Chapter 18

“Meleagre,matrisImpiusmactas;morerisque dextraMatris irataemeruere cunctiMorte quod.”Accingere,anime; bella non leviaapparas.Servatesontemsaxeo inclusumspecu.Pastor triformis littoris Tartessii.Peremptus, acta estpræda ab occasu ultimoNotum Cythæronpavit Oceanopecus.Penetrare jussus solis æstiviplagas.Conquesta domum: licet ipse velitClarus niveos inter olores,Istrumcygnus Tanaimquecolens,Extrema loqui; licet AlcyonesCeyca suum fluxu leviter.Plangente sonent,cum tranquilloMaleconfisaecredunt interum.Obliquatque;oculos,oraque.Tandemqueveniasvictor advictam domum.

“Meleagre,matris

Impiusmactas;morerisque dextra

Matris irataemeruere cuncti

Morte quod.”

Accingere,anime; bella non leviaapparas.

Servatesontemsaxeo inclusumspecu.

Pastor triformis littoris Tartessii.Peremptus, acta estpræda ab occasu ultimoNotum Cythæronpavit Oceanopecus.Penetrare jussus solis æstiviplagas.

Pastor triformis littoris Tartessii.

Peremptus, acta estpræda ab occasu ultimo

Notum Cythæronpavit Oceanopecus.

Penetrare jussus solis æstiviplagas.

Conquesta domum: licet ipse velitClarus niveos inter olores,Istrumcygnus Tanaimquecolens,Extrema loqui; licet AlcyonesCeyca suum fluxu leviter.Plangente sonent,cum tranquilloMaleconfisaecredunt interum.Obliquatque;oculos,oraque.Tandemqueveniasvictor advictam domum.

Conquesta domum: licet ipse velit

Clarus niveos inter olores,

Istrumcygnus Tanaimquecolens,

Extrema loqui; licet Alcyones

Ceyca suum fluxu leviter.

Plangente sonent,cum tranquillo

Maleconfisaecredunt interum.

Obliquatque;oculos,oraque.

Tandemqueveniasvictor advictam domum.

III.FromCicero.

Descripto dictasententia est, quam Senatus frequenssecutus estsummostudio magnoque consensu.

IV.FromPliny.

Cum sciam, Domine, ad testimonium laudemque morum meorum,pertinere tam boniprincipis judicio exornari, rogo, dignitati, ad quam meprovexit indulgentia tua, vel auguratum, vel septemviratum, quia vacant, adjicere digneris: ut jure sacerdotiiprecari deospro tepublicèpossim, quos nuncprecorpietateprivatâ.

V.FromHorace.

Acriter elatrem, pretiumætasalterasordet.Ambigitur.

Acriter elatrem, pretiumætasalterasordet.

Ambigitur.

VI.FromOvid.

Se cupit imprudens. Et quiprobat ipseprobatur.Dumquepetit,petitur;pariterque.

Se cupit imprudens. Et quiprobat ipseprobatur.

Dumquepetit,petitur;pariterque.

VII.FromPlutarch.Κόσμος ἐστιν ὡς ἔλεγε Κράτης, τὸ Κοσμοῦν. Κοσμεῖ δὲ τὸ Κοσμιώτερον.

VIII.FromTyrtæus.Ἡ δ’ Ἀρετὴ τόδ’ Ἄεθλον ἐν Ἀνθρώποισιν Ἄριστον.

IX.FromÆschines.Οἱ Ἐξ Ἐκείνου Ἔχοντες Ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ.ΤαῦΤα μὲν οὖν μοι δοκῶ καὶ Τἄλλα Τὰ ΤούΤοις.Ἔοικε, Φειδίας Ἐνεργολαβεῖν Εἰργάσατο καὶ Ἐνεπιορκεῖν.

X.FromAnacreon.

Τί Μοι, τί Μοι γόων,Τί Μοι Μέλει Μεριμνῶν.Μέσον, ναῒΦορήΜεθα σὺν Μελαίνᾳ,ΧειΜῶνι Μοχθεῦντες Μεγάλῳ.

