Plautus: Persa

TOXILVS SERVVS
SAGARISTIO SERVVS
SATVRIO PARASITVS
SOPHOCLIDISCA ANCILLA
LEMNISELENIS MERETRIX
PAEGNIVM PVER
VIRGO
DORDALVS LENO

TOXILUS SLAVE
SAGARISTIO SLAVE
SATURIO PARASITE
SOPHOCLIDISCA HANDMAID
LEMNISELENIS PROSTITUTE
PAEGNIUM BOY
MAIDEN
DORDALUS PIMP

ARGVMENTVM

ARGUMENT

Profecto domino suos amores Toxilus
Emit atque curat, leno ut emittat manu;
Raptamque ut emeret de praedone virginem
Subornata suadet sui parasiti filia.
Atque ita intricatum ludit potans Dordalum.

Indeed, Toxilus buys his sweetheart for his master,
And sees to it that the pimp should manumit her;
And that he buy the maiden, abducted, from the brigand,
Suborned, his parasite’s daughter urges it.
And so, drinking, he plays the entangled Dordalus.

ACTVS I

ACT 1

I.i
TOXILVS Qui amans egens ingressus est princeps in Amoris vias,
superavit aerumnis suis aerumnas Herculi.
nam cum leone, cum excetra, cum cervo, cum apro Aetolico,
cum avibus Stymphalicis, cum Antaeo deluctari mavelim,
quam cum Amore: ita fio miser quaerendo argento mutuo, 5
nec quicquam nisi 'non est' sciunt mihi respondere quos rogo.
SAGARISTIO Qui ero suo servire volt bene servos servitutem,
ne illum edepol multa in pectore suo conlocare oportet,
quae ero placere censeat praesenti atque apsenti suo.

1.1
TOXILUS He who as a needy lover has entered as a chief into Love’s ways,
has surpassed with his own miseries the miseries of Hercules.
for with the lion, with a viper, with the stag, with the Aetolian boar,
with the Stymphalian birds, with Antaeus I would rather wrestle,
than with Love: thus I become wretched in seeking borrowed argent, 5
nor do those whom I ask know to answer me anything except “there isn’t.”
SAGARISTIO He who wants to serve his master well, a slave should serve servitude,
indeed by Pollux, it behooves him to store up many things in his breast,
things which he judges will please his master both present and absent.

ego neque lubenter servio neque satis sum ero ex sententia, 10
sed quasi lippo oculo me erus meus manum apstinere hau quit tamen,
quin mi imperet, quin me suis negotiis praefulciat.
TOX. Quis illic est qui contra me astat? SAG. Quis hic est qui sic contra me astat?

I neither serve gladly nor am I sufficiently to my master’s satisfaction, 10
but, as if with a bleary eye, my master nevertheless cannot refrain his hand from me,
nay, he keeps commanding me, he overloads me with his business.
TOX. Who is that there who stands opposite me? SAG. Who is this
here who thus stands opposite me?

TOX. Similis est Sagaristionis. SAG. Toxilus hic quidem meus amicust.
TOX. Is est profecto.

TOX. He looks like Sagaristio. SAG. This here is Toxilus, indeed a friend of mine.
TOX. That is him for sure.

SAG. Eum esse opinor. TOX. Congrediar. SAG. 15
Contra adgredibor.

SAG. I think it is he. TOX. I will meet him. SAG. 15
I will approach from the opposite side.

TOX. O Sagaristio, di ament te. SAG. O Toxile, dabunt di quae exoptes.
ut vales? TOX. Vt queo.

TOX. O Sagaristio, may the gods love you. SAG. O Toxilus, the gods will grant the things you long for.
how do you fare? TOX. As I can.

SAG. Quid agitur? TOX. Vivitur.
SAG. Satin ergo ex sententia?

SAG. What’s going on? TOX. Life goes on.
SAG. So then, is it to your satisfaction?

TOX. Si eveniunt quae exopto, satis.
SAG. Nimis stulte amicis utere. TOX. Quid iam?

TOX. If what I long for comes to pass, enough.
SAG. You use your friends too foolishly. TOX. What now?

SAG. Imperare oportet.
TOX. Mihi quidem tu iam eras mortuos, quia non te visitabam. 20
S. Negotium edepol— T. Ferreum fortasse? S. Plusculum annum
fui praeferratus apud molas tribunus vapularis.

SAG. One ought to command.
TOX. As for me, you were already dead, since I was not visiting you. 20
S. Trouble, by Pollux— T. Iron, perhaps? S. A little more than a year
I was iron-fettered at the mills, a tribune of beatings.

TOX. Vetus iam istaec militiast tua. SAG. Satin tu usque valuisti? TOX.
Hau probe.

TOX. That military service of yours is old by now. SAG. Have you kept well enough all this while? TOX.
Not very well.

SAG. Ergo edepol palles. TOX. Saucius factus sum in Veneris proelio:
sagitta Cupido cor meum transfixit. SAG. Iam servi hic amant? 25
TOX. Quid ego faciam?

SAG. Therefore, by Pollux, you are pale. TOX. I was wounded in the battle of Venus:
Cupid’s arrow has transfixed my heart. SAG. Do slaves already love here? 25
TOX. What am I to do?

disne advorser? quasi Titani cum eis belligerem
quibus sat esse non queam?
SAG. Vide modo, ulmeae catapultae tuom ne transfigant latus.

Am I to set myself against the gods? as if I were waging war like the Titans with those with whom I cannot be a match?
with whom I cannot suffice?
SAG. Just see to it, lest the elm-wood catapults transfix your side.

TOX. Basilice agito eleutheria.
SAG. Quid iam? TOX. Quia erus peregri est.

TOX. I am royally celebrating Liberty.
SAG. What now? TOX. Because the master is abroad.

SAG. Ain tu, 29a
peregri est? TOX. Si tu tibi bene esse
pote pati, veni: vives mecum, 30a
basilico accipiere victu.
SAG. Vah, iam scapulae pruriunt, quia te istaec audivi loqui.

SAG. Do you say? 29a
He’s abroad? TOX. If you can allow yourself to be well off,
come: you will live with me, 30a
you will be received with royal fare.
SAG. Bah, already my shoulder-blades itch, because I have heard you say these things.

TOX. Sed hoc me unum excruciat. SAG. Quidnam id est?
TOX. Haec dies summa hodie est, mea amica sitne libera,
an sempiternam servitutem serviat.

TOX. But this one thing excruciates me. SAG. What then is that?
TOX. This is the supreme day today, whether my girlfriend be free, or serve sempiternal servitude.

SAG. Quid nunc vis ergo? 34a
TOX. <Facere ami>cum tibi me potis es sempiternum. SAG. Quem ad modum?
TOX. Vt mihi des nummos sescentos, quos pro capite illius pendam,
quos continuo tibi reponam in hoc triduo, aut quadriduo.

SAG. What do you want now, then? 34a
TOX. You can make me your friend sempiternal. SAG. How so?
TOX. That you give me six hundred coins, which I may pay as her head-price,
which I will promptly repay to you within this three-day, or four-day, period.

age fi benignus, subveni.
SAG. Qua confidentia rogare tu a med argentum tantum audes,
impudens? quin si egomet totus veneam, vix recipi potis est 40
quod tu me rogas; nam tu aquam a pumice nunc postulas,
qui ipsus sitiat.

Come, be kind, help.
SAG. With what confidence do you dare to ask so much silver from me, you impudent one? nay, if I myself entire were for sale, it could scarcely be recouped 40
what you ask of me; for you now demand water from a pumice-stone, which itself is thirsty.

TOX. Sicine hoc te mihi facere? SAG. Quid faciam?
TOX. Rogas?

TOX. Is this how you treat me? SAG. What am I to do?
TOX. You ask?

alicunde exora mutuom. SAG. Tu fac idem quod rogas me.
TOX. Quaesivi, nusquam repperi. SAG. Quaeram equidem, si quis credat.

From somewhere, beseech a loan. SAG. You do the same thing that you ask of me.
TOX. I have sought; I have found it nowhere. SAG. I will indeed seek, if anyone would give credit.

TOX. Nempe habeo in mundo. SAG. Si id domi esset mihi, iam pollicerer: 45
hoc meumst ut faciam sedulo. TOX. Quidquid erit, recipe te ad me.
quaere tamen, ego item sedulo.

TOX. Of course, I have it in readiness. SAG. If I had that at home, I would already be promising it: 45
this is my way, to do it sedulously. TOX. Whatever it will be, make your way back to me.
still, look for it; I likewise, sedulously.

SAG. Si quid erit, <te fac>iam ut scias.
TOX. *** obsecro te resecro<que>, operam da hanc mihi
fidelem. SAG. Ah, odio me enicas. 48a
TOX. Amoris vitio, non meo, nunc tibi morologus fio.

SAG. If anything comes up, I’ll see to it that you know.
TOX. *** I beseech you and re-beseech you, give me this faithful service.
SAG. Ah, you wear me out with annoyance. 48a
TOX. By love’s vice, not my own, I now become a babbler to you.

SAG. At pol ego aps te concessero.— TOX. Iamne abis? bene ambulato.
sed recipe quam primum potes, cave fuas mi in quaestione.

SAG. But, by Pollux, I will have withdrawn from you.— TOX. Are you going already? Walk well.
but return as soon as you can, take care I be not in a quest about you.

usque ero domi, dum excoxero lenoni malam <rem magnam>.—

I will be at home all the while, until I have cooked up for the pimp a bad <big matter>.—

I.ii
SATVRIO Veterem atque antiquom quaestum maio<rum meum>
servo atque obtineo et magna cum cura colo.
nam numquam quisquam meorum maiorum fuit, 55
quin parasitando paverint ventres suos:
pater, avos, proavos, abavos, atavos, tritavos
quasi mures semper edere alienum cibum,
neque edacitate eos quisquam poterat vincere;
atque eis cognomentum erat duris Capitonibus. 60
unde ego hunc quaestum optineo et maiorum locum.
neque quadrupulari me volo, neque enim decet
sine meo periclo ire aliena ereptum bona,
neque illi qui faciunt mihi placent.

I.ii
SATVRIO I keep and maintain the old and antique trade of my ancestors,
and I cultivate it with great care.
for never was there any one of my ancestors, 55
but that by parasitizing they fed their bellies:
father, grandsire, great-grandsire, great-great-grandsire, forefather, fore-forefather,
like mice always to eat another’s food,
nor could anyone surpass them in edacity;
and their cognomen was the Hard-Headed Capitones. 60
whence I hold this trade and the station of my elders.
nor do I wish to go on all fours, for it is not fitting
to go to snatch another’s goods without my own peril,
nor do those who do so please me.

planen loquor?
nam publicae rei causa quicumque id facit 65
magis quam sui quaesti, animus induci potest,
eum esse civem et fidelem et bonum.
sed * * *
si legirupam qui damnet, det in publicum 68a
dimidium; atque etiam in ea lege adscribier:
ubi quadrupulator quempiam iniexit manum,
tantidem ille illi rursus iniciat manum,
ut aequa parti prodeant ad tris viros:
si id fiat, ne isti faxim nusquam appareant,
qui hic albo rete aliena oppugnant bona.

Do I speak plainly?
For whoever does that for the sake of the public affair 65
rather than his own profit, one can be induced to think
that he is a citizen and faithful and good.
but * * *
if whoever convicts a law‑breaker should give into the public 68a
a half; and also let it be written into that law:
when an informer has laid hand upon someone,
let that man in turn lay hand upon him for just as much,
so that equal parties may go forth to the three men:
if that were done, I’d see to it those fellows never show up anywhere,
who here with a white net attack other people’s goods.

sed sumne ego stultus, qui rem curo publicam, 75
ubi sint magistratus, quos curare oporteat?
nunc huc intro ibo, visam hesternas reliquias,
quierintne recte necne, num afuerit febris,
opertaen fuerint, ne quis obreptaverit.
sed aperiuntur aedes, remorandust gradus. 80

but am I foolish, I who take care of the Republic, 75
when there are magistrates who ought to take care of it?
now I will go in here, I will look at yesterday’s leftovers,
whether they have rested properly or not, whether a fever has been absent,
whether they have been covered, so that no one has crept in.
but the house is being opened; my step must be delayed. 80

I.iii
TOXILVS Omnem rem inveni, ut sua sibi pecunia
hodie illam faciat leno libertam suam.
sed eccum parasitum, quoius mi auxilio est opus.
simulabo quasi non videam: ita alliciam virum.

I.iii
TOXILUS I have found the whole plan, so that with his own money today the pimp may make that girl his freedwoman.
But look, the parasite, whose aid I have need of.
I will simulate as though I do not see: thus I will allure the man.

curate istic vos atque adproperate ocius, 85
ne mihi morae sit quicquam, ubi ego intro advenero.
commisce mulsum, struthea ~ coluthequam appara,
bene ut in scutris concaleat, et calamum inice.
iam pol ille hic aderit, credo, congerro meus.

you there, see to it there and hurry up more quickly, 85
so that there be no delay for me, when I come in.
mix the mulsum, prepare the struthean ~ the colutheca,
so that it may warm well on the platters, and throw in the calamus.
now, by Pollux, he’ll be here, I believe, my comrade.

SAT. Me dicit, euge. TOX. Lautum credo e balineis 90
iam hic adfuturum. SAT. Vt ordine omnem rem tenet.

SAT. He means me—bravo. TOX. I think, washed from the baths, 90
he’ll be here right away. SAT. How he keeps the whole matter in order.

TOX. Collyrae facite ut madeant et colyphia,
ne mihi incocta detis. SAT. Rem loquitur meram.
nihili sunt crudae, nisi quas madidas gluttias;
tum nisi cremore crassost ius collyricum, 95
nihilist, macrum illud epicrocum pellucidum:
quasi ~iuream esse ius decet collyricum.

TOX. See that the collyrae get soaked and the colyphia too,
don’t give them to me uncooked. SAT. He speaks the sheer truth.
they’re worth nothing raw, unless you gulp them down sopping;
then, unless the collyric sauce is thick with cream, 95
it’s nothing—none of that lean, pellucid epicrocum:
it befits the collyric sauce to be, as it were, a iurea.

nolo in vesicam quod eat, in ventrem volo.
TOX. Prope me hic nescio quis loquitur. SAT. O mi Iuppiter
terrestris, te coepulonus compellat tuos. 100
TOX. O Saturio, opportune advenisti mihi.

I do not want what goes into the bladder; I want it into the belly.
TOX. Someone-or-other is speaking near me here. SAT. O my Earthly Jupiter, your caterer addresses you and yours. 100
TOX. O Saturio, you have come to me opportunely.

SAT. Mendacium edepol dicis, atque haud te decet:
nam essurio venio, non advenio saturio.
TOX. At edes, nam iam intus ventris fumant focula.
calefieri iussi reliquias.

SAT. By Pollux, you speak a lie, and it does not befit you:
for I come hungry, I do not arrive satiated.
TOX. But you will eat, for already within the belly the little hearths are smoking.
I have ordered the leftovers to be heated.

SAT. Pernam quidem 105
ius est adponi frigidam postridie.
TOX. Ita fieri iussi. SAT. Ecquid hallecis?

SAT. The ham indeed 105
it is right that it be served cold on the next day.
TOX. So I ordered it to be done. SAT. Any fish-brine?

