 | The Self-Tormentor |  |
SCENE VI.
D'ye mind?
What think you, Chremes, will become of him,
Unless you do your utmost to preserve,
Correct and counsel him?
Chremes.
I'll take due care.
Syrus.
But now's your time, Sir, to look after him.
Chremes.
It shall be done.
Syrus.
It must be, if you're wise:
For ev'ry day he minds me less and less.
Chremes.
But, Syrus, say, what progress have you made
In that affair I just now mention'd to you?
Or are you still to seek?
Syrus.
The plot, you mean,
On Menedemus. I've just hit on one.
Chremes.
Good fellow! prithee now, what is't?
Syrus.
I'll tell you.
But as one thing brings in another—
Chremes,
Well?
Syrus.
This Bacchis is a sad jade.
Chremes.
So it seems.
Syrus.
Ay, Sir, if you knew all! nay, even now
She's hatching mischief.—Dwelling hereabouts,
There was of late an old Corinthian woman,
To whom this Bacchis lent a thousand pieces.
Chremes.
What then?
Syrus.
The woman's dead; and left behind
A daughter, very young, whom she bequeath'd,
By way of pledge, to Bacchis for the money.
Chremes.
I understand.
Syrus.
This girl came here with Bacchis,
And now is with your wife.
What then?
Syrus.
She begs
Of Clinia to advance the cash; for which
She'll give the girl as an equivalent.
She wants the thousand pieces.
Chremes.
Does she so?
Syrus.
No doubt on't.
Chremes.
So I thought.—And what do you
Intend to do?
Syrus.
Who? I, Sir? I'll away
To Menedemus presently; and tell him
This maiden is a rich and noble captive,
Stolen from Caria; and to ransom her
Will greatly profit him.
Chremes.
'Twill never do.
Syrus.
How so?
Chremes.
I answer now for Menedemus.
I will not purchase her. What say you now?
Syrus.
Give a more favourable answer!
Chremes.
No,
There's no occasion.
No occasion?
Chremes.
No.
Syrus.
I cannot comprehend you.
Chremes.
I'll explain.
—But hold! what now? whence comes it, that our door
Opens so hastily?
Antiphila is shortly to be acknowledged as the daughter of Chremes. She is not therefore in company with the other women at the feast, who were no other than courtezans, but with the wife of Chremes, and consequently free from reproach or scandal. Dacier.
Chremes is not allowed here to explain himself, being prevented by the coming of his wife; nor have any of the commentators given themselves the trouble to do it for him. What seems most probable to me is this. He finds that Bacchis makes a demand of ten minæ, and offers Antiphila as a pledge for it; a bargain by which he was sure to lose nothing, and wherein Bacchis could not deceive him, the girl being already in his possession. It is therefore likely that he intended to advance the money on those conditions himself.
Dacier.The above conjecture of Madam Dacier would be a very ingenious way of accounting for a man's conduct in these circumstances in real life; but in a play where the source of every action is industriously laid open by the poet, had this been the intention of Chremes, I should think it would have been exprest, and the motive, that influenced him to it, also assigned. The following note on this scene gives a much better account of this conference between Chremes and Syrus, and shews of how much use it is in the ensuing part of the fable.
“Syrus pretends to have concerted this plot against Menedemus, in order to trick him out of some money to be given to Clinia's supposed mistress. Chremes, however, does not approve of this: yet it serves to carry on the plot; for when Antiphila proves afterwards to be the daughter of Chremes, he necessarily becomes the debtor of Bacchis, and is obliged to lay down the sum for which he imagines his daughter was pledged.”
Eugraphius. | The Self-Tormentor | |