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Enter AESCHINUS and PARMENO with the MUSIC-GIRL, followed by SANNIO and a crowd of people.
SANNIO
I beseech you, fellow-citizens, do give aid to a miserable and innocent man; do assist the distressed. AESCHINUS
to the GIIL. 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. SANNIO
I'll have her, in spite of all. AESCHINUS
Though he is a villain, he'll not risk, to-day, getting a second beating. SANNIO
Hear me, Aeschinus, that you may not say that you were in ignorance of my calling; I am a Procurer.1 AESCHINUS
I know it. SANNIO
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. AESCHINUS
to PARMENO. Go first with all dispatch and open the door. PARMENO opens the door. SANNIO
But you will avail nothing by this. AESCHINUS
To the GIRL. Now then, step in. SANNIO
coming between. But I'll not let her. AESCHINUS
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. SANNIO
I'd have him then try that. AESCHINUS
to PARMENO. Now then, observe me. PARMENO
to SANNIO. Let go the woman. Strikes him. SANNIO
Oh! scandalous deed! AESCHINUS
He shall repeat it, if you don't take care. PARMENO strikes him again. SANNIO
Oh shocking! AESCHINUS
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. SANNIO
What is the meaning of this? Have you the sway here, Aeschinus? AESCHINUS
If I had it, you should be exalted for your deserts. SANNIO
What business have you with me? AESCHINUS
None. SANNIO
How then, do you know who I am? AESCHINUS
I don't want to. SANNIO
Have I touched any thing of yours? AESCHINUS
If you had touched it, you'd have got a drubbing. SANNIO
What greater right then have you to take my property, for which I paid my money? Answer me that. AESCHINUS
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. SANNIO
A free man, with whips? AESCHINUS
So it shall be. SANNIO
Oh, you shameless fellow! Is this the place where they say there is equal liberty for all? AESCHINUS
If you have now raved enough, Procurer, now then listen, if you please. SANNIO
Why, is it I that have been raving, or you against me? AESCHINUS
Leave alone all that, and come to the point. SANNIO
What point? Where am I to come to? AESCHINUS
Are you willing now that I should say something that concerns you? SANNIO
With all my heart, only so it be something that's fair. AESCHINUS
Very fine! a Procurer wishing me not to say what's unfair. SANNIO
I am a Procurer,2 I confess it-the common bane of youth--a perjurer, a public nuisance; still, no injury has befallen you from me. AESCHINUS
Why, faith, that remains to come---- SANNIO
Pray, Aeschinus, do come back to the point at which you set out. AESCHINUS
You bought her for twenty nine; and may your bargain never thrive! That sum shall be given for her. SANNIO
What if I don't choose to sell her to you? Will you compel me? AESCHINUS
By no means. SANNIO
I was afraid you would. AESCHINUS
Neither do I think that a woman can be sold who is free; for I claim her by action of freedom.3 Now consider which you choose; take the money, or prepare yourself for the action. Think of it, Procurer, till I return.4 He goes into the house of MICIO. SANNIO
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.5 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.
Enter SYRUS, from the house of MICIO.
SYRUS
speaking to AECHINUS 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? SANNIO
I never saw a dispute on more unequal terms6 than the one that has happened to-day between us; I, with being thumped, he, with beating me, were both of us quite tired. SYRUS
Your own fault. SANNIO
What could I do? SYRUS
You ought to have yielded to the young man. SANNIO
How could I more so, when to-day I have even afforded my face to his blows? SYRUS
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 little7 of your right, and had humored the young man, that he would not repay you with interest? SANNIO
I do not pay ready money for hope. SYRUS
Then you'll never make a fortune. Get out with you, Sannio; you don't know how to take in mankind. SANNIO
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. SYRUS
Come, come, I know your spirit; as if twenty minae were any thing at all to you in comparison to obliging him; besides, they say that you are setting out for Cyprus---- SANNIO
(aside.) Hah! SYRUS
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. SANNIO
Not a foot do stir: Heavens! I'm undone! Aside. It was upon this hope they devised their project. SYRUS
aside. He is alarmed. I've brought the fellow into a fix. SANNIO
aside. Oh, what villainy!--Just look at that; how he has nicked me in the very joint. 8 Several women have been purchased, and other things as well, for me to take to Cyprus. 9 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. SYRUS
Have you by this reckoned 10 up what you calculate will be your profits? SANNIO
Is this honorable of him? Ought Aeschinus to attempt this? Ought he to endeavor to take her away from me by downright violence? SYRUS
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 minae11 from some quarter or other. SANNIO
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. SYRUS
Just as you please. Have you any thing more to say before I go? SANNIO
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. SYRUS
I'll do the best I can. But I see Ctesipho; he's in high spirits about his mistress. SANNIO
What about what I was asking you? SYRUS
Stay a little.
Enter CTESIPHO, at the other side of the stage.
