vented your rage upon my back? Have you
not showered blows on me? Ah! All this is but too true: would to Heaven
it were less real! Cease therefore to jeer at a wretch's lot, and leave
me to acquit myself where my duty calls me.

MERC. Stop, or the shortest step brings down upon your back clattering
evidence of my just anger. All you have just said is mine, except the
blows. It is I, whom Amphitryon sent to Alcmene; who has just arrived
from the Persian port; I, who have come to announce the valour of his
arm, which has gained us a glorious victory, and slain the chief of
our enemies. In short, I am undoubtedly Sosie, son of Dave, an honest
shepherd; brother of Arpage, who died in a foreign land; husband of
Cleanthis the prude, whose temper drives me wild; I, who received a
thousand cuts from a whip at Thebes, without ever saying anything about
it; and who was once publicly branded on the back for being too worthy a
man.

SOS. He is right. If he were not Sosie, he could not know all he says;
all this is so astounding that even I begin to believe him a little. In
fact, now I look at him, I see he has my figure, looks, and manners. I
wilt ask him some question, in order to clear up this mystery. What
did Amphitryon obtain as his share of all the plunder taken from our
enemies?

MERC. Five fine large diamonds, beautifully set in a cluster, which
their chief wore as a rare piece of handicraft.

SOS. For whom does he intend so rich a present?

MERC. For his wife; he intends her to wear it.

SOS. Where have you put it, until you meet her?

MERC. In a casket sealed with the arms of my master.

SOS. He does not tell a single lie at any turn: I begin to doubt myself
in earnest. He has already cowed me into believing him to be Sosie; and
he might even reason me into thinking him so. Yet, when I touch myself,
and recollect, it seems to me I am myself. Where can I find some light
that will clearly make my way plain? What I have done alone, and what no
one has seen, cannot be known to any one else: that, at least, belongs
to me. I will astonish him by this question: it will confound him, and
we shall see. When they were at close quarters, what were you doing in
our tents, whither you ran to hide yourself away?

MERC. Off a ham

SOS. That is it!

MERC. Which I unearthed, I soon cut two succulent slices: they suited me
nicely. I added to them a wine which was usually kept dark, and,
gloated over the sight of it before I