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DEMIPHO, HEGIO, CRATINUS, CRITO, and GETA.

DEMIPHO
What care and anxiety my son does bring upon me, by entangling himself and me in this same marriage! And he doesn't so much as come into my sight, that at least I might know what he says about this matter. or what his sentiments are. To GETA. Be off, go see whether he has returned home or not by this.

GETA
I will. Goes into the house.

DEMIPHO
to the ASSISTANTS. You see how the case stands. What am I to do? Tell me, Hegio.

HEGIO
What, I? I think Cratinus ought, if it seems good to you.

DEMIPHO
Tell me, Cratinus.

CRATINUS
What, do you wish me to speak? I should like you to do what is most for your advantage; it is my opinion, that what this son of yours has done in your absence, in law and justice ought to be annulled; and that you'll obtain redress. That's my opinion.

DEMIPHO
Say now, Hegio.

HEGIO
I believe that he has spoken with due deliberation; but it is the fact, "as many men, so many minds;"1 every, one his own way. It doesn't appear to me that what has been done by law can be revoked; and it is wrong to attempt it.

DEMIPHO
Speak, Crito.

CRITO
I am of opinion that we must deliberate further;2 it is a, matter of importance.

HEGIO
Do you want any thing further with us?

DEMIPHO
You have done very well. Exeunt ASSISTANTS. I am much more at a loss3 than before. Re-enter GETA, from the house.

GETA
They say that he has not come back.

DEMIPHO
I must wait for my brother. The advice that he gives me about this matter, I shall follow. I'll go make inquiry at the harbor, when he is to come back. (Exit.)

GETA
And I'll go look for Antipho, that he may learn what has passed here. But look, I see him coming this way, just in the very nick of time.

1 So many minds)--Ver. 454. "Quot homines, tot sententiae." This is a famous adage. One similar to the succeeding one is found in the Second Eclogue of Virgil, 1. 65: "Trahit sua quemque voluptas," exactly equivalent to our saying, "Every man to his taste."

2 Must deliberate further)--Ver. 457. "Amplius deliberandum." This is probably a satirical allusion to the judicial system of procrastination, which, by the Romans, was called "ampliatio." When the judges could not come to a satisfactory conclusion about a cause, they signified it by the letters N. L. (for "non liquet," "it is not clear"), and put off the suit for a rehearing.

3 Much more at a loss)--Ver. 459. See the Poenulus of Plautus, where advocates or assistants are introduced among the Dramatic Personae. Colman has the following remarks on this quaint passage: "I believe there is no Scene in Comedy more highly seasoned with the ridiculous than this before us. The idea is truly comic, and it is worked up with all that simplicity and chastity so peculiar to the manner of Terence. An ordinary writer would have indulged himself in twenty little conceits on this occasion; but the dry gravity of Terence infinitely surpasses, as true humor, all the drolleries which, perhaps, even those great masters of Comedy, Plautus or Molière, might have been tempted to throw out. It is the highest art of a Dramatic Author, on some occasions, to leave a good deal to the Actor; and it has been remarked by Heinsius and others, that Terence was particularly attentive to this circumstance."

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