ARG. Come, my daughter, shake hands with this gentleman, and pledge
him your troth.
ANG. Father!
ARG. Well? What do you mean by "Father"?
ANG. I beseech you not to be in such a hurry; give us time to become
acquainted with each other, and to see grow in us that sympathy so
necessary to a perfect union.
T. DIA. As far as I am concerned, Madam, it is already full-grown
within me, and there is no occasion for me to wait.
ANG. I am not so quick as you are, Sir, and I must confess that your
merit has not yet made enough impression on my heart.
ARG. Oh! nonsense! There will be time enough for the impression to be
made after you are married.
ANG. Ah! my father, give me time, I beseech you! Marriage is a chain
which should never be imposed by force. And if this gentleman is a man
of honour, he ought not to accept a person who would be his only by
force.
T. DIA. _Nego consequentiam._ I can be a man of honour, Madam,
and at the same time accept you from the hands of your father.
ANG. To do violence to any one is a strange way of setting about
inspiring love.
T. DIA. We read in the ancients, Madam, that it was their custom to
carry off by main force from their father's house the maiden they
wished to marry, so that the latter might not seem to fly of her own
accord into the arms of a man.
ANG. The ancients, Sir, are the ancients; but we are the moderns.
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