University of Virginia Library

SCENE VI.

Enter CLEOSTRATA and CHALINUS with an urn, and lots.
Cle.
Give me to know, Chalinus, what my husband
Would have with me—

Cha.
Have?—why, by Castor's temple!
To see you burning on the funeral pile
Without the Metian gate.

Cle.
I well believe it.

Cha.
'Tis more than my belief, I know 'tis certain.

Sta.
I've in my house more artists than I thought for.
This man, I find, is a diviner—Well,
Suppose we hoist our standards, and go meet him.
Follow me.—Well, the matter?

Cha.
See, I've brought
All that you order'd me; your wife, the lots,
The urn, ay, and myself into the bargain.

Sta.
That last is what I did not want.

Cha.
I thought so.
I'm in your sides a thorn, I see—I say
This to you, for I see you're in a sweat.
Hark ye! does not your dear heart pant thro' fear?

Sta.
A scoundrel!—

Cle.
Peace, and hold your tongue, Chalinus.
Correct him there.

Olym.
Nay, rather him, who dares
Put in his oar.

Sta.
Now hither bring the urn,
Give me the lots: and lend me your attention.
I've ever thought [to Cle.]
my dear, to have ow'd to you
And to your importunity, that Casina
Should have been yielded up to my disposal,
To be my wife: and still I think the same.

Cle.
What! given up to you?

Sta.
Yes sure, to me.
Psha! that is not the thing I'd say—No, not
To him, to me I meant: thro' eagerness
To have her for myself, by Hercules!
I've long been chattering amiss, meer prattle.

Cle.
By Pollux! so you have; and still do so—

Sta.
For him! no! for myself, by Hercules!
Ah! now at length, with much ado, I'm gotten
Into the right road—

Cle.
Very frequently
By Pollux! you get out of 't—

Sta.
So it happens
Whene'er we long for any thing with earnestness—
But both of us, both he and I now sue
To you for each our right.

Cle.
How's that?

Sta.
My honey!
I'll tell thee: 'tis to give our bailiff here
Our Casina for a wife.

Cle.
By Pollux! no;
Nor do I think it should be done.

Sta.
Well then
We'll draw the lots.

Cle.
Who hinders you from doing it?

Sta.
I think it is the best and fairest way.
In one word, if it happens as we wish,
We shall rejoice: if not, why then, we must
Bear it with patience.—Here's a lot for you.
[giving a lot to Olympio.
See what's the mark upon it.

Olym.
Number one.

Cha.
It is not fair to give a lot to him
[pointing to Olympio.
Before you've given one to me.

Sta.
Take this—

[giving a lot to Cha.
Cha.
Well, give it me—But hold, there is a thing
Comes now into my mind—Look in the urn,
And see there is no other lot beneath
The water.

Sta.
Rascal! think you that I am
Like you—There's none I tell you—So be quiet.

Cha.
O may the chance be mine, to thy destruction!

Olym.
By Pollux' temple! I suppose it will:
I know your piety; 'twill well deserve it.
Hold—Is your lot of poplar wood, or sir?

Cha.
What's that to you?

Olym.
Because I am afraid
Lest it should float upon the water.

Sta.
Brave!
Take care now—Cast the lots for both—
No cheating, wife, by Ceres! no.

Olym.
To her
I do not chuse to trust.

Sta.
Come, courage, man!

Olym.
She'll lay a spell upon the lot, by Hercules!
If once she touches it.

Cha.
No words.

Olym.
I've done;
And pray the gods to be propitious to me!

Cha.
So be it, and make you bear along with you
The handcuff and the gibbet.

Olym.
No, I tell you,
Not so, but that the lot may fall to me.

Cha.
And that you strait be hang'd up by the feet,
By Hercules!

Olym.
And when you snuff your nose,
Your eyes may through it fall from out your head.
But why afraid? Ay, there's no more to do,
But to prepare the rope—'Tis over with you.

Sta.
Prithee, attend to what you are about.

