Attend, whilst I instruct thee how to please
Him whose experience guides thee; and the taste
That rules the present age. If thou wouldst charm
Our listening ears, until the scene be done;
And in our seats detain us till the Cantor
Requests applause; give to each stage of life,
Its attributes: and justly paint the changes,
Wrought by the hand of Time.
[NOTE 216.]
You must not expect their coming out.
Some editors give nearly twenty lines of dialogue between Chremes and Charinus respecting the marriage of the latter with Philumena, but those additional lines are spurious. The critics have decided that the play should terminate with the winding up of Pamphilus’s intrigue, and that that of Charinus should be left to the imagination: as the action must languish, if continued after the interest felt for the principal characters has subsided. Davus here addresses the spectators, as does Mysis, in A. 1. S. 4. Commentators deem this a blemish in the composition of the piece. These addresses, in ancient comedies, were not, I imagine, made to the spectators in general, but to those persons who stood on the stage during the performance, as the chorus, or as musicians.