enough, Procurer, now then listen, if you

please.

SAN. Why, is it I that have been raving, or you against me?

ÆSCH. Leave alone {all} that, and come to the point.

SAN. What point? Where am I to come to?

ÆSCH. Are you willing now that I should say something that concerns

you?

SAN. With all my heart, only so it be something that’s fair.

ÆSCH. Very fine! a Procurer wishing me not to say what’s unfair.

SAN. I am a Procurer,[33] I confess it-- the common bane of youth-- a

perjurer, a {public} nuisance; still, no injury has befallen you from

me.

ÆSCH. Why, faith, that remains to come----

SAN. Pray, Æschinus, do come back to the point at which you set out.

ÆSCH. You bought her for twenty minæ; and may your bargain never

thrive! That sum shall be given {for her}.

SAN. What if I don’t choose to sell her to you? Will you compel me?

ÆSCH. By no means.

SAN. I was afraid you would.

ÆSCH. Neither do I think that a woman can be sold who is free; for I

claim her by action of freedom.[34] Now consider which you choose;

take the money, or prepare yourself for the action. Think of it,

Procurer, till I return.[35] (_He goes into the house of MICIO._)

SCENE II.

_SANNIO alone._

SAN. (_to himself._) O supreme Jupiter! I do by no means wonder that

men run mad through ill usage. He has dragged me out of my house,

beaten me, taken my {property} away against my will, {and} has given

me, unfortunate wretch, more than five hundred blows. In return for

all this ill usage he demands {the girl} to be made over to him for

just the same price at which she was bought. But however, since he has

{so well} deserved {of me}, be it so: he demands what is his due. Very

well, I consent then, provided he only gives the money. But I suspect

this; when I have said that I will sell her for so much, he’ll be

getting witnesses forthwith that I have sold her.[36] As to getting

the money, it’s all a dream. {Call again} by and by; come back

to-morrow. I could bear with that too, hard as it is, if he would only

pay it. But I consider this to be the fact; when you take up this

trade, you must brook and bear in silence the affronts of {these}

young fellows. However, no one will pay me; it’s in vain for me to be

reckoning upon that.

SCENE III.

_Enter SYRUS, from the house of MICIO._

SYR. (_speaking to ÆSCHINUS within._) Say no more; I myself will

arrange with him; I’ll make him glad to take the money at once, and

say besides that he has been fairly dealt with. (_Addressing SANNIO._)

Sannio, how is this, that I hear you have been having some dispute or

other with my master?

SAN. I never saw a dispute on more unequal terms[37] than the one that

has happened to-day between us; I, with being thumped, he, with

beating me, were both of us quite tired.

SYR. Your own fault.

SAN. What could I do?

SYR. You ought to have yielded to the young man.

SAN. How could I more so, when to-day I have even afforded my face to

his blows?

SYR. Well-- are you aware of what I tell you? To slight money on some

occasions is sometimes the surest gain. What! --were you afraid, you

greatest simpleton alive, if you had parted with ever so little[38] of

your right, and had humored the young man, that he would not repay you

with interest?

SAN. I do not pay ready money for hope.

SYR. {Then} you’ll never make a fortune. Get out with you, Sannio; you

don’t know how to take in mankind.

SAN. I believe that to be the better {plan}-- but I was never so

cunning as not, whenever I was able to get it, to prefer getting ready

money.

SYR. Come, come, I know your spirit; as if twenty minæ were any thing

at all to you in comparison to obliging him; besides, they say that

you are setting out for Cyprus----

SAN. (_aside._) Hah!

SYR. That you have been buying up many things to take thither; {and}

that the vessel is hired. This I know, your mind is in suspense;

however, when you return thence, I hope you’ll settle the matter.

SAN. Not a foot {do I stir}: Heavens! I’m undone! (_Aside._) It was

upon this hope they devised their project.

SYR. (_aside._) He is alarmed. I’ve brought the fellow into a fix.

