Chapter 21

Recte egosemperfugi has nuptias.I acted wisely inalwaysavoiding the match.

Recte egosemperfugi has nuptias.

I acted wisely inalwaysavoiding the match.

This reading must be erroneous, because, so far from havingalwaysavoided the match, Chremes himself originally proposed it to Simo, (videp.15,l.18.) and afterwards renewed his consent to it. (Videp.58.l.24.)

NOTE 178.Davus.—’Tis true, I saw old Canthara, with something under her cloak.

There is great ingenuity displayed in the conduct of this scene. Davus affirms this, as Donatus observes,“Hoc dicit ut leviter redarguat Mysis, non ut vincatur,”that Mysis may easily confute him; and prove that it is the child of Pamphilus which must terrify Chremes. He contradicts her, that she may (in Chremes’ hearing) enter into the proof of what she says. Instead of Cantharam, Nonnius thinks that Terence meant cantharum, a large jug; and that he intended Davus to say, that the child was brought to Glycera’s house in a large cantharus.VideNonnius’sMiscell., B.1, and his remarks on the whole of this scene.

NOTE 179ᴬ.

Mysis.—Thank Heaven, that there were some free-women present when my mistress was delivered.

No person could appear as a witness in the Athenian courts of justice, who was not free-born, and also possessed of a fair character. Those who wereἄτιμοι, infamous, were not permitted to give testimony. In particular cases, strangers and freedmen were admitted as witnesses. Every person who was appealed to as a witness, was compelled either to state what he knew of the affair, or to swear that he was ignorant of all the circumstances of it: if he refused to give any answer whatever, he incurred a heavy fine.

NOTE 179ᴮ.Mysis.—By Pollux, fellow, you are drunk.

To accuse a person of intoxication was considered in Athens and Sparta as one of the greatest affronts that could possibly be committed. Very severe laws were framed in Greece for the punishment of those who were seen in a state of intoxication. The Athenian archons suffered death, if detected in this vice. The Greeks accused the Scythians of having taught them habits of drunkenness. The Spartans affirm, that Cleomenes became first drunk, and afterwards mad, by his associating and drinking with them.

Σκυθησι, δε ὁμιλησαντά μιν ακρηποτην και εκ τουτου μανῆναι.Herodotus.

Σκυθησι, δε ὁμιλησαντά μιν ακρηποτην και εκ τουτου μανῆναι.

Herodotus.

NOTE 180.

Davus.—One falsehood brings on another: I hear it whispered about that she is a citizen of Athens.

The citizens of Athens were calledγηγενεῖς, or sons of the earth, andἀστοὶ. They were called alsoτεττιγες, orτεττιγοφορους,wearers of grasshoppers; this appellation, authors have derived differently.Tretzesthinks it was to designate them as fluent orators.Lucianconsiders it merely as a distinction to divide them from the slaves: and others say, it was because they thought that grasshoppers sprung from the earth; and therefore chose them for the symbol of a people who pretended to the same origin:videNote 154. The Athenians were called alsoπολίται. The citizens were divided by Cecrops into four tribes, (videPoll.,B.3. 64,) each tribe was divided into three classes, and each class into thirty families. The names of the tribes were, 1.Κεκροπὶς, 2.Αὐτόχθων, 3.Ἀκταία, 4.Παραλιά. These names were afterwards changed by Cranaus, (videPlut.in Solon,) and also by Ericthonius and Erectheus. When the number of the inhabitants increased, new tribes were added. To obtain the Athenian citizenship was deemed so glorious, that foreigners of the very first rank eagerly sought this distinction; which it was extremely difficult to gain: as the Athenians would never admit any persons but those who had signalized themselves by their virtue and bravery.

NOTE 181.Davus.—And that he will be compelled to marry her.

The Athenian laws did not allow of polygamy: if Glycera, therefore, had been proved to be a citizen, her marriage with Pamphilus would have been valid; and Philumena, if married to him, must have been divorced. We are to suppose, that the apprehension of this circumstance induces Chremes to break off the marriage.

