The Brothers: Act the Second: Scene II
Oh Jupiter! I do not wonder nowThat men run mad with injuries. He drags meOut of my own house; cudgels me most soundly;And carries off my slave against my will:And after this ill-treatment, he demandsThe Music-Girl to be made over to himAt the same price I bought her.--He has pour'dHis blows upon me, thick as hail; for which,Since he deserves so nobly at my hands,He should no doubt be gratified.--Nay, nay,Let me but touch the cash, I'm still content.But this I guess will be the case: as soonAs I shall have agreed to take his price,He'll produce witnesses immediately,To prove that I have sold her--And the moneyWill be mere moonshine.--"By-and-by."--"To-morrow."--Yet I could bear that too, although much wrong,Might I but get the money after all:For thus it is, friend Sannio; when a manHas taken up this trade, he must receive,And pocket the affronts of young gallants.--But nobody will pay me, and I drawConclusions to no purpose.
Words in this poem
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
- gratified a.
- Pleased; indulged according to desire.
- 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,]
- moonshine n.
- The light of the moon.
- nobody n.
- No person; no one; not anybody. [No, a. + body.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Brothers: Act the Second: Scene II 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 Brothers: Act the Second: Scene II, in The Comedies of Terence (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22695, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/terence-comedies/the-brothers-act-the-second-scene-ii.html, id L25823.
Form and metre
The Brothers: Act the Second: Scene II is 23 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 83%).
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.
- 1 ----A---A-------------- now · me · soundly · will · demandsA · him · pour'd · which · handsA · nay · content · soon · price · immediately · money · morrow · wrong · all · man · receive · gallants · draw · purpose
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Oh Jupiter! I do not wonder now | 10 | ·/˘˘···/˘· |
| That men run mad with injuries. He drags me | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Out of my own house; cudgels me most soundly; | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| And carries off my slave against my will: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And after this ill-treatment, he demands | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| The Music-Girl to be made over to him | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| At the same price I bought her.--He has pour'd | 10 | ·········· |
| His blows upon me, thick as hail; for which, | 10 | ·········· |
| Since he deserves so nobly at my hands, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| He should no doubt be gratified.--Nay, nay, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Let me but touch the cash, I'm still content. | 10 | ········/˘ |
| But this I guess will be the case: as soon | 10 | ·········· |
| As I shall have agreed to take his price, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| He'll produce witnesses immediately, | 11 | ·/˘/˘˘˘/˘˘˘ |
| To prove that I have sold her--And the money | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Will be mere moonshine.--"By-and-by."--"To-morrow." | 11 | ···/·····/˘ |
| --Yet I could bear that too, although much wrong, | 10 | ·········· |
| Might I but get the money after all: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| For thus it is, friend Sannio; when a man | 10 | ·········· |
| Has taken up this trade, he must receive, | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| And pocket the affronts of young gallants. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/··/˘ |
| --But nobody will pay me, and I draw | 10 | ·/········ |
| Conclusions to no purpose. | 7 | ˘/˘··/˘ |
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.