Plautus: Aulularia

LAR FAMILIARIS PROLOGVS
EVCLIO SENEX
STAPHYLA ANVS
EVNOMIA MATRONA
MEGADORVS SENEX
PYTHODICVS SERVVS
CONGRIO COCUS
ANTHRAX COCUS
STROBILVS SERVVS
LYCONIDES ADVLESCENS
PHAEDRIA PVELLA
TIBICINAE

HOUSEHOLD LAR, PROLOGUE
EUCLIO, OLD MAN
STAPHYLA, OLD WOMAN
EUNOMIA, MATRON
MEGADORUS, OLD MAN
PYTHODICUS, SLAVE
CONGRIO, COOK
ANTHRAX, COOK
STROBILUS, SLAVE
LYCONIDES, YOUNG MAN
PHAEDRIA, GIRL
FLUTE-GIRLS

ARGVMENTVM I

ARGUMENT 1

Senex avarus vix sibi credens Euclio
domi suae defossam multis cum opibus
aulam invenit, rursumque penitus conditam
exanguis amens servat. eius filiam
Lyconides vitiarat. interea senex
Megadorus a sorore suasus ducere
uxorem avari gnatam deposcit sibi.

The miserly old man Euclio, hardly trusting himself,
finds at his own house a pot buried with many riches,
and again, buried deep,
bloodless and out of his mind, he guards it.
Lyconides had violated his daughter.
Meanwhile the old man Megadorus, urged by his sister to take a wife,
requests for himself the daughter of the miser.

durus senex vix promittit, atque aulae timens
domo sublatam variis abstrudit locis.
insidias servos facit huius lyconidis
qui virginem vitiarat; atque ipse obsecrat
avonculum Megadorum sibimet cedere
uxorem amanti. per dolum mox Euclio
cum perdidisset aulam, insperato invenit
laetusque natam conlocat Lyconidi.

the harsh old man scarcely promises, and fearing for the pot
having lifted it from the house, he hides it away in varied places.
he lays ambushes for the slaves of this lyconides
who had vitiated the virgin; and he himself beseeches
his uncle megadorus to yield to him the wife for the lover.
through a stratagem soon euclio,
when he had lost the pot, unexpectedly finds it,
and, joyful, he bestows his daughter in marriage on lyconides.

ARGVMENTVM II

ARGUMENT 2

Aulam repertam auri plenam Euclio
Vi summa servat, miseris adfectus modis.
Lyconides istius vitiat filiam.
Volt hanc Megadorus indotatam ducere,
Lubensque ut faciat dat coquos cum obsonio.

A pot, found full of gold, Euclio
V guards with utmost force, afflicted in wretched ways.
Lyconides defiles that fellow’s daughter.
VMegadorus wishes to marry her undowered,
Land, gladly, to bring it about, he gives cooks with viands.

Auro formidat Euclio, abstrudit foris.
Re omni inspecta compressoris servolus
Id surpit. illic Euclioni rem refert.

At the gold Euclio is in dread; he thrusts it away outside.
Rwith the whole matter inspected, the seducer’s little slave
Ifilches it. That man reports the matter to Euclio.

Ab eo donatur auro, uxore et filio.

As a gift from him, he receives gold, a wife, and a son.

PROLOGVS

PROLOGUE

LAR FAMILIARIS

HOUSEHOLD LAR

Ne quis miretur qui sim, paucis eloquar.
ego Lar sum familiaris ex hac familia
unde exeuntem me aspexistis. hanc domum
iam multos annos est cum possideo et colo
patri avoque iam huius qui nunc hic habet.

Lest anyone wonder who I am, I will speak in a few words.
I am the household Lar from this family
from which you saw me coming forth. This house
for many years now I have possessed and cultivated,
for the father and the grandfather of this man who now holds it.

sed mi avos huius obsecrans concredidit
thensaurum auri clam omnis: in medio foco
defodit, venerans me ut id servarem sibi.
is quoniam moritur—ita avido ingenio fuit—
numquam indicare id filio voluit suo,

but to me his grandfather, beseeching, entrusted a treasure of gold, secretly from everyone: in the middle of the hearth he buried it, venerating me so that I might keep it for him. he, since he was dying—so greedy was his disposition—never wished to indicate it to his own son,

inopemque optavit potius eum relinquere,
quam eum thensaurum commonstraret filio;
agri reliquit ei non magnum modum,
quo cum labore magno et misere viveret.
ubi is obiit mortem qui mihi id aurum credidit,

and he chose rather to leave him indigent,
than to point out that treasure to his son;
he left to him no great measure of land,
whereby, with great labor and miserably, he might live.
when he met death, he who entrusted that gold to me,

coepi observare, ecqui maiorem filius
mihi honorem haberet quam eius habuisset pater.
atque ille vero minus minusque impendio
curare minusque me impertire honoribus.
item a me contra factum est, nam item obiit diem.

I began to observe whether the son would have greater honor for me than his father had had.
and indeed he cared less and less, by far, and imparted honors to me less and less.
likewise the contrary was done by me; for he likewise met his day.

is ex se hunc reliquit qui hic nunc habitat filium
pariter moratum ut pater avosque huius fuit.
huic filia una est. ea mihi cottidie
aut ture aut vino aut aliqui semper supplicat,
dat mihi coronas. eius honoris gratia

he left from himself this son, who now inhabits this place
equally well-mannered, as were his father and his grandfather.
he has one daughter. she to me every day
either with incense or with wine or with something always supplicates,
she gives me garlands. for the sake of that honor

feci, thensaurum ut hic reperiret Euclio,
quo illam facilius nuptum, si vellet, daret.
nam eam compressit de summo adulescens loco.
is scit adulescens quae sit quam compresserit,
illa illum nescit, neque compressam autem pater.

I have done this, in order that Euclio might find the treasure here, by which he might more easily give her to nuptials, if he wished.
For a young man from the highest station has had his will of her.
That young man knows who she is whom he had his will of;
she does not know him, nor, moreover, does her father know that she was violated.

eam ego hodie faciam ut hic senex de proxumo
sibi uxorem poscat. id ea faciam gratia,
quo ille eam facilius ducat qui compresserat.
et hic qui poscet eam sibi uxorem senex,
is adulescentis illius est avonculus,

I today will bring it about that this old man from next door asks for her as a wife for himself.
I will do this for that sake,
so that he who had compressed her may more easily lead her in marriage.
And this old man who will ask for her as a wife for himself,
he is the uncle of that adolescent,

qui illam stupravit noctu, Cereris vigiliis.
sed hic senex iam clamat intus ut solet.
anum foras extrudit, ne sit conscia.

who violated her by night, at the Vigils of Ceres.
but this old man now shouts inside as he is wont.
he thrusts the old woman outside, lest she be privy.

credo aurum inspicere volt, ne subreptum siet.

I think he wants to inspect the gold, lest it have been surreptitiously stolen.

ACTVS I

ACT 1

I.i
EVCLIO Exi, inquam. age exi. exeundum hercle tibi hinc est foras,

1.1
EVCLIO Go out, I say. Come on, go out. By Hercules, you must go out from here, outside,

circumspectatrix cum oculis emissiciis.
STAPHYLA Nam cur me miseram verberas? EVCL. Vt misera sis
atque ut te dignam mala malam aetatem exigas.

circumspectress with emissary eyes.
STAPHYLA For why do you beat wretched me? EVCL. So that you may be wretched,
and so that, bad as you are, you may pass a bad lifetime befitting you.

STAPH. Nam qua me nunc causa extrusisti ex aedibus?
EVCL. Tibi ego rationem reddam, stimulorum seges?

STAPH. For by what cause have you now thrust me out of the house?
EVCL. Shall I render an account to you, you crop of goads?

illuc regredere ab ostio. illuc sis vide,
ut incedit. at scin quo modo tibi res se habet?

go back there from the doorway. there, please, look, how he proceeds. but do you know how the matter stands for you?

si hercle hodie fustem cepero aut stimulum in manum,
testudineum istum tibi ego grandibo gradum.
STAPH. Vtinam me divi adaxint ad suspendium

if, by Hercules, today I seize a club or a goad in my hand,
I’ll aggrandize that tortoise-like step of yours.
STAPH. May the gods drive me to the gallows

potius quidem quam hoc pacto apud te serviam.
EVCL. At ut scelesta sola secum murmurat.
oculos hercle ego istos, improba, ecfodiam tibi,
ne me observare possis quid rerum geram.

rather indeed than serve with you in this fashion.
EVCL. But how the wicked one murmurs to herself alone.
by Hercules, those eyes, shameless woman, I will gouge out for you,
so that you cannot observe me, what affairs I conduct.

abscede etiam nunc—etiam nunc—etiam—ohe,

recede even now—even now—even—hey,

istic astato. si hercle tu ex istoc loco
digitum transvorsum aut unguem latum excesseris
aut si respexis, donicum ego te iussero,
continuo hercle ego te dedam discipulam cruci.
scelestiorem me hac anu certo scio

stand there, right there. if, by Hercules, from that place you go beyond a finger crosswise or a fingernail’s breadth, or if you look back, until I order you, immediately, by Hercules, I will deliver you, as a disciple, to the cross. I surely know myself more criminal than this old woman

vidisse numquam, nimisque ego hanc metuo male,
ne mi ex insidiis verba imprudenti duit
neu persentiscat aurum ubi est absconditum,
quae in occipitio quoque habet oculos pessima.
nunc ibo ut visam sitne ita aurum ut condidi,

never to have seen; and I dread this woman dreadfully,
lest she, from ambush, give me words when I am unwary,
and lest she quite perceive where the gold is hidden,
she, the worst, who has eyes even in the back of her head.
now I will go to see whether the gold is as I hid it,

quod me sollicitat plurimis miserum modis.—
STAPH. Noenum mecastor quid ego ero dicam meo
malae rei evenisse quamve insaniam,
queo comminisci; ita me miseram ad hunc modum
decies die uno saepe extrudit aedibus.

which troubles me, a wretch, in very many ways.—
STAPH. By Castor, I cannot at all think what I shall say to my master—what bad mishap has occurred or what madness—I can contrive; so he, poor me in this way, often drives me out of the house ten times in a single day.

nescio pol quae illunc hominem intemperiae tenent:
pervigilat noctes totas, tum autem interdius
quasi claudus sutor domi sedet totos dies.
neque iam quo pacto celem erilis filiae
probrum, propinqua partitudo cui appetit,

I do not, by Pollux, know what intemperances seize that man:
he keeps vigil whole nights through, then in the daytime
like a lame cobbler he sits at home all day long.
nor now by what way I might conceal the disgrace of the master's daughter,
upon whom near childbirth is pressing,

queo comminisci; neque quicquam meliust mihi,
ut opinor, quam ex me ut unam faciam litteram
longam, <meum> laqueo collum quando obstrinxero.

I cannot contrive; nor is anything better for me, as I suppose,
than that I make from myself one long letter,
when I shall have fastened <my> neck with a noose.

I.ii
EVCL. Nunc defaecato demum animo egredior domo,
postquam perspexi salva esse intus omnia.

1.2
EVCL. Now with my mind at last clarified I go out from the house,
after I have thoroughly inspected that everything inside is safe.

redi nunciam intro atque intus serva. STAPH. Quippini?
ego intus servem?

go back in now at once and keep watch inside. STAPH. why not?
am I to keep watch inside?

an ne quis aedes auferat?
nam hic apud nos nihil est aliud quaesti furibus,
ita inaniis sunt oppletae atque araneis.
EVCL. Mirum quin tua me causa faciat Iuppiter

or lest someone carry off the house?
for here at our place there is nothing else of profit for thieves,
so empty are they crammed and with cobwebs.
EVCL. No doubt Jupiter will do it for me on your account.

Philippum regem aut Dareum, trivenefica.
araneas mihi ego illas servari volo.
pauper sum; fateor, patior; quod di dant fero.

King Philip or Darius, you thrice-poisoning witch.
I want those cobwebs kept for me.
I am poor; I confess, I suffer; what the gods give, I bear.

abi intro, occlude ianuam. iam ego hic ero.
cave quemquam alienum in aedis intro miseris.

go inside, shut the door. presently I will be here.
beware you admit any alien into the house.

quod quispiam ignem quaerat, extingui volo,
ne causae quid sit quod te quisquam quaeritet.
nam si ignis vivet, tu extinguere extempulo.
tum aquam aufugisse dicito, si quis petet.
cultrum, securim, pistillum, mortarium,

If anyone seeks fire, I want it extinguished,
so that there may be no cause for anyone to inquire for you.
for if the fire lives, you extinguish it immediately.
then say that the water has fled, if anyone asks for it.
a knife, an axe, a pestle, a mortar,

quae utenda vasa semper vicini rogant,
fures venisse atque abstulisse dicito.
profecto in aedis meas me absente neminem
volo intro mitti. atque etiam hoc praedico tibi,
si Bona Fortuna veniat, ne intro miseris.

the vessels for use which the neighbors are always requesting,
say that thieves have come and carried them off.
assuredly into my house, in my absence, i want no one
to be let in. and i also forewarn you of this,
if Good Fortune should come, do not let her in.

100

STAPH. Pol ea ipsa credo ne intro mittatur cavet,
nam ad aedis nostras numquam adit, quamquam prope est.
EVCL. Tace atque abi intro. STAPH. Taceo atque abeo.— EVCL. Occlude sis
fores ambobus pessulis.