NOTE 182.Davus. (half aloud.)—He has heard all: what an accident.

——Audistin’ obsecro?

These words are usually read as addressed directly to Chremes; but it appears more probable that Terence intended Davus to speak them as if he meant no one to hear what he said, and yet contrive to raise his voice loud enough for Chremes to overhear him pretend to be alarmed, lest what Mysis had been saying should do any mischief. This feigned consternation was calculated to strengthen Chremes’ belief of the genuineness of the previous scene.

NOTE 183.This impudent wench ought to be taken hence and punished.

——Hanc jam oportet in cruciatum abripi.

The usual reading iscruciatumhincabripi; buthinccannot be necessary to the sense, and spoils moreover the harmony of the line. Neither of the two ancient manuscripts of Terence, in the royal library at Paris, havehinc. There are a great many disputed readings in the plays of Terence, which, by a reference to the various ancientMSS.of our author now extant, might probably be determined. An edition of the plays, regulated by the authority of theseMSS., would doubtless be highly serviceable. The most learned woman of her age, Madame Dacier, whose translation of Terence is alone sufficient to perpetuate his name and her own, in her preface to that inestimable work, speaks at length, and in very high terms, of theMSS.of Terence, in the library of his most Christian Majesty. She expresses herself as follows: “I found in them (theMSS.) several things which gave me the greatest pleasure, and which satisfactorily prove the correctness of the most important alterations which I have made in the text, as to the division of the acts, which is of great consequence.” Madame D. reckons theMSS.to be eight or nine hundred years old.Vide Madame Dacier’s Translation of Terence, Edition of Rotterdam, 1717, Preface, page 38.Among the books which his holiness Pope SixtusV.caused to be removed to theBibliotheca Vaticana, which he placed in the old Vatican palace, or thePalazzo Vecchio, there was a very curiousMS.of the comedies of Terence, which was particularly valued for the representation which it contained of thepersonæ, or masks, worn by the ancient actors. It was also extremely curious in other respects. Those who enjoy an opportunity of consulting thisMS.might derive much and very profitable amusement from a perusal of it. If it still remain in Rome, it may be seen, on application to the chief librarian, who is generally a member of the sacred college. A very curiousMS.of Virgil, of the fourth century, written in theLiteræ unciales, and HenryVIII.’sMS.de Septem Sacramentis, were formerly shewn to strangers with the before-mentionedMS.of Terence.

NOTE 184.

Davus.—That’s the bride’s father: I wished him to know all this; and there was no other way to acquaint him with it.

Terence here (say the critics) obliquely praises himself, and the art which he has displayed in this scene. The only scenes of a similar nature, (I mean where the plot is carried on by a concerted conversation intended to be overheard by some person who thinks it genuine,) which are equal to this scene in the Andrian, are the ninth scene of the second act, and the first scene of the third act of Shakspeare’s comedy ofMuch Ado about Nothing.

The before-mentioned scene from the Andrian has been wholly omitted by Sir R. Steele. Sealand does not renew his consent to the marriage till the end of the fifth act.

M. Baron has introduced Crito earlier than he appears in the Latin play, and closes the fourth act with Glycera’s appeal to Chremes; and two subsequent scenes between Glycera, Mysis, Pamphilus, and Davus. Glycera’s appeal to Chremes is extremely pathetic. It concludes with the followinglines:—

“Vous en qui je crois voir un protecteur, un pèreNe m’abandonnez pas à toute ma misèreEn m’ôtant mon époux, vous me donnez la mort.Vous pouvez d’un seul mot faire changer mon sort.C’est donc entre vos mains qu’aujourd’hui je confieMon repos, mon honneur, ma fortune, et ma vie.”Andrienne,A. IV. S. VIII.

“Vous en qui je crois voir un protecteur, un père

Ne m’abandonnez pas à toute ma misère

En m’ôtant mon époux, vous me donnez la mort.

Vous pouvez d’un seul mot faire changer mon sort.

C’est donc entre vos mains qu’aujourd’hui je confie

Mon repos, mon honneur, ma fortune, et ma vie.”

