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Plautus · Amphitruo §518-576c

Jupiter Departs and Amphitruo Returns with Sosia

Passage 9 of 19 · Latin

Summary

Jupiter presents a golden bowl to Alcumena and bids her farewell, letting the night depart. Afterwards, the real Amphitruo and Sosia arrive, arguing about Sosia's claim of having been at home while also traveling.

§518Carnufex, non ego te novi? ábin e conspectu meo?
Hangdog, do I not know you? Will you not get out of my sight?
§519quid tibi hanc curatio est rem, verbero, aut muttitio?
What business is it of yours to care for this matter, you whipping-post, or to mutter?
§520quoii ego iam hoc scipione— §520bAh noli.
Whom I, with this staff, will right now— Ah, please don't.
§520cMuttito modo.
Just mutter, if you dare.
§521Nequiter paene expedivit prima parasitatio.
The first play-acting as a parasite almost turned out badly.
§522Verum quod tu dicis, mea uxor, non te mi irasci decet.
But as for what you say, my wife, it is not fitting for you to be angry with me.
§523clanculum abii a legione: operam hanc subrupui tibi, §524ex me primo ut prima scires, rem ut gessissem publicam.
I departed secretly from the army: I stole this service for you, so that you, first of all, might know first from me how I conducted the public business.
§525ea tibi omnia enarravi.
I have related all those things to you.
nisi te amarem plurimum, §526non facerem.
Unless I loved you most exceedingly, I would not have done it.
§526bFacitne ut dixi? timidam palpo percutit.
Is he doing as I said? He strokes the fearful woman with flattery.
§527Nunc, ne legio persentiscat, clam illuc redeundum est mihi, §528ne me uxorem praevertisse dicant prae re publica.
Now, lest the army should perceive it, I must return there secretly, lest they say that I preferred my wife to the state.
§529Lacrimantem ex abitu concinnas tu tuam uxorem.
By your departure you make your wife weep.
§529bTace, §530ne corrumpe oculos, redibo actutum.
Hush, do not ruin your eyes, I will return immediately.
§530bId actutum diu est.
That "immediately" is a long time.
§531Non ego te hic lubens relinquo neque abeo abs te.
I do not leave you here willingly, nor do I go away from you.
§531bSentio, §532nam qua nocte ad me venisti, eadem abis.
I feel it, for on the very night you came to me, you leave on the same.
§532bCur me tenes?
Why do you hold me?
§533tempus est: exire ex urbe prius quam lucescat volo.
It is time: I want to leave the city before it dawns.
§534nunc tibi hanc pateram, quae dono mi illi ob virtutem data est, §535Pterela rex qui potitavit, quem ego mea occidi manu, §536Alcumena, tibi condono.
Now this bowl, which was given to me there as a reward for my valor, from which King Pterelas used to drink, whom I killed with my own hand, Alcumena, I present to you.
§536bFacis ut alias res soles.
You act just as you are accustomed to do in other matters.
§537ecastor condignum donum, qualest qui donum dedit.
By Castor, a gift worthy of him who gave it.
§538Immo sic: condignum donum, qualest cui dono datumst.
Nay, rather thus: a gift worthy of her to whom it was given.
§539Pergin autem? nonne ego possum, furcifer, te perdere?
Are you at it again? Can I not destroy you, you scoundrel?
§540Noli amabo, Amphitruo, irasci Sosiae causa mea.
Please, Amphitruo, do not be angry with Sosia on my account.
§541Faciam ita ut vis.
I will do as you wish.
§541bEx amore hic admodum quam saevos est.
How exceedingly savage this man is because of love!
§542Numquid vis?
Do you wish for anything else?
§542bVt quom absim mé ames, me tuam te absente tamen.
That you love me when I am absent, and that I may remain yours even in your absence.
§543Eamus, Amphitruo.
Let us go, Amphitruo.
lucescit hoc iam.
It is already growing light here.
§543bAbi prae, Sosia, §544iam ego sequar.
Go on ahead, Sosia, I will follow soon.
numquid vis?
Do you wish for anything else?
§544bEtiam: ut actutum advenias.
Still this: that you return immediately.
§544cLicet, §545prius tuá opinione híc adero: bonum ánimum habe. — §546nunc te, nox, quae me mansisti, mitto uti cedas die, §547ut mortalis inlucescat luce clara et candida.
It shall be so, I will be here sooner than you expect; be of good heart.— Now, night, you who have waited for me, I dismiss you that you may give way to day, so that it may shine upon mortals with a bright and clear light.
§548atque quanto, nox, fuisti longior hac proxuma, §549tanto brevior dies ut fiat faciam, ut aeque disparet.
And by how much, night, you were longer this last time, by so much shorter will I make the day become, so that it may balance equally.
§550sed dies e nocte accedat.
But let the day approach from the night.
ibo et Mercurium sequar. — §551Age í tu secúndum.
I will go and follow Mercury.— Come, you, follow behind.
§551bSequór, subsequór te.
I follow, I follow close behind you.
§552Scelestissimum te arbitror.
I think you are a most scoundrelly fellow.
§552bNam quam ob rem?
Why, for what reason?
§553Quia id quod neque est neque fuit neque futurum est §554mihi praedicas.
Because you declare to me that which neither is, nor has been, nor will be.
§554bEccere, iam tuatim §555facis tu, ut tuis nulla apud te fides sit.
Look at that, now, in your usual fashion, you make it so that you have no trust in your own people.
§556Quid est? quo modo? iam quidem hercle ego tibi istam §557scelestam, scelus, linguam abscidam.
What is that? In what way? By Hercules, right now I will cut out wicked tongue of yours, you scoundrel.
§557bTuos sum, §558proinde ut commodumst et lubet quidque facias; §559tamen quin loquar haec uti facta sunt hic, §560numquam ullo modo me potes deterrere.
I am yours, therefore do whatever is convenient and pleases you; nevertheless, from speaking these things just as they happened here, you can never by any means deter me.
§561Scelestissime, audes mihi praedicare id, §562domi te esse nunc, qui hic ades?
You most wicked scoundrel, do you dare to declare to me this, that you are at home now, you who are present here?
§562bVera dico.
I am speaking the truth.
§563Malum quod tibi di dabunt, atque ego hodie §564dabo.
The gods will bring you misfortune, and I today will give it to you.
§564bIstuc tibist in manu, nam tuos sum.
That is in your hands, for I am yours.
§565Tun me, verbero, audes erum ludificari?
Do you, whipping-post, dare to mock me, your master?
§566tune id dicere audes, quod nemo umquam homo antehac §567vidit nec potest fieri, tempore uno §568homo idem duobus locis ut simul sit?
Do you dare to say that which no man before this time has seen nor can happen, that at one time the same man should be in two places at once?
§569Profecto ut loquor res ita est.
Assuredly, the matter is just as I speak.
§569bIuppiter te §570perdat.
May Jupiter destroy you.
§570bQuid mali súm, ere, tua ex re promeritus?
What evil have I deserved, master, in your service?
§571Rogasne, improbe, etiam, qui ludos facis me?
Do you even ask, you rascal, you who are making game of me?
§572Meritó maledicás mihi, si id ita factum est. † §573verum haud mentior, resque uti facta dico.
Deservedly might you speak ill of me, if it were not so. But I am not lying, and I am speaking of the matter as it happened.
§574Homo hic ébrius est, ut opínor.
This fellow is drunk, as I think.
§575Útinam ita essem.
I wish I were.
§575bOptás quae facta.
You wish for what has already happened.
§575cÉgone?
I?
§575dTu istic.
You, right there.
úbi bibisti?
Where did you drink?
§576Nusquam equidem bibi.
Indeed, I drank nowhere.
§576bQuid hoc sithominis?
What kind of man is this?
§576cequidem decies dixi:
Indeed, I have said ten times—