STAPH. By Pollux, I think for that very reason she takes care not to be let in,
for she never comes to our house, although she is near by.
EVCL. Be quiet and go inside. STAPH. I’m quiet and I go.— EVCL. Shut, please,
the doors with both bolts.

iam ego hic ero.
discrucior animi, quia ab domo abeundum est mihi.

Now I will be here.
I am racked in mind, because I must go away from the house.

105

nimis hercle invitus abeo. sed quid agam scio.
nam noster nostrae qui est magister curiae
dividere argenti dixit nummos in viros;
id si relinquo ac non peto, omnes ilico
me suspicentur, credo, habere aurum domi.

Exceedingly unwilling, by Hercules, I go away. but I know what I am to do.
for our fellow, who is the magister of our curia,
said he would divide silver coins among the men;
if I leave that and do not seek it, everyone immediately,
I suppose, would suspect me to have gold at home.

110

nam non est veri simile, hominem pauperem
pauxillum parvi facere quin nummum petat.
nam nunc cum celo sedulo omnis, ne sciant,
omnes videntur scire et me benignius
omnes salutant quam salutabant prius;

for it is not probable that a poor man would make little of even a very little without asking for a coin.
for now, though I sedulously conceal from everyone, lest they know,
all seem to know, and all greet me more kindly
than they greeted me before;

115

adeunt, consistunt, copulantur dexteras,
rogitant me ut valeam, quid agam, quid rerum geram.
nunc quo profectus sum ibo; postidea domum
me rursum quantum potero tantum recipiam.

they approach, they halt, they join right hands,
they keep asking whether I am well, what I do, what affairs I conduct.
now to the place whither I have set out I will go; afterward home
I will betake myself back again as much as I shall be able.

ACTVS II

ACT 2

II.i
EVNOMIA Velim te arbitrari med haec verba, frater,

II.i
EVNOMIA I would wish you to consider these words mine, brother,

120

meai fidei tuaique rei
causa facere, ut aequom est germanam sororem.
quamquam haud falsa sum nos odiosas haberi;
nam multum loquaces merito omnes habemur,
nec mutam profecto repertam ullam esse

to do for my fidelity and for your affair
as is equitable for a full sister.
although I am by no means mistaken that we are held odious;
for very loquacious we are all deservedly held,
nor indeed has any mute one been found

125

<aut> hodie dicunt mulierem <aut> ullo in saeclo.
verum hoc, frater, unum tamen cogitato,
tibi proximam me mihique esse item te;
ita aequom est quod in rem esse utrique arbitremur
et mihi te et tibi <me> consulere et monere;

<or> today they say it of a woman, <or> in any age.
but this, brother, nevertheless think on this one thing,
that I am nearest to you and you likewise to me;
thus it is equitable that what we judge to be to the advantage of both
both you for me and I for you consult and admonish;

130

neque occultum id haberi neque per metum mussari,
quin participem pariter ego te et tu me ut facias.
eo nunc ego secreto ted huc foras seduxi,
ut tuam rem ego tecum hic loquerer familiarem.
MEGADORVS Da mi, optuma femina, manum.

nor that this be held occult nor be muttered out of fear,
but rather that you make me, and I you, an equal participant.
for that reason now I have led you aside here outside, in secrecy,
so that I might speak here with you about your household business.
MEGADORVS Give me, most excellent woman, your hand.

135

EVN. Vbi ea est? quis ea est nam optuma?
MEG. Tu. EVN. Tune ais?

EVN. Where is she? Who is she, then, the best?
MEG. You. EVN. Do you say so?

MEG. Si negas, nego.
EVN. Decet te equidem vera proloqui;
nam optuma nulla potest eligi:
alia alia peior, frater, est. MEG. Idem ego arbitror,

MEG. If you say no, I say no.
EVN. It indeed befits you to speak the truth;
for no best can be selected:
one is worse than another, brother. MEG. I think the same,

140

nec tibi advorsari certum est de istac re umquam, soror.
EVN. Da mihi operam amabo. MEG. Tuast, utere atque impera, si quid vis.

nor is it my settled resolve ever to be adverse to you in that matter, sister.
EVN. Give me your attention, please. MEG. It’s yours; use it and command, if you wish anything.

EVN. Id quod in rem tuam optumum esse arbitror,
ted id monitum advento.

EVN. That which I judge to be optimum for your interest,
I come to advise you of that.

145

MEG. Soror, more tuo facis. EVN. Factum volo.
MEG. Quid est id, soror?

MEG. Sister, you act according to your custom. EVN. I want it done.
MEG. What is that, sister?

EVN. Quod tibi sempiternum
salutare sit: liberis procreandis—
ita di faxint—volo te uxorem
domum ducere. MEG. Ei occidi. EVN. Quid ita?

EVN. That it may be for you a sempiternal salvation:
for the begetting of children—
so may the gods bring it to pass—I want you to lead a wife
home. MEG. Alas, I am slain. EVN. Why so?

150

MEG. Quia mihi misero cerebrum excutiunt
tua dicta, soror: lapides loqueris.
EVN. Heia, hoc face quod te iubet soror. MEG. Si lubeat, faciam.

MEG. Because your words shake out my poor brain, sister: you speak stones.
you speak stones.
EVN. Hey, do this that your sister bids you. MEG. If it please me, I will do it.

EVN. In rem hoc tuam est. MEG. Vt quidem emoriar prius quam ducam.
sed his legibus si quam dare vis ducam:

EVN. This is in your interest. MEG. So that indeed I may die sooner than I marry.
but under these conditions, if you wish to give me any woman, I will marry:

155

quae cras veniat, perendie foras feratur;
his legibus dare vis? cedo: nuptias adorna.
EVN. Cum maxima possum tibi, frater, dare dote;
sed est grandior natu: media est mulieris aetas.

she who may come tomorrow, let her be borne out the day after tomorrow;
on these terms do you wish to give? agreed: prepare the nuptials.
EVN. With the very greatest dowry I can give you, brother;
but she is older by birth: the woman’s age is middle.

eam si iubes, frater, tibi me poscere, poscam.

if you order me, brother, to ask for her for you, I will ask.

160

MEG. Num non vis me interrogare te? EVN. Immo, si quid vis, roga.
MEG. Post mediam aetatem qui media ducit uxorem domum,
si eam senex anum praegnatem fortuito fecerit,
quid dubitas, quin sit paratum nomen puero Postumus?
nunc ego istum, soror, laborem demam et deminuam tibi.

MEG. Do you not wish me to interrogate you? EVN. On the contrary—if you wish anything, ask.
MEG. After the median age, whoever leads a middle-aged wife home,
if, as an old man, he has fortuitously made that old woman pregnant,
why do you doubt that the name is prepared for the boy—Postumus?
now I, sister, will remove and diminish that labor for you.

165

ego virtute deum et maiorum nostrum dives sum satis.
istas magnas factiones, animos, dotes dapsiles,
clamores, imperia, eburata vehicla, pallas, purpuram,
nil moror quae in servitutem sumptibus redigunt viros.
E. Dic mihi, quaeso, quis ea est, quam vis ducere uxorem?

I am rich enough by the virtue of the gods and of our ancestors.
those great factions, high spirits, lavish dowries,
clamors, commands, ivory-inlaid vehicles, mantles, purple—
I do not care for the things which reduce men into servitude by expenditures.
E. Tell me, please, who is she whom you wish to take to wife?

M. Eloquar.

M. I will speak.

170

nostin hunc senem Euclionem ex proximo pauperculum?
EVN. Novi, hominem haud malum mecastor. MEG. Eius cupio filiam
virginem mihi desponderi.

Do you know this old man Euclio next door, a rather poor fellow?
EVN. I know him, by Castor, a man not bad. MEG. I desire that his daughter,
a virgin, be betrothed to me.

verba ne facias, soror.
scio quid dictura es: hanc esse pauperem. haec pauper placet.

do not make words, sister.
i know what you are going to say: that this girl is poor. this poor girl pleases.

E. Di bene vortant. M. Idem ego spero. E. Quid me? num quid vis?

E. May the gods turn it well. M. I hope the same. E. What
about me? Do you want anything?

M. Vale.

M. Farewell.

175

EVN. Et tu, frater.—MEG. Ego conveniam Euclionem, si domi est.
sed eccum <video>. nescio unde sese homo recipit domum.

EVN. And you, brother.—MEG. I will meet Euclio, if he is at home.
but look, <I see> him. I do not know whence the man is taking himself home.

II.ii
EVCLIO Praesagibat mi animus frustra me ire, quom exibam domo;
itaque abibam invitus; nam neque quisquam curialium
venit neque magister quem dividere argentum oportuit.

II.ii
EVCLIO My spirit was foreboding that I was going in vain when I was going out from the house;
and so I was going away unwilling; for neither did anyone of the curials
come, nor the master whose duty it was to divide the silver.

180

nunc domum properare propero, nam egomet sum hic, animus domi est.
MEG. Salvos atque fortunatus, Euclio, semper sies.
EVCL. Di te ament, Megadore.

now to hurry home I hurry, for I myself am here, my mind is at home.
MEG. Safe and fortunate, Euclio, may you always be.
EVCL. May the gods love you, Megadorus.

M. Quid tu? recten atque ut vis vales?
EVCL. Non temerarium est, ubi dives blande appellat pauperem.
iam illic homo aurum scit me habere, eo me salutat blandius.

M. What about you? Are you well—right and as you wish?
EVCL. It is no mere chance when a rich man blandly addresses a pauper.
now that fellow knows I have gold; for that reason he salutes me more blandly.

185

MEG. Ain tu te valere? EVCL. Pol ego haud perbene a pecunia.
MEG. Pol si est animus aequos tibi, sat habes qui bene vitam colas.

MEG. Do you say you are well? EVCL. By Pollux, I am not very well as to money.
MEG. By Pollux, if your mind is equable, you have enough by which to cultivate life well.

EVCL. Anus hercle huic indicium fecit de auro, perspicue palam est,
cui ego iam linguam praecidam atque oculos effodiam domi.
MEG. Quid tu solus tecum loquere? EVCL. Meam pauperiem conqueror.

EVCL. By Hercules, an old woman has made an indication to him about the gold, it is clearly manifest,
whose tongue I will now cut off and whose eyes I will gouge out at home.
MEG. Why are you talking alone with yourself? EVCL. I complain of my poverty.

190

virginem habeo grandem, dote cassam atque inlocabilem,
neque eam queo locare cuiquam. MEG. Tace, bonum habe animum, Euclio.
dabitur, adiuvabere a me. dic, si quid opust, impera.

i have a full-grown virgin, dowry-less and unplaceable,
nor can i place her with anyone. MEG. be quiet, keep good spirit, Euclio.
she will be given in marriage; you will be aided by me. say, if there is any need, command.

EVCL. Nunc petit, cum pollicetur; inhiat aurum ut devoret.
altera manu fert lapidem, panem ostentat altera.

EVCL. Now he asks, while he promises; he gapes at the gold that he may devour it.
with one hand he bears a stone, with the other he displays bread.

195

nemini credo qui large blandust dives pauperi:
ubi manum inicit benigne, ibi onerat aliqua zamia.
ego istos novi polypos, qui ubi quidquid tetigerunt tenent.
MEG. Da mi operam parumper.

I trust no one who, being rich, is lavishly blandishing a poor man:
where he benignly lays a hand, there he burdens with some damages.
I know those octopuses, who, wherever whatever they have touched, they hold.
MEG. Give me your attention for a little while.

paucis, Euclio, est quod te volo
de communi re appellare mea et tua. EVCL. Ei misero mihi,

in brief, Euclio, there is something that I wish to address you about
our common matter, mine and yours. EVCL. Alas for wretched me,

200

aurum mi intus harpagatum est. nunc hic eam rem volt, scio,
mecum adire ad pactionem. verum intervisam domum.

my gold has been snatched up inside. now this fellow wants, I know,
to come with me to a pact about that matter. but let me look in at the house.

MEG. Quo abis? EVCL. Iam ad te revortar: nunc est quod visam domum.—
MEG. Credo edepol, ubi mentionem ego fecero de filia,
mi ut despondeat, sese a me derideri rebitur;

MEG. Where are you going? EVCL. I’ll return to you presently: now I must go visit the house.—
MEG. I believe, by Pollux, when I make mention of my daughter, that he should betroth her to me, he will think himself to be derided by me;

205

neque illo quisquam est alter hodie ex paupertate parcior.
EVCL. Di me servant, salva res est. salvom est si quid non perit.

nor today is there any other more parsimonious, from poverty, than that man.
EVCL. The gods preserve me; the matter is safe. It is safe if anything has not perished.

nimis male timui. prius quam intro redii, exanimatus fui.
redeo ad te, Megadore, si quid me vis.

I was far too much afraid. Before I came back inside, I was breathless.
I return to you, Megadorus, if you want anything of me.

MEG. Habeo gratiam.
quaeso, quod te percontabor, ne id te pigeat proloqui.

MEG. I am grateful.
I pray, what I am going to inquire of you, do not let it displease you to speak it out.

210

EVCL. Dum quidem ne quid perconteris quod non lubeat proloqui.
MEG. Dic mihi, quali me arbitrare genere prognatum? EVCL. Bono.

EVCL. Provided that you do not question anything which it does not please me to set forth.
MEG. Tell me, of what kind of lineage do you deem me born? EVCL. Of good.

