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they are rearing some monster,Rearing some monster: Aliquid monstri alunt. Madame Dacier and some other Commentators give these words the rather far-fetched meaning of They are hatching some plot. Donatus, with much more probability, supposes him to refer to the daughter of Chremes, whom, as the young women among the Greeks were brought up in great seclusion, we may suppose Pamphilus never to have seen. and as she can not be pushed off upon any one else, they have recourse to me.
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MYSIS
This language has terrified wretched me with apprehension.
PAMPHILUS
But what am I to say about my father? Alas! that he should so thoughtlessly conclude an affair of such importance! Passing me in the Forum just now, he said, Pamphilus, you must be married to-day:
get ready; be off home. He seemed to me to say this: Be off this instant, and go hang yourself. I was amazed; think you that I was able to utter a single word, or any excuse, even a frivolous, false, or lame one? I was speechless. But if any one were to ask me now what I would have done, if I had known this sooner, why, I would have done any thing rather than do this. But now, what course shall I first adopt?
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So many cares beset me, which rend my mind to pieces; love, sympathy for her, the worry of this marriage; then, respect for my father, who has ever, until now, with such an indulgent disposition, allowed me to do whatever was agreeable to my feelings. Ought I to oppose him? Ah me! I am in uncertainty what to do.
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MYSIS
I’m wretchedly afraid how this uncertainty is to terminate.
But now there’s an absolute necessity, either for him to speak to her, or for me to speak to him about her. While the mind is in suspense, it is swayed by a slight impulse one way or the other.
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PAMPHILUS
Who is it speaking here? (Seeing her.) Mysis? Good-morrow to you.
MYSIS
Oh! Good-morrow to you, Pamphilus.
MYSIS
Do you ask? She is oppressed with grief,She is oppressed with grief: Laborat a dolore. Colman has the following remark upon this passage: Though the word laborat has tempted Donatus and the rest of the Commentators to suppose that this sentence signifies Glycerium being in labor, I can not help concurring with Cooke, that it means simply that she is weighed down with grief. The words immediately subsequent corroborate this interpretation; and at the conclusion of the Scene, when Mysis tells him that she is going for a midwife, Pamphilus hurries her away, as he would naturally have done here had he understood by these words that her mistress was in labor. and on this account the poor thing is anxious, because some time ago the marriage was arranged for this day. Then, too, she fears this,
that you may forsake her.
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PAMPHILUS
Ha! could I attempt that? Could I suffer her, poor thing, to be deceived on my account? She, who has confided to me her affection, and her entire existence? She, whom I have held especially dear to my feelings as my wife? Shall I suffer her mind, well and chastely trained and tutored,
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to be overcome by poverty and corrupted? I will not do it.
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MYSIS
I should have no fear if it rested with yourself alone; but whether you may be able to withstand compulsion—
PAMPHILUS
Do you deem me so cowardly, so utterly ungrateful, inhuman, and so brutish, that neither intimacy, nor affection, nor shame,
can move or admonish me to keep faith?
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MYSIS
This one thing I know, that she is deserving that you should not forget her.
PAMPHILUS
Forget her? Oh Mysis, Mysis, at this moment are those words of Chrysis concerning Glycerium written on my mind. Now at the point of death, she called me;
I went to her; you had withdrawn; we were alone; she began: My dear Pamphilus, you see her beauty and her youth; and it is not unknown to you to what extent both of these are now of use to her, in protecting both her chastity and her interests. By this right hand I do entreat you, and by your good Genius,By your good Genius: Per Genium tuum. This was a common expression with the Romans, and is used by Horace, Epistles, B. i., Ep. 7:— Quod te per Genium dextramque Deosque Penates, Obsecro, et obtestor— The word Genius signified the tutelary God who was supposed to attend every person from the period of his birth. The signification of the word will be found further referred to in the Notes to the Translation of Plautus.
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