SPECIMENS OF LATIN COMEDY. 8 



EUCL, I'll in, and if I light on your accomplice, 

 I'll strangle him. Out of my sight, begone. 

 STROB I go. 

 EUCL. And never let me see you more. 



Here Euclio most completely " cut his own throat ;" Strobilus 

 had not the least conception of his opulence, till he disclosed it him- 

 self, by the expression of his suspicions ; and taking advantage of 

 the information he had gained by the covert inuendoes of the miser, 

 " assumed a virtue though he had it not ;" now he was resolved to 

 purloin the gold ; Euclio had accused him of stealing it, and, there- 

 fore he would steal it. Accordingly the fifth act opens with Strobilus 

 running off with the treasure, and Euclio in the distance bewailing 

 his fate and execrating the thief, and at last so confused and con- 

 founded that he knows not where he is or who he is. While he is 

 in this state, he is saluted by Lyconides, who of course thought, (as 

 that was uppermost in his mind), that the intrigue between himself 

 and the miser's daughter had been discovered, and that this was the 

 occasion of his grief; whereupon he proceeds to assuage the bitter- 

 ness of his sorrow and to confess and apologize for his offence. But 

 from the ambiguity of the terms in which he alluded to his late 

 freak, Euclio, most comically, applies every thing he says to the 

 plunder of his gold, and the scene is, as we said before, admirably 

 wrought : 



LYC. Who can this be, that moans so bitterly 

 Before our house ? Ah ! it is Euclio sure : 

 "Tis he, I think. I'm ruined, all's discovered. 

 He is acquainted with his daughter's labor. 

 What shall I do ! I'm all uncertainty. 

 Were't be'st to go or stay ? Shall I accost him, 

 Or shun his sight ? I know not what to do. 



EUCL. Who's that, that speaks there ? 



LYC. I, sir. 



EUCL. I, sir, am 



A wretch, a ruin'd wretch, such dread calamity, 

 Such sorrow has befallen me. 



LYC. Take courage. 



EUCL. Prithee how can I ? 



LYC. Since the deed, that now 



Troubles your mind, I did, and now confess it. 



EUCL. What do I hear you say ? 



LYC. The truth. 



EUCL. Young man, 



In what have I deserved such usage from you, 

 That you should treat me thus, and go the way 

 To ruin me and my poor child ? 



LYC. A God 



Was my inticer ; he allowed me. 



EUCL. How. 



LYC. I own my crime, I know I am to blame, 

 And therefore come 1 to implore your pardon. 



EUCL. How durst you lay violent hands on that 

 You had no right to touch ? 



LYC. 'Tis past. What's -done 



Cannot be undone. I believe the Gods 



