Phormio: Act the First: Scene VI
DEM. How's this? a wife! what, Antipho! and ne'erAsk my consent?--nor my authority----Or, grant we pass authority, not dreadMy wrath at least?--To have no sense of shame?--Oh, impudence!--Oh, Geta, rare adviser!
GETA. Geta at last.
DEM. What they will say to me,Or what excuse they will devise, I wonder.
GETA. Oh, we have settled that already: thinkOf something else.
DEM. But conscious of the fraud, without a wordIn answer or defense, to yield the causeTamely to your opponents--did the lawForce you to that too?
PHAED. That's home.
GETA. Give me leave.I'll manage it.
DEM. I know not what to do:This stroke has come so unawares upon me,Beyond all expectation, past belief.--I'm so enrag'd, I can't compose my mindTo think upon it.--Wherefore ev'ry man,When his affairs go on most swimmingly,Ev'n then it most behooves to arm himselfAgainst the coming storm: loss, danger, exile,Returning ever let him look to meet;His son in fault, wife dead, or daughter sick----All common accidents, and may have happen'd;That nothing should seem new or strange. But ifAught has fall'n out beyond his hopes, all thatLet him account clear gain.
GETA. Oh, Phaedria,'Tis wonderful how much a wiser manI am than my old master. My misfortunesI have consider'd well.--At his returnDoom'd to grind ever in the mill, beat, chain'd,Or set to labor in the fields; of theseNothing will happen new. If aught falls outBeyond my hopes, all that I'll count clear gain.--But why delay t'accost th' old gentleman,And speak him fair at first? (PHAEDRIA goes forward.)
DEM. Methinks I seeMy nephew Phaedria.PHAED. My good Uncle, welcome!
DEM. Your servant!--But where's Antipho?
PHAED. I'm gladTo see you safe----
DEM. Well, well!--But answer me.
PHAED. He's well: hard by.--But have affairs turn'd outAccording to your wishes?DEM. Would they had!
PHAED. Why, what's the matter?
DEM. What's the matter, Phaedria?You've clapp'd up a fine marriage in my absence.
PHAED. What! are you angry with him about that?
GETA. Well counterfeited!
DEM. Should I not be angry?Let me but set eyes on him, he shall knowThat his offenses have converted meFrom a mild father to a most severe one.PHAED. He has done nothing, Uncle, to offend you.
DEM. See, all alike! the whole gang hangs together:Know one, and you know all.
PHAED. Nay, 'tis not so.
DEM. One does a fault, the other's hard at handTo bear him out: when t'other slips, he's ready:Each in their turn!
GETA. I' faith th' old gentlemanHas blunder'd on their humors to a hair.
DEM. If 'twere not so, you'd not defend him, Phaedria.
PHAED. If, Uncle, Antipho has done a wrong,Or to his interest or reputation,I am content he suffer as he may:But if another, with malicious fraud,Has laid a snare for unexperienced youth,And triumph'd o'er it; can you lay the blameOn us, or on the judges, who oft takeThrough envy from the rich, or from compassionAdd to the poor?
GETA. Unless I knew the cause,I should imagine this was truth he spoke.
DEM. What judge can know the merits on your side,When you put in no plea; as he has done?
PHAED. He has behav'd like an ingenuous youth.When he came into court, he wanted pow'rTo utter what he had prepar'd, so muchHe was abash'd by fear and modesty.
GETA. Oh brave!--But why, without more loss of time,Don't I accost th' old man! (Going up.) My master, welcome!I am rejoic'd to see you safe return'd.
DEM. What! my good master Governor! your slave!The prop! the pillar of our family!To whom, at my departure hence, I gaveMy son in charge.
GETA. I've heard you for some timeAccuse us all quite undeservedly,And me, of all, most undeservedly.For what could I have done in this affair?A slave the laws will not allow to plead;Nor can he be an evidence.
DEM. I grant it.Nay more--the boy was bashful--I allow it.--You but a slave.--But if she had been prov'dEver so plainly a relation, whyNeeded he marry her? and why not ratherGive her, according to the law, a portion,And let her seek some other for a husband?Why did he rather bring a beggar home?GETA. 'Twas not the thought, but money that was wanting.
DEM. He might have borrow'd it!
GETA. Have borrow'd it!Easily said.
DEM. If not to be had else,On interest.
GETA. Nay, now indeed you've hit it!Who would advance him money in your life?
DEM. Well, well, it shall not, and it can not be,That I should suffer her to live with himAs wife a single day. There is no cause.--Would I might see that fellow, or could tellWhere he resides!DEM. The girl's Patron.
GETA. He shall be with you straight.
DEM. Go, Phaedria; find him, bring him here.
PHAED. I'll go directly. (Exit
HarperDEM. If 'twere not so, you'd not defend him, Phaedria.Colman 1768
Words in this poem
- tamely adv.
