The Brothers: Act the Third: Scene I
CAN. You're as much frighten'd at your time of day,As if you ne'er was present at a labor,Or never had been brought to bed yourself.
SOS. Alas, I've no soul here: we're all alone.Geta is absent; nor is there a creatureTo fetch a midwife, or call AEschinus.
CAN. He'll be here presently, I promise you:For he, good man, ne'er lets a single dayGo by, but he is sure to visit us.SOS. He is my only comfort in my sorrows.
CAN. Troth, as the case stands, madam, circumstancesCould not have happen'd better than they have:And since your daughter suffer'd violence,'Twas well she met with such a man as this;A man of honor, rank, and family.
SOS. He is, indeed, a worthy gentleman:The gods preserve him to us!
Words in this poem
- presently adv.
- At present; at this time; now.
- troth n.
- Belief; faith; fidelity. [A variant of truth. See Truth.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Brothers: 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 Brothers: 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-brothers-act-the-third-scene-i.html, id L25827.
Form and metre
The Brothers: Act the Third: Scene I is 17 lines in 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 |
|---|---|---|
| CAN. You're as much frighten'd at your time of day, | 11 | ····/˘····· |
| As if you ne'er was present at a labor, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Or never had been brought to bed yourself. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| SOS. Alas, I've no soul here: we're all alone. | 11 | ·˘/······˘/ |
| Geta is absent; nor is there a creature | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| To fetch a midwife, or call AEschinus. | 10 | ···/······ |
| CAN. He'll be here presently, I promise you: | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| For he, good man, ne'er lets a single day | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Go by, but he is sure to visit us. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| SOS. He is my only comfort in my sorrows. | 12 | ····/˘/˘··/˘ |
| CAN. Troth, as the case stands, madam, circumstances | 12 | ······/˘/˘·˘ |
| Could not have happen'd better than they have: | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And since your daughter suffer'd violence, | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| 'Twas well she met with such a man as this; | 10 | ·········· |
| A man of honor, rank, and family. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| SOS. He is, indeed, a worthy gentleman: | 11 | ···˘/·/˘/˘˘ |
| The gods preserve him to us! | 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.