OECONOMUS. Slaves think that they are subject to great evil, even when they are carrying out their master's commands carefully. I also had persuaded myself that this would be the situation when I bowed my neck to the yoke of slavery. But just now I judge it to be otherwise. For then, though working and obeying, I was the most free of all, passing on all my worry to others. Now, when I have been made a freedman, on every side the care of all the domestic chores weighs me down. If the house slaves neglect any duty inside or outside, I get the blame, as if I were in charge of every job. In addition, they do not obey me and do not carry out their duties seriously. For they chatter or play around or annoy everyone in the forum and neglect their own work. I must see what is delaying Daetrus from bringing home the food to be cooked and from cooking what is to be eaten this evening. All of you, as I ordered, get ready the couches, the tables, the felt coverlets, the tablecloths, the round side-tables, the square dining tables and the vessels. Do you hear this? Prepare everything as I ordered. I suspect they will not listen to me, but as I leave will move together to gab and be idle. Nevertheless, I shall go straight to the market, to see what has delayed Daetrus up to now. If he meets me, of course, he will save me the trouble of the walk.
PANOCNUS. Let our mistress rush around as much as our emancipated friend; nothing will go forward at all unless Daetrus is here to cook what is to be eaten. What is a dish without food?
PHILOPONUS. A Locrian ox.
PANOCNUS. Let's stay here then in the meantime till Daetrus, who has been sent off, returns. As long as he is away all our labour and work is useless.
PHILOPONUS. Agreed. The things you are telling me about our master are remarkable, for though up to now he has been extravagant in all things and has rather indulged in the pleasures of food and women, nevertheless he has never shown such an outpouring of festive gaiety. By God, I'm afraid lest such an unusual course may be a bad omen for the man.
PANOCNUS. Indeed, you're justly afraid, for often, after the heat of the blazing sun, claps of thunder are wont to follow, and the end of laughter is grief. I remember that some for whom death was rapidly approaching relaxed with pleasures that were too intemperate.
PHILOPONUS. May the gods avert that omen. How this business will work out will be seen eventually. In the meantime, let us take care to carry out exactly, one by one, the orders given to us, if we do not want to be delivered to the blows of the elm for any things not prepared. First, let us set the table splendidly; let's strew the rugs on the couches and wash clean the cups, and then decorate the entrance hall with green leaves and sweet smelling herbs and, as ordered, arrange a harmonious chorus of boys and girls, so that, when he comes in, there is nothing to offend his eyes or rouse his anger.
PANOCNUS. Good advice. But now at last Daetrus is back, laden down with delicacies. He provides for each of us some occasion for dirty work. Oeconomus, who is in charge of the household matters, is with him. He, I know, will natter at us and accuse us of idleness and negligence.
PHILOPONUS. Fellow slave, you should not feel annoyed at toil or dirty work. For the faithful servant applies himself to all his duties. Henceforth, let me answer his chiding.
OECONOMUS. Why are you playing the fool here out of doors? Is there nothing in the house to do?
PHILOPONUS. There is, but, up to now, following your previous orders, we have been waiting for Daetrus himself.
OECONOMUS. Follow my orders diligently, for there is something I am entrusting to both of you.
PHILOPONUS. Yes, sir. We obey you.
PANOCNUS. Didn't I tell you?
PHILOPONUS. You did, but I ask you, who is that princely man we see afar off, hurrying here with measured tread? Let's wait, for, whoever he is, he is not a man of low rank. He clearly shows this in his style, both in his clothes and his actions and most of all by the heroic stature with which he is endowed, and he brings with him great dignity and royal authority.
PANOCNUS. He seems to be the envoy of Caesar or of some king of great renown, because his gravity and such a stature belong to none of our people. Let's go inside. I'm shy about receiving such a man, for he is approaching us.
PHILOPONUS. Stop. Let your rustic shyness be gone. What fitting reply would you give to our master, if he found out you had run away? He certainly won't bite us. I'll speak out, if anything has to be spoken.
