 | The Andrian |  |
SCENE III.
DAVUS.Troth, Davus, 'tis high time to look about you;
No room for sloth, as far as I can sound
The sentiments of our old gentleman
About this marriage; which if not fought off,
I know not what to do; nor can resolve
To help the son, or to obey the father.
If I desert poor Pamphilus, alas!
I tremble for his life; if I assist him,
I dread his father's threats: a shrewd old Cuff,
Not easily deceiv'd. For first of all,
He knows of this amour; and watches me
With jealous eyes, lest I devise some trick
To break the match. If he discovers it,
Woe to poor Davus! nay, if he's inclin'd
To punish me, he'll seize on some pretence
To throw me into prison, right or wrong.
Another mischief is, this Andrian,
Mistress or wife, 's with child by Pamphilus.
And do but mark their confidence! 'tis sure
The doatage of mad people, not of lovers.
Whate'er she shall bring forth, they have resolv'd
To educate: and have among themselves
Devis'd the strangest story! that Glycerium
“Once on a time a certain merchant, shipwreckt
“Upon the isle of Andros; there he died:
“And Chrysis' father took this Orphan-wreck,
“Then but an infant, under his protection.”
Ridiculous! 'tis all romance to me:
And yet the story pleases them. And see!
Mysis comes forth. But I must to the Forum
To look for Pamphilus, for fear his father
Should find him first, and take him unawares.
[Exit.
This, says Donatus, is a short and comick deliberation, calculated to excite the attention of the audience to the impending events; artfully relating part of the argument, but in order to prepare the events without anticipating them, representing the circumstances of the story as fabulous; and in order to enliven it, passing from dry narration to mimickry.
How much more artful is the conduct of Terence in this place than that of Sir Richard Steele in the Conscious Lovers, who besides the long narration, with which the play opens, has obliged the patient Humphrey to hear a second story, with which he has burthened the conclusion of his first act, from young Bevil.
Inceptio est amentium, haud amantium. A play upon words, impossible to be exactly preserved in the translation.
Decreverunt tollere. The word tollere strictly signifies to take up, and alludes to the custom of those times. As soon as a child was born, it was laid on the ground; and if the father was willing to educate it, he ordered it to be taken up: but if he said nothing, it was a token signifying that he would have it exposed. Dacier.
| The Andrian | |