Chapter V: Part I: The Drama (3)

O luck! O great good luck! How suddenly have you heaped your choicest
gifts on my master Antipho this day! _Ant._ [_apart_]. What can he
mean? _Ge._ And freed us all from fear! But what am I stopping here
for? I'll throw my cloak over my shoulder and hurry up and find the
man, that he may know how things have turned out. _Ant._ [_aside_].
Do you know what this fellow is talking about? _Pho._ No, do you?
_Ant._ No. _Pho._ No more do I. _Ge._ I'll run over to Dorio's house.
They are there now. _Ant._ [_calling_]. Hello, Geta! _Ge._ [_without
looking back_]. Hello yourself! That's an old trick, to call a fellow
back when he's started to run. _Ant._ I say, Geta! _Ge._ Keep it up;
you won't catch me with your mean trick. _Ant._ Won't you stop? _Ge._
You go hang. _Ant._ That's what will happen to you, you rogue, unless
you hold on. _Ge._ This fellow must be one of the family by the way
he threatens. But isn't it the man I'm after--the very man? Come here
right off. _Ant._ What is it? _Ge._ O, of all men alive you are the
luckiest! There's no doubt about it, Antipho, you are the pet child
of heaven. _Ant._ I wish I were. But please tell me how I am to
believe it. _Ge._ Isn't it enough if I say that you are fairly
dripping with joy? _Ant._ You're just killing me. _Pho._ [_coming
forward_]. Why don't you quit your big talk, Geta, and tell us your
news. _Ge._ O, you were there, were you, Phormio? _Pho._ Yes, I was;
but hurry up. _Ge._ Well, then, listen. Just now, after we gave you
the money in the Forum, we went straight home; and then my master
sent me in to your wife. _Ant._ What for? _Ge._ Never mind that now,
Antipho; it has nothing to do with this story. When I am about to
enter the woman's apartments, the slave-boy Mida runs up to me,
plucks me by the coat and pulls me back. I look around, and ask him
what he does that for; he says, it's against orders for any one to go
to the young mistress. "Sophrona has just taken the old man's brother
Chremes in there," he says, "and he's in there with 'em now." As soon
as I heard that, I tiptoed toward the door of the room--got there,
stood still, held my breath and put my ear to the key-hole. So I
listened as hard as I could to catch what they said. _Ant._ Good for
you, Geta! _Ge._ And then I heard the finest piece of news. I declare
I almost shouted for joy! _Ant._ What for? _Ge._ What do you think?
_Ant._ I haven't the slightest idea. _Ge._ But, I tell you, it was
the grandest thing! Your uncle turns out to be--the father
of--Phanium--your wife! _Ant._ What? How can that be? _Ge._ He lived
with her mother secretly in Lemnos. _Pho._ Nonsense! Wouldn't the
girl have known her own father? _Ge._ Be sure there's some
explanation of it, Phormio. You don't suppose that I could hear
everything that passed between them, from outside the door? _Ant._
Now I think of it, I too have had some hint of that story. _Ge._ Now
I'll give you still further proof: pretty soon your uncle comes out
of the room and leaves the house, and before long he comes back with
your father, and they both go in. And now they both say that you may
keep her. In short, I was sent to hunt you up and bring you to them.
_Ant._ [_all excitement_]. Well, why don't you do it then? What are
you waiting for? _Ge._ Come along. _Ant._ O my dear Phormio, good-by!
_Pho._ Good-by, my boy. I declare, I'm mighty glad it's turned out
well for you.

Antipho and Geta hurry away to Demipho's house, while Phormio retires up a convenient alley to await future developments.

The only problem now remaining on Phormio's side is how to keep the money that has been given him by the old men, so that Phaedria may not be again embarrassed; on the side of the old men the problem is to get back their money. How the poet treats us to the liveliest scene of all after the more important matters have been settled, is now to be seen. Demipho and Chremes come upon the stage, congratulating each other upon the happy turn which their affairs have taken.