Andrienne,A. IV. S. VIII.

NOTE 185.

Davus.—Do you think that a thing of this sort can be done as well by premeditating and studying, as by acting according to the natural impulse of the moment?

“It is an observation of Voltaire’s, in the Preface to his comedy of L’Enfant Prodigue, that although there are various kinds of pleasantry that excite mirth, yet universal bursts of laughter are seldom produced, unless by a scene of mistake oræquivoque. A thousand instances might be given to prove the truth of this judicious observation. There is scarce any writer of comedy who has not drawn from this source of humour. A scene, founded on a misunderstanding between the parties, where the characters are all at cross-purposes with each other, never fails to set the audience in a roar; nor, indeed, can there be a happier incident in a comedy, if produced naturally, and managed judiciously.

“The scenes in this act, occasioned by the artifice of Davus concerning the child, do not fall directly under the observation of Voltaire; but are, however, so much of the same colour, that, if represented on the stage, they would, I doubt not, have the like effect, and be the best means of confuting those infidel critics who maintain that Terence has no humour. I do not remember a scene in any comedy where there is such a natural complication of pleasant circumstances. Davus’s sudden change of his intentions on seeing Chremes, without having time to explain himself to Mysis; her confusion and comical distress, together with the genuine simplicity of her answers; and the conclusion drawn by Chremes from the supposed quarrel; are all finely imagined, and directly calculated for the purposes of exciting the highest mirth in the spectators. The words of Davus to Mysis in this speech, “Is there then,”&c., have the air of an oblique praise of this scene from the poet himself, shewing with what art it is introduced, and how naturally it is sustained. Sir Richard Steele had deviated so much from Terence in the original construction of his fable, that he had no opportunity of working this scene into it. Baron, who, I suppose, was afraid to hazard it on the French theatre, fills up the chasm by bringing Glycerium on the stage. She, amused by Davus with a forged tale of the falsehood of Pamphilus, throws herself at the feet of Chremes, and prevails on him once more to break off the intended match with Philumena. In consequence of this alteration, the most lively part of the comedy in Terence becomes the gravest in Baron: the artifice of Davus is carried on with the most starch formality, and the whole incident, as conducted in the French imitation, loses all that air of ease and pleasantry, which it wears in the original.”—Colman.

NOTE 186.A. IV. S.10.—Crito. (to himself.) I am told, &c.

Crito is what Scaliger calls acatastaticcharacter, because he is the chief personage of the catastasis, (καταστασις,)videNote 144, and introduced for the purpose of leading the way to the catastrophe of the piece.

NOTE 187.Rather than live in honest poverty in her own country.

Quæ se inhonestè optavitpararehîc divitiasPotius, quàm in patriâ honestèpaupervivere

Quæ se inhonestè optavitpararehîc divitias

Potius, quàm in patriâ honestèpaupervivere

Some editors (vide Joan. Riveus) read this passage differently,

Quæ se inhonestè optavitparerehîc divitiasPotius, quàm in patriâ honestèpauperavivere.

Quæ se inhonestè optavitparerehîc divitias

Potius, quàm in patriâ honestèpauperavivere.

Others, instead of Quæseread Quæsese: this is a very elegant pleonasm.

NOTE 188.That wealth, however, now devolves to me.

The inhabitants of the island of Andros were subject to the Athenian laws, which prohibited women from bequeathing by will more than the value of a medimnum (μεδιμνον) of barley. The medimnum was equal to four English pecks and a half. Therefore, as Chrysis had not the power of bequeathing her property, Crito claimed it as heir at law. The Athenian laws relating to wills were very numerous, and very strict in guarding against an improper appropriation of property. Slaves, foreigners, minors, and adopted persons, as well as those who had male heirs, were, by the laws of Solon, rendered incapable of making a will.

