 | The Parasite |  |
SCENE I.
Enter CAPPADOX from the temple of ÆSCULAPIUS.CAPPADOX.
Since I perceive what Æsculapius means,
I am resolv'd forthwith to quit his temple.
Too well I find he pays me no regard:
Nor is dispos'd to cure me—For my health
Declines apace, my malady gets ground.
I walk as I were girdled with my spleen;
And look as if my belly carried twins—
Wretch that I am! I fear me I shall burst—
Enter PALINURUS [speaking to PHÆDROMUS within]
Pal.
You would do well, Sir, would you list to me,
And bannish from your mind this anxious sorrow.
You doubt your parasite's return from Caria.
'Tis my opinion, he will bring the money.
For if he bring it not, no chain's so strong
To hold him from his crib to eat with you.
137
Who's talking here?
Pal.
What voice is this I hear?
Cap.
'Tis Palinurus sure, the slave of Phædromus.
Pal.
What man is this, with this club-paunch, and eyes
As green as grass! I know his figure sure,
But his complexion puzzles me. Oh!—Now
I know him well; 'tis the procurer Cappadox.
I will accost him—
Cap.
Save you, Palinurus!
Pal.
Ha! is it you, the chief in all bad pranks?
Save you!—How fares it—
Cap.
I am just alive—
Pal.
That's just as much as you deserve—But what
Is it that ails you?
Cap.
Why; I'm kill'd with spleen,
My reins are painful, and my lungs are torn,
My liver is in torment, and my heart-strings
Are crack'd, and all my small guts full of pain.
138
Then your complaint is of the royal sort.
Cap.
An easy matter 'tis, to jeer the wretched!
Pal.
I'd have you hold out still a few days longer,
'Till your intestines 'gin to putrify—
For if you now go off, while yet their salting
Has not lost all its virtue, your intestines
May fetch a greater price than will yourself.
Cap.
Ay, but my spleen, I say's truss'd up—
Pal.
Then walk—
That's best for all disorders of the spleen—
139
Truce with your raillery, and answer me
To what I ask. I've had a dream to night:
If I should tell it you, can you expound it?
Pal.
I am the only man who knows that art:
The interpreters of dreams all come to me
In consultation; and when I have answer'd,
Abide by my opinion.—
| The Parasite | |