 | The Step-Mother |  |
SCENE III.
Enter SOSTRATA.Sostra.
Alas, I hear a dreadful noise within.
Philumena, I fear, grows worse and worse:
460
But now I'll visit her.
[goes towards the house.
Par.
Ho, Sostrata!
Sostra.
Who's there?
Par.
You'll be shut out a second time.
Sostra.
Ha, Parmeno, are you there?—Wretched woman!
What shall I do?—Not visit my son's wife,
When she lies sick at next door?
Par.
Do not go;
No, nor send any body else; for they,
That love the folks, to whom themselves are odious,
I think are guilty of a double folly:
Their labour proves but idle to themselves,
And troublesome to those for whom 'tis meant.
Besides, your son, the moment he arriv'd,
Went in to visit her.
Sostra.
How, Parmeno!
Is Pamphilus arriv'd?
Par.
He is.
461
Thank heav'n!
Oh, how my comfort is reviv'd by that!
Par.
And therefore I ne'er went into the house.
For if Philumena's complaints abate,
She'll tell him, face to face, the whole affair,
And what has past between you to create
This difference.—But here he comes—how sad!
She invokes the Goddess of Health together with Æsculapius, because in Greece their statues were always placed near each other, so that to offer up prayers to the one and not to the other, would have been held the highest indignity to the power neglected.—Lucian in his Hippias says, και εικονες εν αυτω λιθου λευκου της αρχαιας εργασιας, η μεν Υγειας, ηδε Ασκληπιου. It contains two white marble statues of very ancient workmanship, the one of the Goddess of Health, the other of Æsculapius. Dacier.
| The Step-Mother | |