Those persons who had no offspring of their own, frequently adopted the children of others, who inherited their estates. Sometimes foreigners were adopted, after having received the freedom of the city. A person who succeeded to the property of another, as heir at law, was bound, under a heavy penalty, to take care, (if on the spot,) that funeral honours were paid to the deceased. This was reckoned a point of great importance: the Greeks were willing to proceed to any extremity rather than suffer their friends to want the rites of sepulture, as we see inLucretius, who describes the outrageous actions to which the people were driven during a plague; when they committed acts of the greatest violence, rather than permit their friends to want funeral honours.

“Multaque vis subita, et paupertas horrida suasit;Namque suos consanguineos aliena rogorum,Insuper instructa ingenti clamore locabant:Subdebantque faces, multo cum sanguine sæpeRixantes, potiùs quam corpora deserentur.”Lucretius.Compelled by poverty to desperate deeds,Their rage another’s funeral pile invades:With furious shouts they rend his corse away,Then to the pile their own dead friends convey.They guard the spot, until the rising flames}Consume the load the lofty pile sustains,}And fight, and bleed, and die, ere quit their loved remains.}

“Multaque vis subita, et paupertas horrida suasit;

Namque suos consanguineos aliena rogorum,

Insuper instructa ingenti clamore locabant:

Subdebantque faces, multo cum sanguine sæpe

Rixantes, potiùs quam corpora deserentur.”

Lucretius.

Compelled by poverty to desperate deeds,Their rage another’s funeral pile invades:With furious shouts they rend his corse away,Then to the pile their own dead friends convey.They guard the spot, until the rising flames}Consume the load the lofty pile sustains,}And fight, and bleed, and die, ere quit their loved remains.}

Compelled by poverty to desperate deeds,

Their rage another’s funeral pile invades:

With furious shouts they rend his corse away,

Then to the pile their own dead friends convey.

They guard the spot, until the rising flames}

Consume the load the lofty pile sustains,}

And fight, and bleed, and die, ere quit their loved remains.}

NOTE 189.Mysis.—Bless me! whom do I see? Is not this Crito, the kinsman of Chrysis? It is.Quem video? estne hic Crito,sobrinusChrysidis.

Sobrinusmeans literally a mother’s sister’s child, or what we call in English, a maternal cousin-german: but this particularity is not admissible in a translation.

NOTE 190.Crito.—Alas! poor Chrysis is then gone.

Here is an additional instance of Terence’s infinite attention to manners, and of his success in presenting to his readers a perfect copy of the customs and habits of the Greeks. Crito, though he alludes to the death of Chrysis, avoids any mention of death; and breaks off in a manner which is infinitely more expressive than words could have been. Some of the ancients, the Greeks in particular, studiously avoided, as much as possible, any direct mention of death, which they accounted to be ominous of evil; and always spoke of human mortality, (when compelled to mention it,) in soft and gentle expressions. They were even averse to writeθανατος, death, at full length; and not unfrequently expressed it by the first letterθ; thus, if they wished to write down the circumstance of any person’s decease, they wrote the name of the deceased, and affixed to it the letterθ,videNote 113, alsoIsidor. Hispal.Orig.B. 1. C.23.In breviculis, quibus militum nomina continebantur, propria nota erat apud veteres, quæ respiceretur, quanti ex militibus superessent, quanti in bello excidissent,τin capite versiculi posita superstitem designabat,θverò ad unius cujusque defuncti nomen adponebatur.

NOTE 191.

And the example of others will teach me what ease, redress, and profit, I have to expect from a suit at law: besides, I suppose by this time, she has some lover to espouse her cause.

Madame Dacier, in a brilliant and acute critique, has explained this passage in a most perspicuous and comprehensive manner.

——Nunc me hospitemLites sequi, quam hîc mihi sit facile atque utile,Aliorum exempla commonent.

——Nunc me hospitem

Lites sequi, quam hîc mihi sit facile atque utile,

Aliorum exempla commonent.

“Présentement qu’un étranger comme moi aille entreprendre des procès, les exemples des autres me font voir combien cela serait difficile dans une ville comme celle-ci.”

