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Plautus · Bacchides §663-721b

Confession of the Returned Gold and Chrysalus's New Scheme

Passage 11 of 19 · Latin

Summary

Mnesilochus regrets returning all the gold to his father out of a misunderstanding and confesses this to Chrysalus. Although furious, Chrysalus begins to devise a new plot to deceive the old man again and secure the necessary funds.

§663démpsit et quíd suo réddidit patri.
took away for himself and how much he returned to his own father.
§665sí frugi est, Hérculem fécit ex patre: §666décimam partem eí dedit, síbi novem abstulit.
if he is worthy, he has made a Hercules out of his father: he gave a tenth part to him, and took away nine parts for himself.
§667séd quem quaero óptume eccum óbviam mihi est.
But the one whom I seek, very opportunely, look, is coming to meet me.
§668núm qui nummi éxciderúnt, ere, tibi, §668aquod síc terram optuére?
Have any coins fallen from you, master, that you are looking at the ground in this way?
§669quid vós maestos tam trístesque esse cónspicor?
Why do I see you both so sad and so downcast?
§670non plácet nec temere est étiam.
I do not like this, nor is it for no reason.
quin mihi réspondetis?
Why do you not answer me?
§671Chrýsale, occidi.
[Mnesilochus] Chrysalus, I am ruined.
§671bFortassis tu auri dempsisti parum?
[Chrysalus] Perhaps you took away too little of the gold?
§672Quam, malum, parum? immo vero nimio minus multo parum.
[Mnesilochus] How, the plague, too little? Nay indeed, far too little by far too much.
§673Quid igitur, stulte? an tu, quoniam occasio ad eam rem fuit
[Chrysalus] What then, fool?
§674mea virtute parta, ut quantum velles tantum sumeres, §675sic hoc digitulis duobus sumebas primoribus?
Since the opportunity for that was secured by my valor, so that you might take as much as you wished, did you thus take it with only the tips of your two fingers?
§676an nescibas quam eius modi hómini raro tempus se daret?
Or did you not know how rarely such an opportunity presents itself to a man of our kind?
§677Erras.
[Mnesilochus] You are mistaken.
§677bAt quidem túte errasti, cum parum immersti ampliter.
[Chrysalus] But indeed you yourself made a mistake when you did not dip in deeply enough.
§678Pol tu quam nunc med accuses magis, si magis rem noveris.
[Mnesilochus] By Pollux, you would accuse me even more than you do now, if you knew the matter better.
§679occidi.
I am ruined.
§679bAnimus iam istoc dicto plus praesagitur mali.
[Chrysalus] By that saying my mind already forebodes more evil.
§680Perii.
[Mnesilochus] I am undone.
§680bQuid ita?
[Chrysalus] Why so?
§680cQuia patri omne cum ramento reddidi.
[Mnesilochus] Because I returned all of it to my father, down to the last scraping.
§681Reddidisti?
[Chrysalus] You returned it?
§681bReddidi.
[Mnesilochus] I returned it.
§681cOmnene?
[Chrysalus] All of it?
§681dOppido.
[Mnesilochus] Completely.
§681eOccisi sumus.
[Chrysalus] We are dead.
§682qui in mentem venit tibi istuc facinus facere tam malum?
How did it come into your mind to do such a bad deed?
§683Bacchidem atque hunc suspicabar propter crimen, Chrysale, §684mi male consuluisse: ob eam rem omne aurum iratus reddidi §685meo patri.
[Mnesilochus] Chrysalus, I suspected because of the accusation that Bacchis and this man had planned badly against me; on that account, in my anger, I returned all the gold to my father.
§685bQuid, ubi reddebas aurum, dixisti patri?
[Chrysalus] What did you say to your father when you returned the gold?
§686Mé id aurum accepisse extemplo ab hospite Archidemide.
[Mnesilochus] That I had received that gold immediately from the host Archidemides.
§686bEm, §687istoc dicto dédisti hodie ín cruciatum Chrysalum; §688nam úbi me aspiciet, ad carnuficem rapiet continuo senex.
[Chrysalus] Oh, by that saying you have delivered Chrysalus to torture today; for as soon as the old man sees me, he will drag me straight to the executioner.
§689Ego patrem exoravi.
[Mnesilochus] I entreated my father.
§689bNempe ergo hoc ut faceret quod loquor?
[Chrysalus] Surely, then, so that he might do what I am saying?
§690Immo tibi ne noceat neu quid ob eam rem suscenseat; §691atque aegre impetravi.
[Mnesilochus] No, rather that he should not harm you nor be angry on that account; and with difficulty I obtained it.
nunc hoc tibi curandumst, Chrysale.
Now you must take care of this, Chrysalus.
§692Quid vis curem?
[Chrysalus] What do you want me to take care of?
§692bVt ad senem etiam álteram facias viam.
[Mnesilochus] That you make another attempt upon the old man.
§693compara, fabricare finge quod lubet, conglutina, §694ut senem hodie doctum docte fallas aurumque auferas.
Prepare, fabricate, devise what you please, glue it together, so that today you may cleverly deceive the clever old man and take away the gold.
§695Vix videtur fieri posse.
[Chrysalus] It seems hardly possible to be done.
§695bPerge, ac facile ecfeceris.
[Mnesilochus] Go on, and you will accomplish it easily.
§696Quam, malum, fácile, quem mendaci prendit manufesto modo?
[Chrysalus] How, the plague, easily, with one whom he has just caught in an open lie?