NOMODIDASCALUS. For a long time many have been proclaiming that a very rich little man has been living in these lowest parts of the world. The greatest King of gods and men orders me to summon this man, whom all address as their leading citizen and as Henecastus and Everyman. In discharging this mission, I now want to meet this man for a serious talk.
PHILOPONUS. He's looking for the master.
PANOCNUS. True.
NOMODIDASCALUS. Hello, my good men, show me, if you please, the rich house which Hisecastus lives in.
PHILOPONUS. This is the house in which our master, Hisecastus, lives, venerable Lord, and everyone calls him Hecastus.
NOMODIDASCALUS. It's the same man. Let him be called out of doors.
PHILOPONUS. My master left home a long time ago and has not yet returned. My mistress is here, if you'd like to see her.
NOMODIDASCALUS. Let her be called.
PHILOPONUS. Panocnus, call our mistress.
PANOCNUS. I'll call her.
NOMODIDASCALUS. Where has your master gone?
PHILOPONUS. To a dear friend for his pleasure, to pass his time in drinking and games and sportiveness.
NOMODIDASCALUS. Must he waste his time in games? Must he waste his time in drinking? Has he nothing more valuable to do than this? Has he nothing more agreeable to do than this, at a time when he ought to be atoning for his former very vile life with tears and to be aspiring to the joys of a future life, since nothing is more certain for him than death, nothing more uncertain than the hour of his death? But why is his wife so slow? Or does she despise these orders I bring from the highest King?
PHILOPONUS. For some time I think she has been weakened by the copious preparations for the banquet this evening. She cannot suddenly extricate herself or waste what she has done.
NOMODIDASCALUS. O dreadful and cursed riches of mortals, to what ends will riches not usually force the minds of their owners?
PHILOPONUS. Look, here is my mistress with her maid. Goodbye, my lord, for there is work for me to do in the house.
NOMODIDASCALUS. Goodbye, young man.
EPICURIA. Well! who is this man? Welcome, distinguished gentleman.
NOMODIDASCALUS. May you keep safe, my dear lady.
EPICURIA. Are you looking for me or for my husband?
NOMODIDASCALUS. First of all, I thought your husband should be warned and after that you also. But where is he?
EPICURIA. By God, this I do not know. He went off alone.
NOMODIDASCALUS. Take care what you reply. For a mouth that lies kills a soul.
EPICURIA. I tell a lie? I beseech you, my lord, not to think that.
NOMODIDASCALUS. Evidently your servants know what you do not know. Therefore send someone quickly to bring him home. For I have serious business with him. Also I must show him as soon as possible the unavoidable decree of my thrice greatest King, which Hecastus must obey, if he has regard for his salvation.
EPICURIA. Poor me, how you terrify me also with this talk.
NOMODIDASCALUS. Such terror is the beginning of greater terror unless he listens to me. Summon your husband.
EPICURIA. I'm very much afraid that he will not wish to be summoned.
NOMODIDASCALUS. Whether he wishes it or not, let him be brought here.
EPICURIA. Girl, go and call one of our servants.
GIRL. I will.
EPICURIA. I will send him to the house of Daemones, to see if perchance he can be brought here from that house after his drinking.
GIRL. I will call. Do you order anything else to be said?
EPICURIA. Nothing else. But come back here with the servant called, that I may tell you (if perchance the case demands it) how the serving dishes are to be arranged at the dinner this evening.
GIRL. Yes, ma'am.
EPICURIA. Off you go.
NOMODIDASCALUS. Why are you taking so much care over this evening's dinner, when you do not know whether you will have an evening with your husband?
EPICURIA. What do I hear? We are young and healthy; we have not finished our thirty-fifth year. Why should sudden death attack us? I beg you give me a better omen, lest by such fears you distract me from my cups and my dishes.
NOMODIDASCALUS. If you had time to reply to me about these things one by one, woman, you would direct your attention not only to how foolish you are but also to how senseless you are. But now the boy you called is here; order him to tell your husband what you wish. I will remain over here in the meantime, while you go through with this.
PANOCNUS. You order me to come outside, mistress? What do you want to be done?
EPICURIA. Return to the house of Daemones as quickly as you can and call your master back home.
