Humanitext Reader

Plautus · Rudens §489-564c

Quarrel of Labrax and Charmides and News of the Girls

Passage 8 of 22 · Latin

Summary

Having escaped from the shipwrecked vessel, the pimp Labrax and his guest Charmides exchange bitter insults and mutual recriminations on the shore while shivering with cold. Sceparnio then appears from the temple and reveals that two weeping young women are clinging to the statue of Venus inside.

§489edepol, Libertas, lepida es, quae numquam pedem §490voluisti in navem cum Hercule una imponere.
Charmides: By Pollux, Freedom, you are charming, you who never wanted to set foot on a ship together with Hercules.
§491sed ubi ille meus est hospes, qui me perdidit?
But where is that guest of mine, who ruined me?
§492atque eccum incedit.
Ah, look, here he comes.
§492bQuo malum properas, Labrax?
Where the mischief are you hurrying, Labrax?
§493nam equidem te nequeo consequi tam strenue.
For indeed I cannot follow you so strenuously.
§494Vtinam te prius quam óculis vidissem meis, §495malo cruciatu in Sicilia perbiteres, §496quem propter hoc mihi optigit misero mali.
Labrax: I wish that before I saw you with my eyes, you had perished with a miserable torture in Sicily, on whose account this evil has occurred to miserable me.
§497Vtinam, quom in aedis me ad te adduxisti tuas, §498in carcere illo potius cubuissem die.
Charmides: I wish, when you brought me into your house, I had lain in that prison on that day instead.
§499deosque ímmortales quaeso, dum vivas uti §500omnes tui símiles hospites habeas tibi.
And I pray the immortal gods that, as long as you live, you may have all your guests similar to yourself.
§501Malam fortunam in aedis te adduxi meas.
Labrax: It was bad fortune that I brought into my house when I brought you.
§502quid mihi scelesto tibi erat auscultatio, §503quidve hinc abitio quidve in navem inscensio?
Why did I, wicked one, listen to you, or why did I depart from here, or why did I go on board the ship?
§504ubi perdidi etiam plus boni quam mihi fuit.
Where I lost even more goods than I had.
§505Pol minime miror, navis si fractast tibi, §506scelus te ét sceleste parta quae vexit bona.
Charmides: By Pollux, I don't wonder at all if your ship was wrecked, which carried you, a crime, and your criminally acquired goods.
§507Pessum dedisti me blandimentis tuis.
Labrax: You have ruined me with your flatteries.
§508Scelestiorem cenam cenavi tuam, §509quam quae Thyestae quondam aut posita est Tereo.
Charmides: I ate a more wicked dinner of yours than that which was once set before Thyestes or Tereus.
§510Perii, animo male fit.
Labrax: I am undone, I feel sick.
contine quaeso caput.
Please hold my head.
§511Pulmoneum edepol nimis velim vomitum vomas.
Charmides: By Pollux, I wish you would vomit up your very lungs.
§512Eheu, Palaestra atque Ampelisca, ubi estis nunc?
Labrax: Alas, Palaestra and Ampelisca, where are you now?
§513Piscibus in alto, credo, praebent pabulum.
Charmides: Providing food for the fish in the deep, I believe.
§514Mendicitatem mi optulisti opera tua, §515dum tuis ausculto magnidicis mendaciis.
Labrax: You brought beggary upon me by your means, while I listened to your grandiose lies.
§516Bonam est quod habeas gratiam merito mihi, §517qui te ex insulso salsum feci opera mea.
Charmides: You have good reason to be grateful to me, who made you salty from being unsalted by my means.
§518Quin tu hinc is a me in maxumam malam crucem?
Labrax: Why don't you go away from me to the greatest gallows?
§519Eas.
Charmides: Go there yourself.
easque res agebam commodum.
And I was just doing that very thing.
§520Eheu, quis vivit me mortalis miserior?
Labrax: Alas, what mortal lives more miserable than I?
§521Ego multo tanto miserior quam tu, Labrax.
Charmides: I am by so much more miserable than you, Labrax.
§522Qui?
Labrax: How so?
§522bQuia ego indignus sum, tu dignus qui sies.
Charmides: Because I do not deserve it, while you deserve to be so.
§523O scirpe, scirpe, laudo fortunas tuas, §524qui semper servas gloriam aritudinis.
Charmides: O rush, rush, I praise your fortune, you who always keep your glory of dryness.
§525Equidem me ad velitationem exerceo, §526nam omnia corusca prae temore fabulor.
Indeed I am practicing skirmishing, for I speak everything shivering from fear.
§527Edepol, Neptune, es balineator frigidus: §528cum vestimentis postquam aps té abii, algeo.
By Pollux, Neptune, you are a cold bath-keeper: since I left you with my clothes on, I am freezing.
§529Ne thermipolium quidem ullum ínstruit, §530ita salsam praehibet potionem et frigidam.
He doesn't even set up any hot-drink shop, so salty and cold a potion does he provide.
§531Vt fortunati sunt fabri ferrarii, §532qui apud carbones adsident: semper calent.
How fortunate are the blacksmiths, who sit by the coals: they are always warm.
§533Vtinam fortuna nunc anetina úterer, §534ut quom exiissem éx aqua, arerem tamen.
I wish I had the fortune of a duck now, so that when I came out of the water, I would still be dry.
§535Quid si aliquo ad ludos me pro manduco locem?
What if I hire myself out somewhere for the games as a glutton-mask?
§536Quapropter?
Labrax: Why so?
§536bQuia pol clare crepito dentibus.
Charmides: Because, by Pollux, I chatter loudly with my teeth.
§537Iure optumo me élavisse árbitror.
Labrax: With very good right I think I have been cleaned out.
§538Qui?
Charmides: How so?
§538bQui una auderem tecum in navem ascendere, §539qui a fundamento mi usque movisti mare.
Labrax: Since I dared to go on board a ship with you, you who stirred up the sea for me from its very foundation.
§540Tibi auscultavi, tu promittebas mihi §541illi esse quaestum maximum meretricibus, §542ibi me conruere posse aiebas ditias.
I listened to you; you promised me that there would be the greatest gain for harlots there, you said I could heap up riches there.
§543Iam postulabas te, impurata belua, §544totam Siciliam devoraturum insulam?
Charmides: Did you already expect, you filthy beast, that you would devour the whole island of Sicily?
§545Quaenam ballaena meum voravit vidulum, §546aurum atque argentum ubi omne compactum fuit?
Labrax: What whale swallowed my trunk, where all my gold and silver was packed?
§547Eadem illa, credo, quae meum marsuppium, §548quod plenum argenti fuit in sacciperio.
Charmides: The very same one, I believe, that swallowed my purse, which was full of silver in my bag.
§549Eheu, redactus sum usque ad unam hanc tuniculam §550et ad hoc misellum pallium.
Labrax: Alas, I am reduced to this single little tunic and this wretched poor cloak.
perii oppido.
I am utterly ruined.
§551Vel consociare mihi quidem tecum licet: §552aequas habemus partes.
Charmides: Indeed you may partner with me: we have equal shares.
§552bSaltem si mihi §553mulierculae essent salvae, spes aliquae forent.
Labrax: At least if my young women were safe, there would be some hope.
§554nunc si me adulescens Plesidippus viderit, §555quo ab arrabonem pro Palaestra acceperam, §556iam is exhibebit hic mihi negotium.
Now if young Plesidippus sees me, from whom I had received an earnest-money for Palaestra, he will cause me trouble here immediately.
§557Quid, stulte, ploras? tibi quidem edepol copiast,
Charmides: Why do you weep, fool?
§558dum lingua vivet, qui rem solvas omnibus.
By Pollux, you have plenty of resources, as long as your tongue is alive, to pay off everyone.
§559Quíd illuc, opsecro, negotist quod duae mulierculae §560hic in fano Veneris signum flentes amplexae tenent, §561nescio quém metuentes miserae? nocte hac aiunt proxuma
Sceparnio: What business is that, I pray, that two young women are here in the temple of Venus holding the statue in their embrace, weeping, fearing some unknown person, poor things?
§562se iactatas, atque eiectas hodie esse aiunt e mari.
They say that last night they were tossed about, and they say they were cast out from the sea today.
§563Opsecro hercle, adulescens, ubi istaec sunt quas memoras mulieres?
Labrax: I pray, by Hercules, young man, where are those women you mention?
§564Hic in fano Veneris.
Sceparnio: Here in the temple of Venus.
§564bQuot sunt?
Labrax: How many are there?
§564cTotidem quot ego et tu sumus.
Sceparnio: Just as many as you and I are.