“I have found, in a copy of Terence’s plays, a marginal note, in my father’s hand-writing, to the following effect:Hunc locum non satis potest intelligere qui librum Xenophontisπερὶ Ἀθηναίων πολιτείαςnon legerit.He who has not read the short treatise of Xenophon on the civil government of the Athenians, can never perfectly comprehend the full force of this passage. I profited by this information: I have read this short treatise, and have been extremely pleased with it: the trouble the perusal cost me has been amply repaid, as I have ascertained by reading this treatise, that the inhabitants of those cities and islands which were subject to the Athenian government were obliged, when they had a suit at law pending, to plead it in Athens, before the people: it could be decided no where else. Crito, therefore, could not have expected impartial judgment from that tribunal, which would certainly have favoured Glycera, the reputed sister of Chrysis, who had settled in Athens, in preference to a stranger like Crito. So much for the success of the affair: next the delays are to be considered, which, to a stranger, are so doubly annoying. For law-suits at Athens were protracted to an almost endless length: the Athenians were such a very litigious people, and had so many law-suits of their own, and celebrated so many festivals, that they had very few days to spare, and the suits of strangers were so lengthened out, and deferred from time to time, that they were almost endless. In addition, moreover, to the uncertainty, and the delay, there was a third inconvenience, still more disagreeable than either of the others, which was, that in a case of that kind, it became necessary to pay court to the people at a great expense. Crito, therefore, had sufficient reason to feel repugnant to engage in a process which might be so protracted and so expensive, the event of which (to say no worse) was extremely precarious. I hope I have rendered this passage perfectly clear.”—Madame Dacier.

NOTE 192.

Chremes.—Cease your entreaties, Simo; enough, and more than enough, have I already shewn my friendship towards you: enough have I risked for you.

Monsieur Baron, in his Andrienne, has given a literal translation of this scene between Simo and Chremes, which, from its serious cast, appears, perhaps, with more dignity in a poetical dress, than it would have received from prose. A learned translator of Terence, who was also an ingenious critic and a successful dramatist, speaks of Baron’s play in the following terms: “Its extreme elegance, and great superiority to theprosetranslation of Dacier, is a strongproofof the superior excellence and propriety of a poetical translation of this author:” (Terence.)Colman’sNotes on Terence’s Plays.

The celebrated writer, who made this remark, has himself employedversethroughout the whole of his translation of our author’s plays: and, in the preface to that work, has delivered his opinion very strongly in favour of the composition of comedy in verse, even in the most comic scenes: and argues, that as Terence wrote in verse, a translation of his plays ought to be in verse also.

I must observe that though the comedies of Terence certainly are not prose, yet they are a species of verse so nearly approaching to prose, that many eminent critics have denied that they were written with any regard to measure: they are, therefore, as well calculated, perhaps, as prose, for comic expression. But we have in English no measure at all similar to that used by Terence, nor have we, in my opinion, any measure of verse whatever, in which the most humorous passages in comedy can be so forcibly expressed as they may be in prose. The practice of modern dramatists entirely favours this opinion. Our great Shakspeare,even in tragedy, changes from verse to prose, when he introduces acomicscene, as we see inHamlet,A. 5. S.1, 4.,Coriolanus,A. 2. S. 1.,Antony and Cleopatra,A. 2. S.6, 7,Othello,A. 2. S.11,A. 3. S.1. Could the wit of Congreve, Farquhar, Cibber, Sheridan, and many other eminent English dramatists (among whom I may number Mr. Colman himself,) have been measured out into verse without a diminution of the poignancy of its expression? If the answer to this question be, as I think it must,in the negative, it must surely be decisive against the general introduction of verse into comedies; a species of writing, in whichTHE RIDICULOUS, according to Aristotle, ought to claim a principal share.

NOTE 193.A citizen of Athens.

Athens, the most celebrated city of Greece, was the capital of that part of Achaia, which, lying towards the sea-shore, (ἀκτὴ,) was called Attica. It was calledAthensafter Minerva, (videNote 94,)Cecropiaafter Cecrops, andIoniaafter Ion. The circumference of this city, at the time of its greatest prosperity, is computed at twenty-three English miles. A much greater space was enclosed within the walls than was required by the usual inhabitants of the city, because, in time of war, the country people were compelled to take refuge within the walls. Aristophanes tells us, (in his Knights,) that these country people, in time of war, dwelt in huts, resembling bee-hives in shape, which were erected in the squares, and other open places.

