- 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-lat2:587b-645
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
Charinus, anxiously waiting for Eutychus, learns that his mistress has been sold and taken away. Despairing over his friend's failure and armed only with a vague description of the buyer, Charinus decides to go into exile.
Res parata est, sequere me.—
”Everything is ready, follow me.”
Súmne ego homo miser, qui nusquam bene queo quiescere?
Am I not a wretched man, who can nowhere rest in peace?
si domi sum, foris est animus, sin foris sum, animus domist.
if I am at home, my mind is abroad; but if I am abroad, my mind is at home.
ita mi in pectore atque in corde facit amor incendium:
In such a way does love light up a conflagration in my breast and in my heart:
ni ex oculis lacrumae defendant, iam ardeat1 credo caput.
if tears did not defend it from my eyes, I believe my head would already be on fire.
spem teneo, salutem amisi; redeat an non, nescio:
I hold onto hope, but I have lost my safety; whether it will return or not, I know not:
si opprimit pater quod dixit, exsulatum abiit salus;
if my father carries out what he said and crushes me, my safety has gone into exile;
sin sodalis quod promisit fecit, non abiit salus.
but if my comrade has done what he promised, my safety has not departed.
sed tamen dem si podagrosis pedibus esset Eutychus,
But yet, even if Eutychus had gouty feet,
iam a portu rediisse potuit. id illi vitium maxumumst,
by now he might have returned from the harbor. That is his greatest fault,
quod nimis tardus est advorsum mei animi sententiam.
that he is too slow compared to the expectation of my mind.
sed in est, quem currentem video? ípsus est. ibo obviam.
But who is that I see running? It is he himself. I will go to meet him.
nunc, quod restat, ei disperii: voltus neutiquam huius placet;
Now, as for what remains, alas, I am undone: his countenance pleases me not at all;
tristis incédit (pectus ardet, haereo), quassat caput.
he approaches sadly (my breast burns, I am stuck), he shakes his head.
Eutyche.
Eutychus!
Eu, Charine.
Ah, Charinus.
Prius quam recipias anhelitum,
Before you catch your breath,
uno verbo eloquere: ubi égo sum? hicine an apud mortuos?
speak out in a single word: where am I? Here or among the dead?
Neque apud mortuos neque hic es.
You are neither among the dead nor here.
Salvos sum, immortalitas
I am safe, immortality
mihi data est: hic emit illam, pulchre os sublevit patri.
has been given to me: this man bought her, he has beautifully wiped my father’s face (deceived him).
impetrabilior qui vivat nullus est. dice, obsecro:
There is no living man who gets what he wants more easily. Tell me, I beseech you:
si neque hic neque Acherunti sum, úbi sum?
if I am neither here nor at Acheron, where am I?
Nusquam gentium.
Nowhere in the world.
Disperii, illaec interemit me modó oratio.
I am undone, that speech just now has killed me.
Odiosast oratio, cum rém agas longinquom loqui.
It is a hateful speech when, in conducting a matter, one speaks circuitously.
Quidquid est, ad capita rerum perveni.
Whatever it is, come to the core of the matter.
Primum omnium:
First of all:
periimus.
we are ruined.
Quin tu illud potius nuntias quod nescio?
Why don’t you rather announce that which I do not know?
Mulier alienata est abs te.
The woman is alienated from you.
Eutyché, capital facis.
Eutychus, you are committing a capital crime.
Qui?
How so?
Quia aequalem et sodalem, liberum civem, enicas.
Because you are killing your peer and comrade, a free citizen.
Ne di sierint.
May the gods not permit it.
Demisisti gladium in iugulum: iam cadam.
You have thrust a sword into my throat: now I shall fall.
Quaeso hercle, animum ne desponde.
I beg you by Hercules, do not lose heart.
Nullust quem despondeam.2
There is none for me to lose.
loquere porro aliam malam rem. cui est empta?
Speak further of another bad thing. For whom was she bought?
Nescio.
