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Plautus · Mostellaria §1-77

Dispute Between Tranio and Grumio over Extravagance

Passage 1 of 18 · Latin

Summary

The town slave Tranio and the country slave Grumio exchange insults as Grumio criticizes Tranio's luxurious lifestyle and corruption of the master's son, anticipating the return of their master.

§1Exi e culina sis foras, mastigia,
Get out of the kitchen, if you please, out with you, you scoundrel, who show off your cleverness to me among the dishes.
§2qui mi inter patinas exhibes argutias. §3egredere, erilis permities, ex aedibus.
Come out of the house, you ruin of your master's estate.
§4ego pol te ruri, si vivam, ulciscar probe.
By Pollux, if I live, I will have a fine revenge on you in the country.
§5exi, inquam, nidor, e culina.
Get out, I say, you greasy smell, out of the kitchen.
quid lates?
Why are you hiding?
§6quid tibi, malum, hic ante aedis clamitatiost?
What the plague is this bawling of yours here before the house?
§7an ruri censes te esse? abscede ab aedibus.
Do you think you are in the country? Get away from the house.
§8abi rús, abi díerecte, abscede ab ianua.
Go to the country, go to the gallows, get away from the door.
§9_10em, hocíne volebas?
There, was this what you wanted?
§9_10bPerii.
I'm undone!
cur me verberas?
Why do you beat me?
§11Quia vivis.
Because you are alive.
§11bPatiar.
I will bear it.
sine modo adveniat senex.
Only let the old master return.
§12sine modo venire salvom, quem absentem comes.
Only let him return safe, whom you are eating up in his absence.
§13Nec veri simile loquere nec verum, frutex, §14comesse quemquam ut quisquam absentem possiet.
You speak neither what is likely nor what is true, you blockhead, that anyone could eat up anyone else in his absence.
§15Tu urbanus vero scurra, deliciae popli, §16rus mihi tu obiectas? sane hoc, credo, Tranio,
You are indeed a town dandy, the people's darling, do you throw the country in my teeth?
§17quod te in pistrinum scis actutum tradier.
Truly, I believe, Tranio, because you know that you will soon be handed over to the mill.
§18cis hercle paucas tempestates, Tranio, §19augebis ruri numerum, genus ferratile.
By Hercules, within a few days, Tranio, you will increase the number in the country, the iron-shackled race.
§20nunc, dum tibi lúbet licetque, pota, perde rem, §21corrumpe erilem ádulescentem óptumum; §22dies noctesque bibite, pergraecamini, §23amicas emite liberate, pascite §24parasitos, obsonate pollucibiliter.
Now, while you like and are allowed, drink, waste the property, ruin that excellent young man, our master's son; drink night and day, live like Greeks, buy mistresses, set them free, feed parasites, cater sumptuously.
§25haecine mandavit tibi, quom peregre hinc it, senex?
Did the old master give you these instructions when he went abroad?
§26hocine modo hic rem curatam offendet suam?
Is it in this way that he will find his property cared for?
§27hocine boni esse officium servi existumas, §28ut eri sui corrumpat et rem et filium?
Do you think this is the duty of a good servant, to ruin both the property and the son of his master?
§29nam ego illúm corruptum duco, quom his factis studet; §30quo nemo adaeque iuventute ex omni Attica §31antehac est habitus parcus nec magis continens, §32is nunc in aliam partem palmam possidet.
For I consider him ruined, since he is devoted to these practices; than whom no youth in all Attica was previously considered more frugal or more self-controlled; now he bears off the palm in the opposite direction.
§33virtute id factum tua et magisterio tuo.
That is due to your influence and your tutoring.
§34Quid tibi, malum, me aut quid ego agam curatiost?
What the plague is it to you, what concern of yours is what I do?
§35an ruri quaeso non sunt, quos cures, bovis?
Pray, are there no oxen in the country for you to look after?
§36lubet potare, amare, scorta ducere.
I like to drink, to love, to keep mistresses.
§37mei tergi facio haec, non tui fiducia.
I do these things at the risk of my own back, not yours.
§38Quam confidenter loquitur.
How confidently he speaks!
§38bAt te Iuppiter §39dique omnes perdant, fu, oboluisti alium.
But may Jupiter and all the gods destroy you! Phew, you stink of garlic!
§40germana inluvies, rusticus, hircus, hara suis, §41caeno κοπρὼν commixte.
Pure filth, peasant, he-goat, pigsty, mixture of mud and manure!
§41bQuid vis fieri?
What do you want to happen?
§42non omnes possunt olere unguenta exotica, §43si tú oles, neque superiores accumbere §44_45neque tam facetis quam tu vivis victibus.
Not everyone can smell of foreign perfumes, even if you do, nor sit at the head of the table, nor live on such dainty fare as you live on.
§46tu tíbi istos habeas turtures piscis avis, §47sine me aliato fungi fortunas meas.
Keep your turtledoves, fish, and birds for yourself; let me enjoy my lot with garlic-seasoned food.
§48tu fortunatus es, ego miser: patiunda sunt.
You are fortunate, I am wretched: it must be endured.
§49_50meum bonum me, te tuom maneat malum.
May my good wait for me, and your evil for you.
§51Quasi invidere mi hoc videre, Grumio, §52quia mihi bene est et tibi male est; dignissumumst: §53decet me amare et te bubulcitarier, §54me victitare pulchre, te miseris modis.
You seem as if you envy me this, Grumio, because it is well with me and bad with you; it is most fitting: it is proper for me to love and for you to tend oxen, for me to live handsomely, and for you in a wretched manner.
§55O carnuficium cribrum, quod credo fore, §56ita te forabunt patibulatum per vias §57stimulis carnufices, si huc reveniat senex.
Oh, you executioners' sieve, which I believe you will be, so will the executioners pierce you, yoked to the gibbet, through the streets with whips, if the old master returns here.
§58Qui scis, an tibi istuc evenat prius quam mihi?
How do you know whether that may happen to you sooner than to me?
§59Quia numquam merui, tu meruisti et nunc meres.
Because I have never deserved it, but you have deserved it and do deserve it now.
§60Orationis operam compendi face, §61nisi te mala re magna mactari cupis.
Save yourself the trouble of talking, unless you wish to be punished with a great evil.
§62Ervom daturin estis, bubus quod feram?
Are you going to give me the vetch to carry to the oxen?
§63date, si non estis. agite, porro pergite §64quoniam occepistis: bibite, pergraecamini, §65este, ecfercite vos, saginam caedite.
Give it, if you are not going to; go on, proceed, since you have begun: drink, live like Greeks, eat, stuff yourselves, slaughter the fatted beasts.
§66Tace atque abi rús.
Be quiet and go to the country.
ego ire in Piraeum volo, §67in vesperum parare piscatum mihi.
I want to go to the Piraeus, to get some fish for myself for the evening.
§68ervom tibi aliquis cras faxo ad villam adferat.
I'll see to it that someone brings the vetch to the villa for you tomorrow.
§69quid est? quíd tu me nunc optuere, furcifer?
What is it? Why are you staring at me now, you gallows-bird?
§70Pol tibi istuc credo nomen actutum fore.
By Pollux, I believe that name will soon be yours.
§71Dum interea sic sit, istuc actutum sino.
Provided it is thus in the meantime, I let that "soon" be.
§72Ita est.
So it is.
sed unum hoc scito: nimio celerius §73veniet quod noles quam illud, quod cupide petas.
But know this one thing: much more quickly will come what you don't want than what you eagerly seek.
§74Molestus ne sis nunciam, i rus, te amove.
Don't be troublesome any longer, go to the country, remove yourself.
§75ne tu hercle praeterhac mihi non facies moram. —
By Hercules, surely you shall not cause me any delay hereafter.
§76Satin abiit neque quod dixi flocci existumat?
Is he really gone, and cares not a straw for what I said?
§77pro di immortales, obsecro vostram fidem,
Oh, immortal gods, I implore your protection,

