HEG. Whither am I to say, now, that that man has betaken himself from
the house out of doors?
TYND. (_apart_). Now, for a very certainty, I'm done for; the enemies
are coming to you, Tyndarus! What shall I say?--what shall I talk
of? What shall I deny, or what confess? All matters are reduced to
uncertainty. How shall I place confidence in my resources? I wish
the Gods had destroyed you, before you were lost to your own country,
Aristophontes, who, from a plot well concerted, are making it
disconcerted. This plan is ruined, outright, unless I find out for
myself some extremely bold device.
HEG. (_to_ ARISTOPHONTES). Follow me. See, there is the man; go to him
and address him.
TYND. (_aside, and turning away_). What mortal among mortals is there
more wretched than myself?
ARIST. (_coming up to him_). Why's this, that I'm to say that you are
avoiding my gaze, Tyndarus? And _why_ that you are slighting me as a
stranger, as though you had never known me? Why, I'm as much a slave
as yourself; although at home I was a free man, you, even from your
childhood, have always served in slavery in Elia.
HEG. I' faith, I'm very little surprised, if either he does avoid your
gaze, or if he does shun you, who are calling him Tyndarus, instead of
Philocrates.
TYND. Hegio, this person was accounted a madman in Elis. Don't you give
ear to what he prates about; for at home he has pursued his father and
mother with spears, and that malady sometimes comes upon him which is
spit out [1]. Do you this instant stand away at a distance from him.
HEG. (_to _the SLAVES). Away with him further off from me.
ARIST. Do you say, you whipp'd knave, that I am mad, and do you declare
that I have followed my own father with spears? And that I have that
malady, that it's necessary for me to be spit upon [2]?
HEG. Don't be dismayed; that malady afflicts many a person to whom it
has proved wholesome to be spit upon, and has been of service to them.
ARIST. Why, what do you say? Do you, too, credit him?
HEG. Credit him in what? ARIST. That I am mad?
TYND. Do you see him, with what a furious aspect he's looking at you?
'Twere best to retire, Hegio; it is as I said, his frenzy grows apace;
have a care for yourself.
HEG. I thought that he was mad, the moment that he called you Tyndarus.
TYND. Why, he's sometimes ignorant of his own name and doesn't know what
it is.
HEG. But he even said that you were his intimate friend.
TYND. So far from that, I never saw him. Why, really, Alcmaeon, and
Orestes, and Lycurgus [3] besides, are my friends on the same principle
that he is.
ARIST. Villain, and do you dare speak ill of me, as well? Do I not know
you?
HEG. I' faith, it really is very clear that you don't know him, who are
calling him Tyndarus, instead of Philocrates Him whom you see, you don't
know; you are addressing him as the person whom you don't see.
ARIST. On the contrary this fellow's saying that he is the person who he
is not; and he says that he is not the person who he really is.
TYND. You've been found, of course, to excel Philocrates in
truthfulness.
ARIST. By my troth, as I understand the matter, you've been found to
brazen out the truth by lying. But i' faith, prithee, come then, look at
me.
TYND. (_looking at him_). Well! ARIST. Say, now; do you deny that you
are Tyndarus?
TYND. I do deny it, I say.
ARIST. Do you say that you are Philocrates?
TYND. I do say so, I say.
ARIST. (_to_ HEGIO). And do you believe him?
HEG. More, indeed, than either you or myself. For he, in fact, who you
say that he is (_pointing to_ TYNDARUS), has set out hence to-day for
Elis, to this person's father.
ARIST. What father, when he's a slave. [4]
TYND. And so are you a slave, and _yet_ you were a free man; and I trust
that so I shall be, if I restore his son here to liberty.
ARIST. How say you, villain? Do you say that you were born a free man
[liber]?
TYND. I really do not say that I am Liber [5], but that I am
Philocrates.
ARIST. How's this? How this scoundrel, Hegio, is making sport of you
now. For he's a slave himself, and never, except his own self, had he a
slave.
TYND. Because you yourself are destitute in your own country, and
haven't whereon to live at home, you wish all to be found like to
yourself; you don't do anything surprising. 'Tis _the nature_ of the
distressed to be ill-disposed, and to envy the fortunate.
