- 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-lat2:970-1026
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
Demipho confesses his wrongdoing, seeking reconciliation with his son Charinus, and begs Eutychus and Lysimachus for help. Finally, Eutychus declares a law restricting the love affairs of old men while protecting those of the youth, bringing the play to a close.
suapte culpa genere sapiunt, genus ingenio ímprobant.
Eutychus: By their own fault they are wise because of their birth, but they disgrace their family by their character.
Verum hic dicit.
Demipho: This man speaks the truth.
Tibi ergo dicit.
Lysimachus: Therefore he speaks to you.
Eo illud est verum magis.
Demipho: By so much the more is that true.
nam te istac aetate haud aequom filio fuerat1 tuo
Eutychus: For at your age it was by no means proper for you to snatch away from your son,
adulescenti amanti amicam eripere emptam argento suo.
Eutychus: a young man in love, the mistress bought with his own money.
Quid tu ais? Charini amicast illa?
Demipho: What do you say? Is she Charinus’ mistress?
Vt dissimulat malus.
Lysimachus: How the rascal dissembles!
Ille quidem illam sese ancillam matri emisse dixerat.
Demipho: He indeed had said that he bought her as a maidservant for his mother.
Propterea igitur tu mercatu's, novos amator, vetus puer?
Eutychus: Did you therefore buy her for that reason, new lover, old boy?
Optume hercle, perge tú, ego ádsistam hinc altrinsecus.
Lysimachus: Excellent, by Hercules! Go on; I will stand by from this side.
quibus est dictis dignus,2 usque oneremus ambo.
Lysimachus: Let us both heap upon him the words he is worthy of.
Nullus sum.
Demipho: I am undone.
Filio suo qui innocenti fecit tantam iniuriam.
Eutychus: Who did so great an injury to his own innocent son.
Quem quidem hercle ego, in exilium cum iret, redduxi domum;
Lysimachus: Whom indeed, by Hercules, when he was going into exile, I brought back home;
nam ibat exulatum.
Lysimachus: for he was going to live in exile.
An abiit?
Demipho: Has he gone?
Etiam loquere, larua?
Lysimachus: Are you still speaking, ghost?
temperare istac aetate istis decebat artibus.
Eutychus: At that age it was fitting to abstain from those arts.
Fateor, deliqui profecto.
Demipho: I confess, I have certainly transgressed.
Etiam loquere, larua?
Lysimachus: Are you still speaking, ghost?
itidem ut tempus anni, aetatem aliam áliud factum condecet;
Eutychus: Just as the season of the year, so one action befits one age, and another another;
nam si istuc ius est, senecta aetate scortari senes,
Eutychus: for if that is right, for old men to play the lover in old age,
ubi locist res summa nostra publica?
Eutychus: where is our supreme public state?
Ei, perii miser.
Demipho: Alas, miserable me, I am ruined.
Adulescentes rei agendae isti magis solent operam dare.
Lysimachus: Young men are more accustomed to give their attention to that business.
Iam obsecro hercle vobis habete cum porcis, cum fiscina.
Demipho: Now, I entreat you by Hercules, keep her for yourselves with her pigs and basket.
Redde illi.
Eutychus: Return her to him.
Sibi habeat, iam ut volt per me sibi habeat licet.
Demipho: Let him have her; indeed, as far as I am concerned, let him have her as he wishes.
Temperi edepol, quoniam ut aliter facias non est copia.
Lysimachus: In good time, by Pollux, since you have no power to do otherwise.
Supplici sibi sumat quid volt ipse ob hanc iniuriam,
Demipho: Let him take whatever punishment he wishes for this injury;
modo pacem faciatis oro, ut ne mihi iratus siet.
Demipho: I only pray that you make peace, so that he may not be angry with me.
si hercle scivissem sive adeo ioculo dixisset mihi,
Demipho: By Hercules, if I had known, or if he had told me even in jest,
se illam amare, numquam facerem ut illam amanti abducerem.
Demipho: that he loved her, I would never have done so as to take her away from him in his love.
Eutyche, ted oro, sodalis eius es, sérva et subveni:
Demipho: Eutychus, I beg you, you are his companion, save and help me:
hunc senem para clientem; memorem dices benefici.
Demipho: secure this old man as your client; you will say he is mindful of a benefit.
Ora ut ignoscat delictis tuis atque adulescentiae.
Lysimachus: Pray that he forgives your transgressions and your “youthful folly.”
Pergin tu autem? heia, superbe invehere. spero ego mihi quoque
Demipho: Are you still going on? Well, mock me proudly. I hope for myself too
tempus tale eventurum, ut tibi gratiam referam parem.
Demipho: that such a time will come that I may return equal thanks to you.
