§207Di me servant, salva res est.
(Euclio) The gods protect me, my property is safe.
salvom est si quid non perit.
It is safe if nothing has perished.
§208nimis malé timui.
I feared terribly.
prius quam íntro redii, exanimatus fui.
Before I went back inside, I was half-dead.
§209redeo ad te, Megadore, si quid me vis.
I return to you, Megadorus, if you want anything of me.
§209bHabeo gratiam.
(Megadorus) I am grateful.
§210quaeso, quod te percontabor, ne id te pigeat proloqui.
I ask you, regarding what I shall ask you, do not be loath to speak it out.
§211Dum quidem né quid perconteris quod non lubeat proloqui.
(Euclio) Provided that you do not ask anything that I may not like to speak out.
§212Dic mihi, quali me arbitrare genere prognatum?
(Megadorus) Tell me, of what kind of family do you think I am born?
§212bBono.
(Euclio) A good one.
§213Quid fide?
(Megadorus) What about my trustworthiness?
§213bBona.
(Euclio) Good.
§213cQuid factis?
(Megadorus) What about my deeds?
§213dNeque malis neque improbis.
(Euclio) Neither bad nor wicked.
§214Aetatem meam scís?
(Megadorus) Do you know my age?
§214bScio esse grandem, item ut pecuniam.
(Euclio) I know it is advanced, just like your wealth.
§215Certe edepol equidem te civem sine mala omni malitia §216semper sum arbitratus et nunc arbitror.
(Megadorus) Certainly, by Pollux, I have always thought you to be a citizen without any bad malice, and I think so now.
§216bAurum huic olet.
(Euclio) He smells the gold.
§217quid nunc me vis?
What do you want with me now?
§217bQuoniam tu me et ego te qualis sis scio, §218quae res recte vortat mihique tibique tuaeque filiae, §219filiam tuám mi uxorem posco.
(Megadorus) Since you know what kind of man I am, and I know what kind of man you are, and may this matter turn out well for me, for you, and for your daughter, I ask your daughter for my wife.
promitte hoc fore.
Promise that this shall be.
§220Heia, Megadore, haud decorum facinus tuis factis facis, §221ut inopem atque innoxium abs te atque abs tuis me inrideas.
(Euclio) Oh, Megadorus, you are doing a deed not worthy of your conduct, in mocking a poor and harmless man like me, from yourself and your family.
§222nam de te neque re neque verbis merui ut faceres quod facis.
For I have not deserved from you, either by deed or word, that you should do what you are doing.
(Megadorus) By Pollux, I am neither coming to mock you, nor do I mock you, nor do I think you worthy of it.
§224bCur igitur poscis meam gnatam tibi?
(Euclio) Why then do you ask my daughter for yourself?
§225Vt propter me tibi sit melius mihique propter te et tuos.
(Megadorus) So that through me it may be better for you, and through you and yours for me.
§226Venit hoc mihi, Megadóre, in mentem, ted esse hominem divitem, §227factiosum, me autem esse hominem pauperum pauperrimum;
(Euclio) This comes to my mind, Megadorus, that you are a rich man, influential, while I am a poor man, the poorest of the poor.
§228nunc si filiam locassim meam tibi, in mentem venit §229te bovem esse et me esse asellum: ubi tecum coniunctus siem, §230ubi onus nequeam ferre pariter, iaceam ego asinus in luto, §231tu me bos magis haud respicias, gnatus quasi numquam siem.
Now if I should marry my daughter to you, it comes to my mind that you are an ox and I am a little donkey: when I am joined with you, and when I cannot bear the burden equally, I, the donkey, would lie in the mud, and you, the ox, would regard me no more than if I had never been born.
§232et te utar iniquiore ét meus me ordo inrideat, §233neutrubi habeam stabile stabulum, si quid divorti fuat: §234asini me mordicibus scindant, boves incursent cornibus.
And I should find you more unjust, and my own class would mock me, nor should I have a stable home in either place, if any divorce should occur: the donkeys would tear me with their teeth, the oxen would attack me with their horns.
