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Plautus · Miles Gloriosus §1262-1322

Departure of Acroteleutium and Pleusicles in Disguise

Passage 22 of 24 · Latin

Summary

Amid the soldier's comical vanity, Acroteleutium continues her play, and the pleased soldier urges her to return home. Afterward, Pleusicles disguised as a shipmaster appears and, with puns about love hidden in his eye-patch, begins the scheme to take Philocomasium away.

§1262tu aspexisti.
You saw him?
Yes.
§1262cNon video.
I don't see him.
ubi est?
Where is he?
§1262dVideres pol, si amares.
By Pollux, you would see him if you loved him.
§1263Non edepol tu illum magis amas, quam ego amem, si per te liceat.
By Pollux, you do not love him more than I do, if you would only not obstruct me.
§1264Omnes profecto mulieres te amant, ut quaeque aspexit.
Indeed, all women love you as soon as they look at you.
§1265Nescio, tu ex me hoc audiveris an non: nepos sum Veneris.
I know not whether you have heard this from me or not: I am the grandson of Venus.
§1266Mea Milphidippa, adi obsecro et congredere.
My Milphidippa, approach, please, and address him.
§1266bVt me veretur.
How she stands in awe of me!
§1267Illa ad nos pergit.
She is coming toward us.
§1267bVos volo.
I want you.
§1267cEt nos te.
And we want you.
§1267dVt iussisti, §1268eram meam eduxi foras.
As you ordered, I have brought my mistress out.
§1268bVideo.
I see.
§1268cIube ergo adire.
Tell her then to approach.
§1269Induxi in animum, ne oderim item ut alias, quando orasti.
Since you pleaded, I have made up my mind not to hate her as I do the others.
§1270Verbum edepol facere non potis, si accesserit prope ad te.
By Pollux, she won't be able to speak a word if she comes near you.
§1271dum te obtuetur, interim linguam oculi praeciderunt.
While she gazes at you, her eyes have meanwhile cut off her tongue.
§1272Levandum morbum mulieri video.
I see I must cure the woman's sickness.
§1272bVt tremit atque extimuit, §1273postquam te aspexit.
How she trembles and is terrified, since she saw you.
§1273bVíri quoque armáti idem istuc faciunt, §1274ne tu mirere eius mulierem.
Even armed men do the very same, so do not wonder that she, a woman, does so.
sed quid illa volt me facere?
But what does she want me to do?
§1275Ad se ut eas: tecum vivere volt atque aetatem exigere.
That you go to her: she wants to live with you and spend her life.
§1276Egon ád illam eam, quae nupta sit? vir eius me deprehendat.
Am I to go to her, who is married? Her husband might catch me.
§1277Quin tua causa exegit virum ab sé.
Nay, for your sake she has driven her husband away from her.
§1277bQui id facere potuit?
How could she do that?
§1278Quia aedís dotalis huius sunt.
Because the house belongs to her as her dowry.
§1278bItane?
Is that so?
§1278cIta pol.
Yes, by Pollux.
§1278dIube domum ire.
Tell her to go home.
§1279iam ego illi ero.
I will be there immediately.
§1279bVide né sies in exspectatione, §1280ne illam animi excrucies.
Take care not to keep her waiting, lest you torture her mind.
§1280bNon ero profecto.
Indeed, I will not.
abite.
Go away.
§1280cAbimus. —
We are going.
§1281Sed quid ego video?
But what do I see?
§1281bQuid vides?
What do you see?
§1281cNescio quis eccum incedit §1282ornatu quidem thalassico.
Look, someone is walking along, indeed in a seafaring dress.
§1282bIt ad nos, volt te profecto.
He is coming to us; he surely wants you.
§1283nauclerus hic quidem est.
This is indeed a shipmaster.
§1283bVidelicet accersit hanc iam.
Clearly he is summoning her now.
§1283cCredo.
I believe so.
§1284Alium alio pacto propter amorem ni sciam §1285fecisse multa nequiter, verear magis §1286me amoris causa hóc ornatu incedere.
If I did not know that others in various ways because of love had done many things shamefully, I should be more ashamed that I, for love's sake, am walking in this dress.
§1287verum quom multos multa admisse acceperim §1288inhonesta propter amorem atque aliena a bonis: §1289mitto iam, ut occídi Achilles civis passus est — §1290sed eccúm Palaestrionem, stat cum milite: §1291oratio alio mihi demutandast mea.
But since I have heard that many have committed many dishonorable deeds because of love, and unbecoming of good men: I pass over now how Achilles allowed his fellow citizens to be slain — but look, there is Palaestrio, standing with the soldier: I must change my tone of speech.
§1292mulier profecto natast ex ipsa Mora; §1293nam quaevis alia quae morast aeque, mora §1294minor ea videtur quam quae propter mulieremst.
Indeed, woman was born from Delay itself; for any other delay, which is equally a delay, seems less than that which is because of a woman.
§1295hoc adeo fieri credo consuetudine.
Indeed, I believe this happens by their habit.
§1296nam ego hanc accerso Philocomasium.
For I am summoning this Philocomasium.
sed fores §1297pultabo.
But the door I will knock.
heus, ecquis hic est?
Ho there! Is anyone here?
§1297bAdulescens, quid est?
Young man, what is it?
§1298quid vis? quid pultas?
What do you want? Why do you knock?
§1298bPhilocomasium quaerito.
I am looking for Philocomasium.
§1299a matre illius venio.
I come from her mother.
si iturast, eat.
If she is going, let her go.
§1300omnis moratur: navim cupimus solvere.
She keeps everyone waiting: we desire to set sail.
§1301Iam dudum res paratast.
Everything has been ready for a long time.
i, Palaestrio, §1302aurum, ornamenta, vestem, pretiosa omnia §1303duc adiutores tecum ad navim qui ferant.
Go, Palaestrio, the gold, the jewelry, the clothes, all her valuables, take helpers with you to carry them to the ship.
§1304omnia conposita sunt quae donavi: auferat.
All that I gave her is packed up: let her take them away.
§1305Eó. —
I am going.
§1305bQuaeso hercle propera.
Please, by Hercules, hurry.
§1305cNon morabitur.
He will not delay.
§1306quid istuc, quaeso? quid oculo factumst tuo?
What is that, pray? What has happened to your eye?
§1307Habeo equidem hercle oculum.
Indeed, by Hercules, I have an eye.
§1307bAt laevom dico.
But I mean the left one.
§1307cEloquar.
I will tell you.
§1308maris causa hercle hoc ego oculo utor minus, §1309nam si abstinuissem amare, tamquam hoc uterer.
By Hercules, because of the sea, I have less use of this eye, for if I had kept away from loving, I should use it just like this one.
§1310sed nimis morantur me diu.
But they keep me waiting too long.
§1310bEccos exeunt.
Look, they are coming out.
§1311Quid modi flendó quaeso hodie fácies?
What limit, pray, will you make to your crying today?
§1311bQuid ego ní fleam?
Why should I not cry?
§1312ubi pulcherrume egi aetatem, ábeo.
I am leaving the place where I spent my life most beautifully.
§1312bEm hominem tibi, §1313qui a matre et sorore venit.
Look, here is the man for you, who comes from your mother and sister.
§1313bVideo.
I see him.
§1313cAudin, Palaestrio?
Do you hear, Palaestrio?
§1314Quid vis?
What do you want?
§1314bQuin tu iubes ecferri ómnia quae isti dedi?
Why don't you order everything I gave her to be carried out?
§1315Philocomasium, salve.
Philocomasium, greetings.
§1315bEt tu salve.
And greetings to you.
§1315cMaterque et soror §1316tibi salutem me iusserunt dicere.
Your mother and sister have ordered me to give their greetings to you.
§1316bSalvae sient.
May they be well.
§1317Orant te, ut eas, ventus operam dum dat, ut velum explicent; §1318nam matri oculi si valerent, mecum venissent simul.
They beg you to come, while the wind is favorable, so that they may unfurl the sail; for if her mother's eyes were well, she would have come along with me.
§1319Ibo; quamquam invita facio, impietas sit nisi eam.
I will go; though I do so unwillingly, it would be an impiety if I did not go to her.
§1319bSapis.
You are wise.
§1320Si non mecum aetatem egisset, hodie stulta viveret.
If she had not spent her life with me, she would live today as a fool.
§1321Istuc crucior, a viro me tali abalienarier, §1322nam tu quemvis potis es facere ut afluat facetiis;
I am tortured by this, to be separated from such a man, for you are able to make anyone overflow with wit;

