{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/perseus_phi0119_phi005_phi0119.phi005.perseus-eng2/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/perseus_phi0119_phi005_phi0119.phi005.perseus-eng2","id":"perseus_phi0119_phi005_phi0119.phi005.perseus-eng2","license":"CC-BY-SA-4.0","rights_basis":"perseus_github_repo_license_cc_by_sa_4.0","source":"perseus","source_url":"https://github.com/PerseusDL/canonical-latinLit/blob/master/data/phi0119/phi005/phi0119.phi005.perseus-eng2.xml","summary":null,"tags":["Plautus"],"text":"Dramatis Personae HEGIO, an Aetolian, father of Philopolemus. PHILOCRATES, an Elean, captive in Aetolia. TYNDARUS, his servant. ARISTOPHONTES, an Elean, captive in Aetolia. PHILOPOLEMUS, an Aetolian, captive in Elis. ERGASILUS, a Parasite. STALAGMUS, the servant of Hegio. A SLAVE of Hegio. A LAD, the same. (Scene\u2014A place in Aetolia, before the house of Hegio) THE SUBJECT. HEGIO, a wealthy native of Aetolia, had two sons, one of which was stolen by a slave when four years old, and being carried away to Elis, was sold there; the father being unable for many years to learn what has become of him. A war having commenced between the Eleans and the Aetolians, Phiiopolemus, the other son of Hegio, is taken prisoner by the Eleans. The Aetolians having taken many Elean prisoners, Hegio commences to traffic in captives, with the view of thereby redeeming his son from the Eleans, in exchange for some prisoner of rank. A this conjuncture the Play commences. Among the captives whom Hegio has purchased, Philocrates is one, having been taken prisoner, together with his servant, Tyndarus. With the object of deceiving Hegio, Philocrates and Tyndarus change their clothes, and having exchanged names as well, Philocrates pretends to be the servant of Tyndarus. Hegio being desirous to procure the exchange of his son, Philocrates (in the character of the servant of his fellowcaptive) is sent to Elis for that purpose. After his departure, Aristophontes, another captive, accidentally puts Hegio in the way of discovering the manner in which he has been deceived. On this, the old man, losing all hope of obtaining the liberation of his son, sends Tyndarus in chains to the stone-quarries. Shortly after, Philocrates returns, and brings with him Philopolemus, the son of Hegio, and Stalagmus, the runaway slave, that had stolen his other son. It is then discovered that Stalagmus had sold the child to the father of Philocrates, and that he is no other than Tyndarus, the slave; on which, Tyndarus is sent for, and is informed that he is the lost son of Hegio. Stalagmus is then condemned to the chains from which Tyndarus is liberated. THE ACROSTIC ARGUMENTIn this Acrostic it will be found that the old form of Capteivei is preserved..[Supposed to have been written by Priscian the Grammarian] One son of Hegio has been made prisoner (Captus) in battle. A runaway slave has sold the other (Alium) when four years old. The father (Pater) traffics in Elean captives, only (Tantum) desirous that he may recover his son, and (Et) among these he buys his son that was formerly lost. He (Is), his clothes and his name changed with his master, causes that (Ut) he is lost to Hegio; and he himself is punished. And (Et) he brings back the captive and the runaway together, through whose information (Indicio) he discovers his other son. THE PROLOGUE. PROLOGUS THESE two captives (pointing to PHILOCRATES and TYNDARUS), whom you see standing here, are standing here because\u2014they are bothBecause\u2014they are both: This is apparently intended as a piece of humour, in catching or baulking the audience. He begins as though he was going to explain why the captives are standing there, and ends his explanation with saying that they are standing because they are not sitting. A similar truism is uttered by Pamphila, in the Stichus, l. 120. standing, and are not sitting. That I am saying this truly, you are my witnesses. The old man, who lives here (pointing to HEGIO\u2019S house), is Hegio\u2014 his father (pointing to TYNDARUS.) But under what circumstances he is the slave of his own father, that I will here explain to you, if you give attention. This old man had two sons; a slave stole one child when four years old, and flying hence, he sold him in ElisIn Elis: Elis, or, as it is called by Plautus, Alis, was a city of Achaia, in the north-western part of the Peloponnesus. Near it the Olympio games were celebrated, to the father of this captive (pointing to PHIILOCRATES.) Now, do you understand this? Very good. I\u2019 faith, that man at a distanceThat man at a distance: One of the audience, probably a plebeian who has no seat, but is standing in a remote part of the theatre, is supposed to exclaim in a rude manner that he cannot hear what the actor says. On this the speaker tells him that he had better come nearer; and if he cannot find a seat, there is room for him to walk away. Possibly the verb ambulo may be intended to signify in this case either to walk or to stand, in contradistinction to sitting. Rost, with some reason, suggests abscedito, walk out, in place of accedito, come nearer. there (pointing) says, no. Come nearer then. If there isn\u2019t room for you to sit down, there is for you to walk; since you\u2019d be compelling an actor to bawl like a beggarTo bawl like a beggar: Commentators have differed as to the meaning of this passage. Some think that he means that with the view of pleasing the plebeian part of the audience, he shall not bawl out like a beggar asking alms; while others suppose that the meaning is, that he will not run the risk of cracking his voice, after which he will be hissed off the stage, and so be reduced to beggary.. I\u2019m not going to burst myself for your sake, so don\u2019t you be mistaken. You who are enabled by your means to pay your taxesTo pay your taxes: By this he shows that the party whom he is addressing, is either one of the lowest plebeians or a slave. In the assessment or census, which was made by the Censors, the slaves were not numbered at all, being supposed to have no caput, or civil condition. The lowest century were the proletarii, whose only qualification was the being heads of families, or fathers of children. In addressing those who are reckoned in the census ope vestr\u00e2, by your means or circumstances, he seems to be rebuking the proletarii, who had no such standing, and who probably formed the most noisy part of the audience. As these paid no part of the taxes with which the theatres were in part supported, of course they would be placed at a greater distance from the stage, and probably were not accommodated with seats. It was just about this period that the elder Scipio assigned different places in the theatres to the various classes of the people., listen to the restListen to the rest: Reliquum was a term which either signified generally, what is left, or money borrowed and still unpaid. He plays upon these different meanings\u2014Accipite reliquum, which may either signify hear the rest or take what is due and owing, and he then makes the observation, parenthetically, alieno uti nil moror, I don\u2019t care to be in debt.; I care not to be in debt to another. This runaway slave, as I said before, sold his young master, whom, whom he fled, he had carried off, to this one\u2019s father. He, after he bought him, gave him as his own private slaveHis own private slave: Peculiaris means for his own private use or attached to his person; being considered as though bought with his son\u2019s peculium, or ut of his own private purse. The peculium was the