SAN. (_aside._) Oh, what villainy! --Just look at that; how he has

nicked me in the very joint.[39] Several women have been purchased,

and other things as well, for me to take to Cyprus.[40] If I don’t get

there to the fair, my loss will be very great. Then if I postpone this

{business}, and settle it when I come back from there, it will be of

no use; the matter will be quite forgotten. “Come at last?” {they’ll

say}. “Why did you delay it? Where have you been?” So that I had

better lose it altogether than either stay here so long, or be suing

for it then.

SYR. Have you by this reckoned[41] up what you calculate will be your

profits?

SAN. Is this honorable of him? Ought Æschinus to attempt this? Ought

he to endeavor to take her away from me by downright violence?

SYR. (_aside._) He gives ground. (_To SANNIO._) I have this one

{proposal to make}; see if you fully approve of it. Rather than you

should run the risk, Sannio, of getting or losing the whole, halve it.

He will manage to scrape together ten minæ[42] from some quarter or

other.

SAN. Ah me! unfortunate wretch, I am now in danger of even losing part

of the principal. Has he no shame? He has loosened all my teeth; my

head, too, is full of bumps with his cuffs; and would he defraud me as

well? I shall go nowhere.

SYR. Just as you please. Have you any thing more to say before I go?

SAN. Why yes, Syrus, i’ faith, I have this to request. Whatever the

matters that are past, rather than go to law, let what is my own be

returned me; at least, Syrus, the sum she cost me. I know that you

have not hitherto made trial of my friendship; you will have no

occasion to say that I am unmindful or ungrateful.

SYR. I’ll do the best I can. But I see Ctesipho; he’s in high spirits

about his mistress.

SAN. What about what I was asking you?

SYR. Stay a little.

SCENE IV.

_Enter CTESIPHO, at the other side of the stage._

CTES. From any man, when you stand in need of it, you are glad to

receive a service; but of a truth it is doubly acceptable, if he does

you a kindness who ought to do so. O brother, brother, how can I

sufficiently commend you? This I am quite sure of; I can never speak

of you in such high terms but that your deserts will surpass it. For I

am of opinion that I possess this one thing in especial beyond all

others, a brother than whom no individual is more highly endowed with

the highest qualities.

SYR. O Ctesipho!

CTES. O Syrus, where is Æschinus?

SYR. Why, look-- he’s at home, waiting for you.

CTES. (_speaking joyously._) Ha!

SYR. What’s the matter?

CTES. What’s the matter? ’Tis through him, Syrus, that I am now

alive-- generous creature! Has he not deemed every thing of secondary

importance to himself in comparison with my happiness? The reproach,

the discredit, my own amour and imprudence, he has taken upon himself.

There can be nothing beyond this; but what means that noise at the

door?

SYR. Stay, stay; ’tis {Æschinus} himself coming out.

SCENE V.

_Enter ÆSCHINUS, from the house of MICIO._

ÆSCH. Where is that villain?

SAN. (_aside._) He’s looking for me.[43] Is he bringing any thing

{with him}? Confusion! I don’t see any thing.

ÆSCH. (_to CTESIPHO._) Ha! well met; you are the very man I was

looking for. How goes it, Ctesipho? All is safe: away then with your

melancholy.

CTES. By my troth, I certainly will away with it, when I have such a

brother as you. O my {dear} Æschinus! O my brother! Alas! I am

unwilling to praise you any more to your face, lest you should think I

do so rather for flattery than through gratitude.

ÆSCH. Go to, you simpleton! as though we didn’t by this time

understand each other, Ctesipho. This grieves me, that we knew of it

almost too late, and that the matter had come to such a pass, that if

all mankind had wished they could not possibly have assisted you.

CTES. I felt ashamed.

ÆSCH. Pooh! that is folly, not shame; about such a trifling matter

{to be} almost {flying} the country![44] ’Tis shocking to be

mentioned; I pray the Gods may forbid it!

CTES. I did wrong.

ÆSCH. (_in a lower voice._) What says Sannio to us at last?

SYR. He is pacified at last.

ÆSCH. I’ll go to the Forum to pay him off; you, Ctesipho, {step}

in-doors to her.

SAN. (_aside to SYRUS._) Syrus, do urge {the matter}.

SYR. (_to ÆSCHINUS._) Let us be off, for he is in haste for

Cyprus.[45]

SAN. Not particularly so; although still, I’m stopping here doing

nothing at all.