TOX. Vah, rogas?
SAT. Sapis multum ad genium. TOX. Sed <tu>, ecquid meministi, here
qua de re ego tecum mentionem feceram?

TOX. Bah, you ask?
SAT. You are very wise to your genius. TOX. But <tu>, do you remember at all, sir,
about what matter I had made mention with you?

SAT. Memini: ut murena et conger ne calefierent; 110
nam nimio melius oppectuntur frigida.
sed quid cessamus proelium committere?
dum mane est, omnis esse mortalis decet.

SAT. I remember: that the muraena and the conger not be heated; 110
for by far they fare better cold.
But why do we delay to join battle?
While it is morning, it befits everyone to be mortal.

TOX. Nimis paene manest. SAT. Mane quod tu occeperis
negotium agere, id totum procedit diem. 115
TOX. Quaeso animum advorte hoc. iam heri narravi tibi
tecumque oravi, ut nummos sescentos mihi
dares utendos mutuos.

TOX. It’s almost too early. SAT. In the morning, the business which you have begun
to do proceeds the whole day. 115
TOX. Please advert your mind to this. Already yesterday I told you
and I pleaded with you, that you would give me six hundred coins
to lend me for use.

SAT. Memini et scio,
et te me orare et mihi non esse quod darem.
nihili parasitus est, cui argentum domi est: 120
lubido extemplo coeperest convivium,
tuburcinari de suo, si quid domi est.
cynicum esse egentem oportet parasitum probe:
ampullam, strigilem, scaphium, soccos, pallium,
marsuppium habeat, inibi paullum praesidi, 125
qui familiarem suam vitam oblectet modo.

SAT. I remember and I know,
both that you begged me and that I had not anything to give.
a parasite is worth nothing, who has silver at home: 120
straightway desire has begun for a banquet,
to swagger it at his own expense, if there is anything at home.
it is proper that a parasite be properly a needy Cynic:
let him have a flask, a strigil, a basin, slippers, a cloak,
a marsupium (purse), and therein a little provision, 125
with which he may just brighten his familiar life.

TOX. Iam nolo argentum: filiam utendam tuam
mihi da. SAT. Numquam edepol cuiquam etiam utendam dedi.
TOX. Non ad istuc quod tu insimulas. SAT. Quid eam vis?

TOX. I no longer want silver: give me your daughter on loan to me.
SAT. By Pollux, I have never given anyone even on loan.
TOX. Not for that which you insinuate.
SAT. What do you want her for?

TOX. Scies.
quia forma lepida et liberali est. SAT. Res itast. 130
TOX. Hic leno neque te novit neque gnatam tuam.

TOX. You will know.
because her form is charming and liberal. SAT. The matter is so. 130
TOX. This pimp neither knows you nor your daughter.

SAT. Me ut quisquam norit, nisi ille qui praebet cibum?
TOX. Ita est. hoc tu mihi reperire argentum potes.

SAT. That anyone should know me, except the one who provides food?
TOX. So it is. You can find this silver for me.

SAT. Cupio hercle. TOX. Tum tu me sine illam vendere.
SAT. Tun illam vendas?

SAT. I want to, by Hercules. TOX. Then you let me sell her.
SAT. You sell her?

TOX. Immo alium adlegavero 135
qui vendat, qui esse se peregrinum praedicet.
sicut istic leno non sex menses Megaribus
huc est cum commigravit. SAT. Pereunt reliquiae.

TOX. Rather, I will delegate another 135
to sell, who will proclaim himself to be a foreigner.
just as that pimp there moved here from Megara
not six months ago. SAT. The remnants perish.

posterius istuc tamen potest. TOX. Scin quam potest?
numquam hercle hodie hic prius edes, ne frustra sis, 140
quam te hoc facturum quod rogo adfirmas mihi;
atque nisi gnatam tecum huc iam quantum potest
adducis, exigam hercle ego te ex hac decuria.

That, however, can be later. TOX. Do you know how it can?
never, by Hercules, today will you eat here first—so you may not be here in vain—before you affirm to me that you will do this which I ask; 140
and unless you bring your daughter here with you now as quickly as possible, by Hercules I will drive you out from this decury.

quid nunc? quid est? quin dicis quid facturus sis?

what now? what is it? why don’t you say what you are about to do?

SAT. Quaeso hercle me quoque etiam vende, si lubet, 145
dum saturum vendas. TOX. Hoc, si facturu's, face.
SAT. Faciam equidem quae vis.

SAT. Please, by Hercules, sell me too as well, if it pleases, 145
provided that you sell me sated. TOX. This, if you’re going to do it, do.
SAT. I will indeed do what you wish.

TOX. Bene facis. propera, abi domum;
praemonstra docte, praecipe astu filiae,
quid fabuletur: ubi se natam praedicet,
qui sibi parentes fuerint, unde surpta sit. 150
sed longe ab Athenis esse se gnatam autumet;
et ut adfleat, cum ea memoret. SAT. Etiam tu taces?

TOX. You do well. Hurry, go home;
coach skillfully, instruct with craft your daughter,
what tale she should tell: where she should proclaim herself born,
who her parents were, from where she was stolen. 150
but let her aver that she was born far from Athens;
and that she should weep when she mentions these things. SAT. Are you still silent?

ter tanto peior ipsa est quam illam tu esse vis.
TOX. Lepide hercle dicis. sed scin quid facias?

she herself is thrice so much worse than you want that woman to be.
TOX. Cleverly, by Hercules, you speak. but do you know what you should do?

cape
tunicam atque zonam, et chlamydem adferto et causeam, 155
quam ille habeat qui hanc lenoni huic vendat. SAT. Eu, probe.
TOX. Quasi sit peregrinus.

take
a tunic and a girdle, and bring a chlamys and a causia, 155
which that fellow should have who is to sell this girl to this leno here. SAT. Bravo, excellent. TOX. As if he were a foreigner.

SAT. Laudo. TOX. Et tu gnatam tuam
ornatam adduce lepide in peregrinum modum.
SAT. Pothen ornamenta?

SAT. I approve. TOX. And
your daughter
bring along adorned, nicely in a foreign fashion.
SAT. Whence the ornaments?

TOX. Abs chorago sumito;
dare debet: praebenda aediles locaverunt. 160
SAT. Iam faxo hic aderunt. sed ego nihil horunc scio.
TOX. Nihil hercle vero.

TOX. Take it from the choragus;
he ought to give it: the aediles have let out the things-to-be-provided. 160
SAT. I’ll see to it they’re here at once. But I know nothing of these fellows.
TOX. Nothing, by Hercules, truly.

nam ubi ego argentum accepero,
continuo tu illam a lenone adserito manu.
SAT. Sibi habeat, si non extemplo ab eo abduxero.—
TOX. Abi et istuc cura. interibi ego puerum volo 165
mittere ad amicam meam, ut habeat animum bonum,
me esse effecturum <hoc> hodie.

for when I shall have received the silver,
immediately you assert her with the hand from the pimp.
SAT. Let him keep her for himself, if I do not straightway lead her off from him.—
TOX. Go and take care of that. In the meantime I want 165
to send a boy to my girlfriend, so that she may have good courage,
that I will bring <this> to pass today.

nimis longum loquor.—

I am talking too long.—

ACTVS II

ACT II

II.i
SOPHOCLIDISCA Satis fuit indoctae, immemori, insipienti dicere totiens.
nimis tandem me quidem pro barda et pro rustica reor habitam esse aps te.
quamquam ego vinum bibo, at mandata non consuevi simul bibere una. 170
me quidem iam satis tibi spectatam censebam esse et meos mores.
nam equidem te iam sector quintum hunc annum, quom interea, credo,
ovis si in ludum iret, potuisset iam fieri ut probe litteras sciret,
quom interim tu meum ingenium fans atque infans nondum etiam edidicisti.

2.1
SOPHOCLIDISCA It would have sufficed to say it so often to an unlearned, unmindful, insipient woman.
at length I, for my part, think I have been held by you as too much of a blockhead and a rustic.
although I drink wine, yet I have not been accustomed to drink down mandates together with it at the same time. 170
I, for my part, already thought myself and my mores to have been sufficiently tested by you. For indeed I have been attending you now this fifth year, while meanwhile, I believe,
if a sheep were to go to school, by now it could have come to know its letters properly,
while in the meantime you have not yet even thoroughly learned my nature, whether speaking or silent.

potin ut taceas? potin ne moneas? 175
memini et scio et calleo et commemini.
amas pol misera: id tuos scatit animus.

can you be silent? can you not admonish? 175
i remember and i know and i am well-versed and i recall.
you are in love, by Pollux, poor wretch: with that your spirit gushes.

ego istuc placidum tibi ut sit faciam.
LEMNISELENIS Miser est qui amat.— SOPH. Certo is quidem nihilist,
qui nil amat: quid ei homini opus vita est? 180
ire decet me, ut erae opsequens fiam, libera ea opera ocius ut sit.
conveniam hunc Toxilum: eius auris, quae mandata sunt, onerabo.

I will make that to be placid for you.
LEMNISELENIS Wretched is he who loves.— SOPH. Surely he indeed is a nihilist,
who loves nothing: what need has that man of life? 180
it befits me to go, that I may become obsequious to my mistress, so that she may be free the sooner in her service.
I will meet this Toxilus: I will load his ears with the mandates that have been given.

II.ii
TOXILVS Satin haec tibi sunt plana et certa? satin haec meministi et tenes?
PAEGNIVM Melius quam tu qui docuisti.

II.ii
TOXILVS Are these clear and certain enough for you? Do you remember these and do you keep them?
PAEGNIVM Better than you, who taught them.

TOX. Ain vero, verbereum caput?
P. Aio enim vero. T. Quid ergo dixi?

TOX. Is that so, you whipping‑head?
P. Yes indeed, I do. T. What then did I say?

P. Ego recte apud illam dixero. 185
TOX. Non edepol scis. PAEG. Da hercle pignus, ni omnia memini et scio,
et quidem si scis tute, quot hodie habeas digitos in manu.
TOX. Egon dem pignus tecum?

P. I shall have spoken rightly with that woman. 185
TOX. By Pollux, you do not know. PAEG. Give a pledge, by Hercules, if I do not remember and know everything,
and indeed if you yourself even know how many digits you have on your hand today.
TOX. Am I to give a pledge with you?

PAEG. Audacter, si lubido est perdere.
T. Bona pax sit potius. P. Tum tu igitur sine me ire.

PAEG. Boldly, if the desire is to lose.
T. Let there be good peace rather. P. Then you, therefore, let me go.

T. Et iubeo et sino;
sed ita volo te ire, ut domi sis, cum ego te esse illi censeam. 190
PAEG. Faciam. TOX. Quo ergo is nunc? PAEG. Domum: uti domi sim, quom
illi censeas.

T. And I both order and allow it;
but I want you to go in such a way that you are at home, when I assess you to be with her. 190
PAEG. I will do so. TOX. Where are you going now, then? PAEG. Home: so that I may be at home, when
you assess me to be with her.

TOX. Scelus tu pueri es, atque ob istanc rem ego aliqui te peculiabo.
PAEG. Scio fide hercle erili ut soleat impudicitia opprobrari
nec subigi queantur umquam, ut pro ea fide habeant iudicem.
T. Abi modo.

TOX. You miscreant, boy, and on account of that thing I’ll somehow mulct you of your peculium.
PAEG. I know, by Hercules, that impudicity is wont to be made an opprobrium against a master’s fidelity,
nor can they ever be compelled to have a judge on behalf of that fidelity.
T. Be off now.

P. Ego laudabis faxo. T. Sed has tabellas, Paegnium, 195
ipsi Lemniseleni fac des et quae iussi nuntiato.
SOPH. Cesso ire ego quo missa sum?

P. I’ll make it so you will laud me. T. But these tablets, Paegnium, 195
see that you give to Lemniselenus himself, and announce what I have ordered.
SOPH. Do I delay to go where I have been sent?

P. Eo ego. T. I sane. ego domum ibo.

P. I go. T. Go indeed. I will go home.

face rem hanc cum cura geras.
vola curriculo.— PAEG. Istuc marinus passer per circum solet.
illic hinc abiit intro huc.

see that you carry this matter out with care.
fly at a run.— PAEG. A marine sparrow is accustomed to that around the Circus.
that fellow has gone from here inside, in here.

sed quis haec est quae med advorsum incedit? 200
S. Paegnium hic quidem est. P. Sophoclidisca haec peculiarest eius
quo ego sum missus. S. Nullus esse hodie hoc puero peior perhibetur.

but who is this who is advancing toward me? 200
S. This here is Paegnium, indeed. P. This is Sophoclidisca; she is the peculiar (personal) property of him to whom I have been sent.
S. No one today is reported to be worse than this boy.

PAEG. Compellabo. SOPH. Commorandust. PAEG. Standumst apud hanc obieci *
SOPH. Paegnium, deliciae pueri, salve.

PAEG. I will address her. SOPH. We must linger. PAEG. I must stand by this woman I have set my sights on *
SOPH. Paegnium, darling of the boy, hello.

quid agis? ut vales?
PAEG. Sophoclidisca, di me amabunt.

what are you doing? how are you?
PAEG. Sophoclidisca, the gods will love me.

SOPH. Quid me? PAEG. Vtrum 205
hercle <di volent>;
sed si ut digna es faciant, odio hercle habeant et faciant male.
SOPH. Mitte male loqui. PAEG. Quom ut digna es dico, bene, non male loquor.

SOPH. Why me? PAEG. Whether 205
by Hercules, ;
but if they do as you deserve, by Hercules, let them hold you in hatred and do you ill.
SOPH. Stop speaking ill. PAEG. When I say as you deserve, I speak well, not ill.

SOPH. Quid agis? PAEG. Feminam scelestam te astans contra contuor.
SOPH. Certe equidem puerum peiorem quam te novi neminem.

SOPH. What are you doing? PAEG. I stare at you, a wicked woman, as you stand opposite.
SOPH. Surely indeed I know no boy worse than you.

PAEG. Quid male facio aut quoi male dico? SOPH. Quoi pol cumque 210
occasio est.
PAEG. Nemo homo umquam ita arbitratust.

PAEG. What wrong do I do, or to whom do I speak ill? SOPH. To whomever, by Pollux, whenever 210
the occasion is.
PAEG. No man ever has judged thus.

SOPH. At pol multi esse ita sciunt.
PAEG. Heia. SOPH. Beia.

SOPH. But, by Pollux,
many know it to be so.
PAEG. Hah. SOPH. Bah.

PAEG. Tuo ex ingenio mores alienos probas.
SOPH. Fateor ego profecto me esse ut decet lenonis familiae.
PAEG. Satis iam dictum habeo.

PAEG. From your own disposition you judge others’ morals.
SOPH. I indeed confess that I am as befits the household of a pimp.
PAEG. I have said enough now.

SOPH. Sed quid tu? confitere ut te autumo?
PAEG. Fatear, si ita sim. SOPH. Iam abi, vicisti.

SOPH. But what about you? Will you confess as I reckon you to be?
PAEG. I would confess, if I am so. SOPH. Now be off, you have won.

PAEG. Abi nunciam ergo.   215
    SOPH. Hoc mi expedi,
quo agis? PAEG. Quo tu? SOPH. Dic tu. <PAEG. Dic tu. SOPH.> Prior
      rogavi. PAEG. At post scies.

