ÆSCH. Pray tell me, father, what business have you there? MIC. Why, none of my own; {but} a certain friend {of mine} just now brought me hither from the Forum to give him some assistance. ÆSCH. Why? MIC. I’ll tell you. There are some women living here; in impoverished circumstances, as I suppose you don’t know them; and, {in fact}, I’m quite sure, for it is not long since they removed to this place. ÆSCH. Well, what next? MIC. There is a girl living with her mother. ÆSCH. Go on. MIC. This girl has lost her father; this friend of mine is her next of kin; the law obliges him to marry her.[75] ÆSCH. (_aside._) Undone! MIC. What’s the matter? ÆSCH. Nothing. Very well: proceed. MIC. He has come to take her with him; for he lives at Miletus. ÆSCH. What! To take the girl away with him? MIC. Such is the fact. ÆSCH. All the way to Miletus, pray?[76] MIC. Yes. ÆSCH. (_aside._) I’m overwhelmed with grief. (_To MICIO._) {But} what of them? What do they say? MIC. What do you suppose they should? Why, nothing at all. The mother has trumped up a tale, that there is a child by some other man, I know not who, and she does not state the name; {she says} that he was the first, {and} that she ought not to be given to the other. ÆSCH. Well now, does not this seem just to you after all? MIC. No. ÆSCH. Why not, pray? Is {the other} to be carrying her away from here? MIC. Why should he not take her? ÆSCH. You have acted harshly and unfeelingly, and even, if, father, I may speak my sentiments more plainly, unhandsomely. MIC. Why so? ÆSCH. Do you ask me? Pray, what do you think must be the state of mind of the man who was first connected with her, who, to his misfortune, may perhaps still love her to distraction, when he sees her torn away from before his face, {and} borne off from his sight {forever}? An unworthy action, father! MIC. On what grounds is it so? Who betrothed her?[77] Who gave her away? When {and} to whom was she married? Who was the author of all this? Why did he connect himself with a woman who belonged to another? ÆSCH. Was it to be expected that a young woman of her age should sit at home, waiting till a kinsman {of hers} should come from a distance? This, my father, you ought to have represented, and have insisted on it. MIC. Ridiculous! Was I to have pleaded against him whom I was to support? But what’s all this, Æschinus, to us? What have we to do with them? Let us begone:---- What’s the matter? Why these tears? ÆSCH. (_weeping._) Father, I beseech you, listen to me. MIC. Æschinus, I have heard and know it all; for I love you, and therefore every thing you do is the more a care to me. ÆSCH. So do I wish you to find me deserving of your love, as long as you live, my {dear} father, as I am sincerely sorry for the offense I have committed, and am ashamed to see you.