Humanitext Reader

Plautus · Cistellaria §118b-190

The Old Woman's Tale and Auxilium's Prologue

Passage 3 of 10 · Latin

Summary

The old woman, Gymnasium's mother, reveals the secret of Selenium's birth to the audience and departs. Then, the divinity named Auxilium (Help) appears to explain the plot and the details of Selenium's true parentage and the events in Sicyon.

§118bIstoc ergo auris graviter obtundo tuas, §119ne quem ames.
Therefore with that I heavily dun your ears, that you may not love anyone.
abi intro.
Go inside.
§119bNumquid me vis?
Do you want anything of me?
§119cVt valeas.
That you be well.
§119dVale. — §120Idem míhi magnae quod parti est vitium mulierum §121quae hunc quaestum facimus: quae ubi saburratae sumus, §122largiloquae extemplo sumus, plus loquimur quam sat est.
Farewell. — I have the same fault that belongs to a large part of the women who make this living: when we are filled, we are immediately talkative, we speak more than is enough.
§123nam ego illanc olim, quae hinc flens abiit, parvolam §124puellám proiectam ex angiportu sustuli.
For I once lifted up that girl who just went away weeping from here, when she was a tiny child, cast out in an alley.
§133eam meae ego amicae dono huic meretrici dedi, §134quae saepe mecum mentionem fecerat, §135puerum aut puellam alicunde ut reperirem sibi, §136recens natum, eapse quod sibi supponeret.
I gave her as a gift to my friend, this courtesan, who had often mentioned to me that I should find a newborn boy or girl for her from somewhere, which she herself might substitute as her own.
§137ubi mihi potestas primum evenit, ilico §138feci eius ei quod me oravit copiam.
As soon as the opportunity came to me, immediately I made for her the supply of what she had begged of me.
§139postquam eam puellam á me accepit, ilico §140eandem puellam peperit quam a me acceperat, §141sine obstetricis opera et sine doloribus, §142item ut aliae pariunt, quae malum quaerunt sibi.
After she received that girl from me, immediately she gave birth to the very same girl whom she had received from me, without the help of a midwife and without pains, just as others give birth who seek trouble for themselves.
§143nam amatorem aibat esse peregrinum sibi §144suppositionemque eius facere gratia.
For she said she had a foreign lover and was doing it for the sake of making a substitution for him.
§145id duae nos solae scimus: ego quae illi dedi §146et illa quae a me accepit, praeter vos quidem.
Only we two know this: I who gave her, and she who received her from me, except for you indeed.
§147haec sic res gesta est.
Thus this matter was carried out.
si quid usus venerit, §148meminisse ego hanc rem vos volo.
If any need should arise, I want you to remember this thing.
ego abeo domum. — §149Vtrumque haec, et multiloqua et multibiba, est anus.
I am going off home. — This old woman is both, both talkative and wine-bibbing.
§150satin víx reliquit deo quod loqueretur loci, §151itá properavit de puellae proloqui §152suppositione.
Did she not leave scarcely any space for a god to speak, she so hastened to speak forth about the girl's substitution?
quod si tacuisset, tamen §153ego eram dicturus, deus, qui poteram planius.
But if she had kept silent, still I, a god, was going to speak, who could do so more clearly.
§154nam mihi Auxilio est nomen.
For my name is Auxilium.
nunc operam date, §155ut ego argumentum hoc vobis plane perputem.
Now give your attention, so that I may fully set forth this plot to you.
§156fuere Sicyoni iam diu Dionysia.
There was long ago a festival of Dionysia in Sicyon.
§157mercator venit huc ad ludos Lemnius, §158isque hic compressit virginem, adulescentulus, §159vi, vinulentus multa nocte in via.
A Lemnian merchant came here for the games, and he, as a young man, compressed a maiden here, by force, drunk with wine, late at night in the street.
§160is ubi malam rem scit se meruisse, ilico §161pedibus perfugium peperit, in Lemnum aufugit, §162ubi habitabat tum.
When he knew he had deserved a bad business, immediately he made a refuge with his feet and fled to Lemnos, where he lived then.
ílla quam compresserat §163decumo post mense exacto hic peperit filiam.
She whom he had compressed, after the tenth month was completed, here gave birth to a daughter.
§164quoniam reum eius facti nescit qui siet, §165paternum servom sui participat consili, §166dat eam puellam ei servo exponendam ad necem.
Since she did not know who was the culprit of that deed, she shared her plan with her father's slave, and gave that girl to the slave to be exposed to death.
§167is eam proiecit.
He cast her out.
haec puellam sustulit.
This woman lifted the girl up.
§168ille clam óbservavit servos qui eam proiecerat §169quo aut quas in aedis haec puellam deferat.
That slave who had cast her out secretly observed to what place or into what house this woman carried the girl.
§170ut eampse vos audistis confiterier, §171dat eam puellam meretrici Melaenidi, §172eaque educavit eam sibi pro filia §173bene ac pudice.
As you yourselves heard her confess, she gave that girl to the courtesan Melaenis, and she brought her up for herself as a daughter, well and virtuously.
tum illic autem Lemnius §174propinquam uxorem duxit, cognatam suam.
Then, however, that Lemnian man married a near relation, his cousin.
§175ea diem suom obiit, facta morigera est viro.
She met her day, having been compliant to her husband.
§176postquam ille uxori iusta fecit, ilico §177huc commigravit; duxit uxorem hic sibi §178eandem quam olim virginem hic compresserat, §179et eam cognoscit esse, quam compresserat;
After he performed the funeral rites for his wife, immediately he migrated here; he married a wife here for himself, the very same one whom he had once compressed as a maiden here, and he recognized that she was the one whom he had compressed.
§180illa illi dicit, eius se ex iniuria §181peperisse gnatam átque eam se servo ilico §182dedisse exponendam.
She told him that she had given birth to a daughter from his violence, and that she had immediately given her to a slave to be exposed.
ille extemplo servolum §183iubet illum eundem persequi, si qua queat §184reperire quae sustulerit.
He immediately orders that same slave to track her down, if in any way he can find the woman who lifted her up.
ei rei nunc suam §185operam usque assiduo servos dat, si possiet §186meretricem illam invenire, quam olim tollere, §187cum ipse exponebat, ex insidiis viderat.
For that business now the slave constantly gives his effort, if he might be able to find that courtesan whom he had once seen from ambush lifting her up, when he himself was exposing her.
§188nunc quod relicuom restat volo persolvere, §189ut expungatur nomen, ne quid debeam.
Now I want to pay off what remains left, so that my name may be crossed out, lest I should owe anything.
§190adulescens hic est Sicyoni, ei vivit pater;
There is a young man here in Sicyon; his father is living;

