Perde 5
MESSENIO
Isn’t it yours as well?
MENAECHMUS SOSICLES
It is.
MESSENIO
Do you say that Moschus was your father?
MENAECHMUS of Epidamnus.
Truly, I do say so.
MENAECHMUS SOSICLES
And mine as well.
MESSENIO
Are you of Syracuse?
MENAECHMUS of Epidamnus.
Certainly.
MENAECHMUS SOSICLES
Why not the same?
MESSENIO
Hitherto the marks agree perfectly well. Still lend me your attention. (To MENAECHMUS.) Tell me, what do you remember at the greatest distance of time in your native country?
1110
MENAECHMUS of Epidamnus.
When I went with my father to Tarentum to traffic; and afterwards how I strayed away from my father among the people, and was carried away thence.
MENAECHMUS SOSICLES
Supreme Jupiter, preserve me!
MESSENIO
Why do you exclaim? Why don’t you hold your peace?
(To MENAECHMUS.) How many years old were you when your father took you from your native country?
1115
MENAECHMUS of Epidamnus.
Seven years old; for just then my teeth were changing for the first time. And never since then have I seen my father.
MESSENIO
Well, how many sons of you had your father then?
MENAECHMUS of Epidamnus.
As far as I now remember, two.
MESSENIO
Which of the two was the older—you or the other?
MENAECHMUS of Epidamnus.
Both were just alike in age.
