Or if there be those who have solicited the palm for actors, or for any artist--whether by letter, or by personal solicitation, or through an intermediary--or further, if the aediles do bestow the said palm upon anyone unfairly, Jove doth decree that the selfsame law obtain as should the said party solicit guiltily, for himself or for another, public office. virtute dixit vos victores vivere, non ambitione neque perfidia: qui minus eadem histrioni sit lex quae summo viro? virtute ambire oportet, non favitoribus. sat habet favitorum semper qui recte facit, si illis fides est quibus est ea res in manu. 80 ’Tis worth has won your wars for you, saith he, not solicitation or unfairness: why should not the same law hold for player as for noblest patriot? Worth, not hired support, should solicit victory. He who plays his part aright ever has support enough, if it so be that honour dwells in those whose concern it is to judge his acts. hoc quoque etiam mihi pater in mandatis dedit, ut conquaestores fierent histrionibus: qui sibi mandasset delegati ut plauderent quive quo placeret alter fecisset minus, eius ornamenta et corium uti conciderent. This injunction, too, did Jove lay upon me: that inspectors should be appointed for the actors, to the end that whosoever has enjoined claqueurs to clap himself, or whosoever has endeavoured to compass the failure of another, may have his player’s costume cut to shreds, also his hide. mirari nolim vos, quapropter Iuppiter nunc histriones curet; ne miremini: ipse hanc acturust Iuppiter comoediam. quid? admirati estis? quasi vero novom nunc proferatur, Iovem facere histrioniam; 90 I would not have you wonder why Jove is now regardful of actors; do not so: he himself, Jove, will take part in this comedy. What? Surprised? As if it were actually a new departure, this, Jove’s turning actor! etiam, histriones anno cum in proscaemo hic Iovem invocarunt, venit, auxilio is fuit[9] (92) hanc fabulam, inquam, hic Iuppiter hodie ipse aget, (94) et ego una cum illo. nunc vos animum advortite, dum huius argumentum eloquar comoediae. Why, just last year when the actors on this very stage called upon Jupiter, he came,[B] and helped them out. This play, then, Jove himself will act in to-day, and I along with him. Now give me your attention while I unfold the argument of our comedy. [Footnote B: An allusion to some play in which Jupiter appeared in time to save some situation.] Haec urbs est Thebae. in illisce habitat aedibus Amphitruo, natus Argis ex Argo patre, quicum Alcumena est nupta, Electri filia. is nunc Amphitruo praefectust legionibus, 100 nam cum Telobois bellum est Thebano poplo.