ACT THE THIRD.

SCENE I.

_Enter DEMIPHO and CHREMES._

DEM. Well, have you brought your daughter with you, Chremes, for whom
you went to Lemnos?

CHREM. No.

DEM. Why not?

CHREM. When her mother found that I staid here longer than usual, and
at the same time the age of the girl did not suit with my delays, they
told me that she, with all her family, set out in search of me.

DEM. Pray, then, why did you stay there so long, when you had heard of
this?

CHREM. Why, faith, a malady detained me.

DEM. From what cause? Or what {was it}?

CHREM. Do you ask me? Old age itself is a malady. However, I heard
that they had arrived safe, from the captain who brought them.

DEM. Have you heard, Chremes, what has happened to my son in my
absence?

CHREM. 'Tis that, in fact, that has embarrassed me in my plans. For if
I offer my daughter in marriage to any person that's a stranger, it
must all be told how and by whom I had her. You I knew to be fully as
faithful to me as I am to myself; if a stranger shall think fit to be
connected with me by marriage, he will hold his tongue, just as long
as good terms exist between us: but if he takes a dislike to me, he'll
be knowing more than it's proper he should know. I am afraid, too,
lest my wife should, by some means, come to know of it; if that is the
case, it {only} remains for me to shake myself[63] and leave the
house; for I'm the only one I can rely on at home.[64]

DEM. I know it is so, and that circumstance is a cause of anxiety to
me; and I shall never cease trying, until I've made good what I
promised you.

SCENE II.

_Enter GETA, on the other side of the stage, not seeing DEMIPHO or
CHREMES._

GETA. (_to himself._) I never saw a more cunning fellow than this
Phormio. I came to the fellow to tell him that money was needed, and
by what means it might be procured. Hardly had I said one half, when
he understood me; he was quite delighted; complimented me; asked where
the old man was; gave thanks to the Gods that an opportunity was
afforded him for showing himself no less a friend to Phaedria than to
Antipho: I bade the fellow wait for me at the Forum; whither I would
bring the old gentleman. But see, here's the very man (_catching sight
of the Old Man_). Who is the further one? Heyday, Phaedria's father has
got back! still, brute beast that I am, what was I afraid of? Is it
because two are presented instead of one for me to dupe? I deem it
pr