I do not know.
iam addicta atque abducta erat, quom ad portum venio.
She had already been knocked down and led away when I came to the harbor.
Vae mihi,
Woe to me,
montis tu quidem mali in me ardentis iam dudum iacis.
you have indeed been throwing mountains of burning evil upon me for a long time.
perge, excrucia, carnufex, quandoquidem occepisti semel.
Proceed, torture me, executioner, since you have once begun.
Quid ego feci?
What did I do?
Perdidisti me et fidem mecum tuam.
You have ruined me and your pledge of faith with me.
Di sciunt culpam meam istanc non esse ullam.
The gods know that there is no fault of mine in this.
Eugepae,
Well, splendid!
deos absentis testis memoras: quí ego istuc credam tibi?
you mention absent gods as witnesses: how am I to believe that of yours?
Quia tibi in manu est quod credas, ego quod dicam, id mi in manust.
Because it is in your hand to believe what you will, and what I say is in my hand.
De istac ré argutus es, ut par pari respondeas,
On that matter you are clever, to return like for like,
ad mandata claudus caecus mutus mancus debilis.
but for commissions you are lame, blind, dumb, crippled, and weak.
promittebas te os sublinere meo patri: egomet credidi
You promised that you would cheat my father: I myself believed
homini docto rem mandare, is lapidi mando maximo.
I was committing the matter to a clever man, but I was committing it to the biggest stone.
Quid ego facerem?
What was I to do?
Quid tu faceres? men rogas? requireres,3
What were you to do? You ask me? You should have searched,
rogitares quis esset aut unde esset, qua prosapia,
asked repeatedly who he was or where he was from, from what family,
civisne esset an peregrinus.
whether he was a citizen or a foreigner.
Civem esse aibant Atticum.
They said he was an Attic citizen.
Vbi habitaret invenires saltem, si nomen nequis.
You should at least have found out where he lived, if you couldn’t get his name.
Nemo aiebat scire.
No one said they knew.
At saltem hóminis faciem exquireres.
But at least you should have inquired about the man’s appearance.
Feci.
I did.
Qua forma esse aiebant igitur?
What did they say his appearance was, then?
Ego dicam tibi:
I will tell you:
canum, varum, ventriosum, bucculentum, breviculum,
Gray-haired, bow-legged, pot-bellied, puff-cheeked, rather short,
subnigris oculis, oblongis malis, pansam aliquantulum.
with darkish eyes, long jaws, and somewhat flat-footed.
Non hominem mihi, sed thensaurum nescio quem memoras mali.
You are describing to me not a man, but some treasure-trove of evil.
numquid est quod dicas aliud de illo?
Is there anything else you can say about him?
Tantum, quod sciam.
Only that, so far as I know.
Edepol ne ille oblongis malis mihi dedit magnum malum.4
By Pollux, indeed that long-jawed fellow has given me a great evil.
non possum durare, certumst exulatum hinc ire me.
I cannot endure it; it is resolved that I go into exile from here.
sed quam capiam civitatem, cogito, potissimum:
but I am considering which city I should go to in preference.
- 591ni... defendant, iam ardeat
A conditional sentence of present contrary-to-fact. While classical Latin would use the imperfect subjunctive (defenderent, arderet), archaic Latin often employs the present subjunctive (defendant, ardeat) in such constructions.
- 614bNullust quem despondeam
A witty response to Eutychus's "animum ne desponde" (do not lose heart / do not pledge away your spirit). Charinus omits "animus" and plays on the double meaning of "despondere" (to lose heart / to pledge or promise away), implying "there is no spirit left for me to pledge or lose."
- 633brequireres
The imperfect subjunctive (along with rogitares in §634, invenires in §636, and exquireres in §637b) is used here to express past obligation or propriety ("you ought to have sought").
- 643oblongis malis mihi dedit magnum malum
A characteristic Plautine pun playing on the phonetic similarity between "māla" (jaw, cheek, with a long 'a') and "malum" (evil, trouble, with a short 'a').