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Terence · Heauton Timorumenos §474..-545b..

Chremes Persuading Menedemus and Prompting Syrus to Scheme

Passage 11 of 20 · Latin

Summary

Chremes persuades Menedemus to use a slave's trickery to indirectly fulfill his son's financial needs, and after briefly leaving, egg on Syrus to devise a scheme to deceive Menedemus.

§474..Consilia ad adolescentes: et tibi perdere
[Chremes] Give plans to the young men.
§475..Talentum hoc pacto satius est quam illo minam.
And for you, it is better to lose a talent in this way than a mina in that.
§476..Non nunc pecunia agitur;
sed illud, quomodo §477..Minimo periclo id demus adolescentulo.
Now it is not a question of money; but this, how we may give it to the youth with the least danger.
§478..Nam si semel tuum animum ille intellexerit,
§479..Prius proditurum te tuam vitam, et prius §480..Pecuniam omnem, quam abs te amittas filium; hui, §481..Quantam fenestram ad nequitiam patefeceris!
For if once he perceives your mind, that you would rather surrender your life first, and first all your money, than lose your son from you; oh, what a wide window to wickedness you will have opened!
§482..Tibi autem porro ut non sit suave vivere:
§483..Nam deteriores omnes sumus licentia.
And furthermore, for you it would not be pleasant to live hereafter: for we all become worse by indulgence.
§484..Quodcunque inciderit in mentem volet: neque id
§485..Putabit, pravum siet an rectum quod petet.
Whatever comes into his mind he will want; nor will he consider whether what he asks is right or wrong.
§486..Tu rem perire et ipsum non poteris pati.
§487..Dare denegaris;
You will not be able to bear your property going to ruin and his own destruction.
ibit ad illud ilico,
§488..Quo maxime apud te se valere sentiet: §489..Abiturum se abs te esse ilico minabitur.
If you refuse to give, he will go at once to that by which he feels he has the greatest power over you: he will threaten that he will leave you immediately.
§490..Videre verum, atque ita uti res est, dicere.
[Menedemus] You seem to see the truth, and to speak just as the matter is.
§491..Somnum hercle ego hac nocte oculis non vidi meis, §492..Dum id quaero tibi qui filium restituerem.
[Chremes] By Hercules, I have not seen sleep with my eyes this night, while I was seeking how I might restore your son to you.
§493..Cedo dextram: porro te idem oro ut facias, Chreme.
[Menedemus] Give me your right hand: I beg you to continue to do the same, Chremes.
§494..Paratus sum.
[Chremes] I am ready.
§494b..Scin quid nunc facere te volo?
[Menedemus] Do you know what I want you to do now?
[Chremes] Tell me.
§495b..Quod sensisti illos me incipere fallere. §496..Id ut maturent facere: cupio illi dare §497..Quod vult: cupio iam videre.
[Menedemus] Since you perceived that they are beginning to deceive me, let them hasten to do it: I desire to give him what he wants; I desire to see him now.
§497b..Operam dabo.
[Chremes] I will do my best.
§498..Paulum negoti mihi obstat: Simus et Crito
§499..Vicini nostri hic ambigunt de finibus: §500..Me cepere arbitrum: ibo ac dicam, ut dixeram §501..Operam daturum me, hodie non posse his dare.
A little business stands in my way: Simus and Crito, our neighbors here, are disputing about their boundaries: they have chosen me as arbitrator: I will go and say, as I had said that I would attend to them, that I cannot attend to them today.
§502..Continuo hic adero.
I will be here immediately.
§502b..Ita quaeso.
[Menedemus] Please do so.
Di vestram fidem!
Ye Gods!
§503..Ita comparatam esse hominum naturam omnium,
§504..Aliena ut melius videant et diiudicent
Is the nature of all men so constituted, that they see and judge other people's affairs better than their own?
§505..Quam sua? an eo fit quia in re nostra aut gaudio §506..Sumus praepediti nimio aut aegritudine?
Or does it happen because in our own concern we are hindered either by too much joy or by grief?
§507..Hic mihi quanto nunc plus sapit quam egomet mihi!
How much wiser he is for me now than I am for myself!
§508..Dissolvi me otiosus operam ut tibi darem.
[Chremes] I have disengaged myself so that I might leisurely give you my help.
§509..Syrus est prehendendus, atque adhortandus mihi.
Syrus must be caught by me, and urged on.
§510..A me nescio quis exit: concede hinc domum,
§511..Ne nos inter nos congruere sentiant.
Someone is coming out of my house: step aside home, lest they perceive that we are acting in concert.
§512..Hac illac circumcursa: inveniendum est tamen §513..Argentum: intendenda in senem est fallacia.
[Syrus] Run this way and that: yet the money must be found: a trick must be aimed at the old man.
§514..Num me fefellit hosce id struere? Videlicet
[Chremes] Did it escape me that they were planning this?
§515..Cliniae ille servus tardiusculus est, §516..Idcirco huic nostro tradita est provincia.
Obviously, that servant of Clinia's is a bit slow, therefore this task has been handed over to our fellow.
§517..Quis hic loquitur? Perii.
[Syrus] Who is speaking here? I am undone.
Numnam haec audivit?
Did he hear this?
[Chremes] Syrus.
[Syrus] Oh.
§518..Quid tu istic?
[Chremes] What are you doing there?
§518b..Recte equidem: sed te miror, Chreme, §519..Tam mane qui heri tantum biberis.
[Syrus] Nothing but what is right: but I wonder at you, Chremes, rising so early, when you drank so much yesterday.
§519b..Nihil nimis.
[Chremes] Nothing too much.
§520.."Nihil" narras? visa vero est, quod dici solet,
[Syrus] "Nothing," you say?
§521..Aquilae senectus.
It really seemed like, as the saying goes, the old age of an eagle.
[Chremes] Come now.
§521c..Mulier commoda et §522..Faceta haec meretrix.
[Syrus] She is an obliging and witty woman, this courtesan.
§522b..Sane, idem visa est mihi.
[Chremes] Indeed, she seemed so to me too.
§523..Et quidem hercle forma luculenta.
[Syrus] And indeed, by Hercules, of splendid beauty.
§523b..Sic satis.
[Chremes] Fairly so.
§524..Ita non ut olim; sed uti nunc, sane bona: §525..Minimeque miror Clinia hanc si deperit.
[Syrus] Not indeed as formerly, but as things are now, really good: and I do not wonder at all if Clinia is madly in love with her.
§526..Sed habet patrem quendam avidum, miserum, atque aridum,
§527..Vicinum hunc: nostine? At quasi is non divitiis
But he has a certain greedy, wretched, and dry father, this neighbor of ours; you know him?
§528..Abundet, gnatus eius profugit inopia.
Yet as if he were not abounding in wealth, his son fled because of poverty.
§529..Scis esse factum ut dico?
Do you know that it happened as I say?
§529b..Quid ego nesciam?
[Chremes] Why should I not know?
§530..Hominem pistrino dignum.
[Syrus] A man worthy of the treadmill.
[Chremes] Who?
§530c..Istunc servulum §531..Dico adolescentis.
[Syrus] That slave-boy of the young man, I mean.
§531b..Syre, tibi timui male.
[Chremes] (Aside) Syrus, I feared badly for you.
§532..Qui passus est id fieri.
[Syrus] Who allowed that to happen.
§532b..Quid faceret?
[Chremes] What was he to do?
§532c..Rogas?
[Syrus] Do you ask?
§533..Aliquid reperiret, fingeret fallacias,
§534..Unde esset adolescenti amicae quod daret; §535..Atque hunc difficilem invitum servaret senem.
He should have found something, devised tricks, whence there would be what the young man could give to his mistress, and he would have saved this difficult, unwilling old man.
§536..Garris.
[Chremes] You are prating.
§536b..Haec facta ab illo oportebat, Syre.
Those things ought to have been done by him, Syrus.
§537..Eho quaeso, laudas qui heros fallunt?
[Syrus] Oh, please, do you praise those who deceive their masters?
§537b..In loco
[Chremes] In season
§538..Ego vero laudo.
I indeed praise them.
§538b..Recte sane.
[Syrus] Very right indeed.
§538c..Quippe quia §539..Magnarum saepe id remedium aegritudinum est.
[Chremes] Because indeed it is often a remedy for great afflictions.
§540..Huic iam mansisset unicus gnatus domi.
For this man, his only son would now have remained at home.
§541..Iocone an serio illaec dicat, nescio; §542..Nisi mihi quidem addit animum, quo lubeat magis.
[Syrus] (Aside) Whether he says those things in jest or in earnest, I know not; except indeed that he gives me courage, by which I may have more pleasure in it.
§543..Et nunc quid exspectat, Syre? an dum hinc denuo
[Chremes] And now what is he waiting for, Syrus?
§544..Abeat, cum tolerare huius sumtus non queat?
Until he departs from here again, since he cannot tolerate her expenses?
§545..Nonne ad senem aliquam fabricam fingit?
Does he not devise some plot against the old man?
§545b..Stolidus est.
[Syrus] He is stupid.

