The Contest
Val. I have a losing hand and haven’t good sequences. I pass.
Tam. And I also. You deal, Manricus.
Val. What are you doing? You haven’t shown the trump.
Manr. I will first count my cards, so as not to have more or less than nine.
Val. You have one too many.
Manr. I will place one aside.
Val. That is not the rule of the game. You ought to lose your turn of dealing, and pass it on to the next. Give me the cards!
Manr. I won’t, since I haven’t yet turned up the trump.
Val. Yes, you will. By God (per Deum)!
Cast. Get away! What has come into your mind, my Valdaura? You swear oaths on the slightest provocation, which would scarcely be fitting on the most important affairs.
Manr. What do you say, umpire?
Lup. I don’t know really what should be done in this case.
Manr. See what a judge we have appointed over us—one who has no judgment—a leader without eyes.
Val. What, then, is to be done?
Manr. What, indeed, unless we send to Paris for some one to bring this matter of ours forward for a decree of the Senate.
Cast. Mix the cards, and deal again.
Tam. Oh! what a good hand I lose! I shall not have another like it to-day!
Cast. Shuffle well those cards and deal them more carefully, one by one.
Val. Again, I increase the stakes.
Tam. Didn’t I predict that I shouldn’t have such a chance in my hands again to-day? I am always most unfortunate. Why do I so much as even look at a game?
Cast. This, indeed, is not playing. It is afflicting ourselves. Is it recreating ourselves and refreshing our minds, to get worried like this? Play ought to be play, not torment.
Manr. Be a little patient; don’t throw your cards away. You are getting into a panic!
Val. Then answer if you accept (the amount of the stake).
Manr. I accept, and increase it again.
Val. What! do you expect to put me to flight with your fierce words? I don’t pass.
Manr. Declare, once for all, and be quick about it. Do you agree?
Val. Yes, and with the greatest pleasure. My mind prompts me to contest in such play for a still greater stake, but this will do amongst friends.
Tam. What! don’t you count me amongst the living, so that you leave me out of consideration?
Cast. What, then, do you stake, you man of straw (faenee).
Tam. I, for my part, wish to increase the stake.
Manr. What do you say, Castellus?
Cast. At last you consult me, after you have increased the stake by your own arrangements. I should not dare, on my hand, to stake up to such an increase.
Val. Give a definite answer.
Cast. I haven’t the grounds for doing so. Everything seems ambiguous and doubtful. Hence I answer hesitatingly, timidly, diffidently. Isn’t this expressed sufficiently clearly?
Manr. Immortal God, what an abundance of words! The hail we lately had, did not fall so thickly! But, I beg, let us risk a little.
Cast. Let us make the attempt when you please, but don’t expect a great stake from me.
Manr. But you will bring what assistance you can?
Cast. There is no need for you to advise me on that score.
Manr. We have been completely beaten!
Tam. We have won four denarii. Shuffle!
Val. I go five asses.
Cast. I don’t know whether I shall pass, for I am sure to be beaten.
Tam. Five more!
Cast. What do you reply to this call?
Manr. What am I to say? I let it pass.
Cast. You lost the last game. Let me lose this in accordance with my own ideas. I know that I am of less skill, but I must hold out as long as I seem to have any strength.
Val. What, then, do you say? Do you refuse?
Cast. No, certainly. I agree.
Tam. Don’t you know this Castellus, Valdaura? He plays a better game than you, but he is thus accustomed to lure on rash challengers into his net. Take care not to go on rashly, where you will be entangled in a net.
Val. God’s faith! how could you guess that I had one last card left of this suit (natio)?
Cast. I knew all the cards.
Val. That is quite conceivable.
Cast. And that, too, without looking at them!
Val. Perhaps even from the backs?
Cast. You are too suspicious.
Val. You make me so, if you will excuse me saying so.
Tam. Let us examine if the backs of the cards have marks whereby they can be recognised.