CTESIPHO
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. SYRUS
O Ctesipho! CTESIPHO
O Syrus, where is Aeschinus? SYRUS
Why, look--he's at home, waiting for you. CTESIPHO
speaking joyously. Ha! SYRUS
What's the matter? CTESIPHO
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? SYRUS
Stay, stay; 'tis Aeschinus himself coming out.
Enter AESCHINUS, from the house of MICIO.
AESCHINUS
Where is that villain? SANNIO
aside. He's looking for me.12 Is he bringing any thing with him? Confusion! I don't see any thing. AESCHINUS
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. CTESIPHO
By my troth, I certainly will away with it, when I have such a brother as you. O my dear Aeschinus! 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. AESCHINUS
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. CTESIPHO
I felt ashamed. AESCHINUS
Pooh! that is folly, not shame; about such a trifling matter to be almost flying the country! 13 'Tis shocking to be mentioned; I pray the Gods may forbid it! CTESIPHO
I did wrong. AESCHINUS
in a lower voice. What says Sannio to us at last? SYRUS
He is pacified at last. AESCHINUS
I'll go to the Forum to pay him off; you, Ctesipho, step in-doors to her. SANNIO
aside to SYRUS. Syrus, do urge the matter. SYRUS
to AESCHINUS. Let us be off, for he is in haste foe' Cyprus. 14 SANNIO
Not particularly so; although still, I'm stopping here doing nothing at all. SYRUS
It shall be paid, don't fear. SANNIO
But he is to pay it all. SYRUS
He shall pay it all; only hold your tongue and follow us this way. SANNIO
I'll follow. CTESIPHO
as SYRUS is going. Harkye, harkye, Syrus. SYRUS
turning back. Well now, what is it? CTESIPHO
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. SYRUS
That shall not happen, be of good heart; meanwhile enjoy yourself in-doors with her, and order the couches 15 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. CTESIPHO
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 AESCHINUS and SYRUS, followed by SANNIO.
1 "I am a Procurer: He says this aloud, and with emphasis, relying upon the laws which were enacted at Athens in favor of the "lenones," whose occupation brought great profits to the state, from their extensive trading in slaves. It was forbidden to maltreat them, under pain of being disinherited.
2 I am a Procurer: Westerhovins supposes this part to be a translation from the works of Diphilus.
3 By action of freedom: "Asserere liberati causa," was to assert the freedom of a person, with a determination to maintain it at law. The "assertor" laid hands upon the person, declaring that he or she was free; and till the cause was tried, the person whose freedom was claimed, remained in the hands of the "assertor."
4 Till I return: Colman has a curious remark here: "I do not remember, in the whole circle of modern comedy, a more natural picture of the elegant ease and indifference of a fine gentleman, than that exhibited in this Scene in the character of Aeschinus."
5 That I have sold her: He means, that if he only names a price, Aeschinus will suborn witnesses to say that be has agreed to sell her, in which case Aeschinus will carry her off with impunity, and the laws will not allow him to recover her; as it will then be an ordinary debt, and he will be put off with all the common excuses used by debtors.
6 On more unequal terms: "Certationem comparatam." This was a term taken from the combats of gladiators, where it was usual to choose as combatants such as seemed most nearly a match for each other.
7 If you had parted with ever so little: This passage is probably alluded to by Cicero, in his work, De Officiis, B. ii. c. 18: "For it is not only liberal sometimes to give up a little of one's rights, but it is also profitable."
8 In the very joint: "Ut in ipso articulo oppressit." Colman translates this, "Nick'd me to a hair."
9 To take to Cyprus: He alludes to a famous slave-market held in the Isle of Cyprus, whither merchants carried slaves for sale, after buying them up in all parts of Greece.
10 3 Have you by this reckoned: "Iamne enumerasti id quod ad te rediturum putes?" Colman renders this, "Well, have you calculated what's your due?" referring to the value of the Music-girl that has been taken away from him; and thinks that the following conversation between Sannio and Syrus supports that construction. Madame lacier puts another sense on the words, and understands them as alluding to Sannio's calculation of his expected profits at Cyprus.
11 Scrape together ten minae: Donatus remarks, that Syrus knows very well that Aeschinus is ready to pay the whole, but offers Sannio half, that he may be glad to take the bare principal, and think himself well off into the bargain.
12 He's looking for me: Donatus remarks upon the readiness with which Sannio takes the appellation of "sacrilegus," as adapted to no other person than himself.
13 Flying the country: Donatus tells us, that in Menander the young man was on the point of killing himself. Terence has here softened it into leaving the country. Colman remarks: "We know that the circumstance of carrying off the Music-girl was borrowed from Diphilus; yet it is plain from Donatus that there was also an intrigue by Ctesipho in the Play of Menander; which gives another proof of the manner in which Terence used the Greek Comedies."
14 He is in haste for Cyprus: Donatus remarks that this is a piece of malice on the part of Syrus, for the purpose of teasing Sannio.
15 Order the couches: Those used for the purpose of reclining on at the entertainment.
The Comedies of Terence. Henry Thomas Riley. Ney York. Harper and Brothers. 1874.
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