This accounts for the magnitude of the city, so disproportionate to theusualnumber of inhabitants in time of peace, when they did not amount to a hundred thousand persons. Athens was governed by kings for the space of 460 years: by magistrates, chosen for life, during about 300 years more: after that time, their rulers were allowed to hold their offices for ten years only; and, at last, for no longer than one. The citadel, or upper city, which was called theἈκρόπολις, was ornamented with the most magnificent temples, monuments, and statues. It contained the temples of Minerva, Neptune, Aglauros, Venus, and Jupiter. Dicearchus tells us, that the enormous disproportion in the size of the temples which were magnificent, and of the houses which were low and small, considerably diminished the beauty of the city. Athens was sometimes called the academy of the Roman empire, and the fountain of learning: learned men, and philosophers of different countries, resorted to this celebrated city in great numbers. The Romans scarcely considered a liberal education as completed, without the student received his final polish at Athens. (Vide HoraceSat.,B. 2. S. 7. L. 13.,Pliny, 7. E. 56.) After a career of glory, which must render the name of Athens immortal, that city sunk beneath the all-conquering power of the Romans, B. C. 85; and the Athenians never regained their importance in the scale of nations.

Athens is now called Setines; Dr. Chandler gives it the name of Athini. It contains 15,000 inhabitants, and is the see of a Greek archbishop.

NOTE 194.There is a grave severity in his countenance; and he speaks with boldness.Tristis severitasinest in voltu.

Gravity, among the ancient philosophers, was recommended as one of the greatest ornaments of old age.

“Lætitia juvenem,fronsdecettristis senem.”Seneca.Hip.,A. II. S. II.Graceful is gaiety in youth: in ageGravity most becomes us.

“Lætitia juvenem,fronsdecettristis senem.”

Seneca.Hip.,A. II. S. II.

Graceful is gaiety in youth: in age

Gravity most becomes us.

Old men, among the Greeks, sometimes affected the manners and exercises of youth: a species of weakness which the literary men of their age reprobated with very poignant ridicule. Theophrastus admirably exposes people of this sort in his portraiture of those who begin to learn in old age. (VideTheoph.Moral Characters.)

NOTE 195.Simo.—Seize this rascal directly, and take him away.——Sublimemhunc intrò rape quantum potes.

There is a sort of pun here upon the wordsublimem. Terence alludes to the prisons where slaves were confined, which, in Athens, were usually in the loftiest part of the house: so that Simo says, take himup, and also take himup to the top of the house: this is the force of the wordsublimemin this passage.

Slaves, in Greece, were treated with great indulgence, and never chained but for some heinous fault, or when they were brought into the slave-market, (vide Plautus’s Captives,A. 1. S. 2,) and then they were only worn for a short time. As Simo here commands that Davus should be put into chains, we are to suppose him to be exasperated to the utmost, which naturally leadsad finem epitaseos, to the end of the epitasis. The anger ofSimo, the distress ofPamphilusandGlycera, the imprisonment ofDavus, and the anxious suspense ofCharinus, are what Scaliger (Poet,B. 1. C. 9.) calls thenegotia exagitata, or the confused and disturbed state of affairs, which thecatastropheis to reducein tranquillitatem non expectatam, into a sudden and unexpected tranquillity.

NOTE 196.

Simo.—I’ll not hear a single word. I’ll ruffle you now, rascal, I will.

Davus.—For all that, what I say is true.

Simo.—For all that, Dromo, take care to keep him bound.

S.Nihil audio. Ego jam teCOMMOTUM REDDAM.

D.Tamen etsi hoc verum est.

S.Tamen. Cura adservandum vinctum.

