Simulat se a matre arcessi ad rem divinam: abit:

110 Ubi illic dies est complures, arcessi jubet :

Dixere causam tunc, nescio quam. iterum jubet :
Nemo remisit. postquam accersunt sæpius,
Ægram esse simulant mulierem. nostra ilico

It visere ad eam: admisit nemo.

115 Rescivit, heri ea causa rure huc advenit, Patrem continuo convenit Philumenæ. Quid egerint inter se, nondum etiam scio:

Nisi sane curæ est, quorsum eventurum hoc siet. Habes omnem rem: pergam quo cœpi, hoc iter. 120 PH. Et quidem ego; nam constitui cum quodam hospite

Me esse illum conventuram. PA. Di vertant bene

PH. Vale. PA. Et tu bene vale, Philotium.

ACTUS II-SCENA I.

LACHES, SOSTRATA.

PRO deum atque hominum fidem, quod hoc genus est! quæ
hæc est conjuratio,

Ut omnes mulieres eadem æque studeant polintque omnia?
Neque declinatam quicquam ab aliarum ingenio ullam reperias?
Itaque adeo uno animo omnes socrus oderunt nurus:

5 Viris esse adversas æque studium est; similis pertinacia est ;
In eodemque omnes mihi videntur ludo doctæ ad malitiam :
Ei ludo, si ullus est, magistram hanc esse satis certo scio.
S. Me miseram, quæ nunc, quamobrem accuser, nescio! L. Hem!
Tu nescis? S. Non, ita me di bene ament, mi Laches;

LACHES severely reproves Sostrata for having excited, as is supposed, the hatred of her daughter-in-law, obliged her to leave her house, and alienated her from the family. Sostrata can say little in reply, as she is ignorant of the true cause of Philumena's departure from her, and is obliged to lie under an imputation which it is not in her power to refute.

1. IAMBIC TETRAMETERS.-quod hoc ̧ genus est! What race of beings is this? An exclamation against woman kind, who, he says, are of the same cast in their dilections and antipathies, as if they had conspired in swearing to a creed of their own.

2. Ut] This conspiracy, namely, "that all," &c. eadem æque studeant, &c.] ¶ Are affected in a like manner with respect to the same things; i. e. the passions of all women are alike, when under like circumstances.

3. Neque] For Utque non, "and that you cannot find," &c. in the same connection as Ut of preceding line. In fact, lines 2. and 3. describe what the conjuratio is. declinatam quicquam] "Swerving in any respect from the disposition of others" of her sex.

4. Itaque adeo] AN IAMBIC TRIMETER.— ¶ "And so, accordingly (as an instance, and as might be expected, of this conjuratio) all mothers-in-law with one consent," &c. All women who are circumstanced alike in that they are socrus, (mothers-in-law) are disposed alike towards their nurus (daughters-in-law) respectively in that they hate them; or, vice versâ, all daughters-in-law hate their mothers-in-law; as the words of Laches admit both meanings; though the former is the more obvious, from the sequel which shows that Laches less imputes the fault to Philumena than to his wife Sostrata. Bentley deems this

line spurious, "For," says he, "when a charge is being made of a fault common to all women ("omnes mulieres "), it is not well that mothers-in-law should be here suddenly accused; why should mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law be so very different the one from the other." But Bentley did not perceive the proper force of eadem æque (line 2.) as I have explained the passage in note.

5. Viris esse adversas] IAMBIC TETRAMETERS. "To thwart their husbands is a favourite accomplishment of all alike," who are in the marriage state; "similar is their obstinacy." He is contemplating probable opposition from Sostrata to his arguments, and expecting that she will be obstinate in her hatred (supposed so) to Philumena, and be "viro adversa."

6. ludo] Metaphor from a school of gladiators, or literature. Cic. Mil. 4. “ad quam legem non docti sed facti sumus." R. D. ¶ Compare Heaut. iii. 1. 41. “instructa pulchrè ad perniciem."

7. Ei ludo,] Scil. malitiæ ludo. si ullus] Scil, malitiæ ludus. hanc] Sostrata, whom he sees approaching. si ullus est, magistram hanc] Read "Ei ludo, si ulla sit magistra, hanc esse," &c. For he doubts not of the school, the existence of which he had set down in preceding line; but there is room for question as to a magistra, whether the woman might not prefer a woλuxoigavíar. B. satis certo] ¶ See Heaut. i. 1. 19.

