Act IV, Scene VI

JUPITER, AMPHITRYON, and BLEPHARO.

JUP. Do you say that I lie? AMPH. You lie, I say, you corrupter of my family.

JUP. For that disgraceful speech, I'll drag you along here, seizing you by the throat. (Seizes him hy the throat.)

AMPH. Ah wretched me! JUP. But you should have had a care of this beforehand.

AMPH. Blepharo, aid me! BLEPH. (aside). The two are so exactly alike that I don't know which to side with. Still, so far as possible, I'll put an end to their contention. (Aloud.) Amphitryon, don't slay Amphitryon in fight; let go his throat, I pray.

JUP. Are you calling this fellow Amphitryon?

BLEPH. Why not? Formerly he was but one, but now he has become double. While you are wanting to be he, the other, too, doesn't cease to be of his form. Meanwhile, prithee, do leave go of his neck.

JUP. I will leave go. (Lets go of AMPHITRYON.) But tell me, does that fellow appear to you to be Amphitryon?

BLEPH. Really, both of you do. O supreme Jupiter! when this day didst thou take from me my form? I'll proceed to make enquiry of him; are you Amphitryon?

JUP. Do you deny it? AMPH. Downright do I deny it, inasmuch as in Thebes there is no other Amphitryon besides myself.

JUP. On the contrary, no other besides myself; and, in fact, do you, Blepharo, be the judge.

BLEPH. I'll make this matter clear by proofs, if I can. (To AMPHITRYON.) Do you answer first.

AMPH. With pleasure. BLEPH. Before the battle with the Taphians was begun by you, what orders did you give me?

AMPH. The ship being in readiness, for you carefully to keep close to the rudder.

JUP. That if our people should take to flight, I might betake myself in safety thither.

BLEPH. Anything else as well? AMPH. That the bag loaded with treasure should be carefully guarded.

JUP. Because the money-- BLEPH. Hold your tongue, you, if you please; it's my place to ask. Did you know the amount?

JUP. Fifty Attic talents.

BLEPH. He tells the truth to a nicety. And you (to AMPHITRYON), how many Philippeans?

AMPH. Two thousand. JUP. And obols twice as many.

BLEPH. Each of you states the matter correctly. Inside the bag one of you must have been shut up.

JUP. Attend, please. With this right hand, as you know, I slew king Pterelas; his spoils I seized, and the goblet from which he had been used to drink I brought away in a casket; I made a present of it to my wife, with whom this day at home I bathed, I sacrificed, and slept.

AMPH. Ah me! what do I hear? I scarcely am myself. For, awake, I am asleep; awake, I am in a dream; alive and well, I come to destruction. I am that same Amphitryon, the descendant of Gorgophone, the general of the Thebans, and the sole combatant for Creon against the Teleboans; I, who have subdued by my might the Acarnanians and the Taphians, and, by my consummate warlike prowess, their king. Over these have I appointed Cephalus, the son of the great Deioneus.

JUP. I am he who by warfare and my valour crushed the hostile ravagers. They had destroyed Electryon and the brothers of my wife. Wandering through the Ionian, the Ægean, and the Cretan seas, with piratical violence they laid waste Achaia, Ætolia, and Phocis.

AMPH. Immortal Gods! I cannot trust my own self, so exactly does he relate all the things that happened there. Consider, Blepharo.

BLEPH. One thing only remains; if so it is, do you be Amphitryons both of you.

JUP. I knew what you would say. The scar that I have on the muscle of my right arm, from the wound which Pterelas gave me--

BLEPH. Well, that. AMPH. Quite to the purpose.

JUP. See you! look, behold!

BLEPH. Uncover, and I'll look.

JUP. We have uncovered. Look! (They show their naked arms.)

BLEPH. (looking at the right arm of each). Supreme Jupiter, what do I behold? On the right-arm muscle of each, in the same spot, the scar clearly appears with the same mark, reddish and somewhat livid, just as it has first commenced to close. Reasoning is at a standstill, all judgment is struck dumb; I don't know what to do.]

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BLEPH. Do you settle these matters between yourselves; I'm off, for I have business; and I do not think that I have ever anywhere beheld such extraordinary wonders.

AMPH. Blepharo, I pray that you'll stay as my advocate, and not go away.

BLEPH. Farewell. What need is there of me for an advocate, who don't know which of the two to side with?

JUP. I'm going hence in-doors: Alcmena is in labour. (Exit BLEPHARO, and JUPITER goes into AMPHITRYON's house.)

AMPH. (aloud to himself). I'm undone, wretch that I am; for what am I to do, when my advocates and friends are now forsaking me? Never, by heavens, shall he deride me unrevenged, whoever he is. Now will I betake myself straight to the king, and tell him of the matter as it has happened. By my faith, I will this day take vengeance on this Thessalian sorcerer, who has wrongfully distracted the minds of my household. But where is he? (Looking around.) By my troth, he's off into the house, to my wife, I suppose. What other person lives in Thebes more wretched than myself? What now shall I do? I, whom all men deny and deride just as they please. I am resolved; I'll burst into the house; there, whatever person I perceive, whether maid-servant or man-servant, whether wife or whether paramour, whether father or whether grandfather, I'll behead that person in the house; neither Jupiter nor all the Deities shall hinder me from this, even if they would, but that I'll do just as I have resolved. (As he advances to the door, it thunders, and he falls in a swoon upon the ground.)