Plautus: Cistellaria

SELENIVM MERETRIX
GYMNASIVM MERETRIX
LENA
AVXILIVM DEVS
ALCESIMARCHVS ADVLESCENS
SERVVS
SENEX
LAMPADIO SERVVS
MELAENIS LENA
PHANOSTRATA MATRONA
HALISCA ANCILLA
DEMIPHO SENEX

SELENIUM COURTESAN
GYMNASIUM COURTESAN
PROCURESS
AUXILIUM GOD
ALCESIMARCHUS YOUNG MAN
SLAVE
OLD MAN
LAMPADIO SLAVE
MELAENIS PROCURESS
PHANOSTRATA MATRON
HALISCA HANDMAID
DEMIPHO OLD MAN

ARGVMENTVM

ARGUMENT

Comprimit adulescens Lemnius Sicyoniam,
Is redit in patriam, et gnatam generat nuptiis.
Sicyonia aeque parit puellam. hanc servolus
Tollit atque exponit, et ex insidiis aucupat.

A Lemnian adolescent has intercourse with a Sicyonian woman,
He returns to his fatherland, and begets a daughter in nuptials.
The Sicyonian likewise bears a girl. This one a little slave
Lifts up and exposes, and from ambush lies in wait.

Eam sublatam meretrix alli detulit.
Lemno post rediens ducit quam compresserat
Lemnique natam spondet adulescentulo
Amore capto illius proiecticiae.
Requirens servos reperit quam proiecerat.

Her, taken up, a prostitute delivered to someone else.
Returning afterward from Lemnos, he leads in marriage the one whom he had compressed
and he betroths his daughter born on Lemnos to a young lad
seized by love of that cast-off girl.
Searching for the slaves, he finds the one whom he had cast forth.

Itaque lege et rite civem cognitam
Alcesimarchus, ut erat nactus, possidet.

And so, by law and duly, recognized as a citizen,
Alcesimarchus, as he had gotten her, possesses her.

ACTVS 1

ACT 1

I.i
SELENIVM Cum ego antehac te amavi et mi amicam esse crevi,
mea Gymnasium, et matrem tuam, tum id mihi hodie
aperuistis, tu atque haec: soror si mea esses,
qui magis potueritis mihi honorem ire habitum,
nescio, nisi, ut meus est animus, fieri non posse arbitror; 5
ita omnibus relictis rebus mihi frequentem operam dedistis.
eo ego vos amo et eo a me magnam iniistis gratiam.
GYMNASIVM Pol isto quidem nos pretio facile est frequentare
tibi utilisque habere:
ita in prandio nos lepide ac nitide 10
accepisti apud te, ut semper meminerimus.

1.1
SELENIVM Since I heretofore loved you and believed you to be my girlfriend,
my Gymnasium, and your mother, then today you have laid this open to me,
you and this lady: if you were my sister, how could you have been able to go to have honor for me more,
I do not know, unless—as my spirit is—I judge it cannot be done; 5
so, all other affairs left aside, you have given me frequent service.
For that I love you, and for that you have entered into great favor with me.
GYMNASIVM By Pollux, indeed at that price it is easy for us to frequent you
and to be held useful to you:
so charmingly and neatly at luncheon you entertained us at your place that we shall always remember. 10

SEL. Lubenti edepol animo factum et fiet a me,
quae vos arbitrabor velle, ea ut expetessam.
LENA Quod ille dixit, qui secundo vento vectus est tranquillo mari,
ventum gaudeo—ecastor ad ted, ita hodie hic acceptae sumus 15
suavibus modis,
nec nisi disciplina apud te fuit quicquam ibi quin mihi placeret.
SEL. Quid ita, amabo?

SEL. By Pollux, with a willing spirit it has been done and shall be done by me, that whatever I consider you to wish, I may procure.
LENA What that man says who, borne with a following wind on a tranquil sea, rejoices at the wind—I, by Castor, say it of you; so today here we have been received 15
in suave ways,
and there was nothing there at your place but what, for its discipline, pleased me.
SEL. Why so, please?

LENA. Raro nimium dabat quod biberem,
id merum infuscabat.
GYMN. Amabo, hicine istud decet? LENA. Iusque fasque est: 19-20
nemo alienus hic est.

LENA. Too rarely did he give me something to drink,
he was adulterating the unmixed wine.
GYMN. Please, is that fitting here? LENA. It is by right and by divine right: 19-20
no one here is a stranger.

SEL. Merito vostro amo vos, 21
quia me colitis et magni facitis. LENA. Decet pol, mea Selenium,
hunc esse ordinem benevolentis inter se
beneque amicitia utier,
ubi istas videas summo genere natas, summatis matronas, 25
ut amicitiam colunt atque ut eam iunctam bene habent inter se.
si idem istud nos faciamus, si idem imitemur, ita tamen vix vivimus
cum invidia summa. suarum opum nos volunt esse indigentes.

SEL. By your merit I love you, 21
because you cultivate me and hold me in great esteem. LENA. By Pollux, my Selenium,
it befits that this be the order of the benevolent among themselves,
and to use friendship well,
when you see those born of the highest rank, the most exalted matrons, 25
how they cultivate friendship and how they keep it well joined among themselves.
If we should do that same, if we should imitate the same, even so we scarcely live under the utmost envy.
They want us to be indigent of their own resources.

nostra copia nil volunt nos potesse        29-30
suique omnium rerum nos indigere,        31
ut sibi simus supplices.
eas si adeas, abitum quam aditum malis, ita nostro ordini
palam blandiuntur, clam, si occasio usquam est,
aquam frigidam subdole suffundunt.        35
viris cum suis praedicant nos solere,
suas paelices esse aiunt, eunt depressum.
quia nos libertinae sumus, et ego et tua mater, ambae
meretrices fuimus: illa te, ego hanc mihi educavi
ex patribus conventiciis.

they want our resources to be able nothing for us,        29-30
and that we be indigent of them for all things,        31
so that we be their suppliants.
if you go to them, you would prefer departure to approach; thus to our order
they openly flatter, secretly, if there is any occasion anywhere,
they slyly pour cold water.         35
with their husbands they proclaim that we are wont
to be their mistresses, they go to press us down.
because we are freedwomen, both I and your mother, we both
were courtesans: she brought you up, I brought this girl up for myself,
from fathers picked up at a gathering.

neque ego hanc superbiai 40
causa pepuli ad meretricium quaestum, nisi ut ne esurirem.
SEL. At satius fuerat eam viro dare nuptum potius. LENA. Heia,
haec quidem ecastor cottidie viro nubit, nupsitque hodie,
nubet mox noctu: numquam ego hanc viduam cubare sivi.

nor did I drive her, for the cause of pride, 40
to the meretricious trade for gain, except so that I might not go hungry.
SEL. But it would have been better to give her to a husband in marriage instead. LENA. Hey,
indeed, by Castor, this girl marries a man every day, and she has married today,
she will marry soon at night: never have I allowed her to lie widowed.

nam si haec non nubat, lugubri fame familia pereat. 45
GYMN. Necesse est, quo tu me modo voles esse, ita esse, mater.
LENA. Ecastor haud me paenitet, si ut dicis ita futura es.
nam si quidem ita eris ut volo, numquam senecta fies
semperque istam quam nunc habes aetatulam optinebis,
multisque damno et mihi lucro sine meo saepe eris sumptu. 50
GYMN. Di faxint. LENA. Sine opera tua di horunc nil facere possunt.

for if she does not wed, let the household perish with funereal famine. 45
GYMN. It is necessary that, in whatever manner you will want me to be, so to be, mother.
LENA. By Castor, I am not at all regretful, if you will be as you say.
for if indeed you will be as I wish, you will never become aged,
and you will always keep that little age which you now have,
and to many for damage and to me for lucre, you will often be so without my expense. 50
GYMN. May the gods grant it. LENA. Without your effort the gods of these can do nothing are able.

GYMN. Equidem hercle addam operam sedulo; sed tu aufer istaec verba.
meus oculus, mea Selenium, numquam ego te tristiorem
vidi esse. quid, cedo, te obsecro tam abhorret hilaritudo?

GYMN. Indeed, by Hercules, I will apply effort diligently; but you take away those words.
my eye, my Selenium, never have I seen you more sorrowful.
What, come now, I beseech you, why does hilarity so abhor you?

neque munda adaeque es, ut soles (hoc sis vide, ut petivit 55
suspiritum alte) et pallida es. eloquere utrumque nobis,
et quid tibi est et quid velis nostram operam, ut nos sciamus.
noli, obsecro, lacrumis tuis mi exercitum imperare.
SEL. Med excrucio, mea Gymnasium: male mihi est, male maceror;
doleo ab animo, doleo ab oculis, doleo ab aegritudine. 60
quid dicam, nisi stultitia mea me in maerorem rapi?

nor are you as neat equally as you are wont (do see this, how she sought 55
a deep sigh), and you are pale. speak out both to us,
and what it is with you and what you want of our help, so that we may know.
do not, I beseech, with your tears command an army upon me.
SEL. I am excruciated, my Gymnasium: it goes ill with me, I am badly wasted;
I ache from my soul, I ache from my eyes, I ache from sickness. 60
what am I to say, except that by my folly I am being snatched into mourning?

GYMN. Indidem unde oritur facito ut facias stultitiam sepelibilem.
SEL. Quid faciam? GYMN. In latebras abscondas pectore penitissimo.

GYMN. From the very place where it arises, see to it that you make your folly buryable.
SEL. What am I to do? GYMN. Hide it away in the inmost recesses of your breast.

tuam stultitiam sola facito ut scias sine aliis arbitris.
SEL. At mihi cordolium est. GYMN. Quid?

see to it that you alone know your stupidity, without other arbiters.
SEL. But I have heartache. GYMN. What?

id unde est tibi cor? 65
commemora obsecro;
quod neque ego habeo neque quisquam alia mulier, ut perhibent viri.
SEL. Siquid est quod doleat, dolet; si autem non est—tamen hoc hic dolet.
GYMN. Amat haec mulier.

that—whence have you a heart? 65
tell it over, I beseech you;
since neither I have it nor any other woman, as men aver. SEL. If there is anything that hurts, it hurts; but if there is not—still this here hurts. GYMN. This woman is in love.

SEL. Eho an amare occipere amarum est, obsecro?
GYMN. Namque ecastor Amor et melle et felle est fecundissimus;
gustui dat dulce, amarum ad satietatem usque oggerit. 70
SEL. Ad istam faciem est morbus, qui me, mea Gymnasium, macerat.
GYMN. Perfidiosus est Amor.