Τί Μοι, τί Μοι γόων,Τί Μοι Μέλει Μεριμνῶν.

Τί Μοι, τί Μοι γόων,

Τί Μοι Μέλει Μεριμνῶν.

Μέσον, ναῒΦορήΜεθα σὺν Μελαίνᾳ,ΧειΜῶνι Μοχθεῦντες Μεγάλῳ.

Μέσον, ναῒ

ΦορήΜεθα σὺν Μελαίνᾳ,

ΧειΜῶνι Μοχθεῦντες Μεγάλῳ.

NOTE 98.However, I’ll bring her.

Mr. Cooke makes this speech come from Archillis, and writes it thus:Tamen eam adduce,I say, fetch her. This reading is taken from Guyetus: but Dr. Bentley objects to Archillis within calling to Mysis without. But as Mysis uses the expressionimportunitatemSPECTATEaniculæ,seethe old woman’s importunity, and notauditeimportunitatem,hear, &c.: we must suppose Archillis to show her impatience by gestures, as she stood at the door of Glycera’s house.

NOTE 99.Mark, how importunate this old baggage is.

Importunitatem spectateaniculæ.Aniculais a word of singular derivation, and signifies literally a sorceress; being compounded of two Latin words, one signifyingan old woman, and the otherto howl: because sorceresses alwayshowledwhen they made their incantations. We must not suppose that Mysis here meant to call Archillis a sorceress, but merely used the word above mentioned as a term of reproach. According to Antonius Magnus, theaniculæwere not a little mischievous, as he proposes to shew by the following quotation:“Retulit Leonardus Varius, lib.I.de Fascino, multas hac nostra tempestate existereaniculas, quarum impuritate non paucos effascinari pueros, illosque non modo in gravissimum incidere discrimen, verum atque acerbam sæpissime subire mortem. Pecudes insuper partu, et lacte privari, equos macrescere, et emori, segetes absque fructu colligi, arbores arescere, ac denique omnia pessum iri quandoque videri.”—Antonius Magnus.Perscrutator rerum abditarum naturæ.Norimberga, 1681,p.39.

NOTE 100.Well, may Diana grant my poor mistress, &c.

The common reading of this passage is,Didate facultatem,May theGodsgrant, &c., but I should rather imagine that Terence wrote,Dianada facultatem,MayDianagrant, &c., because, on these occasions, the Greeks never invoked the assistance of all the gods, but usually requested the help of Diana, as Glycera does afterwards, when she calls upon her by the name of Juno Lucina, (videNote 143). Diana was supposed to preside over women in childbirth, and was calledΕἰλείθυια.

NOTE 101.A.I.S.V.Pamphilus, Mysis.

This scene contains the third and last part of the narration, which is entirely pathetic, and its length is very artificially and successfully relieved by the figure called by the Greeksπροσωποποια, which is introduced with so many moving and pathetic graces, as afford ample proof that Terence was as great a master of the passions, as even Trabea, Attilius, and Cæcilius themselves, who were so highly extolled by the ancients for their excellence in compositions of that nature. Terence has admirably relieved the necessary length of his narration in this play, by his judicious method of dividing it: the first part is serious, (videNote 65,) and raises our curiosity: the second part is comic, (videNote 89,) and excites our laughter; the third part is pathetic, and moves our pity. The lines in which Pamphilus describes the death of Chrysis are so extremely moving, that some of the most eminent critics have considered them at least equal, if not superior, to all attempts in the pathetic both ancient and modern. The finest passage in M. Baron’s Andrienne is, (in my opinion,) his imitation of the before-mentioned speech of Pamphilus: and the inimitable beauty which so much strikes us in theFrench copyought to impress us with a just idea of the splendid merit of theLatin original.