PANOCNUS. I should not dare to try what you order, for my master forbade me with serious threats just now not to call him back home and not to disclose his whereabouts today.
EPICURIA. I know, but now the utmost necessity threatens him and, whether he wishes it or not, he must be summoned immediately. You will tell him that a gentleman of the highest rank and an ambassador of the thrice greatest Prince is present in our house, that he brings some serious orders which must be delivered without delay, and you will say that the dangers of death and of his ultimate salvation hang over him, if he take no heed.
PANOCNUS. I will tell him that an ambassador has arrived to whose orders he must soon seriously reply.
EPICURIA. So you shall say.
PANOCNUS. That's what I will say.
EPICURIA. See to it that you do not say this to anyone else.
PANOCNUS. I will not.
EPICURIA. Meanwhile, girl, go and set up a table in the raised dining room of the house, that we may receive our guest here with the greatest honour and joy.
GIRL. I will see to it that all furnishings are shining.
EPICURIA. Let the walls gleam with hyacinth-coloured cotton and silk tapestries.
GIRL. I will do that willingly.
EPICURIA. See to it also that the table shines with radiant gold and jewelled cups.
GIRL. It shall be done.
EPICURIA. Let every place be sweetened with fragrant balsam, incense and aromatic resins.
GIRL. They shall be sweetened.
EPICURIA. Quickly.
GIRL. Very quickly.
EPICURIA. Now I must talk to this gentleman affably and cunningly until my husband returns, to see if I can perhaps hunt out what he will be telling my husband. Ah, he is once more approaching me.
NOMODIDASCALUS. Woman, why do you order all the servants in your house to be distracted with this useless work, in order to stuff your rotten flesh and to nourish it with worms? If you have enough to preserve your life and to cover this body moderately, you should ask nothing else in these areas. For he whose mission I am carrying out is very rich and he has prepared on his own table immortal dishes and cups for his own people, namely, those who in this brief life worship him piously and love him. Finally, why in these vales of tears do you pile up money, garments, riches? Why do you strive to have pleasures of the flesh, honours, profits abundantly, when tomorrow, more certain than certainty itself, you shall die in death and leave all these possessions as if they were nothing?
EPICURIA. Excellent sir, we indeed know that, but I beg you to tell me why you are threatening us so--we are young and have healthy and vigorous bodies.
NOMODIDASCALUS. O, if you were to know how foolish is this presumption, you would now come to your senses in fear; you would despise this pride and extravagance as dirt, and by your tears you would turn aside the anger of the heavenly judge.
EPICURIA. How am I foolish? Is not our best God kind? Will he not give a great reward for little work to those who, even in the last hour of the day, hurry into the vineyard after a life of indifference?
NOMODIDASCALUS. If that were true, repentance would assuredly never be too late. But how do you know that you can be brought through at the eleventh hour, for man is an empty and light bubble. He who has promised grace to the penitent does not guarantee a tomorrow for the negligent. Nay, if you were to come as an old person to the time of your last years, how would you know that he would send you into his father's vineyard? Since perfect penitence is a gift of God, it is not a thing of one's own virtue, and you, in the meantime, scorning the long patience of God, not repenting in your own heart, will build up wrath against yourself at the final judgement.
EPICURIA. You do not frighten me even moderately by this talk of dire death. And you will have difficulty in persuading me that all these possessions we use so extravagantly should be carried out of doors rashly and foolishly and without consultation, that we may not enjoy freely those possessions which either fortune by her kindness or the good gods by their favour have conferred on us so abundantly. But now our talk must be stopped; at last my husband arrives.
NOMODIDASCALUS. As I see you will not be sensible until death ends your life with his arrow, go and do what you have decided is advantageous to you.
EPICURIA. I will go and see what my servants have prepared for the feasts and for the dining room, and I should like you to be present with my husband this evening.
NOMODIDASCALUS. I must confront him now. Boy, bring the document and the books of the divine law.
BOY. Certainly, master. Here is the document and here the books of the divine law.
HECASTUS. Who did you say he is--that man who bid me to appear before him?
PANOCNUS. An outstanding man and the messenger of a great king.
