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JUPITER, AMPHITRYON, and BLEPHARO.
JUPITER
Do you say that I lie? AMPH.
You lie, I say, you corrupter of my family. JUPITER
For that disgraceful speech, I'll drag you along here, seizing you by the throat. Seizes him by the throat. AMPH.
Ah wretched me! JUPITER
But you should have had a care of this beforehand. AMPH.
Blepharo, aid me! BLEPHARO
aside . The two are so exactly alike that I don't know which to side with. Still, so far as possible, I'll put an end to their contention. Aloud. Amphitryon, don't slay Amphitryon in fight; let go his throat, I pray. JUPITER
Are you calling this fellow Amphitryon? BLEPHARO
Why not? Formerly he was but one, but now he has become double. While you are wanting to be he, the other, too, doesn't cease to be of his form. Meanwhile, prithee, do leave go of his neck. JUPITER
I will leave go. Lets go of AMPHITRYON. But tell me, does that fellow appear to you to be Amphitryon? BLEPR.
Really, both of you do. AMPH.
O supreme Jupiter! when this day didst thou take from me my form? I'll proceed to make enquiry of him; are you Amphitryon? JUPITER
Do you deny it? AMPH.
Downright do I deny it, inasmuch as in Thebes there is no other Amphitryon besides myself. JUPITER
On the contrary, no other besides myself; and, in fact, do you, Blepharo, be the judge. BLEPHARO
I'll make this matter clear by proofs, if I can. To AMPHITRYON. Do you answer first. AMPH.
With pleasure. BLEPHARO
Before the battle with the Taphians was begun by you, what orders did you give me? AMPH.
The ship being in readiness, for you carefully to keep close to the rudder. JUPITER
That if our people should take to flight, I might betake myself in safety thither. BLEPHARO
Anything else as well? AMPH.
That the bag loaded with treasure should be carefully guarded. JUPITER
Because the money---- BLEPHARO
Hold your tongue, you, if you please; it's my place to ask. Did you know the amount? JUPITER
Fifty Attic talents. BLEPHARO
He tells the truth to a nicety. And you to AMPHITRYON , how many Philippeans? AMPH.
Two thousand. JUPITER
And obols1 twice as many. BLEPHARO
Each of you states the matter correctly. Inside the bag one of you must have been shut up. JUPITER
Attend, please. With this right hand, as you know, I slew king Pterelas; his spoils I seized, and the goblet from which he had been used to drink I brought away in a casket; I made a present of it to my wife, with whom this day at home I bathed, I sacrificed, and slept. AMPH.
Ah me! what do I hear? I scarcely am myself. For, awake, I am asleep; awake, I am in a dream; alive and well, I come to destruction. I am that same Amphitryon, the descendant of2 Gorgophone, the general of the Thebans, and the sole combatant for Creon against the Teleboans; I, who have subdued by my might the Acarnanians and the Taphians, and, by my consummate warlike prowess, their king. Over these have I appointed Cephalus, the son of the great Deioneus. JUPITER
I am he who by warfare and my valour crushed the hostile ravagers. They had destroyed Electryon and the brothers of my wife. Wandering through the Ionian, the Ægean, and the Cretan seas, with piratical violence they laid waste Achaia, Ætolia, and Phocis. AMPH.
Immortal Gods! I cannot trust my own self, so exactly does he relate all the things that happened there. Consider, Blepharo. BLEPHARO
One thing only remains; if so it is, do you be Amphitryons both of you. JUPITER
I knew what you would say. The scar that I have on the muscle of my right arm, from the wound which Pterelas gave me---- BLEPHARO
Well, that. AMPH.
Quite to the purpose. JUPITER
See you! look, behold! BLEPHARO
Uncover, and I'll look. JUPITER
We have uncovered. Look! They show their naked arms. BLEPHARO
looking at the right arm of each . Supreme Jupiter, what do I behold? On the right-arm muscle of each, in the same spot, the scar clearly appears with the same mark, reddish and somewhat livid, just as it has first commenced to close. Reasoning is at a standstill, all judgment is struck dumb; I don't know what to do3
1 And obols: The "obolus" was the smallest of the Greek coins. It was of silver, and was worth in value rather more than three-halfpence of our money; six of them made a drachma. Plautus has not escaped censure for his anachronism, in talking here of the coins of Philip, King of Macedon.
2 Descendant of: "Nepos" cannot here mean "grandson," as Gorgophone was not a lineal ancestor of Amphitryon, being the sister of his father Alcæus.
3 What to do: , With this line terminates what is generally called the supposititious part of this Play.
The Comedies of Plautus. Henry Thomas Riley. London. G. Bell and Sons. 1912.
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