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Terence · Hecyra §487-545

Pamphilus's Departure and the Parents' Quarrel

Passage 11 of 17 · Latin

Summary

Pamphilus departs, prioritizing his duty to his mother despite his love for Philumena. The fathers clash, and Philumena's mother, Myrrhina, appears and gets into a heated argument with her husband Phidippus over their daughter's childbirth and her concealment of it.

§487Quod nollem; et saepe quod vellem meritam scio.
Pamphilus: (Which I wish were not so); and I know she has often deserved what I would wish.
§488Amoque et laudo et vehementer desidero; §489Nam fuisse erga me miro ingenio expertus sum;
And I love, praise, and intensely long for her; for I have experienced that she was of an extraordinary disposition toward me.
§490Illique exopto ut reliquam vitam exigat §491Cum eo viro me qui sit fortunatior; §492Quandoquidem illam a me distrahit necessitas.
And I pray for her that she may spend the rest of her life with a husband who is more fortunate than I; since necessity tears her away from me.
§493Tibi id in manu est ne fiat.
Laches: It is in your power to prevent that.
§493bSi sanus sies, §494Iube illam redire.
If you are in your right mind, order her to return.
§494bNon est consilium, pater.
Pamphilus: It is not my plan, father.
§495Matris servibo commodis.
I will consult my mother's convenience.
§495bQuo abis? mane;
Laches: Where are you going?
§496Mane, inquam: quo abis?
Stay; stay, I say: where are you going?
§496bQuae haec est pertinacia?
What obstinacy is this?
§497Dixin, Phidippe, hanc rem aegre laturum esse eum?
Did I not say, Phidippus, that he would take this matter hard?
§498Quamobrem te orabam filiam ut remitteres.
For which reason I begged you to send your daughter back.
§499Non credidi edepol adeo inhumanum fore.
Phidippus: By Pollux, I did not believe he would be so stubborn.
§500Ita nunc is sibi me supplicaturum putat?
Does he now think that I will supplicate him?
§501Si est ut velit reducere uxorem, licet; §502Sin alio est animo, renumeret dotem huc; eat.
If he indeed wants to take his wife back, he may; but if his mind is otherwise, let him pay back the dowry here; let him go.
§503Ecce autem tu quoque proterve iracundus es.
Laches: But look, you too are insolently angry.
§504Percontumax redisti huc nobis, Pamphile.
You have returned to us very obstinate, Pamphilus.
§505Decedet iam ira haec, etsi merito iratus est.
This anger will soon pass, even though he is deservedly angry.
§506Quia paulum vobis accessit pecuniae, §507Sublati animi sunt.
Phidippus: Because a little money has come to you, your spirits are raised.
§507bEtiam mecum litigas?
Laches: Are you arguing with me too?
§508Deliberet, renuntietque hodie mihi, §509Velitne an non; ut alii, si huic non sit, siet.
Phidippus: Let him deliberate and report to me today, whether he wants her or not; so that she may belong to another, if not to this man.
§510Phidippe, ades, audi paucis.
Laches: Phidippus, stay, listen to a few words.
Abiit.
He is gone.
Quid mea?
What is it to me?
§511Postremo inter se transigant ipsi, ut libet; §512Quando nec natus neque hic mihi quicquam obtemperant; §513Quae dico parvi pendunt.
In the end, let them settle it among themselves as they please; since neither my son nor this man obeys me at all; they care little for what I say.
Porto hoc iurgium §514Ad uxorem, cuius haec fiunt consilio omnia; §515Atque in eam hoc omne quod mihi aegre est evomam.
I will take this quarrel to my wife, by whose advice all these things are done; and on her I will vent all this vexation of mine.
§516Perii: quid agam? quo me vertam? quid viro meo respondebo §517Misera? nam audivisse vocem pueri visus est vagientis: §518Ita corripuit derepente tacitus sese ad filiam.
Myrrhina: I am ruined! What shall I do? Where shall I turn? What shall I answer to my husband, unhappy me? For he seemed to have heard the voice of a crying child: so silently and suddenly he rushed in to our daughter.
§519Quod si rescierit peperisse eam, id qua causa clam me habuisse §520Dicam non edepol scio.
But if he finds out that she has given birth, for what reason I kept this secret from him, by Pollux, I do not know what to say.
§521Sed ostium concrepuit.
But the door creaked.
Credo ipsum exire ad me: nulla sum.
I believe he himself is coming out to me; I am undone.
§522Uxor ubi me ad filiam ire sensit, se duxit foras; §523Atque eccam video.
Phidippus: When my wife perceived that I was going to our daughter, she went outside; and look, I see her.
Quid ais, Myrrhina? Heus, tibi dico.
What do you say, Myrrhina? Hey, I am speaking to you.
§523bMihine, mi vir?
Myrrhina: To me, my husband?
§524Vir ego tuus sim? tun virum me aut hominem deputas adeo esse?
Phidippus: Am I your husband? Do you indeed consider me a husband or even a man?
§525Nam si utrumvis horum, mulier, unquam tibi visus forem, §526Non sic ludibrio tuis factis habitus essem.
For if I had ever seemed to you to be either of these, woman, I would not have been thus made a laughing-stock by your actions.
§526bQuibus?
Myrrhina: By what actions?
§526cAt rogitas?
Phidippus: Do you even ask?
§527Peperit filia.
Our daughter has given birth.
Hem, taces? ex quo?
What, are you silent? By whom?
§527bIstuc patrem rogare est aequum?
Myrrhina: Is it proper for a father to ask that?
§528Perii: ex quo censes nisi ex illo cui data est nuptum, obsecro?
I am ruined! By whom do you think, pray, except by him to whom she was given in marriage?
§529Credo; neque adeo arbitrari patris est aliter: sed demiror
Phidippus: I believe it; indeed, it is not a father's part to think otherwise.
§530Quid sit quamobrem tantopere omnes nos celare volueris §531Partum, praesertim quum et recte et tempore suo pepererit.
But I wonder what the reason is why you wished to conceal the birth so much from all of us, especially since she gave birth properly and in her own time.
§532Adeon pervicaci esse animo ut puerum praeoptares perire, §533Ex quo firmiorem inter nos fore amicitiam posthac scires, §534Potius quam adversum animi tui libidinem esset cum illo nupta?
Were you of so stubborn a mind as to prefer that the child should perish, from whom you knew that a firmer friendship would exist between us hereafter, rather than that she should remain married to him contrary to your heart's desire?
§535Ego etiam illorum esse hanc culpam credidi, quae te est penes.
I even believed that this fault belonged to those people, but it is in your hands.
§536Misera sum.
Myrrhina: I am miserable.
§536bUtinam sciam ita esse istuc sed nunc mihi in mentem venit §537De hac re quod locuta es olim, quum illum generum cepimus: §538Nam negabas nuptam posse filiam tuam te pati §539Cum eo qui meretricem amaret, qui pernoctaret foris.
Phidippus: Would that I knew it were so; but now there comes to my mind what you once spoke of regarding this matter, when we took him as our son-in-law: for you said you could not bear your daughter being married to one who loved a courtesan, who spent his nights away from home.
§540Quamvis causam hunc suspicari quam ipsam veram mavolo.
Myrrhina: (Aside) I prefer him to suspect any reason whatsoever rather than the true one itself.
§541Multo prius scivi quam tu illum amicam habere, Myrrhina: §542Verum id vitium nunquam decrevi esse ego adolescentiae: §543Nam id est omnibus innatum: at pol iam aderit se quoque etiam quum oderit.
Phidippus: I knew much sooner than you, Myrrhina, that he had a mistress; but I never decided that this was a fault of youth; for it is innate in all of them; but by Pollux, the time will soon be here when he will even hate himself.
§544Sed ut olim te ostendisti eadem esse nihil cessavisti usque adhuc, §545Ut filiam ab eo abduceres, neu quod ego egissem asset ratum.
But as you once showed yourself, you have never ceased to be the same up to now, to withdraw our daughter from him, and to prevent what I had done from being valid.