SEL. Hey, is beginning to love bitter, I beseech?
GYMN. For indeed, by Castor, Love is most fecund both with honey and with gall;
to the palate it gives the sweet, it heaps up the bitter even unto satiety. 70
SEL. After that fashion it is a malady which, my Gymnasium, macerates me.
GYMN. Perfidious is Love.

SEL. Ergo in me peculatum facit.
GYMN. Bono animo es, erit isti morbo melius. SEL. Confidam fore,
si medicus veniat qui huic morbo facere medicinam potest.

SEL. Therefore he commits peculation against me.
GYMN. Be of good spirit, that disease will be better. SEL. I will trust that it will be,
if a physician should come who can make medicine for this disease.

GYMN. Veniet. SEL. Spissum istuc amanti est verbum, veniet, nisi venit. 75
sed ego mea culpa et stultitia peius misera maceror,
quom ego illum unum mi exoptavi, quicum aetatem degerem.
LENA. Matronae magis conducibilest istuc, mea Selenium,
unum amare et cum eo aetatem exigere quoi nuptast semel.

GYMN. He will come. SEL. That is a sluggish word for a lover, “he will come,” unless he comes. 75
But by my own fault and foolishness I am worn away the worse, poor me,
since I have desired that one alone for myself, with whom I might spend my lifetime. LENA. That is more conducive for a matron, my Selenium,
to love one man and to pass a lifetime with him to whom she has once been married.

verum enim meretrix fortunati est oppidi simillima: 80
non potest suam rem obtinere sola sine multis viris.
SEL. Hoc volo agatis. qua accersitae causa ad me estis, eloquar.

but indeed a courtesan is most similar to a fortunate town: 80
she cannot maintain her business by herself without many men.
SEL. This I want you to do. I will declare for what cause you have been summoned to me.

nam mea mater, quia ego nolo me meretricem dicier,
obsecutast de ea re, gessit morem morigerae mihi,
ut me, quem ego amarem graviter, sineret cum eo vivere. 85
LENA. Stulte ecastor fecit. sed tu enumquam cum quiquam viro
consuevisti? SEL. Nisi quidem cum Alcesimarcho, nemine,
neque pudicitiam meam mi alius quisquam imminuit.

for my mother, because I do not wish to be called a meretrix,
has complied in that matter, has shown herself compliant to me,
to allow me to live with him whom I loved deeply. 85
LENA. Foolishly, by Castor, she did. but have you ever been with any man?
become accustomed? SEL. Except indeed with Alcesimarchus, with no one,
nor has any other lessened my pudicity.

LENA. Obsecro,
quo is homo insinuavit pacto se ad te? SEL. Per Dionysia
mater pompam me spectatum duxit. dum redeo domum, 90
conspicillo consecutust clanculum me usque ad fores.
inde in amicitiam insinuavit cum matre et mecum simul
blanditiis, muneribus, donis.

LENA. I beg,
by what manner did that man insinuate himself to you? SEL. Through the Dionysia
mother led me to view the pomp. While I was returning home, 90
by peering he followed me secretly all the way to the doors.
From there he insinuated himself into friendship with my mother and with me as well
with blandishments, munificences, gifts.

LENA. Mihi istunc vellem hominem dari,
ut ego illum vorsarem! SEL. Quid opust verbis? consuetudine
coepi amare contra ego illum, et ille me. LENA. O mea Selenium, 95
adsimulare amare oportet.

LENA. I’d like that fellow to be
given to me,
so I could work him over! SEL. What need is there of words? By familiarity
I began to love him in return—I him, and he me. LENA. O my Selenium, 95
you must simulate love.

nam si ames, extempulo
melius illi multo, quem ames, consulas quam rei tuae.
SEL. At ille conceptis iuravit verbis apud matrem meam,
me uxorem ducturum esse: ei nunc alia ducendast domum,
sua cognata Lemniensis, quae habitat hic in proxumo. 100
nam eum pater eius subegit. nunc mea mater iratast mihi,
quia non redierim domum ad se, postquam hanc rem resciverim,
eum uxorem ducturum esse aliam.

for if you love, straightway
you consult much better for him whom you love than for your own affairs. SEL. But he swore with formal words before my mother
that he would take me as wife: now another must be led home for him,
his Lemnian kinswoman, who lives here in the very next neighborhood. 100
for his father has constrained him. Now my mother is angry with me,
because I did not return home to her, after I found out this matter,
that he is going to take another as wife.

LENA. Nihil amori iniuriumst.
SEL. Nunc te amabo ut hanc hic <unum> triduom hoc solum sinas
esse et hic servare apud me. nam ad matrem accersita sum. 105
LENA. Quamquam istud mihi erit molestum triduom, et damnum dabis,
faciam. SEL. Facis benigne et amice.

PROCURESS. Nothing is injurious to love.
SELENIUM. Now I’ll love you for this: allow her to be here just this one three-day period, and to be kept here with me. For I have been summoned to my mother. 105
PROCURESS. Although that three-day period will be troublesome to me, and you will give me loss, I will do it. SELENIUM. You act kindly and in a friendly way.

sed tu, Gymnasium mea,
si me absente Alcesimarchus veniet, nolito acriter
eum inclamare (utut erga me est meritus, mihi cordi est tamen),
sed, amabo, tranquille: ne quid, quod illi doleat, dixeris. 110
accipias clavis: si quid opus tibi erit prompto, promito.
ego volo ire. GYMN. Vt mi excivisti lacrimas.

but you, my Gymnasium,
if Alcesimarchus comes while I am absent, do not sharply
shout at him (however he has merited toward me, he is dear to my heart nonetheless),
but, please, tranquilly: do not say anything that would pain him. 110
take the keys: if you need anything from the store-room, I will bring it out.
I want to go. GYMN. How you have called forth tears for me.

SEL. Gymnasium mea,
bene vale. GYMN. Cura te, amabo. sicine immunda, obsecro,
ibis?

SEL. Gymnasium my,
fare well. GYMN. Care for yourself, please. So then, unclean, I beseech, will you go?

SEL. Immundas fortunas aequom est squalorem sequi.
GYMN. Amiculum hoc sustolle saltem. SEL. Sine trahi, cum egomet trahor. 115
GYMN. Quando ita tibi lubet, vale atque salve.

SEL. It is just that squalor follow unclean fortunes.
GYMN. At least take up this cloak. SEL. Let it be dragged, since I myself am dragged. 115
GYMN. Since it so pleases you, farewell and hail.

SEL. Si possim, velim.
GYMN. Numquid me vis, mater, intro quin eam? ecastor mihi
visa amare.

SEL. If I can, I would like to.
GYMN. Do you want anything of me, mother, before I go inside? by Castor, she seemed to me to love.

LENA. Istoc ergo auris graviter obtundo tuas,
ne quem ames. abi intro. GYMN. Numquid me vis?

THE MADAM. With this, therefore, I heavily batter your ears,
lest you love anyone. Go inside. GYMN. Do you want me for anything?

LENA. Vt valeas. GYMN. Vale.

LENA. Be well. GYMN. Farewell.

I.ii
LENA. Idem mihi magnae quod parti est vitium mulierum 120
quae hunc quaestum facimus: quae ubi saburratae sumus,
largiloquae extemplo sumus, plus loquimur quam sat est.
nam ego illanc olim, quae hinc flens abiit, parvolam
puellam proiectam ex angiportu sustuli.
[adulescens quidam hic est adprime nobilis 125
quin ego nunc quia sum onusta mea ex sententia
quiaque adeo me complevi flore Liberi,
magis libera uti lingua conlibitum est mihi,
tacere nequeo misera quod tacito usus est.

1.2
LENA. The same fault is mine which is to a great part of the women 120
who practice this trade: whenever we are ballasted,
we are at once loquacious, we speak more than is enough.
For I once, that girl who went away from here weeping, a tiny
little girl thrown out from a back alley, I lifted up.
[A certain young man here is eminently noble 125
nay now, because I am laden to my mind’s content,
and because I have so filled myself with the flower of Liber,
it has pleased me to use a more free tongue,
I, poor woman, cannot keep silent about what it is of use to keep silent.

Sicyone, summo genere; ei vivit pater. 130
is amore misere hanc deperit mulierculam,
quae hinc modo flens abiit. contra amore eum haec deperit.]
eam meae ego amicae dono huic meretrici dedi,
quae saepe mecum mentionem fecerat,
puerum aut puellam alicunde ut reperirem sibi, 135
recens natum, eapse quod sibi supponeret.
ubi mihi potestas primum evenit, ilico
feci eius ei quod me oravit copiam.

From Sicyon, of the highest lineage; his father is alive for him. 130
He miserably perishes with love for this little woman,
who just now went away from here weeping. In turn, with love this one pines for him.]
I gave her as a gift to my friend, this meretrix (courtesan),
who had often made mention with me,
that I should find for her a boy or a girl from somewhere, 135
recently born, that she herself might substitute as her own.
When first the opportunity befell me, straightway
I furnished her with a supply of that which she begged of me.

postquam eam puellam a me accepit, ilico
eandem puellam peperit quam a me acceperat, 140
sine obstetricis opera et sine doloribus,
item ut aliae pariunt, quae malum quaerunt sibi.
nam amatorem aibat esse peregrinum sibi
suppositionemque eius facere gratia.
id duae nos solae scimus: ego quae illi dedi 145
et illa quae a me accepit, praeter vos quidem.

after she received that girl from me, immediately
she bore the same girl whom she had received from me, 140
without obstetric assistance and without pains,
just as others give birth, who seek harm for themselves.
for she said her lover was a foreigner to her,
and that she was doing the supposition of it for his sake.
that we two alone know: I who gave it to her, 145
and she who received it from me—apart from you, to be sure.

haec sic res gesta est. si quid usus venerit,
meminisse ego hanc rem vos volo. ego abeo domum.

Thus the matter was conducted. If any need should arise,
I want you to remember this matter. I am going home.

I.iii
AVXILIVM Vtrumque haec, et multiloqua et multibiba, est anus.
satin vix reliquit deo quod loqueretur loci, 150
ita properavit de puellae proloqui
suppositione. quod si tacuisset, tamen
ego eram dicturus, deus, qui poteram planius.