Notes

  1. 475tibi perdere talentum hoc pacto satius est quam illo minam — `tibi` (for you) is a dative of reference/judgment, and `satius` (preferable) is a comparative adjective. The infinitive `perdere` (to lose) acts as the subject. `hoc pacto` (in this way) and `illo [pacto]` (in that way) are contrasted. Chremes argues that it is better for Menedemus to lose a larger sum (talent) willingly through a trick than to lose a smaller sum (mina) and spoil his son.
  2. 482Tibi autem porro ut non sit suave vivere — `ut non sit` is understood either as continuing the exclamation from the previous sentence (line 481) or as a consecutive clause expressing result ("with the result that it will not be pleasant for you to live").
  3. 503Ita comparatam esse hominum naturam — This is an accusative with infinitive of exclamation. `comparatam esse` is the infinitive, with `hominum naturam omnium` as its subject accusative, expressing Menedemus's astonishment and lament ("That the nature of all men should be so constituted!") following his exclamation `Di vestram fidem!`.
  4. 536bHaec facta ab illo oportebat, Syre — `oportebat` (it was necessary / ought to have been) is an impersonal verb in the imperfect, taking the accusative with infinitive `haec facta [esse] ab illo` (that these things be done by him) as its subject, where `esse` is omitted. Chremes is subtly egging Syrus on, suggesting that Clinia's slave should have executed such a plan.

Cite this passage

Terence, Heauton Timorumenos §474..-545b... Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0134.phi002.humanitext-lat2:474..-545b..

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