Notes

  1. §487Quod nollem; et saepe quod vellem meritam scio. — The relative pronoun *quod* in *quod nollem* refers to the preceding statement "She has never deserved anything bad of me." *nollem* is an imperfect subjunctive expressing an unrealizable wish ("I wish it were otherwise," i.e., "I wish she had given me a reason to hate her, making it easier to leave her"). In the second clause, *quod vellem* ("what I would wish," i.e., good things/praise) is the object of the infinitive *meritam (esse)* (with its subject *eam* omitted), where *quod* acts as a relative pronoun without an explicit antecedent.
  2. §501Si est ut velit — *si est ut* followed by *ut* with the subjunctive (*velit*) is an impersonal periphrastic construction meaning "if it is the case that he wishes," which emphasizes a simple conditional *si vult* ("if he wishes").
  3. §510Quid mea? — The feminine singular ablative of the possessive pronoun *mea* is used with the ellipsis of the verb *refert* (or *interest*). *quid mea refert?* is an idiomatic rhetorical question meaning "What does it matter to me?" or "What is that to me?".
  4. §532Adeon pervicaci esse animo — An exclamatory accusative and infinitive construction expressing indignation, with the accusative subject (*te*) omitted. *pervicaci animo* is an ablative of quality. Literally, it translates as "That you should be of so stubborn a mind!", expressing strong reproach and anger.
  5. §540Quamvis causam — Here *quamvis* is not used as a concessive conjunction ("although"), but functions as an indefinite relative adjective modifying the noun *causam*, meaning "any cause whatsoever" or "whatever cause you please."

Cite this passage

Terence, Hecyra §487-545. Humanitext Reader, https://reader.humanitext.ai/en/text/urn:cts:latinLit:phi0134.phi005.humanitext-lat2:487-545

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