- In a tame manner.
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
- swimmingly adv.
- In an easy, gliding manner, as if swimming; smoothly; successfully; prosperously.
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
- nephew n.
- A grandson or grandchild, or remoter lineal descendant. [OE. neveu, nevou, nevu, fr. F. neveu, OF. also, nevou, L. nepos; akin to AS. nefa, D. neef, G. neffe, OHG. nevo, Icel. nefi a kinsman, gr. nepat grandson, desce]
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- unexperienced a.
- Not experienced; being without experience; inexperienced.
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- ingenuous a.
- Of honorable extraction; freeborn; noble; as, ingenuous blood of birth. [L. ingenuus inborn, innate, freeborn, noble, frank; pref. in- in + the root of gignere to beget. See Genius, and cf. Ingenious.]
- departure n.
- Division; separation; putting away. [From Depart.]
- harper n.
- A player on the harp; a minstrel. [AS. hearpere.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Phormio: Act the First: Scene VI is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Comedies of Terence, Project Gutenberg ebook #22695; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Terence, Phormio: Act the First: Scene VI, in The Comedies of Terence (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22695, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/terence-comedies/phormio-act-the-first-scene-vi.html, id L25891.
Form and metre
Phormio: Act the First: Scene VI is 128 lines in 41 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 9 -------AA- phaedria · man · misfortunes · return · chain'd · these · out · gainA · gentlemanA · forward
- 29 AA- timeA · welcomeA · return'd
- 30 A-A- slaveA · family · gaveA · charge
- 31 -AA--- time · undeservedlyA · undeservedlyA · affair · plead · evidence
- 32 AA------- itA · itA · prov'd · why · rather · portion · husband · home · wanting
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| DEM. How's this? a wife! what, Antipho! and ne'er | 11 | ··········· |
| Ask my consent?--nor my authority---- | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘˘ |
| Or, grant we pass authority, not dread | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| My wrath at least?--To have no sense of shame? | 10 | ·········· |
| --Oh, impudence!--Oh, Geta, rare adviser! | 11 | ·/˘˘····˘/˘ |
| GETA. Geta at last. | 6 | ······ |
| DEM. What they will say to me, | 7 | ······· |
| Or what excuse they will devise, I wonder. | 11 | ··˘/··˘/·/˘ |
| GETA. Oh, we have settled that already: think | 12 | ·····/˘·˘/˘· |
| Of something else. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| DEM. But conscious of the fraud, without a word | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| In answer or defense, to yield the cause | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| Tamely to your opponents--did the law | 10 | /˘··˘/˘··· |
| Force you to that too? | 5 | ····· |
| PHAED. That's home. | 3 | ··· |
| GETA. Give me leave. | 5 | ····· |
| I'll manage it. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| DEM. I know not what to do: | 7 | ······· |
| This stroke has come so unawares upon me, | 11 | ······˘/··· |
| Beyond all expectation, past belief. | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| --I'm so enrag'd, I can't compose my mind | 10 | ··˘/··˘/·· |
| To think upon it.--Wherefore ev'ry man, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| When his affairs go on most swimmingly, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘˘ |
| Ev'n then it most behooves to arm himself | 10 | ····˘/··˘/ |
| Against the coming storm: loss, danger, exile, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/· |
| Returning ever let him look to meet; | 10 | ˘/˘/˘····· |
| His son in fault, wife dead, or daughter sick---- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| All common accidents, and may have happen'd; | 11 | ·/˘/˘˘···/˘ |
| That nothing should seem new or strange. But if | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Aught has fall'n out beyond his hopes, all that | 10 | ·········· |
| Let him account clear gain. | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| GETA. Oh, Phaedria, | 5 | ····· |
| 'Tis wonderful how much a wiser man | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| I am than my old master. My misfortunes | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| I have consider'd well.--At his return | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| Doom'd to grind ever in the mill, beat, chain'd, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Or set to labor in the fields; of these | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Nothing will happen new. If aught falls out | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Beyond my hopes, all that I'll count clear gain. | 10 | ·········· |
| --But why delay t'accost th' old gentleman, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘˘ |
| And speak him fair at first? (PHAEDRIA goes forward.) | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| DEM. Methinks I see | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| My nephew Phaedria. | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| PHAED. My good Uncle, welcome! | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| DEM. Your servant!--But where's Antipho? | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| PHAED. I'm glad | 3 | ··· |
| To see you safe---- | 4 | ···· |
| DEM. Well, well!--But answer me. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| PHAED. He's well: hard by.--But have affairs turn'd out | 11 | ·······˘/·· |