M. Quid fide? E. Bona. M. Quid factis?

M. What of faith? E. Good. M. What of deeds?

E. Neque malis neque improbis.
MEG. Aetatem meam scis? EVCL. Scio esse grandem, item ut pecuniam.

E. Neither bad nor wicked.
MEG. Do you know my age? EVCL. I know it is great, likewise the money.

MEG. Certe edepol equidem te civem sine mala omni malitia

MEG. Surely, by Pollux, for my part I deem you a citizen without any evil malice whatsoever

215

semper sum arbitratus et nunc arbitror. EVCL. Aurum huic olet.
quid nunc me vis?

I have always thought so, and I think so now. EVCL. Gold smells to this man.
what do you want with me now?

MEG. Quoniam tu me et ego te qualis sis scio,
quae res recte vortat mihique tibique tuaeque filiae,
filiam tuam mi uxorem posco. promitte hoc fore.
EVCL. Heia, Megadore, haud decorum facinus tuis factis facis,

MEG. Since you know me, and I, you, what sort you are,
may this matter turn out rightly for me and for you and for your daughter,
I ask for your daughter as wife for me. Promise this will be.
EVCL. Hey, Megadorus, you are doing a deed not decorous, out of keeping with your deeds,

220

ut inopem atque innoxium abs te atque abs tuis me inrideas.
nam de te neque re neque verbis merui ut faceres quod facis.
MEG. Neque edepol ego te derisum venio neque derideo,
neque dignum arbitror.

that you mock me, poor and harmless, by you and by yours.
for as to you, neither by deed nor by words have I merited that you should do what you do.
MEG. Neither, by Pollux, do I come to deride you nor do I deride you,
nor do I deem it proper.

EVCL. Cur igitur poscis meam gnatam tibi?
MEG. Vt propter me tibi sit melius mihique propter te et tuos.

EVCL. Why then do you ask my daughter for yourself?
MEG. So that on account of me it may be better for you, and for me on account of you and yours.

225

EVCL. Venit hoc mihi, Megadore, in mentem, ted esse hominem divitem,
factiosum, me autem esse hominem pauperum pauperrimum;
nunc si filiam locassim meam tibi, in mentem venit
te bovem esse et me esse asellum: ubi tecum coniunctus siem,
ubi onus nequeam ferre pariter, iaceam ego asinus in luto,

EVCL. This comes to my mind, Megadorus, that you are a wealthy man,
a man of influence, but that I am a man, the poorest of the poor;
now, if I should bestow my daughter upon you, it comes to mind
that you are an ox and I am a little ass: when I should be yoked with you,
when I could not bear the burden equally, I, the ass, would lie in the mud,

230

tu me bos magis haud respicias, gnatus quasi numquam siem.
et te utar iniquiore et meus me ordo inrideat,
neutrubi habeam stabile stabulum, si quid divorti fuat:
asini me mordicibus scindant, boves incursent cornibus.
hoc magnum est periclum, ab asinis ad boves transcendere.

you, the ox, would not regard me at all, as though I had never been born.
and I would be worse off in dealing with you, and my order would mock me,
I would have a stable stall in neither place, if any divorce should occur:
let the asses rend me with their bites, let the oxen charge me with their horns.
this is a great peril, to transcend from asses to oxen.

235

MEG. Quam ad probos propinquitate proxime te adiunxeris,
tam optumum est. tu condicionem hanc accipe, ausculta mihi,
atque eam desponde mi. EVCL. At nihil est dotis quod dem. M. Ne duas.

MEG. The more closely, in propinquity, you adjoin yourself to the upright, the more optimum it is. You accept this condition, listen to me, and promise her to me in betrothal. EVCL. But there is nothing of a dowry that I can give. M. Do not give.

dum modo morata recte veniat, dotata est satis.
EVCL. Eo dico, ne me thensauros repperisse censeas.

so long as she comes of upright morals, she is dowered enough.
EVCL. I say this, so that you may not suppose I have found treasures.

240

MEG. Novi, ne doceas. desponde. EVCL. Fiat.

MEG. I know; do not teach me. betroth her. EVCL. Let it be done.

sed pro Iuppiter,
num ego disperii? M. Quid tibi est? E. Quid crepuit quasi ferrum modo?—
MEG. Hic apud me hortum confodere iussi.

but—by Jupiter,
surely have I perished? M. What’s the matter with you? E. What just clanged, as if iron, just now?—
MEG. I ordered them to dig up the garden here at my place.

sed ubi hic est homo?
abiit neque me certiorem fecit. fastidit mei, 244-245
quia videt me suam amicitiam velle: more hominum facit;

but where is this man?
he has gone away and did not inform me. he disdains me, 244-245
because he sees that I want his friendship: he acts by the custom of men;

246

nam si opulentus it petitum pauperioris gratiam,
pauper metuit congrediri, per metum male rem gerit.
idem, quando occasio illaec periit, post sero cupit.
EVCL. Si hercle ego te non elinguandam dedero usque ab radicibus,

for if an opulent man goes to seek the favor of a poorer man,
the poor man fears to meet; through fear he carries on the affair badly.
the same man, when that occasion has perished, afterwards desires too late.
EVCL. By Hercules, if I do not render you tongue-less, down to the very roots,

250

impero auctorque <ego> sum, ut tu me cuivis castrandum loces.
MEG. Video hercle ego te me arbitrari, Euclio, hominem idoneum,
quem senecta aetate ludos facias, haud merito meo.
EVCL. Neque edepol, Megadore, facio, neque, si cupiam, copia est.

I command, and I am the author of it, that you place me to be castrated by whomever.
MEG. I see, by Hercules, that you consider me, Euclio, a suitable man to make sport of in my old age, not by my desert.
whom you make games of in senile age, not by my deserving.
EVCL. Nor, by Pollux, Megadore, do I do so, nor, if I should desire, is there the means.

MEG. Quid nunc? etiam mihi despondes filiam? EVCL. Illis legibus,

MEG. What now? Do you betroth your daughter to me as well? EVCL. On those
terms,

255

cum illa dote quam tibi dixi. MEG. Sponden ergo? EVCL. Spondeo.

with that dowry which I told you. MEG. Do you pledge then? EVCL. I pledge.

MEG. Di bene vertant. EVCL. Ita di faxint. illud facito ut memineris,
convenisse ut ne quid dotis mea ad te afferret filia.

MEG. May the gods turn it well. EVCL. So may the gods do. See to it that you remember this,
that it was agreed that my daughter should bring you no dowry at all.

MEG. Memini. EVCL. At scio quo vos soleatis pacto perplexarier:
pactum non pactum est, non pactum pactum est, quod vobis lubet.

MEG. I remember. EVCL. But I know by what method you are wont to make a pact perplexing:
a pact is not a pact, a non-pact is a pact, whatever you please.

260

MEG. Nulla controversia mihi tecum erit. sed nuptias
num quae causa est quin faciamus hodie? EVCL. Immo edepol optuma.

MEG. There will be no controversy with you on my part. But as for the nuptials,
is there any cause why we should not celebrate them today? EVCL. Nay, by Pollux, the very best.

MEG. Ibo igitur, parabo. numquid me vis? EVCL. Istuc.

MEG. I will go then, I will prepare. Is there anything you want from me? EVCL. That.

ei et vale.
MEG. Heus, Pythodice, sequere propere me ad macellum strenue.—
EVCL. Illic hinc abiit. di immortales, obsecro, aurum quid valet.

ah, and farewell.
MEG. Hey, Pythodice, follow me quickly to the market, strenuously.—
EVCL. There he has gone off from here. Immortal gods, I beseech, what does gold avail.

265

[credo ego illum iam inaudivisse mi esse thensaurum domi.]
id inhiat, ea affinitatem hanc obstinavit gratia.

[I believe he has already overheard that I have a treasure at home.]
He gapes after that; for that sake he has fixed this affinity.

II.iii
ubi tu es, quae deblateravisti iam vicinis omnibus,
meae me filiae daturum dotem? heus, Staphyla, te voco.
ecquid audis?

II.iii
where are you, you who have blabbered already to all the neighbors,
that I am going to give a dowry to my daughter? hey, Staphyla, I call you.
do you hear at all?

vascula intus pure propera atque elue:

Make haste inside and rinse out the little vessels cleanly:

270

filiam despondi ego: hodie huic nuptum Megadoro dabo.
STAPHYLA Di bene vortant. verum ecastor non potest, subitum est nimis.

I have betrothed my daughter: today I will give her in marriage to Megadorus.
STAPHYLA May the gods turn it to good. But, by Castor, it cannot be; it is too sudden.

EVCL. Tace atque abi. curata fac sint cum a foro redeam domum;
atque aedis occlude; iam ego hic adero. STAPH. Quid ego nunc agam?

EVCL. Hush and go. See that things are in order for when I come home from the forum;
and shut up the house; I’ll be here presently. STAPH. What am I now to do?

nunc nobis prope adest exitium, mi atque erili filiae,

now ruin is close at hand for us, for me and for the master’s daughter,

275

nunc probrum atque partitudo prope adest ut fiat palam;
quod celatum atque occultatum est usque adhuc, nunc non potest.
ibo intro, ut erus quae imperavit facta, cum veniat, sient.
nam ecastor malum maerore metuo ne mixtum bibam.—

now the disgrace and the partition are almost at hand to become public;
what has been hidden and concealed up to now cannot be so now.
I will go inside, so that the things the master commanded may be done when he comes.
for, by Castor, I fear I may drink an evil mixed with grief.—

II.iv
PYTHODICVS Postquam obsonavit erus et conduxit coquos

2.4
PYTHODICUS After the master has provisioned and has hired cooks

280

tibicinasque hasce apud forum, edixit mihi
ut dispertirem obsonium hic bifariam.
ANTHRAX Me quidem hercle, dicam <tibi> palam, non divides;
si quo tu totum me ire vis, operam dabo.
CONGRIO Bellum et pudicum vero prostibulum popli.

and these flute-girls here at the forum, he issued to me an edict
to distribute the provisions here in two parts.
ANTHRAX As for me, by Hercules, I’ll say <to you> openly, you shall not divide me;
if anywhere you want me to go whole, I will give my service.
CONGRIO A fine and modest public prostitute indeed.

285

post si quis vellet, te haud non velles dividi.
PYTH. Atque ego istuc, Anthrax, alio vorsum dixeram,
non istuc quo tu insimulas. sed erus nuptias
meus hodie faciet.

afterwards, if anyone should wish it, you would not be unwilling to be divided.
PYTH. And I, that, Anthrax, had said with another turn, not that which you insinuate. But my master will hold nuptials today.

ANTHR. Cuius ducit filiam?
PYTH. Vicini huius Euclionis <senis> e proximo.

ANTHR. Whose daughter is he marrying?
PYTH. Of this neighbor, Euclio <old man>, from right next door.

290

ei adeo obsoni hinc iussit dimidium dari,
cocum alterum itidemque alteram tibicinam.
ANTHR. Nempe huc dimidium dicis, dimidium domum?
PYTH. Nempe sicut dicis.

he indeed ordered that half the provisions be given to him from here,
a second cook and likewise a second flute-girl.
ANTHR. You mean half here, half home?
PYTH. Just so, as you say.

ANTHR. Quid? hic non poterat de suo
senex obsonari filiai nuptiis?

ANTHR. What? Couldn’t the old man here, out of his own pocket,
provide the provisions for his daughter’s wedding feast?

295

PYTH. Vah. ANTHR. Quid negotist? PYTH. Quid negoti sit rogas?

PYTH. Bah. ANTHR. What business is it? PYTH. You ask what business there is?

pumex non aeque est aridus atque hic est senex.
ANTHR. Ain tandem? PYTH. Ita esse ut dixi.

pumice is not as dry as this old man is.
ANTHR. Really, then? PYTH. It is so, as I said.

tute existuma:

you yourself estimate:

* * * 298a

suam rem periisse seque eradicarier.
quin divom atque hominum clamat continuo fidem,
de suo tigillo fumus si qua exit foras.
quin cum it dormitum, follem obstringit ob gulam.

that his estate has perished and that he himself is being eradicated.
nay, he continuously calls upon the faith of gods and of men,
if any smoke goes out of doors from his own little beam.
nay, when he goes to sleep, he fastens a pouch tight over his gullet.

ANTHR. Cur? PYTH. Ne quid animae forte amittat dormiens.
ANTHR. Etiamne obturat inferiorem gutturem,
ne quid animai forte amittat dormiens?

ANTHR. Why? PYTH. So that, while sleeping, he may not by chance lose any of his soul.
ANTHR. Does he even plug the lower gullet,
so that, while sleeping, he may not by chance lose any of his soul?

305

PYTH. Haec mihi te ut tibi med aequom est, credo, credere.
ANTHR. Immo equidem credo. PYTH. At scin etiam quo modo?

PYTH. I believe that you trust these things to me, as is equitable, just as to yourself.
ANTHR. Nay, indeed I do believe. PYTH. But do you also know how?

aquam hercle plorat, cum lavat, profundere.
ANTHR. Censen talentum magnum exorari pote
ab istoc sene ut det, qui fiamus liberi?

By Hercules, he weeps at pouring out water when he bathes.
ANTHR. Do you think a great talent can be won by entreaty from that old man, that he give it, that we may become free?

310

PYTH. Famem hercle utendam si roges, numquam dabit.
quin ipsi pridem tonsor unguis dempserat:
collegit, omnia abstulit praesegmina.
ANTHR. Edepol mortalem parce parcum praedicas.

