Eyes—nose—lips—cheeks—the very chin and beard—
The whole of him is me! the very ditto!
I wonder whether he's got whip-marks on his back—
If so, the copy's perfect.[1] (Cogitating.) Still—it seems,
When I consider on't, I must be I:
I'm the same man I was; I know my master—
I know his house,—there 'tis. I've got my senses;
(Pinching himself.) And I can feel. No; I will not believe
A word this fellow says. I'll knock again. (Goes up to the door.)
Mer. (rushing up). Hallo! where now?
Sos. Home, to be sure.
Mer. Be off—
Be off like lightning, if you'd keep whole bones!
Sos. Mayn't I give master's message to his lady?
Mer. To his—by all means; only not to ours:
If you provoke me more, I'll break your head.
Sos. (running away). No—no! I'll go! Poor devil that I am!
Where did I lose myself? when was I changed?
How did I lose my corporal capacity?
Did I forget myself, when I went abroad,
And leave myself at home here, by mistake?
For he's got what was me, there's no doubt of it;
All the outside, I mean, that I used to have.
- ↑ Molière has improved upon this passage, in the scene in which Sosia tells his master of the beating which he has just received from his own double, and how he was at last convinced that this latter was the real man:—
"Longtemps d'imposteur j'ai traité ce moi-même;
Mais à me reconnaître enfin il m'a forcé:
J'ai vu que c'était moi, sans aucune stratagème;
Des pieds jusq'à la tête il est comme moi fait,—
Beau, l'air noble, bien pris, les manières charmantes!"
—Amphit., act ii. sc. 1.
