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Reconciliation between the two does take place. After Melaenis has told Selenium the truth about her parentage, they (along with Halisca, an ancilla) enter (631) just as Alcesimarchus is apparently about to kill himself (though he may be feigning a suicide as a way of getting back his girl). Selenium hears him say Recipe me ad te, Mors, amicum et benevolum ("I am a friend who loves you, take me, O Death" 639) and rushes over to stop him. He welcomes her and decides to live on (O Salute mea salus salubrior, / tu nunc, si ego volo seu nolo, sola me ut vivam facis "O my salvation, more salubrious than salvation itself, only you now can make me live, whether I want to or not" 644645), but will not speak with Melaenis (Nil mecum tibi, mortuos tibi sum: hanc ut habeo certum est non ammittere "I've nothing to do with you, I'm dead to you; since I have her, I'm not going to let her go" 646647). They exit together, and Melaenis comments: |
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MEL. Abiit, abstulit
mulierem. ibo, persequar iam illum intro, ut haec ex me sciat
eadem, si possum tranquillum facere ex irato mihi. |
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MEL. He left, he took away
the girl. I'll go, I'll follow him inside right now, so he can find out these
same things and I'll see if I can soothe his anger towards me
(6502) |
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Peace has been made between Alcesimarchus and Selenium. But now, stung by Melaenis' repeated rebuffs in their prior peace-talks, Alcesimarchus is angry at her, and it is she who must try to make peace with him. This brief remark, in which Melaenis uses the lexicon of reconciliation, calls attention to the importance of peace-making in this play. |
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Agorastacoles is in love with Adelphasium. He and his slave, Milphio, have been watching her and Anterastilis, another meretrix, prepare to go to the shrine of Venus (210329), and just as the girls are ready to leave, Agorastocles greets them and begins a conversation (330). He tries to detain them, pressing his suit with Adelphasium, but she rebuffs him (335). When he tries to embrace her, she tells him to stop (350). Agorastocoles then asks Milphio for help. |
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There is no radical rupture of the relationship, as in the Amphitruo, nor any jealousy over a rival, as in the Cistellaria. Adelphasium is irata because Agorastocles has not yet arranged to buy her freedom, and simply refuses to be detained by his amorous overtures. Nevertheless, there is a momentary interruption in the courtship, and he senses he must do something to soothe her wrath and win her back. In this sense, the situation bears certain similarities to that in the Cistellaria, but there most of the peace-negotiations |
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