Phormio: Act the Third: Scene I
DEM. Well, Chremes, have you brought your daughter with you,On whose account you went to Lemnos?
CHREM. It seems the mother, grown impatient,Perceiving that I tarried here so long,And that the girl's age brook'd not my delays,Had journeyed here, they said, in search of me,With her whole family.
DEM. Appris'd of this,What kept you there so long then?
DEM. How came it? what disease?
CHREM. Is that a question?Old age itself is a disease.--However,The master of the ship, who brought them over,Inform'd me of their safe arrival hither.
DEM. Have you heard, Chremes, of my son's misfortuneDuring my absence?
CHREM. Aye; and it confounds me.For to another should I tender her,I must relate the girl's whole history,And whence arises my connection with her.You I can trust as safely as myself:But if a stranger courts alliance with me,While we're new friends, he'll hold his peace perhaps,But if he cools, he'll know too much of me.Then I'm afraid my wife should know of this;Which if she does, I've nothing else to doBut shake myself, and leave my house directly:For I've no friend at home except myself.
DEM. I know it; and 'tis that which touches me.Nor are there any means I'll leave untried,Till I have made my promise to you good.
HarperCHREM. It seems the mother, grown impatientColman 1768CHREM. Her mother grown, it seems, impatient
Inform'd me of their safe arrival hither.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- 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 Third: Scene I 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 Third: Scene I, in The Comedies of Terence (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22695, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/terence-comedies/phormio-act-the-third-scene-i.html, id L25899.
Form and metre
Phormio: Act the Third: Scene I is 36 lines in 10 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.
- 7 AB-BCA-A---C meA · herB · history · herB · myselfC · meA · perhaps · meA · this · do · directly · myselfC
- 9 -A-A harper · impatientA · — · impatientA
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. Well, Chremes, have you brought your daughter with you, | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| On whose account you went to Lemnos? | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| CHREM. It seems the mother, grown impatient, | 10 | ····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Perceiving that I tarried here so long, | 9 | ˘/˘······ |
| And that the girl's age brook'd not my delays, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Had journeyed here, they said, in search of me, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| With her whole family. | 6 | ···/˘˘ |
| DEM. Appris'd of this, | 5 | ·˘/·· |
| What kept you there so long then? | 7 | ······· |
| DEM. How came it? what disease? | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| CHREM. Is that a question? | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Old age itself is a disease.--However, | 11 | ··˘/··˘/·/˘ |
| The master of the ship, who brought them over, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Inform'd me of their safe arrival hither. | 11 | ˘/····˘/˘/˘ |
| DEM. Have you heard, Chremes, of my son's misfortune | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| During my absence? | 5 | /˘·/˘ |
| CHREM. Aye; and it confounds me. | 7 | ····˘/· |
| For to another should I tender her, | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| I must relate the girl's whole history, | 10 | ··˘/···/˘˘ |
| And whence arises my connection with her. | 11 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘·· |
| You I can trust as safely as myself: | 10 | ·····/˘··/ |
| But if a stranger courts alliance with me, | 11 | ···/˘·˘/˘·· |
| While we're new friends, he'll hold his peace perhaps, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| But if he cools, he'll know too much of me. | 10 | ·········· |
| Then I'm afraid my wife should know of this; | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Which if she does, I've nothing else to do | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But shake myself, and leave my house directly: | 11 | ···/····˘/˘ |
| For I've no friend at home except myself. | 10 | ·········/ |
| DEM. I know it; and 'tis that which touches me. | 11 | ········/˘· |
| Nor are there any means I'll leave untried, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Till I have made my promise to you good. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Harper | 2 | /˘ |
| CHREM. It seems the mother, grown impatient | 10 | ····/˘·˘/˘ |
| Colman 1768 | 2 | /˘ |
| CHREM. Her mother grown, it seems, impatient | 10 | ··/˘···˘/˘ |
| Inform'd me of their safe arrival hither. | 11 | ˘/····˘/˘/˘ |
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.