HECASTUS. Did this messenger show that he is noble, rich? Was he dressed in purple and shining with gold?
PANOCNUS. Not at all, but there is in the man's speech, in his looks and his manners an authority, maturity and honour, that (may my words not rouse your indignation) I should judge you to be a rustic and a barbarian and a low fellow compared with him.
HECASTUS. You are talking nonsense. If he is ragged, poor and of low birth, he is not a royal ambassador and he does not come here with good omens. Where did you leave the man?
PANOCNUS. With your wife in front of our house. Look, there he is. Look at him and try to find out who he is and how important he is.
HECASTUS. By God, I did not believe he'd be so dignified. There shines from his face a grandeur of character that must be respected and a sanctity worthy of honour.
PANOCNUS. You will say this even more when you hear him speak.
HECASTUS. Greetings to you, revered sir. You were looking for me?
NOMODIDASCALUS. Greetings to you also; a good death after you have finished your life, and glory in your future life. Are you the man who is commonly called Hecastus?
HECASTUS. Yes, I am Hecastus.
NOMODIDASCALUS. The King of Kings and the greatest Emperor of all the world has sent me as a messenger to you and has ordered that you attend his judgement seat without delay and give an account to him of all the things you have used or misused and which on earth you possess, rightly or wrongly. And lest you should think this a chilling business and that my mission is a trick and not valid, look, here are a letter and a bond written in his own hand, by which his great Majesty summons you to his presence.
HECASTUS. What did the Prince have in common with me that he should suddenly demand an account of what has been received by me and given to me? What? Surely the emperor does not think that I am his slave, his farmer, his debtor or his steward, that I should give a reckoning of everything one by one? Surely I am allowed at my own whim to spend from my belongings what I want and how much I want when I want, and give to whom I want and in what way I want?
NOMODIDASCALUS. First of all, read this letter and use your brains. If after that you hesitate at all, I will explain things more clearly to you.
HECASTUS. By God, of what sort is this writing and these letters? Our law courts certainly do not use this form and this manner of writing. These characters, looking as if they have been set down by the hand of God, produce in me a great chill of fear.
NOMODIDASCALUS. Why are you muttering? Quickly read it through and reply even more quickly, so that I may know what I must report back to your judge.
HECASTUS. I ask you to believe me, there is in the letter a certain reverend antiquity differing not a little from our writing in punctuation and forms, so that I, poor wretch that I am, cannot read a word of it and cannot understand what has been set down. But I have two sons, one of whom has been versed in literature for a long time; wait until he explains the meaning of these lines to me.
NOMODIDASCALUS. Let him be called.
HECASTUS. Ho, there. Call my son, Philomathes, to appear here immediately. After that you shall look for my other son, so that this ambassador may be received with all dignity--and also the other guests.
PANOCNUS. I will call your son, Philomathes, and will look for your other son. Do you want me for anything else?
HECASTUS. Nothing, except that Philomathes should rush here rapidly; tell him that I need his help as soon as possible.
PANOCNUS. I will tell him.
HECASTUS. Care and anxiety and shivering limbs overwhelm me. My side hurts me, my heart is palpitating, as if they had been stricken by fevers; my flesh and my bones tremble. Above all, this envoy and the orders of the greatest King torment me with a very great fear. And I do not know, most miserable of all men that I am, what I should answer to these commands. Alas, how great a change in all things there is suddenly for me. But look, here is Philomathes, my younger son; he, I hope, will bring me comfort after he has read the letter.
PHILOMATHES. My boy calls me unexpectedly as I'm reading Hippocrates. Who is this? My father. Why is he sad? Hello, father. Why are you so sad? Why also are you pressing your hand to your side?
HECASTUS. A sudden pain has come upon me in this right side.
PHILOMATHES. Put out your tongue.
HECASTUS. Umm.
PHILOMATHES. Give me your hand.
HECASTUS. Umm. My hand.
PHILOMATHES. It is pleurisy. Certainly, no one should neglect this illness unless perchance he hates a healthy life. For this disease leads by a quick step to death, unless a healing hand drives it back at the beginning. Trust me, father, I have read Galen and will save you easily. Is it for this reason only you ordered me now to be called here so suddenly?
