Charinus's prologue and his father's rebuke — Plautus, Mercator, lines 1–79_80, Latin & English

Duas res simul nunc agere decretumst mihi:

I have decided to do two things at once now:

et argumentum et meos amores eloquar.

I shall relate both the plot and my love affair.

non ego item facio ut alios in comoediis

I do not act in the same way as I have seen

vi vidi amoris facere, qui aut nocti aut die

others do in comedies by the force of love, who to either night or day,

aut soli aut lunae miserias narrant suas:

or to the sun or the moon, relate their miseries;

quos pol ego credo húmanas querimonias

whom, by Pollux, I believe care not a straw

non tanti facere,¹ quid velint quid non velint;

for human complaints, what they want or what they do not want;

vobis narrabo potius meas nunc miserias.

I shall rather relate my current miseries to you.

graece haec vocatur Emporos Philemonis,

In Greek this play is called Philemon’s Emporos,

eadem Latine Mercator Macci Titi.

the same in Latin is Titus Maccius’ Mercator.

pater ad mercatum hinc me meus misit Rhodum;

My father sent me from here to Rhodes for trade;

biennium iam factum est, postquam abii domo.

it is already two years since I left home.

ibi amare occepi forma eximia mulierem.

There I began to love a woman of exceptional beauty.

sed ea ut sim implicitus dicam, si operaest auribus

But how I became entangled with her, I shall tell, if you have time to listen

atque advortendum ad animum adest benignitas.

and if your kindness is present to direct your attention.

et hoc parum hercle more amatorum institi:

And in this, by Hercules, I have followed the way of lovers too little:

†per mea per conatus sum uos sumque inde exilico.

†through my... I have attempted... and from there immediately...

nam amorem haec cuncta vitia sectari solent,

For all these vices are accustomed to follow love:

cura aegritudo nimiaque elegantia,

anxiety, distress, and excessive refinement,

multiloquium: parumlóquium hoc ideo fit quia,

loquacity: and this briefness of speech arises from this, because

quae nihil attingunt ad rem nec sunt usui,

things which have no relevance to the matter and are of no use,

tam amator profert saepe advorso tempore;

such things a lover often brings forward at an inopportune time;

hoc pauciloquium rursum idcirco praedico,

on the other hand, I declare this briefness of speech for this reason,

quia nullus umquam amator adeost callide

because no lover is ever so cleverly

facundus, quae in rem sint suam ut possit loqui.

eloquent that he can speak what is to his own advantage.

nunc vos mi irasci ob multiloquium non decet:

Now it is not right for you to be angry with me on account of my loquacity:

eodém quo amorem Venus mi hoc legavit die.

Venus bequeathed this to me on the same day she did love.

illuc revorti certumst, conata eloquar.

I am resolved to return to that point; I shall relate what I have attempted.

principio ut ex ephebis aetate exii

First, when I left the age of youth behind

atque animus studio amotus puerilist meus,

and my mind was removed from childish pursuits,

amare valide coepi hinc meretricem: ilico

I began to love a courtesan intensely here: immediately

res exulatum ad illam clám abibat patris.

my father’s property went into exile secretly to her.

leno importunus, dominus eius mulieris,

The troublesome pimp, the master of that woman,

vi summa ut quicque poterat rapiebat domum.

snatched away to his house with all his might whatever he could.

obiurigare pater haec noctes et dies,²

My father began to chide these things nights and days,

perfidiam, iniustitiam lenonum expromere;

to expose the treachery and injustice of pimps;

lacerari valide suam rem, illius augerier.

to say that his own property was being violently torn to pieces, while that man’s was being increased.

summo haec clamore; interdum mussans conloqui:

He did this with the loudest shouting; sometimes muttering in private:

abnuere, negitare adeo me natum suom.

refusing, denying indeed that I was his own son.

conclamitare tota urbe et praedicere,

He kept shouting through the whole city and warning,

omnes tenerent mutuitanti credere.³

that all should take care not to trust me if I wanted to borrow money.

amorem multos inlexe in dispendium:

He said that love had enticed many into ruin;

intemperantem, non modestum, iniurium

that I, intemperate, immoderate, and lawless,

trahere, exhaurire me quod quirem ab se domo;

was dragging away and draining from his house whatever I could;

ratione pessuma a me ea quae ipsus optuma

that by the worst method I was squandering on my love affairs

omnis labores invenisset perferens,

those things which he himself, enduring all hardships,

in amoribus diffunditari ac didier.

had acquired in the best way, and that they were being scattered and dissipated.

convicium tot me annos iam se pascere;

He said that for so many years he had been nourishing a source of reproach;

quod nisi puderet, ne luberet vivere.

that unless I was ashamed of this, he would not even care to live.

sese extemplo ex ephebis postquam excesserit,

He said that as soon as he himself had left youth,

non, ut ego, amori neque desidiae in otio

he had not, like me, given his attention to love or to idleness in leisure,

operam dedisse, neque potestatem sibi

nor had there been any opportunity for him;

fuisse; adeo arte cohibitum esse se a patre:

so tightly had he been kept in check by his father;

multo opere immundo rustico se exercitum,

that he had been exercised with much dirty rustic labor,

neque nisi quinto anno quoque †positum visere

nor could he visit the [established] city except every fifth year,

urbem, atque extemplo inde, ut spectavisset peplum,

and immediately from there, as soon as he had looked at the peplum,

rus rusum confestim exigi solitum a patre.

he was accustomed to be driven back to the country at once by his father.

ibi multo primum sese familiarium

There he said that he had worked by far the hardest of all the servants,

laboravisse, quom haec pater sibi diceret:

while his father said these things to him:

tibi aras, tibi occas, tibi seris, tibi idem metis,

’For yourself you plow, for yourself you harrow, for yourself you sow, for yourself you reap,

tibi denique iste pariet laetitiam labos.

for yourself in the end that labor of yours will bring forth joy.’

postquam recesset vita patrio corpore,

After life had departed from his father’s body,

agrum se vendidisse atque ea pecunia

he said that he sold the land and with that money

navem, metretas quae trecentas tolleret,

had prepared a ship which would carry three hundred metretae,

parasse atque ea se mercis mercatum undique,

and with it he went trading for merchandise everywhere,

adeo dum, quae tum haberet, peperisset bona;

until he had acquired the goods which he then possessed;

me idem decere, si ut deceret me forem.⁴

that it was fitting for me to do the same, if I were such as I ought to be.

ego mé ubi invisum meo patri esse intellego

When I understand that I am hated by my father, I...

Syntax notes4 items

7non tanti facere
tanti is a genitive of value; non tanti facere means 'not to value highly' or 'not to care a straw for'. The following clauses quid velint quid non velint function as indirect questions explaining the object of their disregard.
46obiurigare pater haec noctes et dies
obiurigare, expromere, lacerari, and augerier are historical infinitives, functioning as past indicatives with the nominative pater as their subject. augerier is an archaic form of the passive infinitive (= augeri).
52omnes tenerent mutuitanti credere
tenerent is an imperfect subjunctive of indirect command introduced by the preceding praedicere (with ut omitted). Here tenere means 'to refrain from' or 'to take care not to,' rendering a warning that 'everyone should refrain from trusting (i.e., lending to) someone wanting to borrow'.
78si ut deceret me forem
forem is synonymous with essem (imperfect subjunctive of esse). The whole phrase forms a present contrary-to-fact condition, meaning 'if I were [now] such as I ought to be' (implying 'but I am not').

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-22)urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi011.humanitext-lat2:1-79_80