THE CASKET COMEDY
A monologue from the
play by Titus
Maccius Plautus
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NOTE: This monologue is reprinted
from Plautus, vol. II. Trans. Paul Nixon. London: William
Heinemann, 1917. |
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ALCESIMARCHUS: I do believe it was Love that first
devised the torturer's profession here on earth. It's my own
experience--no need to look further--that makes me think so,
for in torment of soul no man rivals me, comes near me. I'm tossed
around, bandied about, goaded, whirled on the wheel of love,
done to death, poor wretch that I am! I'm torn, torn asunder,
disrupted, dismembered--yes, all my mental faculties are befogged!
Where I am, there I am not; where I am not, there my soul is--yes,
I am in a thousand moods! The thing that pleases me ceases to
please a moment later; yes, Love mocks me in my weariness of
soul--it drives me off, hounds me, seeks me, lays hands on me,
holds me back, lures, lavishes! It gives without giving! beguiles
me! It leads me on, then warns me off; it warns me off, then
tempts me on. It deals with me like the waves of the sea--yes,
batters my loving heart to bits; and except that I do not go
to the bottom, poor devil, my wreck's complete in every kind
of wretchedness! Yes, my father has kept me at the villa on the
farm the last six successive days and I was not allowed to come
and see my darling during all that time! Isn't it a terrible
thing to tell of?
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