Close? My word, sir! he’s adhesive! Why, really,--just so as to give you a better notion of him--whenever he sacrifices to his own Guardian Spirit he won’t use any dishes needed in the service except ones made of Samian earthenware, for fear his very Guardian Spirit may steal ’em. You can see from this what a confiding character he is in general. _Hegio_ Sequere hac me igitur. eadem ego ex hoc quae volo exquaesivero. Philocrates, hic fecit, hominem frugi ut facere oportuit. nam ego ex hoc quo genere gnatus sis scio, hic fassust mihi; haec tu eadem si confiteri vis, tua ex re feceris: quae tamen scio scire me ex hoc. Well, well, come this way with me. (_aside, as they join Tyndarus_) I’ll soon get the information I want out of the master here at the same time. (_to Tyndarus_) Philocrates, your servant has acted as a worthy fellow ought to act. Yes, I know from him about your family: he has admitted everything. If you choose to be equally open with me, it will be to your advantage: however, I have been completely informed already by him. _Tynd._ Fecit officium hic suom, cum tibi est confessus verum, quamquam volui sedulo meam nobilitatem occultare et genus et divitias meas, Hegio; nunc quando patriam et libertatem perdidi, 300 non ego istunc me potius quam te metuere aequom censeo. vis hostilis cum istoc fecit meas opes aequabiles; memini, cum dicto haud audebat: facto nunc laedat licet. (_with dignified melancholy_) He has done his duty in admitting the truth to you, much as I did wish to keep you in the dark, Hegio, about my rank and birth and wealth; now that I am a man without a country, a prisoner, I suppose it is not to be expected that he should stand more in awe of me than of you. The chances of war have put master and man on an equal footing. I remember the time when he did not venture to offend me by a word: now he is at liberty to do me an actual injury. sed viden? fortuna humana fingit artatque ut lubet: me, qui liber fueram servom fecit, e summo infimum; qui imperare insueram, nunc alterius imperio obsequor. et quidem si, proinde ut ipse fui imperator familiae, habeam dominum, non verear ne iniuste aut graviter mi imperet. Hegio, hoc te monitum, nisi forte ipse non vis, voluerim. But you see! fortune moulds us, pinches us, to suit her whims: here am I, the one-time free man, a slave--tossed from the heights to the depths. Accustomed to command, I am now at another’s beck and call. And indeed, if I might have such a master as I myself was when I was the head of a household, I should have no fear of being treated unjustly or harshly. There is one thing I should like to impress upon you, Hegio,--unless you object, maybe. _Hegio_ Loquere audacter. No, no, speak out. _Tynd._