PHID. Not in the least. For when I urg'd it home, And threaten'd to oblige her to return, She vow'd most solemnly she could not bear Your house, so long as Pamphilus was absent. --All have their failings: I am of so soft A nature, I can't thwart my family. LACH. Ha, Sostrata! (_To SOSTRATA, apart._) SOSTRA. Wretch that I am! Ah me! (_Aside._) LACH. And her return's impossible? (_To PHIDIPPUS._) PHID. At present. --Would you aught else with me? for I have business That calls me to the Forum. LACH. I'll go with you. (_Exeunt._ SCENE III. _Manet SOSTRATA._ SOSTRA. How unjustly Do husbands stretch their censures to all wives For the offenses of a few, whose vices Reflect dishonor on the rest!--For, Heaven So help me, as I'm wholly innocent Of what my husband now accuses me! But 'tis no easy task to clear myself; So fix'd and rooted is the notion in them, That Step-Mothers are all severe.--Not I; For I have ever lov'd Philumena As my own daughter; nor can I conceive What accident has drawn her hatred on me. My son's return, I hope, will settle all; And, ah, I've too much cause to wish his coming. (_Exit._ [Changes: _Harper_ For the offenses of a few, whose vices Reflect dishonor on the rest!--For, Heaven So help me, as I'm wholly innocent _Colman 1768_ Because of the offences of a few, Whose faults reflect dishonour on the rest! --For, heav'n so help me, as I'm innocent] ACT THE THIRD. SCENE I. _Enter PAMPHILUS and PARMENO._ PAM. Never did man experience greater ills, More miseries in love than I.--Distraction! Was it for this I held my life so dear? For this was I so anxious to return? Better, much better were it to have liv'd In any place, than come to this again! To feel and know myself a wretch!--For when Mischance befalls us, all the interval Between its happening, and our knowledge of it, May be esteem'd clear gain. PAR. But as it is, You'll sooner be deliver'd from your troubles: For had you not return'd, the breach between them Had been made wider. But now, Pamphilus, Both will, I doubt not, reverence your presence. You'll know the whole, make up their difference, And reconcile them to each other.--These Are all mere trifles, which you think so grievous.