_Amph._ To shut the door against me in my very face, to deny me entrance, to brave me from the balcony, to laugh at me, to threaten me! what proofs of innocence call you these? but if I punish not this insolence---- [_Is going to beat him, and is held by_ POLIDAS _and_ TRANIO. I beg you, let me go. _Sos._ I charge you, in the king's name, hold him fast; for you see he's bloodily disposed. _Grip._ Now, what hast thou to say for thyself, Sosia? _Sos._ I say, in the first place, be sure you hold him, gentlemen; for I shall never plead worth one farthing, while I am bodily afraid. _Pol._ Speak boldly; I warrant thee. _Sos._ Then if I may speak boldly, under my lord's favour, I do not say he lies neither: no, I am too well bred for that; but his lordship fibs most abominably. _Amph._ Do you hear his impudence? yet will you let me go? _Sos._ No impudence at all, my lord; for how could I, naturally speaking, be in the balcony, and affronting you, when at the same time I was in every street of Thebes, inviting these gentlemen to dinner? _Grip._ Hold a little:--How long since was it that he spoke to you from the said balcony? _Amph._ Just now; not a minute before he brought you hither. _Sos._ Now speak, my witnesses. _Grip._ I can answer for him for this last half hour. _Pol._ And I. _Tran._ And I. _Sos._ Now judge equitably, gentlemen, whether I was not a civil well-bred person, to tell my lord he fibs only? _Amph._ Who gave you that order, to invite them? _Sos._ He that best might,--yourself: By the same token, you bid old Bromia provide an' 'twere for a god, and I put in for a brace, or a leash;--no, now I think on't, it was for ten couple of gods, to make sure of plenty. _Amph._ When did I give thee this pretended commission? _Sos._ Why, you gave me this pretended commission, when you were just ready to give my lady the fiddles, and a dance; in order, as I suppose, to your second bedding. _Amph._ Where, in what place, did I give this order? _Sos._ Here, in this place, in the presence of this very door, and of that balcony; and, if they could speak, they would both justify it. _Amph._ O, heaven! These accidents are so surprising, the more I think of them, the more I am lost in my imagination. _Grip._ Nay, he has told us some passages, as he came along, that seem to surpass the power of nature. _Sos._ What think you now, my lord, of a certain twin-brother of mine, called Sosia? 'Tis a sly youth: pray heaven, you have not just such another relation within doors, called Amphitryon. It may be it was he that put upon me, in your likeness; and perhaps he may have put something upon your lordship too, that may weigh heavy upon the forehead. Amph. [_To those who hold him._] Let me go; Sosia may be innocent, and I will not hurt him. Open the door, I'll resolve my doubts immediately.