sum of money which a son in his minority was allowed by his father to be in possession of. The word also signified the savings of the slave. to his son of his, because they were of about the same age. He is now the slave at home of his own father, nor does his father know it. Verily, the Gods do treat us men just like footballsJust like footballs: Pilas. Among the ancients, games with the pila were those played with the pila trigonalis, so called, probably, from the players standing in a triangle, and those with the follis, which was a larger ball, inflated with air and struck with the hands, or used for a football. Paganica was a similar ball, but harder, being stuffed with feathers, and was used by the country-people. Harpastum was a small ball used by the Greeks, which was scrambled for as soon as it came to the ground, whence it received its name. The Greeks had a proverb similar to this expression, \u03b8\u03b5\u1ff6\u03bd \u03c0\u03b1\u1f77\u03b3\u03bd\u03b9\u03b1 \u1f00\u03bd\u03b8\u03c1\u03c9\u03c0\u03bf\u1f76, men are the playthings of the Gods. So Plato called mankind \u03b8\u1f73\u03c9\u03bd \u1f00\u03b8\u1f7b\u03c0\u03bc\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1, the sport of the Gods.. You hear the manner now how he lost one son. Afterwards, the AetoliansThe Aetolians: Aetolia was a country of Greece, the southern portion of which was are bounded by the Corinthian Gulf; it was opposite to the Elean territory, from which it was divided by the gulf. are waging war with the people of Elis, and, as happens in warfare, the other son is taken prisoner. The physician Menarchus buys him there in Elis. On this, this Hegio begins to traffic in Elean captives, if, perchance, he may be able to find one to change for that captive son of his. He knows not that this one who is in his house is his own son. And as he heard yesterday that an Elean knight of very high rank and very high family was taken prisoner, he has spared no expense to rescue his sonTo rescue his son: Filio dum parceret. Literally, so long as he might spare his son.. In order that he may more easily bring him back home, he buys both of these of the QuaestorsOf the Quaestors: In speaking of these officers, Plautus, as usual, introduces Roman customs into a Play the scene of which is in Greece. It has been previously remarked that the Quaestors had the selling of the spoils taken in war. out of the spoil. Now they, between themselves, have contrived this plan, that, by means of it, the servant may send away hence his master home. And therefore among themselves they change their garments and their names. He, there (pointing), is called Philocrates; this one (pointing), Tyndarus; he this day assumes the character of this one, this one of him. And this one to-day will cleverly carry out this plot, and cause his master to gain his liberty; and by the same means he will save his own brother, and without knowing it, will cause him to return back a free man to his own country to his father. Just as often now, on many occasions, a person has done more good unknowingly than knowingly. But unconsciously, by their devices, they have so planned and devised their plot, and have so contrived it by their design, that this one is living in servitude with his own father. And thus now, in ignorance, he is the slave of his own father. What poor creatures are men, when I reflect upon it! This plot will be performed by us\u2014a play for your entertainment. But there is, besides, a thing which, in a few words, I would wish to inform you of. Really, it will be worth your while to give your attention to this play. \u2019Tis not composed in the hackneyed style, nor yet like other plays, nor are there in it any ribald linesAny ribald lines: See the address of the Company of actors to the Spectators at the end of the Play. unfit for utterance: here is neither the perjured procurer, nor the artful courtesan, nor yet the braggart captain. Don\u2019t you be afraid because I\u2019ve said that there\u2019s war between the Aetolians and the Eleans. There (pointing), at a distance, beyond the scenes, the battles will be fought. For this were almost impossible for a Comic establishmenA Comic establishment: Comico choragio. Literally, for the choragium of Comedy. The choragium was the dress and furniture, or properties for the stage, supplied by the choragus, or keeper of the theatrical wardrobe., that we should at a moment attempt to be acting Tragedy. If, therefore, any one is looking for a battle, let him commence the quarrel; if he shall find an adversary more powerful, I\u2019ll cause him to be the spectator of a battle that isn\u2019t pleasant to him, so that hereafter he shall hate to be a spectator them all. I now retire. Fare ye well, at home, most upright judges, and in warfare most valiant combatants. (Enter ERGASILUS.) ERGASILUS The young men have given me the name of the mistress, for this reason, because invocatedBecause invocated: Invocatus. The following Note is extracted from Thornton\u2019s Translation of this Play:\u2014The reader\u2019s indulgence for the coinage of a new term (and perhaps not quite so much out of character from the mouth of a Parasite) is here requested in the use of the word \u2018invocated\u2019 in a sense, which it is owned, there is no authority for, but without it no way occurs to explain the poet\u2019s meaning\u2014which, such as it is, and involved in such a pun, is all that can be aimed at. The word \u2018invocatus\u2019 means both \u2018called upon\u2019 and \u2018not called upon.\u2019 Ergasilus here quibbles upon it; for, though at entertainments he attends, as it is the common character of Parasites to do, without invitation, that is \u2018not called upon;\u2019 and as mistresses are \u2018called upon\u2019 that their names so invoked may make their lovers throw the dice with success; still, according to the double sense of the word, they may be compared to each other, as they are both, according to the Latin idiom, \u2018invocati.\u2019 I am wont to attend at the banquet. I know that buffoonsThat buffoons: Derisores, buffoons. By this word he means, that particular class of Parasites who earned their dinners by their repartees and bon-mots. say that this is absurdly said, but I affirm that it is rightly said. For at the banquet the lover, when he throws the dice, invokes his mistressInvokes his mistress: It was the Grecian custom, when they threw dice at an entertainment, for the thrower to call his mistress by name, which invocation was considered to bring good luck.. Is she then invocated, or is she not? She is, most clearly. But, i\u2019 faith, we Parasites with better reason are so called, whom no person ever either invites or invokes, and who, like mice, are always eating the victuals of another person. When business is laid asideWhen business is laid aside: Ubi res prolatae sunt. Meaning thereby in vacation-time. In the heat of summer the courts of justice were closed, and the more wealthy portion of the Romans retired into the country, or to the seaside. Cicero mentions this vacation as rerum prolatio. The allusion in the previous line is probably derived from a saying of the Cynic Diogenes: when he saw mice creeping under the table, he used to say, See the Parasites of Diogenes., when people repair to the country, at that same moment is business laid aside for our teeth. Just as, when it is hot weather, snails lie hidden in secret, and live upon their own juices, if the dew doesn\u2019t fall; so, when business is laid aside, do Parasites lie hidden in retirement, and miserably live upon their