Phormio: Act the Third: Scene V
DEM. Nay, peace!I'll warrant he shall play no tricks upon us:I'll not part rashly with it, I assure you;But pay it before witnesses, recitingTo whom 'tis paid, and why 'tis paid.
GETA. How cautious,Where there is no occasion! (Aside.)
CHREM. You had need.But haste, dispatch it while the fit's upon him:For if the other party should be pressing,Perhaps he'll break with us.GETA. You've hit it, Sir.
DEM. Carry me to him then.
GETA. I wait your pleasure.
CHREM. (to DEMIPHO). When this is done, step over to my wife,That she may see the girl before she goes;And tell her, to prevent her being angry,"That we've agreed to marry her to Phormio,Her old acquaintance, and a fitter match;That we have not been wanting in our duty,But giv'n as large a portion as he ask'd."DEM. Pshaw! what's all this to you?
CHREM. A great deal, brother.
DEM. Is't not sufficient to have done your duty,Unless the world approves it?
CHREM. I would chooseTo have the whole thing done by her consent,Lest she pretend she was turn'd out o' doors.
DEM. Well, I can say all this to her myself.
CHREM. A woman deals much better with a woman.
DEM. I'll ask your wife to do it then. (Exeunt DEMIPHO and GETA.
CHREM. I'm thinkingWhere I shall find these women now.
HarperLest she pretend she was turn'd out o' doors.Colman 1768
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- fitter n.
- A little piece; a flitter; a flinder.
- pshaw interj.
- Pish! pooch! -- an exclamation used as an expression of contempt, disdain, dislike, etc. [Of imitative origin.]
- exeunt
- They go out, or retire from the scene; as, exeunt all except Hamlet. See 1st Exit. [L., 3d pers. pl. pres. of exire to go out.]
- 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 V 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 V, in The Comedies of Terence (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22695, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/terence-comedies/phormio-act-the-third-scene-v.html, id L25903.
Form and metre
Phormio: Act the Third: Scene V is 36 lines in 14 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.
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. Nay, peace! | 3 | ··· |
| I'll warrant he shall play no tricks upon us: | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| I'll not part rashly with it, I assure you; | 11 | ···/˘···˘/· |
| But pay it before witnesses, reciting | 11 | ·····/˘˘˘/˘ |
| To whom 'tis paid, and why 'tis paid. | 8 | ········ |
| GETA. How cautious, | 5 | ···/˘ |
| Where there is no occasion! (Aside.) | 9 | ····˘/˘˘/ |
| CHREM. You had need. | 4 | ···· |
| But haste, dispatch it while the fit's upon him: | 11 | ··˘/······· |
| For if the other party should be pressing, | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Perhaps he'll break with us. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| GETA. You've hit it, Sir. | 6 | ······ |
| DEM. Carry me to him then. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| GETA. I wait your pleasure. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| CHREM. (to DEMIPHO). When this is done, step over to my wife, | 14 | ·············· |
| That she may see the girl before she goes; | 10 | ·········· |
| And tell her, to prevent her being angry, | 11 | ····˘/·/˘/˘ |
| "That we've agreed to marry her to Phormio, | 11 | ··˘/·/˘···· |
| Her old acquaintance, and a fitter match; | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| That we have not been wanting in our duty, | 11 | ·····/˘·//˘ |
| But giv'n as large a portion as he ask'd." | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| DEM. Pshaw! what's all this to you? | 7 | ······· |
| CHREM. A great deal, brother. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| DEM. Is't not sufficient to have done your duty, | 12 | ···˘/˘····/˘ |
| Unless the world approves it? | 7 | ····˘/· |
| CHREM. I would choose | 4 | ···· |
| To have the whole thing done by her consent, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Lest she pretend she was turn'd out o' doors. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| DEM. Well, I can say all this to her myself. | 11 | ··········/ |
| CHREM. A woman deals much better with a woman. | 12 | ··/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| DEM. I'll ask your wife to do it then. (Exeunt DEMIPHO and GETA. | 18 | ·········/˘˘······ |
| CHREM. I'm thinking | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Where I shall find these women now. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Harper | 2 | /˘ |
| Lest she pretend she was turn'd out o' doors. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| Colman 1768 | 2 | /˘ |
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