§384Quid id est?
What is that?
First of all, since you are blessed with a child, and since you have come through well and safe, I rejoice.
§386Concedite hinc vos intro atque operite ostium.
Go inside from here, you girls, and close the door.
§387tu nunc superstes solus sermoni meo es.
Now you alone remain for my conversation.
§388tibi mea consilia summa semper credidi.
To you I have always entrusted my greatest plans.
§389equidem neque peperi puerum neque praegnas fui; §390verum adsimulavi me esse praegnatem: haud nego.
Indeed, I have neither given birth to a child nor been pregnant; but I pretended that I was pregnant: I don't deny it.
§391Quem propter, o mea vita?
For whose sake, oh my life?
For the sake of the soldier Babylonian, who treated me like his wife for a year while he was here.
§393bEgo senseram.
I had noticed that.
§394sed quid istuc? cui rei te adsimulare retulit?
But what is that? What good did it do you to pretend?
So that there would be some snare and bond, so that he would return to me again.
§397nunc huc remisit nuper ad me epistulam, §398sese experturum quanti sese penderem: §399si quod peperissem id non necarem ac tollerem, §400bona sua med habiturum omnia.
Now he recently sent a letter here to me, saying that he would test how much I valued him: that if I did not destroy what I had given birth to, but reared it, I should have all his goods.
§400bAusculto lubens.
I am listening with pleasure.
§401quid denique agitis?
What, then, are you doing?
§401bMater ancillas iubet, §402quoniam iam decimus mensis adventat prope, §403aliam aliorsum ire, praemandare et quaerere §404puerum aut puellam, qui supponatur mihi.
My mother orders the maidservants, since the tenth month is already near at hand, to go in different directions, to give advance instructions and look for a boy or girl to be substituted for me.
§405quid multa verba faciam? tonstricem Suram
Why make many words?
§406novisti nostram, quae mercedem sese habet?†
You know our female barber Sura, who keeps her earnings for herself?
§407Novi.
I know her.
§407bHaec ut opera circumit, per familias, §408puerum vestigat; clanculum ad me detulit, §409datum sibi esse dixit.
She, as she goes around households on business, traces a child; she brought him secretly to me and said he had been given to her.
§409bO mercis malae.
Oh, bad merchandise!
So now, not she who gave birth to him first is his mother, but you, second.
§411bOrdine omnem rem tenes.
You understand the whole matter in order.
Now, as the soldier sent a messenger ahead to me, he will be here before long.
Meanwhile, are you now taking care of yourself here as if you were a woman who has just given birth?
Why not, when the business can be managed beautifully without any labor?
§416ad suom quemque aequom est quaestum ésse callidum.
It is right for everyone to be clever for their own gain.
§417Quid me futurum est, quando miles venerit?
What will become of me when the soldier comes?
§418relictusne abs te vivam?
Shall I live abandoned by you?
§418bVbi illud quod volo §419habebo ab illo, facile inveniam quo modo §420divortium et discordiam inter nos parem: §421post id ego tecum, mea voluptas, usque ero §422assiduo.
When I have what I want from him, I shall easily find a way to produce a separation and discord between us: after that, my pleasure, I shall be with you continuously for ever.
§422bImmo hercle vero accubuo mavelim.
Nay, by Hercules, I would rather prefer lying together.
Today I want to sacrifice to the gods on behalf of the boy, as should be done on the fifth day.
§424bCenseo.
I agree.
§425Non audes aliquid mihi dare munusculum?
Won't you dare to give me some little present?
Indeed, by Hercules, I seem to make a profit for myself, my pleasure, when you ask me for anything.
§427bAt ego, ubi abstuli.
And I, when I have carried it off.
§428Iam faxo hic aderit.
I will see to it that it is here at once.
servolum huc mittam meum.
I will send my little servant here.
§429Sic facito.
Do so.
§429bQuidquid attulerit, boni consulas.
Whatever he brings, take it in good part.
By Castor, I know you will take care of the gift, so that something I won't regret may be sent to me.
§432Num quippiam aliud me vis?
Do you want anything else of me?
That when you have leisure you visit me again, and fare well.
— §433bVale.
Farewell.
§434pro di immortales, non amantis mulieris,
Oh immortal gods!
§435sed sociae únanimantis, fidentis fuit §436officium facere quod modo haec fecit mihi, §437suppositionem pueri quae mihi credidit, §438germanae quod sorori non credit soror.
To do the duty which she just now did for me was the part not of a loving woman, but of a like-minded, trusting partner, who trusted me with the substitution of the boy, which a sister does not trust to her own sister.
She has now shown herself to me to her very marrow: I know she will never be unfaithful to me as long as she lives.
§441egone illam ut non amem? egone illi ut non bene velim?
How could I not love her? How could I not wish her well?
§442me potius non amabo quam huic desit amor.
I would rather not love myself than that love for her should be lacking.
§443ego istí non munus mittam? iam † modo ex hoc loco
Shall I not send a gift to her?
Right now from this place I will order five minae to be carried to her, and besides, food to be bought for exactly one mina.
It will be much better for her, who wishes me well, than for myself, who bring all evils upon myself.
— §448Puero ísti date mammam.
Give the breast to that boy!
út miserae §449_450matrés sollicitaeque éx animo sumus crúciamurque!
How we wretched mothers are anxious from our souls and tortured!
§451edepól commentum mále, cumque eam rem in córde agito, §452nimió—minus perhibemúr malae quam sumus íngenio.
By Pollux, it is a bad trick; and when I ponder that matter in my heart, we are considered far less bad than we actually are by nature.
§453egó prima dé me, domó docta, díco.
I say this first of all about myself, taught by my own experience.