PAEG. Go now then.   215
    SOPH. Explain this to me,
where are you going? PAEG. Where are you? SOPH. You say. <PAEG.
You say. SOPH.> I asked
      first. PAEG. But afterwards you will know.

SOPH. Eo ego hinc haud longe. PAEG. Et quidem ego haud longe <hinc eo>.
SOPH. Quo ergo <is>, scelus?
PAEG. Nisi sciero prius ex te, tu ex me numquam hoc quod rogitas scies.

SOPH. I am going not far from here. PAEG. And indeed I am not going far <I go from here>.
SOPH. Where then <are you going>, scoundrel?
PAEG. Unless I learn first from you, you will never know from me this which you ask.

SOPH. Numquam ecastor hodie scibis prius quam ex te audivero.
PAEG. Itane est? SOPH. Itane est.

SOPH. By Castor, you will never know today before I have heard from you.
PAEG. Is that so? SOPH. It is so.

PAEG. Mala es. SOPH. Scelestu's. 220
PAEG. Decet me. SOPH. Me quidem addecet.
PAEG. Quid ais? certumnest celare, quo iter facias, pessuma?

PAEG. You are bad. SOPH. You’re a scoundrel. 220
PAEG. It befits me. SOPH. Indeed it befits me.
PAEG. What do you say? Is it settled to conceal where you make your journey, you worst wretch?

SOPH. Offirmastin occultare quo te immittas, pessume?
PAEG. Par pari respondes dicto. abi iam, quando ita certa res.

SOPH. Have you steeled yourself to hide where you will thrust yourself, worst wretch?
PAEG. You respond with a like word to a like. Be off now, since the matter is thus settled.

nihili facio scire. valeas. SOPH. Asta.

I care nothing to know. Farewell. SOPH. Stand.

PAEG. At propero. SOPH. Et pol ego item.
PAEG. Ecquid habes?

PAEG. But I’m hurrying. SOPH. And by Pollux, I likewise.
PAEG. Have you anything?

SOPH. Ecquid tu? PAEG. Nil equidem. SOPH. 225
Cedo manum ergo. PAEG. Estne haec manus?

SOPH. Anything from you? PAEG. Nil, indeed. SOPH. 225
Give me your hand then. PAEG. Is this the hand?

SO. Vbi illa altera est furtifica laeva? PA. Domi eccam. huc nullam attuli.

SO. Where is that other thievish left hand? PA. At home—look, there it is; I brought none here.

SOPH. Habes nescio quid. PAEG. Ne me attrecta, subigitatrix. SOPH. Sin
te amo?

SOPH. You have I-know-not-what. PAEG. Do not touch me, subjugatrix. SOPH. But if
I love you?

PAEG. Male operam locas. SOPH. Qui? PAEG. Quia enim nihil amas, quom
ingratum amas.

PAEG. You’re placing your effort badly. SOPH. How? PAEG. Because in fact you love nothing, when
you love the ungrateful.

SOPH. Temperi hanc vigilare oportet formulam atque aetatulam,
ne, ubi versicapillus fias, foede semper servias. 230
tu quidem haud etiam es octoginta pondo. PAEG. At confidentia
illa militia militatur multo magis quam pondere.
atque ego hanc [nunc] operam perdo.

SOPH. It is timely to keep vigil over this form and little age, lest, when you become gray‑haired, you always serve foully. 230
you indeed are not even eighty pounds. PAEG. But in that soldiery, soldiering is done much more by confidence than by weight.
and I am wasting this effort [now].

SOPH. Quid iam? PAEG. Quia peritae
praedico.
sed ego cesso.

SOPH. What now? PAEG. Because to the experienced
I proclaim.
but I linger.

SOPH. Mane. PAEG. Molesta es. SOPH. Ergo <ero> quoque,
nisi scio,
quo agas te. PAEG. Ad vos. SOPH. Et pol ego ad vos.

SOPH. Wait. PAEG. You’re annoying. SOPH. Then I <will be> too,
unless I know,
where you are going. PAEG. To you. SOPH. And by Pollux, I too to you.

PAEG. Quid eo? 235
SOPH. Quid id ad te attinet?
PA. Enim non ibis nunc, vicissim nisi scio. SO. Odiosu's. PA. Lubet.

PAEG. Why there? 235
SOPH. What does that pertain to you?
PA. For you will not go now, in turn, unless I know. SO. You're odious. PA. It pleases.

numquam hercle istuc exterebrabis, tu ut sis peior quam ego siem.
SOPH. Malitia certare tecum miseria est. PAEG. Mers tu mala es.
SO. Quid est quod metuas?

never, by Hercules, will you pull that off—that you should be worse than I am.
SOPH. To contend with you in malice is misery. PAEG. Why, you are bad.
SO. What is there that you fear?

PA. Idem istuc quod tu. SO. Dic ergo ***
[ne hoc cuiquam homini edicerem, omnes muti ut loquerentur prius.] 240
PA. Edictum est magno opere mihi, ne quoiquam hoc homini crederem,
omnes muti ut eloquerentur prius hoc quam ego. SO. At tu hoc face:
fide data credamus. PAEG. Novi: omnes sunt lenae levifidae,
neque tippulae levius pondust, quam fides lenonia.

PA. The same thing as you. SO.
Say then ***
[that I should not declare this to any man, that all the mute would speak first.] 240
PA. It has been most strenuously enjoined upon me that I should not entrust this to any man, that all the mute should speak out this before I do. SO. But do this: with faith given, let us give credit. PAEG. I know: all procuresses are of slight fidelity, nor is a gnat’s weight lighter than a procuress’s fidelity.

SO. Dic amabo. PA. Dic amabo. SO. Nolo ames.

SO. Say, please. PA. Say, please. SO. I do not want you to “love.”

PA. Facile impetras. 245
SOPH. Tecum habeto. PAEG. Et tu hoc taceto. SOPH. Tacitum erit.

PA. You easily obtain it. 245
SOPH. Keep it to yourself. PAEG. And you keep this quiet. SOPH. It will be kept quiet.

PAEG.
Celabitur.
SOPH. Toxilo has fero tabellas tuo ero. PAEG. Abi, eccillum domi.

PAEG.
It will be concealed.
SOPH. I am carrying these tablets to your master for Toxilus. PAEG. Be off, look, there he is at home.

at ego hanc ad Lemniselenem tuam eram opsignatam abietem.
SOPH. Quid istic scriptum? PAEG. Iuxta tecum, si tu nescis, nescio;
nisi fortasse blanda verba.

but I had this fir-wood tablet sealed and addressed to your Lemniselenis.
SOPH. What is written there? PAEG. Just as much as you: if you don’t know, I don’t know;
unless perhaps flattering words.

SOPH. Abeo. PAEG. Et ego abiero.— 250
SOPH. Ambula.—

SOPH. I’m off. PAEG. And I’m off too.— 250
SOPH. Move along.—

II.iii
SAGARISTIO Iovi opulento, incluto,
Ope gnato, supremo, valido, viripotenti,
opes, spes bonas, copias commodanti
*** lubens vitulorque merito,
quia meo amico amiciter hanc commoditatis copiam 255
danunt, argenti mutui ut ei egenti opem adferam;
quod ego non magis somniabam neque opinabar neque censebam,
eam fore mihi occasionem, ea nunc quasi decidit de caelo;
nam erus meus me Eretriam misit, domitos boves ut sibi mercarer,
dedit argentum, nam ibi mercatum dixit esse die septumi: 260
stultus, qui hoc mihi daret argentum, cuius ingenium noverat.
nam hoc argentum alibi abutar: boves, quos emerem, non erant;
nunc et amico prosperabo et genio meo multa bona faciam,
diu quo bene erit, die uno absolvam: tux tax tergo erit meo. non curo.

II.iii
SAGARISTIO To opulent Jove, illustrious, born of Ops, supreme, strong, man‑potent,
bestower of resources, good hopes, supplies,
*** gladly I sacrifice a calf, and deservedly,
because to my friend they, in friendly fashion, grant this abundance of convenience 255
that, with loaned silver, I may bring aid to him in need;
which I was no more dreaming nor supposing nor reckoning
would be my opportunity—now it has, as if fallen from the sky;
for my master sent me to Eretria, that I might buy for him broken‑in oxen,
he gave silver, for he said there was a market there on the seventh day: 260
a fool, to give me this silver, whose disposition he knew.
for I will misuse this silver elsewhere: the oxen that I would buy were not there;
now I will prosper my friend and do many good things for my Genius;
what would be well for a long time I will finish in a single day: tux tax will be on my back. I do not care.

nunc amico homini boves domitos mea ex crumina largiar. 265
nam id demum lepidumst, triparcos homines, vetulos, avidos, aridos
bene admordere, qui salinum servo obsignant cum sale.
virtus, ubi occasio admonet, dispicere. quid faciet mihi?

now I will bestow as largess upon my friend broken‑in oxen from my purse. 265
for that at last is the charming thing, to bite well into thrice‑sparing men, old, avid, arid
who seal the saltcellar, salt and all, against the slave.
virtue is, when occasion admonishes, to discern. What will he do to me?

verberibus caedi iusserit, compedes impingi? vapulet,
ne sibi me credat supplicem fore: vae illi, nil iam mihi novi 270
offerre potest, quin sim peritus. sed *** Toxili
puerum Paegnium eccum. 271a

Should he order me to be beaten with blows, to have shackles clapped on? Let him be thrashed,
so that he may not believe that I will be a suppliant to him: woe to him, nothing now new to me 270
can he offer, without my being experienced at it. But *** Look—Toxilus’s
boy Paegnium—here he is. 271a

II.iv
PAEGNIVM Pensum meum, quod datumst, confeci. nunc domum propero. SAG.
Mane, etsi properas.

II.iv
PAEGNIVM My task, which was given, I have completed. Now I hasten home. SAG.
Wait, even if you are in a hurry.

Paegnium, ausculta. PA. Emere oportet, quem tibi oboedire velis. S. Asta.

Paegnium, listen. PA. You ought to buy the one whom you wish to obey you. S. Stand.

PAEG. Exhibeas molestiam, ut opinor, si quid debeam,
qui nunc sic tamen es molestus. SAG. Scelerate, etiam respicis? 275
PAEG. Scio ego quid sim aetatis, eo istuc maledictum impune auferes.
SAG. Vbi Toxilus est tuus erus?

PAEG. You would show annoyance, I suppose, if I owed anything, you who even now are troublesome like this. SAG. Villain, do you even look back? 275
PAEG. I know what age I am; for that reason you will carry off that insult with impunity.
SAG. Where is Toxilus, your master?

PAEG. Vbi illi libet, neque te consulit.
SAG. Etiam
dicis ubi sit, venefice?
PAEG. Nescio, inquam, ulmitriba tu.
SAG. Male dicis maiori.

PAEG. Where it pleases him, and he does not consult you.
SAG. Are you even
saying where he is, sorcerer?
PAEG. I don't know, I say, you elm-tramp.
SAG. You speak ill to your superior.

PAEG. Prior promeritus perpetiare. 280
servam operam, linguam liberam erus iussit med habere. 280a
SAG. Dicisne mi, ubi sit Toxilus? PAEG. Dico ut perpetuo pereas.
SAG. Caedere hodie tu restibus.

PAEG. You, being first to have deserved it, keep enduring. 280
The master ordered me to have a slave’s service, a free tongue. 280a
SAG. Do you tell me, where Toxilus is? PAEG. I say: that you may forever perish.
SAG. You’ll be beaten today with ropes.

PAEG. Tua quidem, cucule, causa!
non hercle, si os perciderim tibi, metuam, morticine.
SAG. Video ego te: iam incubitatus es. PAEG. Ita sum.

PAEG. Indeed, on your account, cuckoo!
not, by Hercules, if I smash your face, shall I fear, you little corpse.
SAG. I see you: now you are sat upon. PAEG. So I am.

quid id ad te [attinet]?
at non sum, ita ut tu, gratiis. SAG. Confidens. PAEG. Sum hercle vero. 285
nam ego me confido liberum fore, tu te numquam speras.

What does that [pertain] to you?
but I am not, as you are, gratis. SAG. Confident. PAEG.
I am, by Hercules, indeed. 285
for I am confident I shall be free; you never hope it for yourself.

SAG. Potin ut molestus ne sies? PAEG. Quod dicis facere non quis.
SA. Abi in malam rem.

SAG. Could you not be troublesome? PAEG. What you say to do, I cannot.
SA. Go to the devil.

PA. At tu domum: nam ibi tibi parata praestost.
SAG. Vadatur hic me. PAEG. Vtinam vades desint, in carcere ut sis.
SAG. Quid hoc?

PA. But you go home: for there what is prepared is ready for you.
SAG. This fellow goes bail for me. PAEG. Would that the sureties be lacking, so that you may be in prison.
SAG. What’s this?

PAEG. Quid est? SAG. Etiam, scelus, male loquere? 290
PAEG. Tandem ut liceat,
quom servos sis, servom tibi male dicere. SAG. Itane?

PAEG. What is it? SAG. Still, you criminal, do you speak ill? 290
PAEG. At least let it be permitted,
since you are a slave, for a slave to speak ill to you. SAG. Is that so?

specta
quid dedero. PAEG. Nil, nam nil habes. SAG. Di deaeque me omnes perdant—
PAEG. Amicus sum, eveniant volo tibi quae optas.

Look—
what I’ll give you. PAEG. Nothing, for you have nothing. SAG. May all the gods and goddesses
destroy me—
PAEG. I’m a friend; I want what you wish to come to pass for you.

SAG. Atque id fiat,
nisi te hodie, si prehendero, defigam in terram colaphis.
PAEG. Tun me defigas? te cruci ipsum adfigent propediem alii. 295
SAG. Qui te di deaeque— scis quid hinc porro dicturus fuerim,
ni linguae moderari queam.

SAG. And let that be done,
unless today, if I catch you, I nail you to the ground with cuffs.
PAEG. You’d nail me? others will affix you yourself to the cross before long. 295
SAG. How the gods and goddesses— you know what further I would have said from here,
if I were not able to moderate my tongue.

potin abeas? PAEG. Abigis facile.
nam umbra mea iam intus vapulat.— SAG. Vt istunc di deaeque perdant.

can you be off? PAEG. You drive off easily.
for my shadow is already being flogged inside.— SAG. May the gods and goddesses destroy that fellow.

tamquam proserpens bestiast bilinguis et scelestus.
hercle illum abiisse gaudeo. foris aperit, eccere autem 300
quem convenire maxime cupiebam egreditur intus.

just like a creeping beast he is two-tongued and wicked.
by Hercules, I rejoice that he has gone away. he opens the door—lo, however, 300
the one whom I most desired to meet is coming out from inside.

II.v
TOXILVS Paratum iam esse dicito, unde argentum sit futurum,
iubeto habere animum bonum, dic me illam amare multum;
ubi se adiuvat, ibi me adiuvat. quae dixi ut nuntiares,
satin ea tenes? SOPHOCLIDISCA Magis calleo quam aprugnum callum 305
callet.—
TOX. Propera, abi domum.

