- 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-lat2:713-784
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
Demipho tries to make excuses to his wife Dorippa about the woman in the house but finds himself at a loss for words. Soon after, the cook he hired arrives and inadvertently exposes Demipho's complaints about his wife and his passion for his mistress, further provoking Dorippa's anger.
iubet salvere suos vir uxorem suam.1
Demipho: A husband bids his wife good day.
urbani fiunt rustici?
Dorippa: Do city folk become country folk?
Pudicius
Demipho: They act
faciunt, quam ílli qui non fiunt rustici.
more modestly than those who do not become country folk.
Num quid delinquont rustici?
Dorippa: Do country folk do anything wrong?
Ecastor minus
Demipho: By Castor, less
quam urbani, et multo minus mali quaerunt sibi.
than city folk, and they seek much less trouble for themselves.
Quid autem urbani deliquerunt? dic mihi,
Dorippa: But what have city folk done wrong? Tell me,
cupio hercle scire.
by Hercules, I desire to know.
Sed tu me temptas sciens.
Demipho: But you are testing me knowingly.
quoia illa mulier intust?
Dorippa: Whose woman is that inside?
Vidistine eam?
Demipho: Did you see her?
Vidi.
Dorippa: I saw her.
Quoia ea sit rogitas?
Demipho: You ask whose she is?
Resciscam tamen.
Dorippa: I will find out anyway.
Vin dicam quoiast? illa—illa edepol—vae mihi,
Demipho: Do you want me to tell you whose she is? She... she, by Pollux... woe to me,
nescio quid dicam.
I don’t know what to say.
Haeres.
Dorippa: You are stuck.
Haud vidi magis.2
Demipho: I’ve never seen anyone more so.
Quin dicis?
Dorippa: Why don’t you say?
Quin si liceat—
Demipho: Why, if I were allowed—
Dictum oportuit.
Dorippa: You ought to have said it already.
Non possum, ita instas; urges quasi pro noxio.
Demipho: I cannot, you press me so; you urge me as if against a guilty man.
Scio, innóxiu's.
Dorippa: I know, you are innocent.
Audacter quam vis dicito.
Demipho: Speak as boldly as you please.
Dic igitur.
Dorippa: Tell me then.
Dicam.
Demipho: I will tell.
At qui dicundum est tamen.
Dorippa: But still, it must be told.
Illast—etiam vis nomen dicam?
Demipho: She is... do you also want me to say her name?
Nihil agis,
Dorippa: You are accomplishing nothing;
manufesto teneo in noxia.
I hold you in manifest guilt.
Qua noxia?
Demipho: What guilt?
ista quidem illa est.
She is indeed that one.
Quae illa est?
Dorippa: Who is that one?
Illa—
Demipho: That...
†Iohia
†Iohia†
Iam—si nihil usus esset, iam non dicerem.
Now—if there were no use, I would not say.
Non tu scis quae sit illa?
Don’t you know who she is?
Immo iam scio:
Dorippa: On the contrary, now I know.
de istac sum iudex captus.
Demipho: I have been chosen as an arbitrator concerning her.
Iudex? iam scio:
Dorippa: An arbitrator? Now I know:
nunc tu in consilium istam advocavisti tibi.
now you have called her into consultation with you.
Immo sic: séquestro mihi datast.
Demipho: No, like this: she was given to me as a deposit in trust.
Intellego.
Dorippa: I understand.
Nihil hercle istius quicquam est.
Demipho: By Hercules, there is nothing of that sort at all.
Numero3 purigas.
Dorippa: You clear yourself too quickly.
Nimium negoti repperi. enim vero haereo.
Demipho: I have found too much trouble. Truly, I am stuck.
Agite ite actutum, nam mi amatori seni
Cook: Come, go quickly, for a dinner must be cooked for that old lover
coquendast cena. átque, quom recogito,
of mine. And, when I think about it,
nobis coquendast, non quoi conducti sumus.
it must be cooked for us, not for him by whom we were hired.
nam quí amat quod amat sí habet, id habet pro cibo:
For he who loves, if he has what he loves, holds that as food:
videre, amplecti, ósculari, álloqui;
to see, to embrace, to kiss, to talk;
sed nos confido onustos redituros domum.
but I am confident that we shall return home heavily laden.
ite hac. sed eccum qui nos conduxit senex.
Go this way. But look, there is the old man who hired us.
Ecce autem perii, coquos adest.
Demipho: But look, I am ruined, the cook is here.
Advenimus.
Cook: We have arrived.
Abi.
Demipho: Go away.
Quid, abeam?
Cook: What, I should go away?
St, abi.
Demipho: Sh, go away.
Abeam?
Cook: Go away?
Abi.
Demipho: Go away.
Non estis cenaturi?
Cook: Aren’t you going to dine?
Iam saturi sumus.
Demipho: We are already full.
Sed—
Cook: But—
Intérii.
Demipho: I am dead.
