Very clever that, about the soldier! about Sparta, most capital!LYCUS(in a low voice.)May the Gods and Goddesses bestow many blessings on you, for having given me kindly information, and finding me a choice prey.ADVOCATIAye, and, as he himself has told us, that you may receive him the better, he has brought three hundred Philippean pieces as a provision.LYCUSI’m a king if I can to-day entice this man to my house.ADVOCATINay but, he really is your own.LYCUSBy my troth, prithee, do persuade him to take up his abode at my house, as the best lodging.ADVOCATIIt befit us neither to persuade nor to dissuade a person who is a foreigner; you’ll transact your own business, if you are prudent. We have brought the ringdove for you, even to the trapping-ground; now it’s better for yourself to catch him, if you wish him to be caught.(They move as if going.)LYCUSAre you going now?COLLYBISCUS(to the ASSISTANTS.)What about the matters that I commissioned you upon, strangers?Part of line 678 in the Latin.ADVOCATI(pointing to LYCUS.)It’s better for you, young sir, to speak to him about your own concerns; he’s clever in those matters which you are enquiring about.COLLYBISCUS(aside.)But, for my part, I could like you to see when I deliver him the gold.ADVOCATI(aside.)At a distance there we shall be witnesses of that.COLLYBISCUS(to the ASSISTANTS.)You’ve given me kind assistance.(The ASSISTANTS go out of sight. LYCUS(aside, so as to be heard.)The profit comes to me.COLLYBISCUS(aside, to himself.)Age, just so, indeed, the way that the ass kicksThe way that the ass kicks: Taubmann says that this means that as the ass kicks away from himself, so the gain will go from Lycus, not to him. with his heels.LYCUSI’ll speak the fellow fairly. (To COLLYBISCUS.) A stranger salutes a stranger; I’m glad that you have arrived in safety.COLLYBISCUSMay the Deities grant you many blessings, since you wish me well.LYCUSThey say that you are in search of a lodging.COLLYBISCUSI am in search. LYCUSSo those persons told me, who left me just now, that you are in search of one that is free from flies.COLLYBISCUSBy no means in the world. LYCUSWhy so?COLLYBISCUSBecause if I had been looking for a retreat from the fliesA retreat from the flies: Under this name he refers to envious and mquisitive persons and Parasites., on arriving here I should have straightway gone to gaol. I’m in search of this kind of lodging, where I may be treated more delicately than the eyes of King AntiochusThe eyes of King Antiochus: This is probably not to be taken literally as, according to Suidas, the chief ministers of Antiochus were thus called. Apuleius says that the ministers of the King of Persia were called his eyes and ears. are in the habit of being treated. LYCUSUpon my faith, for sure, I can provide you a charming one, if, indeed, you can put up with yourself being in a charming room, on a couch charmingly laid, a charming damsel cuddling you.COLLYBISCUSYou are in the right road, Procurer.LYCUSWhere, with Leucadian, Lesbian, Thasian, and Coan