1.3
HELP This woman is both, both multiloquous and bibulous, an old crone.
has she hardly left the god any place to speak, 150
so hastily did she speak out about the girl’s supposition;
but if she had kept silent, nevertheless I was going to say it, I, a god, who could do so more plainly.

nam mihi Auxilio est nomen. nunc operam date,
ut ego argumentum hoc vobis plane perputem. 155
fuere Sicyoni iam diu Dionysia.
mercator venit huc ad ludos Lemnius,
isque hic compressit virginem, adulescentulus,
<vi>, vinulentus multa nocte in via.

for my name is Auxilium. now give attention,
that I may clearly reckon through this plot for you. 155
the Dionysia had been for some time at Sicyon.
a Lemnian merchant came here to the games,
and here he overpowered a maiden, a rather young man,
<by force>, wine-besotted, late at night, in the street.

is ubi malam rem scit se meruisse, ilico 160
pedibus perfugium peperit, in Lemnum aufugit,
ubi habitabat tum. illa quam compresserat
decumo post mense exacto hic peperit filiam.
quoniam reum eius facti nescit qui siet,
paternum servom sui participat consili, 165
dat eam puellam ei servo exponendam ad necem.

he, when he knew he had earned an evil affair, immediately 160
produced a refuge with his feet, fled to Lemnos,
where he was living then. the girl whom he had compressed
after the tenth month completed bore here a daughter.
since she does not know who is the culprit of that deed,
she makes her father’s slave a participant of her counsel, 165
she gives that girl to that slave to be exposed to death.

is eam proiecit. haec puellam sustulit.
ille clam observavit servos <qui eam proiecerat>
quo aut quas in aedis haec puellam deferat.

He threw her out. This woman took up the girl.
He secretly observed the slave <who had thrown her out>
to whom or into what house this woman would carry the girl.

ut eampse vos audistis confiterier,        170
dat eam puellam meretrici Melaenidi,
eaque educavit eam sibi pro filia
bene ac pudice. tum illic autem Lemnius
propinquam uxorem duxit, cognatam suam.
ea diem suom obiit, facta morigera est viro.    175
post<quam> ille uxori iusta fecit, ilico
huc commigravit; duxit uxorem hic sibi
eandem quam olim virginem hic compresserat,
et eam cognoscit esse, quam compresserat;
illa illi dicit, eius se ex iniuria        180
peperisse gnatam atque eam se servo ilico
dedisse exponendam.

as you yourselves have heard her confess,        170
he gives that girl to the courtesan Melaenis,
and she brought her up for herself as a daughter,
well and modestly. Then that Lemnian there, however,
took a kinswoman as his wife, a cognate of his. She met her day, became compliant to her husband.    175
After he performed the just rites for his wife, immediately
he moved here; he took a wife here for himself,
the same woman whom once, a maiden, he had forced here,
and he recognizes that she is the one whom he had forced;
she tells him that from his injury against her        180
she had borne a daughter, and that she had at once given her to a slave
to be exposed.

ille extemplo servolum
iubet illum eundem persequi, si qua queat
reperire quae sustulerit. ei rei nunc suam
operam usque assiduo servos dat, si possiet 185
meretricem illam invenire, quam olim tollere,
cum ipse exponebat, ex insidiis viderat.
nunc quod relicuom restat volo persolvere,
ut expungatur nomen, ne quid debeam.

he immediately orders the little slave
to pursue that same fellow, if in any way he can
find the woman who had lifted her. For this matter now the slave
assiduously gives his effort continually, if he might be able 185
to find that courtesan, whom once, lifting her up,
when he himself was exposing her, he had seen from ambush. Now what residue remains I wish to pay in full,
so that the account may be expunged, that I may owe nothing.

adulescens hic est Sicyoni, ei vivit pater; 190
is amore proiecticiam illam deperit
quae dudum flens hinc abiit ad matrem suam,
et illa hunc contra, qui est amor suavissimus.
ut sunt humana, nihil est perpetuom datum.
pater adulescenti dare volt uxorem; hoc ubi 195
mater rescivit, iussit accersi eam domum.

Here is an adolescent in Sicyon, his father is alive for him; 190
he is dying of love for that foundling
who a moment ago, weeping, went away from here to her mother,
and she in turn for him, which is the sweetest love.
As human affairs are, nothing is granted as perpetual.
The father wishes to give a wife to the adolescent; when this 195
the mother learned, she ordered that she be summoned home.

haec sic res gesta est. bene valete et vincite
virtute vera, quod fecistis antidhac;
servate vostros socios, veteres et novos,
augete auxilia vostra iustis legibus, 200
perdite perduelles, parite laudem et lauream,
ut vobis victi Poeni poenas sufferant.

thus the affair has been conducted. Fare well and conquer
by true virtue, as you have done heretofore;
preserve your allies, old and new,
increase your auxiliaries by just laws, 200
destroy public enemies, win praise and laurel,
so that the defeated Poeni may suffer penalties to you.

ACTVS II

ACT 2

II.i
ALCESIMARCHVS Credo ego Amorem primum apud homines carnificinam commentum.
hanc ego de me coniecturam domi facio, ni foris quaeram,
qui omnes homines supero [atque] antideo cruciabilitatibus animi.       205
iactor [crucior] agitor stimulor, versor
in amoris rota, miser exanimor,
feror differor distrahor diripior,
ita nubilam mentem animi habeo.    209-210
ubi sum, ibi non sum, ubi non sum, ibist animus,    211
ita mi omnia sunt ingenia;
quod lubet, non lubet iam id continuo,
ita me Amor lassum animi ludificat,    214-215
fugat, agit, appetit, raptat, retinet,    216
lactat, largitur: quod dat non dat; deludit:
modo quod suasit, <id> dissuadet,
quod dissuasit, id ostentat.    219-220
maritumis moribus mecum experitur    221
ita meum frangit amantem animum;
neque, nisi quia miser non eo pessum,
mihi ulla abest perdito permities.
ita pater apud villam detinuit        225
me hos dies sex ruri continuos,
neque licitum interea est meam amicam visere ***
estne hoc miserum memoratu?

II.i
ALCESIMARCHVS I believe that Love was the first among men to contrive the executioner’s trade.
This conjecture about myself I make at home, without needing to seek it abroad,
since I surpass [and] outdo all men in the cruciabilities of the soul.       205
I am tossed [I am tortured], driven, goaded, I turn about
on Love’s wheel; wretched, I am out of breath;
I am borne along, scattered, torn apart, snatched to pieces;
thus I have a clouded mind of spirit.    209-210
Where I am, there I am not; where I am not, there is my mind;    211
so all my dispositions are.
What pleases me, straightway that no longer pleases me;
thus Love makes a plaything of me, weary in spirit;    214-215
he puts to flight, drives, seeks, snatches, holds back;    216
he cozens, he lavishes; what he gives he does not give; he deludes;
just now what he persuaded, <it> he dissuades;
what he dissuaded, that he displays.    219-220
With maritime manners he deals with me,    221
thus he breaks my loving spirit;
nor, save that because I am wretched I do not go to utter ruin,
is any destruction lacking to me, a lost man.
So my father has kept me detained at the villa        225
these six days in a row in the countryside,
and in the meantime it has not been permitted to visit my beloved ***
is this pitiable to relate?

*** FRAGMENTA Gloss. Plaut.
nudiussextus 230

*** FRAGMENTS Gloss. Plautus.
six days ago 230

Gel. N.A. 6.7.3
(ALC.) Potine tu homo facinus facere strenuom? (SERVVS) Aliorum affatim est
qui faciant.

Gel. N.A. 6.7.3
(ALC.) Can you, man, do a strenuous deed? (SERVVS) There are plenty of others to do it.

sane ego me nolo fortem perhiberi virum.
*** 232a
SERVVS. Sed quid istuc? ALC. Mala multa dici mihi volo.

indeed I do not want to be considered a brave man.
*** 232a
SLAVE. But what is that? ALC. I want many bad things to be said to me.

SERV. Qua gratia?
ALC. Quia vivo. SERV. Facile id quidem edepol possum, si tu vis.

SERV. For what reason?
ALC. Because I live. SERV. By Pollux, I can indeed do that easily, if you wish.

ALC. Volo.
SERV. At enim ne tu exponas pugno os metuo in imperio meo. 235
ALC. Numquam edepol faciam. SERV. Fidem da. ALC. Do, non facturum esse me.
sed ego primum, tot qui ab amica abesse potuerim dies,
sum nihili.

ALC. I want.
SERV. But indeed, I fear lest you expose your face to my fist under my command. 235
ALC. By Pollux, I will never do it. SERV. Give your pledge. ALC. I give it, that I will not do it.
but I, first of all, who could have been away from my girlfriend so many days,
am worth nothing.

SERV. Nihili hercle vero es. ALC. Quam ego amarem perdite,
quae me amaret contra. SERV. Dignus hercle es infortunio.

SERV. By Hercules, truly you are nothing. ALC. How desperately I would love the woman,
who would love me in return. SERV. By Hercules, you are worthy of misfortune.

ALC. Ei me <tot tam> acerba facere in corde. SERV. Frugi nunquam eris. 240
ALC. Praesertim quae coniurasset mecum et firmasset fidem,
SERV. Neque deos neque homines aequom est facere tibi posthac bene.
ALC. Quae esset aetatem exactura mecum in matrimonio,
SERV. Compedes te capere oportet neque eas unquam ponere.

ALC. Alas for me, to be making <so many so> bitter things in her heart. SERV. You will never be decent. 240
ALC. Especially she who had sworn with me and had confirmed the pledge of good faith,
SERV. Neither gods nor men ought to do you good hereafter.
ALC. Who was going to pass a lifetime with me in marriage,
SERV. You ought to take fetters and never put them off.

ALC. Quae mihi esset commendata et meae fidei concredita, 245
SERV. Hercle te verberibus multum caedi oportere arbitror.
ALC. Quae mellillam me vocare et suavium solitast suom.
SERV. Ob istuc unum verbum dignu's, deciens qui furcam feras.

ALC. Who had been commended to me and committed to my fidelity, 245
SERV. By Hercules, I judge that you ought to be much beaten with stripes.
ALC. Who used to call me her little honey and give me her own kiss.
SERV. For that single word you are worthy, ten times over, to bear the fork.

ALC. Egomet laetor. sed quid auctor nunc mihi es? SERV. Dicam tibi:
Supplicium illi des, suspendas te, ne tibi suscenseat.    250
ALC. Quian ***
SERV. Quid tu ergo *** te manuleo
          ***
(ALC.) Quid si amo? *** (T.) *** est amor    273
*** atque illam quam <te> amare intellego
*** si conclusos vos <me> habere in carcere
*** amoris noctesque et dies
ni emortuos ***
mihi nunquam quisquam ***
(T.) Immo maxumus.

