The Self-Tormentor: Act the Fourth: Scene II
CLIN. Henceforward, fate, do with me what thou wilt!Such is my joy, so full and absolute,I can not know vexation. From this hourTo you, my father, I resign myself,Content to be more frugal than you wish!
SYRUS (overhearing). 'Tis just as I suppos'd. The girl's acknowledged;His raptures speak it so.-- (Going up.) I'm overjoyedThat things have happen'd to your wish.
CLIN. O Syrus!Have you then heard it too?
SYRUS. I heard it? Aye:I, who was present at the very time!CLIN. Was ever any thing so lucky?
CLIN. Now, Heav'n so help me, I rejoice at thisOn her account much rather than my own,Her, whom I know worthy the highest honors.
SYRUS. No doubt on't.--But now, Clinia, hold a while!Give me a moment's hearing in my turn.For your friend's business must be thought of now,And well secur'd, lest our old gentlemanSuspect about the wench.CLIN. O Jupiter! (In raptures.)
SYRUS. Peace! (Impatiently.)
CLIN. My Antiphila shall be my wife.
SYRUS. And will you interrupt me?
CLIN. Oh, my Syrus,What can I do! I'm overjoy'd. Bear with me.
SYRUS. Troth so I do.
CLIN. We're happy, as the Gods.
SYRUS. I lose my labor on you.
CLIN. Speak; I hear.
SYRUS. Aye, but you don't attend.
CLIN. I'm all attention.
SYRUS. I say then, Clinia, that your friend's affairsMust be attended to, and well secur'd:For if you now depart abruptly from us,And leave the wench upon our hands, my masterWill instantly discover she belongsTo Clitipho. But if you take her off,It will remain, as still it is, a secret.
CLIN. But, Syrus, this is flatly oppositeTo what I most devoutly wish, my marriage,For with what face shall I accost my father?D'ye understand me?
CLIN. What can I say?What reason can I give him?
SYRUS. Tell no lie.Speak the plain truth.
SYRUS. Every syllable.Tell him your passion for Antiphila;Tell him you wish to marry her, and tell him,Bacchis belongs to Clitipho.
CLIN. 'Tis well,In reason, and may easily be done:And then besides you'd have me win my father,To keep it hid from your old gentleman.
SYRUS. No; rather to prevail on him, to goAnd tell him the whole truth immediately.
CLIN. How? are you mad? or drunk? You'll be the ruinOf Clitipho: for how can he be safe?Eh, Sirrah!
SYRUS. That's my master-piece: this plotIs my chief glory, and I'm proud to thinkI have such force, such power of cunning in me,As to be able to deceive them both,By speaking the plain truth: that when your fatherTells Chremes, Bacchis is his own son's mistress,He sha'n't believe it.
CLIN. But that way againYou blast my hopes of marriage: for while ChremesSupposes her my mistress, he'll not grantHis daughter to me. You, perhaps, don't care,So you provide for him, what comes of me.
SYRUS. Why, plague! d'ye think I'd have you counterfeitForever? but a day, to give me timeTo bubble Chremes of the money.--Peace!Not an hour more.
CLIN. Is that sufficient for you?But then, suppose his father find it out!SYRUS. Suppose, as some folks say, the sky should fall!
CLIN. Still I'm afraid.
SYRUS. Afraid indeed, as ifIt was not in your pow'r, whene'er you pleas'd,To clear yourself, and tell the whole affair.
CLIN. Well, well, let Bacchis be brought over then!
SYRUS. Well said; and here she comes.
HarperSYRUS. I heard it? Aye:Colman 1768
Words in this poem
- henceforward adv.
- From this time forward; henceforth.
- impatiently adv.
- In an impatient manner.
- 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,]
- troth n.
- Belief; faith; fidelity. [A variant of truth. See Truth.]
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
- discover v. i.
- To discover or show one's self.
- flatly adv.
- In a flat manner; evenly; horizontally; without spirit; dully; frigidly; peremptori;y; positively, plainly.
- devoutly adv.
- In a devout and reverent manner; with devout emotions; piously.
- folks n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
- harper n.
- A player on the harp; a minstrel. [AS. hearpere.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Self-Tormentor: Act the Fourth: 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 Self-Tormentor: Act the Fourth: Scene II, in The Comedies of Terence (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22695, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/terence-comedies/the-self-tormentor-act-the-fourth-scene-ii.html, id L25802.
Form and metre
The Self-Tormentor: Act the Fourth: Scene II is 89 lines in 33 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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.
