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Plautus · Curculio §605-669

Recognition of the Siblings by the Ring and Betrothal

Passage 10 of 11 · Latin

Summary

Through the investigation of the ring, Planesium is revealed to be the long-lost sister of Therapontigone, who was kidnapped in her childhood. Following their joyful reunion, Planesium's betrothal to Phaedromus is agreed upon, along with plans to reclaim the money from the pimp.

§605Quid nunc? obsecro, parentes ne meos mihi prohibeas.
What now? I beseech you, do not keep my parents from me.
§606Quid ego? sub gemmane abstrusos habeo tuam matrem et patrem?
What about me? Do I have your mother and father hidden under a gem?
§607Libera ego sum nata.
I was born free.
§607bEt alii multi qui nunc serviunt.
And many others who are now slaves.
§608Enim vero irascor.
Indeed, I am truly angry.
§608bDixi equidem tibi, unde ad me hic pervenerit.
Indeed, I told you where this came to me from.
§609quotiens dicendum est? elusi militem, inquam, in alea.
How many times must I say it? I won it from the soldier, I say, at dice.
§610Salvos sum, eccum quem quaerebam.
I am saved; look, there is the one I was looking for.
quid agis, bone vir?
What are you doing, my good sir?
§610bAudio.
I hear you.
§611si vis tribus bolis, vel in chlamydem.
If you want, for three throws, even for your cloak.
§611bQuin tu is in malam crucem §612cum bolis, cum bulbis? redde mihi iam argentum aut virginem.
Why don't you go to the bad cross, with your throws and your bulbs? Return to me now my money or the maiden.
§613Quod argentum, quas tu mihi tricas narras? quam tu virginem §614me reposcis?
What money, what nonsense are you telling me? What maiden are you demanding back from me?
§614bQuam ab lenone ábduxti hodie, scelus viri.
The one you carried off today from the pimp, you scoundrel of a man.
§615Nullam abduxi.
I carried off no one.
§615bCerte eccistam video.
Certainly I see her there.
§615cVirgo haec libera est.
This maiden is free.
§616Mean ancilla libera ut sit, quam ego numquam emisi manu?
My maidservant to be free, whom I have never released from my hand?
§617Quis tibi hanc dedit mancipio? aut unde emisti? fac sciam.
Who transferred her to you by mancipium? Or where did you buy her? Let me know.
§618Ego quidem pro istac rem solvi áb trapezita meo.
Indeed, I paid the money for her from my banker.
§619quam ego pecuniam quadruplicem ábs te et lenone auferam.
which money I will recover fourfold from you and the pimp.
§620Qui scis mercari furtivas atque ingenuas virgines, §621ambula in ius.
You who know how to buy stolen and freeborn maidens, walk to court.
§621bNon eo.
I am not going.
§621cLicet antestari?
May I call you to witness?
§621dNon licet.
You may not.
§622Iuppiter te, miles, perdat, intestatus vivito; §623at ego, quem licet, te.
May Jupiter destroy you, soldier; live without witnesses; But I, the one whom I am allowed to call, will summon you.
accede huc.
Come here.
§623bServom antestari?
To call a slave as witness?
§623cVide.
Look.
§624_625em ut scias me liberum esse.
There, so that you may know I am free.
ergo ambula in ius.
Therefore, walk to court.
§624_625bEm tibi.
Take that for yourself.
§626O cives, cives.
O citizens, citizens!
§626bQuid clamas?
Why are you shouting?
§626cQuid tibi istum tactio est?
What business have you touching him?
§627Quia mihi lubitum est.
Because it pleased me.
§627bAccede huc tu, ego illum tibi dedam, tace.
Come here you, I will deliver him to you, be quiet.
§628Phaedrome, obsecro serva me.
Phaedromus, I beseech you, save me.
§628bTamquam me et genium meum.
As I would myself and my own genius.
§629miles, quaeso te ut mihi dicas unde illum habeas anulum, §630quem parasitus hic te elusit.
Soldier, I ask you to tell me where you got that ring, the one this parasite tricked you out of.
§630bPer tua genua te obsecro, §631ut nos facias certiores.
By your knees, I beseech you, to make us more certain.
§631bQuid istuc ad vos attinet?
What does that matter to you?
§632quaeratis chlamydem et machaeram hanc unde ad me pervenerit.
You might as well ask where this cloak and sword came to me from.
§633Vt fastidit gloriosus.
How the braggart sneers.
§633bMitte istum, ego dicam omnia.
Let him go, I will tell everything.
§634Nihil est quod ille dicit.
What he says is nothing.
§634bFac me certiorem, óbsecro.
Make me more certain, I beseech.
§635Ego dícam, surge.
I will tell you, rise.
