[Footnote 58: _A Eunuch_)--Ver. 356. Eunuchs formed part of the
establishment of wealthy persons, who, in imitation of the Eastern
nobles, confided the charge of their wives, daughters, or
mistresses to them. Though Thais would have no such necessity for
his services, her wish to imitate the "reginae," or "great ladies,"
would make him a not unacceptable present. See the Addresses of
Ovid to the Eunuch Bagoues in the Amours, B. ii., El. 2, 3.]

[Footnote 59: _as she is reported to be_)--Ver. 361. Donatus
remarks this as an instance of the art of Terence, in preserving
the probability of Chaerea's being received for the Eunuch. He
shows hereby that he is so entirely a stranger to the family that
he does not even know the person of Thais. It is also added that
she has not been long in the neighborhood, and he has been on duty
at the Piraeus. The meaning of his regret is, that, not knowing
Thais, he will not have an opportunity of seeing the girl.]

[Footnote 60: _Have to pay the penalty_)--Ver. 381. "In me cadetur
faba," literally, "the bean will be struck" or "laid about me;"
meaning, "I shall have to smart for it." There is considerable
doubt what is the origin of this expression, and this doubt
existed as early as the time of Donatus. He says that it was a
proverb either taken from the threshing of beans with a flail by
the countrymen; or else from the circumstance of the cooks who
have dressed the beans, but have not moistened them sufficiently,
being sure to have them thrown at their heads, as though for the
purpose of softening them. Neither of these solutions seems so
probable as that suggested by Madame Dacier, that dried beans were
inserted in the thongs of the "scuticae," or "whips," with which
the slaves were beaten. According to others the knots in the whips
were only called "fabae," from their resemblance to beans.]

[Footnote 61: _Is it disgraceful_)--Ver. 382. Donatus remarks that
here Terence obliquely defends the subject of the Play.]

[Footnote 62: _The most mighty King_)--Ver. 397. It has been
suggested that Darius III. is here alluded to, who was a
contemporary of Menander. As however Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, is
mentioned in this Play, there is no necessity to go out of the way
to make Terence guilty of an anachronism. Madame Dacier suggests
that Seleucus, king of part of Asia Minor, is meant; and as Thraso
is called "a str