- Source
- Terence. Publii Terentii Comoediae Sex. Parry, Edward St. John, editor. London: Whittaker and Co.; George Bell, 1857.
- 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:phi0134.phi005.humanitext-lat2:656-721b
- Generated
- Humanitext Reader · reader.humanitext.ai · 2026-10-27
Pamphilus expresses his desire for divorce, but Laches and Phidippus discuss the custody of the newborn grandson, leading Laches to furiously suspect Pamphilus of returning to his mistress Bacchis. Eventually, the two fathers decide to summon Bacchis to resolve the issue.
Aut se esse mecum nuptam, satis certo scio
Pamphilus: Or if she considered herself married to me, I know well enough
Non me clam haberet quod celasse intelligo.1
that she would not have kept secret from me what I understand she has concealed.
Nunc quum eius alienum esse a me animum sentiam,
Now, since I perceive that her mind is estranged from me,
Nec conventurum inter nos posthac esse arbitror,
and I think that there will be no agreement between us hereafter,
Quamobrem reducam?
why should I take her back?
Mater quod suasit sua
Phidippus: A young woman did
Adolescens mulier fecit: mirandumne id est?
what her own mother advised: is that to be wondered at?
Censen te posse reperire ullam mulierem
Do you think you can find any woman
Quae careat culpa? an quia non delinquunt viri?
who is free from fault? Or is it because men do not commit faults?
Vosmet videte iam, Lache et tu Pamphile,
Look to it now yourselves, Laches and you Pamphilus,
Remissane opus sit vobis redductan domum.2
whether you need her sent back or taken home.
Uxor quid faciat in manu non est mea:
What my daughter does is not in my power;
Neutra in re vobis difficultas a me erit.
in neither case will you have any difficulty from me.
Sed quid faciemus puero?
Laches: But what shall we do with the child?
Ridicule rogas:
Phidippus: You ask ridiculously:
Quicquid futurum est, huic suum reddas scilicet,
whatever happens, you must of course return his own to him,
Ut alamus nostrum.
so that we may rear our own.
Quem ipse neglexit pater
Pamphilus: Shall I rear a child
Ego alam?
whom the father himself has neglected?
Quid dixti? Eho, an non alemus, Pamphile?
Laches: What did you say? Hey, shall we not rear him, Pamphilus?
Prodemus quaeso potius? Quae haec amentia est?
Shall we rather expose him, I ask? What madness is this?
Enimvero prorsus iam tacere non queo;
Indeed, I can no longer keep silent at all;
Nam cogis ea quae nolo ut praesente hoc loquar.
for you force me to say things I do not wish to say in his presence.
Ignarum censes tuarum lacrimarum esse me?
Do you think I am ignorant of your tears?
Aut quid sit id quod sollicitere ad hunc modum?
Or what it is that makes you anxious in this way?
Primum hanc ubi dixti causam, te propter tuam
First, when you gave this reason, that on account of your
Matrem non posse habere hanc uxorem domi,
mother you could not keep this wife at home,
Pollicita est ea se concessuram ex aedibus.
she promised that she would withdraw from the house.
Nunc postquam ademtam hanc quoque tibi causam vides;
Now, after you see this reason also taken away from you,
Puer quia clam te est natus nactus alteram es.
because a child was born without your knowledge, you have found another.
Erras, tui animi si me esse ignarum putas.
You are mistaken, if you think I am ignorant of your mind.
Aliquando tandem huc animum ut adiungas tuum,
That you might at length some time apply your mind to this,
Quam longum spatium amandi amicam tibi dedi!
what a long space of time did I give you for loving your mistress!
Sumtus quos fecisti in eam quam animo aequo tuli!
How patiently did I bear the expenses you made upon her!
Egi atque oravi tecum uxorem ut duceres.
I pleaded and begged with you that you would take a wife.
Tempus dixi esse; impulsu duxisti meo:
I said it was time; you married by my impulse.
Quae tum obsecutus mihi fecisti ut decuerat;
Then, obeying me, you did what was fitting;
Nunc animum rursum ad meretricem induxti tuum:
Now you have turned your mind back to the courtesan:
Cui tu obsecutus facis huic adeo iniuriam:
obeying her, you do a great injury to this wife:
Nam in eandem vitam te revolutum denuo
for I see that you have rolled back again
Video esse.
into the same life.
Mene?
Pamphilus: Me?