Quid ais tu? etiamne haec illi tibi
Cook: What are you saying? Did those, between whom you were appointed arbitrator,
iusserunt ferri, quos inter iudex datu's?4
also order these things to be carried to them?
Haecin tua est amica, quam dudum mihi
Cook: Is this your mistress, whom you told me just now
te amare dixti, quom obsonabas?
you loved, when you were marketing?
Non taces?
Demipho: Won’t you be silent?
Satis scítum filum mulieris. verum hercle anet.
Cook: Quite a pretty figure of a woman. But, by Hercules, she is old.
Abin díerectus?
Demipho: Go to the gallows, won’t you?
Haud malast.
Cook: She’s not bad.
At tu malu's.
Demipho: But you are bad.
Scitam hercle opinor concubinam hanc.
Cook: By Hercules, I think this is a pretty mistress.
Non abis?
Demipho: Won’t you go away?
non ego sum qui te dudum conduxi.
I am not the one who hired you just now.
Quid est?
Cook: What?
immo hercle tu istic ipsus.
On the contrary, by Hercules, you are the very man.
Vae misero mihi.
Demipho: Woe to miserable me.
Nempe uxor rurist tua, quam dudum dixeras
Cook: To be sure, your wife is in the country, the one you said just now
te odisse aeque atque anguis.†
you hated as much as a snake.
Egone istuc dixi tibi?
Demipho: Did I say that to you?
Mihi quidem hercle.
Cook: To me, indeed, by Hercules.
Ita me amabit Iuppiter,
Demipho: So may Jupiter love me,
uxor, ut ego illud numquam dixi.
wife, I never said that.
Etiam negas?
Dorippa: Do you still deny it?
palam istaec fiunt, te me odisse.
These things are made open, that you hate me.
Quin nego.
Demipho: But I deny it.
Non, non te odisse aiebat, sed uxorem suam;
Cook: No, he didn’t say he hated you, but his wife;
et uxórem suam ruri esse aiebat.
and he said his wife was in the country.
Haec east.
Dorippa: This is she.
quid mihi molestu's?
Demipho: Why are you troublesome to me?
Quia novisse me negas;
Cook: Because you deny that you know me;
nisi metuis tu istanc.
unless you fear that woman there.
Sapio, nam mihi unicast.
Demipho: I am wise, for she is my only one.
Vin me experiri?
Cook: Do you want me to test it?
Nolo.
Demipho: I do not.
Mercedem cedo.
Cook: Give me my pay then.
Cras petito; dabitur. nunc abi.
Demipho: Ask for it tomorrow; it will be given. Now go away.
Heu miserae mihi.
Dorippa: Woe to miserable me.
Nunc ego verum illud verbum esse experior vetus:
Demipho: Now I experience that that old proverb is true:
aliquid mali esse propter vicinum malum.
that some evil exists because of a bad neighbor.
Cur hic astamus? quin abimus? incommodi
Cook: Why are we standing here? Why don’t we go away? If any inconvenience
si quid tibi evénit, id non est culpa mea.
has come to you, it is not my fault.
Quin me eradicas miserum.
Demipho: Why don’t you completely ruin wretched me?
Scio iam quid velis:
Cook: I know now what you want:
nempe me hínc abire vis.
surely you want me to go away from here.
Volo inquam.
Demipho: I do, I say.
Abibitur.
Cook: I will go.
drachmam dato.
Give me a drachma.
Dabitur.
Demipho: It will be given.
Dari ergo sis iube.
Cook: Order it to be given then, if you please.
dari pótest interea dum illi ponunt.
It can be given while they are putting these down.
Quin abis?
Demipho: Why don’t you go away?
potine ut molestus ne sis?
Can’t you stop being troublesome?
Agite apponite
Cook: Come, put down
obsonium istuc ante pedes illi seni.
that food before the feet of that old man.
haec vasa aut mox aut cras iubebo abs te peti
I will order these vessels to be fetched from you either soon or tomorrow.
sequimíni.—
Follow me.
Fortasse te illum mirari coquom,
Demipho: Perhaps you wonder at that cook,
quod venit atque haec attulit. dicam quid est.
that he came and brought these things. I will tell you what it is.
Non miror si quid damni facis aut flagiti.
Dorippa: I do not wonder if you do anything of damage or of disgrace.
- 713iubet salvere suos vir uxorem suam
By using the third-person 'vir uxorem suam' instead of direct pronouns, Demipho adopts a detached, objective tone, attempting to greet his angry wife with awkward formality.
- 723cHaud vidi magis
A verb such as 'haerere' (to stick, be at a loss) is elliptically omitted after 'magis'; the phrase means 'I have never seen anyone more stuck.'
- 739bNumero
In archaic Latin, especially in comedy, 'numero' is used adverbially to mean 'too quickly' or 'too soon,' carrying a sarcastic nuance regarding the speed of the explanation.
- 752quos inter iudex datu's
There is an anastrophe where the preposition 'inter' is placed after its relative pronoun 'quos'. Also, 'datu's' is a contracted form of 'datus es'.