The whole speech is too long to be inserted here, the following are extracts:

“Si je m’en souviendrai! Qui? moi? Toute ma vie.Ce que me dit Chrysis parlant de Glicérie,Elle me dit, (Misis j’en verse encore des pleurs.)Elle est jeune, elle est belle, elle est sage, et je meurs.Je vous conjure donc par sa main que je tiens;Par la foi, par l’honneur, par mes pleurs, par les siens;Par ce dernier moment qui va finir, ma vie,De ne vous séparer jamais de Glicérie.Elle prit nos deux mains, et les mit dans la sienne:Que dans cette union l’amour vous entretienne;C’est tout.—Elle expira dans le même moment.Je l’ai promis, Misis, je tiendrai mon serment.”Andrienne,A. I. S. VII.

“Si je m’en souviendrai! Qui? moi? Toute ma vie.

Ce que me dit Chrysis parlant de Glicérie,

Elle me dit, (Misis j’en verse encore des pleurs.)

Elle est jeune, elle est belle, elle est sage, et je meurs.

Je vous conjure donc par sa main que je tiens;

Par la foi, par l’honneur, par mes pleurs, par les siens;

Par ce dernier moment qui va finir, ma vie,

De ne vous séparer jamais de Glicérie.

Elle prit nos deux mains, et les mit dans la sienne:

Que dans cette union l’amour vous entretienne;

C’est tout.—Elle expira dans le même moment.

Je l’ai promis, Misis, je tiendrai mon serment.”

Andrienne,A. I. S. VII.

NOTE 102.And why has Chremes changed his mind.“Id mutavit, quoniam meIMMUTATUMvidet.”

The verbimmutarein other Latin authors, and even in other parts of Terence himself, signifiesto change; as in the Phormio, Antipho says,Non possumimmutarier. I cannotbe changed. But here, the sense absolutely requires thatimmutatumshould be renderednot changed. Madame Dacier endeavours to reconcile this, according to a conjecture of her father’s, by shewing thatimmutatumstands forimmutabilis, asimmotusforimmobilis,invictusforinvincibilis, &c. But these examples do not remove the difficulty; since those participles always bear a negative sense, whichimmutatusdoes not: and thence arises all the difficulty. Terence certainly uses the verbimmutareboth negatively and positively, as is plain from this passage, and the above passage in the Phormio: and I dare say, with strict propriety. In our own language, we have instances of the same word bearing two senses, directly opposite to each other. The wordlet, for instance, is used in the contradictory meanings ofpermissionandprohibition. The modern acceptation of the word is indeed almost entirely confined to the first sense; though we say, even at this day,without let or molestation. Shakspeare, in Hamlet, says,

‘I’ll make a ghost of him thatletsme;’

“That is,stops,prevents,hindersme, which is directly opposite to the modern use of the word.”—Colman.

“Immutarealways signifies tochange,immutatustherefore cannot meanunchanged: we see, moreover, that Pamphilus has been all along in love with Glycera, and that he never for a moment entertained the slightest idea of forsaking her. This passage was very difficult; but my father has made it easy, by shewing thatimmutatusis put forimmutabilis, and that composed adjectives, which are derived from passive participles, do not always express what isdone, but sometimes whatmay be done; that is to say, they become potentials. For example,immotusforimmobilis,infectusforwhat cannot be done,invictusforinvincibilis,invisusforinvisibilis,indomitusforindomabilis, thusimmutatusis forimmutabilis.”—Madame Dacier.

The reader will judge whether the arguments used by these two learned and ingenious critics, will justify them in translatingimmutatusin a sense directlyoppositeto its usual meaning, in the writings of Cicero, and the most learned of the Roman authors. With all the respect which is unquestionably due to the pre-eminent talents of Madame Dacier and Mr. Colman, I am inclined to believe that the sense of this passage is made more clear by the reading I have adopted. If we allow their arguments to be of force, we must translate the sentence thus,is Chremes changed because he sees that I am unchanged. But if we allowimmutatusto retain its usual signification, the sentence must be read thus,is he changed because he sees that I am changed: i. e.,because I, who had so high a character for prudence, am changed, and by my connexion with Glycera have proved that I am imprudent. It is, in short, as if he said, Chremes has changed his mind once on account of my connexion with Glycera, and now, I suppose, he changes it again for the same wise reason. This would not, (in my opinion,) be an unnatural expression for an impatient man: and the sequel of the same speech seems to favour this interpretation.