own juices, while in the country the persons are rusticating whom they sponge upon. When business is laid aside, we Parasites are greyhounds; when business recommences, like mastiffsLike mastiffs: Molossici. Literally, dogs of Molossus, a country of Epirus., we are annoying-like and very troublesome-likeAnnoying-like and very troublesome-like: Odiosici\u2014 incommodestici. These are two extravagant forms of the words odiosi and incommodi, coined by the author for the occasion.. And here, indeed, unless, i\u2019 faith, any Parasite is able to endure cuffs with the fist, and pots to be brokenPots to be broken: By Meursius we are informed that these practical jokes were played upon the unfortunate Parasites with pots filled with cinders, which were sometimes scattered over their clothes, to the great amusement of their fellow-guests. about his head, why he may e\u2019en go with his wallet outside the Trigeminian GateThe Trigeminian Gate: The Ostian Gate was so called because the Horatii left the city by that gate to fight the Curiatii. The brothers being born at one birth were trigemini, whence the gate received its name. The beggars with their wallets were seated there. See the Trinummus, l. 423, and the Note to the passage.. That this may prove my lot, there is some danger. For since my patronSince my patron: Rex; literally, king. The Parasites were in the habit of so calling their entertainers. has fallen into the hands of the enemy\u2014(such warfare are the Aetolians now waging with the Eleans; for this is Aetolia; this Philopolemus has been made captive in Elis, the son of this old man Hegio who lives here (pointing to the house)\u2014a house which to me is a house of woe, and which so oft as I look upon, I weep). Now, for the sake of his son, has he commenced this dishonorable traffic, very much against his own inclination. He buys up men that have been made captives, if perchance he may be able to find some one for whom to gain his son in exchange. An object which I really do much desire that he may gain. For unless he finds him, there\u2019s nowhere for me to find myself. I have no hopes in the young men; they are all too fond of themselves. He, in fine, is a youth with the old-fashioned nanners, whose countenance I never rendered cheerful without a return. His father is worthily matched, as endowed with like manners. Now I\u2019ll go to him;\u2014but his door is opening, the door from which full oft I\u2019ve sallied forth drunk with excess of cheer. (He stands aside.) (Enter, from his house, HEGIO and a SLAVE.) HEGIO Now, give attention you, if you please. Those two captives whom I purchased yesterday of the Quaestors out of the spoil, put upon them chains of light weightChtains of light weight: Singularias. This word may admit of three interpretations, and it is impossible to decide which is the right one. It may mean chains weighing a single libra, or pound; it may signify chains for the captives singly, in contradistinction to those by which they were fastened to each other; or it may mean single chains, in opposition to double ones. In the Acts of the Apostles, ch. 12, v. 6, we read that St. Peter was bound with two chains; and in ch. 13, v. 33, the chief captain orders St. Paul to be bound with two chains.; take off those greater ones with which they are bound. Permit them to walk, if they wish, out of doors, or if in-doors, but so that they are watched with the greatest care. A captive at liberty is like a bird that\u2019s wild; if opportunity is once given for escaping, \u2018tis enough; after that, you can never catch him. A SLAVE Doubtless we all are free men more willingly than we live the life of slaves. HEGIO You, indeed, don\u2019t seem to think soDon\u2019t seem to think so: Hegio means to say that the slave does not seem to think liberty so very desirable, or he would try more to please his master and do his duty, which might probably be the right method for gaining his liberty. As the slave could generally ransom himself out of his peculium, or savings, if they were sufficient, the slave here either thinks, or pretends to think, that Hegio is censuring him for not taking those means, and answers, accordingly, that he has nothing to offer.. A SLAVE If I have nothing to give, should you like me to give myself to flightGive myself to flight: Dem in pedes. Literally, give myself to my feet, meaning thereby to run away. He puns upon this meaning of dare, and its common signification of to give or to offer to give.? HEGIO If you do so give yourself, I shall at once have something to be giving to you. A SLAVE I\u2019ll make myself just like the wild bird you were telling of. HEGIO \u2019Tis just as you say; for if you do so, I\u2019ll be giving you to the cageGiving you to the cage: In cavearn. He plays on the word cavea, which meaning a cage for a bird might also mean confinement for a prisoner.. But enough of prating; take you care of what I\u2019ve ordered, and be off. (The SLAVE goes into the house.) I\u2019ll away to my brother\u2019s, to my other captives; I\u2019ll go see whether they\u2019ve been making any disturbance last night. From there I shall forthwith betake myself home again. ERGASILUS (apart.) It grieves me that this unhappy old man is following the trade of a slave-dealer, by reason of the misfortune of his son. But, if by any means he can be brought back here, I could even endure for him to become an executioner. HEGIO (overhearing him.) Who is it that\u2019s speaking? ERGASILUS \u2019Tis I, who am, pining at your affliction, growing thin, waxing old, and shockingly wasting away. Wretched man that I am, I\u2019m but skin and bone through leanness; nor does anything ever do me good that I eat at home; even that ever so little which I taste out of doors, the same refreshes me. HEGIO Ergasilus, save you! ERGASILUS (crying.) May the Gods kindly bless you, Hegio! HEGIO Don\u2019t weep. ERGASILUS Must I not weep for him? Must I not weep for such a young man? HEGIO I\u2019ve always known you to be a friend to my son, and I have understood him to be so to you. ERGASILUS Then at last do we men know our blessings, when we have lost those things which we once had in our power. I, since your son fell into the power of the enemy, knowing by experience of what value he was, now feel his loss. HEGIO Since you, who are no relation, bear his misfortune so much amiss, what is it likely that I, a father, should do, whose only son he is? ERGASILUS I, no relation to him? He, no relation to me? Oh, Hegio! never do say that, nor come to such a belief. To you he is an only child, but to me he is even more only than an only one. HEGIO I commend you, in that you consider the affliction of your friend your own affliction. Now be of good heart. ERGASILUS (crying.) O dear! HEGIO (half-aside.) \u2019Tis this afflicts him,Part of line 152b in the Latin. that the army for guttling is now disbanded. Meanwhile, have you found no one to command for you the army that you mentioned as disbanded? ERGASILUS What do you think? All to whom it used to fall are in the habit of declining that province since your son Philopolemus was taken prisoner. HEGIO I\u2019 faith, \u2018tisn\u2019t to be wondered at, that they are in the habit of declining that province. You have necessity for numerous troops, and those of numerous kinds. Well, first you have need of the BakeriansThe Bakerians: This and the following appellations are expressive both of the several trades that contributed to furnishing entertainments, and, in the Latin, also denoted the names of inhabitants of several places in Italy or elsewhere. As