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Plautus · Amphitruo §577-631

Amphitruo Doubts Sosia's Story and Heads Home

Passage 10 of 19 · Latin

Summary

Amphitruo, hearing Sosia insist that he was beaten by another version of himself at home, grows furious and doubts his sanity, but as Sosia persistently asserts the truth, Amphitruo decides to go to the house to investigate for himself.

§577domi ego sum, inquam, écquid audis? et apud te adsum Sosia idem.
I am at home, I say, do you hear at all? and I, the very same Sosia, am here before you.
§578satin hoc plane, satin diserte, ere, nunc videor §579tibi locutus esse?
Master, do I seem to you to have spoken this clearly enough, intelligibly enough just now?
§579bVah, §580ápage te a me.
Ugh, get away from me.
§580bQuíd est negoti?
What is the matter?
§581Péstis te tenet.
A plague possesses you.
§581bNám quor istuc
Why indeed do you say that?
§582dicis? equidem valeo et salvos §583sum recte, Amphitruo.
For my part, I am well and completely safe, Amphitruo.
§583bAt te ego faciam §584hodie proinde ac meritus es, §584aut minus valeas et miser sis, §584bsalvos domum si rediero: iam §585asequere sis, erum qui ludificas §585bdictis delirantibus, §586qui quoniam erus quod imperavit neglexisti persequi,
But I will make you today, just as you have deserved, far from well and miserable, if I return home safe: now follow me, if you please, you who mock your master with delirious words; and who, since you neglected to execute what your master ordered, now even come of your own accord to mock your master.
§587nunc venis etiam ultro inrisum dominum: quae neque fieri §588possunt neque fando umquam accepit quisquam profers, carnifex; §589quoius ego hodie in tergum faxo ista expetant mendacia.
You bring forward things which can neither happen nor has anyone ever heard of in report, you scoundrel; I will make those lies of yours fall upon your back today.
§590Amphitruo, miserrima istaec miseria est servo bono, §591apud erum qui vera loquitur, si id vi verum vincitur.
Amphitruo, that is the most wretched wretchedness for a good servant, who speaks the truth before his master, if that truth is overcome by force.
§592Quo id, malum, pacto potest nam (mecum argumentis puta) §593fieri, nunc uti tu et hic sis et domi? id dici volo.
In what way, plague take it, can that happen (consider the arguments with me) that you are both here now and at home? I want that to be explained.
§594Sum profecto et hic et illíc.
I am indeed both here and there.
hoc cuivis mirari licet, §595neque tibi istuc mirum mágis videtur quam mihi.
Anyone may wonder at this, nor does it seem more wondrous to you than to me.
§596Quo modo?
How so?
§596bNihilo, inquam, mirum magis tibi istuc quam mihi; §597neque, ita me di ament, credebam primo mihimet Sosiae, §598donec Sosia illic egomet fecit sibi uti crederem.
In no way, I say, is it more wondrous to you than to me; nor, so may the gods love me, did I at first believe myself, Sosia, until that Sosia yonder made me, myself, believe him.
§599ordine omne, uti quicque actum est, dúm apud hostis sedimus, §600edissertavit. tum formam una abstulit cum nomine.
He declared everything in order, just as each thing was done while we sat near the enemy; then he took away my shape along with my name.
§601neque lac lactis magis est simile quam ille ego similest mei.
No milk is more like milk than that "I" is like me.
§602nam ut dudum ante lucem a portu me praemisisti domum— §603Quid igitur?
For when just now before dawn you sent me home ahead from the harbor— What then?
§603bPrius multo ante aedis stabam quam illo adveneram.
I was standing in front of the house long before I had arrived there.
§604Quas, malum, nugás? satin tu sanus es?
What nonsense, plague take it! Are you sane enough?
§604bSic sum ut vides.
I am just as you see me.
§605Huic homini nescio quid est mali mala obiectum manu, §606postquam a me abiit.
Some evil has been cast upon this man by an evil hand, after he departed from me.
§606bFateor, nam sum obtusus pugnis pessume.
I admit it, for I was beaten most terribly with fists.
§607Quis te verberavit?
Who beat you?
§607bEgomet memet, qui nunc sum domi.
I myself beat myself, the one who is now at home.
§608Cave quicquam, nisi quod rogabo te, mihi responderis.
Take care that you answer me nothing except what I shall ask you.
§609omnium primum iste qui sit Sosia, hoc dici volo.
First of all, I want it to be told who that Sosia is.
§610Tuos est servos.
He is your servant.
§610bMihi quidem uno te plus etiam est quam volo, §611neque postquam sum natus habui nisi te servom Sosiam.
To me, indeed, you are even one more than I want, nor since I was born have I had any servant Sosia except you.
§612At ego nunc, Amphitruo, dico: Sosiam servom tuom §613praeter me alterum, inquam, adveniens faciam ut offendas domi, §614Davo prognatum patre eodem quo égo sum, forma, aetate item §615qua égo sum.
But I say now, Amphitruo: on your arrival, I will make you find another servant Sosia at home besides me, I say, born of the same father Davus as I am, in appearance and age likewise just as I am.
quid opust verbis? geminus Sosia hic factust tibi.
What need of words? A twin Sosia has been made here for you.
§616Nimia memoras mira.
You relate too many wondrous things.
sed vidistin uxorem meam?
But did you see my wife?
§617Quin intro ire in aedis numquam licitum est.
Nay, it was never permitted to go inside the house.
§617bQuis te prohibuit?
Who prohibited you?
§618Sosia ille, quem iam dudum dico, is qui me contudit.
That Sosia whom I have been speaking of for some time, the one who bruised me.
§619Quis istic Sosia est?
Who is that Sosia?
§619bEgo, inquam.
I, I say.
quotiens dicendum est tibi?
How many times must it be told to you?
§620Sed quid ais? num obdormivisti dudum?
But what do you say? Did you fall asleep just now?
§620bNusquam gentium.
Nowhere in the world.
§621Ibi forte istum si vidisses quendam in somnis Sosiam— §622Non soleo ego somniculose éri imperia persequi.
Perhaps if you had seen that Sosia of yours in your dreams there— I am not accustomed to execute my master's commands sleepily.
§623vigilans vidi, vigilans nunc te video, vigilans fabulor, §624vigilantem ille me iam dudum vigilans pugnis contudit.
Awake I saw him, awake I see you now, awake I speak, awake he bruised me with fists just now while I was awake.
§625Quis homo?
What man?
§625bSosia, inquam, ego ille.
Sosia, I say, that "I".
quaeso, nonne intellegis?
Please, do you not understand?
§626Qui, malum, intellegere quisquam potis est? ita nugas blatis.
How, plague take it, is anyone able to understand? You babble such nonsense.
§627Verum actutum nosces, quom illum nosces servom Sosiam.
But you will know immediately when you know that servant Sosia.
§628Sequere hac igitur me, nam mi istuc primum exquisito est opus.
Follow me this way then, for I have need to investigate that matter first.