NOTE 103.

I shrewdly suspect that this daughter of Chremes is either hideously ugly, or that something is amiss in her.

In the Latinaliquid monstri alunt,they breed up some monster.

This expression took its rise from the custom of exposing and destroying monstrous and deformed children, (seeNote 93) which was required by law: therefore, those parents who resolved, notwithstanding, to educate a child of that kind, were compelled to do so with the utmost secrecy: hence, the phrase “alere monstrum,”to breed up a monster, was used in Rome, to express any thing done in great secrecy. Terence has, by no means, violated probability, in representing Pamphilus as unacquainted with the person of Philumena:though she had been contracted to him; as Grecian women very seldom appeared abroad, and never, unveiled: and it not unfrequently occurred, that the bridegroom was introduced to the bride for thefirst timeon the day of marriage.

NOTE 104.She is in labour.

In the Latin,Laborat e dolore. Cooke thinks that these words mean merelyshe is weighed down by grief: and argues, that if Pamphilus had understood her words in any other sense, he would have urged her to more haste; as he does, when she tells him that she is going for a midwife. Butlaborosometimes means to strive or struggle, as inOvid,

“Et simul arma tuli, quæ nunc quoque ferrelaboro.”Metam.,B. XIII. L. 285.’Twas then I bareAchilles’ arms, which nowI striveto wear.

“Et simul arma tuli, quæ nunc quoque ferrelaboro.”Metam.,B. XIII. L. 285.

“Et simul arma tuli, quæ nunc quoque ferrelaboro.”

Metam.,B. XIII. L. 285.

’Twas then I bareAchilles’ arms, which nowI striveto wear.

’Twas then I bare

Achilles’ arms, which nowI striveto wear.

Also, inHorace,

———————“laboratLympha fugax trepidare.”Od.,B. II. O. 3. L. 11.The rushing waterstrivesTo force a swifter passage.

———————“laboratLympha fugax trepidare.”Od.,B. II. O. 3. L. 11.

———————“laborat

Lympha fugax trepidare.”

Od.,B. II. O. 3. L. 11.

The rushing waterstrivesTo force a swifter passage.

The rushing waterstrives

To force a swifter passage.

And that, doubtless, is its meaning, when joined todolore. What Mysis says, moreover, to Lesbia the midwife, in the first scene of the third act, is sufficient to justify this interpretation.

NOTE 105.

Can I suffer, that she, who has been brought up in the paths of modesty and virtue, should be exposed to want, and, perhaps, even to dishonour?

By the expressionsinam coactum egestate ingenium immutarier?shall I suffer her innocence to be endangered by want?I am inclined to believe that Terence meant, the want of friends and protection, and not poverty, because we are told afterwards, (ActIV.) that Glycera was possessed of the property of Chrysis, which we are to imagine, from what Crito says concerning it, to have been something considerable. I believeegestateis often put for want of any kind. It may appear somewhat enigmatical, that Terence should speak of the liberal and virtuous education of Glycera, by such a person as Chrysis was said to have been; but it is a circumstance in no wise repugnant to the manners of the Greeks; as we see in the Eunuch in the instance ofThaisandPamphila.

NOTE 106.

I call upon you, then, by the pledge of this hand you now extend to me, and by the natural goodness of your disposition.

Quod ego te per hanc dextram oro, etingeniumtuum.Some readgenium,by your genius, orby your good angel, and quote the following passage from Horace in support of this reading:

“Quod te pergeniumdextramque, deosque penatesObsecro et obtestor.”Epistles,B. I. E. 7. L.94.

“Quod te pergeniumdextramque, deosque penates

Obsecro et obtestor.”

Epistles,B. I. E. 7. L.94.

The difference, however, between thegeniusand theingenium, is not very material; as theingeniumor disposition, was supposed by the ancients to be prompted by thegenius, or tutelar spirit, who presided over and directed all the actions of mankind. Each person was thought to have a good and also an evil spirit, who never quitted its charge till death: the spirits attendant on the men were called by the Romansgenii, and those belonging to the women were namedjunones. The Greeks considered these aërial beings as of a nature between that of gods and men: and that they communicated to the latter the will of the former by oracles, dreams,&c.Apuleius takes the genius to be the same as the lar and larva: but it is most probable, that the larvæ, lemures, and dæmones, were all used as names for what were termed theevil genii.