this meaning could not be expressed in a literal translation of them, the original words are here subjoined. In the word Pistorienses, he alludes to the bakers, and the natives of Pistorium, a town of Etruria; in the Panicei, to the bread or roll bakers, and the natives of Pana, a little town of the Samnites, mentioned by Strabo; in the Placentini, to the confectioners or cake-makers, and the people of Placentia, a city in the North of Italy; in the Turdetani, to the poulterers or sellers of thrushes, and the people of Turdetania, a district of Spain; and in the Ficedulae, to the sellers of beccaficos, a delicate bird, and the inhabitants of Ficeaulae, a town near Rome. Of course, these appellations, as relating to the trades, are only comical words coined for the occasion.. Of these Bakerians there are several kinds, You have need of Roll-makerians, you have need too of Confectionerians, you have need of Poultererians, you have need of Beccaficorians; besides, all the maritime forces are necessary for you. ERGASILUS How the greatest geniuses do frequently lie concealed! How great a general now is this private individual! HEGIO Only have good courage; for I trust that in a few days I shall bring him back home. For see now; there\u2019s a captive here, a young man of Elis, born of a very high family, and of very great wealth; I trust that it will come to pass that I shall get my son in exchange for him. ERGASILUS May the Gods and Goddesses grant it so! HEGIO But are you invited out anywhere to dinner?Part of line 172 in the Latin. ERGASILUS Nowhere that I know of. But, pray, why do you ask me? HEGIO Because this is my birthday; for that reason I\u2019d like you to be invited to dinner at my house. ERGASILUS \u2019Tis kindly said. HEGIO But if you can be content to eat a very little\u2014Part of line 176 in the Latin. ERGASILUS Aye, even ever so little; for on such fare as that do I enjoy myself every day at home. HEGIO Come, then, please, set yourself up for sale.Part of line 179 in the Latin. ERGASILUS I\u2019ll put myself up for purchase, just like a landed estate, unless any one shall privately make a better offer that pleases myself and my friends more, and to my own conditions will I bind myself. HEGIO You are surely selling me a bottomless pitA bottomless pit: He plays upon the resemblance in sound of the word fundum, landed property, to profundum, a deep cavity, to which he compares the Parasite\u2019s stomach. You sell me landed property, indeed; say rather a bottomless pit., and not a landed estate. But if you are coming, do so in time. ERGASILUS Why, for that matter, I\u2019m at leisure even now. HEGIO Go then, and hunt for a hare; at present, in me you have but a ferretHave but aferret: This passage has much puzzled the Commentators; but allowing for some very far-fetched wit, which is not uncommon with Plautus, it may admit of some explanation. He tells the Parasite that he had better look for a nicer dinner, a hare, in fact; for that in dining with him, he will only get the ferret (with which the hare was hunted) for his dinner. Then, inasmuch as the ferret was used for following the hare or rabbit into scruposae viae, impervious or rocky places where they had burrowed, he adds: For my dinner, ferret-like, frequents rugged places; by which he probably means that it is nothing but a meagre repast of vegetables, of which possibly capers formed a part, which grow plentifully in Italy, in old ruins and craggy spots. Some suggest that it was a custom with the huntsmen, if they failed to catch the hare, to kill and eat the ferret., for my fare is in the way of frequenting a rugged road. ERGASILUS You\u2019ll never repulse me by that, Hegio, so don\u2019t attempt it. I\u2019ll come, in spite of it, with teeth well shod. HEGIO Really, my viands are but of a rough sortAre but of a rough sort: The word asper means either uncavoury or prickly, according to the context. Hegio means to use it in the former sense, but the Parasite, for the sake of repartee, chooses to take it in the latter.. ERGASILUS Are you in the habit of eating brambles? HEGIO Mine is an earthy dinner. ERGASILUS A pig is an earthy animal. HEGIO Earthy from its plenty of vegetables. ERGASILUS Treat your sick peoplesTreat your sick people: He means that such a dinner may suit sick people, but will not be to his taste. at home with that fare? Do you wish anything else? HEGIO Come in good time. ERGASILUS You are putting in mind one who remembers quite well. (Exit.) HEGIO I\u2019ll go in-doors, and in the house I\u2019ll make the calculation how little money I have at my banker\u2019s; afterwards I\u2019ll go to my brother\u2019s, whither I was saying I would go. (Goes into his house.) (Enter, from the house, PHILOCRATES, TYNDARUS, and SLAVES and CAPTIVES of HEGIO.) A SLAVE If the immortal Gods have so willed it that you should undergo this affliction, it becomes you to endure it with equanimity; if you do so, your trouble will be lighterWill be lighter: The English proverb corresponds with this: What can\u2019t be cured must be endured.. At home you were free men, I suppose; now if slavery has befallen you, \u2018tis a becoming way for you to put up with it, and by your dispositions to render it light, under a master\u2019s rule. Unworthy actions which a master does must be deemed worthy ones. PHILOCRATES and TYNDARUS Alas! alas! alas! A SLAVE There\u2019s no need for wailing; you cause much injury to your eyes. In adversity, if you use fortitude of mind, it is of service. PHILOCRATES and TYNDARUS But we are ashamed, because we are in bonds. A SLAVE But in the result it might cause vexation to our master, if he were to release you from chains, or allow you to be loose, whom he has purchased with his money. PHILOCRATES and TYNDARUS What does he fear from us? We know our duty, what it is, if he allows us to be loose. A SLAVE Why, you are meditating escape. I know what it is you are devising. PHILOCRATES and TYNDARUS We, make our escape? Whither should we escape? A SLAVE To your own country. PHILOCRATES and TYNDARUS Out upon you; it would ill befit us to be following the example of runaways. A SLAVE Why, faith, should there be an opportunity, I don\u2019t advise you not. PHILOCRATES and TYNDARUS Do you allow us to make one request. A SLAVE What is it, pray? PHILOCRATES and TYNDARUS That you will give us an opportunity of conversing, without these and yourselves for overlookers. A SLAVE Be it so; go you away from here, you people. Let\u2019s step here, on one side. (To the other CAPTIVES and SLAVES.) But commence upon a short conversation only. PHILOCRATES O yes, it was my intention so to do. Step aside this way. (to TYNDARUS.) A SLAVE (to the other CAPTIVES.) Stand apart from them. TYNDARUS (to the SLAVE.) We are both greatly obliged to you, by reason of your doing so, since you allow us to obtain what we are desirous of. PHILOCRATES Step here then, at a distance now, if you think fit, that no listeners may be enabled to overhear our discourse, and that this plan of ours mayn\u2019t be divulged before them for a stratagem is no stratagem, if you don\u2019t plan it with art but it is a very great misfortune if it becomes disclosed. For if you are my master, and I represent myself as your servant, still there\u2019s need of foresight, and need of caution, that this may be carried out discreetly and without overlookers, with carefulness and with cautious prudence and diligence. So great is the mutter that has been commenced upon; this must not be carried out in any drowsy fashion. TYNDARUS Just as you shall desire me to be, I