§14.1χαίρειν πολλὰ τὸν ἄνδρα Θυώνιχον.
Hearty greetings to Thyonichus!
§14.2bὡς χρόνιος.
How long it has been!
§14.2cχρόνιος;
Long?
τί δέ τοι τὸ μέλημα;
But what is this trouble of yours?
§14.3πράσσομες οὐχ ὡς λῷστα Θυώνιχε.
Things are not going best for us, Thyonichus.
That's why, then, you are thin, and this mustache of yours is grown long, and your curls are dry and dusty.
Just such a Pythagorean fellow arrived the other day, pale and barefoot; he claimed to be an Athenian.
§14.7ἤρατο μὰν καὶ τῆνος, ἐμὶν δοκεῖ, ὀπτῶ ἀλεύρω.
He too, I think, was in love—with baked flour!
§14.8παίσδεις ὦγάθʼ ἔχων·
You will have your joke, my friend.
ἐμὲ δʼ ἁ χαρίεσσα Κυνίσκα §14.9ὑβρίσδει· λασῶ δὲ μανείς ποκα, θρὶξ ἀνὰ μέσσον.
But as for me, the lovely Cynisca insults me; and I shall go mad some day, I am within a hair's breadth of it.
You are always like this, dear Aeschines, quick-tempered on the quiet, wanting everything your own way.
ὅμως δʼ εἶπον, τί τὸ καινόν.
Still, tell me, what is the news?
§14.12ὡργεῖος κἠγὼ καὶ ὁ Θεσσαλὸς ἱπποδιώκτας §14.13Ἆπις καὶ Κλεύνικος ἐπίνομες ὁ στρατιώτας §14.14ἐν χώρῳ παρʼ ἐμίν.
The Argive, and I, and the Thessalian horse-trainer Apis, and Cleunicus the soldier, were drinking at my place in the country.
δύο μὲν κατέκοψα νεοσσὼς §14.15θηλάζοντά τε χοῖρον, ἀνῷξα δὲ βίβλινον αὐτοῖς §14.16εὐώδη, τετόρων ἐτέων, σχεδὸν ὡς ἀπὸ λανῶ.
I slaughtered two pullets and a sucking pig, and opened for them some fragrant Byblian wine, four years old, almost as fresh as from the press.
§14.17βολβὸς κτεὶς κοχλίας ἐξῃρέθη. ἦς πότος ἁδύς.
Truffles, cockles, and snails were served up; it was a pleasant drink.
§14.18ἤδη δὲ προϊόντος, ἔδοξʼ ἐπιχεῖσθαι ἄκρατον §14.19ὧτινος ἤθελʼ ἕκαστος· ἔδει μόνον ὧτινος εἰπεῖν.
As the drinking went on, we resolved to pour neat wine for whomever each of us wished; we only had to name the person.
We drank, calling out the names, as had been agreed; but she said nothing, though I was right there.
τίνʼ ἔχειν με δοκεῖς νοῦν;
What do you think my feelings were?
§14.22οὐ φθεγξῇ;
‘Won't you speak?
λύκον εἶδες· ἔπαιξέ τις. ὡς σοφός
εἶπε, §14.23κἠφᾶπτʼ· εὐμαρέως κεν ἀπʼ αὐτᾶς καὶ λύχνον ἇψας.
You've seen a wolf!’ someone teased. ‘How clever!’ she said, and blushed; you could easily have lit a lamp from her cheeks.
§14.24ἔστι Λύκος, Λύκος ἐστί, Λάβα τῶ γείτονος υἱός, §14.25εὐμάκης ἁπαλός, πολλοῖς δοκέων καλὸς ἦμεν.
There is a Lycus, Lycus indeed, the son of Labas our neighbor, tall and slender, thought handsome by many.
§14.26τούτω τὸν κλύμενον κατετάκετο τῆνον ἔρωτα.
For him she was wasting away in that famous love of hers.
A whisper of this had reached my ears too, quietly, once before; but I did not search into it, in vain growing a man's beard.
§14.29ἤδη δʼ ὦν πόσιος τοὶ τέσσαρες ἐν βάθει ἦμες, §14.30χὡ Λαρισαῖος
τὸν ἐμὸν Λύκον
ᾆδεν ἀπʼ ἀρχᾶς, §14.31Θεσσαλικόν τι μέλισμα, κακαὶ φρένες·
Now when the four of us were deep in our cups, the Larisaean man began singing ‘My Lycus’ from the start, some Thessalian tune—the spiteful wretch!
ἁ δὲ Κυνίσκα §14.32ἔκλαιʼ ἐξαπίνας θαλερώτερον ἢ παρὰ ματρὶ §14.33παρθένος ἑξαέτης κόλπω ἐπιθυμήσασα.
And Cynisca suddenly began to weep, more bitterly than a six-year-old girl longing for her mother's lap.
Then I, the man you know, Thyonichus, struck her with my fist on her temple, and then struck her again.
