Perde 1
[Textpart 2]
But your own self it has befallen, as fate would have it.
CHARINUS
Tell me this matter, whatever it is.
ACANTHIO
Quietly—I want to take a rest.
CHARINUS
But, i’ faith, do take the skirt of your coat Skirt of your coat: Laciniam. The laciniae were the angular extremities of the pallium, and the toga, one of which was brought round over the left shoulder. It was generally tucked into the girdle, but was sometimes allowed to hang loose. From the present passage, we may conclude that it was sometimes devoted to the purposes of a pocket-handkerchief., and wipe the sweat from off you.
ACANTHIO
For your sake, I’ve burst the veins of my lungs; I’m spitting blood already.
CHARINUS
Swallow Aegyptian resin with honey; you’ll make it all right.
ACANTHIO
Then, i’ faith, do you drink hot pitch Drink hot pitch: Commentators have been at a loss to know why Acanthio should be so annoyed at the recommendation of Charinus, and why he should answer him in these terms. The ingenious Rost seems in a great measure to have hit upon the true meaning of the passage. Charinus tells him that a mixture of resin and honey is good for the lungs. Now, from what Pliny says, B. 24, ch. 6, we should have reason to suppose that some kinds of resin were used in diseases of the lungs. But, on the other hand, Aristotle, in his History of Animals, B. 8, ch. 24, mentions a certain resin called sandonache, which was of a poisonous nature. Acanthio, then, may have been frightened from a previous knowledge of the doubtful nature of resins as a remedy; he may also have heard that the Egyptians preserved their mummies with honey and resin, and his stomach may have revolted at swallowing such a mixture; and, thinking that his master is trifling with him, he answers him in anger. The latter explanation will appear the more probable when we remember, that as honey and resin were used for the embalming of the higher classes, the bodies of the poorer persons in Egypt were preserved by being dipped in pitch; and though this did not suggest itself to Rost, it is not improbable that the servant intends by his answer to repay his master in the same coin. Perhaps he may have imagined that his master intended him to swallow the mixture in a hot, melted state, just as when it was injected into the mummies. Persons convicted of blasphemy were sometimes condemned to swallow melted pitch; then your troubles will vanish.
140
CHARINUS
I know no one a more tetchy fellow than yourself.
ACANTHIO
And I know no one more abusive than yourself
CHARINUS
But what if I’m persuading you to that which I take to be for your benefit?
ACANTHIO
Away with benefit of that sort, that’s accompanied with pain.
CHARINUS
Tell me, is there any good at all that any one can enjoy entirely without evil; or where you mustn’t endure labour when you wish to enjoy it?
145
ACANTHIO
I don’t understand these things; I never learnt to philosophize, and don’t know how. I don’t want any good to be given me, to which evil is an accompaniment.
CHARINUS
Come now, Acanthio, give me your right hand.
ACANTHIO
It shall be given; there then, take it.
CHARINUS
Do you intend yourself to be obedient to me, or don’t you intend it?
150
ACANTHIO
You may judge by experience, as I’ve ruptured myself with running for your sake, in order that what I knew, you might have the means of knowing directly.
150
CHARINUS
I’ll make you a free man within a few months.
ACANTHIO
You are smoothing me down.
CHARINUS
What, should I presume ever to make mention of an untrue thing to you? On the contrary, before I said so, you knew already whether I intend to utter an untruth.