8. Me] T The accusative in an exclamation. See And. iv. 1. 22.

9. nescis?] I have restored nescias, because, after the indicative, the verb, if repeated is usually put in the subjunctive. Also, omit Non. B. Non,] Scil. scio.

10 Itaque una inter nos agere ætatem liceat. L. Di mala prohi

beant!

S. Meque abs te immerito esse accusatam postmodum rescisces.
L. Scio:

Te immerito? an quicquam pro istis factis dignum te dici po-
test?

Quæ me, et te, et familiam dedecoras,-filio luctum paras. Tum autem, ex amicis inimici ut sint nobis affines, facis, 15 Qui illum decrerunt dignum, svos cui liberos committerent? Tu sola exorere, quæ perturbes hæc tua impudentia.

S. Egon'? L. Tu, inquam, mulier, quæ me omnino lapidem, non hominem, putas.

An, quia ruri crebro esse soleo, nescire arbitramini,

Quo quisque pacto hic vitam vestrorum exigat?

20 Multo melius hic quæ fiunt, quam illic ubi sum assidue, scio:

10. IAMBIC TETRAMETERS.—Itaque unà] ¶ Atque ita liceat inter nos unà agere ætatem. "So may the gods love me, and so may we pass life between us in unity."

effects of your conduct in a domestic point of view, let us see the effects beyond our own family.

15. suos-liberos] ¶ The plural, when speaking of one only, namely, Philumena ; and committerent, when by the subject to this verb, Phidippus-the girl's father-alone is meant. See Heaut. i. 1. 99.

11. rescisces.] The confidence of innocence. Resciscere is applied, when a matter, purposely concealed, is with difficulty made known by arguments. D. Scio:] This word, unsuitable to the angry Laches, ascribe 16. exorere,] Emergis, reperiris. This to Sostrata, in an absolute sense, as Adel. verb marks effrontery. D. T Compare note iv. 1. 10. B. T The text is better as it is. on adoriri, Heaut. iv. 5. 9. as applicable to Scio, scil. id, quod dicis, verum esse. Or, exoriri. "You start up, in single audacity, join scio te immerito, scil. esse accusatam in order to," &c. perturbes hæc] ¶ i. e. tur(the interrogative being removed) which bas hasce excites. So, And. v. 4. 18. "Ego would mean the same as scio absolutely. In istæc moneo ?" case of either pointing, it is evident that Laches is playing on the double meaning of immerito;-Sostrata used it for supra meritum, "accused more than I deserve," i. e. wrongfully; Laches now employs it for infra meritum, "you are accused less than you deserve;" for, can any language be found adequate to express the extent of your wickedness ?

12. Te immeritó?] ¶ "That you are accused otherwise than you deserve, say you ?" there is no doubt of it. an quicquam] Bitterly; and wag #goodoxíav. D. ¶ See, on this figure, Heaut. v. 2. 28. dignum te] ¶ Worthy of you, in consideration of those deeds, Sall. Cat. 50. "dignam pœnam pro factis eorum reperire." And. v. 3. 3. "Quasi quicquam in hunc jam gravius dici possiet."

13. Quæ me, &c.] This is an amplification, which is called duvórns; when on one fault numerous charges are founded. Here he presumes that the charge is substantiated. D.

14. Tum autem,] T Now, to omit the

17. Tu, inquam, mulier,] ¶ Ay, you, I say, woman that you are; pronounced with bitterness, as classing her with the mulieres omnes, censured in line 2, above. mulier,] Eurip. "Ω παγκαχίστη καὶ γυνὴ· τί γαρ λέγων Μεῖζον σ' ὄνειδος ἐξείποι τὶς ἄν. L. omnino lapidem] T" The block in every limb," insensible and inert, "not the man." There is antithesis, I fancy, between mulier and hominem, the force of which can better be conceived than explained.

