Perde 4
[Textpart 1]
Not at all; but there was here an elderly woman of Corinth, of no indifferent character; to her I gave it
SOSTRATA
to be exposed.
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CHREMES
O Jupiter! that there should be such extreme folly in a person’s mind.
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SOSTRATA
Alas! what have I done ?
CHREMES
And do you ask the question?
SOSTRATA
If I have acted wrong, my dear Chremes, I have done so in ignorance.
CHREMES
This, indeed, I know for certain, even if you were to deny it, that in every thing you both speak and act ignorantly and foolishly: how many blunders you disclose in this single affair! For, in the first place, then, if
you had been disposed to obey my orders, the child ought to have been dispatched; you ought not in words to have feigned her death, and in reality to have left hopes of her surviving. But that I pass over; compassion, maternal affection, I allow it. But how finely you did provide for the future! What was your meaning? Do reflect. It’s clear, beyond a doubt, that your daughter was betrayed by you to this old woman,
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either that through you she might make a living by her, or that she might be sold in open market as a slave. I suppose you reasoned thus: any thing is enough, if only her life is saved: what are you to do with those who understand neither law, nor right and justice? Be it for better or for worse, be it for them or against them, they see nothing except just what they please.
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SOSTRATA
My dear Chremes, I have done wrong, I own; I am convinced. Now this I beg of you;
inasmuch as you are more advanced in years than I, be so much the more ready to forgive; so that your justice may be some protection for my weakness.
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CHREMES
I’ll readily forgive you doing this, of course; but, Sostrata, my easy temper prompts you to do amiss. But, whatever this circumstance is, by reason of which this was begun upon, proceed to tell it.
SOSTRATA
As we women are all foolishly and wretchedly
superstitious, when I delivered the child to her to be exposed, I drew a ring from off my finger, and ordered her to expose it, together with the child; that if she should die, she might not be withoutThat she might not be without. 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. some portion of our possessions.
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CHREMES
That was right; thereby you proved the saving of yourself and her.Saving of yourself and her: 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.
SOSTRATA
This is that ring.
CHREMES
Whence did you get it?
SOSTRATA
From the young woman whom Bacchis brought here with her.
CHREMES
What does she say?
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