e; let's
accost him.

SCENE VI.

_Enter PHIDIPPUS, from his house._

PHID. (_speaking at the door to PHILUMENA, within._) Upon my faith,
I am angry with you too, Philumena, extremely so, for, on my word, you
have acted badly; still there is an excuse for you in this matter;
your mother forced you to it; but for her there is none.

LACH. (_accosting him._) Phidippus, you meet me at a lucky moment,
just at the very time.

PHID. What's the matter?

PAM. (_aside._) What answer shall I make them, or in what manner keep
this secret?

LACH. (_to PHIDIPPUS._) Tell your daughter that Sostrata is going into
the country, that she may not now be afraid of returning home.

PHID. Alas! your wife has been guilty of no fault in this affair; all
this {mischief} has originated in my wife Myrrhina.

PAM. (_aside._) They are changing sides.

PHID. 'Tis she that causes our disturbances, Laches.

PAM. (_aside._) So long as I don't take her back, let her cause as
much disturbance as she pleases.

PHID. I, Pamphilus, could really wish, if it were possible, this
alliance between us to be lasting; but if you are otherwise inclined,
{still} take the child.[55]

PAM. (_aside._) He has discovered that she has been brought to bed.
I'm undone!

LACH. The child! What child?

PHID. We have had a grandson born to us; for my daughter was removed
from you in a state of pregnancy, and yet never before this day did I
know that she was pregnant.

LACH. So may the Gods prosper me, you bring good tidings, and I am
glad a child has been born, and that she is safe: but what {kind of}
woman have you for a wife, or of what sort of a temper, that we should
have been kept in ignorance of this so long? I can not sufficiently
express how disgraceful this conduct appears to me.

PHID. This conduct does not vex me less than yourself, Laches.

PAM. (_aside._) Even if it had just now been a matter of doubt to me,
it is so no longer, since the child of another man is to accompany
her.

LACH. Pamphilus, there is no room now for deliberation for you in this
matter.

PAM. (_aside._) I'm undone!

LACH. (_to PAMPHILUS._) We were often longing to see the day on which
there should be one to call you father; it has come to pass. I return
thanks to the Gods.

PAM. (_aside._) I am ruined!

LACH. Take home your wife, and don't oppose my will.

PAM. Father, if she had wished to have children by me, or to continue
to be my wife, I am quite certain