2.5
TOXILVS Say that it is already prepared whence the silver will be forthcoming; bid her have good cheer, say that I love her much; where she helps herself, there she helps me. The things I told you to announce—do you have them down well enough? SOPHOCLIDISCA I know it better than a boar’s callus 305
knows.—
TOX. Hurry, go home.

*** SAG. Nunc ego huic graphice facetus fiam.
subnixis alis me inferam atque amicibor gloriose.
TOX. Sed quis hic ansatus ambulat?

*** SAG. Now I will become to him graphically facetious.
upborne on wings I will carry myself in and I will befriend him gloriously.
TOX. But who is this ansate fellow walking?

SAG. Magnifice conscreabor.
TOX. Sagaristio hic quidemst. quid agitur, Sagaristio?

SAG. I shall be magnificently consecrated.
TOX. Here indeed is Sagaristio. What’s going on, Sagaristio?

ut valetur?
ecquid, quod mandavi tibi, ~estne in te speculae? SAG. Adito. 310
videbitur.

how are you?
anything, as to what I commanded you, ~is there in you a lookout? SAG. Go in. 310
it will be seen.

factum volo. venito. promoneto.

I will it done. Come. Admonish beforehand.

TOX. Quid hoc hic in collo tibi tumet? SAG. Vomicast, pressare parce;
nam ubi qui mala tangit manu, dolores cooriuntur.
TOX. Quando istaec innatast tibi?

TOX. What is this swelling here on your neck? SAG. It’s a vomica; refrain from pressing;
for whenever someone touches a bad spot with the hand, pains arise.
TOX. When did that grow on you?

SAG. Hodie. TOX. Secari iubeas.
SAG. Metuo, ne immaturam secem, ne exhibeat plus negoti. 315
TOX. Inspicere morbum tuom lubet.

SAG. Today. TOX. Order it to be cut.
SAG. I fear lest I cut it prematurely, lest it exhibit more trouble. 315
TOX. It pleases me to inspect your disease.

SAG. Ah ah, abi atque cave sis
a cornu. TOX. Quid iam? SAG. Quia boves bini hic sunt in crumina.

SAG. Ah ah, go away and please beware
of the horn. TOX. What now? SAG. Because pairs of oxen are here
in the purse.

TOX. Emitte sodes, ne enices fame; sine ire pastum.
SAG. Enim metuo, ut possim reicere in bubile, ne vagentur.
TOX. Ego reiciam.

TOX. Let them out, please, so you don’t kill them with hunger; allow them to go to pasture.
SAG. Indeed I fear whether I can drive them back into the byre, lest they wander.
TOX. I will drive them back.

habe animum bonum. SAG. Credetur, commodabo. 320
sequere hac sis. argentum hic inest, quod mecum dudum orasti.

have a good spirit. SAG. It will be believed, I will lend. 320
follow this way, please. silver is in here, which you begged from me a little while ago.

TOX. Quid tu ais? SAG. Dominus me bovis mercatum Eretriam misit.
nunc mi Eretria erit haec tua domus.

TOX. What do you say? SAG. My master has sent me to Eretria to buy oxen.
now, for me, this your house will be Eretria.

TOX. Nimis tu facete loquere.
atque ego omne argentum tibi hoc actutum incolume redigam;
nam iam omnes sycophantias instruxi et comparavi, 325
quo pacto ab lenone auferam hoc argentum, SAG. Tanto melior.
TOX. Et mulier ut sit libera atque ipse ultro det argentum.

TOX. You speak too facetiously.
and I will forthwith render all this silver (money) back to you safe and sound;
for already I have arrayed and prepared all the tricks (sycophancies), 325
by what method I may carry off this silver from the pander. SAG. So much the better.
TOX. And that the woman may be free, and that he himself of his own accord hand over the silver.

sed sequere me: ad eam rem usus est tua mihi opera.—SA. Vtere ut vis.—

but follow me: for that business I have use of your service.—SA. Use me as you wish.—

ACTVS III

ACT 3

III.i
SATVRIO Quae res bene vortat mi et tibi et ventri meo
perennitatique adeo huic, perpetuo cibus 330
ut mihi supersit, suppetat, superstitet:
sequere hac, mea gnata, me, cum dis volentibus.
quoi rei opera detur scis, tenes, intellegis;
communicavi tecum consilia omnia.
ea causa ad hoc exemplum te exornavi ego. 335
venibis tu hodie, virgo.

III.i
SATVRIO May this matter turn out well for me and for you and for my belly
and for this perennity here besides, that perpetual food 330
may remain to me, be at hand, stand by:
follow this way, my daughter, me, with the gods willing.
what matter effort is being given you know, you hold, you understand;
I have communicated all counsels with you.
for that cause to this exemplar I have adorned you. 335
you will be sold today, maiden.

VIRGO Amabo, mi pater,
quamquam libenter escis alienis studes,
tuin ventris causa filiam vendas tuam?
SAT. Mirum quin regis Philippi causa aut Attali
te potius vendam quam mea, quae sis mea. 340
VIR. Vtrum tu pro ancilla me habes an pro filia?
SAT. Vtrum hercle magis in ventris rem videbitur.

VIRGO Please, my father,
although you gladly are eager for others’ victuals,
for your belly’s sake will you sell your daughter?
SAT. A wonder if for the cause of King Philip or of Attalus
I would rather sell you than for my own, you who are mine. 340
VIR. Do you hold me as a handmaid or as a daughter?
SAT. Whichever, by Hercules, shall seem more to the belly’s concern.

meum, opino, imperiumst in te, non in me tibi.
VIR. Tua istaec potestas est, pater. verum tamen,
quamquam res nostrae sunt, pater, pauperculae, 345
modice et modeste meliust vitam vivere;
nam ad paupertatem si admigrant infamiae,
gravior paupertas fit, fides sublestior.

my authority, I suppose, is over you, not yours over me.
VIR. That power is yours, father. Yet even so,
although our resources, father, are rather poor, 345
it is better to live life moderately and modestly;
for if infamies immigrate to poverty,
poverty becomes graver, credit more unsound.

SAT. Enim vero odiosa es. VIR. Non sum, neque me esse arbitror,
quom parva natu recte praecipio patri. 350
nam inimici famam non ita ut natast ferunt.
SAT. Ferant eantque maximam malam crucem;
neque ego inimicitias omnes pluris existimo,
quam mensa inanis nunc si apponatur mihi.
VIR. Pater, hominum immortalis est infamia; 355
etiam tum vivit, cum esse credas mortuam.

SAT. For indeed you are odious. VIR. I am not, nor do I think myself to be,
when, being young, I rightly admonish my father. 350
for enemies do not bear fame just as it was born.
SAT. Let them bear it and go to the very greatest evil cross;
nor do I esteem all enmities more
than if an empty table were now set before me. VIR. Father, the infamy of men is immortal; 355
it lives even then, when you would believe it to be dead.

SAT. Quid? metuis, ne te vendam? VIR. Non metuo, pater.

SAT. What? Do you fear, lest I sell you? VIR. I do not fear, father.

verum insimulari nolo. SAT. At nequiquam nevis.
meo modo istuc potius fiet quam tuo
fiat.

but I do not wish to be accused. SAT. But in vain you strive.
in my mode that will rather be done than in yours be done
be done.

quae hae res sunt? VIR. Cogita hoc verbum, pater: 360
erus si minatus est malum servo suo,
tametsi id futurum non est, ubi captumst flagrum,
dum tunicas ponit, quanta adficitur miseria!
ego nunc quod non futurumst formido tamen.

What are these things? VIR. Consider this word, father: 360
if a master has menaced harm to his servant,
although it will not come to pass, when the scourge is seized,
while he is putting off his tunics, to what misery he is subjected!
I now, though it will not come to pass, nevertheless dread it.

SAT. Virgo atque mulier nulla erit quin sit mala, 365
quae praeter sapiet quam placet parentibus.
VIR. Virgo atque mulier nulla erit quin sit mala,
quae reticet, si quid fieri pervorse videt.
SAT. Malo cavere meliust te. VIR. At si non licet
cavere, quid agam?

SAT. There will be no virgin nor woman but that she be wicked, 365
who will be wise beyond what pleases her parents.
VIR. There will be no virgin nor woman but that she be wicked,
who keeps silent, if she sees anything being done perversely.
SAT. It is better for you to beware of evil. VIR. But if it is not permitted
to beware, what am I to do?

nam ego tibi cautum volo. 370
SA. Malusne ego sum? VI. Non es, neque me dignumst dicere,
verum ei rei operam do, ne alii dicant, quibus licet.
SAT. Dicat quod quisque volt; ego de hac sententia
non demovebor.

for I want you safeguarded. 370
SA. Am I wicked? VI. You are not, nor is it proper for me to say so,
but I give effort to that matter, lest others say it, to whom it is permitted.
SAT. Let each say what he wishes; I will not be moved from this opinion.

VIR. At, meo si liceat modo,
sapienter potius facias quam stulte. SAT. Lubet. 375
VIR. Lubere per me tibi licere intellego;
verum lubere hau lubeat, si liceat mihi.
SAT. Futura es dicto oboediens an non patri?

VIR. But, if it were permitted in my way,
you would do more wisely rather than foolishly. SAT. I like it. 375
VIR. I understand that, so far as I am concerned, it is permitted you to like it;
but liking it would not please me, if it were permitted to me.
SAT. Will you be obedient to your father’s word or not?

VIR. Futura. SAT. Scis iam tibi quae praecepi? VIR. Omnia.

VIR. I will be. SAT. Do you now know what precepts I have given to you? VIR. All of them.

SAT. Et ut surrupta fueris? VIR. Docte calleo. 380
SAT. Et qui parentes fuerint? VIR. Habeo in memoria.

SAT. And how you were surreptitiously carried off? VIR. Learned sir, I am well-versed. 380
SAT. And who your parents were? VIR. I have it in memory.

necessitate me mala ut fiam facis.
verum videto, me ubi voles nuptum dare,
ne haec fama faciat repudiosas nuptias.
SAT. Tace, stulta.

You drive me, by evil necessity, to become so.
But see to it, when you wish to give me in marriage,
lest this rumor make the nuptials repudiated.
SAT. Be silent, foolish girl.

non tu nunc hominum mores vides? 385
quoivis modi hic cum [mala] fama facile nubitur:
dum dos sit, nullum vitium vitio vortitur.
VIR. Ergo istuc facito ut veniat in mentem tibi,
me esse indotatam. SAT. Cave sis tu istuc dixeris.

Do you not now see the mores of men? 385
here, with a [bad] reputation of whatever sort, one is easily wedded:
so long as there is a dowry, no vice is turned into a fault.
VIR. Therefore see to it that this comes into your mind,
that I am undowered. SAT. Do not, please, say that.

pol deum virtute dicam et maiorum meum, 390
ne te indotatam dicas, quoi dos sit domi:
librorum eccillum habeo plenum soracum.
si hoc adcurassis lepide, cui rei operam damus,
dabuntur dotis tibi inde sescenti logi,
atque Attici omnes; nullum Siculum acceperis: 395
cum hac dote poteris vel mendico nubere.
VIR. Quin tu me ducis, si quo ducturu's, pater?

by the valor of the gods and of my ancestors I say, 390
do not call yourself undowered, you who have a dowry at home:
look, I have a sack full of books.
if you will neatly attend to this, the affair to which we are giving effort,
there will be given to you from that as dowry six hundred logoi,
and all Attic; you will have accepted none Sicilian: 395
with this dowry you can even marry a beggar.
WIFE. Why don’t you lead me, if you’re going to lead me anywhere, father?

vel tu me vende vel face quid tibi lubet.
SAT. Bonum aequomque oras. sequere hac.— VIR. Dicto sum audiens.—

either sell me yourself or do whatever you please.
SAT. You ask for what is good and equitable. follow this way.— VIR. I am obedient to your command.—

III.ii
DORDALVS Quidnam esse acturum hunc dicam vicinum meum, 400
qui mihi iuratust sese hodie argentum dare?
quod si non dederit atque hic dies praeterierit,
ego argentum, ille iusiurandum amiserit.
sed ibi concrepuit foris.

III.ii
DORDALVS What on earth am I to say this neighbor of mine is going to do, 400
who has sworn to me to give me the money today?
But if he does not give it and this day has passed,
I the money, he the oath, will have lost.
But the door creaked there.

quisnam egreditur foras?

Who is coming out?

III.iii
TOXILVS Curate isti intus, iam ego domum me recipiam. DOR. Oh, 405
Toxile, quid agitur? TOX. Oh, lutum lenonium,
commixtum caeno sterculinum publicum,
impure, inhoneste, iniure, inlex, labes popli,
pecuniae accipiter avide atque invide,
procax, rapax, trahax— trecentis versibus 410
tuas impuritias traloqui nemo potest—
accipin argentum?

3.3
TOXILUS You take care of those inside; now I’ll betake myself home. DOR. Oh, 405
Toxilus, what’s going on? TOX. Oh, pimpish mud,
a public dung-heap mixed with mire,
impure, dishonorable, injurious, unlawful, stain of the people,
a hawk of money, greedy and envious,
impudent, rapacious, drag-grabby— in three hundred verses 410
no one can recount your impurities—
do I get the money?

accipe sis argentum, impudens,
tene sis argentum, etiam tu argentum tenes?
possum te facere ut argentum accipias, lutum?
non mihi censebas copiam argenti fore, 415
qui nisi iurato mihi nil ausu's credere?

take the silver, please, impudent one,
do you hold the silver, please—do even you hold silver?
can I make you accept the silver, mud?
did you not suppose there would be a supply of silver for me, 415
you who did not dare to credit me with anything unless under oath?

DOR. Sine respirare me, ut tibi respondeam.
vir summe populi, stabulum servitutium,
scortorum liberator, suduculum flagri,
compedium tritor, pistrinorum civitas, 420
perenniserve, lurco, edax, furax, fugax,
cedo sis mi argentum, da mihi argentum, impudens,
possum a te exigere argentum? argentum, inquam, cedo,
quin tu mi argentum reddis?

DOR. Allow me to breathe, so that I may answer you.
most exalted man of the people, sty of slaveries,
liberator of harlots, little sweat-rag of the scourge,
compendium-grinder, city of the bakehouses, 420
ever-slave, glutton, voracious, thievish, fugitive,
hand over, please, the silver to me; give me the silver, shameless one,
can I exact the silver from you? the silver, I say, hand it over,
why don’t you pay me back the silver?

nilne te pudet?
leno te argentum poscit, solida servitus, 425
pro liberanda amica, ut omnes audiant.
TOX. Tace, obsecro hercle.

Are you not at all ashamed?
the pimp is demanding silver from you, solid slavery, 425
for the liberating of the girlfriend, so that all may hear.
TOX. Be quiet, I beseech, by Hercules.

ne tua vox valide valet.
DOR. Referundae ego habeo linguam natam gratiae.
eodem mihi pretio sal praehibetur quo tibi.

so that your voice does not prevail mightily.
DOR. I have a tongue born for returning thanks.
at the same price salt is offered to me as to you.

nisi me haec defendet, numquam delinget salem. 430
TOX. Iam omitte iratus esse. id tibi suscensui,
quia te negabas credere argentum mihi.
DOR. Mirum quin tibi ego crederem, ut idem mihi
faceres quod partim faciunt argentarii:
ubi quid credideris, citius extemplo a foro 435
fugiunt quam ex porta ludis cum emissust lepus.

unless this defends me, it will never lick salt. 430
TOX. Now stop being angry. I was angry with you for that,
because you kept saying you would not entrust money to me.
DOR. A wonder that I should trust you, so that you might do the same to me
as some bankers do:
when you have entrusted anything, they flee from the forum more quickly at once 435
than a hare when it has been let out from the gate at the games.