- 6 -A-A-- while · turnA · now · gentlemanA · wench · raptures
- 22 -A-A well · doneA · father · gentlemanA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| CLIN. Henceforward, fate, do with me what thou wilt! | 12 | ············ |
| Such is my joy, so full and absolute, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I can not know vexation. From this hour | 11 | ····˘/˘··/˘ |
| To you, my father, I resign myself, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·/ |
| Content to be more frugal than you wish! | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| SYRUS (overhearing). 'Tis just as I suppos'd. The girl's acknowledged; | 17 | ···˘/˘····˘/··˘/˘ |
| His raptures speak it so.-- (Going up.) I'm overjoyed | 12 | ·/˘···/···˘/ |
| That things have happen'd to your wish. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| CLIN. O Syrus! | 4 | ···· |
| Have you then heard it too? | 6 | ······ |
| SYRUS. I heard it? Aye: | 6 | ······ |
| I, who was present at the very time! | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| CLIN. Was ever any thing so lucky? | 10 | ··/˘/˘··/˘ |
| CLIN. Now, Heav'n so help me, I rejoice at this | 11 | ·······˘/·· |
| On her account much rather than my own, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| Her, whom I know worthy the highest honors. | 11 | ····/˘·/˘/˘ |
| SYRUS. No doubt on't.--But now, Clinia, hold a while! | 12 | ············ |
| Give me a moment's hearing in my turn. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| For your friend's business must be thought of now, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And well secur'd, lest our old gentleman | 11 | ··˘/·/˘·/˘˘ |
| Suspect about the wench. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| CLIN. O Jupiter! (In raptures.) | 8 | ··/˘˘·/˘ |
| SYRUS. Peace! (Impatiently.) | 7 | ···˘/˘˘ |
| CLIN. My Antiphila shall be my wife. | 10 | ·········· |
| SYRUS. And will you interrupt me? | 9 | ······˘/· |
| CLIN. Oh, my Syrus, | 5 | ····· |
| What can I do! I'm overjoy'd. Bear with me. | 11 | ······˘/··· |
| SYRUS. Troth so I do. | 6 | ······ |
| CLIN. We're happy, as the Gods. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| SYRUS. I lose my labor on you. | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| CLIN. Speak; I hear. | 4 | ···· |
| SYRUS. Aye, but you don't attend. | 8 | ······˘/ |
| CLIN. I'm all attention. | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| SYRUS. I say then, Clinia, that your friend's affairs | 12 | ··········˘/ |
| Must be attended to, and well secur'd: | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| For if you now depart abruptly from us, | 11 | ····˘/˘/˘·· |
| And leave the wench upon our hands, my master | 11 | ······/··/˘ |
| Will instantly discover she belongs | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| To Clitipho. But if you take her off, | 10 | ·········· |
| It will remain, as still it is, a secret. | 11 | ··˘/·····/˘ |
| CLIN. But, Syrus, this is flatly opposite | 11 | ······/˘/˘˘ |
| To what I most devoutly wish, my marriage, | 11 | ····˘/˘··/˘ |
| For with what face shall I accost my father? | 11 | ······˘/·/˘ |
| D'ye understand me? | 5 | ··˘/· |
| CLIN. What can I say? | 5 | ····· |
| What reason can I give him? | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| SYRUS. Tell no lie. | 5 | ····· |
| Speak the plain truth. | 4 | ···· |
| SYRUS. Every syllable. | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Tell him your passion for Antiphila; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Tell him you wish to marry her, and tell him, | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Bacchis belongs to Clitipho. | 8 | /˘˘/···· |
| CLIN. 'Tis well, | 3 | ··· |
| In reason, and may easily be done: | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| And then besides you'd have me win my father, | 11 | ··˘/·····/˘ |
| To keep it hid from your old gentleman. | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| SYRUS. No; rather to prevail on him, to go | 12 | ···/˘·˘/···· |
| And tell him the whole truth immediately. | 11 | ······˘/˘˘˘ |
| CLIN. How? are you mad? or drunk? You'll be the ruin | 11 | ··········/ |
| Of Clitipho: for how can he be safe? | 10 | ·········· |
| Eh, Sirrah! | 3 | ·/˘ |
| SYRUS. That's my master-piece: this plot | 9 | ····/˘··· |
| Is my chief glory, and I'm proud to think | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| I have such force, such power of cunning in me, | 11 | ·····/·/˘·· |
| As to be able to deceive them both, | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| By speaking the plain truth: that when your father | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| Tells Chremes, Bacchis is his own son's mistress, | 10 | ··/˘····/˘ |
| He sha'n't believe it. | 5 | ··˘/· |
| CLIN. But that way again | 6 | ····˘/ |
| You blast my hopes of marriage: for while Chremes | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Supposes her my mistress, he'll not grant | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| His daughter to me. You, perhaps, don't care, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| So you provide for him, what comes of me. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| SYRUS. Why, plague! d'ye think I'd have you counterfeit | 12 | ·········/˘· |
| Forever? but a day, to give me time | 10 | ˘/˘······· |
| To bubble Chremes of the money.--Peace! | 9 | ·/˘···/˘· |
| Not an hour more. | 5 | ··/˘· |
| CLIN. Is that sufficient for you? | 8 | ···˘/˘·· |
| But then, suppose his father find it out! | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| SYRUS. Suppose, as some folks say, the sky should fall! | 12 | ··˘/········ |
| CLIN. Still I'm afraid. | 5 | ···˘/ |
| SYRUS. Afraid indeed, as if | 8 | ··˘/˘/·· |
| It was not in your pow'r, whene'er you pleas'd, | 11 | ··········· |
| To clear yourself, and tell the whole affair. | 10 | ··˘/····˘/ |
| CLIN. Well, well, let Bacchis be brought over then! | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| SYRUS. Well said; and here she comes. | 8 | ········ |
| Harper | 2 | /˘ |
| SYRUS. I heard it? Aye: | 6 | ······ |
| Colman 1768 | 2 | /˘ |
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.