In these, and several other lines, Moliere has availed himself of the old French play of Rotrou. The lively expression of Sosia,
“Le veritable Amphitryon est l’Amphitryon ou l’on dine,”
which has passed into a sort of proverb, has been suggested by a similar phrase of Rotrou’s Sosia—
“Point point d’Amphitryon ou l’on ne dine point;”
and the lines,
“J’etais venu, je vous jure,
Avant que je fusse arrivé,”
are nearly copied from Rotrou’s
“J’etais chez-nous avant mon arrivé;”
and Sosia’s boast, in the older French play,