§646Megares, Eretriam, Corinthum, Chalcidem, Cretam, Cyprum, §647Sicyonem, Cnidum, Zacynthum, Lesbiam, Boeotiam.
To Megara, Eretria, Corinth, Chalcis, Crete, Cyprus, Sicyon, Cnidus, Zacynthus, Lesbos, Boeotia.
§648Cur istuc coeptas consilium?
Why do you begin such a plan?
§648bQuia enim me adflictat amor.
Because indeed love afflicts me.
§649Quid tu ais? quid cum illuc, quo nunc ire paritas, veneris, §650sí ibi amare forte occipias atque item eius sit inopia, §651iam inde porro aufugies, deinde item illinc, sí item evenerit?
What do you say? When you arrive there, where you are now preparing to go, if by chance you begin to love there and likewise there is a lack of her, will you then run away further from there, and then likewise from there, if the same should happen?
§652quis modus tibi exílio tandem eveniet, qui finis fugae?
What limit, pray, will there ever be to your exile, what end to your flight?
§653quae patria aut domus tibi stabilis esse poterit? dic mihi.
What homeland or house can be stable for you? Tell me.
§654cedo, si hac urbe abis, amorem te hic relicturum putas?
Come, if you depart from this city, do you think you will leave love behind here?
§655si id fore ita sat animo acceptum est, certum id, pro certo si habes, §656quanto te satiust rus aliquo abire, ibi esse, ibi vivere §657adeo dum illius te cupiditas atque amor missum facit?
If that is sufficiently accepted in your mind, if it is certain, if you hold it for certain, how much better is it for you to go away to some countryside, to be there, to live there, until indeed your desire and love for her lets you go?
§658Iam dixisti?
Have you spoken now?
§658bDixi.
I have spoken.
§658cFrustra dixti.
You have spoken in vain.
hoc mihi certissumumst.
This is most certain to me.
§659eo domum, patrem atque matrem ut meos salutem, postea §660clam patrem patria hac effugiam, aut aliquid capiam consili. —
I am going home to greet my father and mother, and afterwards, secretly from my father, I will flee from this country, or I will take some counsel.
§661Vt corripuit se repente atque abiit.
How suddenly he pulled himself away and departed.
heu misero mihi, §662si ille abierit, mea factum omnes dicent esse ignavia.
Alas, wretched me, if he departs, everyone will say it was done by my negligence.
It is certain that I will now order as many town criers to be hired as possible, to track her down and find her.
post ad praetorem ilico §665ibo, orabo, ut conquaestores det mi in vicis omnibus; §666nam mihi nil relicti quicquam áliud iam esse intellego. —
Afterwards, I will go immediately to the praetor, I will beg him to give me searchers in all the streets; for I understand that nothing else is now left for me.
§667Quoniam a viro ad me rus advenit nuntius, §668rus non iturum, feci ego ingenium meum, §669reveni, ut illum persequar qui me fugit.
Since a messenger came to me in the country from my husband, saying he would not go to the country, I showed my character, and I returned to pursue him who flees from me.
§670sed anum non video consequi nostram Syram.
But I do not see our old woman Syra following.
§671atque eccam incedit tandem.
Oh, there she comes at last.
quin is ocius?
Why don't you walk faster?
§672nequeo mecastor, tantum hoc onerist quod fero.
By Castor, I cannot, so great is this burden that I carry.
§673Quid oneris?
What burden?
§673bAnnos octoginta et quattuor; §674et eodem accedit servitus, sudor, sitis: §675simul haec quae porto deprimunt.
Eighty-four years; and to the same is added slavery, sweat, thirst: at the same time, these things which I carry weigh me down.
Give me something, so that I may adorn this altar of our neighbor.
§677da sane hanc virgam lauri.
Give me that branch of laurel.
abi tu intro.
Go inside.
§677bEo. —
I am going.
§678Apollo, quaeso te, ut des pacem propitius, §679salutem et sanitatem nostrae familiae, §680meoque ut parcas gnato pace propitius.
Apollo, I pray to you that you may favorably grant peace, safety and health to our household, and that you may favorably spare my son in peace.
§681Disperii, perii misera, vae miserae mihi.
I am undone, I have perished in misery, woe to miserable me.
§682Satin tu sana es, obsecro? quid eiulas?
Are you quite sane, I beseech you? Why do you wail?
§683Dorippa, mea Dorippa.
Dorippa, my Dorippa.
§683bQuid clamas, obsecro?
Why do you cry out, I beseech you?
§684Nescio quaest mulier intus hic in aedibus.
There is some woman inside here in the house.
§685Quid, mulier?
What, a woman?
§685bMulier meretrix.
A courtesan woman.
§685cVeron serio?
Are you speaking in earnest?
§686Nimium scis sapere, ruri quae non manseris.
You know too much, since you did not remain in the country.
Any foolish person could have perceived that she is the mistress of your most handsome husband.
§689Credo mecastor.
I believe it, by Castor.
Go this way with me, so that you may see at the same time your rival Alcumena, my Juno.
§691Ecastor vero istuc eo quantum potest. —
By Castor indeed, I am going there as fast as possible.
Is it too little of a bad thing that Demipho is in love, unless he should also be extravagant besides?
If he had invited ten of the highest men to dinner, he has marketed too much.
But the cook, just as on the sea the coxswain is accustomed to urge on the rowers, so was he urging them on.
egomet conduxi coquom.
I myself hired the cook.
§698sed eum demiror non venire, ut iusseram.
But I wonder that he does not come, as I had ordered.
§699sed quinam hinc a nobis exit? aperitur foris.
But who is this coming out from our house? The door is opening.
No more miserable woman than I will ever be, nor has been, to have married such a husband.
heu miserae mihi.
Alas, miserable me.
§702em quoi te et tua, quae tu habeas, commendes viro, §703em quoi decem talenta dotis detuli, §704haec ut viderem, ut ferrem has contumelias.
Behold the husband to whom you would commend yourself and your possessions, behold the one to whom I brought ten talents of dowry, that I might see these things, that I might bear these insults.
I am ruined, by Hercules, my wife has already returned from the country: I believe she has seen the woman in the house.
§707sed quae loquatur exaudire hinc non queo.
But I cannot hear from here what she is saying.
§708accedam propius.
I will go closer.
§708bVae miserae mi.
Woe to miserable me.
§708cImmo mihi.
Rather to me.
§709Disperii.
I am undone.
§709bEquidem hercle oppido perii miser.
Indeed, by Hercules, miserable I have utterly perished.
§710vidit.
She has seen her.
ut te omnes, Demipho, di perduint.
Demipho, may all the gods ruin you.
§711Pol hoc est, ire quod rus meus vir noluit.
By Pollux, this is why my husband did not want to go to the country.
§712Quid nunc ego faciam nisi uti ádeam atque adloquar?
What shall I do now except go to her and speak to her?