TOX. Cape hoc sis. DOR. Quin das? TOX. Nummi sescenti hic erunt,
probi, numerati.

TOX. Take this, please. DOR. Why don’t you hand it over? TOX. Here are 600 coins,
sound, counted out.

fac sit mulier libera,
atque huc continuo adduce. DOR. Iam faxo hic erit.
non hercle, quoi nunc hoc dem spectandum, scio. 440
TOX. Fortasse metuis in manum concredere?

see to it that the woman be free,
and bring her here immediately. DOR. I’ll see to it she’s here at once.
By Hercules, I truly don’t know to whom I should now give this for viewing. 440
TOX. Perhaps you’re afraid to entrust it into a hand?

DOR. Mirum quin *** [citius iam a foro argentarii
abeunt, quam in cursu rotula circumvortitur.]
TOX. Abi istac travorsis angiportis ad forum;
eadem istaec facito mulier ad me transeat 445
per hortum. DOR. Iam hic faxo aderit. TOX. At ne propalam.

DOR. A wonder, indeed— *** [the bankers now go away from the forum faster than a little wheel is turned about in a run.]
TOX. Go that way, by the crosswise alleyways, to the forum;
see to it that that same woman passes over to me 445
through the garden. DOR. I’ll soon make sure she’s here. TOX. But not openly.

DOR. Sapienter sane. TOX. Supplicatum cras eat.
DOR. Ita hercle vero.— TOX. Dum stas, reditum oportuit.

DOR. Wisely indeed. TOX. Let him go to supplication tomorrow.
DOR. Yes, by Hercules, truly.— TOX. While you stand, you ought to have returned.

ACTVS IV

ACT 4

IV.i
si quam rem accures sobrie aut frugaliter,
solet illa recte sub manus succedere. 450
atque edepol ferme ut quisque rem accurat suam,
sic ei procedit postprincipio, denique
si malus aut nequamst, male res vortunt quas agit,
sin autem frugist, eveniunt frugaliter.
hanc ego rem exorsus sum facete et callide, 455
igitur proventuram bene confido mihi.
nunc ego lenonem ita hodie intricatum dabo,
ut ipsus sese, qua se expediat, nesciat.

IV.i
if you manage any matter soberly or frugally,
it is wont to come out rightly under the hands, to succeed. 450
and by Pollux, generally as each person manages his own affair,
so it proceeds for him thereafter; finally,
if he is bad or good‑for‑nothing, the things he does turn out badly;
but if he is frugal, they eventuate frugally.
this matter I have set about wittily and shrewdly, 455
therefore I am confident it will prosper well for me.
now I will have the pimp so entangled today,
that he himself will not know by what way to get himself free.

Sagaristio, heus, exi atque educe virginem
et istas tabellas, quas consignavi tibi, 460
quas tu attulisti mi ab ero meo usque e Persia.

Sagaristio, hey, come out and bring out the virgin
and those tablets, which I have signed for you, 460
which you brought to me from my master all the way from Persia.

IV.ii
SAGARISTIO Numquid moror? TOX. Euge, euge, exornatu's basilice;
tiara ornatum lepida condecorat schema.
tum hanc hospitam autem crepidula ut graphice decet.

IV.ii
SAGARISTIO Am I causing any delay? TOX. Bravo, bravo, you’re decked out royally;
the tiara, a charming schema, graces your attire.
then moreover, how to the life this little sandal suits this foreign guest.

sed satin estis meditati? SAG. Tragici et comici 465
numquam aeque sunt meditati. TOX. Lepide hercle adiuvas.

but are you sufficiently rehearsed? SAG. Tragedians and comedians 465
are never equally rehearsed. TOX. Cleverly, by Hercules, you help.

[age, illuc abscede procul e conspectu et tace.
ubi cum lenone me videbis conloqui]
id erit adeundi tempus. nunc agite ite vos.

[come on, withdraw over there far from sight and be silent.
when you see me conversing with the pimp]
that will be the time for approaching. now, come on, you go.

IV.iii
DORDALVS Quoi homini di propitii sunt, aliquid obiciunt lucri; 470
nam ego hodie compendi feci binos panes in dies.
ita ancilla mea quae fuit hodie, sua nunc est: argento vicit;
iam hodie alienum cenabit, nil gustabit de meo.
sumne probus, sum lepidus civis, qui Atticam hodie civitatem
maximam maiorem feci atque auxi civi femina? 475
sed ut ego hodie fui benignus, ut ego multis credidi,
nec satis a quiquam homine accepi: ita prosum credebam omnibus;
nec metuo, quibus credidi hodie, ne quis mi in iure abiurassit:
bonus volo iam ex hoc die esse— quod neque fiet neque fuit.

IV.iii
DORDALUS For whatever man the gods are propitious to, they throw some lucre in his way; 470
for I today have made a saving of two loaves by the day.
Thus my maid who was mine today is now her own: with silver she prevailed;
now today she will dine at another’s, she will taste nothing of mine.
Am I not upright, am I not a charming citizen, who today the Attic state,
greatest, I have made greater and augmented with a female citizen? 475
But how I was benign today, how I trusted many,
nor did I receive enough from any person: so much I believed I was benefiting all;
nor do I fear, those to whom I trusted today, lest anyone abjure me in court:
I want from this day to be a good man— which neither will be nor has been.

TOX. Hunc hominem ego hodie in trasennam doctis deducam dolis, 480
itaque huic insidiae paratae sunt probe. adgrediar virum.
quid agis?

TOX. This man I today will lead into a snare with skillful wiles, 480
and so for him the ambush has been well prepared. I will approach the man.
what are you doing?

DOR. Credo. TOX. Vnde agis te, Dordale? DOR. Credo tibi.

DOR. I believe it. TOX. How are you doing, Dordalus? DOR. I believe you.

di dent, quae velis. TOX. Eho, an iam manu emisisti mulierem?
D. Credo edepol, credo, inquam, tibi.

may the gods grant what you wish. TOX. Hey, have you already manumitted the woman?
D. I believe you, by Pollux, I believe you, I say.

T. Iam liberta auctu's? D. Enicas.
quin tibi me dico credere. T. Dic bona fide: iam liberast?

T. Is she now a freedwoman? D. You’re killing me.
why, I tell you that I believe you. T. Say in good faith: have you freed her already?

D. Olim. 485-486
i, i ad forum ad praetorem, exquire, siquidem mihi credere non vis. 487
libera, inquam, est: ecquid audis? TOX. At tibi di bene faciant omnes.
numquam enim posthac tibi nec tuorum quoiquam quod nolis volam.

D.
Long since. 485-486
Go, go to the forum to the praetor, inquire, since indeed you do not wish to believe me. 487
She is free, I say: do you hear at all? TOX. But may all the gods do you good,
for never hereafter will I wish for you nor for any of yours anything that you do not wish.

DOR. Abi, ne iura, satis credo. 490
TOX. Vbi nunc tua libertast? DOR. Apud te. TOX. Ain, apud mest? DOR.
Aio, inquam, apud te est, inquam.

DOR. Go away, don’t swear; I believe enough. 490
TOX. Where now is your liberty? DOR. With you. TOX. Do you say it’s with me? DOR.
I say, I say, it is with you, I say.

TOX. Ita me di ament, ut ob istam rem tibi multa bona instant a me.
nam est res quaedam, quam occultabam tibi dicere: nunc eam narrabo,
unde tu pergrande lucrum facias: faciam, ut mei memineris, dum vitam
vivas. DOR. Bene dictis tuis bene facta aures meae auxilium exposcunt. 495
TOX. Tuom promeritumst, merito ut faciam. et ut me scias esse ita facturum,
tabellas tene has, pellege.

TOX. So may the gods favor me, that on account of that matter many good things are at hand for you from me.
for there is a certain matter which I was concealing to tell you: now I will narrate it,
whence you may make very great lucre: I will make it so that you remember me as long as you live. DOR. At your fine words my ears call for the aid of fine deeds. 495
TOX. It is your earned desert, that I should do so—and deservedly. And so that you may know that I will indeed do so,
hold these tablets, read them through.

DOR. Istae quid ad me? TOX. Immo ad te
attinent et tua refert.
nam ex Persia sunt haec allatae mihi a meo ero. D. Quando?

DOR. What are those to me? TOX.
Nay rather to you
they pertain, and it matters to you.
for from Persia these have been brought to me by my master. D. When?

T. Haud dudum.
DOR. Quid istae narrant? TOX. Percontare ex ipsis.

T. Not long ago.
DOR. What do those narrate? TOX. Inquire from them themselves.

ipsae tibi narrabunt.
DOR. Cedo sane [mihi]. TOX. At clare recitato. DOR. Tace, dum pellego. 500
TOX. Hau verbum faciam
DOR. Salutem dicit Toxilo Timarchides
et familiae omni.

they themselves will tell you.
DOR. Come then, hand it over [to me]. TOX. But recite it clearly. DOR. Hush, while I read through. 500
TOX. I will not say a word.
DOR. Timarchides sends greetings to Toxilus
and to the whole household.

si valetis, gaudeo.
ego valeo recte et rem gero et facio lucrum,
neque istoc redire his octo possum mensibus,
itaque hic est quod me detinet negotium. 505
Chrysopolim Persae cepere urbem in Arabia,
plenam bonarum rerum atque antiquom oppidum:
ea comportatur praeda, ut fiat auctio
publicitus; ea res me domo expertem facit.
operam atque hospitium ego isti praehiberi volo, 510
qui tibi tabellas adfert.

If you are well, I rejoice.
I am well enough, and I manage the matter and make lucre,
nor can I return thither within these 8 months,
and so here is the business that detains me here. 505
The Persians have taken Chrysopolis, a city in Arabia,
full of good things and an ancient town:
that booty is being brought together, so that a public auction may be held
publicly; that matter keeps me absent from home.
I want service and hospitality to be afforded to that man, 510
who brings the tablets to you.

cura quae is volet,
nam is mihi honores suae domi habuit maxumos.
Quid id ad me aut ad meam rem refert, Persae quid rerum gerant
aut quid erus tuos? TOX. Tace, stultiloque; nescis quid te instet boni
neque quam tibi Fortuna faculam lucrifera adlucere volt. 515
DOR. Quae istaec lucrifera est Fortuna?

see to what he wishes,
for he has shown me the greatest honors at his house.
What does that matter to me or to my business, what the Persians are doing,
or what your master is? TOX. Be quiet, little fool; you do not know what good is pressing upon you,
nor how Fortune wishes to light for you a lucre-bearing torch. 515
DOR. What is that lucre-bearing Fortune?

TOX. Istas, quae norunt, roga.
ego tantumdem scio quantum tu, nisi quod pellegi prior.
sed, ut occepisti, ex tabellis nosce rem.

TOX. Ask those women who know.
I know just as much as you, except that I perused it earlier.
But, as you have commenced, learn the matter from the tablets.

DOR. Bene me mones.
fac silentium. TOX. Nunc ad illud venies quod refert tua.

DOR. You advise me well.
keep silence. TOX. Now you will come to that which concerns your own interest.

DOR. Iste qui tabellas adfert adduxit simul 520
forma expetenda liberalem virginem,
furtivam, abductam ex Arabia penitissuma;
eam te volo accurare ut istic veneat.
ac suo periclo is emat qui eam mercabitur:
mancipio neque promittet neque quisquam dabit. 525
probum et numeratum argentum ut accipiat face.
haec cura, et hospes cura ut curetur.

DOR. That man who brings the tablets has brought along at the same time 520
a freeborn maiden, of desirable form,
stolen, abducted from the inmost Arabia;
I want you to see to it that she is sold there.
and let him buy at his own peril who will traffic for her:
no warranty of title will he promise nor will anyone give. 525
See to it that he receives good and counted silver.
this is your care, and see that the guest is cared for.

vale.
TOX. Quid igitur? postquam recitasti quod erat cerae creditum,
iam mihi credis?

farewell.
TOX. What then? after you have recited what was entrusted to the wax, do you now believe me?

DOR. Vbi nunc illest hospes, qui hasce huc attulit?
TOX. Iam hic credo aderit: arcessivit illam a navi. DOR. Nil mi opust 530
litibus neque tricis.

DOR. Where now is that guest, who brought these here?
TOX. He will be here presently, I believe: he has fetched her from the ship. DOR. I have no need 530
of lawsuits nor tricks.

quam ob rem ego argentum enumerem foras?
nisi mancipio accipio, quid eo mi opus est mercimonio?
TOX. Tacen an non taces?

why then should I count out the silver outside?
unless I receive it by mancipation, what need have I of it for the transaction?
TOX. Will you be quiet, or won’t you?

numquam ego te tam esse matulam credidi.
quid metuis? DOR. Metuo hercle vero.

I never believed you to be such a chamber-pot.
What are you afraid of? DOR. By Hercules, I truly am afraid.

sensi ego iam compluriens,
neque mi haud imperito eveniet, tali ut in luto haeream. 535
TOX. Nil pericli mihi videtur. DOR. Scio istuc, sed metuo mihi.
TOX. Mea quidem istuc nil refert: tua ego hoc facio gratia,
ut tibi recte conciliandi primo facerem copiam.

I have sensed already several times,
nor will it befall me, being by no means inexpert, that I should stick in such mud. 535
TOX. No danger seems to me. DOR. I know that, but I fear for myself.
TOX. Indeed that matters nothing to me: I do this for your sake,
so that at the outset I might afford you the opportunity of winning over properly.

DOR. Gratiam habeo. sed te de aliis, quam alios de te suaviust 539-540
fieri doctos. TOX. Ne quis vero ex Arabia penitissuma 541
persequatur.

DOR. I am grateful. but for you to be made informed about others, rather than for others to be made informed about you, is sweeter. 539-540
TOX. Let no one indeed from the innermost Arabia 541
pursue it.

etiam tu illam destinas? DOR. Videam modo
mercimonium. TOX. Aequa dicis.

do you also destine her? DOR. Let me just see
the merchandise. TOX. You say what’s fair.

sed optume eccum ipse advenit
hospes ille, qui has tabellas attulit. DOR. Hicinest? TOX. Hic est.

but excellent—look, here he himself arrives
that guest, who brought these tablets. DOR. Is this he? TOX. This is.

DOR. Haecine illast furtiva virgo? TOX. Iuxta tecum aeque scio, 545
nisi quia specie quidem edepol liberalist, quisquis est.
DOR. Sat edepol concinnast facie.

DOR. Is this that furtive maiden? TOX. I know just as much as you do, 545
except that indeed, by Pollux, in appearance she’s well‑bred, whoever she is.
DOR. By Pollux, she’s quite comely of face.

TOX. Vt contemptim carnufex.
taciti contemplemur formam. DOR. Laudo consilium tuom.

TOX. How contemptuously, you hangman.
let us, silent, contemplate the form. DOR. I laud your counsel.

