)

SCENE III.

_Enter GNATHO at a distance, leading PAMPHILA._

GNA. (_to himself._) Immortal Gods! how much does one man excel
another! What a difference there is between a wise person and a fool!
This strongly came into my mind from the following circumstance. As I
was coming along to-day, I met a certain person of this place, of my
own rank and station, no mean fellow, one who, like myself, had
guttled away his paternal estate; I saw him, shabby, dirty, sickly,
beset with rags and years; --"What's the meaning of this garb?" said
I; {he answered}, "Because, wretch that I am, I've lost what I
possessed: see to what I am reduced,-- all my acquaintances and
friends forsake me." On this I felt contempt for him in comparison
with myself. "What!" said I, "you pitiful sluggard, have you so
managed matters as to have no hope left? Have you lost your wits
together with your estate? Don't you see me, who have risen from the
same condition? What a complexion I have, how spruce and well dressed,
what portliness of person? I have every thing, {yet} have nothing; and
although I possess nothing, still, of nothing am I in want." "But I,"
{said he}, "unhappily, can neither be a butt nor submit to blows."[42]
"What!" {said I}, "do you suppose it is managed by those means? You
are quite mistaken. Once upon a time, in the early ages, there was a
calling for that class; this is a new mode of coney-catching; I, in
fact, have been the first to strike into this path. There is a class
of men who strive to be the first in every thing, but are not; to
these I make my court; I do not present myself to them to be laughed
at; but I am the first to laugh with them, and at the same time to
admire their parts: whatever they say, I commend; if they contradict
that self-same thing, I commend again. Does any one deny? I deny: does
he affirm? I affirm: in fine, I have {so} trained myself as to humor
them in every thing. This calling is now by far the most productive."

PAR. (_apart._) A clever fellow, upon my faith! From being fools he
makes men mad outright.

GNA. (_to himself, continuing._) While we were thus talking, in the
mean time we arrived at the market-place; overjoyed, all the
confectioners ran at once to meet me; fishmongers,[43] butchers,
cooks,[44] sausage-makers, {and} fishermen, whom, both when my
fortunes were flourishing and when they were ruined, I had served, and
often serve {still}: they complimented me, asked me to dinner,