NOTE 107.Be to her a friend, a guardian, a parent.

Amicum, tutorempatrem. The wordtutoremin this line, alludes to the Roman custom of appointingguardians, which was usually performed with great ceremony: frequently on a dead-bed. The person who intended to constitute atutoror guardian, made use of a set form of words, which were spoken before witnesses, when the ward was delivered to the guardian, with these words, “Hunc (vel hanc) tibi commendo, Tutor esto.”I commend him (or her) to your protection, be to him a guardian.Thus Ovid,

“Hæc progeniesque mea estHanc tibi commendo.”Trist., B.III.El. 14. L. 14.To your protection I commit my offspring.

“Hæc progeniesque mea estHanc tibi commendo.”Trist., B.III.El. 14. L. 14.

“Hæc progeniesque mea est

Hanc tibi commendo.”

Trist., B.III.El. 14. L. 14.

To your protection I commit my offspring.

Some words were also addressed to the ward, as “Hunc tibi tutorem do,”I appoint this person your guardian.

Donatus observes, that the line

——“Te isti virum do, amicum, tutorem, patrem,”

ought to be read with a long pause between each word, as Terence intended to describe the broken, interrupted voice of a person at the point of death.

NOTE 108.Charinus, Byrrhia.

“These two characters were not in the works of Menander, but were added to the fable by Terence, lest Philumena’s being left without a husband, on the marriage of Pamphilus to Glycerium should appear tootragicala circumstance.—Donatus.

Madame Dacier, after transcribing this remark adds, that it appears to her to be an observation of great importance to the theatre, and well worthy our attention.

Important as this dramatic arcanum may be, it were to be wished, that Terence had never found it out, or, at least, that he had not availed himself of it in the construction of the Andrian. It is plain that the duplicity of the intrigue did not proceed from the imitation of Menander, since these characters, on which the double plot is founded, were not drawn from the Greek poet. Charinus and Byrrhia are indeed but poor counterparts, or faint shadows of Pamphilus and Davus; and, instead of adding life and vigour to the fable, rather damp its spirit, and stop the activity of its progress. As to the tragical circumstance of Philumena’s having no husband, it seems something like the distress of Prince Prettyman[A], who thinks it a matter of indifference, whether he shall appear to be the son of a king or a fisherman, and is only uneasy lest he should be the son of nobody at all. I am much more inclined to the opinion of an ingenious French critic, whom I have already cited more than once, than to that of Donatus or Madame Dacier. His comment in this underplot is asfollows:—

“It is almost impossible to conduct two intrigues at a time without weakening the interest of both. With what address has Terence interwoven the amours of Pamphilus and Charinus in the Andrian! But has he done it without inconvenience? At the beginning of the second act, do we not seem to be entering upon a new piece? and does the fifth conclude in a very interesting manner?”—Diderot.

It is but justice to Sir Richard Steele to confess, that he has conducted the under-plot in the Conscious Lovers in a much more artful and interesting manner than Terence in the play before us. The part which Myrtle sustains (though not wholly unexceptionable, especially the last act,) is more essential to the fable than Charinus in the Andrian. His character also is more separated and distinguished from Bevil, than Charinus from Pamphilus, and serves to produce one of the best scenes[B]in the play.”Colman.

[A]The following extract will explain Mr. Colman’s allusion,

Thimble.Brave Prettyman, it is at length revealed,That he is not thy Sire who thee conceal’d.Prettyman.What oracle this darkness can evince!Sometimes a fisher’s son, sometimes a prince.It is a secret, great as is the world;In which I, like the soul, am toss’d and hurl’d.The blackest ink of fate sure was my lot,And when she writ my name, she made a blot.[Exit.Bayes.There’s a blustering verse for you now.Smith.Yes, Sir; but why is he so mightily troubled to find he is not a fisherman’s son?Bayes.Phoo! that is not because he has a mind to be his son, but for fear he should be thought to be nobody’s son at all.Smith.Nay, that would trouble a man, indeed.Rehearsal,A. III. S. IV.

