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Plautus · Persa §369-443

Preparing the Daughter's Sale and Ransoming Lemniselene

Passage 7 of 14 · Latin

Summary

Saturio and his daughter discuss her impending sale, after which Toxilus insults the pimp Dordalus while paying him the money borrowed from Sagaristio to secure Lemniselene's freedom.

§369Malo cavere meliust te.
(Saturio) It is better for you to guard against trouble.
§369bAt si non licet §370cavere, quid agam? nám ego tibi cautum volo.
(Daughter) But if it is not permitted to beware, what am I to do? For I want you to be safe.
§371Malusne égo sum?
(Saturio) Am I a bad man?
§371bNon es, neque me dignumst dicere, §372verum ei rei operam do, ne alii dicant, quibus licet.
(Daughter) You are not, nor is it fitting for me to say so; but I take care of this, lest others say so, who are permitted to.
§373Dicat quod quisque volt; ego de hac sententia §374non demovebor.
(Saturio) Let each say what he wishes; I will not be moved from this opinion.
§374bAt, meo sí liceat modo, §375sapienter potius facias quam stulte.
(Daughter) But, if it were allowed in my way, you would act wisely rather than foolishly.
§375bLubet.
(Saturio) I choose to.
§376Lubere per me tibi licere intellego; §377verum lubere hau lubeat, sí liceat mihi.
(Daughter) I understand that you are permitted by me to have your way; but having your way would not please you, if it were permitted to me.
§378Futura es dicto oboediens an non patri?
(Saturio) Are you going to be obedient to your father's word, or not?
§379Futura.
(Daughter) I am.
§379bScis iam tibi quae praecepi?
(Saturio) Do you already know what I instructed you?
§379cOmnia.
(Daughter) Everything.
§380Et ut surrupta fueris?
(Saturio) And how you were stolen?
§380bDocte calleo.
(Daughter) I know it expertly.
§381Et qui parentes fuerint?
(Saturio) And who your parents were?
§381bHabeo in memoria.
(Daughter) I have it in memory.
§382necessitate me mala ut fiam facis.
By necessity you make me become bad.
§383verum videto, me ubi voles nuptum dare, §384ne haec fama faciat repudiosas nuptias.
But see to it, when you wish to give me in marriage, lest this reputation make the marriage subject to rejection.
§385Tace, stúlta.
(Saturio) Silent, foolish girl!
non tu nunc hominum mores vides?
Do you not see the customs of men now?
§386quoivis modi hic cum fama facile nubitur: §387dum dos sit, nullum vitium vitio vortitur.
A girl is easily married here with a reputation of any kind: provided there is a dowry, no fault is considered a fault.
§388Ergo istuc facito ut veniat in mentem tibi, §389me esse indotatam.
(Daughter) Therefore, make sure that this comes into your mind, that I am dowryless.
§389bCave sis tu istuc dixeris.
(Saturio) Beware, please, of saying that.
§390pol deum virtute dicam et maiorum meum, §391ne te indotatam dicas, quoi dos sit domi:
By Pollux, by the virtue of the gods and of my ancestors I will say, do not say that you are dowryless, you who have a dowry at home!
§392librorum eccillum hábeo plenum soracum.
Look there, I have a chest full of books.
§393si hoc adcurassis lepide, cui rei operam damus, §394dabuntur dotis tibi inde sescenti logi, §395atque Attici omnes; nullum Siculum acceperis:
If you care for this charmingly, the thing we are working on, six hundred jokes shall be given to you from there as a dowry, and all Attic ones; you shall receive no Sicilian ones!
§396cum hac dote poteris vel mendico nubere.
With this dowry you will be able to marry even a beggar.
§397Quin tu me ducis, si quo ducturu's, pater?
(Daughter) Why don't you lead me, if you are going to lead me anywhere, father?
§398vel tu me vende vel face quid tibi lubet.
Either sell me or do what pleases you.
§399Bonum aequomque oras.
(Saturio) You plead what is good and fair.
sequere hac.
Follow this way.
— §399bDicto sum audiens.
(Daughter) I am obedient to your word.
— §400Quidnam esse acturum hunc dicam vicinum meum, §401qui mihi iuratust sese hodie argentum dare?
(Toxilus) What indeed shall I say my neighbor is going to do, who swore to me that he would give me money today?
§402quod si non dederit atque hic dies praeterierit, §403ego argentum, ille iusiurandum amiserit.
But if he does not give it, and this day passes by, I shall have lost the money, and he his oath.
§404sed ibi concrepuit foris.
But the door creaked there.
quisnam egreditur foras?
Who indeed is coming out?
§405Curate isti intus, iam égo domum me recipiam.
(Dordalus) Take care of things inside there, I will now betake myself home.
§405bOh, §406Toxile, quid agitur?
(Toxilus) Oh, Dordalus, how goes it?
§406bOh, lutum lenonium, §407commixtum caeno sterculinum publicum, §408impure, inhoneste, iniure, inlex, labes popli, §409pecuniae accípiter avide atque invide, §410procax, rapax, trahax—trecentis versibus §411tuas ímpuritias traloqui nemo potest—
