 | The Cheat |  |
343
SCENE III.
PSEUDOLUS alone.Pseu.
Immortal gods!
This fellow by his coming has preserv'd me:
And by his journey, when I'd lost my way,
Has put me right again. E'en Opportunity
Herself could ne'er have come more opportunely,
Than he, that opportunely brought this letter.
My horn of plenty this, in which, whate'er
I wish'd is all contain'd. Here are my wiles,
Here all my stratagems, here all my tricks;
My money's here; here my young master's mistress.
Now shall I boast, from what a fertile fund
Of thoughts in my own breast I did delineate
Exactly in what manner I should act,
So as to steal the girl from the procurer.
All things beforehand plann'd and decorated,
In order just as I myself would have them.
And all my schemes are form'd with certainty—
But this affair in truth will thus succeed
Meerly by fortune—For the goddess Fortune
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And 'tis but truth—The man who knows to use
His fortune, he surpasses all: by all
Is therefore call'd a man of understanding.
Whoe'er we find successful in his counsels,
We call a prudent man—The unsuccessful
We hold a fool—Fools as we are, we know not
How greatly we're mistaken, when so ardently
We pray the gods to grant us what we wish:
As if 'twere possible for us to know,
What will turn out to our advantage—Thus
345
What follows, but i'th'midst of pains and labour,
Death creeps upon us in the interim.—
346
Immortal gods! my late invented lye
Was worth its weight in gold, when I pretended
That I belong'd to the procurer here.
Now with this letter, I'll deceive three persons;
My master, the procurer, and the bearer.
I now shall be upon a par with them—
Another thing too which I wish'd, has happen'd.
See, Callidorus comes! A stranger with him!
[stands apart.
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