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Plautus · Captivi §670-742

Tyndarus Sentenced to Quarries and His Loyalty

Passage 12 of 17 · Latin

Summary

Hegio, furious at Tyndarus's deception, decides to sentence him to harsh labor in the stone quarries. Tyndarus courageously accepts his fate, proud of having saved his master Philocrates, while Aristophontes regrets that his own revelation led to this outcome.

§670Quia me meamque rem, quod in te uno fuit, §671tuis scelestis falsidicis fallaciis §672deartuasti dilaceravisti atque opes §673confecisti omnes, res ac rationes meas: §674ita mi exemisti Philocratem fallaciis.
Hegio: Because you, as far as lay in you alone, with your criminal, lie-telling tricks, have dismembered and torn to pieces me and my property, and have destroyed all my resources, my wealth and accounts: thus you have taken Philocrates away from me with your tricks.
§675illum esse servom credidi, te liberum; §676ita vosmet aiebatis itaque nomina §677inter vos permutastis.
I believed him to be a slave, and you to be a free man; so you yourselves said, and so you exchanged your names between yourselves.
§677bFateor, omnia §678facta esse ita ut tu dicis, et fallaciis §679abiisse eum abs te mea opera atque astutia; §680an, obsecro hercle te, id nunc suscenses mihi?
Tyndarus: I confess that all was done just as you say, and that by my effort and cleverness and by tricks he has departed from you; but, I pray by Hercules, is it for this that you are now angry with me?
§681At cum cruciatu maxumo id factumst tuo.
Hegio: But that was done to your own greatest torture.
§682Dum ne ob male facta, peream, parvi aestumo.
Tyndarus: Provided that it is not for evil deeds, even if I perish, I value it little.
§683si ego hic peribo, ast ille ut dixit non redit, §684at erit mi hoc factum mortuo memorabile, §685me meum erum captum ex servitute atque hostibus §686reducem fecisse liberum in patriam ad patrem, §687meumque potius me caput periculo §688praeoptavisse, quam is periret, ponere.
If I perish here, and if he does not return as he said, yet this deed will be memorable for me when I am dead, that I restored my captured master from slavery and the enemy, and brought him back free to his homeland and his father, and that I preferred to expose my own life to danger, to lay it down, rather than that he should perish.
§689Facito ergo ut Acherunti clueas gloria.
Hegio: Make sure then that you are spoken of with glory at Acheron.
§690Qui per virtutem, periit, at non interit.
Tyndarus: He who dies through virtue does not perish.
§691Quando ego te exemplis pessumis cruciavero §692atque ob sutelas tuas te morti misero, §693vel te interiisse vel periisse praedicent; §694dum pereas, nihil intererit: dicant vivere.
Hegio: When I have tortured you with the worst punishments and sent you to death on account of your craftiness, let them declare either that you have died or that you have perished; as long as you perish, it will make no difference: let them say you live.
§695Pol si istuc faxis, haud sine poena feceris, §696si ille huc rebitet, sicut confido affore.
Tyndarus: By Pollux, if you do that, you will not have done it without punishment, if he returns here, as I trust he will be present.
§697Pro di immortales, nunc ego teneo, nunc scio §698quid hoc sít negoti.
Aristophontes: O immortal gods, now I grasp, now I know what this business is.
meus sodalis Philocrates §699in libertate est ad patrem in patria.
My companion Philocrates is at liberty, with his father in his homeland.
bene est, §700nec quisquam est mihi, aeque melius cui velim.
It is well, nor is there anyone for whom I would wish better things as much as for him.
§701sed hoc mihi aegre est, me huic dedisse operam malam, §702qui nunc propter me meaque verba vinctus est.
but this grieves me, that I have done a bad turn to this man, who is now bound on account of me and my words.
§703Votuin te quicquam mi hodie falsum proloqui?
Hegio: Did I not forbid you to speak anything false to me today?
§704Votuisti.
Tyndarus: You did forbid.
§704bCur es ausus mentiri mihi?
Hegio: Why did you dare to lie to me?
§705Quia vera obessent illi quoi operam dabam: §706nunc falsa prosunt.
Tyndarus: Because the truth would have harmed him whom I was serving; now lies are beneficial.
§706bAt tibi oberunt.
Hegio: But they will harm you.
§706cOptumest.
Tyndarus: That is excellent.
§707at erum servavi, quem servatum gaudeo, §708cui me custodem addiderat erus maior meus.
But I have saved my master, in whose safety I rejoice, to whom my older master had appointed me as guardian.
§709sed malene id factum árbitrare?
But do you think that was a bad deed?