ARIST. Hegio, take you care, please, that you don't persist in rashly
placing confidence in this man; for so far as I see, he is certainly now
putting some device in execution, in saying that he is redeeming your
son _from captivity_; that is by no means satisfactory to me.
TYND. I know that you don't wish that to be done; still I shall effect
it, if the Gods assist me. I shall bring him back here, _and_ he _will
restore_ me to my father, in Elis. For that purpose have I sent Tyndarus
hence to my father.
ARIST. Why, you yourself are he; nor is there any slave in Elis of that
name, except yourself.
TYND. Do you persist in reproaching me with being a slave--a thing that
has befallen me through the fortune of war?
ARIST. Really, now, I cannot contain myself.
TYND. (_to_ HEGIO). Ha! don't you hear him? Why don't you take to
flight? He'll be pelting us just now with stones there, unless you order
him to be seized.
ARIST. I'm distracted. TYND. His eyes strike fire; there's need of a
rope, Hegio. Don't you see how his body is spotted all over with livid
spots? Black bile [6] is disordering the man.
ARIST. And, by my faith, if this old gentleman is wise, black pitch [7]
will be disordering you with the executioner, and giving a light to your
head.
TYND. He's now talking in his fit of delirium; sprites are in possession
of the man.
HEG. By my troth, suppose I order him to be seized?
TYND. You would be acting more wisely.
ARIST. I'm vexed that I haven't a stone, to knock out the brains of that
whip-scoundrel, who's driving mo to madness by his taunts.
TYND. Don't you hear that he's looking for a stone?
ARIST. I wish to speak with you alone, separately, Hegio.
HEG. Speak from where you are, if you want anything; though at a
distance, I shall hear you.
TYND. _Yes_, for, by my faith, if you approach nearer, he'll to taking
your nose off with his teeth.
ARIST. By heavens, Hegio, don't you believe that I am mad, or that I
ever was _so_, or that I have the malady which that fellow avers. But if
you fear anything from me, order me to be bound: I wish it, so long as
that fellow is bound as well.
TYND. Why really, Hegio, rather let him be bound that wishes it.
ARIST. Now hold your tongue! I'll make you, _you_ false Philocrates, to
be found out this day _to be_ a real Tyndarus. Why are you making signs
[8] at me?
TYND. I, making signs at you? (_To_ HEGIO.) What would he do, if you
were at a greater distance off?
HEG. What do you say? What if I approach this madman?
TYND. Nonsense; you'll be made a fool of; he'll be prating _stuff_, to
you, neither the feet nor the head of which will ever be visible.
The dress _only_ [9] is wanting; in seeing this man, you behold Ajax
himself.
HEG. I don't care; still I'll approach him. (_Advances to_
ARISTOPHONTES.)
TYND. (_aside_). Now am I utterly undone; now between the sacrifice and
the stone [10] do I stand, nor know I what to do.
HEG. I lend you my attention, Aristophontes, if there is anything that
you would wish with me.
ARIST. From me you shall hear _that_ truth, which now you think to be
false, Hegio. But I wish, in the first place, to clear myself from this
with you--that madness does not possess me, and that I have no malady,
except that I am in captivity; and, so may the King of Gods and of
men make me to regain my native land, that fellow there is no more
Philocrates than either I or you.
HEG. Come, then, tell me who he is?
ARIST. He whom I've told you all along from the beginning. If you shall
find him any other than that person, I show no cause why I shouldn't
suffer the loss with you both of my parents and of my liberty _for
ever_.
HEG. (_to_ TYNDARUS). What say you _to this_?
TYND. That I am your slave, and you my master.
HEG. I didn't ask that--were you a free man?
TYND. I was. ARIST. But he really wasn't; he is deceiving you.
TYND. How do you know? Were you, perchance, the midwife of my mother,
since you dare to affirm this so boldly?
ARIST. When a boy, I saw yourself, a boy.
TYND. But, grown up, I _now_ see you grown up; so, there's for you, in
return. If you did right, you wouldn't be troubling yourself about my
concerns; do I trouble myself about yours?
HEG. Was his father _called_ Thesaurochrysonicocroesides?
ARIST. He was not; and I never heard that name before this day.
Theodoromedes was the father of Philocrates.
