Earlier in the play GETAS (a slave) and SIKON (a hired cook), endeavouring to borrow from the misanthropic KNEMON utensils for a sacrifice and picnic in the grotto of Pan and the Nymphs, were repelled with insults and blows. The accident of falling into his own well and being rescued has so far debilitated and humbled KNEMON that he consents to his daughter's wedding; but he still refuses to attend the celebrations in the grotto, and retires to bed in his own house. Here his long-suffering attendant SIMICHE deserts him, and leaves him to the mercy of GETAs and SIKON.