[NOTE 132.]
Davus. (aside.) He has missed his aim! I see this nettles him to the quick.
M. Baron has lengthened this scene considerably: and makes a trial of repartee between Simo and Davus: one passage in which I think the ancient is surpassed by the modern, particularly deserves to be recorded.
“Puis-je espérer qu’aujourd’hui sans contrainte
La vérité pourra, sans recevoir d’atteinte,
Une fois seulement de ta bouche sortir.”
Andrienne, A. II. S. VII.
Tell me, slave,
Is’t possible that truth can pass thy lips,
And be for once unsullied in its passage.
[NOTE 133.]
Davus. While circumstances allowed him, and while his youth, in some measure, excused him, I confess he did.