That shall be attended to. DEMIPHO (aside.) I’ll be off to the harbour, and (I have need of caution lest he should find it out) I’ll not buy her myself, but commission my friend Lysimachus; he said just now that he was going to the harbour. I’m delaying while I’m standing here. (Exit.) (CHARINUS, alone.) CHARINUS (wringing his hands, and crying aloud.) I’m lost—I’m undone. They say that the Bacchanals tore Pentheus to pieces Tore Pentheus to pieces : Pentheus, king of Thebes , was torn in pieces by his mother Agave, and the other Bacchanalian women, for obstructing their celebration of the orgies of Bacchus. See the Metamorphoses of Ovid, B. 3, l. 720. . I do believe that that was the merest trifle compared with the manner in which I am rent asunder in different ways. Why do I exist? Why don’t I die? What good is there for me in life? I’m determined, I’ll go to a doctor To a doctor : Colman renders medicum, an apothecary; and remarks, that the passage may put the reader in mind of Shakspeare’s Romeo in allusion to the passage commencing, I do know an apothecary, etc. , and there I’ll put myself to death by poison, since that is being taken from me for the sake of which I desire to remain in existence. (He is going off.) EUTYCHUS (Enter EUTYCHUS, from the house of LYSIMACHUS.) Stop, prithee, stop, Charinus. CHARINUS (turning.) Who is it, that calls me back? EUTYCHUS Eutychus, your friend and companion, your nearest neighbour as well. CHARINUS You don’t know You don’t know : The note of interrogation in Weise’s edition at the end of these words seems out of place. what a vast weight of my woes I am enduring. EUTYCHUS I do know. I listened to it all at the door: I know the whole matter. CHARINUS What is it that you know? EUTYCHUS Your father wishes to sell— CHARINUS You have the whole matter. EUTYCHUS —Your mistress— CHARINUS You know by far too much. EUTYCHUS —Against your wish. CHARINUS You know everything. But how do you know that this woman is my mistress? EUTYCHUS You yourself told me yesterday. CHARINUS Isn’t it the fact that I had quite forgotten that I told you yesterday? EUTYCHUS It’s not surprising it is so. CHARINUS I now consult you. Answer me; by what death do you think that I should die in preference? EUTYCHUS Won’t you hold your peace? Take you care how you say that. CHARINUS What then do you wish me to say? EUTYCHUS Should you like me to trick your father nicely? CHARINUS I really should like it. EUTYCHUS Should you like me to walk to the harbour— CHARINUS What, rather than that you should fly? EUTYCHUS And release the fair one for a sum. CHARINUS What, rather than you should pay her weight in gold?