Specimens of the Poets and Poetry of Greece and Rome

Count. The other gods inform'd us he was gone | Till I made mention of the gold.-Twon't do.

Harkye now,

You dream, old gentleman. Charm.

Count.

Sure,

Did you not own,

I did,—

Prithee hence,

If haply you should see this Charmides,
The same that you pretend gave you those That Charmides had giv'n it you?
letters,

Say, should you know him?

Count.
Think you I'm a beast,
As not to know a man I've past my life with?
Or, can you think, would he be such an oaf,
To trust me with a thousand Philippeans,
Enjoining me to bear them to his son
And Callicles his friend, to whom, he told me,
He had consign'd the charge of his affairs?
Would he, I say, have trusted me, except
We had been well acquainted with each other?
Charm. (aside.) Now would I trick this trick-
ster, if I could

But cozen him of those thousand Philippeans,
He said I gave him! though I know him not,
Nor ever saw him till this day.—What, I
Trust him with gold? who would not even give
A lump of lead to save him from a hanging.—
I must go cunningly to work.-Hoa, Touchit,
Three words with you.

Count.
Three hundred, if you please.
Charm. Have you the money you receiv'd of
Charmides?

Count. In Philippeans, told upon the nail,
A thousand pieces.

Charm.

You received them, did you, Of Charmides himself?

Count. It had been wondrous, Had I receiv'd them of his grandsire truly, Or his great-grandsire,—who are dead.

Charm.

Prithee give me the gold. Count.

Young man, Give you what gold?

In writing, not in specie.

Charm.

His very self

Count. And are you he himself?
Charm.

Out of my sight;-Be gone then.
Count.

Now, because
Your coming was so late, I'll have you beaten
At the new Ædiles' and my own award.
Charm. What! you abuse me?
Count.

All the gods confound you For your arrival! I had little car'd, If you had perish'd first.-I've got at least, The money for my trouble.-Ill betide you! And now, or who you are, or who you are not, I value not a straw.-To him I'll go, Who hir'd me for three pieces, and acquaint him, How that his money's thrown away.—I'm gone.Farewell?-Fare ill!-May all the gods confound you,

Charm. That which you own'd you did receive For coming from abroad,-you, Master Char

*The situation in this scene is highly comic. Mr. Colman, in the Preface to his translation of Terence, takes notice, that he does not recollect ever to have seen it observed, that the disguise of the Pedant in Shakspeare's Taming of the Shrew, his assuming the name and character of Vincentio, together with his encountering the real Vincentio, seem to be evidently taken from this scene in our author.-An incident of the same kind we meet with in the old play of Albumazer, Act iv. Scene vii., which appears likewise to be eelpably borrowed from this place.

To get thy ring, when one of them did steal
A racer's shoe off in his utmost speed?
Charm. 'Fore heaven, a finish'd thief!
Stas.
What's best to do?
Shall I, in seeking what is gone for ever,
Add loss of labour too?-What's gone, is gone.-
Then tack about, and hie thee to thy master.
Charm. This is no runaway rogue, that having
stray'd

Forgets to find his way home.

Stas. Would to heaven, That the old manners, and the ancient thrift, Were held in greater honour now-a-days Than the base fashion of our times. Charm.

Good heavens!

How gravely and how solemnly he talks! The old, the old he praises, he is all

For the old manners.

The reprehension of the public state?
For men of such a stamp, such evil habits,
Are universal enemies to all;
They injure the whole people, while they break
Through faith and honesty; nay, they destroy
All confidence in those, who nothing merit it,
By rend'ring them suspected like themselves:
For 'twill be thought that other's dispositions
Resemble their's.-Now, as for these reflections,
How they have chanc'd to come into my mind,
A certain matter that of late concern'd me,
Prompted me with them.-What you lend, is
lost;

And when you ask it of your friend again,
You make that friend your enemy by your kind-

Stas.

Belabour him most heartily. Charm. Your counsel's right, and I'm resolv'd

to do so.