HECASTUS. Not for this reason, son, but for another which oppresses my heart much more. Do you see this dignified gentleman?
PHILOMATHES. How could I fail to have seen him?
HECASTUS. He is the envoy of the great Prince (as he says, and as his stature shows). He bids me with weighty words to give an account of all the possessions that are mine and how they have been gained and distributed.
PHILOMATHES. Tell me more. Is my father to be summoned to court or is the Prince on his side claiming a reckoning of all our goods?
HECASTUS. Listen to the rest. He has offered documents of quite venerable antiquity, covered indeed with handwriting so extraordinary that you would think the documents were written not by the hand of man but by the hand of God. They bring great dread upon those who see them. These I can neither understand nor read. I have called you down from your seat of the Muses, so that when you have deciphered the words and the sense and the order, I may know what I should reply to the high Prince.
PHILOMATHES. Let the envoy of the Prince himself unfold his documents for me, and let him see that in our part of the world there are learned and wise men.
HECASTUS. O, would that you would accommodate your father in this, my son, in return for the great amounts of money I've handed over to you.
PHILOMATHES. Whatever pertains to the arts of philosophy I know well: all the profane laws and the sacred ones and every language that is not barbarous. What has he proposed that I shall not easily solve? But in this man, when I consider him more closely, there is not secular dignity (as I believed), nor royal pride, but the dread and the wonder and the worship of a God of heavenly grandeur.
HECASTUS. You will say this even more, when you have heard him speak.
NOMODIDASCALUS. Is this the one who should read and explain the mandate of my King to you, Hecastus?
HECASTUS. He is.
NOMODIDASCALUS. Take it; read it; I have delayed longer than is right in this place. Explain it.
HECASTUS. Son, why do you stand here speechless? Why don't you read it?
PHILOMATHES. Horror overcomes me, father, and also very great anxiety. For although these letters are in the vernacular, they carry the miraculous power of God in them. I know the languages of Greece and Rome; the vernacular languages I can neither read nor understand.
HECASTUS. Poor me. After so much expenditure of money, I have gained no learning in you. Didn't I entrust you to literature in this hope, that if ever the case demanded, you would defend my causes before honest men? And look how in this time of danger you stand mute without mind, voice, senses or even legal advice. Well, go to the devil, you lazy lout.
NOMODIDASCALUS. Do not beat your innocent son, for you should rather be berated, since you were willing that an education should be given to this same son, only that it might be very useful to your business or might take care of both the glory and the rank of your son. Besides, this whole business depends on God and the whole matter that shall be investigated is in the hands of God.
HECASTUS. What do I hear? You had not said at the beginning that you were here as the messenger of the highest Prince.
NOMODIDASCALUS. I said that I was, and I am indeed, the minister of the all-powerful and greatest Prince. Surely God is the King of Kings and of all rulers everywhere. He has ordered you to appear at his court, so that at the same time you may be asked for an account and a strict reckoning of all that you have done, of your idolatry, infidelity, false oaths, deceit, perjury, pride, gluttony, debauchery, lust, sloth, theft, love of money, rape, slaughter, malice, anger and crimes of that type, by which you have not feared to deny God the Father, best and thrice greatest, but have abused all these most beautiful endowments of your mind and of your body with silver and very much gold. Of all these things, man, God had made you not the chief or master but a steward for him, so that you might use these things not for your own desires but for the benefit and glory of your Lord; now a just reckoning is demanded.
HECASTUS. You overwhelm me with so many great storms that I am near to desperation and am losing my mind. But that discussion of all my transactions, with which you are threatening me, I believe shall come in the future after a long time. Who in the meantime shall forbid me to use those goods which have been gained by work or which an approving fortune has so generously passed down to me or to my father?
NOMODIDASCALUS. Do you, a man, an empty bubble, ask who shall forbid it? The divine power shall quickly dash you to pieces, drive you out, erase you, extinguish you; for divine punishment, even if for many others it must be delayed till later, threatens you now and shall seize you very speedily in your negligence. Therefore ponder quickly what further answers you will make to these facts.
