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Enter a SERVANT.
ANOTHER SERVANT of Callidamates.
Hold you and stop this instant. Phaniscus! look round, I say! PHANISCUS
not turning round . Don't be annoying to me. ANOTHER SERVANT of Callidamates.
Do see how scornful the monkey is! PHANISCUS
I am so for myself; I choose to be. Why do you trouble yourself about it? Walking on. ANOTHER SERVANT of Callidamates.
Are you going to stop this instant, you dirty parasite? PHANISCUS
turning round . How am I a parasite? ANOTHER SERVANT of Callidamates.
Why, I'll tell you: you can be drawn anywhere by victuals. Do you give yourself airs, because your master's so fond of you? PHANISCUS
rubbing his eyes . O dear, my eyes do ache1. ANOTHER SERVANT of Callidamates.
Why so? PHANISCUS
Because the smoke's so troublesome. ANOTHER SERVANT of Callidamates.
Hold your tongue, will you, you clever workman, who are in the habit of coining money out of lead2. PHANISCUS
You cannot compel me to be abusive to you. My master knows me. ANOTHER SERVANT of Callidamates.
Why, really, his own pillow3 he ought to know, for resting on when drunk. PHANISCUS
If you were sober, you wouldn't be abusive. ANOTHER SERVANT of Callidamates.
Am I to give heed to you, when you won't to me. PHANISCUS
But, you rascal, you come along with me to fetch him. ANOTHER SERVANT of Callidamates.
Troth now, Phaniscus, prithee, do leave off talking about these matters. PHANISCUS
I'll do so, and knock at the door. Knocks at the door of the house of THEUROPIDES. Hallo there! is there any person here to protect this door from a most serious injury? Knocking again. Is any one, is any one, I say, coming out here and going to open it? Why, really, no one comes out here. Just as befits such worthless fellows, so they are. But on that account, I've the more need to be cautious that no one may come out and use me ill. They stand aside.
1 My eyes do ache: Phaniscus probably means to say, that the sight of him is as annoying to his eyes as smoke can be.
2 Money out of lead: According to Erasmus, (Adagia Chil. v. Cent. 1,) this was a proverbial expression among the Romans, signifying the ability to put on a specious appearance.
3 His own pillow: There is an indelicate allusion in this line; and another turn has been given to it in the Translation.
The Comedies of Plautus. Henry Thomas Riley. London. G. Bell and Sons. 1912.
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