_Dem._ I ought to thank the gods, as indeed I do, that these matters
have turned out so well for us, brother. _Chr._ Isn't she a fine
girl, just as I told you? _Dem._ Yes, indeed. But now we must find
Phormio as soon as possible, so as to get our six hundred dollars
back again before he makes away with it.

Phormio now walks across the stage in a lordly way without seeming to see the old men, and goes straight to Demipho's door, upon which he raps loudly and calls to the attendant within:

If Demipho is at home. I want to see him, that-- _Dem._ [_stepping up
from without_]. Why, we were just coming to see you, Phormio. _Pho._
On the same business, perhaps? _Dem._ Very likely. _Pho._ I supposed
so. But why were you coming to me? It's absurd. Were you afraid that
I wouldn't do what I had promised? No fear of that. For, however poor
I may be, I have always been particularly careful to keep my word.
And so I have come to tell you, Demipho, that I am ready; whenever
you wish, give me my wife. For I put all my own private
considerations aside, as was quite right, when I saw that you wanted
this so much. _Dem._ [_who does not know quite what to say_]. But my
brother here has asked me not to give her to you. "For," says he,
"what a scandal there will be if you do that! At the time when she
could have been given to you honorably it was not done; and now it
would be a disgrace to cast her off." Almost the same arguments that
you yourself urged upon me not long ago. _Pho._ Well, you _have_ got
gall! _Dem._ What do you mean? _Pho._ Can't you see? I can't even
marry that other girl now; for with what face could I go back to her
after I had once thrown her over? _Chr._ [_prompting Demipho, sotto
voce_]. "Then I find that Antipho is unwilling to to let his wife
go"--tell him that. _Dem._ And then I find that my son objects to
letting his wife go. But come right over to the Forum, if you please,
Phormio, and sign this money back to me again. _Pho._ How can I, when
I have already used it to pay my debts with? _Dem._ Well, what then?
_Pho._ [_pompously_]. If you are willing to give me the girl you
promised for my wife, I'll marry her: but if you want her to stay
with you, why, the dowry stays with me, Demipho. For it isn't right
that I should lose this on your account, when it was for the sake of
your honor that I broke with the other girl who was offering the
same dowry. _Dem._ Go be hanged, with your big talk, you jail-bird!
Do you suppose that I don't see through you and your tricks? _Pho._
Look out, I'm getting hot. _Dem._ Do you mean to say you would marry
this girl if we gave her to you? _Pho._ Just try me and see. _Dem._
[_with a sneer_]. O yes, your scheme is to have my son live with her
at your house. _Pho._ [_indignantly_]. What do you mean? _Dem._ Come,
give me that money. _Pho._ Come, give me my wife. _Dem._ [_laying
hands on him_]. You come along to court with me. _Pho._ You'd better
look out! If you don't stop-- _Dem._ What will you do? _Pho._ I?
