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Plautus · Menaechmi §628-679

Menaechmus's Confession and Exile from Home

Passage 10 of 18 · Latin

Summary

Menaechmus is fiercely interrogated by his wife and Peniculus about the stolen mantle, and he eventually admits that he only lent it to Erotium. Locked out of his house by his angry wife until he returns the mantle, Menaechmus visits Erotium to ask for it back.

§628Sic datur.
Serves you right.
properato absente me comesse prandium, §629post ante aedis cum corona me derideto ebrius.
Since you ate up the lunch in a hurry while I was absent, now go on and deride me, drunk, with a flower garland in front of the house.
§630Neque edepol ego prandi neque hodie huc intro tetuli pedem.
By Pollux, I have neither had lunch nor have I set foot inside this house today.
§631Tun negas?
Do you deny it?
§631bNego hercle vero.
By Hercules, indeed I deny it.
§631cNihil hoc homine audacius.
Nothing is more shameless than this man.
§632non ego te modo hic ante aedis cum corona florea
Did I not see you just now standing here in front of the house with a flower garland?
§633vidi astare? quom negabas mi esse sanum sinciput, §634et negabas me novisse, peregrinum aibas esse te?
When you were denying to me that your mind was sound, and denying that you knew me, saying that you were a stranger?
§635Quin ut dudum divorti abs te, redeo nunc demum domum.
On the contrary, as soon as I parted from you a while ago, I am only now returning home.
§636Novi ego te.
I know you.
non mihi censebas esse, qui te ulciscerer.
Did you think that there was no one for me to take revenge on you?
§637omnia hercle uxori dixi.
By Hercules, I have told everything to your wife.
§637bQuid dixisti?
What did you tell her?
§637cNescio, §638eam ipsus roga.
I don't know, ask her yourself.
§638bQuid hoc est, uxor? quidnam hic narravit tibi?
What is this, wife? What on earth did he tell you?
§639quid id est? quid taces? quin dicis quid sit?
What is it? Why are you silent? Why don't you say what it is?
§639bQuasi tu nescias.
As if you did not know.
§640Me rogas?
Are you asking me?
§640bPol haud rogem te, si sciam.
By Pollux, I would not ask you if I knew.
§640cO hominem malum, §641ut dissimulat.
O, what a bad man, how he dissembles.
non potes celare: rem novit probe.
You cannot hide it: she knows the matter very well.
§642omnia hercle ego edictavi.
By Hercules, I have declared everything.
§642bQuid id est?
What is it?
§642cQuando nil pudet §643neque vis tua voluntate ipse profiteri, audi atque ades.
Since you have no shame at all, nor do you wish to confess of your own accord, listen and pay attention.
§644et quid tristis sim et quid hic mihi dixerit, faxo scias.
Why I am sad and what this man told me, I will make you know.
§645palla mi est domo surrupta.
A mantle was stolen from me from the house.
§645bPalla surruptast mihi?
A mantle was stolen from me?
§646Viden ut te scelestus captat? huic surruptast, non tibi.
Do you see how the rogue is trying to catch you? It was stolen from her, not from you.
§647nam profecto tibi surrupta si esset—salva non foret.
For indeed, if it had been stolen from you—it would not be safe.
§648Nil mihi tecum est.
I have nothing to do with you.
sed tu quid ais?
But what do you say, wife?
§648bPalla, inquam, periit domo.
The mantle, I say, is lost from the house.
§649Quis eam surrupuit?
Who stole it?
§649bPol istuc ille scit qui illam abstulit.
By Pollux, he knows that who took it away.
§650Quis is homo est?
Who is that man?
§650bMenaechmus quidam.
A certain Menaechmus.
§650cEdepol factum nequiter.
By Pollux, a worthless deed.
§651quis is Menaechmust?
Who is that Menaechmus?
§651bTu istic, inquam.
You there, I say.
§651cEgone?
I?
You.
§651eQuis arguit?
Who accuses me?
§652Egomet.
I myself.
§652bEt ego.
And I too.
atque huic amicae detulisti Erotio.
And you brought it to your mistress Erotium here.
§653Egon dedi?
Did I give it?
§653bTu, tu istic, inquam.
You, you there, I say.
vin adferri noctuam, §654quae tu tu usque dicat tibi? nam nos iam defessi sumus.
Do you want an owl to be brought, which might keep saying 'tu, tu' to you? For we are already tired out.
§657Sed ego illam non condonavi, sed sic utendam dedi.
But I did not make a gift of it, but gave it to her thus to use.
§658Equidem ecastor tuam nec chlamydem do foras nec pallium §659cuiquam utendum.
Indeed, by Castor, I do not give out either your cloak or your mantle to anyone to use.
mulierem aequom est vestimentum muliebre §660dare foras, virum virile.
It is proper for a woman to give out woman's clothing, and a man man's.
quin refers pallam domum?
Why don't you bring the mantle back home?
§661Ego faxo referetur.
I will see to it that it is brought back.
§661bEx re tua, ut opinor, feceris; §662nam domum numquam introibis, nisi feres pallam simul.
You will have done it for your own benefit, I think; for you shall never enter the house unless you bring the mantle with you.
§663eo domum.
I am going inside.
§663bQuid mihi futurum est, qui tibi hanc operam dedi?
What will become of me, who gave you this assistance?
§664Opera reddetur, quando quid tibi erit surruptum domo.
Assistance will be returned to you when something is stolen from your house.
§665Id quidem edepol numquam erit, nam nihil est quod perdam domi.
By Pollux, that indeed will never be, for there is nothing for me to lose at home.
§666cum viro cum uxore di vos perdant.
May the gods destroy both of you, husband and wife.
properabo ad forum, §667nam ex hac familia me plane éxcidisse intellego.
I will hasten to the forum, for I understand that I am completely cut off from this family.
§668Male mi uxor sese fecisse censet, quom exclusit foras; §669quasi non habeam, quo intromittar, alium meliorem locum.
My wife thinks she has done badly to me when she shut me out; as if I did not have another, better place to be let in.
§670si tibi displiceo, patiundum: at placuero huic Erotio, §671quae me non excludet ab se, sed apud se occludet domi.
If I displease you, I must endure it; but I will have pleased this Erotium, who will not shut me out from her, but will shut me in at her house.
§672nunc ibo, orabo ut mihi pallam reddat, quam dudum dedi; §673aliam illi redimam meliorem.
Now I will go, I will ask her to return the mantle to me which I gave her just now; I will buy another, better one for her.
heus, ecquis hic est ianitor?
Hey, is there any doorkeeper here?
§674aperite atque Erotium aliquis evocate ante ostium.
Open up, and let someone call Erotium out before the door.
§675Quis hic me quaerit?
Who is looking for me here?
§675bSibi inimicus magis quam aétati tuae.
An enemy to himself more than to your youth.
§676Mi Menaechme, cur ante aedis astas? sequere intro.
My Menaechmus, why do you stand before the house? Follow me inside.
§676bMane.
Wait.
§677scin quid est quod ego ad te venio?
Do you know what is the reason I come to you?
§677bScio, ut tibi ex me sit volup.
I know, so that you may have pleasure from me.
§678Immo edepol pallam illam, amabo te, quam tibi dudum dedi, §679mihi eam redde.
On the contrary, by Pollux, that mantle, please, which I gave you just now, return it to me.
uxor rescivit rem omnem, ut factum est, ordine.
My wife found out the whole matter, as it happened, in detail.