[B]A. IV. S. I.

NOTE 109.Byrrhia.—I beseech you, O Charinus.

Quæso ædepol, Charine.Ædepolmeans literally by the temple of Pollux, being an abbreviation of the words per templum Pollucis, aspolwas used for per Pollucem: andherclefor per Herculem. These ancient expletives are of a similar nature to those in modern use, which are almost all of religious derivation.

To affirm a thing by the temple of Pollux, was a very common expression among the ancients; and is frequently used in the plays of Terence, where it seems to have been particularly the oath of slaves. It was natural enough that Athenian slaves should asseverate by this temple, as it was the place where they were bought and sold by the inhabitants of Attica. This splendid building, which was so unworthily employed, was situated in theκάτω πόλις, or the lower city, towards the sea; and was calledἈνάκειον, because Castor and Pollux were calledἄνακες. In the Greek mythology, Castor and Pollux were the twin sons of Leda: their father, Jupiter, rewarded their virtues, by giving them a place in the heavens, where they are called Gemini. They were supposed to preside over martial exercises, (for their skill in which they were particularly eminent,) and they had the power of allaying storms. These fables have caused the names of Castor and Pollux to be given to that well-known meteor which sometimes appears at sea in the shape of several fire-balls, which seem to adhere to the vessel, and which are judged to indicate an approaching calm. This phænomenon is called by the French, Spaniards, and Italians, San Elmo, or Hermo.

NOTE 110.

Byrrhia.—I beseech you, O Charinus, to wish for something possible, since what you now wish for is impossible!

Terence always admirably preserves the characters of domestics, in the style of the advice they give their masters, which is very often conveyed in some trite adage, or formal apothegm. This is another instance of our author’s art. Want of attention to the dialogue of the inferior characters, is a frequent fault among dramatic writers; and often proves hostile to the success of a piece, particularly of a comedy, where it is absolutely essential.

NOTE 111.To nourish a hopeless passion.

Madame Dacier observes, with her usual judgment, that Terence simplifies a philosophical maxim in so elegant and familiar a manner, that it assumes a grace, even from the lips of a domestic. Diderot makes a similar remark in the Preface to his Père de Famille; which he probably remembered from the learned lady before mentioned. Montaigne has elegantly expressed the sense of Byrrhia’s speech.C’estfoiblessede ceder aux maux, mais c’estfoliede les nourrir.

NOTE 112.

Charinus.—What think you, Byrrhia, shall I speak to him?

Byrrhia.—Why not? that even if you can obtain nothing, you may make him think, at least, that Philumena will find a pressing gallant in you, if he marries her.

The original of these lines is the most exceptionable passage in this play.

“C. Byrrhia,Quid tibi videtur? Adeon’ ad eum? B. Quidni? si nihil impetres,Ut te arbitretur sibi paratum mœchum, si illam duxerit.”

“C. Byrrhia,

Quid tibi videtur? Adeon’ ad eum? B. Quidni? si nihil impetres,

Ut te arbitretur sibi paratum mœchum, si illam duxerit.”

The ingenious French editor, mentioned in Note 72, has given the following elegant and delicate turn to this objectionable passage.

“C. Byrrhia,Quid tibi videtur? Adeon’ ad eum? B. Quidni? ut, si nihil impetres,Te sibi cavendum credat, si illam duxerit.”

“C. Byrrhia,

Quid tibi videtur? Adeon’ ad eum? B. Quidni? ut, si nihil impetres,

Te sibi cavendum credat, si illam duxerit.”

NOTE 113.You see me to-day for the last time.

