§219Nam aut iam revertere, aut mox noctu te adiget horsum insomnia.
PARMENO: For either you will return now, or soon at night sleeplessness will drive you back here.
§220Opus faciam ut defatiger usque ingratiis ut dormiam.
PHAEDRIA: I will work so hard as to exhaust myself, so that I may sleep even against my will.
§221Vigilabis lassus; hoc plus facies.
PARMENO: You will keep watch while tired; you will only achieve this much more.
§221bAh nihil dicis Parmeno.
PHAEDRIA: Ah, you say nothing to the point, Parmeno.
§222Eiicienda hercle haec est mollities animi: nimis me indulgeo.
By Hercules, this weakness of mind must be cast off: I indulge myself too much.
§223Tandem non ego illa caream, si sit opus, vel totum triduum?
After all, could I not do without her, if need be, even for a whole three days?
§223bHui!
PARMENO: Whew!
§224Universum triduum? vide quid agas.
A whole three days? See what you are doing.
§224bStat sententia.
PHAEDRIA: My mind is made up.
§225Di boni, quid hoc morbi est? adeone homines immutarier
PARMENO: Good gods, what kind of disease is this?
§226Ex amore ut non cognoscas eundem esse? Hoc nemo fuit
That men should be so changed by love that you wouldn't recognize him as the same person!
§227Minus ineptus magis severus quisquam, nec magis continues.
There was no one less foolish, more serious, or more self-controlled than this man.
§228Sed quis hic est qui huc pergit? at at! hic quidem est parasitus Gnatho
But who is this coming this way? Ah, ah! It is indeed Gnatho, the soldier's parasite.
§229Militis: ducit secum una virginem dono huic.
He is bringing a maiden with him as a gift for her.
Papae!
Amazing!
What a beautiful face! It will be a wonder if I don't make a miserable showing today with my worn-out eunuch here.
Haec superat ipsam Thaidem.
She surpasses Thais herself.
§232Di immortales! homini homo quid praestat, stulto intelligens
GNATHO: Immortal gods! How much one man excels another, what a difference there is between a fool and a man of sense!
§233Quid interest! hoc adeo ex hac re venit in mentem mihi.
This very thing came into my mind from this circumstance.
§234Conveni hodie adveniens quendam mei loci hinc atque ordinis, §235Hominem haud impurum, itidem patria qui abligurierat bona.
Today on my way I met a certain man of my own station and rank, a man not of low birth, who likewise had squandered his paternal estate.
§236Video sentum, squalidum, aegrum, pannis annisque obsitum.
I saw him dirty, squalid, sick, covered with rags and years.
§237"Quid istuc," inquam, "ornati est?" "Quoniam miser quod habui perdidi.
"Why, what style of dress is that?" I said. "Because, wretched me, I have lost what I had.
Hem,
Oh, to what a state I am reduced!
All my acquaintances and friends desert me." At this I despised him in comparison with myself.
"Quid homo," inquam, "ignavissime?
"What, you most sluggish fellow?" I said.
§240Itan parasti te, ut spes nulla reliqua in te sit tibi?
"Have you so managed yourself that no hope is left for you in yourself?
§241Simul consilium cum re amisti? viden me ex eodem ortum loco,
Have you lost your wits along with your property? Do you see me, sprung from the same origin?
§242Qui color, nitor, vestitus, quae habitudo est corporis?
What complexion, neatness, clothing, what condition of body I have?
§243Omnia habeo, neque quicquam habeo. Nihil cum est nihil defit tamen. "
I have everything, and yet I have nothing.
Though I have nothing, yet nothing is wanting." "But I, unfortunate, can neither be a jester nor bear blows." "What?
""Quid? tu his rebus credis fieri? tota erras via.
Do you believe that is the way it is done? You are entirely on the wrong track.
§246Olim isti fuit generi quondam quaestus apud saeclum prius.
Formerly, in an earlier age, that was indeed the livelihood for that class of men.
§247Hoc novum est aucupium: ego adeo hanc primus inveni viam.
This is a new method of fowling: indeed, I was the first to discover this path.
There is a class of men who wish themselves to be the first in all things, but are not: these I follow.
Hisce ego non paro me ut rideant; §250Sed his ultro arrideo, et eorum ingenia admiror simul.
I do not lay myself out to make them laugh at me; but I laugh with them, and at the same time admire their talents.
§251Quicquid dicunt laudo: id rursum si negant, laudo id quoque.
Whatever they say, I praise: if they deny that again, I praise that too.
§252Negat quis? nego: ait? aio. Postremo imperavi egomet mihi
Does anyone deny? I deny. Does he affirm? I affirm.
§253Omnia assentari.
In short, I have commanded myself to agree to everything.
Is quaestus nunc est multo uberrimus. "
This trade is now by far the most profitable." PARMENO: By Hercules, a clever fellow!
§254Scitum hercle hominem! hic homines prorsum ex stultis insanos facit.
This man turns men from fools into downright madmen.
§255Dum haec loquimur interea loci ad macellum ubi advenimus,
GNATHO: While we were talking of these things, in the meantime we arrived at the market.
§256Concurrunt laeti mihi obviam cupediarii omnes, §257Cetarii, lanii, coqui, fartores, piscatores; §258Quibus et re salva et perdita profueram, et prosum saepe.
All the provision-dealers run joyfully to meet me, the fishmongers, butchers, cooks, sausage-makers, fishermen; to whom I had been useful both when my fortune was safe and when it was ruined, and am so still often.
§259Salutant; ad coenam vocant; adventum gratulantur.
They greet me, invite me to dinner, and congratulate me on my arrival.
§260Ille ubi miser famelicus videt me esse in tanto honore, §261Et tam facile victum quaerere, ibi homo coepit me obsecrare
When that poor starving wretch sees that I am in such great honor, and seek my livelihood so easily, then the fellow began to entreat me that he might be allowed to learn that from me.
§262Ut sibi liceret discere id de me: sectari iussi; §263Si potis est, tanquam philosophorum habent disciplina ex ipsis §264Vocabula, parasiti item ut Gnathonici vocentur.
I ordered him to follow me; if it is possible, just as the philosophers have sects named after themselves, so parasites in like manner may be called Gnathonists.
§265Viden otium et cibus quid faciat alienus?
Do you see what leisure and other people's food can do?
But why do I delay to bring this girl to Thais here, and to ask her to come to dinner?
But I see Parmeno standing before Thais's door looking sad, the rival's slave.
Salva res est: nimirum homines frigent.
Everything is safe; no doubt these people are left out in the cold.
§269Nebulonem hunc certum est ludere.
I am resolved to make sport of this scoundrel.
These people think that by this gift Thais is their own.
"To Parmeno, his very best friend, Gnatho sends his heartiest greeting." What is being done?
§271bStatur.
PARMENO: Just standing.
§271cVideo.
GNATHO: I see.
§272Numquidnam quod nolis vides?
Do you see anything that you don't like?
§272bTe.
PARMENO: You.
§272cCredo; at numquid aliud?
GNATHO: I believe so; but is there anything else?
§273Quidum?
PARMENO: How so?
§273bQuia tristis es.
GNATHO: Because you look sad.
§273cNihil equidem.
PARMENO: Nothing, indeed, on my part.