§597Hic video me esse invisam immerito: tempus est concedere.
Sostrata: Here I see that I am hated undeservedly: it is time to withdraw.
§598Sic optime, ut ego opinor, omnes causas praecidam omnibus; §599Et me hac suspicione exsolvam, et illis morem gessero.
Thus best, as I think, I shall cut off all excuses from everyone; And I shall free myself from this suspicion, and I shall have complied with their wishes.
§600Sine me obsecro hoc effugere vulgus quod male audit mulierum.
Pray permit me to escape this crowd of women which has a bad reputation.
§601Quam fortunatus caeteris sim rebus, absque una hac foret, §602Hanc matrem habens talem, illam autem uxorem.
Pamphilus: How fortunate I would be in other matters, were it not for this one thing, having such a mother as this, and that woman as my wife.
Sostrata: I pray you, my Pamphilus, will you not bring your mind to endure an inconvenient thing, whatever it may be?
§604Si caetera sunt ita ut vis, itaque ut esse ego illam existimo, §605Mi gnate, da veniam hanc mihi: reduce illam.
If other things are as you wish, and as I think her to be, my son, grant me this favor: take her back.
§605bVae misero mihi!
Pamphilus: Alas, miserable me!
§606Et mihi quidem! nam haec res non minus me male habet quam te, gnate mi.
Sostrata: And to me indeed! for this matter troubles me no less than you, my son.
§607Quem cum istoc sermonem habueris procul hinc stans accepi, uxor.
Laches: Wife, standing far from here, I heard what conversation you had with that fellow.
§608Istuc est sapere, qui ubicumque opus sit animum possis flectere; §609Quod faciendum sit post fortasse idem hoc nunc si feceris.
That is being wise, to be able to bend your mind wherever there is need; if you do now this very thing which perhaps must be done afterward anyway.
§610Fors fuat pol.
Sostrata: May fortune favor us, by Pollux.
§610bAbi rus ergo hinc: ibi ego te et tu me feres.
Laches: Go then to the countryside from here: there you shall bear with me and I with you.
§611Spero ecastor.
Sostrata: I hope so indeed, by Castor.
Laches: Go then inside, and pack up what is to be carried with you: I have spoken.
§612bIta ut iubes faciam.
Sostrata: I will do as you order.
§612cPater.
Pamphilus: Father.
§613Quid vis, Pamphile?
Laches: What do you want, Pamphilus?
§613bHinc abire matrem? minime.
Pamphilus: Mother to depart from here? Not at all.
§613cQuid ita istuc vis?
Laches: Why do you want that so?
§614Quia de uxore incertus sum etiam quid sim facturus.
Pamphilus: Because I am still uncertain what I shall do about my wife.
§614bQuid est?
Laches: What is that?
§615Quid vis facere nisi reducere?
What do you want to do except take her back?
§615bEquidem cupio; et vix contineor; §616Sed non minuam meum consilium: ex usu quod est id persequar.
Pamphilus: Indeed I desire to; and I can scarcely contain myself; But I will not lessen my plan: I will pursue what is of advantage.
§617Credo ea gratia concordes magis, si non reducam, fore.
I believe that on that account they will be more in harmony, if I do not take her back.
§618Nescias.
Laches: You cannot know.
Verum id tua refert nihil utrum illae fecerint, §619Quando haec abierit.
But that matters nothing to you, whichever of the two they do, when this woman has departed.
Odiosa haec est aetas adolescentulis.
This age is hateful to young women.
§620E medio aequum excedere est.
It is right to depart from the midst.
Postremo iam nos fabula §621Sumus, Pamphile, "senex atque anus. " §622Sed video Phidippum egredi per tempus: accedamus.
Finally, we are already a story, Pamphilus, "the old man and the old woman." But I see Phidippus coming out in good time: let us approach him.
§623Tibi quoque edepol iratus sum, Philumena, §624Graviter quidem; nam hercle abs te factum est turpiter; §625Etsi tibi causa est de hac re: mater te impulit: §626Huic vero nulla est.
Phidippus: By Pollux, I am angry with you too, Philumena, indeed heavily; for, by Hercules, it was done shamefully by you; although you have an excuse in this matter: your mother impelled you: but to her indeed there is none.
Laches: Seasonably to me, Phidippus, you show yourself at the very time.
§627bQuid est?
Phidippus: What is it?
§628Quid respondebo his? aut quo pacto hoc aperiam?
Pamphilus: What shall I answer them? Or in what way shall I reveal this?
Laches: Tell your daughter that Sostrata is going to withdraw from here to the countryside: so that she may now have less fear to return home.
§630bAh, §631Nullam de his rebus culpam commeruit tua: §632A Myrrhina haec sunt mea uxore exorta omnia.
Phidippus: Ah, your wife has deserved no blame concerning these matters: all these things have arisen from Myrrhina, my wife.
§633Mutatio fit: ea nos perturbat, Lache.
A change has taken place: that disturbs us, Laches.
§634Dum ne reducam, turbent porro quam velint.
Pamphilus: As long as I do not take her back, let them disturb as much as they wish.
§635Ego, Pamphile, esse inter nos, si fieri potest, §636Affinitatem hanc sane perpetuam volo: §637Sin est ut aliter tua siet sententia, §638Accipias puerum.
Phidippus: I, Pamphilus, wish this alliance between us, if it can be done, to be indeed perpetual: but if it is that your opinion is otherwise, take the child.
§638bSensit peperisse; occidi.
Pamphilus: He perceived that she has given birth; I am ruined.
§639Puerum? quem puerum?
Laches: Child? What child?
§639bNatus est nobis nepos: §640Nam abducta a vobis praegnas fuerat filia, §641Neque fuisse praegnatem unquam ante hunc scivi diem.
Phidippus: A grandson has been born to us: for my daughter was pregnant when she was taken away from you, and I never knew that she was pregnant before this day.
§642Bene, ita me Di ament, nuntias; et gaudeo §643Natum illum, et tibi illam salvam: sed quid mulieris §644Uxorem habes, aut quibus moratam moribus?
Laches: You bring good news, so may the Gods love me; and I rejoice that he is born, and that she is safe for you: but what kind of woman do you have as a wife, or of what character is she?
§645Nosne hoc celatos tam diu? nequeo satis
That we have been kept in the dark about this so long!
§646Quam hoc mihi videtur factum prave proloqui.
I cannot sufficiently express how wickedly this seems to me to have been done.
§647Non tibi illud factum minus placet quam mihi, Lache.
Phidippus: That deed pleases you no more than it does me, Laches.
Although just now this was doubtful to me, now it is not, since another's child follows her.
§650Nulla tibi, Pamphile, hic iam consultatio est.
Laches: There is no longer any room for you to deliberate, Pamphilus.
§651Perii.
Pamphilus: I am ruined.
Laches: We often wished to see this day when there would be someone from you who would call you father.
§653Evenit: habeo gratiam Dis.
It has come to pass: I give thanks to the Gods.
§653bNullus sum.
Pamphilus: I am nothing.
§654Reduc uxorem, ac noli adversari mihi.
Laches: Take back your wife, and do not oppose me.
§655Pater, si ex me illa liberos vellet sibi,
Pamphilus: Father, if she wished children for herself from me,