SOS. I do not take it; I have always borne it.

MERC. O what a monstrous lie! What confounded impudence! You dare to
maintain that Sosie is your name?

SOS. Certainly; I maintain it, for the good reason that the Gods
have so ordered it by their supreme power. It is not in my power to
say no, and to be any one else than myself.

(Mercury beats him.) MERC. A thousand stripes ought to be the reward
of such audacity.

SOS. Justice, citizens! Help! I beseech you.

MERC. So, you gallows-bird, you yell out?

SOS. You beat me down with a thousand blows, and yet do not wish me to cry out?

MERC. It is thus that my arm . . .

SOS. The action is unworthy. You gloat over the advantage which my
want of courage gives you over me; that is not fair treatment. It is
mere bullying to wish to profit by the poltroonery of those whom one
makes to feel the weight of one's arm. To thrash a man who does not
retaliate is not the act of a generous soul; and to show courage
against men who have none merits condemnation.

MERC. Well! Are you still Sosie? What say you?