will be. PHILOCRATES I trust so. TYNDARUS For now you see that for your precious life I\u2019m setting at stake my own, as dear to me. PHILOCRATES I know it. TYNDARUS But remember to know it when you shall be enjoying that which you wish for; for mostly, the greatest part of mankind follow this fashion; what they wish for, until they obtain it, they are rightminded; but when they have now got it in their power, from being rightminded they become most deceitful, and most dishonest; now I do consider that you are towards me as I wish. What I advise you, I would advise my own father. PHILOCRATES I\u2019 faith, if I could venture, I would call you father; for next to my own father, you are my nearest father. TYNDARUS I understand. PHILOCRATES And therefore I remind you the more frequently, that you may remember it. I am not your master, but your servant; now this one thing I do beseech you. Inasmuch as the immortal Gods have disclosed to us their wishes, that they desire me to have once been your master, and now to be your fellow-captive; what formerly of my right I used to command you, now with entreaties do I beg of you, by our uncertain fortunes, and by the kindness of my father towards you, and by our common captivity, which has befallen us by the hand of the enemy, don\u2019t you pay me any greater respect than I did you when you were my slave; and don\u2019t you forget to remember who you were, and who you now are. TYNDARUS I know, indeed, that I now am you, and that you are I. PHILOCRATES Well, if you are able carefully to remember that, 1 have some hope in this scheme of ours. (Enter HEGIO, from his house, speaking to those within.) HEGIO I shall return in-doors just now, when I shall have discovered from these people what I want to know. (To the SLAVES.) Where are those persons whom I ordered to be brought out of doors here, before the house ? PHILOCRATES By my faith, I find that you have taken due precaution that we shouldn\u2019t be missed by you, so walled in are we with chains and keepers. HEGIO He that takes precaution that he mayn\u2019t be deceived, is hardly on his guard, even while he\u2019s taking precaution; even when he has supposed that he has taken every precaution, full often is this wary man outwitted. Was there not good reason, indeed, for me to watch you carefully, whom I purchased with so large a sum of ready money? PHILOCRATES Troth, it isn\u2019t fair for us to hold you to blame, because you watch us closely; nor yet for you us, if we go away hence, should there be an opportunity. HEGIO As you are here, so is my son a captive there among your people. PHILOCRATES He, a captive? HEGIO Even so. PHILOCRATES We, then, have not proved the only cowardsThe only cowards: He alludes to the notion in the heroic times, that it was the duty of a warrior to conquer or to die, and that it was disgraceful to be made prisoner.. HEGIO (to PHILOCRATES, supposing him to be the SERVANT of the other.) Step you aside this way, for there are some things that I wish to enquire of you in private, on which subjects I would have you not to be untruthful to me. (They step aside.) PHILOCRATES I will not be, as to that which I shall know; if I shall not know anything, that which I don\u2019t know I\u2019ll tell you of. TYNDARUS (aside.) Now is the old fellow in the barber\u2019s shop; now, at this very instant, is Philocrates wielding the razorWielding the razor: It is hard to say whether by the word cultros, in this passage, razors or scissors are meant.. He hasn\u2019t cared, indeed, to put on the barber\u2019s clothTo put on the barber\u2019s cloth: He probably means by thus expression that Philocrates has made no preamble, and shown no hesitation, in commencing at once to dupe the old man., so as not to soil his dress. But whether to say that he\u2019s going to shave him close, or trim himOr trim him: He alludes here to the two kinds of shaving and trimming the beard used by the barbers among the ancients. The one was close strictim, when they shaved to the skin; the other was, when with a pair of scissors they clipped the hair, with the interposition of a comb. The former fashion was called by the Greeks \u03b4\u03ba\u1f71\u03c6\u03b9\u03bf\u03bd; the latter method, which was borrowed from the Persians, \u03ba\u1fc6\u03c0\u03b9\u03bf\u03c2;. Esse in tonstrin\u00e2, to be in the barber\u2019s shop, was a proverbial expression to denote being imposed upon. Tyndarus is wondering to what extent Philocrates is going to impose upon Hegio. through the combThrough the comb: The Greeks and Romans made their combs of boxwood, much of which was imported from Paphlagonia. The Egyptians used them made of wood and of ivory, and toothed on one side only; while those of the Greeks had teeth on both sides., I don\u2019t know; but if he\u2019s wise, he\u2019ll scrape him right well to the very quick. HEGIO (to PHILOCRATES.) Which would you? Would you prefer to be a slave, or a free man?\u2014Tell me. PHILOCRATES That which is the nearest to good, and the furthest off from evil, do I prefer; although my servitude hasn\u2019t proved very grievous to me, nor has it been otherwise to me than if I had been a son in the family. TYNDARUS (aside.) Capital! I wouldn\u2019t purchase, at a talent\u2019s price even, Thales the MilesianThales the Milesian: A talent would be a low price for such a learned slave as Thales the Milesian, who was one of the seven wise men of Greece. He says, however, that Thales at such a low price would be nothing in comparison with Philocrates for the same money.; for compared with this man\u2019s wisdom, he was a very twaddler. How cleverly has he suited his language to the slave\u2019s condition. HEGIO Of what family is this Philocrates born? PHILOCRATES The PolyplusianThe Polyplusian: This word is coined by Philocrates for the occasion, as being the name of his family, from the Greek word \u03c0\u03bf\u03bb\u03bc\u03c0\u03bb\u03bf\u03bc\u03c3\u03b9\u1f78\u03c2, very wealthy; probably with the idea of raising the expectations of Hegio and making him the more ready to promote an exchange of his own son for a member of so opulent a family.; which one family is flourishing there, and held in highest esteem. HEGIO What is he himself? In what esteem is he held there? PHILOCRATES In the highest, and that by the very highest men. HEGIO Since, then, he is held in such great respect among the Eleans, as you tell of, what substance has he?\u2014Of large amount? PHILOCRATES Enough for him, even, when an old man, to be melting out the tallowMelting out the tallow: Hegio asks him if his riches are very abundant, and in doing so uses the word opimae, of which the primary meaning was fat; the other answers, Yes, so fat that he can be melting the tallow out of them even when he is an old man; meaning thereby that he is amply provided with means.. HEGIO What is his father? Is he living? PHILOCRATES When we departed thence, we left him alive; whether he\u2019s living now or not, Orcus, forsooth, must know that. TYNDARUS (aside.) The matter\u2019s all right; he\u2019s not only lying, but he\u2019s even philosophizing now. HEGIO What\u2019s his name? PHILOCRATES Thesaurochrysonicocr\u0153sidesThesaurochrysonicocr\u0153sides: This is a name made up of several Greek words, and seems to mean a son of Cr\u0153sus, abounding in treasures of gold, in allusion to Cr\u0153sus, the wealthy king of Lydia. The author indulges m similar pleasantry in the Miles Gloriosus.. HEGIO That name has been given, I suppose, by reason of his wealth, as it were. PHILOCRATES Troth, not so, but rather by reason of his avarice and grasping