 | The Treasure |  |
SCENE III.
Enter LYSITELES and LESBONICUS.Lys.
Stay prithee, don't oppose me, do not seek
To hide thee from me.
Les.
Can't you let me go,
Where I intend?
Lys.
I would, if it appear'd
It were for your advantage, fame, or honour.
Les.
Indeed, you do it with such ease.
Lys.
Do what?
Les.
You give your friend offence.
Lys.
That's far from me;
And such behaviour I am yet to learn.
Les.
How learn'd without a master! What would you
Have done, had you been school'd, to plague me more?
While kindness you pretend, you do me wrong.
Lys.
I?
Les.
You.
Lys.
How do you wrong?
Les.
In doing that
Displeases me.
Lys.
I mean it for your good.
Lesb.
Are
45
Are you then friendlier to me, than myself
Am to myself? I understand sufficiently,
And for myself can spy out my advantage.
Lys.
Is this a proof of understanding in you,
To slight a proffer'd benefit from one,
Who's your well-wisher?
Les.
Nothing can I deem
A benefit, if it displeases him
On whom it is bestow'd. I know my duty:
Yet all that you can utter will not shield me
From men's report.
Lys.
How say you? (for I can
No longer be with-held from talking to you,
As you deserve,) the reputation, which
Your fore-fathers to you deliver'd down,
Was it for this, that what their virtue got,
You by excess should lose? Your father, grandfather,
Had oped for you a plain and easy road,
To lead you to renown: you've made it hard
Through vice, and indolence, and shameless manners.
Love you have chose, your love you have prefer'd
Before your honour: and can this, believe you,
Cover your faults? ah! no, it is not so.
Take virtue to your mind, be indolence
Expell'd thence: in the Forum dedicate
Your service to your friends, and not in bed
To a she-friend, a mistress, as you're wont.
Moreover, I most earnestly entreat you
46
For your support, that those who are your enemies
May not reproach you with extremest want.
Les.
All you have said I know, could sign and seal to,—
That I have wasted my inheritance,
Tarnish'd the glory of my ancestors;—
Knew how I should have acted, but alas!
I could not do it; by the pow'r of love
Subdued, by idleness held captive, readily
I fell into the snare. And now to you,
As you deserve, I owe my utmost thanks.
Lys.
I cannot bear to lose my labour thus;—
That you should slight my counsels! and it grieves me,
You have so little shame.—In fine, except
You list to me, and act as I advise,
Screen'd as it were by folly you'll lie hid,
That honour cannot find you: base obscurity
Will shrowd your brightness, which should blaze abroad,
The fashion of your mind full well I know,
How uninform'd:—I know, that you have err'd
Not of yourself, nor of your own accord,
47
To me are manifest.—It is with Love,
As with a stone whirl'd from a sling;—it flies,
Nothing so quick.—Love makes a man a fool,
Hard to be pleas'd.—What you'd persuade him to,
He likes not, and embraces that, from which
You would dissuade him.—What there is a lack of,
That will he covet;—when 'tis in his power,
He'll none on't.—Whoso bids him to avoid
A thing, invites him to it; interdicts,
Who recommends it.—'Tis the height of madness,
48
But I advise you,—think and think again,
How you should act: for if you still go on
So as you seem to promise, you'll at once
Destroy the reputation of your house:
You'll set it, as it were, on fire; and then
Will you want water, to extinguish it;
Which when you've got, (as is the way of lovers,
They are so wondrous cunning,) you'll not leave
A single spark to light it up again.
Les.
That's easy to be found; and if you ask it,
Your very enemy will give you fire.—
But, while you rate me for my misdemeanours,
Yourself would urge me to a viler course.—
My sister you would have, and would persuade me
Without a portion to bestow her: but
It is not fit, that I, who have run out
So large a patrimony, should be rich,
And own a farm, while want is all her portion;
So should I justly be her scorn and hatred.
49
Will ne'er shew hard to others.—As I've said,
I'll do,—no longer then oppose me in it.
Lys.
And is it better you should suffer want
By reason of your sister, and that I
Should have the farm rather than you, wherewith
You might repair your shatter'd fortune?
Les.
No,
My poverty ne'er think on; let me be
Distrest, not infamous; nor let them say,
That in bestowing her without a portion
I gave her into keeping, not in marriage.
I should be held a rascal, no one greater;
And such report would give a grace to you,
But sully me, if portionless you took her:—
You would gain honour, I should meet reproach.
Lys.
By giving me the farm, you'd fain be stil'd
50
Les.
'Tis not in my thoughts:
This, this is honour to an honest man,
For ever to be mindful of his duty.
Les.
In sooth I know the purpose of your heart;
I see it all, I scent it, I perceive it.
Soon as the bond of near affinity
Is knit betwixt us,—when you've given the farm,
And nothing left you here for your support,—
The marriage ended,—strait you'll fly the city
A needy wanderer, desert your country,
Relations, friends; and they will say, my avarice
Had frighted you away: then think not, I
Shall suffer it.
Stas.
(advancing)
I can't help crying out,
Bravo! bravo! Lysiteles, encore!
You've won the prize with ease; your play's the best;
The subject better manag'd, and the lines
51
Are you such an oaf
Still to dispute it?—Think you of the fine.
Les.
Who bid you meddle, and what brought you hither,
To join our councils?
Stas.
That which brought me hither
Shall carry me away. (retires.)
Les.
Come with me home,
Lysiteles, where we will talk together
More of these matters.
Lys.
Nothing am I wont
To do in private, I'll now speak my mind.—
If, as I think you ought, you'll give your sister
In marriage to me, and without a portion,
Nor you yourself will after go abroad,
What's mine is yours.—But if you're other minded,
All good betide you!—On no other terms
I'll hold you for a friend.—So I'm resolv'd.
[Exit Lysiteles; and Lesbonicus goes off directly after.
| The Treasure | |