Tran. Run, run! don't look behind you—and cover your head up!
[Theuropides runs off with his cloak over his head.
—Act ii. sc. 2.
There may not be very much wit in the scene, but it is a fair specimen of the style in which Plautus seems to have excelled. It is full of bustle and spirit, and would act, as is the case with so many of his scenes, far better than it reads. If any reader will imagine the two characters in the hands of say Mr Keeley and Mr Buckstone, he will perhaps admit that it would be sufficiently laughable even if it were put exactly as it is upon the stage of a modern minor theatre.
The "Ghost" is left, for the present, in undisturbed possession. But Tranio's plan is nearly frustrated at the outset; for, as he is following his master down the street, they meet a money-lender to whom the son is indebted, and who is come to demand his interest. The old gentleman overhears the conversation between the creditor and Tranio, who vainly tries to prevent him from bawling out his complaints of non-payment. He succeeds, however, in persuading the father that his son has only been borrowing in order to pay the deposit-money upon the purchase of a house (which he has been driven to buy in consequence of the Ghost's occupation of the old one), and which is, as he assures him, a most excellent bargain. Theuropides is naturally anxious to see the new house at once; and Tranio, almost in despair, declares that it is that of their next-door neighbour, Simo, whom he sees just coming out of his Moor on his way to the Forum. Tranio goes up to this person and requests permission
