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Enter PAMPHILUS in haste from GLYCERIUM'S house.
PAMPHILUS
Who is it that wants me? Aside. I'm undone! it's my father. SIMO
What say you, of all men, the ----? CHREMES
Oh! rather speak about the matter itself, and forbear to use harsh language. SIMO
As if any thing too severe could now be possibly said against him. Pray, do you say that Glycerium is a citizen--- PAMPHILUS
So they say. SIMO
So they say! Unparalleled assurance! does he consider what he says? Is he sorry for what he has done? Does his countenance, pray, at all betray any marks of shame? That he should be of mind so weak, as, without regard to the custom and the law 1 of his fellow-citizens, and the wish of his own father, to be anxious, in spite of every thing, to have her, to his own utter disgrace! PAMPHILUS
Miserable that I am! SIMO
Ha! have you at last found that out only just now, Pamphilus? Long since did that expression, long since, when you made up your mind, that what you desired must be effected by you at any price; from that very day did that expression aptly befit you. But yet why do I torment myself? Why vex myself? Why worry my old age with this madness? Am I to suffer the punishment for his offenses? Nay then, let him have her, good-by to him, let him pass his life with her. PAMPHILUS
My father---- SIMO
How, "my father?" As if you stood in any need of this father. Home, wife, and children, provided by you against the will of your father! People suborned, too, to say that she is a citizen of this place! You have gained your point. PAMPHILUS
Father, may I say a few words? SIMO
What can you say to me? CHREMES
But, Simo, do hear him. SIMO
I, hear him? Why should I hear him, Chremes? CHREMES
Still, however, do allow him to speak. SIMO
Well then, let him speak: I allow him. PAMPHILUS
I own that I love her; if that is committing a fault, I own that also. To you, father, do I subject myself. Impose on me any injunction you please; command me. Do you wish me to take a wife? Do you wish me to give her up? As well as I can I will endure it. This only I request of you, not to think that this old gentleman has been suborned by me. Allow me to clear myself, and to bring him here before you. SIMO
To bring him here? PAMPHILUS
Do allow me, father. CHREMES
He asks what's reasonable; do give him leave. PAMPHILUS
Allow me to obtain thus much of you. SIMO
I allow it. I desire any thing, so long as I find, Chremes, that I have not been deceived by him. PAMPHILUS goes into the house of GLYCERIUM. CHREMES
For a great offense, a slight punishment ought to satisfy a father.
1 Without regard to the custom and the law: There was a law among the Athenians which forbade citizens to marry strangers, and made the offspring of such alliances illegitimate; the same law also excluded such as were not born of two citizens from all offices of trust and honor.
The Comedies of Terence. Henry Thomas Riley. Ney York. Harper and Brothers. 1874.
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