View:
By Line
463
(MERCURY, alone)
MERCURY
Well and prosperously has this affair gone on for me; from the door have I removed the greatest obstacle,
so that it may be allowed my father to embrace her in security. When now he shall have reached his master, Amphitryon there, he will say that the servant Sosia has repulsed himself from the door here; and then the other will suppose that he is telling him a lie, and will not believe that he has come here as he had ordered him.
465
Both of them and the whole household of Amphitryon I will fill with mistakes and distraction, even until my father shall have had full enjoyment of her whom he loves; then at last all shall know what has been done. In the end Jupiter shall restore Alcmena
470
to the former affection of her husband. For Amphitryon will just now be beginning a quarrel with his wife, and will be accusing her of incontinence; then will my father change for her this strife into tranquillity. Now, inasmuch as yet I’ve said but little about Alcmena,
475
this day will she bring forth two sons, twins; the one will be born in the tenth month after he was begotten, the other in the seventh month
1
; of these the one is the son of Amphitryon
2
, the other of Jupiter. But of the younger son the father is the superior,
480
of the elder the inferior.
(To the AUDIENCE.) Now do you comprehend this how it is? But for the sake of the honor
3
of this Alcmena, my father will take care that it shall happen at one birth, so that in one travail she may complete her double pangs, and not be laid under suspicion of unchastity,
485
and that the clandestine connexion may remain concealed. Although, as I have said just now, Amphitryon shall still know all the matter in the end. What then? No one surely will impute it to Alcmena as a disgrace; for it does not seem that a God is acting justly
490
to permit his own offences and his own faultiness to fall upon a mortal. I’ll cut short my talk: the door makes a noise. See, the counterfeit Amphitryon is coming out of doors, and together with him Alcmena, the wife that he has taken the loan of.
495
Well and prosperously has this affair gone on for me; from the door have I removed the greatest obstacle,
so that it may be allowed my father to embrace her in security. When now he shall have reached his master, Amphitryon there, he will say that the servant Sosia has repulsed himself from the door here; and then the other will suppose that he is telling him a lie, and will not believe that he has come here as he had ordered him.
465
Both of them and the whole household of Amphitryon I will fill with mistakes and distraction, even until my father shall have had full enjoyment of her whom he loves; then at last all shall know what has been done. In the end Jupiter shall restore Alcmena
470
to the former affection of her husband. For Amphitryon will just now be beginning a quarrel with his wife, and will be accusing her of incontinence; then will my father change for her this strife into tranquillity. Now, inasmuch as yet I’ve said but little about Alcmena,
475
this day will she bring forth two sons, twins; the one will be born in the tenth month after he was begotten, the other in the seventh month
1
; of these the one is the son of Amphitryon
2
, the other of Jupiter. But of the younger son the father is the superior,
480
of the elder the inferior.
(To the AUDIENCE.) Now do you comprehend this how it is? But for the sake of the honor
3
of this Alcmena, my father will take care that it shall happen at one birth, so that in one travail she may complete her double pangs, and not be laid under suspicion of unchastity,
485
and that the clandestine connexion may remain concealed. Although, as I have said just now, Amphitryon shall still know all the matter in the end. What then? No one surely will impute it to Alcmena as a disgrace; for it does not seem that a God is acting justly
490
to permit his own offences and his own faultiness to fall upon a mortal. I’ll cut short my talk: the door makes a noise. See, the counterfeit Amphitryon is coming out of doors, and together with him Alcmena, the wife that he has taken the loan of.
495
Amphitruo. Plautus. Henry Thomas Riley (Translator). London. 1913.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by NSF, NEH: Digital Libraries Initiative, Phase 2.