disposition; for, indeed, he was Theodoromedes originally by name. HEGIO How say you? Is his father covetous? PHILOCRATES Aye, by my faith, he is covetous. Why, that you may even understand it the better,\u2014when he\u2019s sacrificing at any time to his own GeniusTo his own Genius: As the Genius of a man was not only his guardian Deity through life, but the word was also used to signify his capacity for enjoyment; the term to sacrifice to his Genius, is supposed by some Commentators to mean, to indulge the appetite in feasting and good checr. This, however, seems not to be the meaning in this instance; and he probably intends to be understood as alluding, literally, to the domestic sacrifice to the Genius, the vessels that are needed for the sacrifice he uses of Samian ware, lest the Genius himself should steal them; from this, consider how much he would trust other people. HEGIO (addressing TYNDARUS as though PHILOCRATES.) Do you then follow me this way. (Aside.) The things that I desire to know, I\u2019ll enquire of him. (Addressing TYNDARUS.) Philocrates, this person has done as it becomes an honest man to do. For from him I\u2019ve learnt of what family you are sprung; he has confessed it to me. If you are willing to own these same things (which, however, understand that I already know from him), you will be doing it for your own advantage. TYNDARUS He did his duty when he confessed the truth to you, although, Hegio, I wished carefully to conceal both my rank and my wealth; now, inasmuch as I\u2019ve lost my country and my liberty, I don\u2019t think it right for him to be dreading me rather than you. The might of warfare has made my fortunes on a level with himself. I remember the time when he didn\u2019t dare to do it in word; now, in deed, he is at liberty to offend me. But don\u2019t you see? Human fortune moulds and fashions just as she wills. Myself, who was a free man she has made a slave, from the very highest the very lowest. I, who was accustomed to command, now obey the mandates of another. And indeed, if I meet with a master just such as I proved the ruler in my own household, I shall not fear that he will rule me harshly or severely. With this, Hegio, I wished you to be acquainted, unless perchance you your self wish it not. HEGIO Speak boldly out. TYNDARUS As free a man was I till lately as your son. As much did a hostile hand deprive me of my liberty as him of his. As much is he a slave among my people, as I am now a slave here with yourself. There is undoubtedly a God, who both hears and sees the things which we do. Just as you shall treat me here, in the same degree will he have a care for him. To the well-deserving will he show favour, to the ill-deserving will he give a like return. As much as you lament your son, so much does my father lament me. HEGIO That I am aware of. But do you admit the same that lie has disclosed to me? TYNDARUS I confess that my father has very great wealth at home, and that I am born of a very noble family; but I entreat you, Hegio, let not my riches make your mind too prone to avarice, lest it should seem to my father, although I am his only son, more suitable that I should be a slave in your house, bountifully supplied at your expense and with your clothing, rather than be living the life of a beggar where \u2018twould be far from honorable. HEGIO By the favour of the Gods and of my forefathers, I am rich enough. I don\u2019t quite believe that every kind of gain is serviceable to mankind. I know that gain has already made many a man famous; and yet there are occasions when it is undoubtedly better to incur loss than to make gain. Gold I detest: many a one has it persuaded to many an evil course. Now give your attention to this, that you may know as well what my wishes are. My son, taken prisoner. is in servitude at Elis there among your people; if you restore him to me, don\u2019t you give me a single coin besides; both you and him, your servant, I\u2019ll send back from here; on no other terms can you depart hence. TYNDARUS You ask what\u2019s very right and very just, and you are the very kindest person of all mankind. But whether is he in servitude to a private person or to the publicOr to the public: Some captives were employed in the public service, while others fell into the hands of private individuals.? HEGIO In private servitude to Menarchus, a physician. PHILOCRATES By my faith, that person\u2019s surely his father\u2019s dependant. Why really, that\u2019s down as pat for you, as the shower is when it rains. HEGIO Do you then cause this person, my son, to be redeemed. TYNDARUS I\u2019ll do so: but this I beg of you, Hegio\u2014 HEGIO Whatever you wish, so that you request nothing against my interest, I\u2019ll do. TYNDARUS Listen then, and you\u2019ll know. I don\u2019t ask for myself to be released, until he has returned. But I beg of you to give me him (pointing to PHILOCRATES) with a price setWith a price set: Aestimatus here means entrusted to a person at a fixed value, and at his risk for the due return of it. upon him, that I may send him to my father, that this person, your son, may be redeemed there. HEGIO Why no; I\u2019d rather send another person hence, when there shall be a truce, to confer with your father there, and to carry your injunctions which you shall entrust him with, just as you wish. TYNDARUS But it\u2019s of no use to send to him one that he doesn\u2019t know; you\u2019d be losing your labour. Send this person; he\u2019ll have it all completed, if he gets there. And you cannot send any person to him more faithful, nor one in whom he places more confidence, nor who is more a servant after his own mind; nor, in fact, one to whom he would more readily entrust your son. Have no fears; at my own peril I\u2019ll make proof of his fidelity, relying upon his disposition; because he is sensible that I\u2019m kindly disposed towards him. HEGIO Well then, I\u2019ll send him with a price set upon him, on the surety of your promise, if you wish it. TYNDARUS I do wish it; so soon as ever it can, I want this matter to be brought to completion. HEGIO What reason is there, then, that if he doesn\u2019t return, you should not pay me twenty minae for him? TYNDARUS Yes\u2014very good. HEGIO (to the SLAVES, who obey.) Release him now forthwith; and, indeed, both of them. (On being released, PHILOCRATES goes into the house.) TYNDARUS May all the Gods grant you all your desires, since you have deigned me honor so great, and since you release me from my chains. Really, this is not so irksome now, since my neck is free from the collar-chain. HEGIO The kindnesses that are done to the good, thanks for the same are pregnant with blessings. Now, if you are about to send him thither, direct, instruct him, give him the orders which you wish to be carried to your father. Should you like me to call him to you? TYNDARUS Do call him. (HEGIO goes to the door, and calls PHILOCRATES.) (Enter PHILOCRATES, from the house) HEGIO May this affair turn out happily for myself and for my son, and for yourselves. (To PHILOCRATES.) Your new master wishes you to pay faithful obedience to your former owner in what he wishes. For I have presented you to him, with the price of twenty minae set upon you: and he says that he is desirous to send you away hence to his father, that he may there redeem my son, and that an exchange may be made between me and him for our respective sons. PHILOCRATES My disposition takes its course straight in either direction, both to yourself and to him; as a wheelAs a wheel: This may either mean the wheel of a vehicle or a