Page:Plautus and Terence.djvu/143

Rh

Thra. Yes. And then, when he was tired

Of seeing people, or grew sick of business,

And wanted to unbend him, as it were,—

You understand?

Gna. I know—something, you mean,

In what we call the free-and-easy line?

Thra. Just so—he'd ask me to a quiet dinner.

Gna. Indeed! his Majesty showed fine discernment.

Thra. That's just the man he is—one in a thousand—

There are few like him.

Gna. (aside). Very few, I fancy,

If he could stand your company.

Thraso goes on to relate to his friend some of the excellent jokes which he made during the time he enjoyed this intimacy with royalty; jokes at which the parasite (who was paid for it in good dinners) laughs more perhaps than the reader would. Here is a specimen.

Thraso. Did I ever tell you

How I touched up the Rhodian once at dinner?

Gna. Never! pray tell me—(aside) for the hundredth time.

Thra. This youth was dining with us; as it chanced,