Phormio: Act the Third: Scene VI
SOPH. (to herself). Alas!What shall I do, unhappy as I am?Where find a friend? to whom disclose this story?Of whom beseech assistance?--For I fearMy mistress will sustain some injuryFrom following my counsel: the youth's father,I hear, is so offended at this marriage.
CHREM. Who's this old woman, coming from my brother's,That seems so terrified?
SOPH. (to herself). 'Twas povertyCompell'd me to this action: though I knewThis match would hardly hold together long,Yet I advis'd her to it, that meanwhileShe might not want subsistence.
CHREM. Surely, surely,Either my mind deceives me, or my eyes fail me,Or that's my daughter's nurse.CHREM. What shall I do?
SOPH. --Her father out.
CHREM. Were't bestI should go up to her, or wait a little,To gather something more from her discourse?SOPH. Could he be found, my fears were at an end.
CHREM. 'Tis she. I'll speak with her.
SOPH. (overhearing). Whose voice is that?
SOPH. Ha! my name too?
CHREM. Look this way.
SOPH. (turning). Good Heav'n have mercy on us! Stilpho!
SOPH. Deny your own name?
CHREM. (in a low voice). This way, Sophrona!------A little further from that door!--this way!----And never call me by that name, I charge you.
SOPH. What, ar'n't you then the man you said you was? (Aloud.)
CHREM. Hist! hist!
SOPH. What makes you fear those doors so much?
CHREM. I have a fury of a wife within:And formerly I went by that false name,Lest she should indiscreetly blab it out,And so my wife might come to hear of this.
SOPH. Ah! thus it was, that we, alas! poor souls,Could never find you out here.
CHREM. Well, but tell me,What business have you with that family? (Pointing.)--Where is your mistress and her daughter?CHREM. What now? are they alive?
SOPH. The daughter is:The mother broke her heart with grief.
SOPH. And I a poor, unknown, distress'd old woman,Endeavoring to manage for the best,Contriv'd to match the virgin to a youth,Son to the master of this house.CHREM. To Antipho?
SOPH. The very same.
CHREM. What! has he two wives then?
SOPH. No, mercy on us! he has none but her.
CHREM. What is the other then, who, they pretend,Is a relation to him?
SOPH. This is she.
CHREM. How say you?
SOPH. It was all a mere contrivance:That he, who was in love, might marry herWithout a portion.
CHREM. O ye powers of heav'n,How often fortune blindly brings aboutMore than we dare to hope for! Coming home,I've found my daughter, even to my wish,Match'd to the very person I desir'd.What we have both been laboring to effect,Has this poor woman all alone accomplish'd.
SOPH. But now consider what is to be done!The bridegroom's father is return'd; and he,They say, is much offended at this marriage.
CHREM. Be of good comfort: there's no danger there.But, in the name of heav'n and earth, I charge you,Let nobody discover she's my daughter.SOPH. None shall discover it from me.
CHREM. Come then!Follow me in, and you shall hear the rest. (Exeunt.
Words in this poem
- soph n.
- A contraction of Soph ister.
- 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,]
- meanwhile n.
- The intervening time; as, in the meantime (or mean time).
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- blab v. t.
- To utter or tell unnecessarily, or in a thoughtless manner; to publish (secrets or trifles) without reserve or discretion. Udall. [Cf. OE. blaberen, or Dan. blabbre, G. plappern, Gael. blabaran a stammerer; prob. of imitative origin. Cf. also Blubber, v.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- blindly adv.
- Without sight, discernment, or understanding; without thought, investigation, knowledge, or purpose of one's own.
- laboring a.
- That labors; performing labor; esp., performing coarse, heavy work, not requiring skill also, set apart for labor; as, laboring days.
- nobody n.
- No person; no one; not anybody. [No, a. + body.]
- discover v. i.
- To discover or show one's self.
- 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.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Phormio: Act the Third: 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 Third: Scene VI, in The Comedies of Terence (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22695, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/terence-comedies/phormio-act-the-third-scene-vi.html, id L25904.
