§505an ita tu es animata, ut qui matris éxpers imperio sies?
Or are you so disposed as to be entirely free from your mother's authority?
§506Vbi piem Pietatem, si istoc more moratam tibi §507postulem placere, mater, mihi quo pacto praecipis?
Where should I worship Piety, mother, if I should expect to please you when I am conditioned by that manner which you prescribe to me?
§509Hocine est pietatem colere, matris impérium minuere?
Is this cultivating piety, to diminish a mother's authority?
§510Neque quae recte faciunt culpo neque quae delinquont amo.
I neither blame those who do right, nor do I love those who transgress.
§511Satis dicacula es amatrix.
You are a sharp-tongued enough lover.
Mother, that is my trade: the tongue asks, the body seeks; the soul prays, circumstances advise.
§513Ego te volui castigare, tu mi accusatrix ades.
I wanted to chastise you, and you stand there as my accuser.
§514Neque edepol te accuso neque id me facere fas existimo.
By Pollux, I neither accuse you, nor do I think it right for me to do so.
§515verum ego meas queror fortunas, cum illo quém amo prohibeor.
But I lament my fortune, since I am kept away from him whom I love.
§516Ecqua pars orationis de die dabitur mihi?
Will any share of speaking be granted to me today?
§517Et meam partem loquendi ét tuam trado tibi; §518ad loquendum atque ad tacendum tute habeas portisculum.
Both my share of speaking and yours I hand over to you; you yourself may hold the coxswain's staff for speaking and for keeping silent.
§519quin pol si reposivi remum, sola ego in casteria §520ubi quiesco, omnis familiae causa consistit tibi.
Nay, by Pollux, if I have laid down my oar, I alone in the resting-quarter where I rest, the whole support of the household rests on you.
§521Quid ais tu, quam ego unam vidi mulierem audacissimam?
What are you saying, you who are the one most audacious woman I have ever seen?
§522quotiens te votui Argyrippum filium Demaeneti §523compellare aut contrectare, conloquive aut contui?
How often have I forbidden you to address or touch, to converse with or look upon Argyrippus, the son of Demaenetus?
§524quid dedit? quid ad nos iussit deportari? an tu tibi §525verba blanda esse aurum rere, dicta docta pro datis?
What has he given? What has he ordered to be brought to us? Or do you think for yourself that sweet words are gold, and clever sayings are as good as gifts?
§526ultro amas, ultro expetessis, ultro ad te accersi iubes.
You love of your own accord, you seek of your own accord, you order him to be summoned to you of your own accord.
§527illos qui dant, eos derides; qui deludunt, deperis.
You mock those who give; you are madly in love with those who mock you.
§528an te id exspectare oportet, si quis promittat tibi §529te facturum divitem, si moriatur mater sua?
Or ought you to wait for this, if someone promises you that he will make you rich, if his mother should die?
§530†ecastor nobis periclum magnum et familiae portenditur, §531dum eius exspectamus mortem, ne nos moriamur fame.
By Castor, a great danger is portended to us and to our household, lest, while we wait for her death, we ourselves die of hunger.
§532nunc adeo nisi mi huc argenti ádfert viginti minas, §533ne ille ecastor hinc trudetur largus lacrumarum foras.
Therefore now, unless he brings twenty minae of silver here to me, by Castor, he will surely be thrust out of here, generous with his tears.
§534hic dies summust apud me inópiae excusatio.
This day is the last excuse for poverty with me.
§535Patiar, si cibo carere me iubes, mater mea.
I will endure it, my mother, if you order me to go without food.
§536Non voto téd amare qui dant quoia amentur gratia.
I do not forbid you to love those who give so that they may be loved in return.
§537Quid si hic animus occupatust, mater, quid faciam? mone.
What if this heart is already possessed, mother, what should I do? Advise me.
Look, contemplate my head, if indeed you consult your own interest.
§539_540Etiam ópilio qui pascit, mater, alienas ovis, §541aliquam habet peculiarem, qui spem soletur suam.
Even a shepherd who feeds another's sheep, mother, has some peculiar one of his own, with which to console his hope.
§542sine me amare unum Argyrippum ánimi causa, quem volo.
allow me to love Argyrippus alone for the sake of my heart, whom I wish.
§543Intro abi, nam te quidem edepol nihil est impudentius.
Go inside, for by Pollux there is nothing more impudent than you.
§544Audientem dicto, mater, produxisti filiam.
Mother, you have brought up a daughter who is obedient to your word.
§545Perfídiae laudes grátiasque habémus merito mágnas, §546quom nostris sycophantiis, dolis astutiisque, §548qui advorsum stimulos, lamminas, crucesque compedesque, §549_550nervos, catenas, carceres, numellas, pedicas, boias §551†indoctoresque acerrumos gnarosque nostri tergi, §554eae núnc legiones, copiae exercitusque eorum §555vi pugnando periuriis nostris fugae potiti.
To Treachery we deservedly offer great praises and thanks, since by our trickery, deceits, and craftiness, who in the face of goads, hot plates, crosses, and shackles, cords, chains, prisons, stocks, fetters, collars, and the most severe instructors who are well-acquainted with our backs, now those legions, forces, and armies of theirs by fighting hard, have been put to flight by our falsehoods.
This was done by the valor of this colleague of mine and my own affability.
qui me vir fortior ad sufferundas plagas?
Who is a braver man than me to endure lashes?
§558Edepol virtutes qui tuas non possis conlaudare §559sic ut ego possim, quae domi duellique male fecisti.
By Pollux, you indeed cannot praise your own virtues as well as I can, the wicked things you have done at home and in war.
§560ne illa edepol pro merito tuo memorari multa possunt: §561ubi fidentem fraudaveris, ubi ero infidelis fueris, §562ubi verbis conceptis sciens libenter periuraris, §563ubi parietes perfoderis, in furto ubi sis prehensus, §564ubi saepe causam dixeris pendens adversus octo §565artutos, audacis viros, valentis virgatores.
Indeed, by Pollux, many things can be recounted according to your merit: how you have defrauded one who trusted you, how you have been unfaithful to your master, how you have knowingly and willingly perjured yourself in solemn words, how you have dug through walls, how you have been caught in theft, how you have often pleaded your cause while hanging against eight strong, bold men, powerful whippers.
§566Fateor profecto ut praedicas, Leonida, esse vera; §567verum edepol ne etiam túa quoque malefacta iterari multa §568et vero possunt: ubi sciens fideli infidus fueris, §569ubi prensus in furto sies manifesto et verberatus, §571ubi eris damno, molestiae et dedecori saepe fueris, §572ubi creditum quod sit tibi datum esse pernegaris,
I certainly admit, Leonidas, that the things you declare are true; but indeed, by Pollux, many of your misdeeds also can be repeated, and in truth they can be: how you, knowingly, have been unfaithful to one who trusted you, how you have been caught in manifest theft and beaten, how you have often been a loss, a trouble, and a disgrace to your master, how you have utterly denied that what was entrusted to you had been given to you,