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Plautus · Mostellaria §267b-328

Preparations for the Banquet and Arrival of Callidamates

Passage 5 of 18 · Latin

Summary

After a conversation about Philematium's adornment, as Philolaches is about to begin drinking with her, his drunken friend Callidamates arrives with his mistress.

§267bQuid ita, obsecro?
Why so, please?
§268Vt speculum tenuisti, metuo né olant argentum manus: §269ne usquam argentum te accepisse suspicetur Philolaches.
Since you held the mirror, I fear lest your hands should smell of silver, lest Philolaches should suspect that you have received silver anywhere.
§270Non videor vidisse lenam callidiorem ullam alteras.
I don't think I have seen any procuress more clever than this one.
§271ut lepide atque astute in mentem venit de speculo malae.
How elegantly and shrewdly it came into the mind of the wicked woman about the mirror!
§272Etiamne unguentis unguendam censes?
Do you think I should still be anointed with ointments?
§272bMinime feceris.
By no means do that.
§273Quapropter?
Why?
§273bQuia ecastor mulier recte olet, ubi nihil olet.
Because, by Castor, a woman smells right when she smells of nothing.
§274nam istae veteres, quae se unguentis unctitant, interpoles, §275vetulae, edentulae, quae vitia corporis fuco occulunt, §276ubi sese sudor cum unguentis consociavit, ilico §277itidem olent, quasi cum una multa iura confudit cocus.
For those patched-up, old women who constantly anoint themselves with ointments, toothless old hags, who conceal the defects of their body with paint, when their sweat has associated itself with the ointments, immediately they smell just as when a cook has mixed many soups together.
§278quid olant nescias, nisi id unum, † ni male olere intellegas.
You would not know what they smell of, except for this one thing, that you would perceive they smell bad.
§279Vt perdocte cuncta callet.
How very learnedly she understands everything!
nihil hac docta doctius.
Nothing is more learned than this learned woman.
§280verum illud ésse maxima adeo pars vestrorum intellegit, §281quibus anus domi súnt uxores, quae vos dote meruerunt.
But the very greatest part of you understands that to be true, who have old women as wives at home, who bought you with their dowries.
§282Agedum contempla aurum et pallam, satin haec me deceat, Scapha.
Come now, look at my gold and mantle, does this suit me well enough, Scapha?
§283Non me istuc curare oportet.
It is not fitting for me to care about that.
§283bQuem obsecro igitur?
Whom, please, then?
§283cEloquar: §284_285Philolachem, is ne quid emat, nisi quod sibi placere censeat.
I will tell you: Philolaches, so that he may not buy anything except what he thinks pleases himself.
§287quid opust, quod suom esse nolit, ei ultro ostentarier?
What need is there for that which he would not wish to be his own to be shown to him unnecessarily?
§289pulchra mulier nuda erit quam purpurata pulchrior: §292nam si pulchra est, nimis ornata est.
A beautiful woman will be more beautiful naked than clothed in purple; for if she is beautiful, she is sufficiently adorned.
§292bNimis diu abstineo manum.
I have kept my hand off for too long.
§293quid hic vos agitis?
What are you doing here?
§293bTibi me exorno út placeam.
I am adorning myself to please you.
§293cOrnata es satis.
You are sufficiently adorned.
§294abi tu hinc intro atque ornamenta haec aufer.
Go inside from here and take away these ornaments.
sed, voluptas mea, §295mea Philematium, potare tecum conlibitum est mihi.
But, my delight, my Philematium, it is my pleasure to drink with you.
§296Et edepol mihi tecum, nam quod tibi libet idem mihi libet, §297mea voluptas.
And by Pollux, mine with you, for what pleases you, the same pleases me, my delight.
§297bEm istuc verbum vile est viginti minis.
Ah, that word is cheap at twenty minae.
§298Cedo, amabo, decem: bene emptum tibi dare hoc verbum volo.
Give me ten, please; I want to give you this word well-bought.
§299Etiam nunc decem minae apud te sunt; vel rationem puta.
Even now ten minae are with you; just calculate the account.
§300triginta minas pro capite tuo dedi.
I gave thirty minae for your freedom.
§300bCur exprobras?
Why do you reproach me with it?
§301Egone id exprobrem, qui mihimet cupio id opprobrarier?
Would I reproach you with it, I who desire that very thing to be cast in my teeth?
§302nec quicquam argenti locavi iam diu usquam aeque bene.
Nor have I invested any money anywhere so well for a long time.
§303Certe ego, quod te amo, operam nusquam melius potui ponere.
Certainly I, because I love you, could nowhere have placed my efforts better.
§304Bene igitur ratio accepti atque expensi inter nos convenit: §305tu me amas, ego té amo; merito id fieri uterque existimat.
Well then, the account of receipt and expense agrees well between us: you love me, I love you; each of us thinks it happens deservedly.
§306haec qui gaudent, gaudeant perpetuo suo semper bono; §307qui invident, ne umquam eorum quisquam invideat prosus commodis.
May those who rejoice in these things always rejoice in their own perpetual good; may those who envy never be able to envy their prosperity.
§308Age accumbe igitur.
Come then, lie down.
cedo aquam manibus, puere, appone hic mensulam.
Give water for the hands, boy, place the small table here.
§309vide, tali ubi sint.
Look, see where the dice are.
vin unguenta?
Do you want ointments?
§309bQuid opust? cum stacta accubo.
What need is there? I am lying down with liquid myrrh.
§310sed estne hic meus sodalis, qui huc incedit cúm amica sua?
But is not this my companion who walks here with his mistress?
§311is est, Callidamates cum amica incedit.
It is he, Callidamates walks with his mistress.
euge, oculus meus, §312conveniunt manuplares eccos: praedam participes petunt.
Excellent, my eye, look, our comrades are gathering: the partners seek their prey.
§313Advérsum veníri mihi ád Philolachétem §314voló temperi.
I want people to come to meet me at Philolaches' house in time.
aúdi, em tibi ímperatum est.
Hear me, look, you have been commanded.
§315nam ílli ubi fui, inde éffugi foras, §316ita me íbi male convívi sermónisque taésumst.
For from where I was, I fled out of doors, so miserably weary was I there of the banquet and the talk.
§317nunc cómissatum íbo ad Phílolachetem, §318ubi nós hilari ingénio et lépide accipient.
Now I will go to revel at Philolaches' house, where they will receive us with a cheerful spirit and delightfully.
§319ecquíd tibi videór mammamadére?
Do I seem to you at all to be d-d-drunk?
§320Sémper istóc modo.
Always in that way.
§321moratus es tu te.
You delayed yourself.
íre huc debébas.
You ought to have come here.
§322Visne égo te ac tu me ampléctare?
Do you want me to embrace you and you me?
§323Si tíbi cordi est faceré, licet.
If it is pleasing to you to do so, you may.
§323bLépida es.
You are charming.
§324dúc me amabó.
Lead me, please.
§324bCave né cadas, ásta.
Take care lest you fall, stand up.
§325O—o—ocellús meus, túos sum alumnus, mél meum.
O—o—my dear eye, I am your foster child, my honey.
§326Cáve modo, né prius ín via accúmbas, §327quam ílli, ubi léctus est strátus, concúmbimus.
Only take care, lest you lie down in the street before we lie down together there, where the bed is spread.
§328Síne, sine cádere me.
Let me, let me fall.

