- Source
- Plautus. Plauti Comoediae, Volume 1. Leo, Friedrich, editor. Berlin: Weidmann, 1895.
- Translation
- AI-generated (gemini-3.5-flash) — machine translation; may contain errors
- Languages
- 日本語 · English · 简体中文 · 한국어
- CTS URN
- urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi011.humanitext-lat2:147-207b
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
After teasing Charinus, Acanthio reveals the shocking news that Charinus's father spotted his mistress on the ship and began to fondle her, plunging Charinus into despair.
Nescio ego istaec: philosophari numquam didici neque scio.
I do not know those things: I have never learned to philosophize, nor do I know how.
ego bonum, malum quo accedit, mihi dari haud desidero.
I do not at all desire a good to be given to me, to which evil is added.
Cedo tuam mihi dexteram, agedum, Acanthio.
Give me your right hand, come now, Acanthio.
Em dabitur, tene.
There, it shall be given, hold it.
Vin tu te mihi obsequentem esse an nevis?
Do you wish to be obedient to me, or do you not?
Opera licet
You may test it
experiri, qui me rupi1 causa currendo tua,
by experience, me who have ruptured myself by running for your sake,
ut quae scirem scire actutum tibi liceret.
so that what I knew, it might be permitted for you to know immediately.
Liberum
Free
caput tibi faciam cis paucos mensis.
status I will make for you within a few months.
Palpo percutis.
You are stroking me with soft words.
Egon ausim tibi usquam quicquam facinus falsum proloqui?
Would I dare to speak any false deed to you anywhere?
quin iam prius quam sum elocutus, scis si mentiri volo.
Why, even before I have spoken, you know if I wish to lie.
Ah,
Ah,
lassitudinem hercle verba tua mihi addunt, enicas.
by Hercules, your words add weariness to me, you are killing me.
Sicine mi obsequens es?
Is this how you are obedient to me?
Quid vis faciam?
What do you want me to do?
Tun? id quod volo.
You? That which I wish.
Quid id est igitur quod vis?
What is that then, which you wish?
Dicam.
I will tell you.
Dice.
Tell me.
At énim placide volo.
But indeed I want it quietly.
Dormientis spectatores metuis ne ex somno excites?
Are you afraid lest you wake the sleeping spectators from sleep?
Vae tibi.
Woe to you.
Tibi equidem a portu adporto hoc—
For my part, I bring this to you from the harbor—
Quid fers? dic mihi.
What do you bring? Tell me.
Vim metum, cruciatum curam, iurgiumque atque inopiam.
Force, fear, torture, care, and quarrel, and want.
Perii, tu quidem thensaurum huc mi adportavisti mali.
I am ruined; you indeed have brought a treasure of evil here to me.
nullus sum.
I am nothing.
Immo es—
On the contrary, you are—
Scio iam, miserum dices tu.
I know already, you will say “miserable”.
Dixi ego tacens.
I said it in silence.
Quid istuc est mali?
What is that evil?
Ne rogites, maxumum infortunium est.
Do not ask; it is the greatest misfortune.
Obsecro, dissolve iam me; nimis diu animi pendeo.
I beseech you, release me now; too long am I in suspense.
Placide, multa exquirere etiam prius volo quam vapulem.
Quietly, I still want to ask many things before I am beaten.
Hercle vero vapulabis, nisi iam loquere aut hinc abis.
By Hercules, you will indeed be beaten, unless you speak now or get away from here.
Hoc sis vide, ut palpatur. nullust, quando occepit, blandior.
Look at this, please, how he coaxes. No one is flatter, when he has begun.
Obsecro hercle oroque ut istuc quid sit actutum indices,
By Hercules, I beseech and entreat you to declare immediately what that is,
quandoquidem mihi supplicandum servolo video meo.
since indeed I see that I must supplicate my own little slave.
Tandem indignus videor?
Finally, do I seem unworthy?
Immo dignus.
On the contrary, worthy.
Equidem credidi.
Indeed I believed so.
Obsecro, num navis periit?
I beseech you, surely the ship hasn’t perished?
Salvast navis, ne time.
The ship is safe, do not fear.
Quid alia armamenta?
What of the other equipment?
Salva et sana sunt.
They are safe and sound.
Quin tu expedis
Why then do you not disclose
quid siet quod me per urbem currens quaerebas modo.
what that is, for which you were just now running through the city seeking me?
Tu quidem ex óre orationem mi eripis.
You indeed snatch the speech out of my mouth.
Taceo.
I am silent.
Tace.
