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 piecesTore 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 doctorTo 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?EUTYCHUSEutychus, your friend and companion, your nearest neighbour as well. CHARINUSYou don’t knowYou 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.EUTYCHUSI do know. I listened to it all at the door: I know the whole matter.CHARINUSWhat is it that you know? EUTYCHUSYour father wishes to sell—CHARINUSYou have the whole matter.EUTYCHUS—Your mistress— CHARINUSYou know by far too much.EUTYCHUS—Against your wish. CHARINUSYou know everything. But how do you know that this woman is my mistress? EUTYCHUSYou yourself told me yesterday. CHARINUSIsn’t it the fact that I had quite forgotten that I told you yesterday?EUTYCHUSIt’s not surprising it is so. CHARINUSI now consult you. Answer me; by what death do you think that I should die in preference?EUTYCHUSWon’t you hold your peace? Take you care how you say that. CHARINUSWhat then do you wish me to say?EUTYCHUSShould you like me to trick your father nicely?CHARINUSI really should like it. EUTYCHUSShould you like me to walk to the harbour—CHARINUSWhat, rather than that you should fly?EUTYCHUSAnd release the fair one for a sum.CHARINUSWhat, rather than you should pay her weight in gold?