[_Turning to Chremes_]. Perhaps you think that I take only poor girls
under my protection. I'll have you know I sometimes stand as patron
to girls with dowries too. _Chr._ [_with a guilty start_]. What's
that to us? _Pho._ O nothing. I knew a woman here once whose husband
had-- _Chr._ O! _Dem._ What's that? _Pho._ Another wife in
Lemnos-- _Chr._ I'm a dead man. _Pho._ By whom he had a daughter; and
he's bringing her up on the quiet. _Chr._ I'm buried. _Pho._ And
these very things I'll tell his real wife. _Chr._ Good gracious,
don't do that! _Pho._ Oho! You were the man, were you, Chremes?
_Dem._ [_in a rage_]. How the villain gammons us! _Chr._ You may go.
_Pho._ The deuce you say! _Chr._ Why, what do you mean? We are
willing that you should keep the money. _Pho._ Yes, I see. But what,
a plague! do _you_ mean? Do you think you can guy me by changing your
minds like a pair of silly boys? "I won't, I will--I will, I won't,
again--take it, give it back--what's said is unsaid--what's been
agreed on is no go"--that's your style. [_He turns to go away_].
_Chr._ [_apart_]. How in the world did he find that out? _Dem._ I
don't know, but I'm sure I never told any one. _Chr._ Lord! it seems
like a judgment on me! _Pho._ [_gleefully, aside_]. I've put a spoke
in their wheel! _Dem._ [_aside_]. See here, Chremes, shall we let
this rascal cheat us out of our money and laugh in our faces besides?
I'd rather die first. Now make up your mind to be manly and resolute.
You see that your secret is out, and that you can't keep it from your
wife any longer. Now what she is bound to learn from others it will
be much better for her to hear from your own lips. And then we will
have the whip hand of this dirty fellow. _Pho._ [_overhearing these
words, aside_]. Tut! tut! Unless I look out, I'll be in a hole.
They're coming at me hard. _Chr._ But I am afraid that she will never
forgive me. _Dem._ O, cheer up, man. I'll make you solid with her
again, more especially since the mother of this girl is dead and
gone. _Pho._ Is _that_ your game? I tell you, Demipho, it's not a bit
to your brother's advantage that you are stirring me up. [_To
Chremes_]. Look here, you! When you have followed your own devices
abroad, and haven't thought enough of your own wife to keep you from
sinning most outrageously against her, do you expect to come home and
make it all up with a few tears? I tell you, I'll make her so hot
against you that you can't put out her wrath, not if you dissolve in
tears. _Dem._ Confound the fellow! Was ever a man treated so
outrageously? _Chr._ [_all in a tremble_]. I'm so rattled that I
don't know what to do with the fellow. _Dem._ [_grasping Phormio's
collar_]. Well _I_ do. We'll go straight to court. _Pho._ To court,
is it? [_Dragging off toward Chremes' house_]. This way, if you
please. _Dem._ [_hurrying toward his own house_]. Chremes, you catch
him and hold him, while I call my slaves out. _Chr._ [_holding off_].
I can't do it alone; you come here and help.

