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Plautus · Epidicus §567-620

Exposure of the False Daughter and Periphanes' Rage

Passage 10 of 12 · Latin

Summary

Philippa and Acropolistis meet, but Philippa realizes that she is not her biological daughter. Furious upon realizing the deception, Periphanes begins to hunt for Epidicus, who, cornered, starts preparing for his flight.

§567Fac videam, si mea, si salva mihi sit.
Philippa: Let me see, to see if she is mine, if she is safe for me.
§567bEho, istinc, Canthara, §568iube Telestidem huc prodire filiam ante aedis meam,
Periphanes: Ho, Canthara, from there, order my daughter Telestis to come out here before the house, so that she may see her mother.
§569ut suam videat matrem. §569bRemigrat animus nunc demum mihi.
Philippa: Now at last my courage returns to me.
§570Quid est, pater, quod me excivisti ante aedis?
Acropolistis: What is it, father, that you have called me out before the house?
§570bVt matrem tuam §571videas, adeas, advenienti des salutem atque osculum.
Periphanes: So that you may see your mother, approach her, and give a greeting and a kiss to her upon her arrival.
§572Quam meam matrem?
Acropolistis: What mother of mine?
§572bQuae exanimata exsequitur aspectum tuom.
Periphanes: The one who, breathless, follows you with her gaze.
§573Quis istaec est quam tu osculum mihi ferre iubes?
Philippa: Who is that woman whom you order to give me a kiss?
§573bTua filia.
Periphanes: Your daughter.
§574Haecine?
Philippa: This girl?
§574bHaec.
Periphanes: This one.
§574cEgone osculum huic dem?
Philippa: Should I give a kiss to her?
§574dQuor non, quae ex te nata sit?
Periphanes: Why not, since she was born of you?
§575Tú homo insanis.
Philippa: You are mad, man.
§575bEgone?
Periphanes: Me?
§575cTune.
Philippa: Yes, you.
§575dQuor?
Periphanes: Why?
§575eQuia ego hanc quae siet §576neque scio neque novi, neque ego hanc oculis vidi ante hunc diem.
Philippa: Because who this girl is I neither know nor recognize, nor have I seen her with my eyes before today.
§577Scio quid erres: quia vestitum atque ornatum immutabilem §578habet haec, §579aliter catuli longe olent, aliter suis.
Periphanes: I know what your mistake is: because she has a changed dress and attire, this girl, Philippa: Whelps smell very different from pigs.
§580ne ego eam novisse
Indeed, that I should not recognize her...
§580bPro deum atque hominum fidem,
Periphanes: By the faith of gods and men!
§581quid? ego lenocinium facio, quí habeam alienos domi §582atque argentum egurgitem domo prosus? quid tu, quae patrem
What? Am I running a brothel, that I should keep other people's children in my house and pour money out of my house completely?
§583tuom vocas me atque osculare, quid stas stupida? quid taces?
You there, who call me your father and kiss me, why do you stand there dazed? Why are you silent?
§584Quid loquar vis?
Acropolistis: What do you want me to say?
§584bHaec negat se tuam esse matrem.
Periphanes: She denies that she is your mother.
§584cNe fuat, §585si non volt: equidem hac invita támen ero matris filia; §586non med istanc cogere aequom est meam esse matrem, si nevolt.
Acropolistis: Let her not be, if she doesn't want to; for my part, I will still be my mother's daughter despite her objection; it is not fair for me to compel her to be my mother, if she doesn't want to.
§587Cur me igitur patrem vocabas?
Periphanes: Why then were you calling me father?
§587bTua istaec culpast, non mea.
Acropolistis: That is your fault, not mine.
§588non patrem ego te nominem, ubi tu tuam me appellas filiam?
Should I not call you father, when you call me your daughter?
§589hanc quoque etiam, si me appellet filiam, matrem vocem.
This woman too, if she called me daughter, I would call mother.
§590negat haec filiám me suam ésse: non ergo haec mater mea est.
She denies that I am her daughter; therefore she is not my mother.
§591postremo haec mea culpa non est: quae didici dixi omnia; §592Epidicus mihi fuit magister.
Finally, this is not my fault: I said everything that I was taught; Epidicus was my teacher.
§592bPerii, plaustrum perculi.
Periphanes: I am ruined, I've overturned the wagon!
§593Numquid ego ibi, pater, peccavi?
Acropolistis: Did I do anything wrong there, father?
§593bSi hercle te umquam audivero §594me patrem vocare, vitam tuam ego interimam.
Periphanes: By Hercules, if I ever hear you calling me father, I will end your life!
§594bNon voco.
Acropolistis: I won't call you that.
§595ubi voles pater esse, ibi esto; ubi noles, ne fueris pater.
When you want to be a father, be one; when you don't want to, don't be a father.
