There is a play upon words here, which I have endeavoured to preserve in the English. The Latin is as follows. _Davus._ OCCIDI. _Simo._ Hem! quid dixisti? _Davus._ OPTUME inquam factum. If the requisite similarity of sound was preserved in this pun, it may be conjectured that the Latin _i_ was not pronounced very differently from the _i_ of the modern Italians. _Vide_ Note 92. NOTE 156. _Pam.――What trust can I put in such a rascal?_ Oh! tibi ego ut credam FURCIFER? The epithet _furcifer_ (rascal) is of singular derivation; and, though it was an appellation of great reproach in the times of Terence, yet, in later ages of the Roman Republic, it bore a very different signification. The name of _furcifer_, which was originally given to slaves, took its rise from the Roman custom of punishing a slave who had committed any flagrant offence, by fastening round his neck a heavy piece of wood, in the shape of a fork, and thence called furca; this occasioned the delinquent to be afterwards called furcifer, (furcam ferre.) Three modes of punishment by the furca were practised at Rome: 1. ignominious, 2. penal, 3. capital. In the first, the criminal merely carried the furca on his shoulders for a short period; in the second, he wore the furca, and was whipped round the Forum; in the third, after having been tied to a large furca, somewhat like a modern gallows, he was beaten to death. Slaves were treated more severely by the Romans than by the Athenians, who were celebrated for their mild and gentle behaviour to that class of persons. The furca was afterwards employed in a very different manner; and, from a badge of disgrace, was changed to a serviceable implement. Caius Marius, nearly a hundred years after Terence composed this play, introduced the use of the furca among his soldiers. It was employed to carry baggage and other requisites; and, in use, somewhat resembled a modern porter’s knot, hence, the word _furculum_ or _ferculum_, became an expression to signify a burden, or any thing carried in the hand: and sometimes, also, the various courses brought to table, as in _Horace_, “Multaque de magnâ superessent _fercula_ cœnâ, Quæ procul extructis inerant hesterna canistris?” B. II. Sat. 6. NOTE 157. _Ah! how foolishly have I relied on you, who, out of a perfect calm, have raised this storm._ Hem quo fretu siem Qui me hodie ex tranquillissima re conjecisti in nuptias. “My father reads this passage thus, _en quo fretus sum_, _that is, the rascal on whom I relied_,” &c. MADAME DACIER.