ALC. I myself rejoice. But what adviser are you to me now? SERV. I will tell you:
Give her punishment: hang yourself, lest she be incensed at you.    250
ALC. Why ***
SERV. What then are you *** yourself by the cuff
          ***
(ALC.) What if I love? *** (T.) *** is love    273
*** and that woman whom I understand to love
*** if you have shut up in prison
*** of love, nights and days
unless quite dead ***
never has anyone to me ***
(T.) Nay rather, the greatest.

nam qui amant stulte atque inmodeste atque inprobe    280
*** ne ament.
                               ***
(ALC.) *** ubi tu es? SERV. Ecce me.
ALC. I, adfer mihi arma et loricam adducito.
SERV. Loricam adducam?        285
ALC. I, curre, equom adfer.

for those who love stupidly and immoderately and improperly    280
*** let them not love.
                               ***
(ALC.) *** where are you? SERV. Here I am.
ALC. Go, bring me arms and bring along the cuirass.
SERV. Shall I bring a cuirass?        285
ALC. Go, run, bring the horse.

SERV. Hercle hic insanit miser.
ALC. Abi atque hastatos multos, multos velites,
multos cum multis—nil moror precario.
ubi sunt quae iussi?

SERV. By Hercules, this poor wretch is insane.
ALC. Be off and bring many hastati, many velites,
many with many—I don’t bother with petitioning.
where are the things I ordered?

SERV. Sanus hic non est satis.
T. Ab anu esse credo nocitum, cum illaec sic facit. 290
SERV. Vtrum deliras, quaeso, an astans somnias,
qui equom me adferre iubes, loricam adducere,
multos hastatos, post id multos velites,
multos cum multis? haec tu pervorsario
mihi fabulatu's. ALC. Dixin ego istaec, obsecro? 295
SERV. Modo quidem hercle haec dixisti.

SERV. This man is not sane enough.
T. I think harm has been done by the old woman, since she acts like that. 290
SERV. Are you raving, pray, or dreaming on your feet,
you who order me to bring a horse, to bring a lorica (cuirass),
many hastati, after that many velites,
many with many? These things you’ve been telling me
perversely, in topsy-turvy fashion. ALC. Did I say those things, I beg? 295
SERV. Just now indeed, by Hercules, you said these things.

ALC. Non praesens quidem.
SERV. Praestigiator, siquidem hic non es atque ades.
T. Video ego te Amoris valde tactum toxico,
adulescens; eo te magis volo monitum.

ALC. Not present, indeed.
SERV. Prestidigitator, since you are not here and yet are here.
T. I see you greatly touched by the toxin of Love, adolescent; for that reason I wish you all the more admonished.

ALC. Mone.
T. Cave sis cum Amore tu unquam bellum sumpseris. 300
ALC. Quid faciam? T. Ad matrem eius devenias domum,
expurges, iures, ores blande per precem
eamque exores ne tibi suscenseat.

ALC. Advise me.
T. Beware, please, lest you ever take up war with Love. 300
ALC. What am I to do? T. You should go to his mother’s house,
make expiation, swear, entreat blandly by prayer,
and prevail upon her that she not be angry with you.

ALC. Expurigabo hercle omnia ad raucam ravim.
*** 304a

ALC. By Hercules, I will purge everything to raucous hoarseness.
*** 304a

Non. p. 72M
(SENEX) prohibet divitiis maximis, dote altili atque opima.
*** 305a

Non. p. 72M
(OLD MAN) he wards off by very great riches, by a fat and opulent dowry.
*** 305a

mulierculam exornatulam. *** quidem hercle scita.
quamquam vetus cantherius sum, etiam nunc, ut ego opinor,
adhinnire equolam possum ego hanc, si detur sola soli.

a little woman all decked out. *** indeed, by Hercules, smart.
although I’m an old nag, even now, as I suppose,
I can whinny after this little mare, if she be given alone to one alone.

GYMNASIVM Nimis opportune mi evenit rediisse Alcesimarchum;
nam sola nulla invitior solet esse. SEN. Me vocato, 310
ne sola sis: ego tecum <ero, volo> ego agere, ut tu agas aliquid.
GYMN. Nimis lepide exconcinnavit hasce aedis Alcesimarchus.

GYMNASIVM It has come about too opportune for me that Alcesimarchus has returned;
for when alone, no woman is wont to be more unwilling. SEN. Summon me, 310
so that you may not be alone: I will be with you <I will be, I want>; I want to deal with you, so that you may do something. GYMN. Too neatly has Alcesimarchus contrived these rooms.

SEN. Vt quo<m Ven>us adgreditur, <place>t; lepidumst amare semper.
GYMN. Venerem meram haec aedes olent, quia amator expolivit.
SEN. Non modo ipsa lepidast, commode quoque hercle fabulatur. 315
sed cum dicta huius interpretor, haec herclest, ut ego opinor,
meum quae corrumpit filium.

SEN. As when Venus makes an approach, it pleases; to love is ever delightful.
GYMN. This house smells of pure Venus, because a lover has polished it up.
SEN. Not only is she herself charming, by Hercules, she also speaks commodiously. 315
but when I interpret this one’s sayings, this, by Hercules, is, as I think, the woman who is corrupting my son.

suspiciost eam esse,
utpote quam nunquam viderim; de opinione credo.
nam hasce aedis conductas habet meus gnatus, haec ubi astat:
hoc hanc eam esse opiniost; nam haec illum nominavit. 320
quid si adeam atque appellem. mali damnique inlecebra, salve.

I suspect it is she,
inasmuch as I have never seen her; I believe on opinion.
for my son has these houses leased, where she stands:
thus the opinion is that she is the one; for she named him. 320
what if I go up and address her. enticement of evil and damage, hail.

GYMN. *** vapulabis.
SEN. *** volo apud te.
                               ***
GYMN. Intro abeo,    330
nam meretricem astare in via solam prostibuli sanest.
                               ***
GYMN. quid vis.    362
SEN. Volo ex te scire quidquid est ***
quid ego usquam male feci tibi <aut meu>s quisquam, id edisserta,
quam ob rem me meumque filium quom <matr>e remque nostram    365
habes perditui et praedatui?

GYMN. *** you will get a beating.
SEN. *** I want it at your place.
                               ***
GYMN. I’m going inside,    330
for a courtesan standing alone in the street is a sign of a brothel.
                               ***
GYMN. what do you want.    362
SEN. I want to learn from you whatever it is ***
what wrong I or any of mine have ever done to you, explain that in detail,
for what reason you have me and my son, together with his mother, and our estate,    365
set for ruin and for plunder?

GYMN. Miser errat, ut ego dixi.
lepidast materies, ludam ego hunc, nam occasio videtur.
potin operam inique equidem malam <ut ne> des innocenti?

GYMN. The poor wretch errs, as I said.
Charming material; I’ll play this fellow, for an occasion seems.
Can you, unjustly indeed, give bad service to an innocent?

SEN. Sed <obsecro> te, nullusnest tibi amator alius quisquam,
nisi meus modo unus filius? GYMN. Quem quidem ego amem, alius nemo est. 370
SEN. At ego *** GYMN. Nil moror: damno sunt tui mihi similes.
SEN. Quid *** (GYMN.) isne est id arbitratus?

SEN. But, I beseech you, have you absolutely no other lover at all,
except just my one son? GYMN. As for one whom indeed I love, there is no other. 370
SEN. But I *** GYMN. I don’t care a whit: your kind are to my damage.
SEN. What *** (GYMN.) Did he suppose that?

*** 372a

Prisc. GL 2.111K
(GYM.) datores
negotioli bellissimi senices soletis esse.
*** 373a

Prisc. GL 2.111K
(GYM.) donors
of a most beautiful little business you old men are accustomed to be.
*** 373a

Prisc. GL 2.388K
LENA. Me respondere postulas? iniurium est.

Prisc. GL 2.388K
LENA. Do you demand that I respond? It is injurious.

stipulari semper me ultro oportet a viris,
eum quaestum facio, nil viris promittere.
*** 376a

it behooves me always to stipulate, unsolicited, from men,
I make that profit: to promise nothing to men. *** 376a

Prisc. GL 2.107K
siquidem imperes pro copia, pro recula
*** 377a

Prisc. GL 2.107K
if indeed you command in proportion to supply, according to the rule
*** 377a

Festus 372M
LENA. Quin is, si itura es? nimium is vegrandi gradu.

Festus 372M
LENA. Why don’t you go, if you’re going to go? You’re going excessively with a too-small stride.

Non. 198M
GYMN. Pol ad cubituram, mater, magis sum exercita
fere quam ad cursuram. eo sum tardiuscula. 380

Non. 198M
GYMN. By Pollux, for going to bed, mother, I am almost more exercised
than for running; on that account I am a little tardy. 380

Non. 499M
meminere officium suom.

Non. 499M
they remembered their office.

Non. 63M et 415M
ita mustulentus ventus nares attigit.

Non. 63M et 415M
so the musty wind touched the nostrils.

Non. 108M
capillo scisso atque excissatis auribus

Non. 108M
with hair torn and the ears excised

Non. 190M
quae quasi carnificis angiporta purigans

Non. 190M
which, as if purging the angiports of an executioner

       ***    404
non quasi nunc haec sunt hic, limaces, lividae,
febriculosae, miserae amicae, osseae,
diobolares, schoeniculae, miraculae,
cum extritis talis, cum todillis crusculis
           ***
SEL. Molestus es.    449
ALC. Meae issula sua <aede>s egent. ad me <sine ducam>. SEL. Aufer manum.
ALC. Germana mea sororcula.

       ***    404
not as if nowadays these here are such—slugs, livid,
febrile, wretched girlfriends, osseous,
two‑obol girls, sandalettes, little miracles,
with abraded anklebones, with little shanks with ankle‑straps
           ***
SEL. You are troublesome.    449
ALC. My little darling lacks her own s. to me . SEL. Take your hand away.
ALC. My full sister, my little sister.

SEL. Repudio te fraterculum.
ALC. Tum tu igitur, mea matercula. MEL. Repudio te ~ fraterculum.

SEL. I repudiate you, little brother.
ALC. Then you, therefore, my little mother. MEL. I repudiate you ~
little brother.

ALC. Opsecro te SEL. Valeas. ALC. Vt sinas SEL. Nil moror. ALC. Expurigare me.
SEL. *** ALC. Sine dicam.

ALC. I beseech you SEL. Farewell. ALC. That you allow SEL. I don’t care. ALC. To clear me.
SEL. *** ALC. Allow me to speak.