Notes

  1. 118bIstoc — Ablative neuter singular of the demonstrative pronoun istic, functioning here as an ablative of cause, meaning "on that account" (referring to the previously stated facts about the bitterness of love).
  2. 121saburratae sumus — Perfect passive participle of saburro ("to load with ballast"), used metaphorically here in a humorous way to mean "filled with food or drink" (i.e., sated with wine).
  3. 138feci eius ei quod me oravit copiam — The phrase copiam facere ("to provide supply / opportunity") governs the genitive eius, which serves as the antecedent of the relative clause quod me oravit.
  4. 150satin vix — satin is a colloquial contraction of satisne. Literally "is it enough that...?", here used rhetorically and exclamatorily to emphasize "scarcely" with a sense of wonder.
  5. 160pedibus perfugium peperit — Literally "brought forth a refuge with his feet." A comic, exaggerated Plautine idiom utilizing alliteration (p-p-p) to mean "he fled swiftly."
  6. 175diem suom obiit — Literally "met her day," a standard Latin euphemism for dying.
  7. 182servolum illum eundem persequi — An accusative and infinitive (AcI) construction governed by iubet in §183. The subject accusative is servolum illum eundem, and the infinitive is persequi (present active/deponent infinitive of persequor).

Cite this passage

Plautus, Cistellaria §118b-190. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi007.humanitext-lat2:118b-190

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.