Chapter XVIII: 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.