[Sidenote: Bantering talk.] _Sophoclidisca._ Pægnium, darling boy, good day. How do you do? How’s your health? _Pægnium._ Sophoclidisca, the gods bless me! _Soph._ How about me? _Pæg._ That’s as the gods choose; but if they do as you deserve, they’ll hate you and hurt you. _Soph._ Stop your bad talk. _Pæg._ When I talk as you deserve, my talk is good, not bad. _Soph._ What are you doing? _Pæg._ I’m standing opposite and looking at you, a bad woman. _Soph._ Surely I never knew a worse boy than you. _Pæg._ What do I do that’s bad, or to whom do I say anything bad? _Soph._ To whomever you get a chance. _Pæg._ No man ever thought so. _Soph._ But many know that it is so. _Pæg._ Ah! _Soph._ Bah! _Pæg._ You judge other people’s characters by your own nature. _Soph._ I confess I am as a pimp’s maid should be. _Pæg._ I’ve heard enough. _Soph._ What about you? Do you confess you’re as I say? _Pæg._ I’d confess if I were so. _Soph._ Go off now. You’re too much for me. _Pæg._ Then you go off now. _Soph._ Tell me this: where are you going? _Pæg._ Where are you going? _Soph._ You tell; I asked first. _Pæg._ But you’ll find out last. _Soph._ I’m not going far from here. _Pæg._ And I’m not going far, either. _Soph._ Where are you going, then, scamp? _Pæg._ Unless I hear first from you, you’ll never know what you ask. _Soph._ I declare you’ll never find out to-day, unless I hear first from you. _Pæg._ Is that so? _Soph._ Yes, it is. _Pæg._ You’re bad. _Soph._ You’re a scamp. _Pæg._ I’ve a right to be. _Soph._ And I’ve just as good a right. _Pæg._ What’s that you say? Have you made up your mind not to tell where you’re going, you wretch? _Soph._ How about you? Have you determined to conceal where you’re bound for, you scoundrel? _Pæg._ Hang it, you answer like with like. Go away now, since it’s settled so. I don’t care to know. Good-by.