Notes

  1. §519quid tibi hanc curatio est rem — A colloquial construction in which the noun `curatio` (care, concern) assumes a transitive verbal force and governs the accusative `hanc rem` as its direct object. This combines the expression `quid tibi est` (what business have you) with a verbal noun and its object.
  2. §524ex me primo ut prima scires — The adverb `primo` (first, in the first place) and the adjective `prima` (as the first person, agreeing with the feminine singular subject of the clause) are juxtaposed to create a stylistic contrast, emphasizing that Alcumena should be the very first to know directly from him.
  3. §531Non ego te hic lubens relinquo — The nominative adjective `lubens` (willing, glad) is used in an adverbial sense to modify the action of the subject, translated here as "willingly" or "gladly" in the negative construction.
  4. §535Pterela rex qui potitavit — The noun phrase `Pterela rex` (King Pterelas) stands as the subject of the relative clause introduced by `qui`. `potitavit` is the perfect tense of the frequentative verb `potito` (to drink habitually, to use to drink). This clause runs parallel to the subsequent relative clause `quem ego mea occidi manu` modifying the same king.
  5. §559tamen quin loquar haec uti facta sunt hic — Following the negated verb of preventing or deterring (`numquam... potes deterrere`), the `quin` clause with the subjunctive `loquar` introduces the action prevented, meaning "you can never prevent me from speaking these things...". This is a standard construction with verbs of hindering accompanied by a negative.
  6. §570bQuid mali súm, ere, tua ex re promeritus — `quid mali` is a partitive genitive, consisting of the interrogative pronoun `quid` and the genitive of the neuter noun `mali`, meaning "what of evil" or "what wrong". `tua ex re` functions as an adverbial phrase meaning "from your affair" or "in your service/interest".

Cite this passage

Plautus, Amphitruo §518-576c. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi001.humanitext-lat2:518-576c

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