Notes

  1. 589quoius ego hodie in tergum faxo ista expetant mendacia. — quoius is an archaic genitive of the relative pronoun (= cuius), referring back to the preceding carnifex. faxo is an archaic future perfect form (fecero) used to express strong determination or certainty, here governing the subjunctive (expetant) without ut to mean "I will surely make it happen that..."
  2. 591si id vi verum vincitur. — The demonstrative adjective id and the noun verum are separated by hyperbaton, meaning "that truth." vi is the ablative singular of the irregular noun vis (force, violence), functioning as an ablative of means ("by force" or "by violence").
  3. 597donec Sosia illic egomet fecit sibi uti crederem. — Sosia illic egomet is the subject, where egomet (myself, with the emphatic suffix -met) is combined with the demonstrative adverb illic (yonder), referring to "that Sosia over there, who is myself." fecit... uti crederem is a facere ut construction ("made me believe"), where sibi is the reflexive pronoun referring back to the subject of the clause (the other Sosia).
  4. 601neque lac lactis magis est simile quam ille ego similest mei. — The first part, lac lactis, is a proverbial expression meaning "milk is to milk (similar)," with similis taking the genitive case (lactis). In the second part, ille ego ("that I") is the subject, and mei is the genitive of ego acting as the complement of similis ("is similar to me"), expressing the confusion of duplicate identity.
  5. 605Huic homini nescio quid est mali mala obiectum manu — nescio quid functions as an indefinite pronoun ("something") governing the partitive genitive mali ("of evil"). obiectum is neuter singular, agreeing with the subject nescio quid mali. mala manu is an ablative of instrument meaning "by an evil hand," indicating Amphitruo's belief that some spell or curse has been cast upon Sosia.
  6. 628nam mi istuc primum exquisito est opus. — This is the construction of opus est + ablative, meaning "I have need of..." The dative mi (= mihi) indicates the person in need ("to me"), and the ablative exquisito (the neuter ablative of the perfect participle of exquirere used substantively, or as a noun meaning "investigation") represents the thing needed.

Cite this passage

Plautus, Amphitruo §577-631. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi001.humanitext-lat2:577-631

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