IV.iv
SAGARISTIO Satin Athenae tibi sunt visae fortunatae atque opiparae?
VIRGO Vrbis speciem vidi, hominum mores perspexi parum. 550
TOX. Numquid in principio cessavit verbum docte dicere?
DOR. Hau potui etiam in primo verbo perspicere sapientiam.

4.4
SAGARISTIO Did Athens seem to you quite fortunate and opulent?
VIRGO I saw the aspect of the city; I too little thoroughly inspected the mores of the people. 550
TOX. Did the word perhaps in the beginning cease to speak learnedly?
DOR. I could not even in the first word perceive wisdom.

SAG. Quid id quod vidisti? ut munitum muro tibi visum oppidumst?
VIR. Si incolae bene sunt morati, pulchre munitum arbitror.

SAG. What of that which you saw? did the town seem to you fortified with a wall?
VIR. If the inhabitants are well-mannered, I judge it finely fortified.

perfidia et peculatus ex urbe et avaritia si exulant, 555
quarta invidia, quinta ambitio, sexta obtrectatio,
septimum periurium, TOX. Euge. VIR. Octava indiligentia,
nona iniuria, decimum, quod pessimum adgressust, scelus:
haec unde aberunt, ea urbs moenita muro sat erit simplici;
ubi ea aderunt, centumplex murus rebus servandis parumst. 560
TOX. Quid ais tu? DOR. Quid vis? TOX. Tu in illis es decem sodalibus:
te in exilium ire hinc oportet.

if perfidy and peculation and avarice are exiled from the city, 555
fourth envy, fifth ambition, sixth detraction,
seventh perjury, TOX. Bravo. VIR. Eighth negligence,
ninth injury, tenth—crime, the worst—:
where these will be absent, that city will be fortified enough by a single wall;
where these will be present, a hundredfold wall is too little for safeguarding things. 560
TOX. What do you say? DOR. What do you want? TOX. You are among those ten comrades:
you must go into exile from here.

DOR. Quid iam? TOX. Quia periurus es.
D. Verba quidem haud indocte fecit. T. Ex tuo, inquam, usust: eme hanc.

DOR. What now? TOX. Because you are perjured.
D. He indeed made words not unlearnedly. T. Out of your own, I say, there is use: buy this.

D. Edepol qui cum hanc magis contemplo, magis placet. T. Si hanc emeris,
di immortales, nullus leno te alter erit opulentior. 565
evortes tuo arbitratu homines fundis, familiis;
cum optimis viris rem habebis, gratiam cupient tuam:
venient ad te comissatum. DOR. At ego intro mitti votuero.

D. By Pollux, the more I contemplate this one, the more she pleases. T. If you buy her,
by the immortal gods, no pimp will be more opulent than you. 565
you will overturn, at your discretion, men, estates, households;
you will have dealings with the best men, they will desire your favor:
they will come to you to carouse. DOR. But I—when I please, I will get myself admitted inside.

TOX. At enim illi noctu occentabunt ostium, exurent fores:
proin tu tibi iubeas concludi aedis foribus ferreis, 570
ferreas aedis commutes, limina indas ferrea,
ferream seram atque anellum; ne sis ferro parseris:
ferreas tute tibi impingi iubeas crassas compedis.
DOR. I sis in malum cruciatum. TOX. I sane tu, [hanc eme atque] ausculta mihi.

TOX. But indeed they will at night sing against the doorway, they will burn the doors:
therefore you should order your house to be shut with iron doors, 570
change the house to iron, lay on iron thresholds,
an iron bolt and a little ring; do not be sparing with iron:
order for yourself that thick iron fetters be hammered onto you.
DOR. Go to an evil torment. TOX. Do go, you—[buy this one and] listen to me.

DOR. Modo uti sciam, quanti indicet. TOX. Vin huc vocem? DOR. Ego 575
illo accessero.

DOR. Only so that I may know for how much he indicates it. TOX. Shall I call him here? DOR. I 575
I will go over to him.

TOX. Quid agis, hospes? SAG. Venio, adduco hanc ad te, ut dudum dixeram.
nam heri in portum noctu navis venit.

TOX. How go you, host? SAG. I come, I’m bringing her to you, as I said a little while ago.
for last night a ship came into port.

veniri hanc volo,
si potest; si non potest, iri hinc volo quantum potest.
DOR. Salvos sis, adulescens. SAG. Siquidem hanc vendidero pretio suo.

I want this one to be sold,
if it can be; if it cannot, I want to go from here as far as possible.
DOR. May you be safe, young man. SAG. Provided that I have sold her at her proper price.

TOX. At qui aut hoc emptore vendes pulchre, aut alio non potis. 580
S. Esne tu huic amicus? T. Tam quam di omnes qui caelum colunt.
DOR. Tum tu mi es inimicus certus.

TOX. But indeed, either you will sell nicely to this buyer, or to another you cannot. 580
S. Are you a friend to this man? T. As much as all the gods who inhabit heaven.
DOR. Then you are to me a sure enemy.

nam generi lenonio
numquam ullus deus tam benignus fuit, qui fuerit propitius.
SAG. Hoc age. opusnest hac tibi empta?

for to the pimping kind
never was any god so benign as to be propitious.
SAG. Mind this. Do you need this one bought for you?

DOR. Si tibi venissest opus,
mihi quoque emptast; si tibi subiti nihil est, tantumdemst mihi. 585
SAG. Indica, fac pretium. DOR. Tua mers est, tua indicatiost.
TOX. Aequom hic orat.

DOR. If the need had come to you,
it has been bought for me too; if there is nothing sudden for you, it is just the same for me. 585
SAG. Indicate it; set the price. DOR. It is your merchandise, it is your valuation. TOX. He pleads what is equitable.

SAG. Vin bene emere? DOR. Vin tu pulchre vendere?
TOX. Ego scio hercle utrumque velle.

SAG. Do you want to buy well? DOR. Do you want to sell handsomely?
TOX. By Hercules, I know that both want it.

DOR. Age, indica prognariter.
S. Prius dico: hanc mancupio nemo tibi dabit. iam scis?

DOR. Come on, state it forthrightly.
S. I say first: no one will give you legal title to her. Do you know now?

D. Scio.
indica, minimo daturus qui sis, qui duci queat. 590
TOX. Tace, tace. nimis tu quidem hercle homo stultus es pueriliter.

D. I know.
Indicate the least you will let it go for, so that it can be led away. 590
TOX. Hush, hush. By Hercules, you are indeed an excessively foolish man, puerilely.

DOR. Quid ita? TOX. Quia enim te ex puella prius percontari volo
quae ad rem referunt. DOR. Atque hercle tu me monuisti hau male.

DOR. Why so? TOX. Because I want you first to question the girl about the things that pertain to the matter
at hand. DOR. And by Hercules, you have admonished me not amiss.

vide sis, ego ille doctus leno paene in foveam decidi,
ni hic adesses. quantum est adhibere hominem amicum, ubi quid geras. 595
TOX. Quo genere aut qua in patria nata sit aut quibus parentibus,
ne temere hanc te emisse dicas suasu atque impulsu meo,
volo te percontari. DOR. Quin laudo, inquam, consilium tuom.

see, please, I, that learned pimp, almost fell into a pit, if you had not been here. how much it matters to have a friendly man at hand, when you are doing something. 595
TOX. Of what stock, or in what fatherland she was born, or who her parents are—lest you say you bought her rashly at my persuasion and instigation—I want you to inquire. DOR. Why, I praise, I say, your counsel.

T. Nisi molestum est, percontari hanc paucis hic volt. S. Maxime,
suo arbitratu. TOX. Quid stas?

T. Unless it is bothersome, he wants to question her here in a few words. S. By all means,
at his own discretion. TOX. Why are you standing?

adi sis tute atque ipse itidem roga, 600
ut tibi percontari liceat quae velis; etsi mihi
dixit dare potestatem eius; sed ego te malo tamen,
eumpse adire, ut ne contemnat te ille. DOR. Satis recte mones.
hospes, volo ego hanc percontari.

do you yourself be present and likewise ask, 600
that it may be permitted to you to inquire what you wish; although he
told me to give the power of it; but I prefer you, nevertheless,
to go to him himself, so that he not contemn you. DOR. You admonish quite rightly.
stranger, I wish to inquire of her.

SAG. A terra ad caelum, quid lubet.
DOR. Iube dum eam hoc accedat ad me. SAG. I sane ac morem illi gere. 605
percontare, exquire quid vis. TOX. Age, age nunc tu, in proelium
vide ut ingrediare auspicato.

SAG. From earth to heaven, whatever you please.
DOR. Just bid her come here to me. SAG. Yes indeed, and humor her. 605
ask, inquire what you wish. TOX. Come, come now, see that you enter into battle auspiciously.

VIR. Liquidumst auspicium, tace.
curabo ut praedati pulchre ad castra convertamini.
TOX. Concede istuc, ego illam adducam.

VIR. The auspice is clear; be silent.
I will see to it that, after plundering, you turn back to camp handsomely.
TOX. Step over there; I will bring her.

DOR. Age, ut rem esse in nostram
putas.
T. Ehodum huc, virgo. vide sis quid agas.

DOR. Come, do you think the matter
is to our advantage?
T. Come then, here, maiden. Please see what you are doing.

V. Taceas, curabo ut voles. 610
TOX. Sequere me. adduco hanc, si quid vis ex hac percontarier.
D. Enim volo te adesse. T. Hau possum quin huic operam dem hospiti,
quoi erus iussit.

V. Be silent, I will see to it as you wish. 610
TOX. Follow me. I’ll bring her, if you wish to interrogate anything from her.
D. Indeed I want you to be present. T. I cannot but give service to this guest, whom the master ordered.

quid si hic non volt me adesse una? SAG. Immo i modo.
TOX. Do tibi ego operam.

what if he doesn’t want me to be present as well? SAG. No indeed, just go.
TOX. I’ll attend to you.

DOR. Tibi ibidem das, ubi tu tuom amicum adiuvas.
TOX. Exquire. heus tu, advigila.

DOR. You give to yourself there, where you assist your friend.
TOX. Inquire. Hey, you, be wakeful.

VIR. Satis est dictum: quamquam ego 615
serva sum,
scio ego officium meum, ut quae rogiter vera, ut accepi, eloquar.
TOX. Virgo, hic homo probus est. VIR. Credo.

VIR. Enough has been said: although I 615
am a slave,
I know my duty, that I declare what, when asked, is true, as I have received it.
TOX. Girl, this man is of probity. VIR. I believe it.

TOX. Non diu apud hunc servies.
VIR. Ita pol spero, si parentes facient officium suom.
DOR. Nolo ego te mirari, si nos ex te percontabimur
aut patriam tuam aut parentes.

TOX. You will not be serving with this man for long.
VIR. So, by Pollux, I hope, if my parents do their duty.
DOR. I do not want you to marvel if we inquire of you about either your fatherland or your parents.

VIR. Quor ego id mirer, mi homo? 620
servitus mea mi interdixit, ne quid mirer meum malum.
DOR. Noli flere. TOX. Ah, di istam perdant, ita catast et callida.

VIR. Why should I marvel at that, my man? 620
my servitude has interdicted me, that I not marvel at any misfortune of mine.
DOR. Do not weep. TOX. Ah, may the gods destroy that woman, she is so cunning and crafty.

ut sapiens habet cor, quam dicit quod opust! DOR. Quid nomen tibist?
TOX. Nunc metuo ne peccet.

How he has a wise heart, how he says what is needful! DOR. What's your name?
TOX. Now I fear he may make a slip.

VIR. Lucridi nomen in patria fuit.
TOX. Nomen atque omen quantivis iam est preti. quin tu hanc emis? 625
nimis pavebam, ne peccaret.

VIR. In his homeland his name was Lucridius.
TOX. The name—and the omen—is now worth any price. Why don’t you buy this woman? 625
I was terribly afraid she would blunder.

expedivit. DOR. Si te emam,
mihi quoque Lucridem confido fore te. TOX. Tu si hanc emeris,
numquam hercle hunc mensem vortentem, credo, servibit tibi.
DOR. Ita velim quidem hercle.

he has expedited it. DOR. If I buy you,
I trust you too will be Lucridem for me. TOX. If you buy her,
never, by Hercules, do I think she will serve you out this turning month.
DOR. So indeed I would wish it, by Hercules.

TOX. Optata ut evenant, operam addito.
nihil adhuc peccavit etiam. DOR. Vbi tu nata es? VIR. Vt mihi 630
mater dixit, in culina, in angulo ad laevam manum.

TOX. Add effort so that the wished-for things may come to pass.
she has not yet even sinned. DOR. Where were you born? VIR. As to me 630
my mother said, in the kitchen, in the corner on the left-hand side.

TOX. Haec erit tibi fausta meretrix: natast in calido loco,
ubi rerum omnium bonarum copiast saepissume.
tactust leno; qui rogaret, ubi nata esset diceret,
lepide lusit. DOR. At ego patriam te rogo quae sit tua. 635
VIR. Quae mihi sit, nisi haec ubi nunc sum?

TOX. She will be for you a lucky meretrix: she was born in a warm place,
where there is most often a copious abundance of all good things.
she’s been coached by the pimp; so that whoever might ask where she was born, she would say it—
she joked charmingly. DOR. But I ask you what your fatherland is. 635
VIR. What would be mine, unless this where I am now?

DOR. At ego illam quaero quae fuit.
VIR. Omne ego pro nihilo esse duco quod fuit, quando fuit:
tamquam hominem, quando animam ecflavit, quid eum quaeras qui fuit?
TOX. Ita me di bene ament, sapienter.

DOR. But I seek that one who was.
VIR. I count all that was, when it was, as nothing:
just as with a man—when he has exhaled his spirit—why would you look for him who “was”?
TOX. So may the gods love me, that is wise.

atque equidem miseret tamen.
sed tamen, virgo, quae patriast tua, age mi actutum expedi. 640
quid taces? VIR. Dico equidem: quando hic servio, haec patriast mea.

and indeed I am moved to pity
nonetheless. But still, maiden, what is your fatherland? come, my dear, explain it straightway. 640
why are you silent? VIR. I do speak indeed: since I serve here, this is my fatherland.

TOX. Iam de istoc rogare omitte (non vides nolle eloqui?)
ne suarum se miseriarum in memoriam inducas. DOR. Quid est?
captusne est pater?

TOX. Now stop asking about that man (don’t you see he’s unwilling to speak?), lest you bring him into the remembrance of his own miseries. DOR. What is it? Has the father been taken prisoner?

VIR. Non captus, sed quod habuit perdidit.
TOX. Haec erit bono genere nata: nil scit nisi verum loqui. 645
DOR. Quis fuit? dic nomen.

MAN. Not captured, but he lost what he had.
TOX. She is of good stock by birth: she knows nothing except to speak the truth. 645
DOR. Who was he? tell the name.

VIR. Quid illum miserum memorem qui fuit?
nunc et illum miserum et me miseram aequom est nominarier.
DOR. Quoius modi is <suo> in populo habitust?

VIR. Why should I mention that wretched man, what he was?
now it is just that both he be called wretched and I wretched.
DOR. Of what sort was he held among his own people?

VIR. Nemo quisquam acceptior:
servi liberique amabant. TOX. Hominem miserum praedicas,
quom et ipsus prorsus perditust et benevolentis perdidit. 650
DOR. Emam, opinor. TOX. Etiam opinor?

