the promised bridegroom of his old friend's daughter. Yet, after all, he continues—
I had scarce ground enough, methinks, to chide him;
He might reply—"Have I deserved this, father?
What have I done? Wherein have I offended?
She would have thrown herself into the flames;
I hindered it—I saved her life!"—Such plea
Sounds fair and honest.
So. Marry, so it does;
For if you chide him that would save a life,
What will you say to him that seeks to take it?
However, the father is in great tribulation. His friend Chremes has heard of the matter, and is told that Pamphilus is privately married to this young foreigner; and very naturally declines any longer to look upon him as a future son-in-law. But Simo is determined to find out the truth, and to be satisfied whether his son has really got into this disreputable entanglement. He means to pretend to him that the marriage with Chremes's daughter, so long meditated, is at last finally settled, and is to come off at once, this very evening, the day originally named. Young men in Athenian society must have been usually very obedient to their fathers in such matters: for Simo has no doubt of his son's compliance, unless he can show good and reasonable cause to the contrary. If this Andrian girl really stands in the way, Pamphilus will make decided objections to the being disposed of in marriage, and then—then, this indulgent father, who evidently dreads nothing so much as having to find fault with his son at all, will know how to deal with him. So Sosia is