PYTH. By Hercules, if you ask him to lend even hunger, he will never give it.
indeed some time ago the barber had taken off his fingernails from him:
he gathered them up—he carried off all the parings.
ANTHR. By Pollux, you proclaim a mortal sparingly parsimonious.

PYTH. Censen vero esse parcum et misere vivere?

PYTH. Do you indeed think to be parsimonious and to live miserably?

315

pulmentum pridem ei eripuit milvos:
homo ad praetorem plorabundus devenit;
infit ibi postulare plorans, eiulans,
ut sibi liceret milvom vadarier.
sescenta sunt quae memorem, si sit otium.

a kite long ago snatched his relish from him:
the man came to the praetor in tears;
there he begins to petition, weeping, wailing,
that it be permitted for him to have the kite bound over on bail.
there are 600 things I could recount, if there be leisure.

320

sed uter vestrorum est celerior? memora mihi.
ANTHR. Ego, et multo melior.

but which of you is swifter? make mention to me.
ANTHR. I, and much better.

PYTH. Cocum ego, non furem rogo.
ANTHR. Cocum ergo dico. PYTH. Quid tu ais?

PYTH. I ask for a cook, not a thief.
ANTHR. So I say a cook. PYTH. What do you say?

CONG. Sic sum ut vides.
ANTHR. Cocus ille nundinalest, in nonum diem
solet ire coctum. CONG. Tun, trium litterarum homo,

CONG. So I am as you see.
ANTHR. That cook is a market-day fellow; on the ninth day he is wont to go to cook.
CONG. You, a man of three letters,

325

me vituperas? fur. ANTHR. Etiam fur, trifurcifer.

do you vituperate me? thief. ANTHR. Even so, a thief, you three‑fork‑bearer.

II.v
PYTH. Tace nunciam tu, atque agnum hinc uter est pinguior
<cape atque abi intro ad nos.> ANTHR. Licet.—PYTH. Tu, Congrio,
<quem illic reliquit agnum,> eum sume atque abi 328a
*** intro illuc, et vos illum sequimini.
vos ceteri ite huc ad nos. CONG. Hercle iniuria
dispertivisti: pinguiorem agnum isti habent.

2.5
PYTH. Be quiet now, you, and from here take whichever lamb is fatter
<take it and go inside to us.> ANTHR. All right.—PYTH. You, Congrio,
<the lamb which he left there,> take it and go away 328a
*** go in there, and you follow him.
you others come here to us. CONG. By Hercules, you have divided unfairly: those fellows have the fatter lamb.

PYTH. At nunc tibi dabitur pinguior tibicina.
i sane cum illo, Phrugia. tu autem, Eleusium,
huc intro abi ad nos.

PYTH. But now a fatter flute-girl will be given to you.
Go on by all means with him, Phrygia. But you, Eleusium,
go in here to us.

CONG. O Pythodice subdole,
hucine detrusti me ad senem parcissimum?

CONG. O sly Pythodicus,
have you thrust me down here to the most parsimonious old man?

335

ubi si quid poscam, usque ad ravim poscam prius
quam quicquam detur. PYTH. Stultus et sine gratia es.
~ tibi recte facere, quando quod facias perit.
CONG. Qui vero?

where, if I ask for anything, I shall ask to the point of hoarseness before anything is given. PYTH. You are foolish and without favor.
~ to do right by you, since whatever is done for you perishes.
CONG. How so, indeed?

PYTH. Rogitas? iam principio in aedibus
turba istic nulla tibi erit: siquid uti voles,

PYTH. You ask? Right at the outset, in the house
there will be no crowd there for you: if you should wish to make use of anything,

340

domo abs te adferto, ne operam perdas poscere.
hic autem apud nos magna turba ac familia est,
supellex, aurum, vestis, vasa argentea:
ibi si perierit quippiam—quod te scio
facile abstinere posse, si nihil obviam est—

bring it from your own house, so that you do not waste the effort in asking.
but here with us there is a great crowd and household,
furnishings, gold, garments, silver vessels:
there, if anything should go missing—which I know you can easily abstain from, if nothing comes in your way—

345

dicant: coqui abstulerunt, comprehendite,
vincite, verberate, in puteum condite.
horum tibi istic nihil eveniet: quippe qui
ubi quid subripias nihil est. sequere hac me. CONG. Sequor.

let them say: the cooks have carried it off; seize them, bind them, beat them, put them in the well.
horum none of this will befall you here: since there is nothing here where you could filch anything. follow me this way. CONG. I follow.

II.vi
PYTH. Heus, Staphyla, prodi atque ostium aperi. STAPHYLA Qui vocat? 350
PYTH. Pythodicus. STAPH. Quid vis?

2.6
PYTH. Hey, Staphyla, come out and open the door. STAPHYLA Who calls? 350
PYTH. Pythodicus. STAPH. What do you want?

PYTH. Hos ut accipias coquos
tibicinamque obsoniumque in nuptias.
Megadorus iussit Euclioni haec mittere.
STAPH. Cererin, Pythodice, has sunt facturi nuptias?

PYTH. These, that you may receive the cooks
and the flute-girl and the provisions for the nuptials.
Megadorus ordered Euclio to send these things.
STAPH. By Ceres, Pythodicus, are they going to celebrate these nuptials?

PYTH. Qui? STAPH. Quia temeti nihil allatum intellego.

PYTH. How so? STAPH. Because I understand that no strong drink has been brought.

355

PYTH. At iam afferetur, si a foro ipsus redierit.
STAPH. Ligna hic apud nos nulla sunt. CONG. Sunt asseres?

PYTH. But it will be brought presently, if he himself has returned from the forum.
STAPH. There is no wood here with us. CONG. Are there planks?

STAPH. Sunt pol. CONG. Sunt igitur ligna, ne quaeras foris.
STAPH. Quid, impurate?

STAPH. There are, by Pollux. CONG. Then there is wood; don’t look outside.
STAPH. What, you unclean one?

quamquam Volcano studes,
cenaene causa aut tuae mercedis gratia

although you are devoted to Vulcan,
is it for the sake of dinner or for the sake of your wages

360

nos nostras aedis postulas comburere?
CONG. Haud postulo. PYTH. Duc istos intro.

do you demand that we burn our house?
CONG. I do not demand it. PYTH. Lead those men inside.

STAPH. Sequimini.—

STAPH. Follow.—

II.vii
PYTH. Curate. ego intervisam quid faciant coqui;
quos pol ut ego hodie servem, cura maxuma est.
nisi unum hoc faciam, ut in puteo cenam coquant:

II.vii
PYTH. See to it. I’ll go to look in on what the cooks are doing;
whom, by Pollux, to keep in hand today is the very greatest care.
unless I do this one thing, to have the dinner cooked in the well:

365

inde coctam sursum subducemus corbulis.
si autem deorsum comedent, si quid coxerint,
superi incenati sunt et cenati inferi.
sed verba hic facio, quasi negoti nil siet,
rapacidarum ubi tantum sit in aedibus.

then we will draw the cooked food up above with little baskets.
if, however, they eat down below, if they cook anything,
the upper are without dinner and the lower are dined.
but here I am making words, as if there were no business,
when there are so many rapacious people in the house.

370

II.viii
EVCLIO Volui animum tandem confirmare hodie meum,
ut bene me haberem filiai nuptiis.
venio ad macellum, rogito pisces: indicant
caros; agninam caram, caram bubulam,
vitulinam, cetum, porcinam: cara omnia.

2.8
EVCLIO I wanted at last today to fortify my spirit,
so that I might fare well for my daughter’s nuptials.
I come to the market, I inquire for fish: they indicate
dear; lamb dear, beef dear,
veal, tunny, pork: everything dear.

375

atque eo fuerunt cariora, aes non erat.
abeo iratus illinc, quoniam nihil est qui emam.
ita illis impuris omnibus adii manum.
deinde egomet mecum cogitare intervias
occepi: festo die si quid prodegeris,

and for that reason they were all the dearer—there was no cash.
I go away angry from there, since there is nothing with which to buy.
so I went at it hand-to-hand with all those unclean rascals.
then I myself began to think to myself between the by-streets
on a feast day, if you squander anything,

380

profesto egere liceat, nisi peperceris.
postquam hanc rationem ventri cordique edidi,
accessit animus ad meam sententiam,
quam minimo sumptu filiam ut nuptum darem.
nunc tusculum emi hoc et coronas floreas:

on a workday let it be permitted to be in want, unless you have been sparing.
after I set forth this rationale to my belly and to my heart,
my spirit acceded to my own sentiment,
that I should give my daughter to wed with the least expense.
now I have bought this little incense and flowery garlands:

385

haec imponentur in foco nostro Lari,
ut fortunatas faciat gnatae nuptias.
sed quid ego apertas aedis nostras conspicor?
et strepitust intus.

these will be placed on the hearth for our lar,
so that he may make the daughter’s nuptials fortunate.
but why do i see our house open?
and there is a clatter inside.

numnam ego compilor miser?
CONGRIO Aulam maiorem, si pote, ex vicinia

Am I being plundered, poor me?
CONGRIO The larger pot, if possible, from the vicinity

390

pete: haec est parva, capere non quit. EVCL. Ei mihi,
perii hercle. aurum rapitur, aula quaeritur.

fetch it: this one is small, it cannot hold it. EVCL. Alas for me,
I am undone, by Hercules. the gold is being snatched, the pot is being sought.

[nimirum occidor, nisi ego intro huc propere propero currere.]
Apollo, quaeso, subveni mi atque adiuva,
confige sagittis fures thensaurarios,

[No doubt I am being killed, unless I hasten to run inside here.]
Apollo, I beg, come to my aid and help me,
transfix with arrows the thesaurary thieves,

395

<si> cui in re tali iam subvenisti antidhac.
sed cesso prius quam prorsus perii currere?

<if> you have already come to the aid of anyone in such a matter before now.
but do I delay to run before I altogether perish?

II.ix
ANTHRAX Dromo, desquama piscis. tu, Machaerio,
congrum, murenam exdorsua quantum potest.
ego hinc artoptam ex proximo utendam peto

II.ix
ANTHRAX Dromo, scale the fish. You, Machaerius,
the conger, the muraena—debone from the back as much as possible.
I’ll go from here to fetch a baking-pan from next door for use.

400

a Congrione. tu istum gallum, si sapis,
glabriorem reddes mihi quam volsus ludiust.
sed quid hoc clamoris oritur hinc ex proximo?

from Congrio. You, that rooster, if you are wise,
you will make him smoother for me than a shaven performer.
but what is this clamor that arises from right nearby?

coqui hercle, credo, faciunt officium suom.
fugiam intro, ne quid turbae hic itidem fuat.

the cooks, by Hercules, I believe, are performing their office.
I’ll flee inside, lest there be any disturbance here likewise.

405

ACTVS III

ACT 3

III.i
CONGRIO ~Optati vires populares, incolae, accolae, advenae omnes,
date viam qua fugere liceat, facite totae plateae pateant.
neque ego umquam nisi hodie ad Bacchas veni in Bacchanal coquinatum,
ita me miserum et meos discipulos fustibus male contuderunt.
totus doleo atque oppido perii, ita me iste habuit senex gymnasium;

3.1
CONGRIO ~Help, people! inhabitants, neighbors, all newcomers,
give way so that it may be permitted to flee; make all the streets stand open.
nor have I ever until today come to the Bacchae to cook at the Bacchanal,
so wretchedly did they batter me and my disciples with cudgels.
I ache all over and am utterly done for; that old man made me a regular gymnasium;

410

attat, perii hercle ego miser,
aperit bacchanal, adest, 411a
sequitur. scio quam rem geram: hoc
ipsus magister me docuit. 412a
neque ligna ego usquam gentium praeberi vidi pulchrius,
itaque omnis exegit foras, me atque hos, onustos fustibus.

ah, I’m done for, by Hercules, poor me,
he opens the Bacchanal, he’s here, 411a
he follows. I know what business I’m to carry: this
the master himself taught me. 412a
nor have I anywhere in the world seen wood supplied more handsomely,
and so he drove everyone out, me and these, loaded with cudgels.

III.ii
EVCLIO Redi. quo fugis nunc? tene, tene.

3.2
EVCLIO Come back. Where are you running now? Seize him, seize him.

CONG. Quid, stolide, clamas?

CONG. Why,
you blockhead, are you shouting?

415

EVCL. Quia ad tris viros iam ego deferam nomen tuom. C. Quam ob rem?
EVCL. Quia cultrum habes.

EVCL. Because I will now report your name to the Three Men. C. For what reason?
EVCL. Because you have a knife.

CONG. Cocum decet. EVCL. Quid comminatu's
mihi? CONG. Istud male factum arbitror, quia non latus fodi.

CONG. It befits a cook. EVCL. Why are you threatening
me? CONG. I judge that ill done, because I did not stab the side.

EVCL. Homo nullust te scelestior qui vivat hodie,
neque quoi ego de industria amplius male plus libens faxim.

EVCL. No man lives today more wicked than you,
nor is there anyone to whom I would, on purpose, do more harm more willingly.

420

CONG. Pol etsi taceas, palam id quidem est: res ipsa testist;
ita fustibus sum mollior magis quam ullus cinaedus.
sed quid tibi nos tactiost, mendice homo? EVCL. Quae res?

