The Eunuch: Act the Fourth: Scene V
PYTH. As sure as I'm alive, this is a trickOf Parmeno's.DORI. No doubt on't.
PYTH. I'll deviseSome means to-day to fit him for't.--But nowWhat would you have me do?
DORI. About the girl!
DORI. Troth, if you're wise you know not what you know,Nor of the Eunuch, nor the ravishment:So shall you clear yourself of all this trouble,And do a kindness to our mistress too.Say nothing, but that Dorus is gone off.
DORI. Prithee is not Chremes yonder?Thais will soon be here.
DORI. BecauseWhen I came thence, a quarrel was abroachAmong them.
PYTH. Carry in the jewels, Dorias.Meanwhile I'll learn of Chremes what has happen'd.(Exit DORIAS.
Words in this poem
- troth n.
- Belief; faith; fidelity. [A variant of truth. See Truth.]
- ravishment n.
- The act of carrying away by force or against consent; abduction; as, the ravishment of children from their parents, or a ward from his guardian, or of a wife from her husband. Blackstone. [F. ravissement. See Ravish.]
- 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,]
- prithee interj.
- A corruption of pray thee; as, I prithee; generally used without I.
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- abroach v. t.
- To set abroach; to let out, as liquor; to broach; to tap. [OE. abrochen, OF. abrochier. See Broach.]
- meanwhile n.
- The intervening time; as, in the meantime (or mean time).
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Eunuch: Act the Fourth: Scene V 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 Eunuch: Act the Fourth: Scene V, in The Comedies of Terence (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22695, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/terence-comedies/the-eunuch-act-the-fourth-scene-v.html, id L25772.
Form and metre
The Eunuch: Act the Fourth: Scene V is 20 lines in 7 stanzas. The metre is trochaic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%).
See other poems in trochaic 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.
- 7 A-A doriasA · happen'd · doriasA
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 trochaic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| PYTH. As sure as I'm alive, this is a trick | 11 | ·····˘/···· |
| Of Parmeno's. | 4 | ···· |
| DORI. No doubt on't. | 5 | /˘··· |
| PYTH. I'll devise | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Some means to-day to fit him for't.--But now | 10 | ·········· |
| What would you have me do? | 6 | ······ |
| DORI. About the girl! | 6 | /˘···· |
| DORI. Troth, if you're wise you know not what you know, | 12 | /˘·········· |
| Nor of the Eunuch, nor the ravishment: | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| So shall you clear yourself of all this trouble, | 11 | ····˘/···/˘ |
| And do a kindness to our mistress too. | 10 | ···/˘·//˘· |
| Say nothing, but that Dorus is gone off. | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| DORI. Prithee is not Chremes yonder? | 9 | /˘/˘···/˘ |
| Thais will soon be here. | 5 | ····· |
| DORI. Because | 4 | /˘·· |
| When I came thence, a quarrel was abroach | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Among them. | 3 | ··· |
| PYTH. Carry in the jewels, Dorias. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘˘ |
| Meanwhile I'll learn of Chremes what has happen'd. | 10 | /·······/˘ |
| (Exit DORIAS. | 5 | /˘/˘˘ |
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