Olym.
Well, I have done.

Sta.
Now, you, Cleostrata,
Lest you should think that I in this affair
Have acted with deceit, I give you leave.
Draw you the lot—

Olym.
You ruin me.

Cha.
No, no.
It will be an advantage.

Cle.
You do well.

Cha.
I pray the gods, your lot may run away
From out the urn.

Olym.
How's that? Because you are
Yourself a runaway; you'd have all else
Be like you. No, I rather wish your lot
May, as you're drawing it, dissolve within
The water, in like manner, as 'tis said
That did of Hercules' descendant—

Cha.
No,
Rather, that you be made so hot with lashes,
That you shall melt yourself.

Sta.
Have done, Olympio.

Olym.
I will, if that mark'd rascal would but let me.

Sta.
Now may the gods be favourable to me!

Olym.
With all my heart; and to me too!

Cha.
Not so.

Olym.
By Hercules! Yes.

Cha.
By Hercules! I say
To me.

Stal.
He'll win, and you will live a wretch.
Give him a good round slap i'th'chops for me.
Do as I bid you.

Cle.
Lift not up your hand.

Olym.
What with my open hand, or with it clench'd?

Sta.
Which you like best.

Olym.
Then take it; that's for you.

[strikes him.
Cle.
What right have you to touch him?

Olym.
Why, my master,
My Jupiter, commanded me to do it.

Cle.
[to Chalinus.]
Return the blow—

[Chalinus strikes Olympio.
Olym.
My Jupiter, assist me!
I shall be murder'd—

Sta.
[to Chal.]
How dare you to strike him?

Cha.
Because my Juno here commanded me.

Sta.
I must have patience since my wife is pleas'd
While I'm alive to be my mistress.

Cle.
Why,
I've the same right to speak to him, as you
To speak to your Olympio.

Olym.
Why do you sully
This my good omen?

Sta.
Of yourself take care,
Chalinus—

Cha.
Yes, when he has beat my teeth out.

Sta.
Come on, my dear, now let us draw our lots.
You, be attentive there—And you [to Cleostrata.]
the same.

Olym.
I know not where I am! I can no more!
My heart goes pit-a-pat: it dances so,
'Twill make its way, I fear, from out my breast.

Cle.
[putting her hand into the urn.]
I've got hold of a lot.

Sta.
Well, draw it out then.

Cha.
Am I alive or dead?

Olym.
Come, shew it us—
'Tis mine.

Cha.
That's a choak pear indeed.

Cle.
You've lost, Chalinus—

Sta.
I rejoice, Olympio,
That then we're to live longer—

Olym.
Ay, that's owing
To my own piety, added to that
Of all my ancestors—

Sta.
Go in, my dear,
And make all ready for the wedding.

Cle.
Yes,
I'll do what you command me.

Sta.
You remember
The village where he is to marry her,
Is far off in the country.

Cle.
Yes, I know it.

Sta.
Go in, and tho' 'twill be concern to you,
See it be done with care.

Cle.
It shall be so.

[Exit.
Sta.
And let us too go in, and hasten them.

Olym.
Do I detain you, sir?

Sta.
When she was by,
I did not chuse to say another word—

[Exeunt Stalino and Olympio.
Cha.
'Twould be lost labour now to hang myself;
And more, would put me, too, to the expence
Of purchasing a rope; and, add to all,
'Twould be a pleasure to my enemies.
Why should a man, already dead as I am,
Go hang himself? 'Tis fortune's fault, not mine,
That I have lost. And now our Casina
Is to be married to Olympio.
Nor does it give me now so much concern
That he has won, as to see Stalino
So vehemently desire that I should miss her;
And that Olympio should marry her.
In what a fright he put himself! the wretch!
What hurry was he in! And when Olympio
Had won, how did he leap for joy! But hold,
I'll go this way apart—I hear the door
Opening; and forth are coming my good friends,
[ironically.]
And those who assist me well—From this sly corner
I will contrive some plot against them both.

[goes apart.