CONG. By Pollux, even if you were silent, that indeed is plain: the thing itself is witness;
so by cudgels I am softened more than any catamite.
but what business have you to lay hands on us, beggar-man? EVCL. What is it?

etiam rogitas? an quia minus quam aequom erat feci?
CONG. Sine, at hercle cum magno malo tuo, si hoc caput sentit.

Do you still ask? or is it because I did less than was just?
CONG. Leave it; but, by Hercules, with great harm to you, if this head can feel.

425

EVCL. Pol ego haud scio quid post fuat: tuom nunc caput sentit.
sed in aedibus quid tibi meis nam erat negoti
me absente, nisi ego iusseram? volo scire.

EVCL. By Pollux, I for my part do not know what will be afterward: your head feels it now.
but in my house what business, pray, was there for you in my absence, unless I had ordered it? I want to know.

CONG. Tace ergo.
quia venimus coctum ad nuptias. EVCL. Quid tu, malum, curas,
utrum crudum an coctum ego edim, nisi tu mi es tutor?

CONG. Be silent then.
because we have come for the cooked course to the nuptials. EVCL. Why, the devil, do you care,
whether I eat it raw or cooked, unless you are my tutor?

430

CONG. Volo scire, sinas an non sinas nos coquere hic cenam?
EVCL. Volo scire ego item, meae domi mean salva futura?
CONG. Vtinam mea mihi modo auferam, quae adtuli, salva:
me haud paenitet, tua ne expetam.

CONG. I want to know: do you allow or do you not allow us to cook dinner here?
EVCL. I want to know likewise, whether my things at my house are going to be safe?
CONG. Would that I might only bear away my own things, which I brought, safe:
I am not at all sorry not to seek yours.

EVCL. Scio, ne doce, novi.
CONG. Quid est qua prohibes nunc gratia nos coquere hic cenam?

EVCL. I know; don’t teach; I know.
CONG. What is the reason for which you forbid us now to cook dinner here?

435

quid fecimus, quid diximus tibi secus quam velles?
EVCL. Etiam rogitas, sceleste homo, qui angulos in omnis
mearum aedium et conclavium mihi pervium facitis?
ibi ubi tibi erat negotium, ad focum si adesses,
non fissile auferres caput: merito id tibi factum est.

what have we done, what have we said to you otherwise than you would wish?
EVCL. You even ask, wicked man, you who make the corners of all my house and chambers pervious for me?
there where your business was, if you had been at the hearth,
you would not have carried off a split head: that was done to you deservedly.

440

adeo ut tu meam sententiam iam noscere possis:
si ad ianuam huc accesseris, nisi iussero, propius,
ego te faciam miserrimus mortalis uti sis.
scis iam meam sententiam.— CONG. Quo abis? redi rursum.

so much so that you can now know my opinion:
if you come up to the door here any nearer, unless I order it,
I will make you be the most wretched of mortals.
you now know my opinion.— CONG. Where are you going? come back again.

ita me bene amet Laverna, <uti> te iam, nisi reddi

so may Laverna love me well, so that you now, unless it be paid back

445

mihi vasa iubes, pipulo hic differam ante aedis.
quid ego nunc agam? ne ego edepol veni huc auspicio malo.

you order me to carry the vessels, on the sly, and set them here before the house.
what am I to do now? by Pollux, indeed I came here under an ill auspice.

nummo sum conductus: plus iam medico mercedest opus.

I was contracted for a coin; now there is need of a larger fee for the physician.

III.iii
EVCLIO Hoc quidem hercle, quoquo ibo, mecum erit, mecum feram,
neque isti id in tantis periclis umquam committam ut siet.

3.3
EVCLIO By Hercules, this indeed, wherever I go, will be with me, I will carry it with me,
nor will I ever commit it to that fellow, amid such great perils, to be in his keeping.

450

ite sane nunciam omnes, et coqui et tibicinae,
etiam intro duce, si vis, vel gregem venalium,
coquite, facite, festinate nunciam quantum libet.
CONG. Temperi, postquam implevisti fusti fissorum caput.
EVCL. Intro abite, opera huc conducta est vostra, non oratio.

go on then now, all of you, both the cooks and the flute-girls,
even lead inside, if you wish, even a herd of sale-slaves,
cook, do, hurry now as much as you please.
CONG. In good time—since you have filled our split pates with a cudgel.
EVCL. Go inside; your work was hired here, not your oration.

455

CONG. Heus, senex, pro vapulando hercle ego abs te mercedem petam.
coctum ego, non vapulatum, dudum conductus fui.
EVCL. Lege agito mecum.

CONG. Hey, old man, by Hercules, for being beaten I’ll demand payment from you; from you I’ll seek my fee.
I was contracted for cooking, not for being beaten, a while ago.
EVCL. Proceed at law with me.

molestus ne sis. i et cenam coque,
aut abi in malum cruciatum ab aedibus. CONG. Abi tu modo.—

do not be troublesome. go and cook the dinner,
or go away into evil cruciation from the house. CONG. you just be off.—

III.iv
EVCL. Illic hinc abiit. di immortales, facinus audax incipit

3.4
EVCL. He went away from here to there. Immortal gods, a daring deed begins

460

qui cum opulento pauper homine coepit rem habere aut negotium.~
veluti Megadorus temptat me omnibus miserum modis,
qui simulavit mei honoris mittere huc causa coquos:
is ea causa misit, hoc qui surriperent misero mihi.
condigne etiam meus med intus gallus gallinacius,

when a pauper begins to have a matter or business with an opulent man.~
just so Megadorus tempts me, miserable, in every way,
who pretended to send cooks here for the sake of my honor:
he sent them for this cause, that they might surreptitiously snatch this from me, a miserable man.
deservedly, too, my own barnyard cock inside,

465

qui erat anu peculiaris, perdidit paenissume.
ubi erat haec defossa, occepit ibi scalpurrire ungulis
cirum circa. quid opust verbis?

who was the old woman’s peculiar favorite, has utterly ruined me.
where this was buried, there he began to scratch with his claws round about.
what need is there of words?

ita mihi pectus peracuit:
capio fustem, obtrunco gallum, furem manufestarium.
credo edepol ego illi mercedem gallo pollicitos coquos,

so my breast was sharpened thus:
I seize a club, I hack down the cock, a thief manifest, caught in the act.
I believe, by Pollux, that the cooks had promised the cock a fee,

470

si id palam fecisset. exemi ex manu ~ manubrium.
[quid opust verbis?

if he had done that openly. I took from his hand ~ the handle.
[what need is there of words?

facta est pugna in gallo gallinacio.]
sed Megadorus meus affinis eccum incedit a foro.
iam hunc non ausim praeterire, quin consistam et conloquar.

a cockfight has taken place.]
but look, my in-law Megadorus advances from the forum.
now I would not dare to pass him by, but that I stop and converse.

III.v
MEGADORVS Narravi amicis multis consilium meum

3.5
MEGADORUS I narrated to many friends my plan

475

de condicione hac. Euclionis filiam
laudant. sapienter factum et consilio bono.
nam meo quidem animo si idem faciant ceteri
opulentiores, pauperiorum filias
ut indotatas ducant uxores domum,

about this condition. They praise Euclio’s daughter
it has been done wisely and with good counsel.
for, in my mind indeed, if the other wealthier men should do the same,
that they lead home as wives the daughters of the poorer, undowried,

480

et multo fiat civitas concordior,
et invidia nos minore utamur quam utimur,
et illae malam rem metuant quam metuont magis,
et nos minore sumptu simus quam sumus.
in maximam illuc populi partem est optimum

and by much let the commonwealth become more concordant,
and let us use envy in a lesser degree than we use it,
and let those ladies fear a bad business more than they fear it,
and let us be at less expense than we are.
for for the very greatest part of the people that is optimum

485

in pauciores avidos altercatio est,
quorum animis avidis atque insatietatibus
neque lex neque sutor capere est qui possit modum.
namque hoc qui dicat 'quo illae nubent divites
dotatae, si istud ius pauperibus ponitur?'

the altercation concerns fewer, the avid,
whose avid spirits and insatiabilities
neither law nor shoemaker is able to take a measure of.
for who would say this: ‘to whom will those rich, dowered women marry,
if that right is established for the poor?’

490

quo lubeant, nubant, dum dos ne fiat comes.
hoc si ita fiat, mores meliores sibi
parent, pro dote quos ferant, quam nunc ferunt,
ego faxim muli, pretio qui superant equos,
sint viliores Gallicis cantheriis.

where they please, let them marry, provided that the dowry not become a companion.
if this were so, they would procure for themselves better morals,
which they would bear in place of a dowry, than they now bear,
I would make sure that the mules, who in price surpass horses,
be cheaper than Gallic nags.

495

EVCL. Ita me di amabunt ut ego hunc ausculto lubens.
nimis lepide fecit verba ad parsimoniam.
MEG. Nulla igitur dicat 'equidem dotem ad te adtuli
maiorem multo quam tibi erat pecunia;
enim mihi quidem aequomst purpuram atque aurum dari,

EVCL. So may the gods love me, as I gladly listen to this man.
he has spoken exceedingly charmingly on behalf of parsimony.
MEG. Therefore let no woman say, 'indeed I brought a dowry to you
much greater by far than the money you had;
for to me indeed it is equitable that purple and gold be given,

500

ancillas, mulos, muliones, pedisequos,
salutigerulos pueros, vehicla qui vehar.'
EVCL. Vt matronarum hic facta pernovit probe.
moribus praefectum mulierum hunc factum velim.
MEG. Nunc quoquo venias plus plaustrorum in aedibus

handmaids, mules, muleteers, foot-attendants,
little salutation-bearing boys, vehicles by which I may be carried.'
EVCL. How thoroughly he has known the doings of matrons.
I should like this man to be made prefect of women’s morals.
MEG. Now, wherever you come, there are more wagons in the house

505

videas quam ruri, quando ad villam veneris.
sed hoc etiam pulchrum est praequam ubi sumptus petunt.
stat fullo, phyrgio, aurifex, lanarius;
caupones patagiarii, indusiarii,
flammarii, violarii, carinarii;

you would see how it is in the countryside, when you come to the villa.
but this too is fine compared with where they demand expenses.
there stands a fuller, a Phrygian-embroiderer, a goldsmith, a wool-worker;
tavern-keepers, patagium-borders makers, under-tunic makers,
flammeum-makers, violet-sellers, shipwrights;

510

stant manulearii, stant ~ murobatharii,
propolae linteones, calceolarii;
sedentarii sutores diabathrarii,
solearii astant, astant molocinarii;
[petunt fullones, sarcinatores petunt;]

the sleeve‑dealers stand, the ~ perfumers stand,
linen peddlers, shoemakers;
sedentary tailors, slipper‑sellers,
sandal‑makers stand by, the mallow‑dyers stand by;
[fullers solicit, menders solicit;]

515

strophiarii astant, astant semul sonarii.
iam hosce absolutos censeas: cedunt, petunt
treceni, cum stant thylacistae in atriis
textores limbularii, arcularii.
ducuntur, datur aes. iam absolutos censeas,

the strophium-makers stand by, together the instrument-makers stand by.
now you would suppose these are discharged: they yield, they ask
three hundred apiece, while the purse-makers stand in the halls,
the border-weavers, the casket-makers.
they are led in, money is given. now you would suppose them discharged,

520

cum incedunt infectores corcotarii,
aut aliqua mala crux semper est, quae aliquid petat.
EVCL. Compellarem ego illum, ni metuam ne desinat
memorare mores mulierum: nunc sic sinam.
MEG. Vbi nugivendis res soluta est omnibus,

when the crocus-dyers march in,
or there is always some accursed nuisance that asks for something.
EUCL. I would accost that fellow, if I did not fear he might cease
relating the manners of women: now I’ll let it be so.
MEG. When the business is settled with all the sellers of trifles,

525

ibi ad postremum cedit miles, aes petit.
itur, putatur ratio cum argentario;
miles inpransus astat, aes censet dari.
ubi disputata est ratio cum argentario,
etiam ipsus ultro debet argentario:

there at last the soldier yields, he asks for cash.
off they go; the account is computed with the banker;
the soldier, fasting, stands by, votes that money be given.
when the reckoning has been disputed with the banker,
even he himself, into the bargain, owes the banker:

530

spes prorogatur militi in alium diem.
haec sunt atque aliae multae in magnis dotibus
incommoditates sumptusque intolerabiles.
nam quae indotata est, ea in potestate est viri;
dotatae mactant et malo et damno viros.

the hope is prorogued for the soldier to another day.
these are, and many others, in great dowries,
incommodities and intolerable expenses.
for she who is undowered is in the power of the husband;
dowered women overwhelm men with both ill and damage.

535

sed eccum adfinem ante aedes. quid agis, Euclio?

but look, the in-law before the house. what are you doing, Euclio?

III.vi
EVCL. Nimium lubenter edi sermonem tuom.
MEG. An audivisti? EVCL. Vsque a principio omnia.

3.6
EVCL. Exceedingly gladly I heard your sermon.
MEG. Did you hear? EVCL. All the way from the beginning, everything.

MEG. Tamen meo quidem animo aliquanto facias rectius,
si nitidior sis filiai nuptiis.

MEG. However, in my opinion, you would do considerably more rightly,
if you were more polished for your daughter’s nuptials.