18. ruri] ¶ See i. 2. 100, 115. Ruri is the ablative for rure, but never used when an adjective accompanies; also in vesperi, diu, noctu, for vespere, die, nocte, the same distinction is observed. Plautus and Terence always write ruri, with verbs denoting position or state. But Horace violates this :Ep. i. 14. 1. "pollicitus me rure futurum."

19. AN IAMBIC TRIMETER.-vestrorum] An ciently, for vestrúm. D.

20. AN IAMBIC TETRAMETER.-Multó melius] An hyperbole ; as in Adel. "an non

Ideo quia, ut vos mihi domi eritis, proinde ego ero fama foris. Jampridem equidem audivi cepisse odium tvi Philumenam ; Minimeque adeo mirum: et, ni id fecisset, magis mirum foret: Sed non credidi adeo, ut etiam totam hanc odisset domum: 25 Quod si scissem, illa hic maneret potius, tu hinc isses foras. At vide, quam immerito ægritudo hæc oritur mi abs te, Sostrata: Rus habitatum abii, concedens vobis, et rei serviens,

Sumtus vestros otiumque ut nostra res posset pati;

Meo labori haud parcens, præter æquum atque ætatem meam.

prius totis sex mensibus olfecissem?" D. T Melius scio ea quæ hîc fiunt, quam scio ea quæ fiunt illîc (ruris). sum assiduè] Sum for dego, or habito, as esse, line 18. I prefer to join assidue scio, "I better learn day after day." Hence follows, Ideo quia, &c., the reason for his keeping up continually a more intimate acquaintance with respect to matters at home.

21. TROCHAIC TETRAMETERS CATALECTIC. -ut vos, &c.] An excellent sentiment, the truth of which, as an adage, is attested by experience in every age.

22. Jampridem] ¶ If he had not heard of the odium till now, his assertion, line 20, would be false. cepisse odium] ¶ Odium is the subject of cepisse, Philumenam being the object. Lucret. iii. 80. "vitæ Percipit humanos odium." An impersonal phrase, as pertæsum esse, is more frequent and modern than cepisse odium; for which pertæsum esse might be substituted here, without a violation of the sense or of syntax; except, perhaps, that the present arrangement marks better, that Laches considers the aversion of Philumena as the fault of Sostrata; as he further shows, next line.

23. adeò] See And. iii. 3. 47. ni id fecisset] ¶ Scil. ni te odisset Philumena. Others might explain this by "ni cepisset odium Philumena," making fecisset here a reason for considering Philumenam (not odium) as subject to cepisse, in preceding line. But it is not essential, that, where facere is employed instead of repetition of a clause, the subject of the verb in each place should be the same, though certainly it in most cases is. Compare Heaut. iii. 3. 16. "apud alium ipsius facti pudet; Ne ineptus, ne protervus videar. quod illum facere credito." Other instances, as they occur, will readily suggest themselves as such.

24. ut-odisset] T Beware of taking this, as depending on credidi, for odisse; for ut is not qualified, as or is, to supersede the use of the infinitive. Understand "adeo id fecisse eam," I did not believe that her hatred had gone so far, that she should hate (not you

merely, an individual member, but) even the whole family. odisset] ¶ Equivalent to an imperfect subjunctive, as the verb has no present line. Compare note And. ii. 6.

10.

25. maneret] T Scil. oportuit ut. potius,] ¶ This comparative is to be attached, in the sense, not merely to "illa hîc maneret," but to "illa-foras ;" explain it, then :-rather than that the converse should take place, i. e. than that you should remain, and she depart. Exactly similar, I conceive, is the use of magis in Sall. Cat. 1. "animi imperio, corporis servitio magis utimur," i. e. magis quàm animi servitio, corporis imperio utimur.

26. At] On the force of this particle here, the whole drift of this admirable sentence hinges. "But, instead of thinking

that you are aggrieved by me "immerito" (see line 11.), behold how "immerito" I am aggrieved by you. There is emphasis, then, on mihi and te.