| According to your wishes? | 7 | ˘/˘··/˘ |
| DEM. Would they had! | 4 | ···· |
| PHAED. Why, what's the matter? | 6 | ····/˘ |
| DEM. What's the matter, Phaedria? | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| You've clapp'd up a fine marriage in my absence. | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| PHAED. What! are you angry with him about that? | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| GETA. Well counterfeited! | 7 | ···/˘·˘ |
| DEM. Should I not be angry? | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| Let me but set eyes on him, he shall know | 10 | ·········· |
| That his offenses have converted me | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| From a mild father to a most severe one. | 11 | ···/˘···˘/· |
| PHAED. He has done nothing, Uncle, to offend you. | 12 | ····/˘/˘·˘/· |
| DEM. See, all alike! the whole gang hangs together: | 12 | ···˘/····˘/˘ |
| Know one, and you know all. | 6 | ······ |
| PHAED. Nay, 'tis not so. | 5 | ····· |
| DEM. One does a fault, the other's hard at hand | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| To bear him out: when t'other slips, he's ready: | 12 | ·····˘/˘··/˘ |
| Each in their turn! | 4 | ···· |
| GETA. I' faith th' old gentleman | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Has blunder'd on their humors to a hair. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| DEM. If 'twere not so, you'd not defend him, Phaedria. | 12 | ·······˘/··· |
| PHAED. If, Uncle, Antipho has done a wrong, | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| Or to his interest or reputation, | 10 | ···/˘··˘/˘ |
| I am content he suffer as he may: | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| But if another, with malicious fraud, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘· |
| Has laid a snare for unexperienced youth, | 10 | ·········· |
| And triumph'd o'er it; can you lay the blame | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| On us, or on the judges, who oft take | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Through envy from the rich, or from compassion | 11 | ·/˘·····˘/˘ |
| Add to the poor? | 4 | ···· |
| GETA. Unless I knew the cause, | 8 | ········ |
| I should imagine this was truth he spoke. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| DEM. What judge can know the merits on your side, | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| When you put in no plea; as he has done? | 10 | ·········· |
| PHAED. He has behav'd like an ingenuous youth. | 11 | ···˘/··˘/˘· |
| When he came into court, he wanted pow'r | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To utter what he had prepar'd, so much | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| He was abash'd by fear and modesty. | 10 | ··˘/···/˘˘ |
| GETA. Oh brave!--But why, without more loss of time, | 12 | ············ |
| Don't I accost th' old man! (Going up.) My master, welcome! | 13 | ··˘/··/··/˘/˘ |
| I am rejoic'd to see you safe return'd. | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| DEM. What! my good master Governor! your slave! | 10 | ····/˘/˘·· |
| The prop! the pillar of our family! | 11 | ···/˘·/˘/˘˘ |
| To whom, at my departure hence, I gave | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| My son in charge. | 4 | ···· |
| GETA. I've heard you for some time | 8 | ········ |
| Accuse us all quite undeservedly, | 10 | ˘/········ |
| And me, of all, most undeservedly. | 10 | ·········· |
| For what could I have done in this affair? | 10 | ········˘/ |
| A slave the laws will not allow to plead; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Nor can he be an evidence. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| DEM. I grant it. | 4 | ···· |
| Nay more--the boy was bashful--I allow it. | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/· |
| --You but a slave.--But if she had been prov'd | 10 | ·········· |
| Ever so plainly a relation, why | 10 | /˘·/˘·˘/˘· |
| Needed he marry her? and why not rather | 11 | /˘·/˘····/˘ |
| Give her, according to the law, a portion, | 11 | ··˘/˘····/˘ |
| And let her seek some other for a husband? | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Why did he rather bring a beggar home? | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| GETA. 'Twas not the thought, but money that was wanting. | 13 | ·······/˘··/˘ |
| DEM. He might have borrow'd it! | 7 | ····/·· |
| GETA. Have borrow'd it! | 6 | ···/·· |
| Easily said. | 4 | /˘˘· |
| DEM. If not to be had else, | 7 | ······· |
| On interest. | 3 | ·/˘ |
| GETA. Nay, now indeed you've hit it! | 9 | ····˘/··· |
| Who would advance him money in your life? | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| DEM. Well, well, it shall not, and it can not be, | 11 | ··········· |
| That I should suffer her to live with him | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| As wife a single day. There is no cause. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| --Would I might see that fellow, or could tell | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Where he resides! | 4 | ··˘/ |
| DEM. The girl's Patron. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| GETA. He shall be with you straight. | 8 | ········ |
| DEM. Go, Phaedria; find him, bring him here. | 9 | ········· |
| PHAED. I'll go directly. (Exit | 9 | ·˘··˘/˘/˘ |
| Harper | 2 | /˘ |
| DEM. If 'twere not so, you'd not defend him, Phaedria. | 12 | ·······˘/··· |
| Colman 1768 | 2 | /˘ |
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