The Italian Comedy by Duchartre Pierre Louis;

Author:Duchartre, Pierre Louis;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dover Publications
Published: 1994-05-10T04:00:00+00:00

PANTALOON THE DUPE

Beginning of the seventeenth century

Pantaloon has an ancestor whom Plautus calls Euclio in his Aulularia. His slave Strobile says of him:

He is so mean that when he goes to bed he ties up the neck of the bellows to prevent them from losing any air during the night. Some time ago the barber pared his nails, and he carefully picked up and carried away all the clippings, so that nothing would be wasted.

In punishment for his avaricious nature, which is evidently only an atavism, and which, after all, affects no one but his near and dear ones, the fates combine to rain down all manner of ill-luck and calamity on his venerable head.

If Pantaloon is married his wife is generally young and pretty, and, unaware of the honour of being the wife of a reputable merchant, she deceives him at every turn. To add insult to injury, she makes fun of him because he coughs and spits, because his nose runs, and because he slavers a little.

If he happens to have any daughters, Isabella and Rosaura or Camille and Smeraldine, they worry their old father enough to drive him out of his wits. Even the servant-girls in his household, Fiametta and Olivette or Zerbinette and Catte, become doubly deceitful in order to let a lover into the house in secret or steal some of their master‘s silver. Or perhaps it is the old procuress who comes in and delivers a letter, sealed with a bleeding heart, to Isabella right before her father’s eyes. Pantaloon's chalky face turns purple with rage, and he draws his poignard. But he never kills anyone. At heart he is a peace-loving man. He has a horror of blows, and yet he receives them—far oftener than he likes. And for this reason: Pantaloon has retired from business, and, having nothing better to do, has turned his attention to matters of State and the affairs of his neighbours. When he is sauntering along the sunlit street and overhears the beginning of a discussion he cannot refrain from offering the disputants the fine fruit of his long experience and the weight of his well-known probity. He interferes forthwith, and is immediately fired by his own eloquence; he swears by all the saints of Venice; he waves his hands. . . . But human nature seldom deserves the altruism wasted upon it, and so the honest Pantaloon is most often rebuffed for his good intentions and is usually the victim of most of the kicks and blows delivered at the close of the argument.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.