Phormio: Act the Fourth: Scene VI
I'm glad, however my affairs proceed,That Phaedria's have succeeded to his mind.How wise to foster such desires alone,As, although cross'd, are easily supplied!Money, once found, sets Phaedria at his ease;But my distress admits no remedy.For, if the secret's kept, I live in fear;And if reveal'd, I am expos'd to shame.Nor would I now return, but in the hopeOf still possessing her.--But where is Geta?That I may learn of him the fittest timeTo meet my father.
About this text
Phormio: Act the Fourth: 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 Fourth: Scene VI, in The Comedies of Terence (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22695, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/terence-comedies/phormio-act-the-fourth-scene-vi.html, id L25910.
Form and metre
Phormio: Act the Fourth: Scene VI is 12 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I'm glad, however my affairs proceed, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘/ |
| That Phaedria's have succeeded to his mind. | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| How wise to foster such desires alone, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘/ |
| As, although cross'd, are easily supplied! | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| Money, once found, sets Phaedria at his ease; | 10 | /˘········ |
| But my distress admits no remedy. | 10 | ··˘/˘/·/˘˘ |
| For, if the secret's kept, I live in fear; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And if reveal'd, I am expos'd to shame. | 10 | ··˘/··˘/·· |
| Nor would I now return, but in the hope | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Of still possessing her.--But where is Geta? | 11 | ··˘/˘······ |
| That I may learn of him the fittest time | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To meet my father. | 5 | ···/˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.