Te ipsum. Et facis iniuriam,
Laches: Your very self. And you do injury,
Quum fingis falsas causas ad discordiam,
when you invent false reasons for discord,
Ut cum illa vivas, testem hanc quum abs te amoveris;3
so that you may live with that woman, when you have removed this witness from you;
Sensitque adeo uxor; nam ei causa alia quae fuit
And indeed your wife perceived it; for what other reason
Quamobrem abs te abiret?
was there for her to depart from you?
Plane hic divinat; nam id est.
Pamphilus: He divines clearly; for that is it.
Dabo iusiurandum nihil esse istorum tibi.
I will give you an oath that none of those things is true.
Ah,
Laches: Ah,
Reduc uxorem: aut quamobrem non opus sit cedo.
take back your wife: or tell me why it is not necessary.
Non est nunc tempus.
Pamphilus: Now is not the time.
Puerum accipias; nam is quidem
Laches: Take the child; for he indeed
In culpa non est: post de matre videro.
is not in fault: after that I will see about the mother.
Omnibus modis miser sum; nec quid agam scio;
Pamphilus: In every way I am wretched; nor do I know what to do;
Tot me nunc rebus miserum concludit pater.
my father now corners wretched me with so many arguments.
Abibo hinc, praesens quando promoveo parum;
I will depart hence, since by remaining here I accomplish little;
Nam puerum iniussu, credo, non tollent meo;4
for they will not, I believe, rear the child without my order;
Praesertim in ea re quum sit mihi adiutrix socrus.
especially since in this matter my mother-in-law is my helper.
Fugis? hem, nec quicquam certi respondes mihi?
Laches: Are you fleeing? Ah, and you give me no certain answer?
Num tibi videtur esse apud sese? Sine.
Does he seem to you to be in his right mind? Let him go.
Puerum, Phidippe, mihi cedo; ego alam.
Give the child to me, Phidippus; I will rear him.
Maxime.
Phidippus: By all means.
Non mirum fecit uxor si hoc aegre tulit.
It is no wonder if his wife took this badly.
Amarae mulieres sunt: non facile haec ferunt.
Women are bitter: they do not easily bear these things.
Propterea haec ira est: nam ipsa narravit mihi.
Therefore there is this anger: for she herself told me.
Id ego hoc praesente tibi nolebam dicere,
I was unwilling to say that to you while he was present,
Neque ei credebam primo; nunc vero palam est.
nor did I believe her at first; but now it is plain.
Nam omnino abhorrere animum huic video a nuptiis.
For I see that his mind entirely shrinks from the marriage.
Quid ergo agam, Phidippe? quid das consili?
Laches: What then shall I do, Phidippus? What advice do you give?
Quid agas? Meretricem hanc primum adeundam censeo.
Phidippus: What should you do? I think this courtesan should be approached first.
Oremus; accusemus; gravius denique
Let us entreat her; let us accuse her; finally,
Minitemur, si cum illo habuerit rem postea.
let us threaten her more severely if she has any business with him hereafter.
Faciam ut mones. Eho, puer, curre ad Bacchidem hanc
Laches: I will do as you advise. Ho, boy, run to this Bacchis, our neighbor:
Vicinam nostram: huc evoca verbis meis;
summon her here in my name;
Et te oro porro in hac re adiutor sis mihi.
and I pray you further, be my helper in this matter.
Ah,
Phidippus: Ah,
- 657Non me clam haberet quod celasse intelligo.
The idiom clam habere takes a double accusative, meaning 'to keep secret [something, acc.] from [someone, acc.]'. Here, quod is a relative pronoun with its antecedent omitted, serving as the direct object of celasse (perfect active infinitive, with its subject eam omitted). The clause translates to 'she would not have kept secret from me what I understand she has concealed'.
- 665Remissane opus sit vobis redductan domum.
The impersonal expression opus est takes the ablative of the perfect passive participles remissa ('sent back') and redducta ('brought home', spelled redductan due to the enclitic interrogative -ne) to express 'whether there is need of her being sent back or taken home' in an alternative question.
- 694testem hanc quum abs te amoveris
testem serves as an appositive or predicative accusative to hanc ('this woman as a witness / observer'). quum amoveris (perfect subjunctive or future perfect indicative) forms a temporal clause with conditional force, meaning 'when you have removed this witness'.
- 704Nam puerum iniussu, credo, non tollent meo
The verb tollent (from tollere, 'to lift up') refers to the Roman paternal ritual of lifting a newborn from the ground to formally acknowledge and rear it as one's own. Pamphilus reasons that without his explicit consent (iniussu... meo, 'without my order'), others cannot legally or socially raise the infant.