MEL. Satis sapit mihi tuis periuriis.
*** at nunc non potest. ALC. Supplicium polliceri volo. 455
SEL. At mi aps te accipere non libet.

MEL. It smacks enough to me of your perjuries.
*** but now it cannot. ALC. I want to promise punishment. 455
SEL. But I do not care to receive it from you.

ALC. Em omnia
patior iure infelix. SEL. Volup est neque tis misereri decet.
quamquam hominem ***
verba dare ***
non illa * qui frangant foedera 460
*** eos ***
(SEL.) dabis.

ALC. See, I, unlucky, suffer everything as is just.
SEL. It is a pleasure, nor is it fitting to pity you.
although the man ***
to give words ***
not those * who break treaties 460
*** them ***
(SEL.) you will give.

ALC. At ego nec do neque te amittam hodie, nisi quae volo tecum loqui
das mihi operam.
MEL. Potin ut mihi molestus ne sis? ALC. Quin id est nomen mihi, 465
omnes mortales vocant molestum.

ALC. But I will neither yield nor let you go today, unless you give me your attention to speak with you to speak
about what I want.
MEL. Could you not be troublesome to me? ALC. Why, that is my very name, 465
all mortals call me troublesome.

***
*** obsecro. MEL. At frustra obsecras.
***
quia sine omni *** ALC. Dabo
ius iurandum.

***
*** I beseech. MEL. But you beseech in vain.
***
because without any *** ALC. I will give
a sworn oath.

***            470
MEL. At ego nunc <ab> illo mihi <caveo> iure iurando tuo;
similest ius iurandum amantum quasi ius confusicium.
ALC. Nescia ***
*** (MEL.) nugas agis.
                               ***                                475
ALC. Supplicium dabo ***    477
quo modo ego ***
*** (MEL.) quia es nactus novam,
quae *** quaedam quasi tu nescias.    480
*** ALC. Di deaeque illam perdant ~ pariter.

***            470
MEL. But I now <I guard myself> <from> that, from your oath;
a lovers’ oath is like a kind of confused law.
ALC. You ignorant ***
*** (MEL.) you talk nonsense.
                               ***                                475
ALC. I will pay the penalty ***    477
in what way I ***
*** (MEL.) because you have gotten a new one,
who is some *** as though you did not know.    480
*** ALC. May the gods and goddesses destroy her ~ equally.

*** umquam, si hoc fallo. MEL. Nil moror
*** falsum fallis, eo te *** ignorat fides.
postremo, si mihi dedisses verba, deis numquam dares.

*** ever, if I deceive in this. MEL. I care nothing
*** you deceive with falsehood; for that reason faith is ignorant of you.
finally, if you had deceived me, you would never deceive the gods.

ALC. Quin equidem illam ducam uxorem. MEL. Ducas, si *** 485
nunc hoc si tibi commodumst, quae ***
ALC. Instruxi illi aurum atque vestem. (MEL.) ***
siquidem amabas, *** illi instrui.

ALC. Indeed, I will take that woman as wife. MEL. Do so, if *** 485
now, if this is convenient for you, who ***
ALC. I have equipped her with gold and garments. (MEL.) ***
since indeed you were in love, *** to be equipped for her.

sed sino. iam hoc mihi responde quod <ego> te rogavero:
instruxisti *** 490
tibi ita ut voluisti *** (ALC.) quod volo.
MEL. Eo facetu's quia tibi aliast sponsa locuples Lemnia.

but I allow it. Now answer me this which <ego> shall have asked you:
have you furnished *** 490
for yourself just as you wished *** (ALC.) what I want.
MEL. For that reason you’re witty, because you have another fiancée, a wealthy Lemnian.

habeas. neque nos factione tanta quanta tu sumus
neque opes nostrae tam sunt validae quam tuae; verum tamen
hau metuo ne ius iurandum nostrum quisquam culpitet: 495
tu iam, si quid tibi dolebit, scies qua doleat gratia.
ALC. Di me perdant— MEL. Quodcumque optes, tibi velim contingere.

have it. nor are we in so great a faction as you are,
nor are our resources so strong as yours; but nevertheless
I do not at all fear that anyone will culpate our sworn oath: 495
you now, if anything pains you, will know for what reason it pains.
ALC. May the gods destroy me— MEL. Whatever you wish, I should like to befall you.

ALC. Si illam uxorem duxero umquam, mihi quam despondit pater.
MEL. Et me, si umquam tibi uxorem filiam dedero meam.
ALC. Patierin me periurare?

ALC. If I should ever take that woman as wife, the one whom her father betrothed to me.
MEL. And me, if ever I should give my daughter to you as wife.
ALC. Should I allow myself to perjure myself?

MEL. Pol te aliquanto facilius, 500
quam me meamque rem perire et ludificari filiam.
alibi quaere ubi iuri iurando tuo satis sit subsidi:
hic apud nos iam, Alcesimarche, confregisti tesseram.
ALC. Face semel periclum.

MEL. By Pollux, you, by somewhat more easily, 500
than that I and my estate perish and my daughter be made sport of.
Seek elsewhere where there may be enough succor for your oath:
here with us now, Alcesimarchus, you have broken the tessera.
ALC. Make a trial once.

MEL. Feci saepe, quod factum queror.
ALC. Redde mi illam. MEL. Inter novam rem verbum usurpabo vetus: 505
quod dedi datum non vellem, quod relicuomst non dabo.

MEL. I have often done that which I complain has been done.
ALC. Give her back to me. MEL. Amid a new affair I will employ an old word: 505
what I gave, I would not wish given; what is left I will not give.

ALC. Non remissura es mihi illam? MEL. Pro me responsas tibi.
ALC. Non remittes?

ALC. Will you not send her back to me? MEL. You answer for me to yourself.
ALC. Will you not send her back?

MEL. Scis iam dudum omnem meam sententiam.
ALC. Satin istuc tibi in corde certumst? MEL. Quin ego commentor quidem.

MEL. You have long since known all my intention.
ALC. Is that quite sure in your heart? MEL. Indeed, I am even pondering it.

ALC. Non edepol <ego> istaec tua dicta nunc in auris recipio. 510
MEL. Non? hem, quid agis igitur? animum advorte iam, ut quid agas scias.

ALC. By Pollux, <I> do not now receive those dicta of yours into my ears. 510
MEL. Not? eh, what are you doing then? Advert your mind now, that you may know what you are doing.

ALC. At ita me di deaeque, superi atque inferi et medioxumi,
itaque me Iuno regina et Iovis supremi filia
itaque me Saturnus eius patruos— MEL. Ecastor pater.
ALC. Itaque me Ops opulenta illius avia— MEL. Immo mater quidem. 515
ALC. Iuno filia et Saturnus patruos et summus Iuppiter—
tu me delenis, propter te haec pecco. MEL. Perge dicere.

ALC. But so may the gods and goddesses, the upper and the lower and the middle ones,
and so may Queen Juno and the daughter of supreme Jove,
and so may Saturn his uncle— MEL. By Castor, his father.
ALC. And so may opulent Ops his grandmother— MEL. Nay rather, his mother indeed. 515
ALC. Juno the daughter and Saturn the uncle and highest Jupiter— you are bewitching me; on your account I sin in these things. MEL. Go on speaking.

ALC. Anne etiam, ut quid consultura sis sciam, pergis eloqui?
MEL. Non remittam. definitumst.

ALC. Or do you even proceed to speak out, so that I may know what you are about to consult?
MEL. I will not remit. It is settled.

ALC. Enim vero ita me Iuppiter
itaque me Iuno itaque Ianus ita—quid dicam nescio. 520
iam scio. immo, mulier, audi, meam ut scias sententiam.
di me omnes, magni minuti, et etiam patellarii
faxint, ne ego <dem vivae> vivos savium Selenio,
nisi ego teque tuamque ~ filiam meque hodie obtruncavero,
poste autem cum primo luci cras nisi ambo occidero, 525
et equidem hercle nisi pedatu tertio ~ omnis efflixero,
nisi tu illam remittis ad me. dixi quae volui.

ALC. Indeed, truly, so may Jupiter
and so may Juno, and so may Janus—so—what I should say I do not know. 520
Now I know. Nay rather, woman, listen, so that you may know my opinion.
May all the gods, great and small, and even the saucer-gods, do thus to me, that I, while alive, do not give a kiss to Selenio,
unless I today butcher both you and your ~ daughter and myself,
and afterward, at first light tomorrow, unless I kill us both, 525
and indeed, by Hercules, unless with my third stride I ~ knock them all flat,
unless you send that girl back to me. I have said what I wished.

vale.
MEL. Abiit intro iratus. quid ego nunc agam?

farewell.
MEL. He has gone inside, angry. What am I to do now?

si redierit
illa ad hunc, ibidem loci res erit: ubi odium occeperit,
illam extrudet, tum hanc uxorem Lemniam ducet domum. 530
sed tamen ibo et persequar: amens ne quid faciat, cauto opust.
postremo, quando aequa lege pauperi cum divite
non licet, perdam operam potius quam carebo filia.
sed quis hic est qui recta platea cursum huc contendit suom?

if she returns
to him, the matter will be in the same place: when hatred has begun,
he will thrust that one out, then he will lead this Lemnian wife home. 530
but still I will go and pursue: lest, being out of his mind, he do anything; there is need for caution.
finally, since on equal law it is not permitted for a poor man with a rich man,
I will rather waste my labor than be without my daughter.
but who is this here who along the straight street is contending his course hither?

et illud paveo et hoc formido, ita tota sum misera in metu. 535

and I am afraid of that and I dread this, so wholly am I wretched in fear. 535

II.ii
LAMPADIO Anum sectatus sum clamore per vias,
miserrumam habui. ut illaec hodie quot modis
moderatrix <linguae> fuit atque immemorabilis.
quot illi blanditias, quid illi promisi boni,
quot admoenivi fabricas, quot fallacias 540
in quaestione.

II.ii
LAMPADIO I pursued the old woman with clamor through the streets,
I made her most wretched. How that one today, in how many ways,
was a moderatrix of the tongue and unforgettable.
How many blandishments to her, what good things I promised to her,
how many contrivances I made enticing, how many fallacies 540
in the questioning.

vix exculpsi ut diceret,
quia ei promisi dolium vini dare.

I hardly wrung it out of her to make her say it,
because I promised to give her a cask of wine.

II.iii
PHANOSTRATA Audire vocem visa sum ante aedis modo
mei Lampadisci servi. LAMP. Non surda es, era:
recte audivisti. PHAN. Quid agis hic?