MAN. No one at all more acceptable: slaves and freeborn loved him. TOX. You proclaim a wretched man, since both he himself is utterly ruined and he has lost his benevolent well-wishers. 650
DOR. I’ll buy, I suppose. TOX. Even “I suppose”?

summo genere esse arbitror;
divitias tu ex istac facies. DOR. Ita di faxint. TOX. Eme modo.

I think she is of the highest lineage;
you will make riches out of that one. DOR. So may the gods make it so. TOX. Only buy.

VIR. Iam hoc tibi dico: [iam] actutum ecastor meus pater, ubi me sciet
veniisse, ipse aderit et me abs te redimet. T. Quid nunc? D. Quid est?

VIR. Now this I tell you: [now] at once, by Castor, my father, when he knows
that I have come, he himself will be present and will redeem me from you. T. What now? D. What is it?

TOX. Audin quid ait? VIR. Nam etsi res sunt fractae, amici sunt tamen. 655
DOR. Ne sis plora; libera eris actutum, si crebro cades.
vin mea esse?

TOX. Do you hear what he says? VIR. For even if our fortunes are fractured, friends are nevertheless friends. 655
DOR. Don’t cry; you will be free at once, if you fall frequently.
Do you want to be mine?

VIR. Dum quidem ne nimis diu tua sim, volo.
TOX. Satin ut meminit libertatis? dabit haec tibi grandis bolos.

VIR. Provided only that I not be yours too long, I am willing.
TOX. Does she sufficiently remember her liberty? This woman will give you big boluses.

age si quid agis. ego ad hunc redeo. sequere.

Come on, if you are doing anything. I return to this man. Follow.

redduco hanc tibi.
DOR. Adulescens, vin vendere istanc? SAG. Magis libet quam perdere. 660
DOR. Tum tu pauca in verba confer: qui datur, tanti indica.

I lead back this one to you.
DOR. Adolescent, do you want to sell that one? SAG. I’d rather than lose her. 660
DOR. Then put it into few words: indicate for how much she is given.

SAG. Faciam ita ut te velle video, ut emas. habe centum minis.
DOR. Nimiumst.

SAG. I will do so as I see you wish, that you may buy. Have it for a hundred minae.
DOR. It’s too much.

SAG. Octoginta. DOR. Nimiumst. SAG. Nummus abesse hinc
non potest,
quod nunc dicam.

SAG. Eighty. DOR. Too much. SAG.
Not a coin can be missing from this
it cannot,
from what I am going to say now.

DOR. Quid id est ergo? eloquere actutum atque indica.
SAG. Tuo periclo sexaginta haec dabitur argenti minis. 665
DOR. Toxile, quid ago?

DOR. What is that, then? Speak out straightway and declare it.
SAG. At your peril, this will be given for sixty minae of silver. 665
DOR. Toxilus, what am I to do?

TOX. Di deaeque te agitant irati, scelus,
qui hanc non properes destinare. D. Habeto. T. Eu, praedatu's probe.

TOX. May the gods and goddesses hound you in their wrath, you villain,
who do not hurry to settle her. D. Have it. T. Bravo, you’ve made a fine haul.

non edepol minis trecentis carast. fecisti lucri.
SAG. Heus tu, etiam pro vestimentis huc decem accedent minae.

By Pollux, she did not cost 300 minas. You have made lucre.
SAG. Hey, you, also for the garments 10 minas will be added here.

DOR. Abscedent enim, non accedent. TOX. Tace sis, non tu illum vides 670
quaerere ansam, infectum ut faciat? abin atque argentum petis?

DOR. For they will withdraw, not be added. TOX. Be quiet, please, do you not see him 670
looking for a handle, so as to make it undone? Be off then, and will you go ask for the silver?

*** atque ut dignust perit. 671a
DOR. Heus tu serva istum. TOX. Quin tu is intro? DOR. Abeo atque
argentum affero.—

*** and as he is worthy he perishes. 671a
DOR. Hey you, hold that fellow. TOX. Why don’t you go inside? DOR. I’m off and
I bring the silver.—

IV.v
TOX. Edepol dedisti, virgo, operam adlaudabilem,
probam et sapientem et sobriam. VIR. Si quid bonis
boni fit, esse id et grave et gratum solet. 675
TOX. Audin tu, Persa? ubi argentum ab hoc acceperis,
simulato, quasi eas prorsum in navem.

4.5
TOX. By Pollux, you have given, maiden, a service most laudable, upright and sapient and sober. VIR. If any good is done for the good, that is wont to be both grave and grateful. 675
TOX. Do you hear, Persian? when you will have received the silver from this man, simulate, as though you were going straight to the ship.

SAG. Ne doce.
TOX. Per angiportum rursum te ad me recipito
illac per hortum. SAG. Quod futurum est praedicas.

SAG. Do not instruct.
TOX. By the alley, make your way back to me again, that way through the garden.
SAG. You predict what is going to be.

TOX. At ne cum argento protinam permittas domum, 680
moneo, te. SAG. Quod te dignumst, me dignum esse vis?
TOX. Tace, parce voci: praeda progreditur foras.

TOX. But do not, with the silver, straightway permit it home, 680
I warn you. SAG. What is worthy of you, do you wish me to be worthy of?
TOX. Be silent, spare your voice: the prey is proceeding outside.

IV.vi
DORDALVS Probae hic argenti sunt sexaginta minae,
duobus nummis minus est. SAG. Quid ei nummi sciunt?
DOR. Cruminam hanc emere aut facere uti remigret domum. 685
SAG. Ne non sat esses leno, id metuebas miser,
impure, avare, ne crumillam amitteres?

4.6
DORDALVS Here there are sixty minae of good silver; it is short by two coins.
SAG. What are those coins for?
DOR. To buy or make this purse, so that it may row back home. 685
SAG. You were afraid, wretch—lest you not be pimp enough—filthy, greedy—lest you lose a little purse?

TOX. Sine quaeso. quando lenost, nil mirum facit.
DOR. Lucro faciundo ego auspicavi in hunc diem:
nil mihi tam parvist, quin me id pigeat perdere. 690
age, accipe hoc sis.

TOX. Allow it, pray. Since he’s a pimp, he does nothing wondrous.
DOR. For making lucre I took the auspices for this day:
nothing is so small to me that it does not pain me to lose it. 690
come, take this, please.

SAG. Hunc in collum, nisi piget,
impone. DOR. Vero fiat. SAG. Numquid ceterum
me voltis?

SAG. Put this on the neck, unless it irks you,
set it on. DOR. Indeed, let it be done. SAG. Do you want me for anything else?
you want of me?

TOX. Quid tam properas? SAG. Ita negotiumst:
mandatae quae sunt, volo deferre epistulas;
geminum autem fratrem servire audivi hic meum, 695
eum ego ut requiram atque uti redimam volo.
TOX. Atque edepol tu me commonuisti hau male.

TOX. Why are you hurrying so? SAG. So the business is:
I want to carry down the mandated epistles;
but I have heard that my twin brother is serving here, 695
him I want to seek out and to redeem. TOX. And, by Pollux, you have reminded me not badly.

videor vidisse hic forma persimilem tui,
eadem statura. SAG. Quippe qui frater siet.
DOR. Quid est tibi nomen?

I seem to have seen here someone very similar in form to you,
of the same stature. SAG. Of course, since he is my brother.
DOR. What is your name?

TOX. *** quod ad te attinet. 700
DOR. Quid attinet non scire? SAG. Ausculta ergo, ut scias:
Vaniloquidorus Virginesvendonides
Nugiepiloquides Argentumexterebronides
[Tedigniloquides Nugides Palponides]
Quodsemelarripides Numquameripides. em tibi. 705
DOR. Eu hercle, nomen multimodis scriptumst tuom.

TOX. *** as far as it pertains to you. 700
DOR. What does it matter not to know? SAG. So listen, then, so that you may know:
Vain-talker-dorus Virgin-seller-ides
Trifle-babbler-ides Money-borer-ides
[Wearisome-speaker-ides Trifle-ides Fawner-ides]
Once-you-snatch-it-ides Never-you-release-it-ides. there you are. 705
DOR. Oh, by Hercules, your name is written in many ways.

SAG. Ita sunt Persarum mores, longa nomina,
contortiplicata habemus. numquid ceterum
voltis? DOR. Vale.

SAG. Such are the customs of the Persians, long names,
we have them convolutedly-folded. Is there anything else
you want? DOR. Farewell.

SAG. Et vos, nam animus iam in navist meus.
TOX. Cras ires potius, hodie hic cenares. SAG. Vale.— 710

SAG. And to you; for my mind is already on the ship.
TOX. You had better go tomorrow; today you should dine here. SAG. Farewell.— 710

IV.vii
TOX. Postquam illic <hinc> abiit, dicere hic quidvis licet.
ne hic tibi dies inluxit lucrificabilis.
nam non emisti hanc, verum fecisti lucri.

4.7
TOX. After that fellow went <from here> away, here one may say whatever one likes.
surely this day has dawned for you lucre-making.
for you did not buy this one, but you have made lucre.

DOR. Ille quidem iam scit, quid negoti gesserit,
qui mihi furtivam meo periclo vendidit, 715
argentum accepit, abiit. qui ego nunc scio,
an iam adseratur haec manu? quo illum sequar?

DOR. He indeed now knows what business he has transacted,
who sold me a stolen girl at my peril, 715
took the silver, and went away. How do I now know
whether this one is already being claimed by hand? Where am I to follow that fellow?

in Persas? nugas. TOX. Credidi gratum fore
beneficium meum apud te. DOR. Immo equidem gratiam
tibi, Toxile, habeo; nam te sensi sedulo 720
mihi dare bonam operam.

against the Persians? nonsense. TOX. I believed my benefit would be welcome with you.
DOR. Rather, indeed I have gratitude to you, Toxilus; for I perceived you diligently 720
to be giving me good service.

TOX. Tibine ego? immo sedulo.
DOR. Attat, oblitus sum intus dudum edicere
quae volui edicta.

TOX. To you, then, I? Yes indeed, diligently.
DOR. Ha! I have forgotten to proclaim inside, just now, the edicts that I wished proclaimed.

adserva hanc.— TOX. Salvast haec quidem.
VIR. Pater nunc cessat. TOX. Quid si admoneam?

guard this one.— TOX. She is safe indeed.
MAN. Father is now delaying. TOX. What if I admonish him?

VIR. Tempus est.
TOX. Heus, Saturio, exi. nunc est illa occasio 725
inimicum ulcisci.

VIR. It is time.
TOX. Hey, Saturio, come out. now is that occasion 725
to avenge the enemy.

SATVRIO Ecce me. numquid moror?
TOX. Age, illuc abscede procul e conspectu, tace;
ubi cum lenone me videbis conloqui,
tum turbam facito. SAG. Dictum sapienti sat est.

SATVRIO Here I am. Am I delaying at all?
TOX. Come, go off over there, out of sight, be silent;
when you see me conversing with the pimp,
then make a commotion. SAG. A word to the wise is enough.

TOX. Tunc, quando abiero— SAG. Quin taces? scio quid velis. 730

TOX. Then, when I have gone— SAG. Why don’t you be quiet? I know what you want. 730

IV.viii
DORDALVS Transcidi loris omnis adveniens domi,
ita mihi supellex squalet atque aedes meae.
TOX. Redis tu tandem? DOR. Redeo.

IV.viii
DORDALVS I slashed them all with whips upon arriving home,
so squalid are my furniture and my house.
TOX. Are you back at last? DOR. I am back.

TOX. Ne ego hodie tibi
bona multa feci. DOR. Fateor, habeo gratiam.
TOX. Num quippiam aliud me vis?

TOX. Indeed I today for you
have done many good things. DOR. I confess, I have gratitude.
TOX. Do you want me for anything else?

DOR. Vt bene sit tibi. 735
TOX. Pol istuc quidem omen iam ego usurpabo domi,
nam iam inclinabo me cum liberta tua.

DOR. May it be well with you. 735
TOX. By Pollux, that omen indeed I will now usurp at home,
for now I will recline with your freedwoman.

IV.ix
SATVRIO Nisi ego illum hominem perdo, perii. atque optume
eccum ipsum ante aedes. VIR. Salve multum, mi pater.

4.9
SATVRIO Unless I destroy that man, I’m destroyed. And excellent—look, the very man himself before the house. VIR. Many greetings, my father.

SAT. Salve, mea gnata. DOR. Ei, Persa me pessum dedit. 740
VIR. Pater hic meus est. DOR. Hem, quid?

SAT. Hello, my daughter. DOR. Alas, Persa has ruined me. 740
VIR. This here is my father. DOR. Eh? What?

pater? perii oppido.
quid ego igitur cesso infelix lamentarier
minas sexaginta?

father? I am utterly undone.
why then do I, wretched, delay to lament
sixty minas?

SAT. Ego pol te faciam, scelus,
te quoque etiam ipsum ut lamenteris. DOR. Occidi.
SAT. Age ambula in ius, leno.

SAT. By Pollux, I’ll make you, scoundrel,
you too, your very self, lament. DOR. I’m done for.
SAT. Come on, walk to court, pander.

DOR. Quid me in ius vocas? 745
SAT. Illi apud praetorem dicam. sed ego in ius voco.
DOR. Nonne antestaris?

DOR. Why do you summon me into court? 745
SAT. I will speak of it before the praetor. But I summon you into court.
DOR. Do you not call witnesses?

SAT. Tuan ego causa, carnufex,
cuiquam mortali libero auris atteram,
qui hic commercaris civis homines liberos?
DOR. Sine dicam. SAT. Nolo.

SAT. For your sake, you executioner, shall I wear down the ears of any freeborn mortal,
you who here do commerce in freeborn citizen men?
DOR. Let me speak. SAT. I won’t.

DOR. Audi. SAT. Surdus sum. ambula. 750
sequere hac, sceleste, feles virginaria.

DOR. Listen. SAT.
I am deaf. Walk on. 750
follow this way, scoundrel, you virgin-hunting feline.

sequere hac, mea gnata, me usque ad praetorem.— VIR. Sequor.—

follow me this way, my daughter, all the way to the praetor.— VIR. I follow.—

ACTVS V

ACT 5

V.i
TOXILVS Hostibus victis, civibus salvis, re placida, pacibus perfectis,
bello exstincto, re bene gesta, integro exercitu et praesidiis,
cum bene nos, Iuppiter, iuvisti, dique alii omnes caelipotentes, 755
eas vobis habeo grates atque ago, quia probe sum ultus meum inimicum.
nunc ob eam rem inter participes didam praedam et participabo.
ite foras: hic volo ante ostium et ianuam
meos participes bene accipere. 758a
statuite hic lectulos, ponite hic quae adsolent.