hanc rem ágite atque animum advórtite.
Attend to this matter and pay attention.
§636pater meus habuit Periplanes †Planesium §637is prius quam moritur mihi dedit tamquam suo, §638ut aequom fuerat, filio.
My father, Periplanes, had it — he, before he died, gave it to me as to his own, son, as was fair.
§638bPro Iuppiter.
By Jupiter!
§639Et istó me heredem fecit.
And by this he made me his heir.
§639bO Pietas mea, §640serva me, quando ego te servavi sedulo.
O my Piety, save me, since I have carefully preserved you.
§641frater mi, salve.
My brother, greetings.
§641bQui credam ego istuc? cedo,
How should I believe that?
§642si vera memoras, quae fuit mater tua?
Tell me, if you speak the truth, who was your mother?
§643Cleobula.
Cleobula.
§643bNutrix quae fuit?
Who was your nurse?
§643cArchestrata.
Archestrata.
§644_645ea me spectatum tulerat per Dionysia.
She had carried me to see the show during the Dionysia.
§646postquam illo ventum est, iam, ut me collocaverat, §647exoritur ventus turbo, spectacla ibi ruont, §648ego pertimesco: ibi mé nescio quis arripit §649timidam atque pavidam, nec vivam nec mortuam.
After we arrived there, just as she had seated me, a whirlwind arose, the spectator seats there collapsed, I became terrified; there someone, I know not who, snatched me up, fearful and trembling, neither alive nor dead.
§650nec quo me pacto abstulerit possum dicere.
Nor can I say in what manner he carried me away.
§651Memini istanc turbam fieri.
I remember that uproar happening.
sed tu dic mihi, §652ubi is est homó qui te surripuit?
But tell me, where is that man who stole you away?
§652bNescio.
I don't know.
§653verum hunc servavi semper mecum una anulum; §654cum hoc olim perii.
But I have always kept this ring with me; with this I was lost once upon a time.
§654bCedo, ut inspiciam.
Give it to me, so I may inspect it.
§654cSanan es, §655quae isti committas?
Are you in your right mind, to entrust it to him?
§655bSine modo.
Just let me.
§655cPro Iuppiter,
By Jupiter!
§656hic est quem egó tibi misi natali die.
This is the one I sent to you on your birthday.
§657tam facile novi quam me.
I recognize it as easily as myself.
salve, mea soror.
Greetings, my sister.
§658Frater mi, salve.
My brother, greetings.
§658bDeos volo bene vortere §659istam rem vobis.
I pray the gods to turn this matter out well for you.
§659bEt ego nobis omnibus: §660tu ut hodie adveniens cenam des sororiam, §661hic nuptialem cras dabit.
And I, for all of us: that you, arriving today, may give a sisterly dinner, and this man will give a wedding one tomorrow.
promittimus.
We promise.
§662Tace tú.
You be quiet.
§662bNon taceo, quando res vortit bene.
I won't be quiet, since things have turned out well.
§663tu istanc desponde huic, miles.
Betroth her to this man, soldier.
ego dotem dabo.
I will give the dowry.
§664Quid dotis?
What dowry?
§664bEgone? ut semper, dum vivat, me alat.
I? That he should support me always, as long as he lives.
§665verum hercle dico.
By Hercules, I am speaking the truth.
§665bMe lubente feceris.
You will do so with my pleasure.
§666sed leno hic debet nobis triginta minas.
But this pimp owes us thirty minae.
§667Quam ob rem istuc?
Why is that?
§667bQuia ille íta repromisit mihi: §668si quisquam hanc liberali asseruisset manu, §669sine controversia omne argentum reddere.
Because he promised me thus: if anyone should claim her as free by legal hand, without controversy to return all the money.

Notes

  1. 616Mean ancilla libera ut sit — Subjunctive of indignation or rejection (independent or standing as an apodosis to an implied exclamation). It expresses strong disbelief and anger: "Is my maidservant to be free?!"
  2. 621cLicet antestari? — A formal procedure of Roman law for summoning a defendant (in ius vocatio). When a defendant refuses to go to court, the plaintiff asks a bystander if they may call them as a witness (antestari) before dragging the defendant away, traditionally touching the bystander's earlobe.
  3. 668liberali asseruisset manu — A legal phrase concerning the Roman lawsuit of claiming someone's freedom (assertio in libertatem). It refers to the action of a third party (vindex) placing a hand on the head of the person claimed as a slave to formally assert their freeborn status.

Cite this passage

Plautus, Curculio §605-669. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi008.humanitext-lat2:605-669

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