SYR. It shall be paid, don’t fear.

SAN. But he is to pay it all.

SYR. He shall pay it all; only hold your tongue and follow {us} this

way.

SAN. I’ll follow.

CTES. (_as SYRUS is going._) Harkye, harkye, Syrus.

SYR. (_turning back._) Well now, what is it?

CTES. (_aside._) Pray do discharge that most abominable fellow as soon

as possible; for fear, in case he should become more angry, by some

means or other this matter should reach my father, and then I should

be ruined forever.

SYR. That shall not happen, be of good heart; meanwhile enjoy yourself

in-doors with her, and onder the couches[46] to be spread for us, and

the other things to be got ready. As soon as {this} business is

settled, I shall come home with the provisions.

CTES. Pray {do} so. Since this has turned out so well, let us make a

cheerful day of it. (_CTESIPHO goes into the house of MICIO; and

exeunt ÆSCHINUS and SYRUS, followed by SANNIO._)

ACT THE THIRD.

SCENE I.

_Enter SOSTRATA and CANTHARA, from the house of the former._

SOS. Prithee, my {dear} nurse, how is it like to end?

CAN. Like to end, do you ask? I’troth, right well, I trust.

SOS. Her pains are just beginning, my dear.

CAN. You are in a fright now, just as though you had never been

present {on such an occasion}-- never been in labor yourself.

SOS. Unfortunate woman that I am! I have not a person {at home}; we

are quite alone; Geta too is absent. I have no one to go for the

midwife, or to fetch Æschinus.

CAN. I’faith, he’ll certainly be here just now, for he never lets a

day pass without visiting us.

SOS. He is my sole comfort in my afflictions.

CAN. Things could not have happened, mistress, more for the advantage

of your daughter than they have, seeing that violence was offered her;

so far as he is concerned, it is most lucky,-- such a person, of such

disposition and feelings, a member of so respectable a family.

SOS. It is indeed as you say; I entreat the Gods that he may be

preserved to us. (_They stand apart, on seeing GETA._)

SCENE II.

_Enter GETA, on the other side of the stage._

GETA (_to himself._) Now such is {our condition}, that if all were to

combine all their counsels, and to seek a remedy for this mischief

that has befallen myself, my mistress, and her daughter, they could

find no relief. Oh wretched me! so many calamities beset us on a

sudden, we can not possibly extricate ourselves. Violence, poverty,

oppression, desertion, infamy! What an age is this! O {shocking}

villainy! O accursed race! O impious man!--

SOS. Unhappy me! How is it that I see Geta hurrying along thus

terrified?

GETA (_continuing._) Whom neither promises, nor oaths, nor compassion

could move or soften; nor yet the fact that the delivery was nigh at

hand of the unfortunate woman on whom he had so shamefully committed

violence.

SOS. (_apart to CANTHARA._) I don’t well understand what he is talking

about.

CAN. Pray, let us go nearer to him, Sostrata.

GETA (_continuing._) Ah wretched me! I am scarcely master of my

senses, I am so inflamed with anger. There is nothing that I would

like better than for all that family to be thrown in my way, that I

might give vent to all {my} wrath upon them while this wound is still

fresh. I could be content with any punishment, so I might only wreak

my vengeance on them. First, I would stop the breath of the old fellow

himself who gave being to this monster; then as for his prompter,

Syrus, out upon him! how I would tear him piecemeal! I would snatch

him by the middle up aloft, and dash him head downward upon the earth,

so that with his brains he would bestrew the road: I would pull out

the eyes of the young fellow himself, {and} afterward hurl him

headlong {over some precipice}. The others I would rush upon, drive,

drag, crush, and trample them {under foot}. But why do I delay at once

to acquaint my mistress with this calamity? (_Moves as if going._)

SOS. (_to CANTHARA._) Let us call him back. Geta----

GETA. Well-- leave me alone,[47] whoever you are.

SOS. ’Tis I,-- Sostrata.

GETA (_turning round._) Why, where are you? You are the very person I

am looking for. I was in quest of you; it’s very fortunate you have

met me.

SOS. What’s the matter? Why are you trembling?