The Andrian: Act the Third: Scene I
MYSIS. Aye, marry, 'tis as you say, Lesbia:Women scarce ever find a constant man.SIMO. The Andrian's maid-servant! Is't not?
SIMO. What says she? (Overhearing.)
MYSIS. Has been true.
SIMO. How's that? (Overhearing.)
DAVUS. Would he were deaf, or she were dumb! (Aside.)
MYSIS. For the child, boy, or girl, he has resolv'dTo educate.
SIMO. O Jupiter! what's thisI hear? If this be true, I'm lost indeed.LESBIA. A good young Gentleman!
MYSIS. Oh, very good.But in, in, lest you make her wait.
LESBIA. I follow. (Exeunt MYSIS and LESBIA.
Words in this poem
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- 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 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, The Andrian: Act the Third: Scene I, in The Comedies of Terence (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22695, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/terence-comedies/the-andrian-act-the-third-scene-i.html, id L25729.
Form and metre
The Andrian: Act the Third: Scene I is 15 lines in 9 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 |
|---|---|---|
| MYSIS. Aye, marry, 'tis as you say, Lesbia: | 11 | /˘·/˘······ |
| Women scarce ever find a constant man. | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| SIMO. The Andrian's maid-servant! Is't not? | 10 | /˘····/˘·· |
| SIMO. What says she? (Overhearing.) | 9 | /˘····˘/˘ |
| MYSIS. Has been true. | 5 | /˘··· |
| SIMO. How's that? (Overhearing.) | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| DAVUS. Would he were deaf, or she were dumb! (Aside.) | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| MYSIS. For the child, boy, or girl, he has resolv'd | 12 | /˘········˘/ |
| To educate. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| SIMO. O Jupiter! what's this | 8 | /˘·/˘˘·· |
| I hear? If this be true, I'm lost indeed. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| LESBIA. A good young Gentleman! | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| MYSIS. Oh, very good. | 6 | /˘·/˘· |
| But in, in, lest you make her wait. | 8 | ········ |
| LESBIA. I follow. (Exeunt MYSIS and LESBIA. | 13 | ···/˘/˘˘/˘··· |
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.