Oh, pimpish mud, public dunghill mixed with filth, impure, dishonorable, lawless, outlaw, ruin of the people, greedy and envious hawk of money, insolent, rapacious, grasping—no one can recount your impurities in three hundred verses— are you receiving the money?
§412accipin argentum? accipe sis argentum, impudens,
Take the money, please, shameless one!
§413tené sis argentum, etiam tu argentum tenes?
Hold the money, please! Are you holding the money even now?
§414possum te facere ut argentum accipias, lutum?
Can I make you receive the money, you piece of mud?
§415non mihi censebas copiam argenti fore, §416qui nisi iurato mihi nil ausu's credere?
Did you not think that I would have an abundance of money, you who dared to trust me with nothing unless I swore an oath?
§417Sine respirare me, ut tibi respondeam.
(Dordalus) Let me catch my breath, so that I may answer you.
§418vir summe populi, stabulum servitutium, §419scortorum liberator, suduculum flagri, §420compedium tritor, pistrinorum civitas, §421perenniserve, lurco, edax, furax, fugax, §422cedo sis mi argentum, da mihi argentum, impudens,
O topmost hero of the people, stable of slaveries, liberator of harlots, sweat-evoker of the whip, wearer of shackles, city of grinding mills, eternal slave, glutton, devourer, thief, runaway, give me the money, please, hand me the money, shameless one!
§423possum a te exigere argentum? argentum, inquam, cedo,
Can I demand the money from you? The money, I say, give it!
§424quin tu mi argentum reddis? nilne te pudet?
why don't you return the money to me? Are you not ashamed at all?
§425leno te argentum poscit, solida servitus, §426pro liberanda amica, ut omnes audiant.
The pimp demands the money from you, you solid block of slavery, for the liberation of his mistress, so that all may hear!
§427Tace, obsecro hercle.
(Toxilus) Shh! I beg you, by Hercules.
ne tua vox valide valet.
Verily, your voice is mighty powerful.
§428Referundae ego habeo linguam natam gratiae.
(Dordalus) I have a tongue born for returning favors.
§429eodém mihi pretio sal praehibetur quo tibi.
Salt is provided to me at the same price as to you.
§430nisi me haec defendet, numquam delinget salem.
Unless this defends me, it will never lick salt again.
§431Iam omitte iratus esse.
(Toxilus) Stop being angry now.
id tibi suscensui, §432quia te negabas credere argentum mihi.
I was angry at you for this, because you said you wouldn't trust me with the money.
§433Mirum quin tibi ego crederém, ut idem mihi §434faceres quod partim faciunt argentarii: §435ubi quid credideris, citius extemplo a foro §436fugiunt quam ex porta ludis cum emissust lepus.
(Dordalus) It would be strange if I should trust you, so that you might do the same to me as some bankers do: when you have trusted them with something, they flee immediately from the forum faster than a hare when it is let out from the gate at the games.
§437Cape hoc sis.
(Toxilus) Take this, please.
§437bQuin das?
(Dordalus) Why don't you give it?
§437cNummi sescenti hic erunt, §438probi, numerati.
(Toxilus) There will be six hundred coins here, honest and counted.
fac sit mulier libera, §439atque huc continuo adduce.
See that the woman is free, and bring her here immediately.
§439bIam faxo hic erit.
(Dordalus) I will make sure she is here immediately.
§440non hercle, quoi nunc hoc dem spectandum, scio.
By Hercules, I don't know to whom I should give this to be tested.
§441Fortasse metuis in manum concredere?
(Toxilus) Perhaps you fear to entrust it to my hand?
§442Mirum quin
(Dordalus) It's a wonder if...

Notes

  1. §369Malo cavere meliust te. — malo is the ablative of malum (evil, harm) functioning as the object of separation with cavere (to guard against, beware of). te is the subject accusative of the infinitive cavere.
  2. §376Lubere per me tibi licere intellego — lubere (to please oneself) is used substantively as an infinitive and serves as the subject of the accusative-and-infinitive construction lubere... licere. per me means "as far as I am concerned" or "with my permission".
  3. §392librorum eccillum habeo plenum soracum — eccillum is a colloquial and early Latin combination of ecce (behold) and illum (that one), functioning as a direct deictic indicator. plenum (full of) takes the genitive librorum and modifies soracum (chest, borrowed from Greek σώρακος).
  4. §410trahax — trahax is a hapax legomenon coined by Plautus from the verb trahere (to drag, snatch) with the adjectival suffix -ax, created to achieve rhythmic and phonetic harmony with the neighboring procax and rapax.
  5. §433Mirum quin tibi ego crederem — mirum quin followed by the imperfect subjunctive (crederem) is an early Latin idiomatic expression used ironically to mean "of course I would not trust you" or "it would be a wonder if I were to trust you," expressing strong negation or distrust.

Cite this passage

Plautus, Persa §369-443. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi014.humanitext-lat2:369-443

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