_Demipho._ Come then, Nausistrata, with your usual good nature make her feel kindly toward us, so that she may do of her own accord what must be done. _Nausistrata._ I will. _De._ You’ll be aiding me now with your good offices, just as you helped me a while ago with your purse. _Na._ You’re quite welcome; and upon my word, it’s my husband’s fault that I can do less than I might well do. _De._ Why, how is that? _Na._ Because he takes wretched care of my father’s honest savings; he used regularly to get two talents from those estates. How much better one man is than another! _De._ Two talents, do you say? _Na._ Yes, two talents, and when prices were much lower than now. _De._ Whew! _Na._ What do you think of that? _De._ Oh, of course—_Na._ I wish I’d been born a man, I’d soon show you—_De._ Oh, yes, I’m sure. _Na._ The way—_De._ Pray do save yourself up for her, lest she may wear you out; she’s young, you know. _Na._ I’ll do as you tell me. But there’s my husband coming out of your house. [Sidenote: Turpilius.] The comedies of Plautus and Terence have served as the originals for almost countless plays in later times, and through them the Greek comedy has survived until our own day. There were other Latin writers of comedies derived from the Greek after Terence, most noted of whom was Turpilius, who died in 103 B. C., but of their works, which were unimportant, little remains. Of the _fabula togata_, Roman comedy in Roman dress, little need be said. It never attained great popularity, and it lasted but a comparatively short time. [Sidenote: Fabula togata. Titinius, Atta, Afranius.] The first writer of comedies of this sort was Titinius. About one hundred and eighty lines of fragments and fifteen titles of his plays are preserved, from which we can learn little about the quality of his works. He seems to have written a little later than Terence. Titus Quinctius Atta has left to us the titles of eleven plays and about twenty-five lines of fragments. Little is known of him except the date of his death, 77 B. C. Lucius Afranius, the last and most important writer of this kind of comedies, was born probably not far from 150 B. C. Forty-two titles and more than four hundred lines of fragments now remain to attest his activity. The scenes of the plays are laid in the smaller towns of Italy, and the characters belong for the most part to the lower social classes. In these respects Afranius seems to have differed little from Titinius and Atta, but his plays had apparently less local color than theirs, and thus approached more nearly the character of the _fabula palliata_ as developed by Terence.