MIC. (_apart._) Here’s for you! he has discovered all about the affair; {and} of course is now raving about it; a quarrel is the consequence; I must assist him,[84] {however}. DEM. See, here comes the common corrupter of my children. MIC. Pray moderate your passion, and recover yourself. DEM. I have moderated it; I am myself; I forbear all reproaches; let us come to the point: was this agreed upon between us,-- proposed by yourself, in fact,-- that you were not to concern yourself about my {son}, nor I about yours? Answer me. MIC. It is the fact,-- I don’t deny it. DEM. Why is he now carousing at your house? Why are you harboring my son? Why do you purchase a mistress for him, Micio? Is it at all fair, that I should have any less justice from you, than you from me? Since I do not concern myself about your {son}, don’t you concern yourself about mine. MIC. You don’t reason fairly. DEM. No? MIC. For surely it is a maxim of old, that among themselves all things are common to friends. DEM. Smartly {said}; you’ve got that speech up for the occasion. MIC. Listen to a few words, unless it is disagreeable, Demea. In the first place, if the extravagance your sons are guilty of distresses you, pray do reason with yourself. You formerly brought up the two suitably to your circumstances, thinking that your own property would have to suffice for them both; and, of course, you then thought that I should marry. Adhere to that same old rule {of yours},-- save, scrape together, {and} be thrifty {for them}; take care to leave them as much as possible, and {take} that credit to yourself: my fortune, which has come to them beyond their expectation, allow them to enjoy; of {your} captial there will be no diminution; what comes from this quarter, set it {all} down as so much gain. If you think proper impartially to consider these matters in your mind, Demea, you will save me and yourself, and them, {considerable} uneasiness. DEM. I don’t speak about the expense; their morals-- MIC. Hold; I understand you; that point I was coming to.[85] There are in men, Demea, many signs from which a conjecture is easily formed; {so that} when two persons do the same thing, you may often say, this one may be allowed to do it with impunity, the other may not; not that the thing {itself} is different, but that he is who does it. I see {signs} in them, so as to feel confident that they will turn out as we wish. I see that they have good sense and understanding, that they have modesty upon occasion, {and} are affectionate to each other; you may infer that their bent and disposition is of a pliant nature; at any time you like you may reclaim them. But still, you may be apprehensive that they will be somewhat too apt to neglect their interests. O my {dear} Demea, in all other things we grow wiser with age; this sole vice does old age bring upon men: we are all more solicitous about our own interests than we need be; and in this respect age will make them sharp enough.