Humanitext Reader

Plautus · Captivi §611b-669

Exposure of Tyndarus and Rage of Hegio

Passage 11 of 17 · Latin

Summary

Through Aristophontes' testimony and his detailed description of Philocrates' appearance, Hegio realizes that the man before him is actually the slave Tyndarus and that he has been completely deceived. Enraged, Hegio orders his servants to bind Tyndarus, who continues to maintain a bold attitude.

§611bTibi ego abnuto?
Tyndarus: Am I shaking my head at you?
§611cQuid agat, si absis longius?
Aristophontes: What would he do, if you were further away?
§612Quid ais? quid si adeam hunc insanum?
Hegio: What do you say? What if I go near this madman?
§612bNugas.
Tyndarus: Nonsense.
ludificabitur, §613garriet quoi neque pes umquam neque caput compareat.
He will make sport of you, he will prate things in which neither head nor foot would ever appear.
§615ornamenta absunt: Aiacem, hunc cum vides, ipsum vides.
The stage properties are missing: when you see this man, you see Ajax himself.
§616Nihili facio.
Hegio: I care nothing for that.
tamen adibo.
Still, I shall go near.
§616bNunc ego omnino occidi, §617nunc ego intér sacrum saxumque sto, nec quid faciam scio.
Tyndarus: Now I am utterly ruined, now I stand between the victim and the stone, and I do not know what to do.
§618Do tibi operam, Aristophontes, si quid est quod me velis.
Hegio: I attend to you, Aristophontes, if there is anything you want of me.
§619Ex me audibis vera quae nunc falsa opinare, Hegio.
Aristophontes: From me you shall hear the truth, Hegio, which you now believe to be false.
§620sed hoc primúm, me expurigare tibi volo, me insaniam §621neque tenere neque mi esse ullum morbum, nisi quod servio.
But first this: I wish to clear myself to you, that neither madness holds me, nor that there is any disease in me, except that I am a slave.
§622at ita me rex deorum atque hominum faxit patriae compotem, §623ut istic Philocrates non magis est quam aut ego aut tu.
And may the king of gods and men so make me master of my homeland, as it is true that that man is no more Philocrates than either I or you.
§623bEho dic mihi, §624quis illic igitur est?
Hegio: Ho, tell me, who is he then?
§624bQuem dudum dixi a principio tibi.
Aristophontes: The one I told you just now from the beginning.
§625hoc si secus reperies, nullam causam dico quin mihi §626et parentum et libertatis apud te deliquio siet.
If you find this otherwise, I plead no cause why there should not be for me a loss of both my parents and my freedom in your house.
§627Quid tu ais?
Hegio: What do you say?
§627bMe tuom esse servom et te meum erum.
Tyndarus: That I am your slave and you are my master.
§627cHaud istuc rogo.
Hegio: I am not asking that.
§628fuistin liber?
Were you a free man?
§628bFui.
Tyndarus: I was.
§628cEnim vero non fuit, nugas agit.
Aristophontes: Indeed he was not, he is talking nonsense.
§629Qui tu scis? an tu fortasse fuisti meae matri obstetrix, §630qui id tam audacter dicere audes?
Tyndarus: How do you know? Or were you perhaps the midwife to my mother, that you dare to say this so boldly?
§630bPuerum te vidi puer.
Aristophontes: I saw you when you were a boy, and I was a boy.
§631At ego te video maior maiorem: ém rursum tibi.
Tyndarus: But I, an adult, see you, an adult: there, that's back at you.
§632meam rem non cures, si recte facias.
You should not mind my business, if you did what is right.
num ego curo tuam?
Do I mind yours?
§633Fuitne huic patér Thensaurochrysonicochrysides?
Hegio: Was this man's father Thensaurochrysonicochrysides?
§634Non fuit, neque ego istuc nomen umquam audivi ante hunc diem.
Aristophontes: He was not, nor have I ever heard that name before this day.
§635Philocrati Theodoromedes fuit pater.
Theodoromedes was the father of Philocrates.
§635bPereo probe.
Tyndarus: I am completely ruined.
§636quin quiescis? i dierectum cor meum, ac suspende te.
Why don't you quiet down? Go and hang yourself, my heart.
§637tu sussultas, ego miser vix asto prae formidine.
You are leaping, while wretched I can hardly stand for fear.
§638Satin istuc mihi exquisitum est, fuisse hunc servom in Alide §639neque esse hunc Philocratem?
Hegio: Is that sufficiently investigated for me, that this man was a slave in Alis and that he is not Philocrates?
§639bTam satis quam numquam hoc invenies secus.
Aristophontes: So sufficiently that you will never find it otherwise.
§640sed ubi is nunc est?
Hegio: But where is he now?
§640bVbi ego minime atque ipsus se volt maxume.
Aristophontes: Where I least wish and he himself most wishes to be.
§643sed vide sis.
Hegio: But please, see to it.
§643bQuin exploratum dico et provisum hoc tibi.
Aristophontes: On the contrary, I tell you this as investigated and verified.
§644Certon?
Hegio: Are you sure?
§644bQuin nihil, inquam, invenies magis hoc certo certius.
Aristophontes: On the contrary, I say, you will find nothing more certain than this certainty.
§645Philocrates iam inde usque amicus fuit mihi a puero puer.
Philocrates has been a friend to me from the very beginning, a boy to a boy.
§641Tum igitur ego deruncinatus, deartuatus sum miser §642huius scelesti techinis, qui me ut lubitum est ductavit dolis.
Hegio: Then indeed, wretched I have been planed down and dismembered by the tricks of this scoundrel, who led me around by guile as he pleased.
§646sed qua faciest tuos sodalis Philocrates?
But of what appearance is your friend Philocrates?
§646bDicam tibi: §647macilento ore, naso acuto, corpore albo, oculis nigris, §648subrufus aliquantum, crispus, cincinnatus.
Aristophontes: I will tell you: with a thin face, a sharp nose, a fair body, black eyes, somewhat reddish, curly-haired, and with ringlets.
§648bConvenit.
Hegio: It matches.
§649Vt quidem hercle in medium ego hodie pessume processerim.
Tyndarus: So that indeed, by Hercules, I have come forward today in the worst possible way.
§650vae illis virgis miseris, quae hodie in tergo morientur meo.
Woe to those wretched rods, which will die today on my back.
§651Verba mihi data esse video.
Hegio: I see that words have been given to me.
§651bQuid cessatis, compedes, §652currere ad me meaque amplecti crura, ut vos custodiam?
Tyndarus: Why do you hesitate, fetters, to run to me and embrace my legs, so that I may keep watch over you?
§653Satin med illi hodie scelesti capti ceperunt dolo?
Hegio: Have those scoundrel captives indeed caught me today with their trick?
§654illic servom se assimulabat, hic sese autem liberum.
That one feigned to be a slave, and this one a free man.
§655nuculeum amisi, retinui pignori putamina.
I have lost the kernel, and kept the shells as a pledge.
§656ita mihi stólido sursum versum os sublevere offuciis.
Thus they have smeared the face of foolish me upwards with make-up.
§657hic quidem mé numquam irridebit.
This one indeed shall never mock me.
Colaphe, Cordalio, Corax, §658ite istinc, ecferte lora.
Colaphus, Cordalio, Corax, go from there, bring out the whips.
§658bNum lignatum mittimur?
Servant: Are we being sent to gather wood?
§659Inícite huic manicas mastigiae.
Hegio: Cast handcuffs on this whip-rascal.
§660Quid hoc ést negoti? quid ego deliqui?
Tyndarus: What business is this? What have I done wrong?
§660bRogas, §661sator sartorque scelerum, et messor maxume?
Hegio: Do you ask, you sower and weeder of crimes, and especially the reaper?
§662Non occatorem dicere audebas prius?
Tyndarus: Did you not dare to say "harrower" before that?
§663nam semper occant prius quam sariunt rustici.
For country-men always harrow before they weed.
§664At ut cónfidenter mihi contra astitit.
Hegio: But how confidently he stands against me.
§665Decet innocentem servom átque innoxium §666confidentem esse, suom apud erum potissimum.
Tyndarus: It is fitting for an innocent and harmless slave to be confident, especially in the presence of his master.
§667Adstringite isti sultis vehementer manus.
Hegio: Bind this man's hands tightly, if you please.
§668Tuós sum, tu has quidem vel praecidi iube.
Tyndarus: I am yours, you may indeed order even these to be cut off.
§669sed quid negoti est, quam ob rem suscenses mihi?
But what business is it, for what reason are you angry with me?

