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Enter DÆMONES, from his house.
DÆM.
to himnself . In wondrous ways1 do the Gods make sport of men, in wondrous fashions do they send dreams in sleep. Not the sleeping, even, do they allow to rest. As, for example, I, this last night which has gone by, dreamed a wonderful and a curious dream. A she-ape seemed to be endeavouring to climb up to a swallow's nest; and she was not able thence to take them out. After that, the ape seemed to come to me to beg me to lend a ladder to her. I in these terms gave answer to the ape, that swallows are the descendants of Philomela2 and of Progne. I expostulated with her, that she might not hurt those of my country. But then she began to be much more violent, and seemed gratuitously to be threatening me with vengeance. She summoned me to a court of justice. Then, in my anger, I seemed to seize hold of the ape by the middle, in what fashion I know not; and I fastened up with chains this most worthless beast. Now to what purpose I shall say that this dream tends, never have I this day been able to come to any conclusion. A loud noise is heard in the Temple. But what's this noise that arises in this Temple of Venus, my neighbour? My mind's in wonder about it.
1 In wondrous ways: It is somewhat singular that the same three lines as this and the two following occur in the Mercator, at the beginning of Act II.
2 Of Philomela: The Poets generally represent Progne as changed into a swallow, and Philomela into a nightingale. Ovid, however, on one occasion, mentions Philomela as being changed into a swallow. They were the daughters of Pandion, king of Athens, the native place of Dæmones.
The Comedies of Plautus. Henry Thomas Riley. London. G. Bell and Sons. 1912.
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