27. concedens vobis,] Lest it should be said that he went for his own pleasure. D. Concedere is put for the simple cedere, i. e. locum dare. Plaut. Amphitr. i. 1. 119. 66 neque nox quoquam concedit die." See Drak. on Liv. ii. 47. "concedendo illi suas laudes." R. D. rei serviens ;] Property serves the rich, because they abound; but the poor serve their property, abridging themselves in proportion to its straits. Hor. Ep. i. 10. 47. “Imperat aut servit collecta pecunia cuique." D. ¶ But the passage from Horace contemplates the cases of the rich man under two circumstances, who is a miser, or who is not ;-the poor man is not intended in it at all, as is plain from collecta pecunia. Donatus's remark, otherwise, is correct.

28. otium] i. e. a city life. Adel. "Hanc ego clementem vitam urbanam, atque otium secutus sum.' ." D. otium-pati,] Hor. Ep. i. 18. 28. "meæ stultitiam patiuntur opes.” R. D. ¶ Otium Scil. vestrum. This line, I think, determines my explanation of "ab re tuâ otii" (Heaut. i. 1. 23.) to be correct. 29. præter] See Heaut. i. 1. 7, 8. ætatem

30 Non te pro his curasse rebus, ne quid ægre esset mihi? S. Non mea opera, neque pol culpa, evenit. L. Imo maxime : Sola hic fvisti: in te omnis hæret culpa sola, Sostrata.

Quæ hic erant curares, cum ego vos solvi curis cæteris.

Cum puella anum suscepisse inimicitias non pudet?

35 Illius dices culpa factum. S. Haud equidem dico, mi Laches. L. Gaudeo, ita me di ament, gnati causa: nam de te quidem, Satis scio, peccando detrimenti nil fieri potest.

S. Qui scis, an ea causa, mi vir, me odisse assimulaverit,
Ut cum matre una plus esset? L. Quid ais? non signi hoc

sat est,

40 Quod heri nemo voluit visentem ad eam te intro admittere? S. Enim lassam oppido tum esse aiebant; eo ad eam non ad

missa sum.

L. Tvos esse ego illi mores morbum magis, quam ullam aliam rem, arbitror;

meam] Virg. Æn. vi. 114. "vires ultra, sortemque senectæ." D.

30. Non te] As if he said, Although others cared not, you ought to have cared. D. pro his] In return for these so many things, you should provide for at least one simple matter, namely, that I should not be vexed. D. ægrè esset] i. e. ægritudini esset.

31. operá, neque pol culpa,] ¶ pol, to give strength to her assertion, is joined to culpa, as the evil might have happened by a fault on her part, though not by her instrumentality (opera). She means to convey, that neither did she cause it, nor could she have prevented it. maxime:] Scil. Tua opera et culpa evenit.

32. Sola] This is the reason; understand enim. She was alone as to her son and husband, and the government of the household. D. hæret] T Hangs on you; the chain, which has involved Philumena and others in the fault, owes its main link to you, and no one besides.

33. Quæ hie erant] ¶ Affairs at home. vos solvi curis] ¶ Scil. ex curis. So, Virg. Ec. iv. 14. " solvent formidine terras."

35. Illius] Philumenæ. dices] ¶ He anticipates her defence. haud equidem] She attempts to appease him by endurance.

36. gnati causá,] In that his son's wife is not culpable. D. de te] T There are two methods given, of construing this passage:-1. Join detrimenti de te, "No diminution from your character or reputation can be effected by your committing evil."-2. No injury or disgrace to the family can ensue from your misdeeds" (ironically).-Adopt the former meaning: "No misconduct can make you worse than you are." On detrimentum, see And. i. 1. 16.

38. an eá causâ, &c.] ¶ Whether she has merely pretended to hate me, for that object, namely, in order to live more with her mother.

39. plus] 'Idirixes, i. e. diu, ac majorem partem. D. signi] A proof that she did not merely pretend to hate you; for otherwise, why not give you entrance at the house?

40. heri nemo] Compare i. 2. 14.

41. Enim] For Enimvero; enim does not properly begin a sentence. oppido] Valde. The use of the word is derived from husbandmen, who, when asked how their fruits had advanced, used to answer oppido, i. e. that they sufficed for themselves and the town, The mother-in-law is weakly defended here, that the old man's mistake may persevere even till the καταστροφή. Eo is for propterea, ideo. D. aiebant ;] ¶ Scil. those at Myrrhina's house, who opened the door to

me.

42. illi-morbum] T Are the cause of her being lassa.