§596Quid, si ob eam rem hanc emisti, quia tuam gnatam es ratus, §597quibus de signis agnoscebas?
Philippa: What? If you bought her for this reason, because you thought she was your daughter, by what signs did you recognize her?
§597bNullis.
Periphanes: None.
§597cQua re filiam §598credidisti nostram?
Philippa: Why then did you believe she was our daughter?
§598bServos Epidicus dixit mihi.
Periphanes: My slave Epidicus told me.
§599Quid si servo aliter visumst, non poteras novisse, obsecro? †
Philippa: If it seemed otherwise to the slave, couldn't you have recognized her yourself, I beg you?
§600Quid ego, qui illam ut primum vidi, numquam vidi postea?
Periphanes: How could I, who, once I saw her at her birth, never saw her afterwards?
§601Perii misera.
Philippa: I am ruined, wretched me!
§601bNe fle, mulier.
Periphanes: Don't weep, woman.
intro abi, habe animum bonum; §602ego illam reperiam.
Go inside, have good courage; I will find her.
§602bHinc Athenis civis eam émit Atticus: §603adulescentem equidem dicebant emisse.
Philippa: An Athenian citizen from Athens bought her here; indeed they were saying that a young man had bought her.
§603bInveniam, tace.
Periphanes: I will find her, be quiet.
§604abi modo intro atque hanc asserva Circam Solis filiam.
Just go inside and keep guard over this Circe, the daughter of the Sun.
§605ego relictis rebus Epidicum operam quaerendo dabo: §606si invenio, exitiabilem égo illi faciam hunc ut fiat diem.
Leaving everything else aside, I will devote my effort to searching for Epidicus; if I find him, I will make this day become fatal for him.
§607Male morigerus mi est danista, qui a me argentum non petit §608neque illam adducit quae empta ex praedast.
Stratippocles: The money-lender is being unhelpful to me, in not asking me for the money nor bringing her who was bought from the booty.
séd eccum incedit Epidicus.
But look, there goes Epidicus.
§609quid illuc est quod illí caperrat frons severitudine?
What is it, that his brow is wrinkled with severity?
§610Si undecim deos praeter sese secum adducat Iuppiter, §611ita non omnes ex cruciatu poterunt eximere Epidicum.
Epidicus: If Jupiter should bring eleven gods with him besides himself, even so they all will not be able to rescue Epidicus from torture.
§612Periphanem emere lora vidi, ibi aderat una Apoecides; §613nunc homines me quaeritare credo.
I saw Periphanes buying leather straps, and Apoecides was there with him; now I believe they are searching for me.
senserunt, sciunt §614sibi data esse verba.
They've realized, they know that they have been deceived.
§614bQuíd agis, mea commoditas?
Stratippocles: What are you doing, my helper?
§614cQuod miser.
Epidicus: What a wretched man does.
§615Quid est tibi?
Stratippocles: What's the matter with you?
§615bQuin tu mi adornas ad fugam viaticum,
Epidicus: Why don't you prepare the travel money for my flight, before I perish?
§616prius quam pereo? nam per urbem duo defloccati senes §617quaeritant me, in manibus gestant copulas secum simul.
For through the city two threadbare old men are searching for me, carrying shackles in their hands at the same time.
§618Habe bonum animum.
Stratippocles: Have good courage.
§618bQuippe ego quoi libertas in mundo sitast.
Epidicus: Of course, I for whom freedom is placed in the next world!
§619Ego te servabo.
Stratippocles: I will save you.
§619bEdepol me illi melius, si nacti fuant.
Epidicus: By Pollux, they will save me better, if they catch me.
§620sed quis haec ést muliercula et ille gravastellus qui venit?
But who is this young woman and that greyish old man who are coming?

Notes

  1. 567Fac videam — The imperative fac followed by the subjunctive videam without ut, meaning "let me see" or "make it so that I see."
  2. 580ne — Not the negative adverb nē, but the emphatic particle nae (or ne) meaning "indeed" or "truly," which introduces the unfinished infinitive clause.
  3. 581qui habeam — A relative clause referring to the subject ego, using the subjunctive habeam to express cause or characteristic ("since I have" or "that I should have").
  4. 584cfuat — An archaic form of the third-person singular present subjunctive of esse (corresponding to classical sit), used here as an optative subjunctive ("let it not be").
  5. 614sibi data esse verba — The accusative and infinitive passive of the idiom verba dare (to deceive, trick), meaning here "that they have been deceived" (literally, "words have been given to them").

Cite this passage

Plautus, Epidicus §567-620. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi009.humanitext-lat2:567-620

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