§697quem si orem ut mihi nil credat, id non ausit credere.
whom if I should beg not to believe me in anything, he would not dare to believe even that.
§698Immo si audias quae dicta dixit me adversum tibi.
[Mnesilochus] Nay, if you were to hear what words he spoke against you to me.
§699Quid dixit?
[Chrysalus] What did he say?
§699bSi tu illum solem sibi solem esse diceres, §700se illum lunam credere esse et noctem qui nunc est dies.
[Mnesilochus] That if you were to tell him that the sun is the sun, he would believe it to be the moon, and that the day which now is, is night.
§701Emungam hercle hominem probe hodie, ne id nequiquam dixerit.
[Chrysalus] By Hercules, I will clean the man out thoroughly today, so that he may not have said that in vain.
§702Nunc quid nos vis facere?
[Mnesilochus] Now what do you want us to do?
§702bÉnim nil nisi ut ametis impero.
[Chrysalus] Indeed, I order nothing except that you love.
§703ceterum quantum lubet me poscitote aurum: ego dabo.
For the rest, ask me for as much gold as you please: I will give it.
§704quid mihi refert Chrysalo esse nomen, nisi factis probo?
What does it matter to me that my name is Chrysalus, unless I prove it by deeds?
§705sed nunc quantillum usust auri tibi, Mnesiloche? dic mihi.
But now, Mnesilochus, how very little gold do you need? Tell me.
§706Militi nummis ducentis iam usus est pro Bacchide.
[Mnesilochus] There is need of two hundred coins now for the soldier on behalf of Bacchis.
§707Ego dabo.
[Chrysalus] I will give it.
§707bTum nobis opus est sumptu.
[Mnesilochus] Then we need money for expenses.
§707cAh, placide volo §708unum quidque agamus: hoc ubi egero, tum istuc agam.
[Chrysalus] Ah, I want us to do each thing calmly: when I have done this, then I will do that.
§709de ducentis nummis primum intendam ballistam in senem; §710ea ballista si pervortam turrim et propugnacula, §711recta porta invadam extemplo in oppidum anticum et vetus: §712si id capso, geritote amicis vostris aurum corbibus, §713sicut animus sperat.
Concerning the two hundred coins, I will first aim my ballista at the old man; if with that ballista I overthrow the tower and the ramparts, I will immediately march straight through the gate into the ancient and old town; if I capture it, carry the gold in baskets to your friends, just as my mind hopes.
§713bApud test animus noster, Chrysale.
[Mnesilochus] Our mind is with you, Chrysalus.
§714Nunc tu abi intro, Pistoclere, ad Bacchidem, atque ecfer cito §715Quid?
[Chrysalus] Now go inside, Pistoclerus, to Bacchis, and bring out quickly— [Pistoclerus] What?
§715bStilum, ceram et tabellas, linum.
[Chrysalus] A pen, wax, tablets, and thread.
§715cIam faxo hic erunt. — §716Quid nunc es facturus? id mihi dice.
[Pistoclerus] I will see to it that they are here immediately.— [Mnesilochus] What are you going to do now? Tell me that.
§716bCoctumst prandium?
[Chrysalus] Is lunch cooked?
§717vos duo eritis atque amica tua erit tecum tertia?
will you two be there and your mistress will be with you as a third?
§718Sicut dicis.
[Mnesilochus] Just as you say.
§718bPistoclero nulla amica est?
[Chrysalus] Has Pistoclerus no mistress?
§718cImmo adest.
[Mnesilochus] On the contrary, she is here.
§719alteram ille amat sororem, ego alteram, ambas Bacchides.
He loves one sister, I the other, both of them Bacchises.
§720Quid tu loquere?
[Chrysalus] What are you saying?
§720bHoc, ut futuri sumus.
[Mnesilochus] This, as we are going to be.
§720cVbist biclinium §721vobis stratum?
[Chrysalus] Where is the couch for two spread for you?
§721bQuid id exquaeris?
[Mnesilochus] Why do you ask that?

Notes

  1. 665Herculem fecit ex patre — A humorous allusion to the Roman custom of offering a tithe (decima) to Hercules. Chrysalus jokingly guesses that Mnesilochus made a "Hercules" out of his father by giving him only a tenth of the gold and keeping the remaining nine-tenths for himself.
  2. 678Pol tu quam nunc med accuses magis — A compressed comparative construction. The full underlying syntax is: Pol tu magis med accuses, quam nunc med accuses, si magis rem noveris ("By Pollux, you would accuse me more, if you knew the matter better, than you accuse me now"), where quam acts as a relative adverb correlated with the comparative magis.
  3. 697quem si orem ut mihi nil credat, id non ausit credere — The relative pronoun quem at the beginning of the sentence links to the preceding clause and serves as the accusative object of orem. The verb form ausit is an archaic perfect subjunctive of audeo, expressing potential. The sentence literally means: "whom if I should beg that he believe me in nothing, he would not dare to believe even that."
  4. 712si id capso — The archaic form capso is a future perfect (or s-future) of capio (to take, capture), equivalent to classical cepero. In this conditional clause, it refers to a future completed action: "if I shall have captured it."

Cite this passage

Plautus, Bacchides §663-721b. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi004.humanitext-lat2:663-721b

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