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Chærea assigns very natural reasons for not having changed his dress: and here it is worth while to observe the art of Terence, since the sequel of the fable made it absolutely necessary that Chærea should appear again before Thais in the habit which he wore while in the house. Dacier.

Here the Poet introduces Laches, as he did Parmeno just before, in a state of perfect tranquility; that the sudden turn of their state of mind might be more entertaining to the spectators. Donatus.

There is a great error, in regard to the Unity of Time, in Terence's Eunuch, when Laches, the old Man, enters by mistake into the house of Thais, where betwixt his Exit and the Entrance of Pythias, who comes to give ample relation of the disorders he has raised within, Parmeno, who was left upon the stage, has not above five lines to speak. C'est bien employer un temps si court.

Besides the absurdity here taken notice of by Dryden, in regard to Time, there is also another inconvenience, in the present instance, arising from too strict an adherence to the Unity of Place. What a figure would this narration of Pythias have made, if thrown into action! The circumstances are in themselves as truly comick as those of any scene in this excellent play; and it would be well worth while to follow Laches into the house, to be present at the ridiculous distress and confusion which his presence must occasion.

There is however, much more to be commended, and even imitated, than censured in the construction of this last act. All that passes between Pythias, Parmeno, and Laches, is truly admirable.

With the entrance of Laches into the house of Thais, and in consequence of it, his consent to the marriage of Chærea with Pamphila, the Fable of the Eunuch is certainly concluded: and all that follows, like the last Scene of the Andrian, is but the lame completion of an Episode, limping after the main action. In the four first acts the adventures of Thraso are so artfully interwoven with the other business of the play, that they are fairly blended and incorporated with the fable of the Eunuch: but here we perceive that though our Author has got rid of one of Menander's pieces, the other, the Colax, still hangs heavy on his hands. Was an author to form his play on twenty different pieces, if he could melt them all down into one action, there would be no impropriety: but if he borrows only from Two, whenever the episode ceases to act as one of the necessary springs of the main action, it becomes redundant, and the Unity of the Action (perhaps the only Unity, which ought never to be violated) is destroyed. Thraso, says Donatus, is brought back again, in order to be admitted to some share in the good graces of Thais, that he may not be made unhappy at the end of the play: but surely it is an essential part of the Poetical Justice of Comedy to expose coxcombs to ridicule, and to punish them, though without any shocking severity, for their follies.

There was no doubt at Athens some Comedy of the Loves of Hercules and Omphale; in which the Heroe was represented with a distaff by the side of his mistress, who broke his head with her slipper. To which Gnatho alludes in this place. Dacier.

Pleasant allusion to the fable of Sisyphus. Donatus.

Facetiously said in the character of the Parasite, who discourses in convivial terms. Donatus.

I cannot think that this play, excellent as it is in almost all other respects, concludes consistently with the manners of Gentlemen: there is a meanness in Phædria and Chærea consenting to take Thraso into their society with a view of fleecing him, which the Poet should have avoided.

The consent of Laches to the continuance of his Son's connection with Thais is also so repugnant to modern manners, that Fontaine found himself obliged to change that circumstance in his imitation of this Comedy.