_Semp_. Confusion! I have failed of half my purpose; Marcia, the charming Marcia’s left behind.’
Well, but though he tells us the half-purpose he has failed of, he does not tell us the half that he has carried. But what does he mean by
“‘Marcia, the charming Marcia’s left behind’?
He is now in her own house! and we have neither seen her nor heard of her anywhere else since the play began. But now let us hear Syphax:—
“‘What hinders, then, but that you find her out, And hurry her away by manly force?’
But what does old Syphax mean by finding her out? They talk as if she were as hard to be found as a hare in a frosty morning.
“‘But how to gain admission? for access Is giv’n to none but Juba and her brothers.’
But, raillery apart, why access to Juba? For he was owned and received as a lover neither by the father nor by the daughter. Well, but let that pass. Syphax puts Sempronius out of pain immediately; and, being a Numidian, abounding in wiles, supplies him with a stratagem for admission that, I believe, is a _nonpareil_.
“‘_Syph_. Thou shalt have Juba’s dress, and Juba’s guards; The doors will open when Numidia’s prince Seems to appear before them.’
“Sempronius is, it seems, to pass for Juba in full day at Cato’s house, where they were both so very well known, by having Juba’s dress and his guards; as if one of the Marshals of France could pass for the Duke of Bavaria at noonday, at Versailles, by having his dress and liveries. But how does Syphax pretend to help Sempronius to young Juba’s dress? Does he serve him in a double capacity, as general and master of his wardrobe? But why Juba’s guards? For the devil of any guards has Juba appeared with yet. Well, though this is a mighty politic invention, yet, methinks, they might have done without it: for, since the advice that Syphax gave to Sempronius was
in my opinion the shortest and likeliest way of coming at the lady was by demolishing, instead of putting on an impertinent disguise to circumvent two or three slaves. But Sempronius, it seems, is of another opinion. He extols to the skies the invention of old Syphax:—
“‘_Semp_. Heavens! what a thought was there!’
“Now, I appeal to the reader if I have not been as good as my word. Did I not tell him that I would lay before him a very wise scene?