§634Quasi tu dicas me te velle argento circumducere.
As if you were saying that I want to cheat you out of your money.
§635Immo vero quasi tu dicas quasique ego autem id suspicer.
Nay indeed, as if you were saying so, and as if I on my part suspected it!
§636sed quid est tibi nomen?
But what is your name?
(Aside) This pimp has a slave named Syrus, I will say that I am he.
Surus sum.
I am Syrus.
§637bSurus?
Syrus?
§637cId est nomen mihi.
That is my name.
§638Verba multa facimus.
We are wasting words.
erus si tuos domi est, quin provocas, §639ut id agam quod missus huc sum, quidquid est nomen tibi?
If your master is at home, why don't you call him out, so that I may do what I was sent here to do, whatever your name is?
§640Si intus esset, evocarem.
If he were inside, I would call him.
verum si dare vis mihi, §641magis erit solutum, quasi ipsi dederis.
But if you want to give it to me, it will be more fully paid, as if you had given it to himself.
§641bAt enim scin quid est?
But do you know how it is?
§642reddere hoc, non perdere erus me misit. nam certo scio,
My master sent me to pay this, not to lose it.
§643hoc febrim tibi esse, quia non licet huc inicere ungulas.
For I know for certain, that this is a fever to you, because you are not allowed to lay your claws on it here.
§644ego, nisi ipsi Ballioni, nummum credam nemini.
I will trust no one with a single coin, except Ballio himself.
§645At illic nunc negotiosust: res agitur apud iudicem.
But he is busy now; a case is being tried before the judge.
§646Di bene vortant.
May the gods turn it out well.
at ego quando eum esse censebo domi, §647rediero.
But I will return when I think he is at home.
tu epistulam hanc a me accipe atque illi dato. §648nam istic sumbolust inter erum meum et tuom de muliere.
Receive this letter from me and give it to him, for in it is the token between my master and yours concerning the woman.
§649Scio equidem: qui argentum adferret atque expressam imaginem §650suam huc ad nos, cum eo aiebat velle mitti mulierem.
I know indeed; he said he wanted the woman to be sent with the one who brought the money and his own stamped image here to us.
§651nam hic quoque exemplum reliquit eius.
For he also left a copy of it here.
§651bOmnem rem tenes.
You understand the whole matter.
§652Quid ego ni teneam?
Why shouldn't I understand?
§652bDato istunc sumbolum ergo illi.
Give that token to him then.
§652cLicet.
Very well.
§653sed quid est tibi nomen?
But what is your name?
§653bHarpax.
Harpax.
§653cApage te, Harpax, hau places;
(Aside) Away with you, Harpax, you do not please me.
§654huc quidem hercle haud ibis intro, ne quid ἅρπαξ feceris.
By Hercules, you shall not go in here, lest you should "harpax" (snatch) something.
§655Hostis vivos rapere soleo ex acie: eo hoc nomen mihi est.
I am accustomed to snatch living enemies from the battlefield: that is why I have this name.
§656Pol te multo magis opinor vasa ahena ex aedibus.
By Pollux, I think you are much more likely to snatch bronze vessels from houses.
§657Non ita est.
It is not so.
sed scin quid te oro, Sure?
But do you know what I ask of you, Syrus?
§657bSciam si dixeris.
I shall know if you tell me.
§658Ego devortor extra portam huc in tabernam tertiam, §659apud anum illam doliarem, claudam crassam, Chrysidem.
I am putting up outside the gate here, at the third tavern, with that barrel of an old woman, lame and fat, Chrysis.
§660Quid nunc vis?
What do you want now?
§660bInde ut me arcessas, erus tuos ubi venerit.
That you summon me from there when your master comes.
§661Tuo arbitratu, maxume.
At your pleasure, by all means.
For as I have come tired from the journey, I want to refresh myself.
§662bSane sapis et consilium placet.
You are indeed wise, and I like your plan.
§663sed vide sís ne in quaestione sis, quando arcessam, mihi.
But see to it, please, that you are not to be sought for when I come to summon you.
§664Quin ubi prandero, dabo operam somno.
Why, when I have had my lunch, I shall devote myself to sleep.
§665bDormitum ut abeas.
That you go away to sleep.
§665cAbeo.
I am off.
— §665dAtque audin, Harpage?
And are you listening, Harpax?
§666iube sis te operiri: beatus éris, si consudaveris.
Mind you get yourself covered up: you will be well off if you sweat well.
§667di immortales, conservavit me illic homo adventu suo.
Immortal gods! That man has saved me by his arrival.
§668suo viatico redduxit me usque ex errore in viam.
With his own traveling provisions he has brought me back from my wandering onto the right path.
§669nam ipsa mi Opportunitas non potuit opportunius §670advenire quam haec allatast mi opportune epistula.
For Opportunity herself could not have arrived more opportunely for me than this letter has been opportunely brought to me.
§671nam haec allata cornu copiaest, ubi inest quidquid volo: §672hic doli, hic fallaciae omnes, hic sunt sycophantiae, §673hic argentum, híc amica amanti erili filio.
For this brought letter is a horn of plenty, in which is contained whatever I want: here are all the deceits, here the tricks, here the impostures, here is the money, here is the mistress for the master's loving son.
§674atque ego nunc me ut gloriosum faciam et copi pectore: §675quo modo quícque agerem, ut lenoni surruperem mulierculam, §676iam instituta ornata cuncta in ordine, animo ut volueram, §677certa deformata habebam;
And now I make myself boastful and rich in mind: how I should act in each detail, so that I might steal the little woman from the pimp, all things were already established and adorned in order, just as I had wished in my mind, I had them reliably sketched out.
But indeed this shall be so: this single goddess, Fortune, conquers the plans of a hundred wise men.
atque hoc verum est: proinde ut quisque Fortuna utitur, §680ita praecellet atque exinde sapere eum omnes dicimus.
And this is true: just as each person uses Fortune, so does he excel, and thence we all say that he is wise.
§681bene ubi quoi scimus consilium áccidisse, hominem catum §682eum esse declaramus, stultum autem illum quoi vortit male.
When we know that a plan has turned out well for someone, we declare that man to be clever, but him to be a fool for whom it turned out badly.
§683stulti hau scimus, frusta ut simus, quom quid cupienter dari §684petimus nobis, quasi quid in rem sit possimus noscere.
Fools that we are, we do not know how we strive in vain when we eagerly seek something to be given to us, as if we could know what is to our advantage.
§685certa mittimus, dum incerta petimus; atque hoc evenit §686in labore atque in dolore, ut mors obrepat interim.
We let go of certain things while we seek uncertain ones; and this happens in labor and in pain, so that death creeps upon us in the meantime.
§687sed iam satis est philosophatum.
But now enough of philosophizing.
nimis diu et longum loquor.
I am speaking too long and too tediously.
§688di immortales, aurichalco contra non carum fuit
Immortal gods! It was not dear even at the price of orichalcum.