Ecce me qui id faciam vobis.
Now, therefore, if I’m odious to you, son,
Because I’m not subservient to your humour
In all things, right or wrong; away with care:
Spend, squander, and do what you will. But if,
In those affairs where youth has made you blind,
Eager, and thoughtless, you will suffer me
To counsel and correct you, and in due season
Indulge you, I am at your service. Colman.
This twofold lesson is by no means a useless one to parents, not to purchase the affection of their children by injudicious indulgence like Micio, nor, on the other hand, like Demea, to strain the cord too tight, and thus tempt their children to pursue a course of deceit, and to refuse their confidence to their natural advisers and guardians. The most beautiful feature, however, of the play is the picture which it gives of fraternal affection. This was the last comedy of the author. It furnished Molière with the idea of his “Ecole des Maris,” and Baron with great part of the plot of “L’Ecole de Pères.” Shadwell was also indebted to it for his “Squire of Alsatia,” and Garrick for his comedy of “The Guardian.”