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Plautus · Trinummus §962-1015

Charmides Exposes the Trickster and Stasimus's Panic

Passage 16 of 19 · Latin

Summary

The real Charmides reveals his identity, exposing and driving away the trickster. Left alone, Charmides ponders the situation when his slave Stasimus runs into the street, panicking about having lost his ring in a tavern.

§962quoi, si capitis res sit, nummum numquam credam plumbeum?
To whom, even if it were a matter of life or death, I would never trust a lead coin?
§963adgrediundust hic homo mi astu.
I must approach this man with cunning.
heus, Pax, te tribus verbis volo.
Hey, Pax, I want a few words with you.
§964Vel trecentis.
Even three hundred if you like.
§964bHaben tu id aurum quod accepisti a Charmide?
Do you have that gold which you received from Charmides?
§965Atque etiam Philippúm, numeratum illius in mensa manu, §966mille nummum.
And indeed the Philip gold coins, counted out on the table by his own hand, a thousand coins.
§966bNempe ab ipso id accepisti Charmide?
Surely you received it from Charmides himself?
§967Mirum quin ab avo eius aut próavo acciperem, qui sunt mortui.
It would be a wonder if I did not receive it from his grandfather or great-grandfather, who are dead.
§968Adulescens, cedo dum istuc aurum mi.
Young man, hand over that gold to me.
§968bQuod ego aurum dem tibi?
What gold should I give to you?
§969Quod a me te accepisse fassu's.
That which you confessed you received from me.
§969bAps te accepisse?
Received from you?
§969cIta loquor.
So I say.
§970Quis tu homo es?
What man are you?
§970bQui mille nummum tibi dedi ego sum Charmides.
I am Charmides who gave you the thousand coins.
§971Neque edepol tu is es neque hodie is umquam eris, auro huic quidem.
By Pollux, neither are you he, nor will you ever be he today, at least for this gold.
§972abi sis, nugator: nugari nugatori postulas.
Go away, please, trifler: you expect to play tricks on a trickster.
§973Charmides ego sum.
I am Charmides.
§973bNequiquam hercle es, nam nihil auri fero.
By Hercules, you are so in vain, for I bring no gold.
§974nimis argute óbrepsisti in eapse occasiuncula: §975postquam ego me aurum ferre dixi, post tu factu's Charmides; §976prius tu non eras, quam aúri feci mentionem.
Very cunningly did you slip in at this very opportunity: after I said I was carrying gold, then you became Charmides; before I made mention of the gold, you were not he.
nihil agis; §977proin tu te, itidem ut charmidatus es, rursum recharmida.
You are doing nothing; therefore, just as you became 'Charmidized', 'de-Charmidize' yourself again.
§978Quis ego sum igitur, siquidem is non sum qui sum?
Who am I then, if indeed I am not he who I am?
§978bQuid id ad me attinet?
What does that matter to me?
§979dúm ille ne sis quem ego esse nolo, sis mea caúsa qui lubet.
Provided you are not he whom I do not wish you to be, for all I care be whoever you please.
§980prius non is eras quí eras: nunc is factu's qui tum non eras.
Before you were not he who you were: now you have become he who you were not then.
§981Age si quid agis.
Come, if you are going to do anything.
§981bQuid ego agam?
What should I do?
§981cAurum redde.
Return the gold.
§981dDormitas, senex.
You are dreaming, old man.
§982Fassu's Charmidem dedisse aurum tibi.
You confessed that Charmides gave you the gold.
§982bScriptum quidem.
Yes, in writing.
§983Properas an non properas ire actutum ab his regionibus, §984dormitator, prius quam ego hic te iubeo mulcari male?
Are you going to hurry or not to go immediately from these regions, dreamer, before I order you to be badly beaten here?
§985Quam ob rem?
For what reason?
§985bQuia illum quem ementitus es, ego sum ipsus Charmides, §986quem tibi epistulas dedisse aiebas.
Because I am that Charmides himself whom you falsely claimed to be, who you said gave you the letters.
§986bEho, quaeso, an tu is es?
Oh, tell me, please, are you he?
§987Is enim vero sum.
I am indeed he.
§987bAin tu tandem? is ipsusne es?
Are you really?
§987cAio. §987dIpsus es?
Are you he himself?
§988Ipsus, inquam, Charmides sum.
I say so.
§988bErgo ipsusne es?
Are you himself?
§988cIpsissimus.
Himself, I tell you, I am Charmides.
§989abin hinc ab oculis?
Therefore, are you himself?
§989bEnim véro serio, quoniam advenis—
His very self.
§990vapulabis meo arbitratu ét novorum aedilium.
Will you get out of my sight?
§991At etiam maledicis? §991bImmo, salvos quandoquidem advenis—
Indeed seriously, since you are arriving— you will be beaten at my discretion and that of the new aediles.
§992di te perdant, si te flocci facio an periisses prius.
Do you still insult me?
§993ego ob hanc operam argentum accepi, te macto infortunio: §994ceterum qui sis, qui non sis, floccum non interduim.
Rather, since indeed you arrive safe— may the gods destroy you, if I care a straw whether you had died before.
§995ibo, ad illúm renuntiabo qui mihi tris nummos dedit, §996ut sciat se perdidisse.
I received money for this task, I gift you with misfortune: for the rest, who you are, or who you are not, I wouldn't care a straw.
ego abeo. male vive et vale.
I will go, I will report back to him who gave me three coins, so that he may know he has lost them.
§997qui te di omnes advenientem peregre perdant, Charmides.
I am off.
Live badly and farewell.
§998Postquam illic hinc ábiit, post loquendi libere §999videtur tempus venisse atque occasio.
May all the gods destroy you, Charmides, as you return from abroad.— After that man departed from here, the time and opportunity for speaking freely seem to have come.
§1000iam dudum meum ille pectus pnngit aculeus, §1001quid illí negoti fuerit ante aedis meas.
For a long time that sting has been pricking my chest, as to what business he had before my house.
§1002nam epistula illa mihi concenturiat metum §1003in corde et illud mille nummum quam rem agat.
For that letter assembles fear for me in my heart, and what that thousand coins is about.
§1004numquam edepol temere tinnit tintinnabulum: §1005nisi qui illud tractat aut movet, mutumst, tacet.
By Pollux, never does a bell ring without reason: unless someone touches or moves it, it is mute, it is silent.
§1006sed quis hic est, qui huc in plateam cursuram incipit?
But who is this, who begins running here into the street?
§1007lubet observare quid agat: huc concessero.
I would like to observe what he is doing: I will withdraw here.
§1008Stasime, fac te propere celerem, recipe te ad dominum domum, §1009ne subito metus exoriatur scapulis stultitia tua.
Stasimus, make yourself quick in a hurry, betake yourself home to your master, lest suddenly fear arise for your shoulders through your foolishness.
§1010adde gradum, adpropera.
Hurry your pace, make haste.
iam dudum factumst, cum abiisti domo.
It has been a long time since you left home.
§1011cave sis tibi, ne bubuli in te cottabi crebri crepent, §1012si aberis ab eri quaestione.
Take care, please, lest frequent cowhide whip-strokes sound upon you, if you are absent from your master's search.
ne destiteris currere.
Do not stop running.
§1013ecce hominem te, Stasime, nihili: satin in thermipolio §1014condalium es oblitus, postquam thermopotasti gutturem?
Look at yourself, Stasimus, a worthless man: have you not forgotten your ring in the tavern, after you warmed your throat with hot drink?
§1015recipe te et recurre petere re recenti.
Betake yourself back and run back to seek it while the matter is fresh.

