Scene IV

Enter Parmeno.

Par. I’m come to see what Chærea has been doing:

Who, if he has but manag’d matters well,

Good Heav’ns, how much, and what sincere applause

Shall Parmeno acquire!—For not to mention,

In an intrigue so difficult as this,

Of so much probable expense at least,

Since with a griping harlot he’d have bargain’d,

That I’ve procur’d for him the girl he lov’d,

Without cost, charge, or trouble; t’other point,

That, that I hold my master-piece, there think

I’ve gain’d the prize, in showing a young spark

The dispositions and the ways of harlots:

Which having early learn’d, he’ll ever shun.

Enter Pythias behind.

When they’re abroad, forsooth, there’s none so clean,

Nothing so trim, so elegant, as they;

Nor, when they sup with a gallant, so nice!

To see these very creatures’ gluttony,

Filth, poverty, and meanness, when at home;

So eager after food, that they devour

From yesterday’s stale broth the coarse black bread:—

All this to know is safety to young men.