rd you the means, you watch him,
correct {and} admonish him?

CHREM. I'll take care of that.

SYR. But now, master, he must be looked after by you.

CHREM. It shall be done.

SYR. If you are wise,-- for now he minds me less and less {every day}.

CHREM. What {say} you? What have you done, Syrus, about that matter
which I was mentioning to you a short time since? Have you any {plan}
that suits {you}, or not yet even?

SYR. You mean the design {upon Menedemus}? I have; I have just hit
upon one.

CHREM. You are a clever fellow; what is it? Tell me.

SYR. I'll tell {you}; but, as one matter arises, out of another----

CHREM. Why, what is it, Syrus?

SYR. This Courtesan is a very bad woman.

CHREM. So she seems.

SYR. Aye, if you did but know. O shocking! just see what she is
hatching. There was a certain old woman here from Corinth,-- this
{Bacchis} lent her a thousand silver drachmae.

CHREM. What then?

SYR. She is {now} dead: she has left a daughter, a young girl. She has
been left with this {Bacchis} as a pledge for that sum.

CHREM. I understand {you}.

SYR. She has brought her hither along with her, her {I mean} who is
now with your wife.[70]

CHREM. What then?

SYR. She is soliciting Clinia at once to advance her this {money}; she
says, however, that this {girl} is to be a security, that, at a future
time, she will repay the thousand pieces of money.

CHREM. And would she really be a security?[71]

SYR. Dear me, is it to be doubted? I think so.

CHREM. What then do you intend doing?

SYR. What, I? I shall go to Menedemus; I'll tell him she is a captive
from Caria, rich, and of noble family; if he redeems her, there will
be a considerable profit in this transaction.

CHREM. You are in an error.

SYR. Why so?

CHREM. I'll now answer you for Menedemus-- I will not purchase her.

SYR. What is it you say? Do speak more agreeably to our wishes.

CHREM. But there is no occasion.

SYR. No occasion?

CHREM. Certainly not, i' faith.

SYR. How so, I wonder?

CHREM. You shall soon know.[72]

SYR. Stop, stop; what is the reason that there is such a great noise
at our door? (_They retire out of sight._)

ACT THE FOURTH.

SCENE I.

_Enter SOSTRATA and a NURSE in haste from the house of CHREMES, and
CHREMES and SYRUS on the other side of the stage unperceived._

SOS. (_holding up a ring and examining it._) Unless my fancy deceives
me, surely this is the ring which I suspe