The wordcommotumseems to have been imperfectly understood by Donatus and some other commentators, who have interpreted it as signifying motion; and would translate the line thus, “I’ll make you caper! I’ll make you dance to some tune, sirrah!” which is extremely foreign to its true meaning. Simo uses the phrasecommotumreddam instead ofcommovebo, for the sake of a pun which Terence makes with the wordreddam: which cannot be perfectly preserved in English.

In the seventh scene of the second act, Davus jests upon the empty larder, and says,

Indeed, Sir, I think you are too frugal: it is not well timed.

Simo is quite nettled at this severe joke, which leads him to think his stratagem discovered, and he cries outTace: hold your tongue; upon which, Davus, delighted with his success in tormenting his master, says to himself Commovi,I’ve ruffled him now.Simo accidentally overhears this, and most severely retorts on him his own expression,

Ego jam te commotum reddam:I will ruffle you now, rascal; I will pay you back your ruffling.

The wit of the sentence depends on the wordreddam; which allows of a double construction, asreddotaken separately, signifiesto pay back,to requite, andto retaliate. Simo may, therefore, be understood to say, that he pays him back the ruffling he received. But, for this conceit, Simo would have said, Commovebo, which is Davus’s own word: the sense would then have been clearer, though Terence has the same expression in another scene in this play,

Quos me ludos redderet,

wherereddohas the same meaning with facio: which is frequently used by Plautus, as “ludos facere.”

NOTE 197.Can he be so weak? so totally regardless of the customs and laws of his country?

The Athenian laws prohibited a citizen from marrying with a woman who was not a citizen,videNote 181. A law was passed by Pericles, that the children of a marriage in which both parties were not citizens, should be considered asνοθοι, illegitimate. Pericles himself violated this law, when he had lost all his legitimate children.

As this is one of the most lively and interesting, so it is also one of the most instructive scenes of this comedy. How noble are the sentiments! How engaging the mutual affection of the father and son, which, in spite of their disagreement, is visible in all they say to each other. How amiable are the efforts of Chremes to soften the anger of the justly-offended Simo! He forgets his own disappointment, and the slight his daughter Philumena had received from Pamphilus, and endeavours to reconcile him to his father. It is impossible to read this beautiful scene, without being both affected and improved by the perusal of it.

NOTE 198.Persons are suborned hither too, who say that she is a citizen of Athens. You have conquered.

The subornation of false witness was punished in Athens with the greatest severity. Both the suborner and the perjured were subject to the same punishment. Upon a third conviction, the offender was branded with infamy, and forfeited his estate. The Athenians, in general, were so celebrated for their love of truth, that the wordsan Attic witnesswere used proverbially to designate a witness, whose truth and honour were proof against corruption.

NOTE 199.If you insist on your marriage with Philumena, and compel me to subdue my love for Glycera, I will endeavour to comply.

This speech is exceedingly artificial. Pamphilus,in the hearing of Chremes, the father of his intended wife, confesses his love for another; and owns, that it must cost him a severe struggle to conquer his affection for her, and resolve to wed Philumena. The knowledge of this was sufficient to deter Chremes from giving his daughter to Pamphilus.

NOTE 200.

I implore only, that you will cease to accuse me of suborning hither this old man. Suffer me to bring him before you, that I may clear myself from this degrading suspicion.

“Pamphilus had all the reason in the world to endeavour to bring Simo and Crito together, that so he might clear himself of such a scandal as his father very reasonably imputed to him. And this was all the young gentleman’s design, but the poet had a far greater, which the audience could not so much as suspect: namely, the discovery of Glycerie, which comes in very naturally.”—Echard.

NOTE 201.Chremes.—Simo, if you knew this stranger as well as I do, you would think better of him; he is a worthy man.

M. Baron in this and the following scenes gives almost a literal translation from Terence: and the Andrienne concludes exactly in the same manner with the Latin play; excepting the affranchisement of Davus, with which M. Baron makes Pamphilus reward his faithful services.

