SOSIE, NAUCRATES, POLIDAS, AMPHITRYON
SOSIE All I have been able to do, Monsieur, with all my diligence, is to have brought these gentlemen here.
AMPHITRYON Ah! You are here?
SOSIE Monsieur.
AMPHITRYON Insolent, bold rascal!
SOSIE What?
AMPHITRYON I shall teach you to treat me thus.
SOSIE What is it? What is the matter with you?
AMPHITRYON What is the matter with me, villain?
SOSIE Hullo, gentlemen, come here quickly.
NAUCRATES Ah! Stay, I beseech you.
SOSIE Of what am I guilty?
AMPHITRYON You ask me that, you scoundrel? Let me satisfy my righteous anger.
SOSIE When they hang any one, they tell him why they do it.
NAUCRATES At least condescend to tell us what his crime may be.
SOSIE I beseech you, gentlemen, keep a tight hold of me.
AMPHITRYON Yes! He has just had the audacity to shut the door in my face, and to add threats to a thousand impudent jeers! Ah! You villain!
SOSIE I am dead.
NAUCRATES Restrain this anger.
SOSIE Gentlemen.
POLIDAS What is it?
SOSIE Has he struck me?
AMPHITRYON No, he must have his reward for the language he has made free to use just now.
SOSIE How could that be when I was elsewhere busy carrying out your orders? These gentlemen here can bear witness that I have just invited them to dine with you.
NAUCRATES That is true: he has just delivered us this message, and would not quit us.
AMPHITRYON Who gave you that order?
SOSIE You.
AMPHITRYON When?
SOSIE After you made your peace, when you were rejoicing at the delight of having appeased Alcmene's anger.
AMPHITRYON O Heaven! Every instant, every step, adds something to my cruel martyrdom; I am so utterly confused that I no longer know either what to believe or what to say.
NAUCRATES All he has just told us, of what has happened at your house, surpasses what is natural so much, that before doing anything and before flying into such a passion, you ought to clear up the whole of this adventure.
AMPHITRYON Come; you can second my efforts; Heaven has brought you here most opportunely. Let me see what fortune brings me today; let me solve this mystery, and know my fate. Alas! I burn to learn it, and I dread it more than death.