COTHURNUS: Come out and do the scene.
CORYDON: [Off stage.] You are mocking us!— The scene is down for later.
COTHURNUS: That is true; But we will play it now. I am the scene. [Seats himself on high place in back of stage.]
[Enter CORYDON and THYRSIS.]
CORYDON: Sir, we are counting on this little hour. We said, "Here is an hour,—in which to think A mighty thought, and sing a trifling song, And look at nothing."—And, behold! the hour, Even as we spoke, was over, and the act begun, Under our feet!
THYRSIS: Sir, we are not in the fancy To play the play. We had thought to play it later.
CORYDON: Besides, this is the setting for a farce. Our scene requires a wall; we cannot build A wall of tissue-paper!
THYRSIS: We cannot act A tragedy with comic properties!
COTHURNUS: Try it and see. I think you'll find you can. One wall is like another. And regarding The matter of your insufficient mood, The important thing is that you speak the lines, And make the gestures. Wherefore I shall remain Throughout, and hold the prompt-book. Are you ready?
CORYDON-THYRSIS: [Sorrowfully.] Sir, we are always ready.