please.

CLIT. You yourself shall be surprised at me.

SYR. But how quickly the ladies have come up with us!

CLIT. Where are they? (_SYRUS stands before him._) Why do you hold me
back?

SYR. For the present she is nothing to you.

CLIT. I know it, before my father; but now in the mean time--

SYR. Not a bit the more.

CLIT. Do let me.

SYR. I will not let you, I tell you.

CLIT. But only for a moment, pray.

SYR. I forbid it.

CLIT. Only to salute her.

SYR. If you are wise, get you gone.

CLIT. I'm off. {But} what's he {to do}? (_Pointing at CLINIA._)

SYR. He will stay {here}.

CLIT. O happy man!

SYR. Take yourself off. (_Exit CLITIPHO._

SCENE IV.

_Enter BACCHIS and ANTIPHILA at a distance._

BACCHIS. Upon my word, my {dear} Antiphila, I commend you, and think
you fortunate in having made it your study that your manners should be
conformable to those good looks {of yours}: and so may the Gods bless
me, I do not at all wonder if every man is in love with you. For your
discourse has been a proof to me what kind of disposition you possess.
And when now I reflect in my mind upon your way of life, and {that} of
all of you, in fact, who keep the public at a distance from
yourselves, it is not surprising both that you are of that
{disposition}, and that we are not; for it is your interest to be
virtuous; those, with whom we are acquainted, will not allow us {to be
so}. For {our} lovers, allured {merely} by our beauty, court us {for
that}; when that has faded, they transfer their affections elsewhere;
{and} unless we have made provision in the mean time for the future,
we live in destitution. {Now} with you, when you have once resolved to
pass your life with one man whose manners are especially kindred to
your own, those persons[48] become attached to you. By this kindly
feeling, you are truly devoted to each other; and no calamity can ever
possibly interrupt your love.

ANTI. I know nothing about other women: I'm sure that I have, indeed,
always used every endeavor to derive my own happiness from his
happiness.

CLIN. (_apart, overhearing ANTIPHILA._) Ah! 'tis for that reason, my
Antiphila, that you alone have now caused me to return to my native
country; for while I was absent from you, all {other} hardships which
I encountered were light to me, save the being deprived of you.

SYR. (_apart._) I believe it.

CLIN. (_apart._) Syrus, I can scarce endure it![49] Wretch that I am,
that