Be silent.
credo, si boni quid ad te nuntiem, instes acriter,2
I believe, if I were to announce any good to you, you would press eagerly,
qui nunc, quom malum audiendumst, flagitas me ut eloquar.
you who now, when evil must be heard, demand that I speak out.
Obsecro hercle te, istuc ut tu mihi malum facias palam.
By Hercules, I beseech you, make that evil plain to me.
Eloquar, quandoquidem me oras. tuos pater—
I will speak out, since indeed you beg me. Your father—
Quid meus pater?
What about my father?
Tuam amicam—
Your mistress—
Quid eam?
What of her?
Vidit.
Saw her.
Vidit? vae misero mihi.
Saw her? Woe to miserable me!
Qui potuit videre?
How was he able to see her?
Oculis.
With his eyes.
Quo pacto?
In what manner?
Hiantibus.
Wide open.
In hinc dierectus?3 núgare in re capitali mea.
Go hang yourself! You trifle in my capital danger.
Qui, malum, ego nugor, si tibi quod me rogas respondeo?
How, plague, do I trifle, if I answer you what you ask me?
Certen vidit?
Did he certainly see her?
Tam hercle certe quám ego te aut tu me vides.
By Hercules, as certainly as I see you or you see me.
Vbi eam vidit?
Where did he see her?
Intus intra navem, út prope astitit;
Inside, within the ship, as he stood near;
et cum ea confabulatust.
and he conversed with her.
Perdidisti me, pater.
You have ruined me, father.
eho tu, eho tu, quin cavisti ne eam videret, verbero?
Hey you, hey you, why didn’t you take care lest he see her, you scoundrel?
quin, sceleste, ábstrudebas, né eam conspiceret pater?
Why, wicked fellow, didn’t you hide her, lest your father spy her?
Quia negotiosi eramus nos nostris negotiis:
Because we were busy with our own business:
armamentis complicandis componendis studuimus.
we were intent on folding and arranging the tackle.
dum haec aguntur, lembo advehitur tuos pater pauxillulo,
While these things were being done, your father arrived in a very small boat,
neque quisquam hominem conspicatust, donec in navem subit.
and no one saw the man until he boarded the ship.
Nequiquam, mare, subterfugi á tuis tempestatibus:
In vain, sea, have I escaped from your tempests:
equidem me iam censebam esse in terra atque in tuto loco,
for my part I already believed myself to be on land and in a safe place,
verum video med ad saxa ferri saevis fluctibus.
but I see that I am carried to the rocks by the cruel waves.
loquere porro, quid sit actum.
Speak further, what was done.
Postquam aspexit mulierem,
After he looked at the woman,
rogitare occepit cuia esset.
he began to ask whose she was.
Quid respondit?
What was answered?
Ilico
Immediately
occucurri atque interpello, matri te ancillam tuae
I ran up and interrupted, saying that you had bought her as a maidservant
emisse illam.
for your mother.
Visun est tibi credere id?
Did he seem to you to believe that?
Etiam rogas?
Do you still ask?
sed scelestus subigitare occepit.
But the scoundrel began to fondle her.
Illamne, obsecro?
Her? I beseech you!
Mirum quin me subigitaret.4
It would be a wonder if he had fondled me instead.
Edepol cor miserum meum,
By Pollux, my wretched heart,
quod guttatim contabescit, quasi in aquam indideris salem.
which wastes away drop by drop, as if you had put salt into water.
perii.
I am ruined.
Em istuc unum verbum dixisti verissimum.
Look, that single word you have spoken is most true.
stultitia istaec est.
That is foolishness.
Quid faciam? credo, non credet pater,
What shall I do? I believe my father will not believe it,
- 151qui me rupi
The antecedent of the relative pronoun qui is the preceding accusative pronoun me, with which the first-person singular verb rupi in the relative clause agrees. causa in causa tua (for your sake) is an ablative used adverbially.
- 177si boni quid ad te nuntiem, instes acriter
si nuntiem ... instes forms a conditional clause of potentiality (future less vivid) using the present subjunctive. boni quid is a partitive genitive construction with a neuter pronoun ('something of good').
- 184In hinc dierectus
dierectus is a term of abuse characteristic of Plautus, meaning 'go hang yourself' or 'go to the gallows'. in hinc is a colloquial combination of the preposition in with the adverb hinc (hence), or perhaps a corruption of the imperative i (from ire).
- 204Mirum quin me subigitaret
Mirum quin (followed by the subjunctive) is a colloquial idiom meaning 'it would be a wonder if ... not', used ironically or rhetorically to express 'of course he didn't fondle me (it would be surprising if he did)'.