5.1
TOXILUS With the enemies conquered, the citizens safe, the affair placid, the peaces perfected,
the war extinguished, the matter well managed, the army and the garrisons intact,
since well you have aided us, Jupiter, and all the other heaven-powerful gods, 755
I have and render those thanks to you, because I have duly avenged my enemy.
now on that account I will distribute the plunder among my partners and make them participants.
go outside: here I want, before the doorway and the door,
to welcome my partners well. 758a
set up the little couches here, place here the things that are wont.

hic statui volo primum ~ aliqua mihi, 759a
unde ego omnis hilaros, ludentis, laetificantis faciam ut fiant,
quorum opera mihi facilia factu facta haec sunt, quae volui effieri.
nam improbus est homo qui beneficium scit accipere et reddere nescit.
LEMNISELENIS Toxile mi, cur ego sine te sum, cur tu autem sine me es? T.
Agedum ergo,
accede ad me atque amplectere sis.

here I want first to set up ~ some things for myself, 759a
from which I will make everyone become cheerful, playing, rejoicing,
by whose efforts these things which I wished to be effected have been made easy to do for me.
for he is a shameless man who knows how to receive a benefaction and does not know how to return it.
LEMNISELENIS My Toxilus, why am I without you, and why are you without me? T.
Come on then,
come up to me and do please embrace me.

LEMN. Ego vero. TOX. Oh, nihil hoc
magis dulcest.
sed, amabo, oculus meus, quin lectis nos actutum commendamus? 765
LEMN. Omnia quae tu vis, ea cupio.

LEMN. I indeed. TOX. Oh, nothing is sweeter than this
but, please, my eye, why don’t we straightway commend ourselves to the couches? 765
LEMN. Everything that you wish, that I desire.

TOX. Mutua fiunt a me. age, age ergo,
tu Sagaristio, accumbe in summo. SAGARISTIO Ego nil moror: cedo parem, quem
pepigi.
TOX. Temperi.

TOX. I repay in kind. come, come then,
you, Sagaristio, recline in the top place. SAGARISTIO I tarry nothing: hand over the match whom
I bargained for.
TOX. Timely.

SAG. Mi istuc temperi serost. TOX. Hoc age, accumbe. hunc
diem suavem
meum natalem agitemus amoenum.

SAG. For me, that’s late in good time. TOX. Do this—recline. Let us celebrate this
sweet day,
my birthday, pleasant.

date aquam manibus, apponite mensam.
do hanc tibi florentem florenti. tu hic eris dictatrix nobis. 770
LEMN. Age, puere, ab summo septenis cyathis committe hos ludos.

give water for the hands, set the table.
I give this blooming one to you, the blooming. you here will be our dictatrix. 770
LEMN. Come, boy, from the top, with seven cyathi, commence these games.

TOX. Move manus, propera, Paegnium, tarde cyathos mihi das, cedo sane.
bene mihi, bene vobis, bene meae amicae, optatus hic mihi dies datus hodiest.
ab dis, quia te licet liberam med amplecti.

TOX. Set your hands in motion, hurry, Paegnium; you give me the cups too slowly—hand it over, then.
good for me, good for you, good for my girlfriend: this desired day has been given to me today.
from the gods, since it is permitted me to embrace you free.

LEMN. Tua factum opera.
TOX. Bene omnibus nobis. hoc mea manus tuae poclum donat, ut amantem 775
amanti decet.

LEMN. Done by your effort.
TOX. Good for all of us. This my hand presents a cup to yours, as it befits lover 775
to lover.

LEMN. Cedo. TOX. Accipe. TOX. Bene ei qui invidet mi et
ei qui hoc gaudet.

LEMN. Hand it over. TOX. Receive. TOX. Good health to him who envies me and
to him who rejoices at this.

V.ii
DORDALVS Qui sunt ~ qui erunt quique fuerunt quique futuri sunt posthac,
solus ego omnibus antideo facile, miserrimus hominum ut vivam.
perii, interii. pessimus hic mi dies hodie inluxit corruptor, 779-780
ita me Toxilus perfabricavit itaque meam rem divexavit. 781
vehiclum argenti miser eieci [amisi], neque quam ob rem eieci, habeo.

5.2
DORDALVS Who are ~ who will be and who were and who will be in future hereafter,
I alone easily outdo them all, so that I live as the most wretched of men.
I have perished, I am destroyed. the worst day for me has dawned today, a corrupter, 779-780
thus Toxilus has so contrived me and so harried my affair/fortune. 781
a wagon-load of silver I, wretch, have thrown away [I lost it], nor have I the reason why I threw it away.

qui illum Persam atque omnis Persas atque etiam omnis personas
male di omnes perdant, ita misero Toxilus haec mihi concivit.
quia ei fidem non habui argenti, eo mihi eas machinas molitust; 785
quem pol ego ut non in cruciatum atque in compedis cogam, si vivam,
siquidem huc umquam erus redierit eius, quod spero— sed quid ego aspicio?
hoc vide, quae haec fabulast?

may all the gods destroy that Persian and all Persians and even all personae;
so has Toxilus stirred up these things for me, wretched as I am.
because I had no faith in him in the matter of the silver, on that account he has set these machinations a‑grinding against me; 785
by Pollux, I’ll force that fellow into torture and into fetters, if I live,
if indeed his master shall ever return here, which I hope — but what do I see?
look at this, what play is this?

hic quidem pol potant. adgrediar. o bone vir,
salveto, et tu, bona liberta.

Here indeed—by Pollux—they are drinking. I will approach. O good man,
hail, and you too, good freedwoman.

TOX. Dordalus hic quidemst. SAG. 789-790
Quin iube adire.
TOX. Adi, si libet.

TOX. This is indeed Dordalus. SAG. 789-790
Why not order him to approach?
TOX. Come, if you please.

SAG. Agite, adplaudamus. TOX. Dordale, homo 791
lepidissume, salve.
locus hic tuos est, hic accumbe.

SAG. Come, let us applaud. TOX. Dordalus, most charming man, 791
greetings.
this place is yours; recline here.

ferte aquam pedibus. praeben tu puere?
DOR. Ne sis me uno digito attigeris, ne te ad terram, scelus, adfligam.

bring water for the feet. will you provide it, boy?
DOR. do not touch me with even one finger, lest I dash you to the ground, you scoundrel.

PAEG. At tibi ego hoc continuo cyatho oculum excutiam ~ tuum.
DOR. Quid ais, crux, stimulorum tritor? quo modo me hodie versavisti, 795
ut me in tricas coniecisti, quo modo de Persa manus mi aditast?

PAEG. But I will knock out your eye with this cup straightway ~ yours.
DOR. What say you, you gallows, grinder of goads? how you have handled me today, 795
how you have thrown me into knaveries, how in the matter of the Persian your hand has come at me?

TOX. Iurgium hinc auferas, si sapias.
DOR. At, bona liberta, haec scivisti et me celavisti? LEMN. Stultitiast,
cui bene esse licet, eum praevorti litibus.

TOX. Take this wrangling away from here, if you are wise.
DOR. But, good freedwoman, you knew these things and concealed them from me? LEMN. It is foolishness,
for one to whom it is permitted to fare well, to prefer litigation.

posterius istaec te                 799-800
magis par agerest. DOR. Vritur cor mi. TOX. Da illi cantharum,      801
     extingue ignem, si
cor uritur, caput ne ardescat.
DOR. Ludos me facitis, intellego.

later these things for you                 799-800
are more fitting to manage. DOR. My heart is burning. TOX. Give him a cantharus,      801
     extinguish the fire, if
the heart is burning, lest the head catch fire.
DOR. You’re making sport of me, I understand.

TOX. Vin cinaedum novom tibi dari, Paegnium?
quin elude, ut soles, quando liber locust hic. 805
hui, babae, basilice te intulisti et facete.
PAEG. Decet me facetum esse, et hunc inridere
lenonem lubidost, quando dignus est.

TOX. Do you want a new catamite to be given to you, Paegnium?
why not sport, as you’re wont, since this place is free and easy. 805
whew, bravo, you’ve brought yourself in royally and wittily.
PAEG. It befits me to be facetious, and it is my pleasure to mock this pimp,
since he is worthy.

TOX. Perge ut coeperas. PAEG. Hoc, leno, tibi.
DOR. Perii perculit me prope.

TOX. Proceed as you have begun. PAEG. This, pimp, for you.
DOR. I am undone—he has nearly struck me down.

PAEG. Em, serva rusum. 810
DOR. Delude, ut lubet, erus dum hinc abest.
PAEG. Viden ut tuis dictis pareo?
sed quin tu meis contra item dictis servis
atque hoc, quod tibi suadeo, facis?

PAEG. There—keep that again. 810
DOR. Make sport, as it pleases you, while the master is away from here.
PAEG. Do you see how I obey your words? But why don’t you in turn likewise obey my words and do this which I advise you?

DOR. Quid est id?
PAEG. Restim tu tibi cape crassam ac suspende te. 815
DOR. Cave sis me attigas, ne tibi hoc scipione
malum magnum dem. PAEG. Vtere, te condono.
TOX. Iam iam, Paegnium, da pausam.

DOR. What is that?
PAEG. Take for yourself a thick rope and hang yourself. 815
DOR. Look out, please, don’t touch me, lest with this staff
I give you great harm. PAEG. Use it; I condone you.
TOX. Now, now, Paegnium, give a pause.

DOR. Ego pol vos eradicabo. PAEG. At te ille, qui supra nos habitat,
qui tibi male volt maleque faciet. non hi dicunt, verum ego. 820
TOX. Age, circumfer mulsum, bibere da usque plenis cantharis.

DOR. By Pollux, I will eradicate you all. PAEG. But you—he who lives above us—who wishes you ill and will do ill. It is not these who say it, but I. 820
TOX. Come, circulate the mulsum, give to drink with brimming tankards.

iam diu factum est, postquam bibimus; nimis diu sicci sumus.
DOR. Di faciant ut id bibatis quod vos numquam transeat.
SAG. Nequeo, leno, quin tibi saltem staticulum, olim quem Hegea
faciebat.

It’s been a long time since we drank; we’ve been dry far too long.
DOR. May the gods bring it about that you drink what will never pass through you.
SAG. I can’t, pimp, but at least give you a little stiffener, the kind that Hegea used to make once.

vide vero, si tibi satis placet. TOX. Me quoque volo 825
reddere, Diodorus quem olim faciebat in Ionia.
DOR. Malum ego vobis dabo, ni abitis.

see indeed, if it pleases you enough. TOX. I too want to 825
render it, the Diodorus which once he used to make in Ionia.
DOR. I will give you a beating, unless you go away.

SAG. Etiam muttis, impudens?
iam ego tibi, si me inritassis, Persam adducam denuo.
D. [iam taceo hercle] Atque tu Persa es, qui me usque admutilavisti ad cutem.

SAG. Are you still muttering, impudent one?
now I, if you provoke me, will bring the Persian to you again.
D. [by Hercules, I am now silent] And you are the Persian, who has shorn me right to the skin.

T. Tace, stulte: hic eius geminust frater. D. Hicinest? T. Ac geminissumus. 830
DOR. Di deaeque et te et geminum fratrem excrucient.

T. Be quiet, fool: this is his twin brother. D. Is this him? T. And the very truest twin. 830
DOR. May the gods and goddesses torture both you and your twin brother.

SAG. Qui te perdidit:
nam ego nil merui. DOR. At enim quod ille meruit, tibi id obsit volo.
TOX. Agite sultis, hunc ludificemus.

SAG.
The one who ruined you: for I have deserved nothing. DOR. But indeed what he has deserved, I wish that that may harm you.
TOX. Come on, if you please, let us make sport of this man.

LEMN. Nisi si dignust, non opust.
et me haud par est. TOX. Credo eo, quia non inconciliavit, cum te emo.

LEMN. Unless he is worthy, there is no need.
and for me it is not proper. TOX. I believe for that reason, because he did not alienate, since I am buying you.

LEMN. At tamen non— tamen— TOX. Cave ergo sis malo, et sequere me. 835
te mihi dicto audientem esse addecet, nam hercle absque me
foret et meo praesidio, hic faceret te prostibilem propediem.
sed ita pars libertinorum est: nisi patrono qui adversatust,
nec satis liber sibi videtur nec satis frugi nec sat honestus,
ni id effecit, ni ei male dixit, ni grato ingratus repertust. 840
LEMN. Pol bene facta tua me hortantur, tuo ut imperio paream.
TOX. Ego sum tibi patronus plane, qui huic pro te argentum dedi.

LEMN. But still not— still— TOX. Then beware, pray, of harm, and follow me. 835
it befits you to be obedient to my word, for, by Hercules, without me
and my protection, this fellow here would soon make you a streetwalker.
but such is the way of a portion of freedmen: unless he who has set himself as an adversary to his patron,
he does not seem sufficiently free to himself nor sufficiently frugal nor sufficiently honest,
unless he has brought that about, unless he has spoken ill of him, unless an ungrateful man he has been found to a grateful one. 840
LEMN. By Pollux, your well-done deeds encourage me to obey your command.
TOX. I am plainly your patron, I who gave this man silver on your behalf.

*** graphice hunc volo ludificari. LEMN. Meo ego in loco sedulo curabo.
DOR. Certo illi homines mihi nescio quid mali consulunt, quod faciant.

*** graphically I want to mock this fellow. LEMN. I, in my place, will diligently see to it.
DOR. Certainly those men are contriving I know not what evil for me, to do it.

SAG. Heus vos.
TOX. Quid ais? SAG. Hicin Dordalus est leno, qui hic liberas virgines mercatur? 845
hicinest, qui fuit quondam fortis?

SAG. Hey, you!
TOX. What do you say? SAG. Is this Dordalus the procurer, who here traffics in freeborn virgins? 845
Is this the one who once was brave?

D. Quae haec res est? ei, colapho me icit.
malum vobis dabo.

D. What is this thing? ow, he smites me with a cuff.
I’ll give you all a beating.

TOX. At tibi nos dedimus dabimusque etiam. DOR. Ei,
natis pervellit.
PAEG. Licet: iam diu saepe sunt expunctae.

TOX. But to you we have given and we will give besides. DOR. Ow,
he pinches at my buttocks.
PAEG. It’s allowed: for a long time now they have often been crossed off.

DOR. Loquere tu etiam, frustum
pueri?
LEMN. Patrone mi, i intro, amabo, ad cenam.
DOR. Mea Ignavia, tu nunc me inrides? 850
L. Quiane te voco, bene ut tibi sit?

DOR. Speak you too, fragment
of a boy?
LEMN. My patron, go inside, please, to dinner.
DOR. My Ignavia, do you now deride me? 850
L. Because I call you, that it may be well for you?

D. Nolo mihi bene esse. L. Ne sit.
TOX. Quid igitur?

D. I do not want it to be well for me. L. Let it not be.
TOX. What then?

sescenti nummi quid agunt, quas turbas danunt?
DOR. Male disperii, sciunt referre probe inimico gratiam.
TOX. Satis sumpsimus supplici iam.

Six hundred coins—what do they do, what disturbances do they cause?
DOR. I’m badly undone; they know how to return gratitude to an enemy right well.
TOX. We have taken enough punishment already.

DOR. Fateor, manus vobis do.
TOX. Et post dabis sub furcis. 855
SAG. Abi intro— in crucem. DOR. An me hic parum exercitum hisce
habent? TOX. Convenisse te Toxilum me ***
spectatores, bene valete.

DOR. I confess, I give you my hands.
TOX. And afterward you’ll give them under the gallows. 855
SAG. Go inside— to the cross. DOR. Or do they hold me here not sufficiently worked over by these
men? TOX. It has come to pass that you met Toxilus— me ***
spectators, fare well.

leno periit. plaudite.

the pimp has perished. applaud.