"This year begins the twentieth." "He tells falsehoods." "Either I or you.
nam tibi quadrimulum §982tuos pater peculiarem parvolo puero dedit.
For your father gave him to you, a tiny boy, as your own slave when you were four years old." "What was his name?
§983Quid erat ei nomen? si vera dicis, memoradum mihi. §984Paegnium vocitatust, post vos indidistis Tyndaro. §985Cur ego te non novi? §985bQuia mos est oblivisci hominibus §986neque novisse cuius nihili sit faciunda gratia. §987Dic mihi, isne istíc fuit, quem vendidisti meo patri, §988qui mihi peculiaris datus est? §988bHuius filius. §989Vivitne is homo? §989bArgentum accepi, nil curavi ceterum. §990Quid tu ais? §990bQuin istic ipsust Tyndarus tuos filius, §991ut quidem hic árgumenta loquitur.
If you speak the truth, tell me." "He was called Paegnium; afterwards you gave him the name of Tyndarus." "Why did I not know you?" "Because it is the custom for men to forget and not to know him whose favor is to be valued at nothing." "Tell me, was that man whom you sold to my father, who was given to me as my own, that very man?" "This man's son." "Is that man alive?" "I received the money; I cared nothing for the rest." "What do you say?" "Indeed, that very man is your son Tyndarus, as this man's evidence shows.
nam is mecum a puero puer §992bene pudiceque educatust usque ad adulescentiam. §993Et miser sum et fortunatus, si vos vera dicitis; §994eo miser sum quia male illi feci, si gnatust meus.
For he was brought up with me from a boy, well and virtuously, even unto manhood." "If you speak the truth, I am both wretched and fortunate; wretched because I have treated him badly, if he is my son.
§995eheu, quóm ego plus minusve feci quam me aequom fuit.
Alas, when I have done either more or less than was right for me.
§996quod male feci crucior; modo si infectum fieri possiet.
I am tortured by what I did badly; if only it could be made undone.
§997sed eccum incedit huc ornatus haúd ex suis virtutibus. §998Vidi ego multa saepe picta, quae Acherunti fierent §999cruciamenta, verum enim vero nulla adaeque est Acheruns §1000atque ubi ego fui, in lapicidinis. illic ibi demumst locus, §1001ubi labore lassitudo est exigunda ex corpore. §1002nam ubi illo adveni, quasi patriciis pueris aut monerulae, §1003aut anites aut coturnices dantur, quicum lusitent, §1004itidem mi haec advenienti upupa, qui me delectem, datast. §1005sed erus eccum ante ostium, et erus alter eccum ex Alide §1006rediit. §1006bSalve, éxoptate gnate mi.
But see, he approaches, adorned in a manner not in keeping with his virtues." "I have often seen many painted torments that take place in Acheron; but indeed, there is no Acheron so completely so as where I have been, in the stone-quarries." "There at last is the place where fatigue must be driven out of the body by labor." "For when I arrived there, just as patrician boys are given jackdaws, or ducks, or quails to play with," "likewise, when I arrived, this hoopoe (pickaxe) was given to me to amuse myself with." "But see, the master is before the door, and the other master has returned from Elis." "Hail, my long-wished-for son!" "What, 'my son'?
§1006cHem, quid gnate mi? §1007attat, scio cur te patrem adsimules esse et me filium: §1008quia mi item ut parentes lucis das tuendi copiam. §1009Salve, Tyndare. §1009bEt tu, quoius causa hanc aerumnam exigo. §1010At nunc liber in divitias faxo venies.
Ah, I know why you pretend to be my father and me your son: because, just like parents, you give me the opportunity of seeing the light." "Hail, Tyndarus!" "And you, for whose sake I undergo this hardship." "But now you shall come free into riches.
nam tibi §1011pater hic est; hic servos, qui te huic hinc quadrimum surpuit, §1012vendidit patri meo te sex minis, is te mihi §1013parvolum peculiarem parvolo puero dedit: §1014illic indícium fecit; nam hunc ex Alide huc reduximus. §1015Quid huius filium? §1015bIntus eccum fratrem germanum tuom.
For here is your father;" "here is the slave who stole you from here when you were four years old, and sold you to my father for six minae, who gave you to me," "a little boy, as a private slave for a little boy." "He has given evidence; for we have brought this man back from Elis." "What of his son?" "Inside is your own brother." "What do you say?
§1016bQuid tu ais? adduxtin illum huius captivom filium? §1017Quin, inquam, intus hic est. §1017bFecisti edepol et recte et bene. §1018Nunc tibi páter hic est: hic fur est tuos, qui parvom hinc te abstulit. §1019At ego hunc grandis grandem natu ob furtum ad carnificem dabo. §1020Meritus est. §1020bErgo edepol merito meritam mercedem dabo. §1023nunc edepol demum in memoriam regredior, audisse me §1024quasi per nebulam, Hégionem meum patrem vocarier. §1025Is ego sum. §1025bCompedibus quaeso ut tibi sit levior filius §1026atque huic gravior servos. §1026bCertum est principio id praevortier. §1027eamus intro, ut arcessatur faber, ut istas compedes §1028tibi adimam, huic dem. §1028bQuoi peculi nihil est, recte feceris. §1029Spectatores, ad pudicos mores facta haec fabula est, §1030neque in hac subigitationes sunt neque ulla amatio §1031nec pueri suppositio nec argénti circumductio, §1032neque ubi amans adulescens scortum liberet clam suom patrem. §1033huius modi paucas poetae reperiunt comoedias, §1034ubi boni meliores fiant.
Have you brought that captive son of his?" "Indeed, I say he is inside." "By Pollux, you have acted both rightly and well." "Now here is your father; here is your thief, who took you away from here when small." "But I, now that he is grown and I am grown, will give him to the executioner for his theft." "He has deserved it." "Therefore, by Pollux, I will worthily give him his deserved reward." "Now, by Pollux, at last I return to my memory, that I heard, as if through a mist, my father being called Hegio." "I am he." "I pray that the chains may be lighter for your son, and heavier for this slave." "It is determined to attend to that first." "Let us go inside, so that the blacksmith may be summoned to take those chains off you and put them on him." "To one who has no private property, you will act rightly." "Spectators, this play has been made for virtuous manners; in this there are no illicit intrigues, nor any love-affair," "nor the substitution of a child, nor the cheating out of money," "nor where a young lover set free his mistress unknown to his father." "Poets find few comedies of this kind, where good men may become better.