VI.—THE BROTHERS.
This comedy, like 'Phormio,' has always been a favourite with the Westminster actors. It is taken partly from a play of Menander, and partly from one by another Greek dramatist, Diphilus. It was acted lately at Westminster with great success, and it may be permissible to borrow, as a familiar rendering of the early portion of the story, a few verses from the clever sketch of the "Plot" which was handed round on that occasion for the enlightenment of the less classical among the audience:—
"Two brothers once in Athens dwelt of old,
Though widely did their dispositions differ;
One loved the country, was a churl and scold,
The other bland and gentle as a zephyr.
Demea, the churl, had once a wife, since dead,
And, as it seems, he did not much regret her;
Micio, the bland, had not been so miss-led,
And never took a wife, for worse or better.
Now Demea had two sons; but he did predicate
That one was quite enough; and gave the other—
The elder of the two—to rear and educate,
In short, to be adopted, by his brother.
The youngest, Ctesipho, at home was taught,
Was duly lectured, disciplined, and scolded;
Rose early—read—walked—and, as Demea thought,
Into a rural innocent was moulded.
