Perde 4
[Textpart 1]
Well, have you brought your daughter with you, Chremes, for whom you went to Lemnos?
CHREMES
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.
570
DEMIPHO
Pray, then, why did you stay there so long, when you had heard of this?
CHREMES
Why, faith, a malady detained me.
DEMIPHO
From what cause? Or what was it?
Old age itself is a malady. However, I heard that they had arrived safe, from the caps tain who brought them.
575
DEMIPHO
Have you heard, Chremes, what has happened to my son in my absence?
CHREMES
’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.
580
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. and leave the house; for I’m the only one I can rely on at home.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.
585
DEMIPHO
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.
590
[Textpart 2]
I never saw a more cunning fellow than this Phormio. I came to the fellow to tell him that money was needed, and by what means it might be procured. Hardly had I said one half, when he understood me;
GETA
he was quite delighted; complimented me; asked where the old man was; gave thanks to the Gods that an opportunity was afforded him for showing himself no less a friend to Phaedria than to Antipho: I bade the fellow wait for me at the Forum; whither I would bring the old gentleman.
595
But see, here’s the very man (catching sight of the Old Man). Who is the further one? Heyday, Phaedria’s father has got back! still, brute beast that I am, what was I afraid of? Is it because two are presented instead of one for me to dupe? I deem it preferable to enjoy a two-fold hope. I’ll try for it from him from whom I first intended: if he gives it me, well and good; if I can make nothing of him, then I’ll attack this new-comer.
600
[Textpart 3]
I’m expecting every moment that Geta will be here. But I see my uncle standing close by, with my father. Ah me! how much I fear what influence his return may have upon my father!
