Prithee, hear me, Dorio.
I'll not hear you.
Only a moment.
Let me alone.
Do hear what I have to say.
Why really I am tired of hearing the same thing a thousand times over.
But now, I have something to tell you that you'll hear with pleasure.
Speak then; I'm listening.
Can I not prevail on you to wait for only three days? Whither are you going now?
I was wondering if you had any thing new to offer.
You don't believe me?
You guess right.
But if I pledge my word.
Nonsense!
You will have reason to say that this kindness was well laid out by you on interest.
Stuff!
Believe me, you will be glad you did so; upon my faith, it is the truth.
Mere dreams!
Do but try; the time is not long.
The same story over again.
You will be my kinsman, my father, my friend; you—
Now, do prate on.
For you to be of a disposition so harsh and inexorable, that neither by pity nor by entreaties can you be softened!
For you to be of a disposition so unreasonable and so unconscionable, Phadria, that you can be talking me over with fine words,
O most fortunate Antipho!
What, I?
To have in your possession the object of your love, and have no occasion to encounter such a nuisance as this.
What I, in my possession? Why yes, as the saying is, I've got a wolf by the ears;A wolf by the ears
: A proverbial expression which, according to Suetonius, was frequently in the mouth of Tiberius Caesar.
That's just my case with regard to him
What, he? Acting the part of a most inhuman fellow; been and sold my Pamphila.
What! Sold her?
Sold her, say you?
Sold her.
I can not prevail upon him to wait for me the next three days, and so far break off the bargain with the person, while I get the money from my friends, which has been promised me; if I don't give it him then, let him not wait a single hour longer.
Very good.
It's not a long time that he asks, Dorio; do let him prevail upon you; he'll pay you two-fold for having acted to him thus obligingly.
Mere words!
Will you allow Pamphila to be carried away from this place? And then, besides, can you possibly allow their love to be severed asunder?
Neither I nor you cause that.
May all the Gods grant you what you are deserving of!
I have borne with you for several months quite against my inclination; promising and whimpering, and yet bringing nothing; now, on the other hand, I have found one to pay, and not be sniveling; give place to your betters.
I' faith, there surely was a day named, if I remember right, for you to pay him.
It is the fact.
Do I deny it?
Is that day past, then?
No; but this one has come before it.
Are you not ashamed of your perfidy?
Not at all, so long as it is for my interest.
Dunghill!
Dorio, is it right, pray, for you to act thus?
It is my way; if I suit you, make use of me.
Do you try to trifle with him
Why really, on the contrary, Antipho, it's he trifling with me, for he knew me to be a person of this sort; I supposed him to be quite a different man; he has deceived me; I'm not a bit different to him from what I was before. But however that may be, I'll yet do this; the captain has said, that to-morrow morning he will pay me the money; if you bring it me before that, Phaedria, I'll follow my rule, that he is the first served who is the first to pay. Farewell!
What am I to do? Wretch that I am! where am I now in this emergency to raise the money for him, I, who am worse than nothing? If it had been possible for these three days to be obtained of him, it was promised me by then.
Geta, shall we suffer him to continue thus wretched, when he so lately assisted me in the kind way you were mentioning? On the contrary, why not, as there's need of it try to do him a kindness in return?
For my part, I'm sure it is but fair.
Come then, you are the only man able to serve him.
What can I do?
Procure the money.
I wish I could; but where it is to come from—tell me that.
My father has come home.
I know; but what of that?
Oh, a word to the wiseA word to the wise
: "Dictum sapienti sat est." The same proverb is found in the Persa of Plautus, 1. 736.
Is that it, then?
Just so.
Upon my faith, you really do give me fine advice; out upon you! Ought I not to be heartily glad, if I meet with no mishap through your marriage, but what, in addition to that, you must now bid me, for his sake, to be seeking risk upon risk?
'Tis true what he says.
What! am I a stranger to you, Geta?
I don't consider you so. But is it so trifling a matter that the old gentleman is now vexed with us all, that we must provoke him still more, and leave no room for entreaty?
Is another man to take her away from before my eyes to some unknown spot? Alas! speak to me then, Antipho, and look upon me while you have the opportunity, and while I'm present.
Why so, or what are you going to do? Pray, tell me.
To whatever part of the world she is borne away, I'm determined to follow her or to perish.
May the Gods prosper your design! Cautiously's the word, however.
Any at all—how?
Pray, do try, that he mayn't be doing something that we may afterward be more or less sorry for, Geta.
I'm considering,
Don't be afraid: together with you, we'll share good and bad.
Only thirty mince.
Thirty? Heyday! she's monstrous dear, Phaedria.
Indeed, she's very cheap.
Well, well, I'll get them for you.
Oh the dear man!
Take yourselves off.
There's need for them directly.
You shall have them directly; but I must have Phormio for my assistant in this business.
He's quite ready; right boldly lay on him any load you like, he'll bear it: he, in especial, is a friend to his friend.
Let's go to him at once then.
Will you have any occasion for my assistance?
None; but be off home, and comfort that poor thing, who I am sure is now in-doors almost dead with fear. Do you linger?
There's nothing I could do with so much pleasure.
What way will you manage this?
I'll tell you on the road; first thing, betake yourself off.
Well, have you brought your daughter with you, Chremes, for whom you went to
No.
Why not?
When her mother found that I staid here longer than usual, and at the same time the age of the girl did not suit with my delays, they told me that she, with all her family, set out in search of me.
Pray, then, why did you stay there so long, when you had heard of this?
Why, faith, a malady detained me.
From what cause? Or what was it?
Do you ask me? Old age itself is a malady. However, I heard that they had arrived safe, from the caps tain who brought them.
Have you heard, Chremes, what has happened to my son in my absence?
'Tis that, in fact, that has embarrassed me in my plans. For if I offer my daughter in marriage to any person that's a stranger, it must all be told how and by whom I had her. You I knew to be fully as faithful to me as I am to myself; if a stranger shall think fit to be connected with me by marriage, he will hold his tongue, just as long as good terms exist between us: but if he takes a dislike to me, he'll be knowing more than it's proper he should know. I am afraid, too, lest my wife should, by some means, come to know of it; if that is the case, it only remains for me to shake myselfTo shake myself
: "Me excutiam." In reference to the custom of the Greeks, and the Eastern nations, of shaking their clothes at the door of any house which they were going to leave.Rely on at home
: "Nam ego meorum solus sum meus." He means that he is the only person in his house friendly to himself, inasmuch as his wife, from her wealth, has supreme power over the domestics, in whom he himself can place no trust.
I know it is so, and that circumstance is a cause of anxiety to me; and I shall never cease trying, until I've made good what I promised you.