potter\u2019s wheel. The wheels used by the ancients revolved on the axle, as in the carriages of modern times, and were prevented, by pins inserted, from falling off They consisted of naves, spokes, which varied much in number, the felly, or wooden circumference, made of elastic wood, such as the poplar and wild fig, and composed of several segments united, and the tire, which was of metal. Some of their carts and waggons had wheels made of a solid circle of wood, in shape like a millstone, with the axle running through the middle. Similar wheels are used in the south of Europe at the present day. you may make use of me; either this way or that can I be turned, whichever way you shall command me. HEGIO You yourself profit the most from your own disposition, when you endure slavery just as it ought to be endured. Follow me. (To TYNDARUS.) See here\u2019s your man. TYNDARUS I return you thanks, since you give me this opportunity and permission to send this messenger to my parents, who may relate all the matter in its order to my father, what I\u2019m doing here, and what I wish to be done. (To PHILOCRATES.) Now, Tyndarus, thus is it arranged between myself and him, that I\u2019m to send you, valued at a fixed price, to my father in Elis; so that, if you don\u2019t return hither, I\u2019m to give twenty minae for you. PHILOCRATES I think that you\u2019ve come to a right understanding. For your father expects either myself or some messenger to come from here to him. TYNDARUS I wish you, then, to mind what message it is I want you to carry hence to my country to my father. PHILOCRATES Philocrates, as up to this moment I have done, I will take all due care to endeavour that which may especially conduce to your interest, and to pursue the same with heart and soul, and with my ears. TYNDARUS You act just as you ought to act; now I wish you to give attention. In the first place of all, carry my respects to my mother and my father, and to my relations, and if any one else you see well-disposed towards me: say that I am in health here, and that I am a slave, in servitude to this most worthy man, who has ever honored me more and more with his respect, and does so still. PHILOCRATES Don\u2019t you be instructing me as to that; I can, still, easily bear that in mind. TYNDARUS For, indeed, except that I have a keeper, I deem myself to be a free man. Tell my father on what terms I have agreed with this party about his son. PHILOCRATES What I remember, it is sheer delay to be putting me in mind of. TYNDARUS To redeem him, and to send him back here in exchange for both of us. PHILOCRATES I\u2019ll remember it. HEGIO But as soon as he can that is especially to the interest of us both. PHILOCRATES You are not more anxious to see your son, than he is to see his. HEGIO My son is dear to myself, and his own to every man. PHILOCRATES (to TYNDARUS.) Do you wish any other message to be carried to your father? TYNDARUS Say that I am well here; and do you boldly tell him, Tyndarus, that we have been of dispositions for uninterrupted harmony between ourselves, and that you have neither been deserving of censure, nor that I have proved your enemy; and that still, amid miseries so great, you have shown implicit obedience to your master, and that you have never abandoned me, either in deed or in fidelity, amid my wavering, unprosperous fortunes. When my father shall know this, Tyndarus, how well-disposed you have proved towards his son and himself, he will never be so avaricious but that he\u2019ll give you your liberty for nothing. And by my own endeavours, if I return hence, I\u2019ll make him do so the more readily. For by your aid and kindness, and good disposition and prudence, you have caused me to be allowed to return to my parents once again, inasmuch as to Hegio you have confessed both my rank and my wealth; by means of which, through your wisdom, you have liberated your master from his chains. PHILOCRATES The things which you mention I have done, and I am pleased that you remember this. Deservedly have they been done for you by me; for now, Philocrates, if I, too, were to mention the things that you have kindly done for me, the night would cut short the day. For, had you been my slave even, no otherwise were you always obliging to me. HEGIO Ye Gods, by our trust in you! behold the kindly disposition of these persons! How they draw the very tears from me! See how cordially they love each other, and with what praises the servant has commended his master. PHILOCRATES I\u2019 troth, he hasn\u2019t commended me the one hundredth part of what he himself deserves to be commended in my praises. HEGIO (to PHILOCRATES.) Since, then, you have acted most becomingly, now there\u2019s an opportunity to add to your good deeds in managing this matter with fidelity towards him. PHILOCRATES I am not able more to wish it done, than by my endeavours to try to bring it about. That you may know this, Hegio, with praises do I call supreme Jove to witness that I will not prove unfaithful to PhilocratesUnfaithful to Philocrates: Philocrates might very safely take an oath to Hegio, that he would not prove unfaithful to himself.\u2014 HEGIO You are a worthy fellow. PHILOCRATES And that I will never in anything act otherwise towards him than towards my own self. TYNDARUS I wish you to put these speeches to the test, both by your deeds and your actions; and inasmuch as I have said the less about you than I had wished, I wish you the more to give me your attention, and take you care not to be angry with me by reason of these words. But, I beseech you, reflect that you are sent hence home with a price set upon you at my risk, and that my life is here left as a pledge for you. Do not you forget me the very moment that you have left my presence, since you will have left me here behind a captive in captivity for yourself, and don\u2019t consider yourself as free, and forsake your pledgeForsake your pledge: Alluding to himself being left behind, and a surety for his speedy return., and not use your endeavours for you to bring his son home again, in return for me. Understand that you are sent hence valued at twenty minae. Take care to prove scrupulously faithful; take care that you show not a wavering fidelity. For my father, I am sure, will do everything that he ought to do. Preserve me as a constant friend to you, and find outAnd find out: Atque hunc inventum inveni. Some would render this, And find this person still as you have found him, making it allude to Hegio; it seems, however, rather to apply to the son of Hegio, and to mean, Do you seek out this person whom we have found out to be in the possession of the physician, Menarchus. this person so lately discovered. These things, by your right hand, holding you with my own right hand, do I beg of you; do not prove less true to me than I have proved to you. This matter do you attend to; you are now my master, you my patron, you my father; to you do I commend my hopes and my fortunes. PHILOCRATES You have given injunctions enough. Are you satisfied if I bring back accomplished what you have enjoined? TYNDARUS Satisfied. PHILOCRATES (to HEGIO.) According to your wishes, and (to TYNDARUS) according to yours, will I return hither provided. Is there anything else? TYNDARUS For you to return back as soon as ever you can. PHILOCRATES The business itself reminds me of that. HEGIO (to PHILOCRATES.) Follow me, that I may give you your expenses for the journey at my banker\u2019s; on the same occasion I\u2019ll get a passport from the Praetor. TYNDARUS What passportWhat passport?: Being conscious of the trick