Notes

  1. 962quoi — An archaic spelling of the relative pronoun cui. It refers back to ei (dative of is) at the end of the previous chunk, functioning in a rhetorical question: "To whom... would I trust...?"
  2. 962si capitis res sit — A conditional clause with the present subjunctive, expressing a hypothetical extreme situation: "even if it were a matter of civil status or life itself."
  3. 967Mirum quin — An idiomatic sarcastic expression meaning "It would be a wonder if... not" (implying "of course I did"). It is followed by the imperfect subjunctive acciperem, presenting a highly improbable alternative (receiving gold from dead ancestors).
  4. 977recharmida — The imperative of recharmido ("de-Charmidize"), a Plautine neologism coined to contrast with charmidatus es ("Charmidized", in the guise of Charmides), meaning "return to your own self" or "de-disguise yourself."
  5. 988cIpsissimus — A comic superlative coined from the intensive pronoun ipse, meaning "his very self" or "the most identical self."
  6. 1002concenturiat — A military term meaning to assemble or marshal into centuries (centuriae), applied metaphorically to the accumulation or marshalling of fear within the heart.
  7. 1011bubuli... cottabi — A characteristically Plautine comic metaphor, playing on the Greek drinking game "cottabus" to describe the cracking sound of cowhide (bubulus) whips on a slave's back.

Cite this passage

Plautus, Trinummus §962-1015. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0119.phi019.humanitext-lat2:962-1015

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

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