540

EVCL. Pro re nitorem et gloriam pro copia
qui habent, meminerunt sese unde oriundi sient.
neque pol, Megadore, mihi neque quoiquam pauperi
opinione melius res structa est domi.
MEG. Immo est <quod satis est>, et di faciant ut siet

EVCL. In proportion to their means those who have it possess luster and glory in proportion to their abundance; they remember from where they are originated.
nor, by Pollux, Megadorus, for me nor for any poor man are affairs at home structured better than in opinion.
MEG. Nay rather, it is <what is enough>, and may the gods make it so

545

plus plusque <et> istuc sospitent quod nunc habes.
EVCL. Illud mihi verbum non placet 'quod nunc habes.'
tam hoc scit me habere quam egomet. anus fecit palam.

more and more may they preserve even that which you now have.
EVCL. That word does not please me, “what you now have.”
he knows that I have this as well as I myself do. The old woman made it public.

MEG. Quid tu te solus e senatu sevocas?
EVCL. Pol ego ut te accusem merito meditabar. MEG. Quid est?

MEG. Why do you alone call yourself away from the senate?
EVCL. By Pollux, I was considering that I might accuse you deservedly. MEG. What is it?

550

EVCL. Quid sit me rogitas? qui mihi omnis angulos
furum implevisti in aedibus misero mihi,
qui mi intro misti in aedis quingentos coquos,
cum senis manibus, genere Geryonaceo;
quos si Argus servet, qui oculeus totus fuit,

EVCL. Do you ask me what it is? you who have filled all the corners
of my house with thieves for wretched me,
you who have sent into my house five hundred cooks,
with six hands apiece, of Geryonaceous breed;
whom, even if Argus should guard, who was all‑eyed,

555

quem quondam Ioni Iuno custodem addidit,
is numquam servet. praeterea tibicinam,
quae mi interbibere sola, si vino scatat,
Corinthiensem fontem Pirenam potest.
tum obsonium autem—MEG. Pol vel legioni sat est.

whom Juno once appointed as guardian to Io,
even he could never keep watch. Besides, a tibicina (flute-girl),
who alone, if it gushes with wine, can outdrink for me
the Corinthian fountain Peirene.
then as for the provisions—MEG. By Pollux, enough even for a legion.

560

etiam agnum misi. EVCL. Quo quidem agno sat scio
magis curionem nusquam esse ullam beluam.
MEG. Volo ego ex te scire qui sit agnus curio.

I sent a lamb too. EVCL. With that lamb indeed I know full well that there is nowhere any beast more of a curio-priest.
MEG. I want to learn from you what a curio-lamb is.

EVCL. Quia ossa ac pellis totust, ita cura macet.
quin exta inspicere in sole ei vivo licet:

EVCL. Because he is entirely bones and skin, so does care macerate him; indeed one may inspect his entrails in the sun while he is alive:

565

ita is pellucet quasi lanterna Punica.
MEG. Caedundum conduxi ego illum. EVCL. Tum tu idem optumumst
loces efferendum; nam iam, credo, mortuost.

so he is so pellucid as a Punic lantern.
MEG. I have contracted him for a beating. EVCL. Then it’s best you contract that same one
to be carried out; for now, I believe, he’s dead.

MEG. Potare ego hodie, Euclio, tecum volo.
EVCL. Non potem ego quidem hercle. MEG. At ego iussero

MEG. I want to drink today, Euclio, with you.
EVCL. I will not drink indeed, by Hercules. MEG. But I will order it

570

cadum unum vini veteris a me adferrier.
EVCL. Nolo hercle, nam mihi bibere decretum est aquam.
MEG. Ego te hodie reddam madidum, si vivo, probe,
tibi cui decretum est bibere aquam.

that one jar of old wine be brought by me.
EVCL. I will not, by Hercules, for it has been decreed for me to drink water.
MEG. I will render you today soaked, if I live, properly,
you to whom it has been decreed to drink water.

EVCL. Scio quam rem agat:
ut me deponat vino, eam adfectat viam,

EVCL. I know what business he is about:
that he may lay me low with wine, he affects that way,

575

post hoc quod habeo ut commutet coloniam.
ego id cavebo, nam alicubi abstrudam foris.
ego faxo et operam et vinum perdiderit simul.

after this, with what I have, I’ll make him change his colony.
I’ll guard against that, for I will shove him somewhere out of doors.
I will make sure he has lost both his effort and his wine at once.

MEG. Ego, nisi quid me vis, eo lavatum, ut sacruficem.—
EVCL. Edepol, ne tu, aula, multos inimicos habes

MEG. Unless you want anything from me, I’m going to bathe, so that I may sacrifice.—
EVCL. By Pollux, indeed you, hall, have many enemies

580

atque istuc aurum quod tibi concreditum est.
nunc hoc mihi factu est optumum, ut ted auferam,
aula, in Fidei fanum: ibi abstrudam probe.
Fides, novisti me et ego te: cave sis tibi,
ne in me mutassis nomen, si hoc concreduo.

and that gold which has been confided to you.
now this is the optimum thing for me to do: that I carry you off,
pot, into the fane of Faith: there I will stow you properly.
Faith, you know me and I you: please look to yourself,
lest you change your name on me, if I confide this.

585

ibo ad te fretus tua, Fides, fiducia.—

I will go to you, Faith, relying on your confidence.—

ACTVS IV

ACT 4

IV.i
STROBILVS Hoc est servi facinus frugi, facere quod ego persequor,
ne morae molestiaeque imperium erile habeat sibi.
nam qui ero ex sententia servire servos postulat,
in erum matura, in se sera condecet capessere.

IV.i
STROBILUS This is the deed of a frugal servant: to do what I am pressing on to do,
so that delay and vexations may not have the master’s authority to themselves.
for the servant who aims to serve his master to his satisfaction,
it befits him to seize what is timely for the master, and late for himself.

590

sin dormitet, ita dormitet, servom sese ut cogitet.
[nam qui amanti ero servitutem servit, quasi ego servio,
si erum videt superare amorem, hoc servi esse officium reor,
retinere ad salutem, non enim quo incumbat eo impellere.
quasi pueri qui nare discunt scirpea induitur ratis,

but if he should doze, let him so doze that he think himself a slave.
[for he who serves in servitude to a loving master, as I serve,
if he sees love overmastering his master, this I reckon to be a slave’s duty,
to hold him back toward safety, for not to impel him toward that on which he leans.
just as, for boys who learn to swim, a raft of rushes is put on,

595

qui laborent minus, facilius ut nent et moveant manus,
eodem modo servom ratem esse amanti ero aequom censeo,
ut <eum> toleret, ne pessum abeat tamquam * * ]
~ erile imperium ediscat, ut quod frons velit oculi sciant;
quod iubeat citis quadrigis citius properet persequi.

who may labor less, so that they spin and move their hands more easily,
in the same way I reckon it equitable that a servant be a raft to a loving master,
so that he support <him>, lest he go to the bottom like * * ]
~ let him learn by heart the master’s command, so that what the brow may wish the eyes may know;
whatever he orders, let him hasten to pursue more quickly than swift quadrigae.

600

qui ea curabit, abstinebit censione bubula,
nec sua opera rediget umquam in splendorem compedes.
nunc erus meus amat filiam huius Euclionis pauperis;
eam ero nunc renuntiatum est nuptum huic Megadoro dari.
is speculatum huc misit me, ut quae fierent fieret particeps.

who will take care of these things will abstain from the cowhide censure,
nor by his own work will he ever bring his feet into the splendor of shackles.
now my master loves the daughter of this poor Euclio;
it has now been reported to my master that she is to be given in marriage to this Megadorus.
he has sent me here to reconnoiter, so that he might become a participant in what things were being done.

605

nunc sine omni suspicione in ara hic adsidam sacra;
hinc ego et huc et illuc potero quid agant arbitrarier.

now without any suspicion I will sit here on the sacred altar;
from here I shall be able to judge what they are doing here and there.

IV.ii
EVCLIO Tu modo cave quoiquam indicassis aurum meum esse istic, Fides:
non metuo ne quisquam inveniat, ita probe in latebris situmst.
edepol ne illic pulchram praedam agat, si quis illam invenerit

4.2
EVCLIO You just take care not to have told anyone that my gold is there, Faith:
I do not fear that anyone will find it, so well is it set in hiding.
By Pollux, what fine booty he would carry off there, if someone were to find it

610

aulam onustam auri; verum id te quaeso ut prohibessis, Fides.
nunc lavabo, ut rem divinam faciam, ne affinem morer
quin ubi accersat meam extemplo filiam ducat domum.
vide, Fides, etiam atque etiam nunc, salvam ut aulam abs te auferam:
tuae fide concredidi aurum, in tuo luco et fano est situm.—

a pot laden with gold; but I beg you to prevent this, Fides.
now I will wash, so that I may perform the divine rite, lest I delay my in-law,
but rather that, when he summons my daughter, he may at once lead her home.
see, Fides, again and again now, that I may carry the pot away safe from you:
to your faith I have entrusted the gold; in your grove and fane it is set.—

615

STROB. Di immortales, quod ego hunc hominem facinus audivi loqui:
se aulam onustam auri abstrusisse hic intus in fano Fide.
cave tu illi fidelis, quaeso, potius fueris, quam mihi.
atque hic pater est, ut ego opinor, huius, erus quam amat, <virginis>.
ibo hinc intro, perscrutabor fanum, si inveniam uspiam

STROB. Immortal gods, what a deed I have heard this man speak of:
that he has hidden a chest laden with gold here inside in the shrine of Fides.
do not, I beg, be faithful to him rather than to me.
and this man is, as I think, the father of the girl whom the master loves, <maiden>.
I’ll go in from here, I’ll search the shrine, to see whether I may find it anywhere

620

aurum, dum hic est occupatus. sed si repperero, o Fides,
mulsi congialem plenam faciam tibi fideliam.
id adeo tibi faciam; verum ego mihi bibam, ubi id fecero.—

the gold, while he is occupied. But if I find it, O Faith,
I will make for you a fidelia, full—a congius—of mulsum.
That indeed I will do for you; but I will drink it myself, when I have done it.—

IV.iii
EVCLIO Non temere est quod corvos cantat mihi nunc ab laeva manu;
semul radebat pedibus terram et voce croccibat sua:

4.3
EUCLIO It is not without cause that a crow is singing to me now from the left hand;
at the same time it was scraping the ground with its feet and cawing with its own voice:

625

continuo meum cor coepit artem facere ludicram
atque in pectus emicare. sed ego cesso currere?

immediately my heart began to practice a ludicrous art and to dart in my breast.
but am I delaying to run?

IV.iv
<I> foras, lumbrice, qui sub terra erepsisti modo,
qui modo nusquam comparebas, nunc, cum compares, peris.
ego pol te, praestrigiator, miseris iam accipiam modis.

IV.iv
<I> out, earthworm, you who have just crawled out from under the earth,
you who just now were appearing nowhere; now, when you appear, you perish.
By Pollux, I will now take you, prestidigitator, in wretched ways.

630

STROBILVS Quae te mala crux agitat? quid tibi mecum est commerci, senex?
quid me adflictas?

STROBILVS What gallows is goading you? what commerce have you with me, old man?
why do you afflict me?

quid me raptas? qua me causa verberas?
EVCL. Verberabilissime, etiam rogitas, non fur, sed trifur?

why do you snatch me? for what cause do you whip me?
EUCL. Most beatable fellow, do you even ask, not a thief, but a triple-thief?

STROB. Quid tibi surrupui? EVCL. Redde huc sis. STROB. Quid tibi vis
reddam?

STROB. What did I filch from you? EVCL. Hand it back here, please. STROB.
What do you want me to
give back?

EVCL. Rogas?
STROB. Nil equidem tibi abstuli. EVCL. At illud quod tibi abstuleras cedo.

EVCL. You ask?
STROB. I, for my part, took nothing from you. EVCL. But hand over that thing which you had taken for yourself.

635

ecquid agis? STROB. Quid agam? E. Auferre non potes.

Are you doing anything? STROB. What am I to do? E. You cannot take it away.

ST. Quid vis tibi?
EVCL. Pone. STROB. Id quidem pol te datare credo consuetum, senex.

ST. What do you want?
EVCL. Put it down. STROB. That indeed, by Pollux, I believe you are accustomed to dole out, old man.

EVCL. Pone hoc sis, aufer cavillam, non ego nunc nugas ago.
STROB. Quid ego ponam? quin tu eloquere quidquid est suo nomine.

EVCL. Put this down, please, away with the cavillation; I am not dealing in trifles now.
STROB. What am I to put down? Why don’t you speak out whatever it is by its own name.

non hercle equidem quicquam sumpsi nec tetigi. EVCL. Ostende huc manus.

By Hercules, indeed I took nothing nor did I touch [it]. EVCL. Show your hands here.

640

STROB. Em tibi, ostendi, eccas. EVCL. Video. age ostende etiam tertiam.

STROB. There you go, for you—I've shown them; look, here they are. EVCL. I see. come, show the third as well.

STROB. Laruae hunc atque intemperiae insaniaeque agitant senem.
facisne iniuriam mihi? EVCL. Fateor, quia non pendes, maximam.

STROB. Specters and intemperance and insanity agitate this old man. Are you doing me an injury? EVCL. I confess it: since you do not pay, the greatest.

atque id quoque iam fiet, nisi fatere. STROB. Quid fatear tibi?
EVCL. Quid abstulisti hinc?

and that too will now be done, unless you confess. STROB. What should I confess to you?
EVCL. What have you taken away from here?