Charm. Undone !-Who bought it? Stas. Callicles, to whom, While absent, your affairs you trusted: hither Has he remov'd, and now abides here; us He has turn'd out of doors. Charm.

Where lives my son? Stas. Here in this back part. Charm.

Utterly undone!

Stas. I thought 'twould grieve you, when you

came to hear it.

Charm. What dangers have I pass'd! borne, hapless wretch,

Stas. Except, indeed, that you are bounden to Through oceans vast, to pirates numberless him

For his good services.

Charm. If you are good then, I'll hold me bounden to you; but if otherwise, I'll do as you direct. Stas. What is't to me, Whether your slaves are good or bad?

Because

Charm. You have a share in't,-in the good or bad. Stas. As to the one, I give it to you all: The other (that's the good) place all to me. Charm. I shall, if you deserve it.-Turn your head,

And look upon me: I am Charmides.

Expos'd, with hazard of my life!-At length
Preserv'd, return'd in safety, I am lost,
Here perish, and through those, for whom alone,
Old as I am, I struggled with misfortunes.-
I'm sick at heart with grief-Support me, Sta-
simus!

SCENE V.

Enter CALLICLES.

Cal. What noise is that I hear before the door? Charm. O Callicles! O Callicles! to whom Have I intrusted my affairs? ah me! To what a friend?

Cal.

An honest and a faithful,

Stas. Ha! who makes mention of that best of A trusty one, of strict fidelity.

mortals?

I am rejoic'd to see you here return'd

Charm. That best of mortals, he himself,- In safety.

'tis I.

Stas. (turning.) O sea! O earth! O heaven!
O all ye gods!

Have I my eyesight clear? and is it he?
Or is it not?-Tis he!-'tis he, for certain!—
'Tis he indeed!-0 my most wish'd-for master,
Save you-

Charm. And you too, Stasimus.
Stas.
That you're safe-
Charm. (interrupting.) I know what you would
say, and do believe you.

Wave other points: resolve me but in this:
How do my children do, whom here I left,
My son and daughter?
Stas.

Charm. Both, say you?

Stas.

Charm.

One running of it;-there you'll find the ship,
That brought me hither: bid Sangario see

They're alive, and well. The goods unladen, which I order'd;-go then,-
The impost I have paid.
Stas.

Both.

Gods! 'twas your gracious will To save me for them. What I more would

Has lov'd him with unchangeable affection!
Oh, he's the only one, I dare be sworn,
That's faithful to him!-Aye, he has a view
To serve himself in serving of my master. [Exit.

ACT V. SCENE 1.

Enter LYSITELES.

I am the first of men, surpassing all
In pleasure and in joy, so happily
Does every thing befall me, that I wish:
Still one success is followed by another
In all I do, and transport seconds transport.
Young Lesbonicus' servant, Stasimus,
Met me just now, and told me, Charmides
His master was return'd here from abroad.
'Tis proper I should meet him with all speed,
That so the compact 'twixt his son and me
May by the father's sanction be confirm'd.
I'll go. But hark, the door I hear is opening:-
This hindrance now is most unseasonable.
(retires to a distance.)

SCENE II.

Enter CHARMIDES and CALLICLES.
Charm. I cannot think there is a man on earth,
Or ever was a man, or ever will be,

Whose faith and honest firmness to his friend
Can equal thine: had it not been for thee,
He had unhons'd me of my house and home.

Cal. If I have serv'd my friend in any thing,
Or acted towards him with fidelity,

I scarce can seem to merit any praise,
But think, I only have avoided blame.
Whatever we confer upon a friend
To have and hold for ever, is his own;
But what is only lent him for a time,
May be demanded back again at pleasure.

Charm. 'Tis as you say.-But now, my honest

friend,

I cannot enough wonder, that my son

Charm.

Lys. Dear kinsmen, health and happiness at

tend you!

Charm. O Callicles! and yet there is a point
In which I've reason to be angry with you.
Cal. What have I done?
Charm.