Notes

  1. §1262dVideres pol, si amares. — This is a contrary-to-fact conditional sentence in the present, using si amares (imperfect subjunctive) and videres (imperfect subjunctive). Milphidippa mockingly tells Acroteleutium, 'If you actually loved him, you would see him (but you do not).'
  2. §1263si per te liceat. — A subordinate clause conditionalizing the preceding statement Non ... tu illum magis amas, quam ego amem (You do not love him more than I do). per te means 'through you / because of you,' here interpreted as 'if you would only not stand in my way / if you would permit.'
  3. §1284Alium alio pacto propter amorem ni sciam — A conditional sentence with ni sciam (present subjunctive 1st person singular, archaic contraction of nisi sciam) as the protasis and verear (present subjunctive 1st person singular) as the apodosis. While carrying a contrary-to-fact nuance, it presents a present potentiality. Pleusicles implies he is less ashamed in reality because he already 'knows' that many others have done foolish things for love.
  4. §1308maris causa hercle hoc ego oculo utor minus — A double pun in Pleusicles' lines. maris causa is heard by the soldier as 'because of the sea' (genitive singular of mare), but to the audience, it suggests 'because of love' (echoing amoris) or 'because of a man/mas' (genitive singular of mas). Likewise, amare (to love) in the next line is homophonic with a mare (from the sea), playing on the reason for his eye-patch: 'if I had kept away from the sea' vs. 'if I had kept away from loving.'
  5. §1322facere ut afluat facetiis — The clause structure facere ut (to make it so that..., to bring about that...). The verb afluat (present subjunctive 3rd person singular) in the noun clause introduced by ut expresses the state of result caused by the infinitive facere. facetiis is the ablative of facetiae (wit, humor).

Cite this passage

Plautus, Miles Gloriosus §1262-1322. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi012.humanitext-lat2:1262-1322

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