to the truth of all his bragging stories—"maintaining his teeth," as he says, "at the expense of his ears." The Captain's stories are of such an outrageously lying description as to be somewhat too improbable for the subject of legitimate comedy, and we can only suppose that in this kind of fun the taste of a Roman audience preferred a strong flavour. He affects to believe that not only do all the men dread his prowess, but that all the women are charmed with his person: and his companion and flatterer does his best to persuade him that it is so.
Artotrogus. You saw those girls that stopped me yesterday?
Pyrgopolinices. What did they say?
Art. Why, when you passed, they asked me—
"What, is the great Achilles here?"—I answered,
"No—it's his brother." Then says t'other one—
"Troth, he is handsome! What a noble man!
What splendid hair!"
Pyrg. Now, did they really say so?
Art. They did indeed, and begged me, both of them,
To make you take a walk again to-day,
That they might get another sight of you.
Pyrg. (sighing complacently). 'Tis a great nuisance being
so very handsome![1]
This hero gentleman has just carried, off from Athens—by force, however, and not by the influence of his personal attractions—a young lady who is an object of tender interest to a gentleman of that city,
- ↑
So Le Capitan Matamore, in Corneille's 'L'Illusion Comique'—
"Ciel qui sais comme quoi j'en suis persecuté!
Un peu plus de repos avec moins de beauté."
