§515Mars peregre adveniens salutat Nerienem uxorem suam. §516quom tu recte provenisti quomque es aucta liberis, §517gratulor, quom mihi tibique magnum peperisti decus.
"Mars arriving from abroad greets his wife Neriene." Since you have safely come through, and since you have been blessed with children, I congratulate you, since you have given birth to a great honor for me and for yourself.
§518Salve, qui me interfecisti paene vita et lumine §519quique mihi magni doloris per voluptatem tuam §520condidisti in corpus, quo nunc etiam morbo misera sum.
Greetings, you who almost destroyed me, depriving me of life and light, and who, for the sake of your own pleasure, planted a great pain in my body, from which sickness I am even now wretched.
§521Heia, haud ab re, mea voluptas, tibi istic obvenit labos: §522filium peperisti, qui aedis spoliis opplebit tuas.
Ah, not without reason, my delight, did that labor come upon you: you have given birth to a son who will fill your house with spoils.
§523Multo ecastor magis oppletis tritici ópust granariis, §524ne, ille prius quam spolia capiat, hic nos extinxit fames.
By Castor, there is much more need of filled granaries of wheat, lest, before he can capture any spoils, hunger here should destroy us.
§525Habe bonum animum.
Keep a good heart.
§525bSavium pete hinc sis.
Seek a kiss from here, please.
ah, nequeo caput §526tollere, ita dolet itaque ego † medulo, neque etiam queo §527pedibus mea sponte ambulare.
Ah, I cannot raise my head, it hurts so much, and I am in pain to my very marrow, nor can I yet walk on my feet of my own accord.
By Hercules, if you were to bid me seek your kiss from the middle of the sea, I would not shrink from seeking it, my honey.
You have experienced that this is so: now you shall experience, my Phronesium, that I love you.
adduxi ancillas tibi eccas ex Suria duas, §531is te dono.
Look, I have brought you two maidservants from Syria, I give them to you as a gift.
adduce hoc tu istas.
Bring those girls here.
sed istae reginae domi §532suae fuerunt ambae, earum patriam ego excidi manu.
But both of those were queens at home in their own country, whose land I destroyed with my own hand.
§533his te dono.
I give them to you as a gift.
Are you dissatisfied with how many maidservants I feed, that you must bring an extra swarm besides, to eat up my food?
§535Hoc quidem herclést ingratum donum.
This is indeed, by Hercules, an ungrateful gift.
cedo tu mi istam purpuram.
Hand over that purple cloak to me.
§536mea voluptas, attuli eccam pallulam ex Phrygia tibi.
My delight, look, I have brought you a small cloak from Phrygia.
§537tene tibi.
Take it for yourself.
§537bHocine mi ob labores tantos tantillum dari?
Is this little bit to be given to me for such great labors?
§538Perii hercle ego miser.
By Hercules, I am wretchedly ruined.
iam mi auro contra constat filius: §539†etiam num mali pendit addit purpuram.
Now my son costs me his weight in gold: she still values it at nothing and demands more purple.
ex Arabia tibi §540attuli tus, Ponto amomum.
From Arabia for you I have brought frankincense, from Pontus amomum.
tene tibi, voluptas mea.
Take it for yourself, my delight.
§541Accipe hoc, Astaphium, abduce hasce hinc e conspectu Suras.
Take this, Astaphium, lead these Syrian women away from my sight.
§542Ecquid amas me?
Do you love me at all?
§542bNihil ecastor, neque meres.
Not at all, by Castor, nor do you deserve it.
§542cNilne huic sat est?
Is nothing enough for this woman?
§543ne bonum verbum quidem unum dixit.
She has not said even one good word.
viginti minis §544venire illaec posse credo dona quae ei dono dedi.
For twenty minae I believe those gifts which I gave her as a present could be sold.
She is violently angry with me now, I feel and understand it; but I will go away.
quid ais? nunc tu num nevis mé, voluptas mea, §547quo vocatus sum ire ad cenam? mox huc cubitum venero.
What do you say? Now, my delight, you do not wish me not to go where I have been invited to dinner? I shall come back here soon to sleep.
§548quid taces? planissume edepol perii.
Why are you silent? By Pollux, I am most clearly ruined.
sed quid illuc novi est?
But what is that new thing there?
Who is this man, who leads such a great procession? It is certain I must observe where they are carrying it.
huic credo fertur.
I believe it is being carried to this house.
verum iam scibo magis.
But soon I shall know better.
Go, go this way together, you damage-bearers to a woman, carry-outers, exporters of goods.
§553satin, sí quis amat, nequit quín nihili sit atque ímprobis se artibus éxpoliat?
Is it not enough that, if anyone is in love, he cannot help but be worthless and strip himself by wicked arts?
§554nam hóc qui sciám, ne quis íd quaerat éx me, §555domist qui facit improba facta amator, §556qui bona sua pro stercore habet, foras iubet ferri, metuit §557ne apud nos non mundissimum sit; §558puras sibi esse volt aedis: domi quidquid habet, eicitur ἔξω.
For as to how I know this, lest anyone should ask me, there is a lover at my home who does wicked deeds, who regards his goods as dung, orders them to be carried out, and fears lest it should not be extremely clean at our house; he wants his house to be empty: whatever he has at home is thrown outside.
§559quándoquidem ipsus pérditum se it, sécreto hercle equidem éum adiutabo, §560néque mea quidem ópera umquam hilo mínus propere quam póte peribit.
Since he himself is going to ruin, by Hercules, I indeed will secretly help him, nor indeed through my effort will he perish any less quickly than he can.
§561nám iam de hoc obsónio de mína deminui uná modo §562quínque nummos: míhi detraxi pártem Herculáneam.
For already from this marketing, from one mina, I have just deducted five nummi: I took out the Herculean share for myself.
§563nam hoc adsimile est quasi de fluvio quí aquam derivat sibi: §564nisi derivetur, tamen omnis ea aqua ábeat in mare; §565nam hoc in mare abit misereque perit sine bona omni gratia.
For this is just like one who diverts water for himself from a river: unless it were diverted, all that water would still go into the sea; for this goes into the sea and perishes wretchedly without any good thanks.
When I see these things happening, I steal, I pilfer, I take plunder from the plunder.
I think a courtesan is just like the sea: what you give she devours, nor is she ever satisfied with what is given.
§570hoc sáltem: rem sérvat nec úlli ubi sit appáret:
There is this at least: she keeps the property, and it does not appear to anyone where it is;