University of Virginia Library

SCENE VI.

Enter SIMO.
Sim.
I must go see what business has been done
By my Ulysses; whether he has yet
Borne off the prize from Ballio's citadel.

Bal.
O happy man! give me thy happy hand.

Sim.
The matter?

Bal.
Now—

Sim.
What now!—

Bal.
You've nothing left
To fear—

Sim.
How so?—Has Pseudolus been with you?

Bal.
Not so.—

Sim.
Then what good fortune has befaln

Bal.
Your twenty minæ, Pseudolus to day
Promis'd himself from you, are safe and sound.

Sim.
I would they were, by Hercules!

Bal.
Of me
Demand the twenty minæ, if this day
He either gets this girl into his clutches,
Or, as he promis'd, gives her to your son.
Demand of me the cash—I long to promise.
Depend upon it, all your money's safe;
And you shall have the girl into the bargain.

Sim.
I see no danger in the terms you offer.—
And you'll engage the twenty minæ?—

Bal.
Ay.

Sim.
A special bargain this! But have you met him?

Bal.
Yes, both of them together.

Sim.
Well, what says he?
What is his talk?—What story does he tell you?

Bal.
Why, mere stage cant. He call'd me names, the actors
Give us procurers: every boy can tell—
He said, I was a wicked, perjur'd rascal—

Sim.
He told no lyes—

Bal.
Nor was I angry with him.
What matters it to call a man hard names,
Who nor regards it, nor denies their truth?

Sim.
How is it you have nought to fear from him?
I'd fain hear that.—

Bal.
Because he never will
Bear off the girl from me, nor ever can.
Don't you remember, some time since I told you,
I'd sold her to a Macedonian captain?

Sim.
Yes, I remember—

Bal.
Well, e'en now, his servant
Brought me the money, and the token with it
Agreed between us, seal'd up in a letter.

Sim.
What follow'd?—

Bal.
Why, as 'twas agreed, the bearer
Has not long since borne off with him the girl.

Sim.
Do you say this with honesty and truth?

Bal.
Whence should I get those qualities?

Sim.
Howe'er
See that he has not put some trick upon you.

Bal.
The letter, and the token that's within it,
Put it beyond all doubt—And, more than that,
He has not only ta'en her from the city,
But gone away with her to Sicyon.

Sim.
Well done, by Hercules!—'Tis now high time
To send off Pseudolus, to join the colony
At th'work-house—Who's this in a soldier's coat?

Bal.
I know him not—Let's step aside, and mark
Whither he's going, and what he is about—

[they go apart.