Notes

  1. 617inter sacrum saxumque — A Roman proverb meaning "to stand between the victim and the stone." It refers to a critical moment in a sacrifice when the flint-knife is about to fall, expressing a desperate dilemma or an inescapable predicament.
  2. 622at ita me rex deorum atque hominum faxit patriae compotem — A formula of solemn oath. The main clause "at ita... faxit" containing the optative subjunctive *faxit* (an archaic form of *fecerit*) corresponds with the *ut* clause containing the indicative *est* (§623), meaning "may the gods do so to me, as it is true that..." to express a strong assertion.
  3. 625nullam causam dico quin mihi — An idiomatic expression meaning "I offer no objection why... not" or "I plead no cause to prevent..." The *quin* clause takes the subjunctive *siet* (archaic for *sit*), expressing Aristophontes' readiness to accept any punishment (loss of parents and freedom) if his statement is proven false.
  4. 649Vt quidem hercle in medium ego hodie pessume processerim. — Subjunctive of exclamation or result. In response to Hegio's *Convenit* (it matches), Tyndarus uses the perfect subjunctive *processerim* to express, with self-mockery, the disastrous outcome: "So that indeed, in the worst possible way have I come forward today."

Cite this passage

Plautus, Captivi §611b-669. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi005.humanitext-lat2:611b-669

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.