§208si illam matri meae me emisse dicam; post autem mihi §209scelus videtur, me parenti proloqui mendacium.
If I should say to my father that I bought her for my mother; but then to me it seems a crime to tell a lie to my parent.
Neither will he believe it, nor is it credible that a woman of exceptional beauty, that I bought her as a maidservant for my mother.
§211bNon taces, stultissime?
Won't you be silent, you fool?
§212credet hercle, nam credebat iam mihi.
By Hercules, he will believe it, for he was already believing me.
Wretched me, I fear lest a suspicion should seize my father, how the matter was carried out.
§214hoc quod te rogo responde quaeso.
Answer this, please, which I ask you.
§214bQuaeso quid rogas?
Please, what do you ask?
§215Num esse amicam suspicari visus est?
Did he seem to suspect that she is my mistress?
§215bNon visus est.
He did not seem to.
§216quin quicque ut dicebam mihi credebat.
Indeed, whatever I said, he was believing me.
§217bNon, sed credebat.
No, but he was believing.
§217cVae mihi misero, nullus sum.
Woe to miserable me, I am nothing.
§218sed quid ego hic in lamentando pereo, ad navem non eo?
But why do I perish here in lamenting, and do not go to the ship?
§219sequere.
Follow.
§219bSi istac ibis, commodum obviam venies patri; §220postea aspiciet te timidum esse atque exanimatum: ilico §221retinebit, rogitabit unde illam emeris, quanti emeris: §222timidum temptabit te.
If you go that way, you will come right to meet your father; afterward, he will see that you are fearful and breathless: immediately he will hold you back, he will ask where you bought her, for how much you bought her: he will test you, fearful as you are.
§222bHac ibo potius.
I will go this way instead.
iam censes patrem §223abiisse a portu?
Do you think my father has already departed from the harbor?
Why, I ran ahead here for that very reason, lest he should catch you off guard and extort the truth from you.
Very well.— In wondrous ways the gods make sport of men, and in wondrous fashions they give dreams in sleep.
§226mirisque exemplis somnia in somnis danunt. §227velut ego nocte hac quae praeteriit proxuma §228in somnis egi satis et fui homo exercitus.
As I, on this night which has just passed, in my sleep did enough and was a hard-pressed man.
§229mercari visus mihi sum formosam capram; §230ei ne noceret quam domi ante habui capram §231neu discordarent, si ambae in uno essent loco, §232posterius quam mercatus fueram, visus sum §233in custodelam simiae concredere.
I seemed to myself to buy a beautiful she-goat; lest the she-goat which I had at home before should harm her, or lest they should disagree if both were in one place, after I had bought her, I seemed to entrust her to the custody of an ape.
§234ea simia adeo post haud multo ad me venit, §235male mihi precatur et facit convicium: §236ait sése illius opera atque adventu caprae §237flagitium et damnum fecisse haud mediocriter; §238dicit capram, quam dederam servandam sibi, §239suaé uxoris dotem ambedisse oppido.
That ape came to me not long afterward, cursed me and made abuse: he said that by the action and arrival of that she-goat he had incurred disgrace and damage in no small measure; he said that the she-goat, which I had given to him to keep, had completely eaten away his wife's dowry.
That seemed strange to me, how that single she-goat had eaten away the dowry of the ape's wife.
§242instare factum simia, atque hoc denique §243respondet, ni properem illam ab sese abducere, §244ad me domum intro ad uxórem ducturum meam.
The ape insisted on the fact, and finally answered this, that unless I hurried to lead her away from him, he would lead her into my house to my wife.
§245atque oppido hercle bene velle illi visus sum, §246ast non habere cui commendarem capram; §247quo magis quid facerem cura cruciabar miser.
And indeed, by Hercules, I seemed to wish her very well, but not to have anyone to whom I might commend the she-goat; by which the more I, wretched man, was tormented by anxiety as to what I should do.
§248interea ad me haedus visust adgredirier, §249infit mihi praedicare, sese ab simia §250capram abduxisse, et coepit inridere me; §251ego énim lugere atque abductam illam aegre pati.
Meanwhile, a kid seemed to approach me, began to declare to me that he from the ape had led away the she-goat, and began to mock me; whereas I was mourning and taking her abduction hard.
§252hoc quam ad rem credam pertinere somnium, §253nequeo invenire; nisi capram illam suspicor §254iam me invenisse quae sit aut quid voluerit.
To what matter I should believe this dream to belong, I cannot find out; except that I suspect that she-goat I have already found who she is or what she wanted to mean.
§255ad portum hinc abii mane cum luci simul; §256postquam id quod volui transegi, atque ego conspicor §257navem ex Rhodo quast héri advectus filius; §258conlibitumst illuc mihi nescio qui visere: §259inscendo in lembum átque ad navem devehor.
I went from here to the harbor early, together with the light; after I dispatched what I wanted, then I espied the ship from Rhodes in which my son was brought yesterday; it pleased me, I know not why, to go and see there: I boarded a boat and was carried to the ship.
And there I saw a woman of exceptional beauty, whom my son brought as a maidservant for his mother.
§262quam ego postquam aspexi, non ita amo ut sani solent §263homines, sed eodem pacto ut insani solent.
Whom after I looked upon, I do not love as sane men are wont to do, but in the same manner as insane men are wont to.
§264amavi hercle equidem ego olim in adulescentia, §265verum ad hoc exemplum numquam, ut nunc insanio.
By Hercules, indeed I loved once in my youth, but never to this pattern, as I am insane now.
One thing indeed, by Hercules, I now know, that I am ruined; as for the rest, see for yourselves what I am worth.
§268nunc hoc profecto sic est: haec illast capra; §269verum hercle simia illa atque haedus mihi malum §270adportant, atque eos esse quos dicam hau scio.
Now this is surely so: this is that she-goat; but indeed, by Hercules, that ape and the kid bring evil to me, and who they are to say, I do not know.
§271sed conticiscam, nam eccum it vicinus foras.
But I will be silent, for look, the neighbor is coming out.
Indeed, I want that he-goat to be castrated, who causes trouble for you in the country.
§274Nec omen illud mihi nec auspicium placet.
Neither that omen nor that auspice pleases me.
§275quasi hircum metuo ne uxor me castret mea.
Like the he-goat, I fear lest my wife castrate me.