Notes

  1. §489quae numquam pedem voluisti — Relative clause with indicative (voluisti) modifying the antecedent Libertas. It functions as a causal clause, giving the reason why Freedom is charming (namely, that she never wanted to set foot on a ship).
  2. §502quid mihi scelesto tibi erat auscultatio — A colloquial construction combining the dative of possessor (mihi scelesto) with a verbal noun in -tio (auscultatio), governing a second dative (tibi, from the verb auscultare). It expresses the question "Why did I, a scoundrel, listen to you?"
  3. §517ex insulso salsum feci — A double-entendre playing on the literal and metaphorical meanings of "insulsus" (unsalted / foolish) and "salsus" (salted / witty, experienced). Charmides jokes that by shipwrecking Labrax in the sea, he literally "salted" him and thus made him "witty" or "experienced".
  4. §521multo tanto — A colloquial double expression of degree of difference ("by much so much") modifying the comparative adjective miserior, reinforcing the assertion of being "by far so much more miserable."
  5. §525velitationem — A wordplay on the military term "velitatio" (skirmishing) and the verb "velitari" (to shiver / chatter one's teeth with cold). It corresponds to "corusca" (shaking/shivering words) in the following line.
  6. §537elavisse — Perfect infinitive of "elavo" (to wash clean). Here used with a double meaning: literally being washed by the sea, and colloquially meaning "to be cleaned out" or "to lose all one's possessions."
  7. §558qui rem solvas — Subjunctive present (solvas) in a relative clause of characteristic or means introduced by "qui," indicating the capability of paying off one's debts (i.e., with lies and smooth talking as long as the tongue is alive).

Cite this passage

Plautus, Rudens §489-564c. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi017.humanitext-lat2:489-564c

Please note the AI-draft status of the translation and the date accessed.

Translation, notes and summary are AI-generated drafts, revised through reader feedback.