§235hoc magnum est periclum, ab asinis ad boves transcendere.
This is a great danger, to ascend from donkeys to oxen.
(Megadorus) The closer you join yourself in kinship to good men, the better it is.
tu condicionem hanc accipe, ausculta mihi, §238atque eam desponde mi.
Accept this proposal, listen to me, and betroth her to me.
§238bAt nihil est dotis quod dem.
(Euclio) But there is no dowry that I can give.
§238cNe duas.
(Megadorus) Do not give any.
§239dum modó morata recte veniat, dotata est satis.
Provided only she comes well-mannered, she is sufficiently endowed.
§240Eo dico, ne me thensauros repperisse censeas.
(Euclio) I say this lest you think I have found treasures.
§241Novi, ne doceas.
(Megadorus) I know, do not instruct me.
desponde.
Betroth her.
§241bFiat.
(Euclio) Let it be done.
sed pro Iuppiter, §242num égo disperii?
But, by Jupiter, am I not utterly ruined?
§242bQuíd tibi est?
(Megadorus) What is the matter with you?
(Euclio) What clattered just now like iron?— (Megadorus) I ordered them to dig up the garden here at my house.
sed ubi hic est homo?
But where is this man?
§244_245abiit neque me certiorem fecit.
He has gone and did not inform me.
fastidit mei, §246quia videt me suam amicitiam velle: more hominum facit; §247nam si opulentus it petitum pauperioris gratiam, §248pauper metuit congrediri, per metum male rem gerit.
He disdains me, because he sees that I want his friendship; he acts after the manner of men; for if a wealthy man goes to seek the favor of a poorer one, the poor man fears to meet him, and through fear manages the matter badly.
§249idem, quando occasio illaec periit, post sero cupit.
The same man, when that opportunity has perished, afterwards desires it too late.
§250Si hercle ego te non elinguandam dedero usque ab radicibus, §251impero auctorque ego sum, ut tu me cuivis castrandum loces.
(Euclio) By Hercules, if I do not give you over to have your tongue cut out all the way from the roots, I command and authorize that you place me with anyone to be castrated.
§252Video hercle ego te me arbitrari, Eúclio, hominem idoneum, §253quem senecta aetate ludos facias, haud merito meo.
(Megadorus) By Hercules, Euclio, I see that you think me a suitable man to make sport of in your old age, and not according to my desert.
§254Neque edepol, Megadore, facio, neque, si cupiam, copia est.
(Euclio) By Pollux, Megadorus, I am not doing so, nor, if I should desire it, is there the means.
§255Quid nunc? etiam mihi despondes filiam?
(Megadorus) What now? Do you still betroth your daughter to me?
(Euclio) On those terms, with that dowry which I told you.
§256bSponden ergo?
(Megadorus) Do you betroth her then?
§256cSpondeo.
(Euclio) I do betroth her.
§257Di bene vertant.
(Megadorus) May the gods turn it to good.
§257bIta di faxint. illud facito ut memineris,
(Euclio) May the gods so grant.
§258convenisse ut ne quid dotis mea ad te afferret filia.
See to it that you remember that it was agreed that my daughter should bring no dowry to you.
§259Memini.
(Megadorus) I remember.
§259bAt scio quo vos soleatis pacto perplexarier: §260pactum non pactum est, non pactum pactum est, quod vobis lubet.
(Euclio) But I know in what manner you rich people are accustomed to complicate things: an agreement is no agreement, a non-agreement is an agreement, as it pleases you.
§261Nulla controversia mihi tecum erit.
(Megadorus) There will be no controversy between me and you.
sed nuptias §262num quae causa est quin faciamus hodie?
But as to the wedding, is there any reason why we should not have it today?
§262bImmo edepol optuma.
(Euclio) Indeed, by Pollux, none; it is the very best.
§263Ibo igitur, parabo.
(Megadorus) I will go then and prepare.
numquid me vis?
Do you want anything of me?