II.iii
PHANOSTRATA I seemed to hear a voice just now before the house—of my slave Lampadiscus. LAMP. You are not deaf, mistress: you heard correctly. PHAN. What are you doing here?

LAMP. Quod gaudeas. 545
PHAN. Quid id est? LAMP. Hinc ex hisce aedibus paulo prius
vidi exeuntem mulierem. PHAN. Illam quae meam
gnatam sustulerat?

LAMP. Something for you to rejoice at. 545
PHAN. What is that? LAMP. From here, from these very premises, a little earlier
I saw a woman coming out. PHAN. The one who had carried off my
daughter?

LAMP. Rem tenes. PHAN. Quid postea?
LAMP. Dico ei, quo pacto eam ab hippodromo viderim
erilem nostram filiam sustollere. 550
extimuit tum illa.

LAMP. You have it. PHAN. What then?
LAMP. I tell her how I had seen her from the hippodrome carry off our mistress’s daughter. 550
Then she took fright.

MEL. Iam horret corpus, cor salit.
nam mihi ab hippodromo memini adferri parvolam
puellam eamque me mihi supponere.
PHAN. Age perge, quaeso.

MEL. Now my body bristles, my heart leaps.
for I remember that a very little girl was brought to me from the hippodrome,
and that I foisted her upon myself as mine.
PHAN. Come, go on, I beg.

animus audire expetit
ut gesta res sit. MEL. Vtinam audire non queas. 555
*** 555a
LAMP. Pergo illa<m onerare> dictis: "illaec ted anus
fortu<nis ex secundis ad mi>seras vocat.
nam illaec tibi nutrix est, ne matrem censeas.

my mind longs to hear how the matter happened. MEL. Would that you could not hear. 555
*** 555a
LAMP. I go on to burden her with words: "that old woman calls you from prosperous fortunes to wretched ones.
for that one is your nurse, do not suppose her your mother."

ego te reduco et revoco ad <summas> ditias,
ubi tu locere in luculentam familiam,        560
unde tibi talenta magna viginti pater
det dotis; non enim hic, ubi ex Tusco modo
tute tibi indigne dotem quaeras corpore."
PHAN. An, amabo, meretrix illa est quae illam sustulit?
LAMP. Immo [meretrix] fuit; sed ut sit de ea re, eloquar.    565
iam perducebam illam ad me suadela mea:
anus ei amplexa est genua, plorans, obsecrans,
ne deserat se: eam suam esse filiam,
seque eam peperisse sancte adiurabat mihi.
"istanc quam quaeris" inquit "ego amicae meae    570
dedi, quae educaret eam pro filiola sua;
et vivit" inquit.

I lead you back and recall you to the highest riches,
where you will be placed into a splendid household,        560
whence your father will give you twenty great talents as dowry; for not here, where, from the Tuscan quarter just now,
you yourself seek a dowry for yourself unworthily with your body."
PHAN. What, pray, is that a meretrix who carried her off?
LAMP. Rather, she was a meretrix; but as to how the matter stands, I will tell.    565
I was already leading her along to me by my suasion:
an old woman clasped her knees, weeping, beseeching,
not to desert her: that she was her daughter,
and she swore to me solemnly that she herself had borne her. "That girl whom you seek," she says,    570
"I gave to my friend, to rear her as her own little daughter;
and she lives," she says.

"ubi ea est?" inquam extempulo.
PHAN. Servate di med obsecro. MEL. At me perditis.

"Where is she?" I say immediately.
PHAN. Save me, gods, I beseech you. MEL. But you are ruining me.

PHAN. Quoi illam dedisset exquisisse oportuit.
LAMP. Quaesivi, et dixit meretrici Melaenidi. 575
MEL. Meum elocutust nomen, interii <oppido>.
LAMP. Vbi elocuta est "duc ac demonstra mihi."
"avecta est" inquit "peregre hinc habitatum."MEL. Obsipat
aculam. LAMP. 'Quo avecta est, eo sequemur.

PHAN. You ought to have found out to whom she had given her.
LAMP. I inquired, and she said: to the courtesan Melaenis. 575
MEL. He has spoken out my name; I am utterly undone.
LAMP. When she had told it: "Lead and show her to me."
"She has been carried off," she says, "to live abroad away from here." MEL. May a needle stop her up!
LAMP. Wherever she has been carried off, there we shall follow.

sicine 580
agis nugas? periisti hercle, ni ***"
*** <non> hoc longe destiti
instare, usque adeo donec se adiurat anus
iam mihi monstrare. PHAN. At non missam oportuit.

is it so 580
you’re playing nonsense? you’re ruined, by Hercules, unless ***"
*** I for a long time desisted
from pressing, to such an extent until the old woman swore
now to show me. PHAN. But you ought not to have let her go.

LAMP. Servatur. sed illaec se quandam aibat mulierem 585
suam bene volentem convenire etiam prius,
commune quacum id esset sibi negotium.
et scio venturam.

LAMP. It is guarded. But that one said she would meet a certain woman—benevolent toward her—first as well, 585
with whom that business was common to her.
And I know she will come.

MEL. Me indicabit, et suas
ad meas miserias ~ alias faciem consciam. 589-590
PHAN. Quid nunc vis facere me? LAMP. Intro abi atque animo bono es. 591
vir tuos si veniet, iube domi opperirier,
ne in quaestione mihi sit, si quid eum velim.
ego ad anum recurro rursum. PHAN. Lampadio, obsecro,
cura.

MEL. She will betray me, and to my miseries ~ she will add her own, a face conscious. 589-590
PHAN. What do you want me to do now? LAMP. Go inside and be of good spirit. 591
if your husband comes, bid him wait at home,
so that he may not be in inquiry for me, if I should want anything of him.
I run back again to the old woman. PHAN. Lampadio, I beseech, take care.

LAMP. Perfectum ego hoc dabo negotium. 595
PHAN. Deos teque spero.—LAMP. Eosdem ego, uti abeas domum.
MEL. Adulescens, asta atque audi. LAMP. Men, mulier, vocas?

LAMP. I will deliver this affair perfected. 595
PHAN. I hope in the gods and you.—LAMP. I call on the same gods, that you go home.
MEL. Young man, stand and listen. LAMP. Me, woman, are you calling?

MEL. Te. LAMP. Quid negoti est? nam occupatus sum ampliter.
MEL. Quis istic habitat?

MEL. You. LAMP. What business is it? for I am amply occupied.
MEL. Who lives there?

LAMP. Demipho dominus meus.
MEL. Nempe istic est, qui Alcesimarcho filiam 600
suam despondit in divitias maxumas?
LAMP. Is ipsust.

LAMP. Demipho is my master.
MEL. Surely he is the one there, who betrothed his daughter 600
to Alcesimarchus for the greatest riches?
LAMP. He is the very man.

MEL. Eho tu, quam vos igitur filiam
nunc quaeritatis alteram? LAMP. Ego dicam tibi:
non ex uxore natam uxoris filiam.
MEL. Quid istuc est verbi?

MEL. Hey you, which daughter, then, are you
now seeking—the other one? LAMP. I will tell you:
the wife’s daughter, not born from the wife.
MEL. What sort of talk is that?

LAMP. Ex priore muliere 605
nata, inquam, meo ero est filia. MEL. Certe modo
huius, quae locuta est, quaerere aibas filiam.
LAMP. Huius ergo quaero.

LAMP. From a prior woman 605
born, I say, my master has a daughter. MEL. Surely just now
you were saying you were seeking the daughter of this one who spoke. LAMP. Therefore I seek hers.

MEL. Quo modo igitur, obsecro,
haec est prior, quae nupta nunc est? LAMP. Conteris
tu tua me oratione, mulier, quisquis es. 610
medioxumam quam duxit uxorem, ex ea
nata est haec virgo, Alcesimarcho quae datur.
ea uxor diem obiit.

MEL. How then, I beseech, is this one the earlier, who is married now? LAMP. You wear me down with your oration, woman, whoever you are. 610
the middle one whom he took as wife, from her this maiden was born, who is given to Alcesimarchus.
that wife met her day.

iam scis? MEL. Teneo istuc satis.
sed ego illud quaero confragosum, quo modo
prior posterior sit et posterior sit prior? 615
LAMP. Prius hanc compressit quam uxorem duxit domum,
prius gravida facta est priusque peperit filiam;
eam postquam peperit, iussit parvam proici:
ego eam proieci, alia mulier sustulit,
ego inspectavi.

Do you know now? MEL. I grasp that well enough.
but I’m asking that craggy question: how can
the prior be posterior and the posterior be prior? 615
LAMP. He first had intercourse with this one before he led a wife home,
she was first made pregnant and first bore a daughter;
after she bore her, he ordered the little one to be exposed:
I exposed her; another woman took her up;
I witnessed it.

erus hanc duxit postibi. 620
eam nunc puellam filiam eius quaerimus.
quid nunc supina susum in caelum conspicis?
MEL. Ei nunciam istuc quo properabas, nil moror.

the master married this one afterward. 620
we are now seeking that girl, his daughter.
why now, supine upward, do you gaze into heaven?
MEL. Hey, now at once, to that where you were hastening—I do not delay.

nunc intellexi. LAMP. Dis hercle habeo gratiam,
nam ni intellexes, numquam, credo, amitteres. 625
MEL. Nunc mihi bonae necessumst esse ingratiis,
quamquam esse nolo. rem palam esse intellego:
nunc egomet potius hanc inibo gratiam
ab illis, quam illaec me indicet.

now I have understood. LAMP. By Hercules, I have gratitude to the gods,
for if you had not understood, never, I believe, would you let go. 625
MEL. Now it is necessary for me to be in good graces against my will,
although I do not wish to be. I understand the matter to be public:
now I myself will rather enter upon this favor
with them, than that woman denounce me.

ibo domum,
atque ad parentes redducam Selenium. 630

I will go home,
and I will lead Selenium back to her parents. 630

ACTVS III

ACT 3

III.i
MELAENIS Rem elocuta sum tibi omnem; sequere hac me, Selenium,
ut eorum quoiam esse oportet te sis potius quam mea.
quamquam invita te carebo, animum ego inducam tamen
ut illud quem <ad modum> tuam in rem bene conducat consulam.
nam hic crepundia insunt, quibuscum te illa olim ad me detulit, 635
quae mihi dedit, parentes te ut cognoscant facilius.

