§388Facis ita ut te facere oportet.
Tyndarus: You do just as you ought to do.
nunc animum advortas volo: §389omnium primum salutem dicito matri et patri §390et cognatis et si quem alium benevolentem videris; §391me hic valere et servitutem servire huic homini optumo, §392qui me honore honestiorem semper fecit et facit.
Now I wish you to turn your mind: first of all, give greetings to my mother and father, and to our kinsmen, and if you see anyone else who is well-disposed; tell them that I am well here, and serving as a slave to this most excellent man, who has always treated and still treats me with more and more honor.
§393Istuc ne praecipias, facile memoria memini tamen.
Philocrates: You need not instruct me on that; I still remember it easily.
§394Nam equidem, nisi quod custodem habeo, liberum me esse arbitror.
For indeed, except for the fact that I have a guard, I consider myself a free man.
Tell my father in what manner it has been agreed between me and this man, concerning his son.
§396bQuae memini, mora mera est monerier.
To be reminded of what I remember is sheer delay.
§397Vt eum redimat et remittat nostrum huc amborum vicem.
That he should ransom him and send him back here in place of both of us.
§398Meminero.
I will remember.
§398bAt quamprimum pote: istuc in rem utriquest maxime.
Tyndarus: But as soon as possible; that is of the greatest advantage to both.
§399Non tuom tu magis videre quam ille suom gnatum cupit.
Hegio: You do not desire to see your father more than he desires to see his own son.
§400Meus mihi, suos cuique est carus.
Mine is dear to me, and his own is dear to everyone.
§401bMe hic valere et (tute audacter dicito, §402Tyndare) inter nos fuisse ingenio haud discordabili, §403neque te commeruisse culpam (neque me adversatum tibi) §404beneque ero gessisse morem in tantis aerumnis tamen; §405neque med umquam deseruisse te neque factis neque fide, §406rebus in dubiis egenis.
Tyndarus: That I am well here, and (do you speak out boldly, Tyndarus) that we have been of a mind by no means discordant, and that you have not deserved blame (nor have I opposed you), and that you have conformed well to your master's will, even in such great troubles; and that you have never deserted me, either in deeds or in loyalty, in doubtful and needy circumstances.
haec pater quando sciet, §407Tyndare, ut fueris animatus erga suom gnatum atque se, §408numquam erit tam avarus, quin te gratiis emittat manu † §409et mea opera, si hinc rebito, faciam ut faciat facilius.
When my father knows these things, Tyndarus, how you have been disposed toward his son and himself, he will never be so stingy as not to set you free without cost, Philocrates: And by my own effort, if I return from here, I will make him do it more easily.
§410nam tua opera et comitate et virtute et sapientia §411fecisti ut redire liceat ad parentis denuo, §412cúm apud hunc confessus es et genus et divitias meas: §413quo pacto emisisti e vinclis tuom erum tua sapientia.
For by your effort, kindness, virtue, and wisdom, you have made it possible for me to return to my parents once more, when you confessed to this man both my noble birth and my wealth: by which means you released your master from chains by your wisdom.
§414Feci ego ista út commemoras, et te meminisse id gratum est mihi.
Tyndarus: I did those things just as you relate, and it is pleasing to me that you remember it.
§415merito tibi ea evenerunt a me; nam nunc, Philocrates, §416sí ego item memorem quae me erga multa fecisti bene, §417nox diem adimat; nam quasi servos meus esses, nihilo setius §418tu mihi obsequiosus semper fuisti.
You deserved those things from me; for now, Philocrates, if I were likewise to recount the many good things you have done for me, night would take away the day; for just as if you were my servant, none the less you have always been obedient to me.
Hegio: By the faith of the gods, what noble character in these men!
ut lacrumas excutiunt mihi.
How they wring tears from me.
§420videas corde amare inter se.
You may see that they love each other from the heart.
quantis lautus laudibus §421suom erum servos collaudavit.
With what grand praises the servant has praised his own master.
Philocrates: By Pollux, he does not praise me for even a hundredth part of the praises which he himself deserves to be praised with.
§423Ergo cum optume fecisti, nunc adest occasio §424bene facta cumulare, ut erga hunc rem geras fideliter.
Hegio: Therefore, since you have done most excellently, now the opportunity is here to heap up your good deeds, so that you may manage the matter faithfully for him.
§425Magis non factum possum velle, quam opera experiar persequi; §426id ut scias, Iovem supremum testem laudo, Hegio, §427me infidelem non futurum Philocrati.
Philocrates: I cannot wish it done more than I will try to pursue it with my effort; that you may know this, I call supreme Jupiter as witness, Hegio, that I will not be unfaithful to Philocrates.
§427bProbus es homo.
Hegio: You are an honest man.
§428Nec me secus umquam ei facturum quicquam quam memet mihi.
Philocrates: Nor will I ever do anything otherwise to him than to myself.
§429Istaec dicta te experiri et operis et factis volo; §430et, quo minus dixi quam volui de te, animum advortas volo, §431atque horunc verborum causa caveto mi iratus fuas; §432sed, te quaeso, cogitato hinc mea fide mitti domum §433te aestimatum, et méam esse vitam hic pro te positam pignori, §434ne tu me ignores, quom extemplo meo é conspectu abscesseris, §435quom me servom in servitute pro ted hic reliqueris, §436tuque te pro libero esse ducas, pignus deseras §437neque des operam pro me ut huius reducem facias filium; §439fac fidelis sis fideli, cave fidem fluxam geras: §440nam pater, scio, faciet quae illum facere oportet omnia; §441serva tibi in perpetuom amicum me, atque hunc inventum inveni.
Tyndarus: I wish those words of yours to be put to proof both in work and in deeds; and, because I have said less than I wished about you, I want you to turn your mind to this, and beware of being angry with me on account of these words; but, I entreat you, consider that you are being sent home from here evaluated under my guarantee, and that my life is placed here as a pledge for you, lest you should ignore me as soon as you have departed from my sight, when you have left me here as a servant in slavery instead of yourself, and you regard yourself as a free man, desert your pledge, and fail to exert yourself for me to make this man's son return; see that you are faithful to the faithful, beware of keeping a fleeting faith: for your father, I know, will do all things which he ought to do; keep me as your friend forever, and find this man who has been found.
§442haec per dexteram tuam te dextera retinens manu
holding your right hand with my right hand, [I entreat] you by this right hand of yours