Dorippa Summons Her Father and Eutychus's Good News — Plautus, Mercator, lines 785–855, Latin & English

785

nec pol ego patiar, sic me nuptam tam malemeasque in aedis sic scorta obductarier.¹

Dorippa: By Pollux, I will not endure that I should be so badly married, or that prostitutes should be brought into my house in this manner.

Syra, i, rogato meum patrem verbis meis,ut veniat ad me iam simul tecum.—

Syra, go, ask my father on my behalf to come to me now along with you.

Eo.—

Syra: I am going.

Nescis negoti quid sit, uxor, obsecro.conceptis verbis iam iusiurandum dabo,me numquam quicquam cum illa—iamne abiit Syra?

Lysimachus: I beg you, wife, you do not know what the matter is. I will now take an oath in formal words that I never had anything to do with her—has Syra already gone?

perii hercle. ecce autem haec abiit. vae misero mihi.

By Hercules, I am ruined. And look, she has also gone. Woe to miserable me!

at te, vicine, di deaeque perduint,²cum tua amíca cumque amationibus.

But as for you, neighbor, may the gods and goddesses destroy you, along with your mistress and your love affairs!

795

suspicione implevit me indignissime,concivit hostis dómi: uxór acerrumast.

He has filled me with suspicion most shamefully, and stirred up an enemy in my house; my wife is extremely fierce.

ibo ad forum atque haec Demiphoni éloquar,me istanc capillo protracturum esse in viam,nisi hinc abducit quo volt ex hisce aedibus.

I will go to the forum and tell this to Demipho, that I will drag that woman out into the street by her hair, unless he takes her away from this house to wherever he wants.

800

uxor, heus uxor, quamquam tu irata es mihi,iubeas, si sapias, haec intró auferrier:eadem licebit mox cenare rectius.—

Wife, hey wife, although you are angry with me, if you are wise, you would order these things to be carried inside; at the same time, it will be possible to dine more properly soon.

Era quo me misit, ad patrem, non est domi:rus abiisse aibant. nunc domum renuntio.

Syra: My mistress’s father, to whom she sent me, is not at home; they said he had gone to the country. Now I am reporting back home.

805

Defessus sum urbem totam pervenarier:nihil investigo quicquam de illa muliere.sed mater rure rediit, nam video Syramastare ante aedis. Syra.

Charinus: I am tired out from wandering through the whole city; I find no trace of that woman. But my mother has returned from the country, for I see Syra standing before the house. Syra!

Quis est qui me vocat?

Syra: Who is it that calls me?

Erus atque alumnus tuos sum.

Charinus: I am your master and your nursling.

Salve, alumne mi.

Syra: Hello, my nursling.

810

Iam mater rure rediit? responde mihi.

Charinus: Has mother already returned from the country? Answer me.

Sua quidem salute ac familiai maxuma.

Syra: Yes indeed, with her own safety and that of her household at its greatest.

Quid istúc negotist?

Charinus: What is that business?

Tuos pater bellissumusamicam adduxit intro in aedis.

Syra: Your most wonderful father has brought a mistress inside into the house.

Quo modo?

Charinus: How so?

Adveniens mater rure eam offendit domi.

Syra: Upon arriving from the country, your mother found her at home.

815

Pol haud censebam istarum esse operarum patrem.etiam nunc mulier intust?

Charinus: By Pollux, I did not think my father was of that sort of behavior. Is the woman still inside even now?

Etiam.

Syra: Yes, she is.

Sequere me.—

Charinus: Follow me.

Ecastor lege dura vivont mulieresmultoque iniquiore miserae quam viri.

Syra: By Castor, women live under a harsh law, and, miserable ones, under a much more unfair one than men.

nam si vir scortum duxit clam uxorem suam,id si rescivit uxor, impunest viro;uxor virum si clam domo egressa est foras,viro fit causa, exigitur matrimonio.

For if a husband has brought home a prostitute secretly from his wife, if the wife has found it out, it is unpunished for the husband; but if a wife has gone out of the house secretly from her husband, it becomes a cause for the husband, and she is driven out of marriage.

utinam lex esset eadem quae uxori est viro;nam uxor contenta est, quae bona est, uno viro:qui minus vir una uxore contentus siet?