III.i
MELAENIS I have told you the whole matter; follow me this way, Selenium,
so that you may be rather with those to whom it is fitting that you belong than with me.
Although unwilling I shall do without you, I will nonetheless induce my mind
to consult how that, in what <way>, may conduce well to your interest.
For here are the infant tokens, with which she once brought you to me, 635
which she gave to me, so that your parents may recognize you more easily.

accipe hanc cistellam, Halisca. agedum pulta illas fores.
dic me orare ut aliquis intus prodeat propere ocius.

take this little casket, Halisca. come now, knock on those doors.
say that I entreat that someone inside come forth quickly, more swiftly.

ALCESIMARCHVS Recipe me ad te, Mors, amicum et benevolum. 639-640
SELENIVM Mater mea,
periimus miserae. ALC. Vtrum hac me feriam an ab laeva latus? 641
MEL. Quid tibi est?

ALCESIMARCHUS Receive me to yourself, Death, a friend and benevolent. 639-640
SELENIUM My mother,
we poor women are undone. ALC. Shall I strike myself here, or on the left flank? 641
MEL. What is the matter with you?

SEL. Alcesimarchum non vides? ferrum tenet.
ALC. Ecquid agis?

SEL. Do you not see Alcesimarchus? He holds the iron.
ALC. What are you doing?

remorare. lumen linque. SEL. Amabo, accurrite,
ne se interemat.

Hold him back. Leave the light. SEL. Please, run up,
lest he kill himself.

ALC. O Salute mea salus salubrior,
tu nunc, si ego volo seu nolo, sola me ut vivam facis. 645
MEL. Haud voluisti istuc severum facere. ALC. Nil mecum tibi,
mortuos tibi sum: hanc ut habeo certum est non amittere;
nam hercle iam ad me adglutinandam totam decretum est dare.
ubi estis, servi?

ALC. O Salute, my salvation more salubrious,
you now, whether I will or I will not, you alone make me to live. 645
MEL. You did not wish to make that severe. ALC. You have nothing to do with me,
I am dead to you: it is certain not to lose this one as I have her;
for, by Hercules, now it has been decreed to give her to me to be glued onto me whole.
where are you, slaves?

occludite aedis pessulis, repagulis
ilico: hanc ego tetulero intra limen. MEL. Abiit, abstulit 650
mulierem. ibo, persequar iam illum intro, ut haec ex me sciat
eadem, si possum tranquillum facere ex irato mihi.

shut the house with bolts, with bars
on the spot: I’ll carry this one within the threshold. MEL. He has gone; he has carried off 650
the woman. I will go; I will pursue him inside now, so that she may know
the same things from me, if I can make him tranquil instead of irate with me.

ACTVS IV

ACT 4

IV.i
LAMPADIO Nullam ego me vidisse credo magis anum excruciabilem
quam illaec est, quae dudum fassa est mihi quaene infitias eat.
sed eccam eram video. sed quid hoc est, haec quod cistella hic iacet 655
cum crepundiis?

4.1
LAMPADIO I believe that I have seen no old woman more excruciable
than that one is, who a little while ago confessed to me what she now goes into denials about.
But look, I see the mistress. But what is this, that this little casket lies here 655
with crepundia (infant trinkets)?

nec quemquam conspicor alium in via.
faciundum est puerile officium: conquiniscam ad cistulam.
PHANOSTRATA Quid agis, Lampadio?

nor do I see anyone else on the road.
the puerile office must be done: I’ll make water at the little chest.
PHANOSTRATA What are you doing, Lampadio?

LAMP. Haec cistella numnam hinc ab nobis
domo est?
nam hinc ab ostio iacentem sustuli. PHAN. Quid nuntias
super anu?

LAMP. Is this little casket, I wonder, from us here
from the house?
for from here at the doorway I picked it up as it lay. PHAN. What do you report
about the old woman?

LAMP. Scelestiorem in terra nullam esse alteram. 660
omnia infitiatur ea quae dudum confessa est mihi.
nam hercle ego <quam> illam anum inridere me ut sinam, satiust mihi
quovis exitio interire. PHAN. Di, obsecro vostram fidem.

LAMP. There is no other more wicked on earth. 660
she denies everything which a little while ago she confessed to me.
for, by Hercules, rather than that I should allow that old woman to deride me, it is better for me to perish by whatever destruction. PHAN. Gods, I beseech your good faith.

LA. Quid deos obsecras? PH. Servate nos. LA. Quid est?

LA. Why do you beseech the gods? PH. Save us. LA. What is it?

PH. Crepundia
haec sunt, quibuscum tu extulisti nostram filiolam ad necem. 665
L. Sanane es? P. Haec sunt profecto. L. Pergin? P. Haec sunt.

PH. The birth-tokens
these are, with which you carried out our little daughter to her death. 665
L. Are you sane? P. These they are indeed. L. Do you persist? P. These they are.

L. Si mihi
alia mulier istoc pacto dicat, dicam esse ebriam.
PHAN. Non ecastor falsa memoro. LAMP. Nam, obsecro, unde haec gentium?

L. If to me
another woman should say it in that fashion, I would say she is drunk.
PHAN. By Castor, I do not relate false things. LAMP. For, I beseech, whence in the world are these?

aut quis deus obiecit hanc ante ostium nostrum, quasi
dedita opera, in tempore ipso? PHAN. Spes mihi sancta subveni. 670

or what god has thrown this before our door, as if
on purpose, at the very moment? PHAN. Holy Hope, help me. 670

IV.ii
HALISCA Nisi quid mi opis di dant, disperii, neque unde auxilium expetam habeo.
itaque ~ petulantia mea me animi miseram habet.
quae in tergum meum ne veniant, male formido,
si era mea <me> sciat tam socordem esse quam sum.

4.2
HALISCA Unless the gods give me some aid, I am undone, nor have I whence I may seek assistance.
and so ~ my petulance keeps me wretched in mind.
I dread badly that they may come upon my back,
if my mistress should know that I am as slothful as I am.

quamne in manibus tenui atque accepi hic ante aedis 675
cistellam, ubi ea sit nescio, nisi ut opinor
loca haec circiter excidit mihi.
mei homines, mei spectatores, facite indicium, si quis vidit,
quis eam abstulerit quisve sustulerit et utrum hac an illac iter institerit.
non sum scitior, quae hos rogem aut quae fatigem, 680
qui semper malo muliebri sunt lubentes.

What! that little chest which I held in my hands and took here before the house 675
—I don’t know where it is, unless, as I suppose,
it slipped from me somewhere around these places.
My people, my spectators, give information, if anyone saw
who carried it off or who lifted it, and whether he took his way this way or that.
I am none the wiser what to ask these fellows or how to weary them, 680
who are always willing for womanly mischief.

nunc vestigia hic si qua sunt noscitabo.
nam si nemo hac praeter iit, postquam intro abii,
cistella hic iaceret. quid hic?

now I will look for any footprints here, if there are any.
for if no one has gone by this way after I went inside,
the casket would be lying here. what's this here?

perii, opinor.
actum est, ilicet me infelicem et scelestam. 685
nulla est, neque ego sum usquam. perdita perdidit me.
sed pergam ut coepi tamen, quaeritabo.

I am undone, I suppose.
It is finished; it is all over for me, unlucky and wicked. 685
It is nowhere, nor am I anywhere. The lost casket has ruined me.
But I will proceed as I began nonetheless; I will keep searching.

nam et intus paveo et foris formido,
ita nunc utrubique metus me agitat. 688a
ita sunt homines misere miseri:
ille nunc laetus est, quisquis est, qui illam habet,
quae neque illa illi quicquam usui et mi exitio est.
sed memet moror, quom hoc ago setius.
Halisca, hoc age, ad terram aspice et despice,
oculis investiges, astute augura.

for I both tremble within and outside I dread,
so now in both places fear agitates me. 688a
so miserably miserable are men:
that fellow is now glad, whoever he is, who has that,
which to him is of no use at all, and is my undoing.
but I delay myself, when I do this the worse.
Halisca, do this: look to the ground and look down,
with your eyes investigate, astutely augur.

LAM. Era. PH. Hem quid est? LAM. Haec est.

LAM. Mistress. PH. Eh, what is it? LAM. This is she.

PH. Quis est? LAM. 695
Quoi haec excidit cistella.
PHAN. Certe est, eum locum signat, ubi ea excidit: apparet.

PH. Who is it? LAM. 695
For whom this little casket has fallen out.
PHAN. Surely it is, she marks that place where it fell out: it is apparent.

HAL. Sed is hac iit, hac socci video
vestigium in pulvere, persequar hac.
in hoc iam loco cum altero constitit. hic
meis turba oculis modo se obiecit: 699a
neque prorsum iit hac: hic stetit, hinc illo
exiit.

HAL. But he went this way; this way I see in the dust the vestige of his soccus; I will pursue this way.
now in this very spot he halted with another. here just now a crowd thrust itself before my eyes: 699a
nor did he go straight on this way: here he stood; from here he exited that way.

hic concilium fuit. 700a
ad duos attinet, liquidumst. attat,
singulum video vestigium. 701a
sed is hac abiit. contemplabor.

here was a consultation. 700a
as for two, it is clear. aha,
I see a single footprint. 701a
but he went off this way. I will contemplate.

hinc huc iit, hinc nusquam abiit.
actam rem ago. quod periit, periit: meum corium <cum> cistella.

From here he went hither; from here he went away nowhere.
I prosecute a matter already done. What has perished has perished: my hide along with the little casket.

redeo intro. PHAN. Mulier, mane. sunt qui volunt te conventam.

I’ll go back inside. PHAN. Woman, stay. There are those who want you summoned into court.

HAL. Quis me revocat? LAMP. Bona femina et malus masculus volunt te. 705
HAL. *** postremo ille
plus qui vocat scit quod velit, quam ego quae vocor. revortor.

HAL. Who calls me back? LAMP. A good woman and a bad man want you. 705
HAL. *** in the end he
who calls knows better what he wants than I who am called. I return.

[ecquem vidisti ~ quaerere hic, amabo, in hac regione
cistellam cum crepundiis, quam ego hic amisi misera?
nam dudum ut accucurrimus ad Alcesimarchum, ne se 710
vita interemeret, tum <eam mihi op>inor excidisse.
LAMP. Cistellam haec mulier <perdidit.

