You are a bad one. MILPHIOI am a bad one.SYNCERASTUSIt goes but badly with me.MILPHIOJust tell me, then; you ought to be in quite other plight. Why is it that it goes badly with you, who have at home in superabundance what to eat, and what to drink? You don’t give a single three-obol piece away to a mistress, and have her for nothing.SYNCERASTUSMay Jupiter so love me—MILPHIOI’ faith, in the degree that you deserve, to wit.SYNCERASTUSHow I do long for this family to come to ruin.MILPHIOIf you long for it, lend your aid.SYNCERASTUSWithout feathers it isn’t easy to fly: my wings have got no feathers.MILPHIOTroth, then, don’t pluck out any hairs; then, in the next two months, your arm-pits will be fit for flying.SYNCERASTUSAway to utter perdition!MILPHIOAway yourself, and your master! SYNCERASTUSBut, really, if a person knew him well, the fellow might soon be ruined.MILPHIOWhy so? SYNCERASTUS Just as though you could be silent on any matter.MILPHIOI’ll keep the matter more strictly secret for you than that which has been told to a dumb woman.SYNCERASTUSI could easily bring my mind to believe you there, if I did not know you.MILPHIOTrust me boldly at my own peril.SYNCERASTUSI shall trust you to my cost, and still I will trust you.MILPHIODon’t you know that your master is a mortal enemy of my master?SYNCERASTUSI know it. MILPHIOBy reason of the love affair?SYNCERASTUSYou are losing all your pains.MILPHIOWhy so? SYNCERASTUSBecause you are teaching one that has been taught.MILPHIOWhy, then, do you doubt that my master will do a mischief to your master with pleasure, so far as he can do, with his deserving it? Then besides, if you lend some assistance, on that account he’ll be able to do it the more easily.SYNCERASTUSBut I’m afraid of this, Milphio—MILPHIOWhat is it that you’re afraid of?SYNCERASTUSThat while I’m preparing the plot against my master, I may be betrayed by yourself. If my master knows that I’ve been talking to any individual, he’ll forthwith be making me from Syncerastus into BrokenlegsBrokenlegs: Crucifragium; a word coined for the occasion.