Humanitext Reader

Plautus · Mercator §713-784

Demipho's Excuse and the Cook's Exposure

Passage 12 of 16 · Latin

Summary

Demipho tries to make excuses to his wife Dorippa about the woman in the house but finds himself at a loss for words. Soon after, the cook he hired arrives and inadvertently exposes Demipho's complaints about his wife and his passion for his mistress, further provoking Dorippa's anger.

§713iubet salvere suos vir uxorem suam.
Demipho: A husband bids his wife good day.
§714urbani fiunt rustici?
Dorippa: Do city folk become country folk?
§714bPudicius §715faciunt, quam ílli qui non fiunt rustici.
Demipho: They act more modestly than those who do not become country folk.
§716Num quid delinquont rustici?
Dorippa: Do country folk do anything wrong?
§716bEcastor minus §717quam urbani, et multo minus mali quaerunt sibi.
Demipho: By Castor, less than city folk, and they seek much less trouble for themselves.
§718Quid autem urbani deliquerunt? dic mihi,
Dorippa: But what have city folk done wrong?
§721cupio hercle scire.
Tell me, by Hercules, I desire to know.
§721bSed tu me temptas sciens.
Demipho: But you are testing me knowingly.
§719quoia illa mulier intust?
Dorippa: Whose woman is that inside?
§719bVidistine eam?
Demipho: Did you see her?
§720Vidi.
Dorippa: I saw her.
§720bQuoia ea sit rogitas?
Demipho: You ask whose she is?
§720cResciscam tamen.
Dorippa: I will find out anyway.
§722Vin dicam quoiast? illa—illa edepol—vae mihi,
Demipho: Do you want me to tell you whose she is?
§723nescio quid dicam.
She... she, by Pollux... woe to me, I don't know what to say.
§723bHaeres.
Dorippa: You are stuck.
§723cHaud vidi magis.
Demipho: I've never seen anyone more so.
§724Quin dicis?
Dorippa: Why don't you say?
§724bQuin si liceat— §724cDictum oportuit.
Demipho: Why, if I were allowed— Dorippa: You ought to have said it already.
§725Non possum, ita instas; urges quasi pro noxio.
Demipho: I cannot, you press me so; you urge me as if against a guilty man.
§726Scio, innóxiu's.
Dorippa: I know, you are innocent.
§726bAudacter quam vis dicito.
Demipho: Speak as boldly as you please.
§727Dic igitur.
Dorippa: Tell me then.
§727bDicam.
Demipho: I will tell.
§727cAt qui dicundum est tamen.
Dorippa: But still, it must be told.
§728Illast—etiam vis nomen dicam?
Demipho: She is... do you also want me to say her name?
§728bNihil agis, §729manufesto teneo in noxia.
Dorippa: You are accomplishing nothing; I hold you in manifest guilt.
§729bQua noxia?
Demipho: What guilt?
§730ista quidem illa est.
She is indeed that one.
§730bQuae illa est?
Dorippa: Who is that one?
§730cIlla—
Demipho: That...
§730d†Iohia §731Iam—si nihil usus esset, iam non dicerem.
†Iohia† Now—if there were no use, I would not say.
§732_735Non tu scis quae sit illa?
Don't you know who she is?
§732_735bImmo iam scio:
Dorippa: On the contrary, now I know.
§736de istac sum iudex captus.
Demipho: I have been chosen as an arbitrator concerning her.
§736bIudex? iam scio:
Dorippa: An arbitrator?
§737nunc tu in consilium istam advocavisti tibi.
Now I know: now you have called her into consultation with you.
§738Immo sic: séquestro mihi datast.
Demipho: No, like this: she was given to me as a deposit in trust.
§738bIntellego.
Dorippa: I understand.
§739Nihil hercle istius quicquam est.
Demipho: By Hercules, there is nothing of that sort at all.
§739bNumero purigas.
Dorippa: You clear yourself too quickly.
§740Nimium negoti repperi.
Demipho: I have found too much trouble.
enim vero haereo.
Truly, I am stuck.
§741Agite ite actutum, nam mi amatori seni §742coquendast cena.
Cook: Come, go quickly, for a dinner must be cooked for that old lover of mine.
átque, quom recogito, §743nobis coquendast, non quoi conducti sumus.
And, when I think about it, it must be cooked for us, not for him by whom we were hired.
§744nam quí amat quod amat sí habet, id habet pro cibo: §745videre, amplecti, ósculari, álloqui; §746sed nos confido onustos redituros domum.
For he who loves, if he has what he loves, holds that as food: to see, to embrace, to kiss, to talk; but I am confident that we shall return home heavily laden.
§747ite hac.
Go this way.
sed eccum qui nos conduxit senex.
But look, there is the old man who hired us.
§748Ecce autem perii, coquos adest.
Demipho: But look, I am ruined, the cook is here.
§748bAdvenimus.
Cook: We have arrived.
§749Abi.
Demipho: Go away.
§749bQuid, abeam?
Cook: What, I should go away?
§749cSt, abi.
Demipho: Sh, go away.
§749dAbeam?
Cook: Go away?
§749eAbi.
Demipho: Go away.
§750Non estis cenaturi?
Cook: Aren't you going to dine?
§750bIam saturi sumus.
Demipho: We are already full.
§751Sed— §751bIntérii.
Cook: But— Demipho: I am dead.
§751cQuid ais tu? etiamne haec illi tibi
Cook: What are you saying?
§752iusserunt ferri, quos inter iudex datu's?
Did those, between whom you were appointed arbitrator, also order these things to be carried to them?