Notes

  1. §268olant — The verb `olant` is in the present subjunctive, introduced by the construction of fearing `metuo ne`. The verb `olere` (to smell of) takes the accusative of the odor, `argentum` (silver). This contains a double meaning, referring both to the silver of the mirror and to "silver coins" received from another lover.
  2. §273brecte olet, ubi nihil olet — A famous proverbial expression in Roman comedy. The verb `olere` is used both in the sense of "to smell of something" and "to emit an odor". Literally, "a woman smells right when she smells of nothing," indicating that a natural state without artificial perfumes is best.
  3. §281quae vos dote meruerunt — The antecedent of the relative pronoun `quae` is `uxores`. The verb `merere` (to deserve, earn) is used here in a Plautine ironic sense of "to purchase or buy (husbands with a dowry)". `dote` is an ablative of means.
  4. §301Egone id exprobrem — A deliberative subjunctive expressing indignation or a rhetorical question in the present tense, showing the speaker's strong denial: "Would I reproach you with it?"
  5. §313Adversum veniri mihi — A combination of the adverbial preposition `adversum` (to meet) and the impersonal passive infinitive `veniri` of the intransitive verb `venire`. The phrase `adversum venire` takes the dative (`mihi`). Dependent on the main verb `volo` (§314), it literally means "I wish it to be come to meet me," i.e., "I want someone to come to meet me."

Cite this passage

Plautus, Mostellaria §267b-328. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi013.humanitext-lat2:267b-328

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