Form and metre
Phormio: Act the Third: Scene VI is 78 lines in 32 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 |
|---|---|---|
| SOPH. (to herself). Alas! | 6 | ··˘/˘/ |
| What shall I do, unhappy as I am? | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Where find a friend? to whom disclose this story? | 11 | ······˘/·/˘ |
| Of whom beseech assistance?--For I fear | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| My mistress will sustain some injury | 10 | ·/˘·˘/·/˘˘ |
| From following my counsel: the youth's father, | 11 | ·/˘˘·/˘··/˘ |
| I hear, is so offended at this marriage. | 11 | ····˘/˘··/˘ |
| CHREM. Who's this old woman, coming from my brother's, | 12 | ····/˘/˘··/˘ |
| That seems so terrified? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| SOPH. (to herself). 'Twas poverty | 8 | ··˘/·/˘˘ |
| Compell'd me to this action: though I knew | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| This match would hardly hold together long, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Yet I advis'd her to it, that meanwhile | 10 | ··˘/····/· |
| She might not want subsistence. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| CHREM. Surely, surely, | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| Either my mind deceives me, or my eyes fail me, | 12 | /˘··˘/······ |
| Or that's my daughter's nurse. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| CHREM. What shall I do? | 5 | ····· |
| SOPH. --Her father out. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| CHREM. Were't best | 4 | ···· |
| I should go up to her, or wait a little, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| To gather something more from her discourse? | 10 | ·/˘/˘···/˘ |
| SOPH. Could he be found, my fears were at an end. | 11 | ··········· |
| CHREM. 'Tis she. I'll speak with her. | 7 | ······· |
| SOPH. (overhearing). Whose voice is that? | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
| SOPH. Ha! my name too? | 5 | ····· |
| CHREM. Look this way. | 4 | ···· |
| SOPH. (turning). Good Heav'n have mercy on us! Stilpho! | 12 | ·/˘···/˘···· |
| SOPH. Deny your own name? | 6 | ·˘/··· |
| CHREM. (in a low voice). This way, Sophrona!---- | 10 | ·········· |
| --A little further from that door!--this way!---- | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And never call me by that name, I charge you. | 10 | ·/········ |
| SOPH. What, ar'n't you then the man you said you was? (Aloud.) | 13 | ···········˘/ |
| CHREM. Hist! hist! | 3 | ··· |
| SOPH. What makes you fear those doors so much? | 9 | ········· |
| CHREM. I have a fury of a wife within: | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| And formerly I went by that false name, | 10 | ·/˘˘······ |
| Lest she should indiscreetly blab it out, | 10 | ·········· |
| And so my wife might come to hear of this. | 10 | ·········· |
| SOPH. Ah! thus it was, that we, alas! poor souls, | 11 | ·······˘/·· |
| Could never find you out here. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| CHREM. Well, but tell me, | 5 | ····· |
| What business have you with that family? (Pointing.) | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| --Where is your mistress and her daughter? | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| CHREM. What now? are they alive? | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| SOPH. The daughter is: | 5 | ··/˘· |
| The mother broke her heart with grief. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| SOPH. And I a poor, unknown, distress'd old woman, | 12 | ·····˘/˘/·/˘ |
| Endeavoring to manage for the best, | 10 | ˘/˘˘·/˘··· |
| Contriv'd to match the virgin to a youth, | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Son to the master of this house. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| CHREM. To Antipho? | 5 | ····· |
| SOPH. The very same. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| CHREM. What! has he two wives then? | 7 | ······· |
| SOPH. No, mercy on us! he has none but her. | 11 | ··/˘······· |
| CHREM. What is the other then, who, they pretend, | 11 | ····/˘···˘/ |
| Is a relation to him? | 7 | ··˘/˘·· |
| SOPH. This is she. | 4 | ···· |
| CHREM. How say you? | 4 | ···· |
| SOPH. It was all a mere contrivance: | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| That he, who was in love, might marry her | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Without a portion. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| CHREM. O ye powers of heav'n, | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| How often fortune blindly brings about | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| More than we dare to hope for! Coming home, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I've found my daughter, even to my wish, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Match'd to the very person I desir'd. | 11 | ···/˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| What we have both been laboring to effect, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Has this poor woman all alone accomplish'd. | 11 | ···/˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| SOPH. But now consider what is to be done! | 11 | ···˘/˘····· |
| The bridegroom's father is return'd; and he, | 10 | ·/·/˘·˘/·· |
| They say, is much offended at this marriage. | 11 | ····˘/˘··/˘ |
| CHREM. Be of good comfort: there's no danger there. | 11 | ····/˘··/˘· |
| But, in the name of heav'n and earth, I charge you, | 11 | ··········· |
| Let nobody discover she's my daughter. | 11 | ·/··˘/˘··/˘ |
| SOPH. None shall discover it from me. | 9 | ···˘/˘··· |
| CHREM. Come then! | 3 | ··· |
| Follow me in, and you shall hear the rest. (Exeunt. | 13 | /˘········/˘˘ |
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