Demipho comes back and lays hold of Phormio, and all engage in a violent struggle mingled with angry words and blows. Phormio is getting the worst of it, when he says:

Now I'll have to use my voice. Nausistrata! Come out here! _Chr._
Stop his mouth. _Dem._ [_trying to do so, without success_]. See how
strong the rascal is. _Pho._ I say, Nausistrata! _Chr._ Won't you
keep still? _Pho._ Not much.

Nausistrata now appears at the door of her house; Phormio, seeing her, says, panting but gleeful:

Here's where my revenge comes in. _Naus._ Who's calling me? [_Seeing
the disordered and excited condition of the men_]. Why, what's all
this row about, husband? Who is this man? [_Chremes remains
tongue-tied_]. Won't you answer me? _Pho._ How can he answer you,
when, by George, he doesn't know where he is? _Chr._ [_trembling with
fear_]. Don't you believe a word he says. _Pho._ Go, touch him; if he
isn't frozen stiff, you may strike me dead. _Chr._ It isn't so.
_Naus._ What is this man talking about, then? _Pho._ You shall hear;
just listen. _Chr._ You aren't going to believe him? _Naus._ Good
gracious, how can I believe one who hasn't said anything yet? _Pho._
The poor fellow is crazy with fear. _Naus._ Surely it's not for
nothing that you are so afraid. _Chr._ [_with chattering teeth_].
Wh-wh-who's afraid? _Pho._ Well then, since you're not afraid, and
what I say is nothing, you tell the story yourself. _Dem._ Scoundrel!
Shall he speak at your bidding? _Pho._ [_contemptuously_]. O you!
you've done a fine thing for your brother. _Naus._ Husband, won't you
speak to me? _Chr._ Well--_Naus._ Well? _Chr._ There's no need of my
talking. _Pho._ You're right; but there's need of her knowing. In
Lemnos-- _Chr._ O don't! _Pho._ unbeknown to you-- _Chr._ O me! _Pho._
he took another wife. _Naus._ [_screaming_]. My husband! Heaven
forbid. _Pho._ But it's so, just the same. _Naus._ O wretched me!
_Pho._ And by her he had a daughter--also unbeknown to you. _Naus._
By all the gods, a shameful and evil deed! _Pho._ But it's so, just
the same. _Naus._ It's the most outrageous thing I ever heard of.
[_Turning her back on Chremes_]. Demipho, I appeal to you; for I am
too disgusted to speak to him again. Was _this_ the meaning of those
frequent journeys and long stays at Lemnos? Was _this_ why my rents
ran down so? _Dem._ Nausistrata, I don't deny that he has been very
much to blame in this matter; but is that any reason why you should
not forgive him? _Pho._ He's talking for the dead. _Dem._ For it
wasn't through any scorn or dislike of you that he did it. And
besides, the other woman is dead who was the cause of all this
trouble. So I beg you to bear this with equanimity as you do other
things. _Naus._ Why should I bear it with equanimity? I wish this
were the end of the wretched business; but why should I hope it will
be? Am I to think that he will be better now he's old? But he was old
before, if that makes any difference. Or am I any more beautiful and
attractive now than I was, Demipho? What assurance can you give me
that this won't happen again?

Phormio now comes to the front of the stage and announces in a loud official voice to the audience:

All who want to view the remains of Chremes, now come forward! The
time has come.--That's the way I do them up. Come along now, if any
one else wants to stir up Phormio. I'll fix him just like this poor
wretch here.--But there! he may come back to favor now. I've had
revenge enough. She has something to nag him with as long as he
lives. _Naus._ But I suppose I have deserved it. Why should I recount
to you, Demipho, all that I have been to this man? _Dem._ I know it
all, Nausistrata, as well as you. _Naus._ Well, have I deserved this
treatment? _Dem._ By no means! but, since what's been done can't be
undone by blaming him, pardon him. He confesses his sin, he prays for
pardon, he promises never to do so again: what more do you want?
_Pho._ [_aside_]. Hold on here; before she pardons him, I must look
out for myself and Phaedria. Say, Nausistrata, wait a minute before
you answer him. _Naus._ Well? _Pho._ I tricked Chremes out of six
hundred dollars; I gave the money to your son, and he has used it to
buy his wife with. _Chr._ [_angrily_]. How? What do you say? _Naus._
[_to Chremes_]. How now? Does it seem to you a shameful thing for
your son, a young man, to have one wife, when you, an old man, have
had two? Shame on you! With what face will you rebuke him? Answer me
that? [_Chremes slinks back without a word_]. _Dem._ He will do as
you say. _Naus._ Well, then, here is my decision: I'll neither pardon
him, nor promise anything, nor give you any answer at all, until I
have seen my son. And I shall do entirely as he says. _Pho._ You are
a wise woman, Nausistrata. _Naus._ [_to Chremes_]. Does that suit
you? _Chr._ Does it? Indeed and truly I'm getting off well--[_aside_]
and better than I expected. _Naus._ [_to Phormio_] Come, tell me your
name. What is it? _Pho._ Mine? It's Phormio; I'm a great friend to
your family, and especially to Phaedria. _Naus._ Phormio, I vow to you
I am at your service after this, to do and to say, so far as I can,
just what you want. _Pho._ I thank you kindly, lady. _Naus._ No,
upon my word, you've earned it. _Pho._ Do you want to begin right
off, Nausistrata, and do something that will both make me happy and
bring tears to your husband's eyes? _Naus._ That I do. _Pho._ Well,
then, invite me to dinner. _Naus._ With all my heart, I do. _Dem._
Come then, let's go inside. _Chr._ Agreed; but where is Phaedria, my
judge? _Pho._ I'll soon have him here.