Missas iam égo istas artis feci.
Demipho: I have already dismissed those arts.
Et quidem ego dehinc iam.
Lysimachus: And indeed, so have I from now on.
Nihil agis:
Eutychus: You do nothing:
consuetudine animus rursus te huc inducet.
Eutychus: habit will lead your mind back here again.
Obsecro,
Demipho: I beg you,
satis iam ut habeatís. quin loris caedite etiam, si lubet.
Demipho: let it be enough now. Why, even beat me with whips, if you please.
Recte dicis. sed istuc uxor faciet, quom hoc resciverit.
Lysimachus: You speak rightly. But your wife will do that when she finds out.
Nihil opust resciscat.
Demipho: There is no need for her to find out.
Quid istic? non resciscet, ne time.
Lysimachus: What of it? She won’t find out, don’t fear.
eamus intro, non utibilest hic locus, factis tuis,
Lysimachus: Let us go inside; this place is not suitable, while we are recounting
dum memoramus, arbitri ut sint qui praetereant per vias.
Lysimachus: your deeds, for those who pass by on the streets to be witnesses.
Hercle qui tu recte dicis: eadem brevior fabula
Demipho: By Hercules, you speak rightly; by the same token, the play will be
erit. eamus.
Demipho: shorter. Let’s go.
Hic est intus filius apud nos tuos.
Eutychus: Your son is inside at our house.
Optumest. illac per hortum nos domum transibimus.
Demipho: Excellent. We will cross over to our house through the garden there.
Eutyche, hanc volo prius rém agi, quam meum intró refero pedem.
Demipho: Eutychus, I want this business to be done before I step foot inside.
Quid istuc est?
Eutychus: What is that?
Suam quisque homo rem meminit. responde mihi:
Demipho: Every man remembers his own business. Answer me:
certon scis non suscensere mihi tuam matrem?
Demipho: do you know for certain that your mother is not angry with me?
Scio.
Eutychus: I know.
Vide.
Demipho: Take care.
Mea fide.
Eutychus: On my faith.
Satis habeo. sed quaeso hercle, etiam vide.
Demipho: I have enough. But pray, by Hercules, still take care.
Non mihi credis?
Eutychus: Don’t you believe me?
Immo credo, sed tamen metuo miser.
Demipho: Indeed I believe, but yet, miserable as I am, I fear.
Eamus intro.
Demipho: Let us go inside.
Immo dicamus senibus legem censeo,
Eutychus: Rather, I think we should state a law for the old men,
prius quam abeámus, qua se lege teneant contentique sint.
Eutychus: before we depart, by which law they may hold themselves and be content.
annos gnatus sexaginta quí erit, si quem scibimus
Eutychus: Whoever is sixty years old, if we know anyone,
si maritum sive hercle adeo caelibem scortarier,
Eutychus: whether a husband or, by Hercules, even a bachelor, to go a-whoring,
cúm eo nos hac lege agemus: inscitum arbitrabimur,
Eutychus: we shall deal with him by this law: we shall judge him foolish,
et per nos quidem hercle egebit qui suom prodegerit.
Eutychus: and indeed, by Hercules, he who wastes his own property will be in want through us.
neu quisquam posthac prohibeto ádulescentem filium
Eutychus: And let no one hereafter prohibit his young son
quin amet et scortum ducat,3 quod bono fiat modo;
Eutychus: from loving and bringing home a mistress, as long as it is done in a proper manner;
siquis prohibuerit, plus perdet clam quasi praehibuerit palam.
Eutychus: if anyone prohibits it, he will lose more in secret than if he had provided it openly.
haec adeó ut ex hac nocte primum lex teneat senes.
Eutychus: Let this law indeed hold the old men, beginning from this night first.
bene valete; atque, adulescentes, haec si vobis lex placet,
Eutychus: Farewell; and, young men, if this law pleases you,
ob senum hercle industriam vos aequom est clare plaudere.
Eutychus: indeed, on account of the diligence of the old men, it is proper for you to applaud loudly.
- 972haud aequom fuerat
The indicative pluperfect fuerat functions as the apodosis of a counterfactual condition expressing past obligation or propriety, meaning "it had by no means been proper" (implying that it actually happened otherwise). The subject is the following infinitive clause eripere.
- 978quibus est dictis dignus
The relative pronoun quibus depends on the adjective dignus, which governs the ablative case. The word order is inverted (hyperbaton), and the entire clause functions indirectly as the object of oneremus, meaning "the words of which he is worthy."
- 1022quin amet et scortum ducat
The clause introduced by quin follows the verb of hindering/preventing prohibeto (line 1021). It takes the subjunctives amet and ducat, forming a noun clause meaning "preventing the young man from loving and bringing home a mistress."