The Step-Mother: Act the Fifth: Scene II
BACCH. Oh Parmeno, I'm glad I've met with you.Run quick to Pamphilus.PAR. On what account?
PAR. To you?
PAR. Why? what's the matter?
PAR. Must ISay nothing else?
BACCH. Yes; tell him too,That Myrrhina acknowledges the ring,Which formerly he gave me, as her daughter's.
PAR. I understand you. But is that all?
BACCH. All.He'll come the moment that you tell him that.What! do you loiter?
PAR. No, i' faith, not I.I have not had it in my pow'r, I've beenSo bandied to and fro, sent here and there,Trotting, and running up and down all day. (Exit.
About this text
The Step-Mother: Act the Fifth: 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 Step-Mother: Act the Fifth: Scene II, in The Comedies of Terence (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22695, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/terence-comedies/the-step-mother-act-the-fifth-scene-ii.html, id L25882.
Form and metre
The Step-Mother: Act the Fifth: Scene II is 18 lines in 8 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| BACCH. Oh Parmeno, I'm glad I've met with you. | 11 | ··········· |
| Run quick to Pamphilus. | 6 | ······ |
| PAR. On what account? | 5 | ···˘/ |
| PAR. To you? | 3 | ··· |
| PAR. Why? what's the matter? | 6 | ····/˘ |
| PAR. Must I | 3 | ··· |
| Say nothing else? | 4 | ·/˘· |
| BACCH. Yes; tell him too, | 5 | ····· |
| That Myrrhina acknowledges the ring, | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| Which formerly he gave me, as her daughter's. | 11 | ·/˘˘·····/˘ |
| PAR. I understand you. But is that all? | 10 | ···˘/····· |
| BACCH. All. | 2 | ·· |
| He'll come the moment that you tell him that. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| What! do you loiter? | 5 | ···/˘ |
| PAR. No, i' faith, not I. | 6 | ······ |
| I have not had it in my pow'r, I've been | 10 | ·········· |
| So bandied to and fro, sent here and there, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Trotting, and running up and down all day. (Exit. | 12 | /˘·/˘·····/˘ |
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.