HECASTUS. You press this vehemently, but you do not arrange for certain a time or place for the trial.
NOMODIDASCALUS. We have said that the time and place is near. We have said it for a long time and you are still obstinately defiant.
HECASTUS. But by what route must we go?
NOMODIDASCALUS. Those who have accused you--the angels of God--will snatch you up from this place to the other side; then the servants of the devil, then your own conscience, and then I myself shall accuse you, as I am doing now.
HECASTUS. Before what judge?
NOMODIDASCALUS. An inflexible and fearsome God, at whose face those below and those above also tremble.
HECASTUS. Can the case not be given to a lawyer or to trustees?
NOMODIDASCALUS. You yourself must be present in person.
HECASTUS. Is there then no remand?
NOMODIDASCALUS. None.
HECASTUS. Alas. Does my wealth bring me no benefit?
NOMODIDASCALUS. None at all.
HECASTUS. My prayers?
NOMODIDASCALUS. In no way.
HECASTUS. Alas, alas, poor me, why was I born? How many evils suddenly surround me on every side!
NOMODIDASCALUS. You should have foreseen all these things long ago and should have been on guard, when it pleased you to pass time in idleness. Now tell me what message you will send back to your judge. For you may not delay after this.
HECASTUS. Grave difficulties are on every side of me. I do not know what I should do, since it is hard to go against him and dangerous to refuse. Sir, you yourself please read this document that I may know for certain what I should reply to the judge who is summoning me.
NOMODIDASCALUS. I shall not take it amiss to undertake this task in your name. The Hebrew words say that the very true God has numbered these days of your life. And the very great God has weighed those who have less. And so the most just God has removed you from your seat of power. That is the first part. And the second part is an explanation that you may understand more clearly, that you, man, should look to your house, because you shall die and shall not live. This is the message of the Thunderer.
HECASTUS. Am I then to die?
NOMODIDASCALUS. Nothing is more sure.
HECASTUS. Why should I die when I've scarcely reached my thirtieth year?
NOMODIDASCALUS. You shall die and after this you shall not have a tomorrow.
HECASTUS. Am I to die who am endowed with so much wealth? Who have friends, neighbours, a wife, children?
NOMODIDASCALUS. See what help they will give you. You must die. What message do you now send for the judge? Speak without delay.
HECASTUS. Alas. Whether I wish it or not, I, the most miserable of all men, am to go to the supreme judge.
NOMODIDASCALUS. Follow me instantly. You also, boy, take up his pack. Let us depart.
BOY. Hem. Very well.
HECASTUS. O death, how bitter is the mention of you to a healthy man, whose possession of all things is free from worry and who wishes to enjoy his daily food. Since there is no one who may choose otherwise, oh my soul, you will leave the light of the sun, your charming wife, your dear children, your abundant goods, your honest friends and this your sweet body, and you will be dragged along the dark and unknown way of horrifying death to the court of the highest judge, to whom you will be able to report not even one in ten thousand of your actions. There the case must be pleaded without the use of wealth, because he is rich, without favour, because he is just, but also without deceit, because he is wise, and without lawyers, because he is both judge and witness. What hope is there, I ask you, oh my soul, for us two alone, except that the desperate must not hope for salvation? O, if only I could find even one friend from all my friends, who would be a companion to all my steps, who would defend my case with all his might even at the court of the judge; such a man indeed would bring me no slight comfort. Such a one I must find from inside or outside.
CHORUS (from Ecclesiasticus, Psalms and the Apocalypse). O death, how bitter is the memory of you to a healthy man, whose wealth is held in peace and who still wishes to continue his entertaining.
O savage death! O fate dreadful to a wicked and impious man, whom a very bad death will threaten as he is freed from his body!
Although the death of the body is bitter, it is nevertheless of the moment only. But the death of the soul is never ending and so is much more bitter.
Death first separates a friend from his mortal friends; secondly, death separates man from God, who lives for ever.
Because as long as God is God, so long is the wicked man wicked. He shall be in hell as long as God reigns in glory.
Return to Hecastus Act List | Go on to Acts Three and Four