TYND. (_aside_). I'm downright undone. Why don't you be quiet, heart
of mine? Go and be stretched, and hang yourself; you are throbbing _so,
that_ unfortunate I can hardly stand up for _my_ fear.
HEG. Is a full assurance given me that this was a slave in Elis, and
that he is not Philocrates?
ARIST. So fully, that you will never find this to be otherwise; but
where is he [11] now?
HEG. Where I the least, and he the most could wish himself. In
consequence, then, I'm cut asunder, [12] disjointed, to my sorrow, by
the devices of this scoundrel, who has bamboozled me by his tricks just
as he has thought fit. But do, please, have a care _that you are right_.
ARIST. Why, I assure you of this, _as_ an ascertained and established
fact.
HEG. For certain? ARIST. Why, nothing, I say, will you find more certain
than this certainty. Philocrates, from when a boy, has ever since that
time been my friend.
HEG. But of what appearance is your friend Philocrates?
ARIST. I'll tell you: with a thin face, sharp nose, light hair, dark
eyes, somewhat ruddy, with hair rather crisp and curling.
HEG. _The description_ is like. TYND. (_aside_). _Aye_, so much so,
indeed, that I've this day, much to my sorrow, got into the midst of
this, i' faith. Woe to those unfortunate rods, which this day will be
meeting their end upon my back.
HEG. I see that I've been imposed upon.
TYND. (_aside_). Why, fetters, do you delay to run towards me and to
embrace my legs that I may have you in custody?
HEG. And have these _two_ rascally captives really deceived me this day
with their tricks? the other one pretended that he was the servant
and this one that he himself was the master. I've lost a kernal; for a
security, I've left the shell. To such a degree have they imposed upon
me, [13] both on this side and that, with their trickeries. Still, this
fellow shall never have the laugh against me. Colaphus, Cordalio, Corax
[14] (_to the_ SLAVES), go you away and bring out the thongs.
SLAVE. Are we to be sent to gather faggots [15]? (_The _SLAVES _go and
bring the thongs from the house_.)
[Footnote 1: _Which is spit out_)--Ver. 566. Some would render the
words "qui sputatur," "which is spit upon," and fancy that they find
authorities in the ancient writers for thinking that epilepsy was
treated by spitting upon the patient. However, it seems much more
probable, that the notion was that epilepsy was cured by the patient
himself spitting out the noxious saliva; and that the word "sputatur"
means, "is spit out," _i. e._ "is cured by spitting." Celsus thus
describes the "comitialis morbus," "epilepsy," or "falling sickness:
The person seized, suddenly falls down; foam drops from the mouth;
then, after a little time, he comes to himself, and gets up again
without any assistance." Pliny, in his Natural History, B. 38, c. 4,
says: "Despuimus comitiales morbos, hoc est, contagia regerimus," "We
spit out the epilepsy, that is, we avert the contagion." This is said,
probably, in reference to a belief, that on seeing an epileptic person,
if we spit, we shall avoid the contagion; but it by no means follows
that the person so doing must spit upon the epileptic person. We read
in the first Book of Samuel, ch. xxi., ver. 12: "And David laid up these
words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish, the King of Gath. And
he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their
hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall
down on his beard." He probably pretended to be attacked with epileptic
fits. In fact, after due examination, there seems little doubt that it
was a common notion with the ancients that the distemper was discharged
with the saliva.]
[Footnote 2: _To be spit upon_)--Ver. 569. Aristophontes has understood
the words, "qua spitatur," in the sense of "which is spit upon," and
asks Tyndarus if he affirms that he is afflicted with a disease which
requires such treatment. Hegio, to pacify him, and to show off his
medical knowledge, tells him that it has proved beneficial in some
diseases to be so treated; but he does not go so far as to say what
those diseases were. One malady, called "herpes," or "spreading
ulcer," was said to be highly contagions, but capable of being cured by
applications of saliva. Some Commentators here quote the method which
our Saviour adopted in curing the blind man at Bethsaida: "And he took
the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town: and when he
had spat on his eyes and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw
aught." St. Mark, ch. viii., ver. 23. And again, the account given in
the ninth chapter of St. John, ver. 6: "When he had thus spoken, he spat
on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes
of the blind man with the clay." It may be possible that our Saviour
thought fit to adopt these forms, in imitation of some of the methods
of treating diseases in those times; though, of course, his transcendent
power did not require their agency. Rost, in his Commentaries on
Plautus, has very learned disquisition on the meaning of the present
passage.]