Though Charinus means, that the misery of losing Philumena would cost him his life, as he expressly tells Davus in the next scene, yet he only insinuates this by saying, You will never see me again: and avoids the mention ofdeath: which was considered among the Greeks as a word that should scarcely ever be named: and it was reckoned the height of ill breeding to discourse in company respecting human mortality; which was a subject to be spoken of only by distant hints: (videNote 190.) This whole scene is admirably written; and as well as the last scene in the first act, is a specimen of Terence’s powers in the pathetic. Some very ingenious remarks on this scene are to be found in Donatus, and in the Miscellanies of Nonnius.

NOTE 114.

Now, if either you, or Byrrhia here, can do anything; in Heavens name, do it; contrive, invent, and manage, if you can, that she may be given to you.

It does not appear that Charinus and Byrrhia set any stratagem on foot, in compliance with the wishes of Pamphilus, to break off the treaty between Simo and Chremes; indeed, they are rather inactive throughout the play, and the under-plot proceeds separately from the principal plot: this, I attribute to Terence’s close imitation of Menander, in what respects Pamphilus’s intrigue, as the characters of Charinus and Byrrhia were added by Terence: Menander’s play being written with a single plot; which was doubled by our author, in compliance with the taste of his age. It is supposed that Terence’s reputation for art was gained chiefly by his success in combining two intrigues in one play: a mode of dramatic writing which the Romans in those times considered a great novelty. The Stepmother is the only play written by Terence, in which the plot is single, and though critics in general argue with Volcatius,

“SumeturHecyra sextaex his fabula,”

that it is not equal to the rest of his productions, many persons, very eminent for their judgment, have attributed the superiority of the other five plays, to the advantages they possess over the Stepmother, both in portraiture of character, and in the conduct of the catastrophe, and of the fable in general, rather than to any additional attraction which they can derive from a double plot. The Carin and Byrrhie of M. Baron, are, in every respect, the counterparts of the Charinus and Byrrhia of Terence; but Sir R. Steele has very much enlivened the character of Charinus; his Myrtle is one of the most entertaining personages in the piece.VideNotes108,159,162,163.

NOTE 115.I know your affair also.

FromByrrhia, whom he had just parted from, as he afterwards relates: this, though a trivial circumstance, shews Terence’s great art. Donatus reads this sentence,

“Et tu quidtimeasscio.”

but the measure of the verse does not seem to admit of timeas.

NOTE 116.Not a soul do I see before the door.

The marriage ceremonies of the Greeks were, in many respects, very similar to those of the Romans. In Athens, as at Rome, sacrifices were deemed necessary preliminaries to the celebration of a marriage: and the bride, accompanied by bride-women, whom the Latins calledpronubæ, the Greeksνυμφεύτριαι, was conducted to her husband’s house with great ceremony; if the parties were of rank, the bride’s train was increased by the attendance of many of her friends and relatives, who previously assembled at her father’s house. It is to the absence of the bride’s train, and of the musicians who usually assembled before her door, and attended her to her new habitation, that Davus alludes, when he says, that he could perceive no company in the house, or before the door. For further information respecting the marriages of the Greeks and Romans,videNotes70,75,76,117,118,148,149,181.

NOTE 117.

Every thing is quite still and quiet.

Cecrops, the first king of Athens, seems to have been the reputed founder of marriage-ceremonies among the Greeks: the Athenians accounted it so dishonourable to grow old in a single state, that their laws peremptorily required, that all theαὐτοκράτορες, στρατηγοὶ, πολέμαρχοι, andταξίαρχοι, who were the principal military officers, also theἄρχοντεςandἱεροφύλακες, or chief priests, as well as the archons and other chief magistrates, should be chosen from the married men only.

Numerous ceremonies were always performed at Grecian marriages, many of which were performed at the house of the bride, and in procession from it: it is exceedingly well managed by Terence, that Davus should discover Simo’s stratagem, by finding Chremes’ house “quite still and quiet,” because the house of a bride was generally full of noisy company. The following extracts from a learned writer on antiquities will afford some valuable information respecting the Greek marriages.

