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JUPITER appears, in his own character, above.
JUPITER
Be of good cheer, Amphitryon; I am come to thy aid: thou hast nothing to fear; all diviners and soothsayers let alone. What is to be, and what has past, I will tell thee; and so much better than they can, inasmuch as I am Jupiter. First of all, I have made loan of the person of Alcmena, and have caused her to be pregnant with a son. Thou, too, didst cause her to be pregnant, when thou didst set out upon the expedition; at one birth has she brought forth the two together. One of these, the one that is sprung from my parentage, shall bless thee1 with deathless glory by his deeds. Do thou return with Alcmena to your former affection; she merits not that thou shouldst impute it to her as her blame; by my power has she been compelled thus to act. I now return to the heavens. He ascends. AMPH.
I'll do as thou dost command me; and I entreat thee to keep thy promises. I'll go in-doors to my wife. I dismiss the aged Tiresias from my thoughts. An ACTOR.
Spectators, now, for the sake of supreme Jove2, give loud applause.
1 Shall bless thee: "Te adficiet." "Se," "himself," is thought by some to be the correct reading here, as it has been remarked, how could the exploits of Hercules redound to the glory of Amphitryon? Still, as his adoptive father, it was not unlikely that he would take a peculiar interest in the achievements of Hercules.
2 Sake of supreme Jove: According to some Commentators, the Romans believed that this Play greatly redounded to the honor of Jupiter; and it was, consequently, often acted in times of public trouble and calamity, with the view of appeasing his anger. They must have had singular notions of honor, as his Godship figures here in the combined characters of an insolent impostor and an unprincipled debauchee.
The Comedies of Plautus. Henry Thomas Riley. London. G. Bell and Sons. 1912.
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