In the Conscious Lovers, Sir R. Steele changes Crito into Isabella, the aunt of Indiana, whose real birth is discovered by Sealand’s making her a visit, to inquire into the nature of her connexion with young Bevil: the discovery is made by Sealand himself, who recognizes one of the ornaments worn by his daughter. He gives Indiana willingly to her preserver Bevil, jun., and Lucinda, who was intended to be the wife of Bevil, was, upon his marriage with her sister Indiana, given to Myrtle, the lover whom she herself had always favoured.

NOTE 202.Simo.—A sycophant.

The word sycophant was an epithet of peculiar opprobrium at Athens, and of very singular derivation. In a season of great scarcity, a law was passed at Athens, prohibiting the exportation of figs; and afterwards, through neglect, remained unrepealed. Hence, those malicious men who informed against those who transgressed it, were calledσυκοφάνται, and this appellation was afterwards always applied to false witnesses, and busy and malicious informers.

NOTE 203.

Crito.—Chrysis’ father, who received him, was my relation, and, at his house, I’ve heard that shipwrecked stranger say, that he was an Athenian: he died in Andros.

——Tum is mihi cognatus fuit,Qui eumrecepit: ibi ego audivi ex illo sese esse Atticum:Is ibi mortuus est.

——Tum is mihi cognatus fuit,

Qui eumrecepit: ibi ego audivi ex illo sese esse Atticum:

Is ibi mortuus est.

The wordrecepit, in this sentence, alludes to the Roman customs respecting foreigners. Crito had just before used the termapplicat,he applied for assistance. When an exile or foreigner arrived at Rome, he was saidapplicare,to applyto some person to become his patron; as every stranger at Rome was compelled to obtain the protection of one of the citizens, who succeeded to his effects at his death:jure applicationis. When a Roman citizen agreed to accept of a foreigner as his client, he was saidrecipere, to receive him.

NOTE 204.

Crito.—At least I think it was Phania: one thing I am sure of, he said he was from Rhamnus.

Rhamnus was a small town in the north of Attica, and only a few miles to the north-west of Marathon. It seems to have been famous for little but a magnificent temple of Nemesis, and an exquisite statue of that goddess, sculptured by Phidias; hence she was sometimes called Rhamnusia, thus by Ovid,

——Assensit precibus Rhamnusia justis.Metam., B. 3. L. 406.Rhamnusia heard the lover’s just request.

——Assensit precibus Rhamnusia justis.

Metam., B. 3. L. 406.

Rhamnusia heard the lover’s just request.

We must not understand Crito to mean, that Phania was a Rhamnusian, because we know that he and Chremes both resided in the city of Athens. Phania probably was prevented, by the confusion of the war, from obtaining a vessel at the Piræus, or either of the Athenian ports; and therefore returned to Rhamnus, and embarked for the opposite coast of Attica. Phania might, therefore, call himself Rhamnusius from Rhamnus, as being bound from Rhamnus to Smyrna, or any other Asian port. Some, instead of Rhamnus and Rhamnusius, read Rhamus and Rhamusius.

NOTE 205.Crito.—The very name.Chremes.—You are right.

Crito.—Ipsa est.Chremes.—Ea est.Terence has shewn his usual art in the arrangement of these two speeches. Upon hearing the true name, one would have expected that the father would have been the first to recognize it, but he prudently delays until Crito confirms the truth of his testimony by agreeing to the name of the long-lost Pasibula. This is finely imagined by the author, as Chremes might very well be supposed to suspect that this discovery was a trick of Davus’, (who might have heard of the loss of this infant daughter,) and taken Crito for an accomplice in the conceived imposture. Chremes, therefore, waited to know whether Crito recognised the name of Pasibula, which, if the story had been false, must have been unknown to him: for the high character of Pamphilus placed him beyond the reach of suspicion.

NOTE 206.

Simo.—Chremes, I hope you are convinced how sincerely we all rejoice at this discovery.

——S.Omnesnos gaudere hoc, Chreme,

Te credo credere.

In many of the old editions of our author, this passage is writtenomneisnos gaudere; this variation has a reference to the measure of the verse. I have seen one edition in which the line is writtenomnisnos gaudere.

NOTE 207.

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