to
the Forum.

LACH. I'll go with you. (_Exeunt._

SCENE III.

_SOSTRATA alone._

SOS. Upon my faith, we assuredly are all of us hated by our husbands
with equal injustice, on account of a few, who cause us all to appear
deserving of harsh treatment. For, so may the Gods prosper me, as to
what my husband accuses me of, I am quite guiltless. But it is not so
easy to clear myself, so strongly have people come to the conclusion
that all step-mothers are harsh: i'faith, not I, indeed, for I never
regarded her otherwise than if she had been my own daughter; nor can I
conceive how this has befallen me. But really, for many reasons,
I long for my son's return home with impatience. (_Goes into her
house._)

ACT THE THIRD.

SCENE I.

_Enter PAMPHILUS and PARMENO._

PAM. No individual, I do believe, ever met with more crosses in love
than I. Alas! unhappy me! that I have {thus} been sparing of life! Was
it for this I was so very impatient to return home? O, how much more
preferable had it been for me to pass my life any where in the world
than to return here and be sensible that I am thus wretched! For all
of us know who have met with trouble from any cause, that all the time
that passes before we come to the knowledge of it, is so much gain.

PAR. Still, as it is, you'll the sooner know how to extricate yourself
from these misfortunes. If you had not returned, this breach might
have become much wider; but now, Pamphilus, I am sure that both will
be awed by your presence. You will learn the facts, remove their
enmity, restore them to good feeling once again. {These} are but
trifles which you have persuaded yourself are {so} grievous.

PAM. Why comfort me? Is there a person in all the world so wretched as
{I}? Before I took her to wife, I had my heart engaged by other
affections. Now, though on this subject I should be silent, it is easy
for any one to know how much I have suffered; yet I never dared refuse
her whom my father forced upon me. With difficulty did I withdraw
myself from another, and disengage my affections so firmly rooted
there! and hardly had I fixed them in another quarter, when, lo! a new
misfortune has arisen, which may tear me from her too. Then besides,
I suppose that in this matter I shall find either my mother or my wife
in fault; and when I find such to be the fact, what remains but to
become still more wretched? For duty, Parmeno, bids me bear with the
feelings of a mother; the