SOSIE, NAUCRATES, POLIDAS, AMPHITRYON

SOS.All I have been able to do, Monsieur, with all my diligence, is to have brought these gentlemen here.

AMPH.Ah! You are here?

SOS.Monsieur.

AMPH.Insolent, bold rascal!

SOS.What?

AMPH.I shall teach you to treat me thus.

SOS.What is it? What is the matter with you?

AMPH.What is the matter with me, villain?

SOS.Hullo, gentlemen, come here quickly.

NAU.Ah! Stay, I beseech you.

SOS.Of what am I guilty?

AMPH.You ask me that, you scoundrel? Let me satisfy my righteous anger.

SOS.When they hang any one, they tell him why they do it.

NAU.At least condescend to tell us what his crime may be.

SOS.I beseech you, gentlemen, keep a tight hold of me.

AMPH.Yes! He has just had the audacity to shut the door in my face, and to add threats to a thousand impudent jeers! Ah! You villain!

SOS.I am dead.

NAU.Restrain this anger.

SOS.Gentlemen.

POL.What is it?

SOS.Has he struck me?

AMPH.No, he must have his reward for the language he has made free to use just now.

SOS.How could that be when I was elsewhere busy carrying out your orders? These gentlemen here can bear witness that I have just invited them to dine with you.

NAU.That is true: he has just delivered us this message, and would not quit us.

AMPH.Who gave you that order?

SOS.You.

AMPH.When?

SOS.After you made your peace, when you were rejoicing at the delight of having appeased Alcmene's anger.

AMPH.O Heaven! Every instant, every step, adds something to my cruel martyrdom; I am so utterly confused that I no longer know either what to believe or what to say.

NAU.All he has just told us, of what has happened at your house, surpasses what is natural so much, that before doing anything and before flying into such a passion, you ought to clear up the whole of this adventure.

AMPH.Come; you can second my efforts; Heaven has brought you here most opportunely.Let me see what fortune brings me today; let me solve this mystery, and know my fate.Alas! I burn to learn it, and I dread it more than death.