S. Di me perdant. si ego tui quicquam abstuli

S. May the gods destroy me. if I
have taken away anything of yours

645

nive adeo abstulisse vellem. EVCL. Agedum, excutedum pallium.
STROB. Tuo arbitratu.

nor indeed would I have wished to have taken it. EVCL. Come then, shake out the cloak.
STROB. As you please.

E. Ne inter tunicas habeas. S. Tempta qua lubet.
EVCL. Vah, scelestus quam benigne: ut ne abstulisse intellegam.

E. Do not have it among the tunics. S. Try wherever you please.
EVCL. Fie, scoundrel, how benignly: so that I may not understand you to have carried it off.

novi sycophantias. age rusum ostende huc manum
dexteram. S. Em. E. Nunc laevam ostende.

I know the sycophancies. Come, again, show your right hand here
S. Here. E. Now show the left.

S. Quin equidem ambas profero.

S. Why, indeed, I proffer both.

650

E. Iam scrutari mitto. redde huc. S. Quid reddam?

E. I now give up searching. Hand it back here. S. What am I to return?

E. A, nugas agis,
certe habes. S. Habeo ego? quid habeo?

E. Ah, you’re talking trifles, surely you have it. S. I have it? what do I have?

E. Non dico, audire expetis.
id meum, quidquid habes, redde. STROB. Insanis: perscrutatus es
tuo arbitratu, neque tui me quicquam invenisti penes.

E. I do not say; you are eager to hear.
That is mine; whatever you have, render back. STROB. You are insane: you have scrutinized
at your own arbitrament, and you have found nothing of yours in my possession.

EVCL. Mane, mane. quis illic est? quis hic intus alter erat tecum simul?

EVCL. Wait, wait. Who is there? Who was the other here inside
together with you?

655

perii hercle: ille nunc intus turbat, hunc si amitto hic abierit.
postremo hunc iam perscrutavi, hic nihil habet. abi quo lubet.

i have perished, by hercules: that one now is disturbing inside; if i let go of this one, this one will have gone off.
in the end i have already scrutinized this one, this one has nothing. go where you please.

STROB. Iuppiter te dique perdant. EVCL. Haud male egit gratias.
ibo intro atque illi socienno tuo iam interstringam gulam.

STROB. May Jupiter and the gods destroy you. EVCL. He did not render thanks badly.
I’ll go inside and right now I’ll cinch up the throat of that associate of yours.

fugin hinc ab oculis? abin an non? S. Abeo.

Will you flee hence from my eyes? Are you going away or not? S. I go away.

E. Cave sis ~ te videam.—

E. Take care, please, ~ that I do not see you.—

660

IV.v
STROB. Emortuom ego me mavelim leto malo
quam non ego illi dem hodie insidias seni.
nam hic iam non audebit aurum abstrudere:
credo ecferet iam secum et mutabit locum.
attat, foris crepuit.

IV.v
STROB. I’d rather be dead, by a wicked death,
than not set an ambush for that old man today.
for now this fellow won’t dare to hide the gold:
I think he’ll carry it out with him now and change its place.
ah, the door creaked.

senex eccum aurum ecfert foras.

look, the old man is carrying the gold outside.

665

tantisper huc ego ad ianuam concessero.

Meanwhile I will withdraw here to the doorway.

IV.vi
EVCLIO Fide censebam maxumam multo fidem
esse, ea sublevit os mihi paenissume:
ni subvenisset corvos, periissem miser.
nimis hercle ego illum corvom ad me veniat velim,

4.6
EVCLIO By faith I was deeming that faith was by far the greatest;
that almost most relieved my mouth for me:
if the crow had not come to the aid, I, wretch, would have perished.
by Hercules, I very much would like that crow to come to me,

670

qui indicium fecit, ut ego illi aliquid boni
dicam; nam quod edit tam duim quam perduim.
nunc hoc ubi abstrudam cogito solum locum.
Silvani lucus extra murum est avius,
crebro salicto oppletus.

who gave the indication, that I may say something good to him; for as to what he eats, I would as soon give it as give it to perdition.
now where I should thrust this away I am thinking—the only place.
The grove of Silvanus is outside the wall, out-of-the-way,
thickly filled with willow-growth.

ibi sumam locum.

There I will take the place.

675

certumst, Silvano potius credam quam Fide.—
STROB. Euge, euge, di me salvom et servatum volunt.
iam ego illuc praecurram atque inscendam aliquam in arborem
indeque observabo, aurum ubi abstrudat senex.
quamquam hic manere me erus sese iusserat;

It’s settled: I’d rather trust Silvanus than Faith.—
STROB. Bravo, bravo, the gods will me safe and preserved.
Now I’ll run on ahead over there and climb up into some tree,
and from there I’ll observe where the old man hides the gold.
although the master had ordered me to stay here;

680

certum est, malam rem potius quaeram cum lucro.—

it is settled: I will rather seek a bad affair with lucre.—

IV.vii
LYCONIDES Dixi tibi, mater, iuxta rem mecum tenes,
super Euclionis filia. nunc te obsecro
resecroque, mater, quod dudum obsecraveram:
fac mentionem cum avonculo, mater mea.

4.7
LYCONIDES I told you, mother, you’ve got the matter with me exactly,
about Euclio’s daughter. Now I beseech and beseech again you,
mother, what a little while ago I had besought:
make mention to my uncle, my mother.

685

EVNOMIA Scis tute facta velle me quae tu velis,
et istuc confido <a> fratre me impetrassere;
et causa iusta est, siquidem ita est ut praedicas,
te eam compressisse vinulentum virginem.
LYC. Egone ut te advorsum mentiar, mater mea?

EVNOMIA You yourself know that I wish what you wish to be done,
and I trust I shall obtain that from my brother;
and the cause is just, if indeed it is as you proclaim,
that you, drunken with wine, have compressed that virgin.
LYC. I— that I should lie to you, my mother?

690

PHAEDRIVM Perii, mea nutrix. obsecro te, uterum dolet.
Iuno Lucina, tuam fidem!

PHAEDRIVM I am undone, my nurse. I beseech you, my womb aches.
Juno Lucina, your help!

LYC. Em, mater mea,
tibi rem potiorem verbo: clamat, parturit.
EVN. Ei hac intro mecum, gnate mi, ad fratrem meum,
ut istuc quod me oras impetratum ab eo auferam.—

LYC. Look, my mother,
for you a matter weightier than talk: she’s shouting, she’s in labor.
EVN. Hey, come in here with me, my son, to my brother,
so that I may obtain from him and carry off that which you beg me for.—

695

LYC. I, iam sequor te, mater. sed servom meum
Strobilum miror ubi sit, quem ego me iusseram
hic opperiri. nunc ego mecum cogito:
si mihi dat operam, me illi irasci iniurium est.

LYC. Go, I now follow you, mother. But I marvel where my slave Strobilus is, whom I had ordered for me to wait here. Now I consider with myself: if he is giving his effort to me, it is unjust for me to be angry with him.

ibo intro, ubi de capite meo sunt comitia.—

I will go inside, where they are holding a vote on my life.—

700

IV.viii
STROBILVS Picis divitiis, qui aureos montes colunt,
ego solus supero. nam istos reges ceteros
memorare nolo, hominum mendicabula:
ego sum ille rex Philippus. o lepidum diem.

4.8
STROBILUS In the Pician riches, who till golden mountains,
I alone surpass them. For those other kings
I do not care to mention, men’s beggar-stalls:
I am that King Philip. O what a charming day.

nam ut dudum hinc abii, multo illo adveni prior

for when just now I went away from here, I arrived much prior to that one

705

multoque prius me conlocavi in arborem
indeque spectabam aurum ubi abstrudebat senex.
ubi ille abiit, ego me deorsum duco de arbore,
exfodio aulam auri plenam. inde ex eo loco
video recipere se senem; ille me non videt,

and much earlier I set myself in a tree;
and from there I was watching where the old man was stashing the gold.
when he went away, I climb down from the tree,
I dig up a pot full of gold. Then from that place
I see the old man making his way back; he does not see me,

710

nam ego declinavi paululum me extra viam.
attat, eccum ipsum. ibo ut hoc condam domum.—

for I have turned aside a little off the way.
Aha, there he is himself. I will go to conceal this at home.—

IV.ix
EVCLIO Perii interii occidi. quo curram? quo non curram?

4.9
EUCLIO I have perished, I have perished utterly, I have been slain. Where shall I run? Where shall I not run?

tene, tene. quem?
quis?

hold him, hold him. whom?
who?

nescio, nil video, caecus eo atque equidem quo eam aut ubi sim aut qui sim
nequeo cum animo certum investigare. obsecro vos ego, mi auxilio,

I know not, I see nothing, blind I go, and indeed whither I should go or where I am or who I am
I cannot with my mind investigate for certain. I beseech you, be for me a help,

715

oro obtestor, sitis et hominem demonstretis, quis eam abstulerit.
quid est? quid ridetis?

I beseech, I adjure, be my help and also show the man who has carried her off.
What is it? Why do you laugh?

novi omnes, scio fures esse hic complures,
qui vestitu et creta occultant sese atque sedent quasi sint frugi.
quid ais tu? tibi credere certum est, nam esse bonum ex voltu cognosco.
hem, nemo habet horum?

I know you all; I know there are several thieves here,
who with vesture and chalk conceal themselves and sit as if they were frugal.
what say you? it is certain to trust you, for I recognize from your countenance that you are good.
ahem, has none of these?

occidisti. dic igitur, quis habet? nescis?

You’ve killed me. So tell me, then—who has it? You don’t know?

720

heu me miserum, misere perii,
male perditus, pessime ornatus eo:
tantum gemiti et mali maestitiaeque
hic dies mi optulit, famem et pauperiem.
perditissimus ego sum omnium in terra;
nam quid mi opust vita, qui tantum auri
perdidi, quod concustodivi
sedulo? egomet me defraudavi
animumque meum geniumque meum;

Alas, wretched me, miserably I have perished,
badly undone, most badly accoutred I go:
so much of groaning and of ill and of sadness
this day has offered me—hunger and poverty.
I am the most ruined of all on earth;
for what need have I of life, I who so much gold
have lost, which I kept in custody sedulously?
I myself have defrauded myself
and my spirit and my genius;

725

nunc eo alii laetificantur
meo malo et damno. pati nequeo.
LYCONIDES Quinam homo hic ante aedis nostras eiulans conqueritur maerens?

now on this account others are gladdened
by my misfortune and damage. I cannot suffer it.
LYCONIDES What man, pray, is this here before our house, wailing, complaining, mourning?

atque hic quidem Euclio est, ut opinor. oppido ego interii: palamst res,
scit peperisse iam, ut ego opinor, filiam suam. nunc mi incertumst
abeam an maneam, an adeam an fugiam.

and this indeed is Euclio, as I suppose. I am utterly undone: the matter is manifest,
he knows now, as I suppose, that his daughter has brought forth. now it is uncertain to me
whether I should go away or remain, whether I should approach or flee.

quid agam edepol nescio.

By Pollux, I do not know what to do.

730

IV.x
EVCL. Quis homo hic loquitur? LYC. Ego sum miser. EVCL. Immo ego sum,
et misere perditus,
cui tanta mala maestitudoque optigit.

4.10
EVCL. What man is speaking here? LYC. I am, a miserable man. EVCL. Nay, I am,
and miserably undone,
on whom such great evils and sadness have befallen.

LYC. Animo bono es.
EVCL. Quo, obsecro, pacto esse possum? L. Quia istuc facinus, quod tuom
sollicitat animum, id ego feci et fateor. EVCL. Quid ego ex te audio?

LYC. Be of good cheer.
EVCL. How, I beg, can I be so? L. Because that deed which disquiets your mind, I did it and I confess it. EVCL. What do I hear from you?

LYC. Id quod verumst. E. Quid ego <de te> commerui, adulescens, mali,

LYC. That which is true. E. What evil have I merited <from you>, adolescent,

735

quam ob rem ita faceres meque meosque perditum ires liberos?
LYC. Deus impulsor mihi fuit, is me ad illam inlexit. EVCL. Quo modo?

for what reason would you do so and go to bring me and my children to perdition?
LYC. A god was my impeller; he lured me to that woman. EVCL. In what way?

LYC. Fateor peccavisse et me culpam commeritum scio;
id adeo te oratum advenio ut animo aequo ignoscas mihi.
EVCL. Cur id ausu's facere, ut id quod non tuom esset tangeres?

LYC. I confess I have sinned, and I know I have merited culpability;
for that very matter I come to you to beg that, with equanimity, you forgive me.
EVCL. Why did you dare to do that—touching what was not yours?

740

LYC. Quid vis fieri? factum est illud: fieri infectum non potest.
deos credo voluisse; nam ni vellent, non fieret, scio.

LYC. What do you want to be done? That thing is done: it cannot be made un-done.
I believe the gods have willed it; for if they did not will it, it would not be done, I know.

EVCL. At ego deos credo voluisse ut apud me te in nervo enicem.
LYC. Ne istuc dixis. EVCL. Quid tibi ergo meam me invito tactiost?

EVCL. But I believe the gods wished that, at my place, I should kill you in the stocks.
LYC. Do not say that. EVCL. What right, then, have you—when I am unwilling— to touch what is mine?