Notes

  1. §2κοπρὼν — Relative pronoun. The antecedent is the vocative `mastigia` (masculine singular) in the previous line. Though of Greek origin and grammatically feminine, it is construed as masculine because it refers to a male slave.
  2. §12κοπρὼν — Second-person singular present indicative of `comedo` (to eat up, consume). Not to be confused with the adjective `comis` (courteous) or the verb `como` (to adorn); here it denotes wasteful consumption.
  3. §14comesse — Active present infinitive of `comedo` (to eat up). The following `ut... possiet` (archaic for `posset`) clause acts as a logical subject/appositive, yielding the meaning "that anyone could eat up anyone else in his absence."
  4. §17tradier — Archaic passive present infinitive (equivalent to classical `tradi`). It functions as the predicate infinitive in the accusative-and-infinitive construction `te... tradier`.
  5. §37fiducia — Ablative of cause/means, meaning "relying on" or "with confidence in." It is modified by the genitives `mei tergi` and `tui`, meaning "at the risk of my own back, not yours."
  6. §49_50κοπρὼν — Third-person singular present subjunctive of wish. The verb serves both subjects, `meum bonum` (my good lot) and `tuom malum` (your evil lot), being omitted in the second clause.
  7. §68κοπρὼν — Archaic future perfect. Here used as a shorthand for `faciam ut` (I will see to it that), taking the subjunctive `adferat` directly.

Cite this passage

Plautus, Mostellaria §1-77. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi013.humanitext-lat2:1-77

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