[did you see ~ anyone looking here, please, in this region
for a little casket with crepundia, which I, poor wretch, lost here?
for just now, when we ran up to Alcesimarchus, lest he end his life, 710
then fell from me.
LAMP. This woman has the little casket.

tace>amus, era, parumper.
HAL. Disperii misera. quid ego erae dicam?

let us be silent, mistress, for a little while.
HAL. I am undone, wretched me. What shall I say to my mistress?

quae me opere tanto
servare iussit, qui suos Selenium parentes
facilius posset noscere, quae erae [meae] supposita est parva, 715
quam quaedam meretrix ei dedit. LAMP. Nostram haec rem fabulatur,
hanc scire oportet, filia tua ubi sit, signa ut dicit.
HAL. Nunc eam volt suae matri et patri, quibus nata est, reddere ultro.

she who ordered me to keep [it] with such great effort,
so that Selenium might more easily get to know her own parents; she who was put, a little one, in place of my mistress, 715
whom a certain prostitute gave to her. LAMP. This woman is telling our affair;
she must know where your daughter is, by the tokens, as she says. HAL. Now she wants to give her back, of her own accord, to her own mother and father, to whom she was born.

mi homo, obsecro, alias res geris, ego tibi meas res mando.
LAMP. Istuc ago, atque istic mihi cibus est, quod fabulare, 720
sed inter rem agendam istam erae huic respondi quod rogabat.
nunc ad te redeo: si quid est opus, dic, impetratumst.]
quid quaeritabas?

my good man, I beg, you are managing other matters, while I entrust my affairs to you.
LAMP. That I am doing, and there is my sustenance in that which you are talking about, 720
but in the midst of managing that matter I answered this mistress what she was asking.
now I return to you: if there is anything needed, say it, it has been obtained.]
what were you looking for?

HAL. Mi homo et mea mulier, vos saluto.
PHAN. Et nos te. sed quid quaeritas? HAL. Vestigium hic requiro,
qua aufugit quaedam *** aestio *** LAMP. Quid id? quid nam est? 725
HAL. Alienum *** et maerorem familiarem.

HAL. My man and my woman, I greet you.
PHAN. And we you. But what do you seek? HAL. I seek the vestige here,
by what way a certain one fled; *** I burn *** LAMP. What’s that? what indeed is it? 725
HAL. A debt *** and a domestic mourning.

LAMP. Mala mers, era, haec et callida est. PHAN. Ecastor ita videtur.
LAMP. Imitatur nequam bestiam et damnificam.

LAMP. Bad merchandise, mistress; this one is crafty too. PHAN. By Castor, so she seems.
LAMP. She imitates a good-for-nothing and damaging beast.

PHAN. Quamnam, amabo?
LAMP. Involvolum, quae in pampini folio intorta implicat se:
itidem haec exorditur sibi intortam orationem. 730
quid quaeritas? HAL. Cistellula hinc mi, adulescens, evolavit.

PHAN. Which one, please?
LAMP. The bindweed (convolvulus), which, twisted, entwines itself on a vine-leaf:
just so this woman sets about for herself a twisted oration. 730
what are you looking for? HAL. A little casket flew off from here, my young man.

LAMP. In caveam latam oportuit. HAL. Non edepol praeda magna.
LAMP. Mirum quin grex venalium in cistella infuerit una.

LAMP. She ought to have been in a roomy cage. HAL. Not, by Pollux, a great prey.
LAMP. No wonder if a gang of slaves-for-sale had been inside one box together.

PHAN. Sine dicat. LAMP. Si dicat quidem. PHAN. Age loquere [tu] quid ibi infuerit.

PHAN. Let him say. LAMP. If he would indeed say. PHAN. Come, speak [you] what was in there.

HAL. Crepundia una. LAMP. Est quidam homo, qui illam ait se scire ubi sit. 735
at pol ille a quadam muliere, si eam monstret, gratiam ineat.
LAMP. At sibi ille quidam volt dari mercedem.

HAL. One token. LAMP. There’s a certain man who says he knows where she is. 735
but, by Pollux, he would ingratiate himself with a certain woman, if he should point her out.
LAMP. But that fellow wants a reward to be given to him.

HAL. At pol illa quaedam,
quae illam cistellam perdidit, quoidam negat esse quod det.
LAMP. At enim ille quidam o<peram bonum magis> expetit quam argentum.
HAL. At pol illi quoidam mulieri nulla opera gratuita est. 740
PHAN. Commodule quaedam.

HAL. But, by Pollux, that certain woman,
who lost that little casket, denies to a certain man that she has anything to give.
LAMP. But indeed that certain fellow seeks <good service rather> than silver.
HAL. But, by Pollux, for that certain woman no service is gratis. 740
PHAN. Suitably enough.

tu tibi nunc prodes. confitemur
cistellam habere. HAL. At vos Salus servassit.

Help yourself now. We confess
that we have the casket. HAL. But may Salus have preserved you.

ubi ea nunc est?
PHAN. Salvam eccam. sed ego rem meam magnam confabulari
tecum volo: sociam te mihi adopto ad meam salutem.

where is it now?
PHAN. Here it is, safe. But I want to confabulate my great affair with you: I adopt you to myself as a partner for my safety.

HAL. Quid istuc negoti est? aut quis es? PHAN. Ego sum illius mater, 745
quae haec gestitavit. HAL. Hicine tu ergo habitas?

HAL. What is that business? Or who are you? PHAN. I am the mother of the one, 745
who coveted these things. HAL. Do you live here, then?

PHAN. Hariolare.
sed quaeso, ambages, mulier, mitte atque hoc age.
eloquere, unde haec sunt tibi, cito, crepundia.

PHAN. You are vaticinating.
But, I beg, put aside the circumlocutions, woman, and attend to this.
Speak out, whence these trinkets are yours, quickly.

HAL. Mea haec erilis gestitavit filia.
LAMP. Mentiris, nam mea gestitavit, non tua. 750
PHAN. Ne obloquere. LAMP. Taceo.

HAL. My master’s daughter played with these.
LAMP. You lie, for mine played with them, not yours. 750
PHAN. Do not speak against. LAMP. I am silent.

PHAN. Mulier, perge dicere.
ubi ea est, quae gestitavit? HAL. Hic in proximo.

PHAN. Woman, go on speaking.
where is she, who played with them? HAL. Here close by.

PHAN. Istic quidem edepol mei viri habitat gener.
*** 753a
PHAN. Ne obloquere rusus.

PHAN. Indeed, by Pollux, my husband's son-in-law lives there.
*** 753a
PHAN. Do not interrupt again.

perge porro dicere. 753b
quot annos nata dicitur? HAL. Septemdecim. 755
PHAN. Mea est. LAMP. East: u<t numer>us annorum attulit.

proceed to speak further. 753b
how many years old is she said to be? HAL. seventeen. 755
PHAN. she is mine. LAMP. it is, as the number of years has brought.

HAL. Quid qua <tibi causa haec dixi?> iam quaero meam.
LAMP. At po<l ego> sunt, quaero tertiam.
PHAN. Quod quaeritabam, filiam inveni meam.

HAL. Why what <tibi causa haec dixi?> now I am seeking my own.
LAMP. But po<l ego> they are, I am seeking a third.
PHAN. What I was seeking, I have found—my daughter.

HAL. Aequom est <reponi> per fidem quod creditum est,    760
ne bene merenti sit malo benignitas.
nostra haec alumna est, tua profecto filia:
                               ***                                762a
et redditura est tuam tibi, et ea gratia        762b
domo profecta est. ceterum ex ipsa, obsecro,    762c
exquaeritote: ego serva sum.

HAL. It is equitable that what has been entrusted be <restored> in good faith,    760
lest kindness be an evil to one well-deserving.
this girl is our fosterling, assuredly your daughter:
                               ***                                762a
and she is going to render yours to you, and for that very sake        762b
she set out from home. but, rather, from herself, I beg,    762c
inquire: I am a slave-woman.

PHAN. Aequom postulas. 765
HAL. Illius ego istanc esse malo gratiam.
sed istanc cistellam te opsecro ut reddas mihi.
PHAN. Quid fit, Lampadio?

PHAN. You demand what is equitable. 765
HAL. I would prefer that the credit be hers.
but that casket, I beseech you, give back to me.
PHAN. What is happening, Lampadio?

LAMP. Quod tuom est teneas tuom.
PHAN. At me huius miseret. LAMP. Sic faciundum censeo:
da isti cistellam et intro abi cum istac semul. 770
PHAN. Tibi auscultabo.

LAMP. What is yours, keep yours.
PHAN. But I pity this one. LAMP. Thus I judge it must be done:
give that one the casket and go inside together with that woman. 770
PHAN. I will heed you.

tene tu cistellam tibi,
abeamus intro. sed quid <est> nomen tuae
dominae? HAL. Melaenis.

you keep the little casket for yourself,
let us go inside. But what is the name of your
mistress? HAL. Melaenis.

PHAN. I prae, iam ego te sequar.

PHAN. Go on ahead, now I will follow you.

ACTVS V

ACT 5

V.i
DEMIPHO Quid hoc negoti est, quod omnes homines fabulantur per vias
mihi esse filiam inventam? et Lampadionem me in foro 775
quaesivisse aiunt. LAMP. Ere, unde is? DEM. Ex senatu.

5.1
DEMIPHO What is this business, that all men gossip along the streets
that a daughter has been found for me? And they say that I have sought Lampadion in the forum 775
LAMP. Master, whence are you? DEM. From the senate.

LAMP. Gaudeo
tibi mea opera liberorum esse amplius. DEM. Enim non placet.
nil moror aliena mi opera fieri pluris liberos.

LAMP. I rejoice that by my effort you have more children. DEM. Indeed, that does not please me.
I do not care at all for more children to be made for me by another’s effort.

sed quid istuc est? LAMP. Propera ire intro huc ad adfinem tuom,
filiam tuam iam cognosces intus. ibidem uxor tua est. 780
abi cito.

but what is that? LAMP. Make haste to go in here to your in-law,
you will now recognize your daughter inside. There in the same place is your wife. 780
go quickly.

DEM. Praevorti hoc certumst rebus aliis omnibus.

DEM. It’s certain: this must be given precedence over all other affairs.

CATERVA
Ne exspectetis, spectatores, dum illi huc ad vos exeant:
nemo exibit, omnes intus conficient negotium.
ubi id erit factum, ornamenta ponent; postidea loci
qui deliquit vapulabit, qui non deliquit bibet. 785
nunc quod ad vos, spectatores, relicuom relinquitur,
more maiorum date plausum postrema in comoedia.

TROUPE
Do not expect, spectators, to wait until they come out here to you:
no one will go out; all will finish the business inside.
when that shall have been done, they will set down the ornaments; afterward those of the place—
the one who has delinquered will be beaten, the one who has not delinquered will drink. 785
now, as to what, spectators, is left remaining to you,
by the custom of the ancestors give applause at the end in the comedy.