Would that the law were the same for the husband as it is for the wife! For a wife, if she is good, is content with one husband; why should a husband be less content with one wife?

ecastor faxim,³ si itidem plectantur viri,si quis clam uxorem duxerit scortum suam,ut illae éxiguntur quae in se culpam commerent,plures viri sint vidui quam nunc mulieres.—

By Castor, I would make it so, if husbands were punished in the same way—if anyone secretly from his wife brought home a prostitute—just as those women are driven out who commit a fault, that there would be more single men than there are women now.

830

Límen superum ínferumque, salve, simul autem vale:hunc hodie postremum extollo mea domo patria pedem.

Charinus: Upper and lower threshold, hail, and at the same time farewell! Today I lift my foot for the last time from my father’s house.

usus, fructus, victus, cultus iam mihi harunc aediuminteremptust, interfectust, alienatust. occidi.

The use, enjoyment, food, and living of this house are now snatched away, killed, and alienated from me. I am undone.

di penates meum parentum, familiai Lar pater,vobis mando, meum parentum rem bene ut tutemini.

Household gods of my parents, father Lar of the family, I entrust to you that you protect well the estate of my parents.

ego mihi alios deos penatis persequar, alium Larem,aliam urbem, aliam civitatem: ab Atticis abhorreo;

I will pursue for myself other household gods, another Lar, another city, another state; I shrink from the Athenians.

nám ubi mores deteriores increbrescunt in dies,ubi qui amici, qui infideles sint nequeas pernoscereubique id eripiatur, animo tuo quod placeat maxume,ibi quidem si regnum detur, non cupita est civitas.

For where morals become worse day by day, where you cannot thoroughly know who are friends and who are unfaithful, and where that which pleases your mind most is snatched away—there, even if a kingdom were given, the state is not to be desired.

Divom⁴ atque hominum quae spectatrix atque era eadem es hominibus,spem speratam quom obtulisti hanc mihi, tibi grates ago.

Eutychus: O goddess, who are the spectator of gods and men and at the same time mistress to men, since you have offered me this hoped-for hope, I give you thanks.

ecquisnam deus est, qui mea nunc laetus laetitia fuat?domi erát quod quaeritabam: sex sodales repperi,vitam, amícitiam, civitátem, laetitiam, ludum, iocum;

Is there any god who is now glad with my gladness? What I was searching for was at home; I have found six companions: life, friendship, citizenship, gladness, play, and jest.

eorum inventu⁵ res simitu pessumas pessum dedi,iram, inimicitiam, maerorem, lacrumas, exilium, inopiam.

By their finding, I have at the same time sent the worst things to the bottom: anger, enmity, sorrow, tears, exile, and want.

850

date, di, quaeso conveniundi mi eius celerem copiam.

Give me, O gods, I pray, a swift opportunity of meeting her.

Apparatus sum ut videtis: abicio superbiam;egomet mihi comes, calator, equos, agaso, ármiger,

I am prepared as you see; I cast away pride. I myself am companion, servant, horse, groom, and squire to myself.

egomet sum mihi imperator, idem egomet mihi oboedio,egomet mihi fero quod usust. o Cupido, quantus es.

I myself am commander to myself, and likewise I myself obey myself; I myself carry for myself what is needed. O Cupido, how great you are!

855

nam tu quemvis confidentem facile tuis factis facis,

For you easily make anyone confident by your deeds.

Syntax notes5 items

786obductarier
Archaic passive infinitive form, equivalent to classical obduci. This long termination is frequently found in early Latin authors like Plautus.
793perduint
Archaic third-person plural present subjunctive, equivalent to classical perdant. Frequently used in optative expressions, particularly formulaic curses involving the gods.
826faxim
Archaic perfect subjunctive (or optative) first-person singular, functioning here in the apodosis equivalent to facerem (or fecerim) to express potential or strong intention.
842Divom
Archaic contracted form of the genitive plural divorum. It modifies the noun spectatrix, which stands in apposition to the relative pronoun quae.
847eorum inventu
Ablative singular of the fourth-declension verbal noun inventus ('finding/discovery'). It represents the ablative of means or cause, meaning 'by the finding of them.'

Translated by Gemini 3.5 Flash (published 2026-05-22)urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi011.humanitext-lat2:785-855