ἀνειρύσσασα δὲ πέπλως §14.36ἔξω ἀπῴχετο θᾶσσον. ἐμὸν κακόν, οὔ τοι ἀρέσκω;
Gathering up her robes, she fled outside quickly. ‘My torment, do I not please you?
§14.37ἄλλός τοι γλυκίων ὑποκόλπιος;
Is some other lover sweeter to hold in your lap?
ἄλλον ἰοῖσα §14.38θάλπε φίλον. τήνῳ τὰ σὰ δάκρυα μᾶλα ῥέοντι. §14.39μάστακα δοῖσα τέκνοισιν ὑπωροφίοισι χελιδὼν §14.40ἄψορρον ταχινὰ πέτεται βίον ἄλλον ἀγείρειν· §14.41ὠκυτέρα μαλακᾶς ἀπὸ δίφρακος ἔδραμε τήνα §14.42ἰθὺ διʼ ἀμφιθύρω καὶ δικλίδος, ᾇ πόδες ἆγον.
Go and warm your other friend; your tears are flowing like apples for him.’ As a swallow, having given food to her nestlings under the roof, flies back swiftly to gather another livelihood, so she ran even more swiftly from her soft seat straight through the vestibule and double doors, wherever her feet led her.
§14.43αἶνός θην λέγεταί τις· ἔβα τάχα ταῦρος ἀνʼ ὕλαν. §14.44εἴκατι· ταὶ δʼ ὀκτώ, ταὶ δʼ ἐννέα, ταὶ δὲ δέκʼ ἄλλαι, §14.45σάμερον ἑνδεκάτα, ποτίθει δύο, καὶ δύο μῆνες, §14.46ἐξ ὧ ἀπʼ ἀλλάλων.
There is indeed a proverb: ‘The bull has gone to the woods.’ Twenty days; then eight, then nine, then ten others besides, today is the eleventh, add two, and it is two months since we parted.
οὐδʼ εἰ Θρᾳκιστὶ κέκαρμαι, §14.47οἶδε.
She does not even know if my hair is shorn Thracian-fashion.
Λύκος νῦν πάντα, Λύκῳ καὶ νυκτὸς ἀνῷκται.
Lycus is everything now; for Lycus, even at night, the door is open.
But we are of no account, not even worth numbering, like the wretched Megarians in the lowest rank.
§14.50κεἰ μὲν ἀποστέρξαιμι, τὰ πάντά κεν εἰς δέον ἕρποι.
And if I could stop loving, everything would turn out as it should.
§14.51νῦν δὲ πόθεν;
But now, how can I?
μῦς, φαντὶ Θυώνιχε, γεύμεθα πίσσας.
We are like the mouse that tastes pitch, Thyonichus.
And what the remedy is for a helpless love, I do not know.
πλὰν Σῖμος ὁ τᾶς Ἐπιχάλκω ἐρασθεὶς §14.54ἐκπλεύσας ὑγιὴς ἐπανῆλθʼ, ἐμὸς ἁλικιώτας.
Except that Simus, who loved the daughter of Epichalcus, sailed away and returned cured—a companion of my own age.
I too will sail across the sea, neither the worst soldier nor perhaps the first, but an average sort.
I wish indeed that things had gone according to your mind, as you desired, Aeschines.
εἰ δʼ οὑτῶς ἄρα τοι δοκεῖ ὥστʼ ἀποδαμεῖν, §14.59μισθοδότας Πτολεμαῖος ἐλευθέρῳ οἷος ἄριστος,
But if you are indeed so minded as to go abroad, Ptolemy is the best paymaster for a free man.
§14.60τἄλλα δʼ ἀνὴρ ποῖός τις ἐλευθέρῳ οἷος ἄριστος; §14.61εὐγνώμων, φιλόμουσος, ἐρωτικός, εἰς ἄκρον ἁδύς, §14.62εἰδὼς τὸν φιλέοντα, τὸν οὐ φιλέοντʼ ἔτι μᾶλλον, §14.63πολλοῖς πολλὰ διδούς, αἰτεύμενος οὐκ ἀνανεύων §14.64οἷα χρὴ βασιλῆʼ·
‘And in other respects, what kind of man is he for a free man?’ ‘Kindly, a lover of the arts, romantic, pleasant to the highest degree; knowing his friend, and knowing his enemy even better; giving much to many, and not refusing when asked, as a king should.
αἰτεῖν δὲ δεῖ οὐκ ἐπὶ παντὶ §14.65Αἰσχίνα.
But one must not ask on every occasion, Aeschines.
ὥστʼ εἴ τοι κατὰ δεξιὸν ὦμον ἀρέσκει §14.66λῶπος ἄκρον περονᾶσθαι, ἐπʼ ἀμφοτέροις δὲ βεβακὼς §14.67τολμασεῖς ἐπιόντα μένειν θρασὺν ἀσπιδιώταν, §14.68ᾇ τάχος εἰς Αἴγυπτον.
So if it pleases you to clasp the edge of your cloak over your right shoulder, and firmly planted on both feet, you have the courage to withstand a bold oncoming shield-bearer, then off with you to Egypt.