§709bPessume.
Hegio: The worst.
§710At ego aio recte, qui abs te sorsum sentio.
Tyndarus: But I say it was right, I who think differently from you.
§711nam cogitato, si quis hoc gnato tuo §712tuos servos faxit, qualem haberes gratiam?
For think, if any of your slaves had done this for your son, what gratitude would you have?
§713emitteresne necne eum servom manu?
Would you set that slave free or not?
§714essetne apud te is servos acceptissimus?
Would that slave be most welcome to you?
§715responde.
Answer.
§715bOpinor.
Hegio: I suppose so.
§715cCur ergo iratus mihi es?
Tyndarus: Why then are you angry with me?
§716Quia illi fuisti quam mihi fidelior.
Hegio: Because you were more faithful to him than to me.
§717Quid? tu una nocte postulavisti et die
Tyndarus: What?
§718recens captum hominem, nuperum novicium, §719te perdocere ut melius consulerem tibi, §720quam illi, quicum una a puero aetatem exegeram?
Did you expect that in a single night and day, a newly captured man, a fresh newcomer, you could fully teach to consult better for you, than for him with whom I had spent my life together from childhood?
§721Ergo ab eo petito gratiam istam.
Hegio: Therefore seek that gratitude from him!
ducite, §722ubi ponderosas crassas capiat compedes.
Lead him away, where he may receive heavy, thick shackles.
§723inde ibis porro in latomias lapidarias.
From there you shall go further to the stone quarries.
§724ibi quom alii octonos lapides effodiunt, nisi §725cotidiano sesquiopus confeceris, §726Sescentoplago nomen indetur tibi.
There, while others dig out eight stones, unless you finish one and a half times the daily work, the name Sescentoplago will be given to you.
§727Per deos atque homines ego te obtestor, Hegio, §728ne tu istunc hominem perduis.
Aristophontes: By gods and men I implore you, Hegio, do not destroy that man.
§728bCurabitur; §729nam noctu nervo vinctus custodibitur, §730interdius sub terra lapides eximet: §731diu ego húnc cruciabo, non uno absolvam die.
Hegio: He will be taken care of; for by night he will be kept bound in the stocks, by day he will dig out stones under the earth: I shall torture him for a long time, I will not release him in a single day.
§732Certumne est tíbi istuc?
Aristophontes: Is that certain to you?
§732bNon moriri certius.
Hegio: No more certain than that I must die.
§733abducite istum actutum ad Hippolytum fabrum, §734iubete huic crassas compedes impingier; §735inde extra portam ad meum libertum Cordalum §736in lapicidinas facite deductus siet: §737atque hunc me velle dicite ita curarier, §738ne qui deterius huic sit quam cui pessume est.
Lead him away immediately to Hippolytus the blacksmith, order thick shackles to be forged on him; then, outside the gate, to my freedman Cordalus in the stone-quarries, make sure he is led: and say that I wish him to be looked after in such a way, that it may not be any better for him than for the one who has it worst.
§739Cur ego te invito me esse salvom postulem?
Tyndarus: Why should I expect myself to be safe against your will?
§740periclum vitae meae tuo stat periculo.
The danger of my life stands at your danger.
§741post mortem in morte nihil est quod metuam mali.
After death, in death, there is no evil that I should fear.
§742etsi pervivo usque ad summam aetatem, tamen
Even if I live on to the extreme of age, still...

Notes

  1. §670quod in te uno fuit — A restrictive use of the relative pronoun quod, meaning "as far as." The phrase in aliquo esse is an idiom meaning "to lie in one's power," translating here to "as far as lay in your power alone."
  2. §682Dum ne ob male facta — The conjunction dum ne introduces a negative proviso ("provided that... not"). The subjunctive peream ("let me perish" or "even if I perish") acts as a conditional concession, qualifying the main clause parvi aestumo ("I value it little").
  3. §690periit, at non interit — A contrast between the verbs perire and interire. While perire denotes physical death or perishing, interire implies complete destruction or utter annihilation (including memory). The sentence functions as a maxim: "He who dies (physically) for virtue does not utterly vanish (from memory)."
  4. §738ne qui deterius huic sit — The comparative adverb deterius ("worse"), accompanied by the negative ne and the adverbial qui ("in any way"), here functions to mean "lest he should be in any better (i.e., less bad) condition than the one who is worst off," thus ordering the worst possible treatment.

Cite this passage

Plautus, Captivi §670-742. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi005.humanitext-lat2:670-742

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