My son!-you've suffer'd him

Should have betroth'd his sister in a family
So wealthy as Lysiteles', Philto's heir.
Lys. (behind.) My name he mentions.
By my troth, the girl
Has got into the best of families.
Lys. Why not address me to them?-Yet 'tis To be debauch'd..
better
Cal.
If wilfully 'twere done,
With my consent, you would have cause indeed
To be most angry with me.-But I pray you,
Let me obtain from you this one request,
Which I entreat.

To wait awhile; for the discourse concerns me.
Charm. Ah!

Cal.
Charm.

What's the matter?

I forgot indeed
To tell you, while we were within.-Just now,
On my arrival here, a certain knave
Accosted me, a very knave in grain.
He told me, he had brought a thousand pieces
For you and Lesbonicus, of my giving;-
Though who he is, I know not, nor did ever
See him before. But wherefore do you laugh?
Cal. He came by my direction, as from you
Bringing me sums of gold, for me to give
In dowry with your daughter; so your son
On the receipt might think it came from you;
Lest knowing of the truth, and that the treasure
Was lodg'd in my possession, by our laws
He might demand it as his patrimony.
Charm. A rare conceit!

With boisterous voice calls on me to come forth
With speed here?
Cal.

A well-wisher, and a friend. Then be it so. (to Lys.) And you, sir, be prepar'd Les. Tell me, is any thing amiss? For marriage the day after.-Clap your hands. Cal.

I am rejoic'd, your father is return'd
In safety from abroad.

Les.

Cal.

All's right.

Who says so?

Les. How have you seen him?
Cal.

May see him too.

Yes, and you yourself (pointing to Charm.) Les. (going up.) My father! O my father! Heaven's blessings on you.

FROM THE MERCHANT.

WIVES AND HUSBANDS.

Now, by my troth, the poor unhappy women Are much more hardly dealt with than the men. For if a husband brings a mistress home, Though the wife finds her under her own roof, There is no law that punishes the man: But catch her rambling with gallants abroad, And on you, my son! The husband truly sues for a divorce. Les. Any mischance, good father? Would the same law held good for man and Charm. wife!

Charm.

Never fear:
Nothing has happen'd: I am safe arriv'd;
And well have manag'd my affairs.-O son!
If you would but be prudent, Callicles
Has promis'd you his daughter.

For since the wife, if she's an honest woman.
Will be contented with her husband; why
Should not the husband also with the wife?
I would fain have fair play between them both.

TERENCE.

[Born 195,-Died 159, B. C.]

PUBLIUS TERENTIUS AFER, better known to alterations made on them, and in his manner of the English reader by the name of Terence, was a native of Carthage, and the slave of Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator. His master, perceiving the youth's talents, not only bestowed on him a liberal education, but crowned the good deed by adding to it his freedom. At Rome our poet seems to have been generally respected and beloved, living on terms of friendly intercourse with Caius Lælius and the most distinguished nobles of the commonwealth, but, above all, with that practiser and patron of all that was good and great, the younger Africanus.-After writing six comedies, all of which were received with more or less admiration and applause by the Romans, he embarked for Greece and was never heard of more, having probably perished at sea. Most of the plots in Terence's plays were taken from the Greek, but he has shown the greatest taste and judgment in the additions and

accommodating them to the Roman stage; nor can I help thinking, with Mr. Dunlop, that, "had he lived an age later, when all the arts were in full glory at Rome, and the empire at its height of power and splendour, he would have found domestic subjects sufficient to supply his scene with interest and variety, and no longer accounted it a greater merit- Græcas transferre quam proprias scribere.'" For the beauties of style and language Terence may be placed at the head of all the comic writers. His diction is uniformly terse, elegant, and unaffected,-unsurpassed in purity and grace by the writers of the Augustan age itself. He is characterized by Cæsar as "puri sermonis amator," and by Cicero as"quicquid come loquens, ac omnia dulcia dicens." The elegant conversations of Africanus, and the "Mitis sapientia Læli," were not lost upon their humble friend and admirer.

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