tasted it. So I took heart for our
fighters.

SOS. This unparalleled proof ends matters well in his favour; and,
unless he were in the bottle, there is nothing to be said. From the
proofs you show me, I cannot deny that you are Sosie: I admit it. But,
if you are he, tell me whom you wish me to be; for I must be someone.

MERC. When I shall no longer be Sosie, you may be he, I consent to that;
but I promise you it shall be the death of you if you take up such a
fancy while I am he.

SOS. All this confusion turns me inside out, for reason is against what
I see. But I must end this by some means; and the shortest way for me is
to go in there.

MERC. Oh! You gallows-bird, you want to taste the stick.

SOS. What is the matter? Great Gods! He makes the blows ring again; my
back will ache for a month. I will leave this devil of a fellow, and
return to the harbour. O just Heavens, what a fine ambassador I have
been!

MERC. At last, I have made him fly; this treatment has paid him out for
many of his deeds. But here is Jupiter, gallantly escorting his lover
Alcmene.

SCENE III

JUPITER, ALCMENE, CLEANTHIS, MERCURY

JUP. My dear Alcmene, forbid the torch-bearers to come near. They give
me delight in enabling me to see you; but they might betray my being
here, and this were best unrevealed. Restrained by all the heavy cares
with which the glory of our arms held me bound, my heart has stolen from
the duties of my post the moments it has just given to your charms. This
theft, which I have consecrated to your beauty, might be blamed by the
public voice; and the only witness I want, is she who can thank me for
it.

ALC. I take great interest, Amphitryon, in the glory which your
illustrious exploits have cast upon you; the fame of your victory moves
my heart to its depths. But when I see that this disastrous honour keeps
my lover away from me, such is my heart's feeling that I cannot forbear
to think ill of it, and to regret the high order which makes you general
of the Thebans. It is sweet after a victory to see the glory to which
one's lover has been raised; but, from among the perils attached to this
glory, a deadly blow, alas! may soon fall. With how many fears is one's
heart wounded at the report of the least skirmish! In the horror of such
a thought, is there anything that can console for the threatened stroke?
And with whatever laurels the victor may be crowned, whatever share
one may have in that supreme honou