εἴωθ’ ἀπειλεῖν, οὔτ’ ἐρῶν ἐρωμένῃ.[326]
The charming interview between the father and his two daughters in the Stichus (i. 2, 32 seqq.), is a further, equally striking instance.
Of the latter relation, that between mother and children, there is a good instance in this same play (i. 2, 51), where, after the father has propounded his intention of marrying again, his daughter reminds him that it will be hard for him to find a second wife like his first.
An. pol ego uxorem quaero, postquam vostra mater mortua est.
Pa. facile invenies et peiorem et peius moratam, pater,
quam illa fuit; meliorem neque tu reperies neque sol videt.
A still more striking case is that in the Hecyra, where the mother of Pamphilus, thinking that it is her presence which renders it impossible for her son’s wife to live with him, resolves to sacrifice herself, and go into voluntary exile into the country.[327] The same idea, though less pleasantly expressed, is apparent in Syrus’ remark in the Heauton Timorumenus (v. 2, 38):
matres omnes filiis
in peccato adiutrices, auxilio in paterna iniuria.