“The Athenian virgins were presented to Diana before it was lawful for them to marry. This ceremony, which was performed at Brauron, an Athenian borough, was calledἀρκτεία. There was also another custom for virgins, when they became marriageable, to present certain baskets, full of little curiosities, to Diana, to obtain permission to leave her train, and to change their state of life. Indeed we find Diana concerned in the preparatory solemnities before all marriages; for a married state being her aversion, it was thought necessary for all who entered upon it, to ask her pardon for dissenting from her. The ancient Athenians paid the same honour to Heaven and Earth, which were believed to have a particular concern in marriages, of which they were thought a proper emblem. (Procl. in Timæ. Platon. Comment. 5.) The fates and graces being supposed to join, and afterwards to preserve the tie of love, were partakers of the same respect. (Pol.lib.III.cap.3.) Before the marriage could be solemnized, the other gods were consulted, and their assistance also implored by prayers and sacrifices. When the victim was opened, the gall was taken out and thrown behind the altar, as being the seat of anger and revenge, and therefore the aversion of all the deities who superintended the affairs of love. The married persons, with their attendants, were richly adorned, according to their rank. The house, in which the nuptials were celebrated, was also decorated with garlands. (Hierocl. in Frag.περὶ γάμον;Stob. Serm. 186,Senec. Thebaid. v. 507;) a pestle was tied upon the door, (Poll. lib.III.cap.3.seg.37;) and a maid carried a sieve, (Id. ibid.) the bride herself bearingφρύγετον, φρύγετρον, orφρύγητρον, which was an earthen vessel, in which barley was parched, (Poll. lib.I.cap.12.seg.246;Hesych.) and which was intended to signify her obligation to attend to the business of a family. The bride was usually conducted in a chariot from her father’s to her husband’s house in the evening. She was placed in the middle, her husband sitting on one side, and, on the other, one of his most intimate friends, who was calledπάροχος. They were sometimes accompanied by bands of musicians and dancers, (Hom. Il.σʹ. v. 491.) The song with which they were entertained on the road was calledἁρμάτειον μέλος, fromἅρμα, the coach in which they rode, and the axle-tree of which they burned as soon as they arrived at the end of their journey; thereby signifying that the bride was never to return to her father’s house. The day of the bride’s leaving her father was celebrated in the manner of a festival, which was distinct from the nuptial solemnity, which was kept at the bride-groom’s house, and began at evening, the usual time of the bride’s arrival.”—Robinson’sArchæologia Græca.

NOTE 118.But can see no bridemaid.

Matronam nullam: Some commentators think that matrona and pronuba have a similar meaning; but though it is clear that both those words were used to describe females who attended the bride at a Roman marriage, I am inclined to believe that they have each a distinct signification. The Latin poets used matrona as a name for all married women without distinction: thus, Horace evidently speaks of wives in general, when he says,

“Matronæ præter faciem nil cernere possis,Cetera, ————demissa veste tegentis.”The matron muffled in her modest stole,Will scarce allow her features to be seen.

“Matronæ præter faciem nil cernere possis,Cetera, ————demissa veste tegentis.”

“Matronæ præter faciem nil cernere possis,

Cetera, ————demissa veste tegentis.”

The matron muffled in her modest stole,Will scarce allow her features to be seen.

The matron muffled in her modest stole,

Will scarce allow her features to be seen.

because married women only were allowed to wear thestola, a large robe which covered the person from head to foot. Matrons were distinguished as follows,matronas appellabant, quibusstolas habendijus erat: those only were called matrons, whose rank entitled them to wear the stola, (Alex. ab. Alex. lib. 5. cap. 18.) as women of inferior rank wore the instita. The pronubæ were always chosen from those women who had been married only once; and it appears that a bride had several pronubæ to attend her, but only one matrona. Terence says nullam matronam, whereas the pronubæ were spoken of as being four or five in number. I think it not unlikely that the first in rank of the pronubæ was chosen to preside over the rest of the bridemaids, and to attend immediately on the person of the bride, whence she was called matrona pronubarum, the chief of the bridemaids. Servius thinks that matrona was used to designate a woman who had one child: and thus distinguished from the mater-familias who had several. But Aulus Gellius is of opinion that all married women were called matronæ, whether they had any children or not. Thus Ovid, speaking of Hersilia, the wife of Romulus, who had no offspring, calls her matrona.

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