The Andrian: Act the Fifth: Scene III
SIMO. Here, drag him headlong in,And truss the rascal up immediately.
SIMO. Because I'll have it so.Take him, I say.DAVUS. For what offense?
SIMO. Off with him!
DAVUS. If it appear that I've said aught but truth,Put me to death.
SIMO. I will not hear. I'll trounce you.
DAVUS. But though it should prove true, Sir!
SIMO. True or false.See that you keep him bound: and do you hear?Bind the slave hand and foot. Away! (Exeunt DROMO and DAVUS.
Words in this poem
- aught n.
- Property; possession. [AS. , fr. agan to own, p. p. ahte.]
- trounce v. t.
- To punish or beat severely; to whip smartly; to flog; to castigate. [F. tronce, tronche, a stump, piece of wood. See Truncheon.]
- 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
The Andrian: Act the Fifth: Scene III 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, The Andrian: Act the Fifth: Scene III, in The Comedies of Terence (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22695, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/terence-comedies/the-andrian-act-the-fifth-scene-iii.html, id L25747.
Form and metre
The Andrian: Act the Fifth: Scene III is 13 lines in 7 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| SIMO. Here, drag him headlong in, | 8 | /˘···/·· |
| And truss the rascal up immediately. | 11 | ···/˘·˘/˘˘˘ |
| SIMO. Because I'll have it so. | 8 | /˘······ |
| Take him, I say. | 4 | ···· |
| DAVUS. For what offense? | 6 | ····˘/ |
| SIMO. Off with him! | 5 | /˘··· |
| DAVUS. If it appear that I've said aught but truth, | 12 | ····˘/······ |
| Put me to death. | 4 | ···· |
| SIMO. I will not hear. I'll trounce you. | 9 | /˘······· |
| DAVUS. But though it should prove true, Sir! | 9 | ········· |
| SIMO. True or false. | 5 | /˘··· |
| See that you keep him bound: and do you hear? | 10 | ·········· |
| Bind the slave hand and foot. Away! (Exeunt DROMO and DAVUS. | 16 | ······˘//˘˘····· |
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.