LYC. Quia vini vitio atque amoris feci. EVCL. Homo audacissime,

LYC. Because I did it by the vice of wine and of love. EVCL. Man, most audacious,

745

cum istacin te oratione huc ad me adire ausum, impudens!
nam si istuc ius est ut tu istuc excusare possies,
luci claro deripiamus aurum matronis palam,
post id si prehensi simus, excusemus ebrios
nos fecisse amoris causa. nimis vilest vinum atque amor,

that with that kind of oration you have dared to come here to me, shameless man!
for if that is right, that you can excuse that,
in bright daylight let us tear off gold from matrons openly,
after that, if we should be seized, let us excuse that, being drunken,
that we did it for the sake of love. wine and love are far too vile,

750

si ebrio atque amanti impune facere quod lubeat licet.
LYC. Quin tibi ultro supplicatum venio ob stultitiam meam.
EVCL. Non mi homines placent qui quando male fecerunt purigant.

if for a drunk and a lover it is permitted to do with impunity whatever he pleases.
LYC. Nay rather, I come to you unbidden to supplicate on account of my stupidity.
EVCL. Men do not please me who, when they have done ill, purge themselves.

tu illam scibas non tuam esse: non attactam oportuit.
LYC. Ergo quia sum tangere ausus, haud causificor quin eam

you knew that she was not yours: she ought not to have been touched.
LYC. Therefore, because I have dared to touch, I do not make excuses but that she

755

ego habeam potissimum. EVCL. Tun habeas me invito meam?
LYC. Haud te invito postulo; sed meam esse oportere arbitror.

I should have her above all. EVCL. Would you have what is mine against my will?
LYC. I do not ask it against your will; but I deem that she ought to be mine.

quin tu iam invenies, inquam, meam illam esse oportere, Euclio.
EVCL. Iam quidem hercle te ad praetorem rapiam et tibi scribam dicam,
nisi refers. LYC. Quid tibi ego referam?

why, you will presently find, I say, that that one ought to be mine, Euclio.
EVCL. Right now indeed, by Hercules, I’ll drag you to the praetor and call the scribe for you,
unless you give it back. LYC. What am I to give back to you?

EVCL. Quod surripuisti meum.

EVCL. What you surreptitiously stole from me.

760

LYC. Surripui ego tuom? unde? aut quid id est?

LYC. Did I filch yours? From where? Or what is it?

E. Ita te amabit Iuppiter,
ut tu nescis. LYC. Nisi quidem tu mihi quid quaeras dixeris.
EVCL. Aulam auri, inquam, te reposco, quam tu confessu's mihi
te abstulisse.

E. So may Jupiter love you,
as you do not know. LYC. Unless indeed you tell me what you are asking of me.
EVCL. The pot of gold, I say, I demand back from you, which you have confessed to me
that you carried off.

LYC. Neque edepol ego dixi neque feci. EVCL. Negas?
LYC. Pernego immo.

LYC. Neither, by Pollux, did I say it nor did I do it. EVCL. You deny it?
LYC. I utterly deny it, rather.

nam neque ego aurum neque istaec aula quae siet

for neither do I have the gold nor that pot, whatever it may be

765

scio nec novi. EVCL. Illam, ex Silvani luco quam abstuleras, cedo.
i, refer.

I do not know it nor do I recognize it. EUCL. That one, the one from Silvanus’s grove which you had carried off,
give it here.
go, take it back.

dimidiam tecum potius partem dividam.
tam etsi fur mihi es, molestus non ero. i vero, refer.

I would rather divide the half with you.
although you are a thief to me, I will not molest you. Go on then, bring it back.

LYC. Sanus tu non es qui furem me voces. ego te, Euclio,
de alia re rescivisse censui, quod ad me attinet;

LYC. You are not sane, you who call me a thief. I supposed that you, Euclio,
had found out about another matter, as far as it pertains to me;

770

~ magna est res quam ego tecum otiose, si otium est, cupio loqui.
EVCL. Dic bona fide: tu id aurum non surripuisti? LYC. Bona.

~ it is a great matter which I desire to speak with you about at leisure, if there is leisure.
EVCL. Say in good faith: did you not surreptitiously steal that gold? LYC. Good.

E. Neque <eum> scis qui abstulerit? L. Istuc quoque bona. E. Atque id si scies
qui abstulerit, mihi indicabis?

E. Nor do you know <him> who took it away? L. That too, in good faith. E. And if you find out
who took it away, will you indicate it to me?

LYC. Faciam. EVCL. Neque partem tibi
ab eo qui habet indipisces neque furem excipies? LYC. Ita.

LYC. I will do so. EVCL. And you will neither angle for a share for yourself
from the one who has it, nor receive the thief? LYC. Yes.

775

EVCL. Quid <si> fallis? LYC. Tum me faciat quod volt magnus Iuppiter.
EVCL. Sat habeo.

EVCL. What if you deceive me? LYC. Then let great Jupiter do to me what he wills.
EVCL. I am satisfied.

age nunc loquere quid vis. LYC. Si me novisti minus,
genere quo sim gnatus: hic mihi est Megadorus avonculus,
meus pater fuit Antimachus, ego vocor Lyconides,
mater est Eunomia. EVCL. Novi genus.

Come now, speak what you wish. LYC. If you know me the less,
of what stock I am born: Megadorus is my uncle,
my father was Antimachus, I am called Lyconides,
my mother is Eunomia. EVCL. I know the lineage.

nunc quid vis? id volo

now what do you wish? that I wish

780

noscere. LYC. Filiam ex te tu habes. EVCL. Immo eccillam domi.

to get to know. LYC. You have a daughter of your own. EVCL. Nay rather, there she is at home.

LYC. Eam tu despondisti, opinor, meo avonculo. EVCL. Omnem rem tenes.
LYC. Is me nunc renuntiare repudium iussit tibi.

LYC. You betrothed her, I suppose, to my uncle. EVCL. You grasp the whole affair.
LYC. He has now ordered me to announce a repudiation to you.

EVCL. Repudium rebus paratis, exornatis nuptiis?
ut illum di immortales omnes deaeque quantum est perduint,

EVCL. Repudiation, with the preparations ready, the nuptials adorned?
May all the immortal gods and all the goddesses, as many as there are, destroy him,

785

quem propter hodie auri tantum perdidi infelix, miser.
LYC. Bono animo es, bene dice. nunc quae res tibi et gnatae tuae
bene feliciterque vortat—ita di faxint, inquito.

because of whom today I, unlucky, wretched, have lost so much gold.
LYC. Be of good spirit, speak well. Now may whatever matter turn well and felicitously for you and your
daughter—so may the gods do; say so.

EVCL. Ita di faciant. LYC. Et mihi ita di faciant. audi nunciam.

EVCL. So may the gods do. LYC. And so may the gods do for me. Hear now.

qui homo culpam admisit in se, nullust tam parvi preti,

the man who has admitted culpability upon himself, there is no one of so small a price,

790

quom pudeat, quin purget sese. nunc te obtestor, Euclio,
ut si quid ego erga te imprudens peccavi aut gnatam tuam,
ut mi ignoscas eamque uxorem mihi des, ut leges iubent.
ego me iniuriam fecisse filiae fateor tuae,
Cereris vigiliis, per vinum atque impulsu adulescentiae.

when one feels shame, why not purge himself? now I adjure you, Euclio,
that if I, unwitting, have sinned against you or your daughter,
that you forgive me and give her to me as wife, as the laws bid.
I confess that I have done an injury to your daughter,
at the vigils of Ceres, through wine and the impulse of adolescence.

795

EVCL. Ei mihi, quod ego facinus ex te audio? LYC. Cur eiulas,
quem ego avom feci iam ut esses filiai nuptiis?
nam tua gnata peperit, decumo mense post: numerum cape;
ea re repudium remisit avonculus causa mea.

EVCL. Alas for me, what deed do I hear from you? LYC. Why do you wail,
you whom I have already made a grandfather, so that you might be at your daughter’s nuptials?
for your girl has given birth, in the tenth month thereafter: take the count;
for that reason the uncle sent back the repudiation, on my account.

i intro, exquaere, sitne ita ut ego praedico. EVCL. Perii oppido,

Go inside, inquire whether it is so as I predict. EVCL. I am utterly ruined,

800

ita mihi ad malum malae res plurimae se adglutinant.
ibo intro, ut quid huius verum sit sciam.— LYC. Iam te sequor.
haec propemodum iam esse in vado salutis res videtur.

thus to my harm very many bad things agglutinate themselves to me.
I will go inside, so that I may know what the truth of this is.— LYC. Now I follow you.
this affair seems now almost to be in the ford of safety.

nunc servom esse ubi dicam meum Strobilum non reperio;
nisi etiam hic opperiar tamen paulisper; postea intro

now I cannot find where I should say my slave Strobilus is;
unless I also wait here, however, for a little while; afterward I will go inside

805

hunc subsequar. nunc interim spatium ei dabo exquirendi
meum factum ex gnatae pedisequa nutrice anu: ea rem novit.

I will follow him. Now, in the interim, I will give him time for inquiring
about my deed from my daughter’s handmaid, the nurse, the old woman: she knows the matter.

ACTVS V

ACT 5

V.i
STROBILVS Di immortales, quibus et quantis me donatis gaudiis.
quadrilibrem aulam auro onustam habeo. quis me est ditior?

5.1
STROBILVS Immortal gods, with what and how great joys you endow me!
I have a four-pound pot laden with gold. Who is richer than I?

quis me Athenis nunc magis quisquam est homo cui di sint propitii?

Is there any man in Athens now to whom the gods are more propitious than to me?

810

L. Certo enim ego vocem hic loquentis modo mi audire visus sum. S. Hem,
erumne ego aspicio meum? L. Videon ego hunc servom meum?

L. For surely I seemed just now to hear here the voice of someone speaking to me. S. Ha,
am I beholding my master? L. Do I see this slave of mine?

S. Ipsus est. L. Haud alius est. S. Congrediar.

S. It is he himself. L. It is no other. S. I will go meet him.

L. Contollam gradum.
credo ego illum, ut iussi, eampse anum adiisse, huius nutricem virginis. 814-815
STROB. Quin ego illi me invenisse dico hanc praedam [atque eloquar,]

L. I’ll pick up my step.
I believe that he, as I ordered, has gone to that selfsame old woman, the nurse of this virgin. 814-815
STROB. Why, I’ll tell him that I have found this booty [and I will declare it,]

816

igitur orabo ut manu me emittat. ibo atque eloquar.
Repperi—LYC. Quid repperisti?

Therefore I will beg that he manumit me. I will go and declare.
I have found—LYC. What have you found?

STROB. Non quod pueri clamitant
in faba se repperisse. LYC. Iamne autem, ut soles? deludis.

STROB. Not what the boys shout—
that they have found it in the bean. LYC. Already then, as you’re wont? you’re making sport of me.

S. Ere, mane, eloquar iam, ausculta. L. Age ergo loquere. S. Repperi hodie,

S. Master, wait, I will speak now, listen. L. Come then, speak. S. I have discovered today,

820

ere, divitias nimias. L. Vbinam? S. Quadrilibrem, inquam,
aulam auri plenam.

master, excessive riches. L. Where? S. A four-pounder, I say,
a pot full of gold.

LYC. Quod ego facinus audio ex te? Euclioni hic seni subripuit.
ubi id est aurum? STROB. In arca apud me. nunc volo me emitti manu.

LYC. What crime do I hear from you? He surreptitiously stole from Euclio, this old man here.
where is that gold? STROB. In a chest in my custody. now I want to be freed by the hand.

LYC. Egone te emittam manu,
scelerum cumulatissume?

LYC. I manumit you,
you most crammed with crimes?

825

STROB. Abi, ere, scio quam rem geras.
lepide hercle animum tuom temptavi. iam ut eriperes apparabas:
quid faceres, si repperissem?

STROB. Be off, master, I know what business you are carrying on.
cleverly, by Hercules, I tested your mind. already you were preparing to snatch it away:
what would you have done, if I had found it?

LYC. Non potes probasse nugas.
i, redde aurum. STROB. Reddam ego aurum?

LYC. You cannot have proved trifles.
go, render back the gold. STROB. Shall I render back the gold?

LYC. Redde, inquam, ut huic
reddatur. STROB. Vnde?
LYC. Quod modo fassu's esse in arca.

LYC. Return it, I say, so that to this man
it may be returned. STROB. From where?
LYC. What you just admitted is in the chest.

S. Soleo hercle ego garrire nugas.

S. I am accustomed, by Hercules,
to chatter trifles.

830

LYC. * ** STROB. Ita loquor. LYC. At scin quo modo?
* ** STROB. Vel hercle enica,
numquam hinc feres a me

LYC. * ** STROB. I speak so. LYC. But do you know how?
* ** STROB. By Hercules, even kill me,
you will never carry it away from me here

* * *

FRAGMENTA

FRAGMENTS

Non. 538M
pro illis corcotis, strophiis, sumptu uxorio

Non. 538M
for those crocotas, strophia, at uxorial expense

835

Gel. N.A. 6.9.6
ut admemordit hominem

Gel. N.A. 6.9.6
how he nipped the man

Non. 225M
(EVCL.) ego ecfodiebam in die denos scrobes.

Non. 225M
(EVCL.) I was excavating ten pits in a day.

Non. 98M
(EVCL.) nec noctu nec diu
quietus umquam <servabam> eam: nunc dormiam.

Non. 98M
(EVCL.) neither by night nor by day
was I ever quiet; I used to guard it: now I shall sleep.

Non. 120M
qui mi holera cruda ponunt, hallec adduint.

Non. 120M
let those who set raw vegetables for me add hallec (fish-sauce).