And so ends this merry play, as the whole party moves toward Chremes' house, where, let us hope, all family differences were forgotten in the good dinner awaiting them.

Meanwhile the man before the curtain reminds us that we still have a duty to perform:

Fare you well, my friends, and give us your applause.

SUMMARY AND QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW

_The Roman Drama_, as illustrated by the works of the early tragedians, from 240 to the first century B. C.: Andronicus Naevius, Ennius, Pacuvius, Accius. The later tragedians to the close of the first century A. D.: Pollio, Varius, Ovid, Maternus, Secundus, Lucan, and Seneca. The writers of comedy, second century B. C.: Plautus and Terence.

1. How did the civilization of Rome in 454 B. C. compare with that of Greece? 2. How did Rome's conquest of the Greek colonies in Italy help the development of Italian literature? 3. How did the First Punic War affect this development? 4. Who was the "first professor of Latin on record"? 5. From what sources were the subjects of the old Roman tragedies taken? 6. How did the Roman spirit differ from that of the Greek? 7. Why did the Romans fail to develop a truly national tragedy? 8. What four names besides that of Andronicus are representative of the old Roman tragedy? 9. What qualities of Accius do we find in the fragments of his writings which remain? 10. What is true of the writers of tragedy after Accius? 11. Why have the tragedies of Seneca special interest? 12. What are their defects? 13. What their strong qualities? 14. Why did the plays of Seneca have such an influence in England? 15. What is the outline of the story of Medea? 16. How does it illustrate Seneca's defects of style? 17. Quote passages which illustrate his skill in epigram. 18. In graphic description. 19. In pathos and passion. 20. In subtile analysis of character and motive. 21. Describe the three great types of Greek comedy. 22. What result followed the attempts of Naevius to write in the spirit of Old Comedy? 23. What two writers alone of comedy are known to us from their works? 24. What are the chief characteristics of _Phormio_ of Terence?

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. OLD ROMAN TRAGEDY.

RIBBECK, _Die Roemische Tragoedie_.

WORDSWORTH, _Fragments and Specimens of Early Latin_, pp. 567 and following.

SIMCOX, _History of Latin Literature_, Vol. I, pp. 31-44.

SELLAR, _Roman Poets of the Republic_, pp. 47-150.

TYRRELL, _Latin Poetry_, pp. 32-42.

CONINGTON, _Miscellaneous Writings_, Vol. I, pp. 294-347.

MOULTON, _The Ancient Classical Drama_, pp. 203-222.

2. LATER ROMAN TRAGEDY AND SENECA.

TEUFFEL, _History of Roman Literature_ (translated by Warr), Vol. II, pp. 48-52.

NEWTON (and others), _Seneca, his Tenne Tragedies Translated into Englysh_ (Spenser Society reprint, 1887).

CONINGTON, _Miscellaneous Writings_, Vol. I, pp. 385-411.

CUNLIFFE, _The Influence of Seneca on Elizabethan Tragedy_.

PATIN, _Etudes sur les Tragiques Grecs; Euripides_. The work has many valuable comparisons between Euripides and Seneca.

TYRRELL, _Latin Poetry_, pp. 269-272.

SIMCOX, _History of Latin Literature_, Vol. II, pp. 24-28.

WARD, _History of English Dramatic Literature_, Vol. I, pp. 189 and following.

MERIVALE, _History of Rome Under the Empire_, Vol. VI, pp. 382 and following.

MOMMSEN, _History of Rome_, Vol. II, pp. 527-538.

3. ROMAN COMEDY.

MOMMSEN, _History of Rome_, Vol. II, pp. 503-526.

SIMCOX, _History of Latin Literature_, Vol. I, pp. 45-61.

SELLAR, _Roman Poets of the Republic_, pp. 153-220.

TYRRELL, _Latin Poetry_, pp. 43-58.

MOULTON, _The Ancient Classical Drama_, pp. 377-423.