Notes

  1. 628properato — Derived from the neuter singular ablative of the perfect participle of the verb properare (to hasten), functioning adverbially to mean 'in a hurry' or 'hastily'.
  2. 636qui te ulciscerer — A relative clause introduced by the relative pronoun qui with the imperfect subjunctive ulciscerer (from ulciscor), carrying a nuance of characteristic or purpose: '(Did you think that there was no one) for me to take revenge on you'.
  3. 640bPol haud rogem te, si sciam — A conditional sentence using the present subjunctive (rogem... si sciam). While classical Latin standardly uses the imperfect subjunctive for present contrary-to-fact conditions, early Latin (such as Plautus) frequently employs the present subjunctive for this purpose ('I would not ask you, if I knew').
  4. 644faxo scias — The form faxo is an archaic future perfect of facio, expressing a confident future determination ('I will make sure'). It is followed by the present subjunctive scias as a noun clause with ut omitted, functioning as 'I will see to it that you know' or 'I will let you know'.
  5. 653bnoctuam — A humorous pun characteristic of Plautus, where the hooting sound of an owl (noctua), represented as 'tu tu', is equated with the repetition of the second-person singular pronoun tu ('you, you').
  6. 657utendam — The feminine accusative singular gerundive of the deponent verb utor (to use). Used here with a transitive force, it modifies the direct object illam (the mantle) of the verb dedi (I gave) to express purpose: 'gave it to her to use' (i.e., as a loan).

Cite this passage

Plautus, Menaechmi §628-679. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi010.humanitext-lat2:628-679

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