[Footnote 3: _Alcmaeon, and Orestes, and Lycurgus_)--Ver. 568. He
alludes to these three persons as being three of the most celebrated men
of antiquity that were attacked with frenzy. Orestes slew his mother,
Clytemnestra; Alcmaeon killed his mother, Eriphyle; and Lycurgus, King
of Thrace, on slighting the worship of Bacchus, was afflicted with
madness, in a fit of which he hewed off his own legs with a hatchet.]
[Footnote 4: _When he's a slave_)--Ver. 580. Slaves were not considered
to have any legal existence; and, therefore, to have neither parents or
relations.]
[Footnote 5: _That I am Liber_)--Ver. 584. Aristophontes asks him if
he means to assert that he was born a free man, "liber." As "Liber" was
also a name of Bacchus, Tyndarus quibbles, and says, "I did not assert
that I am Liber, but that I am Philocrates." In consequence of the
idiom of the Latin language, his answer (non equidem me Liberam, sed
Philocratem esse aio) will admit of another quibble, and may be read as
meaning, "I did not say that I am a free man, but that Philocrates
is." This maybe readily seen by the Latin scholar, but is not so easily
explained to the English reader]
[Footnote 6: _Black bile_)--Ver. 602. A superabundance of the bile was
supposed to be productive of melancholy madness. The word "melancholy"
is from the Greek [Greek: melangcholia], "black bile."]
[Footnote 7: _Black pitch_)--Ver. 603. He alludes to a frightful
punishment inflicted upon malefactors by the Romans. They were either
smeared over with burning pitch, or were first covered with pitch, which
was then set fire to. This punishment is supposed to have been often
inflicted upon the early Christians. Juvena alludes to it in his First
Satire, I. 155:
Pone Tigellinum, taeda lucebis in illa,
Qua stantes ardent, qui fixo gutture fumant.
Describe Tigellinus [an infamous minister of Nero], and yon shall give
a light by those torches, in which those stand and burn who send forth
smoke with a stake driven into their throat."]
[Footnote 8: _Why are you making signs_)--Ver. 617. "Abnutas." The verb
"abnuto" means, "to nod to a person that he may desist." Tyndarus thinks
that by this time Aristophontes must surely understand the plan that has
been devised for the escape of Philocrates; and, as he is about to step
aside to speak with Hegio, he makes a sign, requesting him to stop short
in his contradiction of what he has asserted.]
[Footnote 9: _The dress only_)--Ver. 620. By "ornamenta" he means the
dress of Tragedy. The dresses of Comedy were essentially different from
those of Tragedy. He means to say, "the man is mad; if he had only the
Tragic garb on, you might take him for Ajax Telamon in his frenzy." On
being refused the arms of Achilles, Ajax became mad, and slaughtered a
flock of sheep fancying that they were Ulysses and the sons of Atreus.]
[Footnote 10: _The sacrifice and the stone_)--Ver. 624. We learn from
Livy, that in the most ancient times the animal for sacrifice was killed
by being struck with a stone; to stand between the victim and the stone,
would consequently imply, to be in a position of extreme danger.]
[Footnote 11: _But where is he_)--Ver. 645. Tyndarus has probably
betaken himself to some corner of the stage, and Aristophontes misses
him from his former position.]
[Footnote 12: _Cut asunder_)--Ver. 646. "Deruncinatus" means, literally,
cut asunder with a "runcina," or "saw."]
[Footnote 13: _Have they imposed upon me_)--Ver. 661. "Os sublevere
offuciis." Literally "painted my face with varnish." This expression is
probably derived from the practice of persons concealing their defects,
by painting over spots or freckles in the face for the purpose of hiding
them.]
[Footnote 14: _Colaphus, Cordalio, Corax_)--Ver. 662. These are the
names of slaves. "Colaphus" means, also, "a blow with the fist." "Corax"
was the Greek name for a "crow," and was probably given to a black
slave.]
[Footnote 15: _To gather faggots_)--Ver. 663. He asks this question
because cords, "lora," were necessary for the purpose of binding up
faggots.]