§753Haecin tua est amica, quam dudum mihi §754te amare dixti, quom obsonabas?
Cook: Is this your mistress, whom you told me just now you loved, when you were marketing?
§754bNon taces?
Demipho: Won't you be silent?
§755Satis scítum filum mulieris.
Cook: Quite a pretty figure of a woman.
verum hercle anet.
But, by Hercules, she is old.
§756Abin díerectus?
Demipho: Go to the gallows, won't you?
§756bHaud malast.
Cook: She's not bad.
§756cAt tu malu's.
Demipho: But you are bad.
§757Scitam hercle opinor concubinam hanc.
Cook: By Hercules, I think this is a pretty mistress.
§757bNon abis?
Demipho: Won't you go away?
§758non ego sum qui te dudum conduxi.
I am not the one who hired you just now.
§758bQuid est?
Cook: What?
§759immo hercle tu istic ipsus.
On the contrary, by Hercules, you are the very man.
§759bVae misero mihi.
Demipho: Woe to miserable me.
§760Nempe uxor rurist tua, quam dudum dixeras §761te odisse aeque atque anguis.
Cook: To be sure, your wife is in the country, the one you said just now you hated as much as a snake.
§761bEgone istuc dixi tibi?
Demipho: Did I say that to you?
§762Mihi quidem hercle.
Cook: To me, indeed, by Hercules.
§762bIta me amabit Iuppiter, §763uxor, ut ego illud numquam dixi.
Demipho: So may Jupiter love me, wife, I never said that.
§763bEtiam negas?
Dorippa: Do you still deny it?
§764palam istaec fiunt, te me odisse.
These things are made open, that you hate me.
§764bQuin nego.
Demipho: But I deny it.
§765Non, non te odisse aiebat, sed uxorem suam; §766et uxórem suam ruri esse aiebat.
Cook: No, he didn't say he hated you, but his wife; and he said his wife was in the country.
§766bHaec east.
Dorippa: This is she.
§767quid mihi molestu's?
Demipho: Why are you troublesome to me?
§767bQuia novisse me negas; §768nisi metuis tu istanc.
Cook: Because you deny that you know me; unless you fear that woman there.
§768bSapio, nam mihi unicast.
Demipho: I am wise, for she is my only one.
§769Vin me experiri?
Cook: Do you want me to test it?
§769bNolo.
Demipho: I do not.
§769cMercedem cedo.
Cook: Give me my pay then.
§770Cras petito; dabitur.
Demipho: Ask for it tomorrow; it will be given.
nunc abi.
Now go away.
§770bHeu miserae mihi.
Dorippa: Woe to miserable me.
§771Nunc ego verum illud verbum esse experior vetus: §772aliquid mali esse propter vicinum malum.
Demipho: Now I experience that that old proverb is true: that some evil exists because of a bad neighbor.
§773Cur hic astamus? quin abimus? incommodi
Cook: Why are we standing here? Why don't we go away?
§774si quid tibi evénit, id non est culpa mea.
If any inconvenience has come to you, it is not my fault.
§775Quin me eradicas miserum.
Demipho: Why don't you completely ruin wretched me?
§775bScio iam quid velis: §776nempe me hínc abire vis.
Cook: I know now what you want: surely you want me to go away from here.
§776bVolo inquam.
Demipho: I do, I say.
§776cAbibitur.
Cook: I will go.
§777drachmam dato.
Give me a drachma.
§777bDabitur.
Demipho: It will be given.
§777cDari ergo sis iube.
Cook: Order it to be given then, if you please.
§778dari pótest interea dum illi ponunt.
It can be given while they are putting these down.
§778bQuin abis?
Demipho: Why don't you go away?
§779potine ut molestus ne sis?
Can't you stop being troublesome?
§779bAgite apponite §780obsonium istuc ante pedes illi seni.
Cook: Come, put down that food before the feet of that old man.
§781haec vasa aut mox aut cras iubebo abs te peti
I will order these vessels to be fetched from you either soon or tomorrow.
§782sequimíni.
Follow me.
§782bFortasse te illum mirari coquom,
Demipho: Perhaps you wonder at that cook, that he came and brought these things.
§783quod venit atque haec attulit. dicam quid est.
I will tell you what it is.
§784Non miror si quid damni facis aut flagiti.
Dorippa: I do not wonder if you do anything of damage or of disgrace.

Notes

  1. 713iubet salvere suos vir uxorem suam — By using the third-person 'vir uxorem suam' instead of direct pronouns, Demipho adopts a detached, objective tone, attempting to greet his angry wife with awkward formality.
  2. 723cHaud vidi magis — A verb such as 'haerere' (to stick, be at a loss) is elliptically omitted after 'magis'; the phrase means 'I have never seen anyone more stuck.'
  3. 739bNumero — In archaic Latin, especially in comedy, 'numero' is used adverbially to mean 'too quickly' or 'too soon,' carrying a sarcastic nuance regarding the speed of the explanation.
  4. 751cquos inter iudex datu's — There is an anastrophe where the preposition 'inter' is placed after its relative pronoun 'quos'. Also, 'datu's' is a contracted form of 'datus es'.

Cite this passage

Plautus, Mercator §713-784. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi011.humanitext-lat2:713-784

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