The Self-Tormentor: Act the Fifth: Scene VII
CLIT. Oh mother, if there ever was a timeWhen you took pleasure in me, or delightTo call me son, beseech you, think of that;Pity my present misery, and tell meWho are my real parents!
SOSTRA. My dear son,Take not, I beg, that notion to your mind,That you're an alien to our blood.
SOSTRA. Ah me! and can you then demand me that?So may you prosper after both, as you'reOf both the child! and if you love your mother,Take heed henceforward that I never hearSuch words from you.
CHREM. And if you fear your father,See that I never find such vices in you.
CHREM. What? I'll tell you. Trifler, idler,Cheat, drunkard, whoremaster, and prodigal.--Think this, and think that you are ours.
SOSTRA. These wordsSuit not a father.
CHREM. No, no, Clitipho,Though from my brain you had been born, as PallasSprang, it is said, from Jupiter, I would notBear the disgrace of your enormities.
CHREM. I know not for the Gods:I will do all that lies in me. You seekFor parents, which you have: but what is wanting,Obedience to your father, and the meansTo keep what he by labor hath acquir'd,For that you seek not.--Did you not by tricksEv'n to my presence introduce----I blushTo speak immodestly before your mother:But you by no means blush'd to do't.
CLIT. Alas!How hateful am I to myself! how muchAm I asham'd! so lost, I can not tellHow to attempt to pacify my father.
Words in this poem
- prosper v. t.
- To favor; to render successful. [F. prospérer v. i., or L. prosperare, v. i., or L. prosperare, v. t., fr. prosper or prosperus. See Prosperous.]
- henceforward adv.
- From this time forward; henceforth.
- whoremaster n.
- A man who practices lewdness; a lecher; a whoremonger.
- pallas n.
- Pallas Athene, the Grecian goddess of wisdom, called also Athene, and identified, at a later period, with the Roman Minerva.
- immodestly adv.
- In an immodest manner.
- hateful a.
- Manifesting hate or hatred; malignant; malevolent.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Self-Tormentor: Act the Fifth: Scene VII 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 Self-Tormentor: Act the Fifth: Scene VII, in The Comedies of Terence (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22695, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/terence-comedies/the-self-tormentor-act-the-fifth-scene-vii.html, id L25816.
Form and metre
The Self-Tormentor: Act the Fifth: Scene VII is 37 lines in 9 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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 |
|---|---|---|
| CLIT. Oh mother, if there ever was a time | 10 | ··/˘··/··· |
| When you took pleasure in me, or delight | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| To call me son, beseech you, think of that; | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Pity my present misery, and tell me | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Who are my real parents! | 6 | ····/˘ |
| SOSTRA. My dear son, | 5 | ····· |
| Take not, I beg, that notion to your mind, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That you're an alien to our blood. | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| SOSTRA. Ah me! and can you then demand me that? | 12 | ········˘/·· |
| So may you prosper after both, as you're | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of both the child! and if you love your mother, | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Take heed henceforward that I never hear | 10 | ········/· |
| Such words from you. | 4 | ···· |
| CHREM. And if you fear your father, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| See that I never find such vices in you. | 10 | ···/··/˘·· |
| CHREM. What? I'll tell you. Trifler, idler, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Cheat, drunkard, whoremaster, and prodigal. | 9 | ·/˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| --Think this, and think that you are ours. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| SOSTRA. These words | 4 | ···· |
| Suit not a father. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| CHREM. No, no, Clitipho, | 6 | ······ |
| Though from my brain you had been born, as Pallas | 11 | ··········· |
| Sprang, it is said, from Jupiter, I would not | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Bear the disgrace of your enormities. | 10 | ··˘/··˘/˘˘ |
| CHREM. I know not for the Gods: | 7 | ······· |
| I will do all that lies in me. You seek | 10 | ·········· |
| For parents, which you have: but what is wanting, | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Obedience to your father, and the means | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| To keep what he by labor hath acquir'd, | 11 | ·····/˘·˘/˘ |
| For that you seek not.--Did you not by tricks | 10 | ·········· |
| Ev'n to my presence introduce----I blush | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| To speak immodestly before your mother: | 11 | ··˘/˘˘···/˘ |
| But you by no means blush'd to do't. | 8 | ········ |
| CLIT. Alas! | 3 | ·˘/ |
| How hateful am I to myself! how much | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
| Am I asham'd! so lost, I can not tell | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| How to attempt to pacify my father. | 11 | ··˘/·/˘··/˘ |
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.