Dorippa: By Pollux, I will not endure that I should be so badly married, or that prostitutes should be brought into my house in this manner.
Syra, go, ask my father on my behalf to come to me now along with you.
§788bEo. —
Syra: I am going.
§789Nescis negoti quid sit, uxor, obsecro.
Lysimachus: I beg you, wife, you do not know what the matter is.
I will now take an oath in formal words that I never had anything to do with her—has Syra already gone?
§792perii hercle.
By Hercules, I am ruined.
ecce autem haec abiit.
And look, she has also gone.
vae misero mihi.
Woe to miserable me!
But as for you, neighbor, may the gods and goddesses destroy you, along with your mistress and your love affairs!
He has filled me with suspicion most shamefully, and stirred up an enemy in my house; my wife is extremely fierce.
§797ibo ad forum atque haec Demiphoni éloquar, §798me istanc capillo protracturum esse in viam, §799nisi hinc abducit quo volt ex hisce aedibus.
I will go to the forum and tell this to Demipho, that I will drag that woman out into the street by her hair, unless he takes her away from this house to wherever he wants.
§800uxor, heus uxor, quamquam tu irata es mihi, §801iubeas, si sapias, haec intró auferrier: §802eadem licebit mox cenare rectius. —
Wife, hey wife, although you are angry with me, if you are wise, you would order these things to be carried inside; at the same time, it will be possible to dine more properly soon.
Syra: My mistress's father, to whom she sent me, is not at home; they said he had gone to the country.
nunc domum renuntio.
Now I am reporting back home.
Charinus: I am tired out from wandering through the whole city; I find no trace of that woman.
But my mother has returned from the country, for I see Syra standing before the house.
Syra.
Syra!
§808bQuis est qui me vocat?
Syra: Who is it that calls me?
§809Erus atque alumnus tuos sum.
Charinus: I am your master and your nursling.
§809bSalve, alumne mi.
Syra: Hello, my nursling.
§810Iam mater rure rediit? responde mihi.
Charinus: Has mother already returned from the country? Answer me.
§811Sua quidem salute ac familiai maxuma.
Syra: Yes indeed, with her own safety and that of her household at its greatest.
§812Quid istúc negotist?
Charinus: What is that business?
Syra: Your most wonderful father has brought a mistress inside into the house.
§813bQuo modo?
Charinus: How so?
§814Adveniens mater rure eam offendit domi.
Syra: Upon arriving from the country, your mother found her at home.
§815Pol haud censebam istarum esse operarum patrem.
Charinus: By Pollux, I did not think my father was of that sort of behavior.
§816etiam nunc mulier intust?
Is the woman still inside even now?
§816bEtiam.
Syra: Yes, she is.
§816cSequere me. —
Charinus: Follow me.
Syra: By Castor, women live under a harsh law, and, miserable ones, under a much more unfair one than men.
§819nam si vir scortum duxit clam uxorem suam, §820id si rescivit uxor, impunest viro; §821uxor virum si clam domo egressa est foras, §822viro fit causa, exigitur matrimonio.
For if a husband has brought home a prostitute secretly from his wife, if the wife has found it out, it is unpunished for the husband; but if a wife has gone out of the house secretly from her husband, it becomes a cause for the husband, and she is driven out of marriage.
§823utinam lex esset eadem quae uxori est viro;
Would that the law were the same for the husband as it is for the wife!
For a wife, if she is good, is content with one husband; why should a husband be less content with one wife?
§826ecastor faxim, si itidem plectantur viri, §827si quis clam uxorem duxerit scortum suam, §828ut illae éxiguntur quae in se culpam commerent, §829plures viri sint vidui quam nunc mulieres. —
By Castor, I would make it so, if husbands were punished in the same way—if anyone secretly from his wife brought home a prostitute—just as those women are driven out who commit a fault, that there would be more single men than there are women now.
§830Límen superum ínferumque, salve, simul autem vale:
Charinus: Upper and lower threshold, hail, and at the same time farewell!
§831hunc hodie postremum extollo mea domo patria pedem.
Today I lift my foot for the last time from my father's house.
§832usus, fructus, victus, cultus iam mihi harunc aedium §833interemptust, interfectust, alienatust.
The use, enjoyment, food, and living of this house are now snatched away, killed, and alienated from me.
occidi.
I am undone.
§834di penates meum parentum, familiai Lar pater, §835vobis mando, meum parentum rem bene ut tutemini.
Household gods of my parents, father Lar of the family, I entrust to you that you protect well the estate of my parents.
§836ego mihi alios deos penatis persequar, alium Larem, §837aliam urbem, aliam civitatem: ab Atticis abhorreo;
I will pursue for myself other household gods, another Lar, another city, another state; I shrink from the Athenians.
§838nám ubi mores deteriores increbrescunt in dies, §839ubi qui amici, qui infideles sint nequeas pernoscere §840ubique id eripiatur, animo tuo quod placeat maxume, §841ibi quidem si regnum detur, non cupita est civitas.
For where morals become worse day by day, where you cannot thoroughly know who are friends and who are unfaithful, and where that which pleases your mind most is snatched away—there, even if a kingdom were given, the state is not to be desired.
§842Divom atque hominum quae spectatrix atque era eadem es hominibus, §843spem speratam quom obtulisti hanc mihi, tibi grates ago.
Eutychus: O goddess, who are the spectator of gods and men and at the same time mistress to men, since you have offered me this hoped-for hope, I give you thanks.
§844ecquisnam deus est, qui mea nunc laetus laetitia fuat?
Is there any god who is now glad with my gladness?
§845domi erát quod quaeritabam: sex sodales repperi, §846vitam, amícitiam, civitátem, laetitiam, ludum, iocum;
What I was searching for was at home; I have found six companions: life, friendship, citizenship, gladness, play, and jest.
§847eorum inventu res simitu pessumas pessum dedi, §848iram, inimicitiam, maerorem, lacrumas, exilium, inopiam §849.
By their finding, I have at the same time sent the worst things to the bottom: anger, enmity, sorrow, tears, exile, and want.
§850date, di, quaeso conveniundi mi eius celerem copiam.
Give me, O gods, I pray, a swift opportunity of meeting her.
§851Apparatus sum ut videtis: abicio superbiam;
I am prepared as you see; I cast away pride.
§852egomet mihi comes, calator, equos, agaso, ármiger,
I myself am companion, servant, horse, groom, and squire to myself.
I myself am commander to myself, and likewise I myself obey myself; I myself carry for myself what is needed.
o Cupido, quantus es.
O Cupido, how great you are!
§855nam tu quemvis confidentem facile tuis factis facis,
For you easily make anyone confident by your deeds.