which they are playing on the worthy old man, Tyndarus shows some alarm on hearing a passport, or syngraphus, mentioned. Commentators are at a loss to know why he should express such alarm. It is difficult to say, but, probably, as there was in the passport a description of the bearer, who would be Philocrates under the name of Tyndarus, it suddenly comes to the recollection of Tyndarus that they were originally made prisoners under their proper names, and that possibly Philocrates may be recognized as attempting to pass under an assumed name.? HEGIO For him to take with him hence to the army, that he may be allowed to go home from here. (To TYNDARUS.) You go in-doors. TYNDARUS Speed you well. PHILOCRATES Right heartily, farewell. (TYNDARUS goes into the house.) HEGIO (aside.) I\u2019 faith, I compassed my design, when I purchased these men of the Quaestors out of the spoil. I have released my son from slavery, if so it pleases the Gods; and yet I hesitated a long time whether I should purchase or should not purchase these persons. Watch that man indoors, if you please, you servants, that he may nowhere move a foot without a guard. I shall soon make my appearance at home; now I\u2019m going to my brother\u2019s, to see my other captives; at the same time I\u2019ll enquire whether any one knows this young man. (To PHILOCRATES.) Do you follow, that I may despatch you. I wish attention first to be paid to that matter. (Exeunt.) (Enter ERGASILUS.) ERGASILUS Wretched is that man who is in search of something to eat, and finds that with difficulty; but more wretched is he who both seeks with difficulty, and finds nothing at all; most wretched is he, who, when he desires to eat, has not that which he may eat. But, by my faith, if I only could, I\u2019d willingly tear out the eyes of this day; \u2014with such enmity has it filled all people towards me. One more starved out I never did see, nor one more filled with hungerFilled with hunger: This paradoxical expression is similar to the one used in the Aulularia, l. 45, inaniis oppletae, filled with emptiness., nor one who prospers less in whatever he begins to do. So much do my stomach and my throat take rest on these fasting holidaysFasting holidays: He means to say, that as on feast days and holidays people abstain from work, so at present his teeth and stomach have no employment.. Away with the profession of a Parasite to very utter and extreme perdition! so much in these days do the young men drive away from them the needy drolls. They care nothing now-a-days for these Laconian menThese Laconian men: The Parasites, when there was not room for them on the triclinia, or couches at table, were forced to sit on subsellia, or benches, at the bottom of the table. This was like the custom of the Spartans, or Laconians, who, eschewing the luxury of reclining, always persisted in sitting at meals. The Spartans, also, endured pain with the greatest firmness; a virtue much required by Parasites, in order to put up with the indignities which they had to endure from the guests, who daubed their faces, broke pots about their heads, and boxed their ears. of the lowest benches\u2014these whipping-posts, who have their clever sayings without provision and without money. They now-a-days seek those who, when they\u2019ve eaten at their pleasure, may give them a return at their own houses. They go themselves to market, which formerly was the province of the Parasites. They go themselves from the Forum to the procurers with face as exposedWith face as exposed: People, with any sense of decency, would resort to these places either in masks, or with a hood thrown over the face. as the magistrates in courtIn court: In tribu. He alludes to the trials which took place before the Roman people in the Comitia Tributa, or assemblies of the tribes, where the Tribunes and Aediles acted as the accusers. The offences for which persons were summoned before the tribes, were, bad conduct of a magistrate in performance of his duties, neglect of duty, mismanagement of a war, embezzlement of the public money, breaches of the peace, usury, adultery, and some other crimes. The Comitia Tributa were used as courts of appeal, when a person protested against a fine imposed by a magistrate., with face exposed, condemn those who are found guilty; nor do they now value buffoons at one farthingAt one farthing: Literally, at a teruncius, which was a small coin among the Romans, containing three unciae, twelfth parts or one quarter of the as, which we generally take as equivalent to a penny.; all are so much in love with themselves. For, when, just now, I went away from here, I came to some young men in the Forum: Good morrow, said I; whither are we going together to breakfast? On this, they were silent. Who says, \u2018here, at my house,\u2019 or who makes an offer? said I. Just like dumb men, they were silent, and didn\u2019t smile at me. Where do we dine? said I. On this they declined. I said one funny saying out of my best bon mots, by which I formerly used to get feasting for a month; not an individual smiled; at once I knew that the matter was arranged by concert. Not even one was willing to imitate a dog when provoked; if they didn\u2019t laugh, they might, at least, have grinned with their teethGrinned with their teeth: That is, by showing their teeth and grinning. This is not unlike the expression used in the Psalms (according to the translation in our Liturgy) \u2014Ps. lix., ver. 6\u2014They grin like a dog and run about through the city.. From them I went away, after I saw that I was thus made sport of. I went to some others; then to some others I came; then to some others\u2014the same the result. All treat the matter in confederacy, just like the oil-merchants in the VelabrumIn the Velabrum: The Via Nova, or New Street, at Rome, led from the interior of the city to the Velabra. The greater and the less Velabrum lay between the Palatine and the Capitoline Hills, where fruits and other commodities were sold in booths, or under awnings, from which (vela) the streets probably derived their name. Varro, however, says that they were so called from the verb veho, to carry; because in early times those spots were traversed in boats, which mode of carriage was called velatura. From the present passage, it appears that the oil-merchants in the Velabra acted in confederacy not to sell their oils under a certain price.. Now, I\u2019ve returned thence, since I see myself made sport of there. In like manner do other Parasites walk to and fro, to no purpose, in the Forum. Now, after the foreign fashionAfter the foreign fashion: Some suppose that barbaric\u00e2 lege here means the foreign or Roman law, and that he refers to the Lex Vinnia, introduced at Rome by Quintus Vinnius, which was said to have been passed against those persons who confederated for the purpose of keeping up the high prices of provisions. It is, however, somewhat doubtful if there really was such a law; and the better opinion seems to be that the word lege means fashion or custom; and that he refers to the Roman method of trial. He will accuse his former entertainers of a conspiracy to starve him. He will name a day for trial, diem dicet; he will demand damages or a penalty. irrogabit mulctam; and thus will he proceed at law against them, sic egerit. Rost has written at great length on the meaning of this passage., I\u2019m determined to enforce all my rights. Those who have entered into a confederacy, by which to deprive us of food and life,\u2014for them I\u2019ll name a day. I\u2019ll demand, as the damages, that they shall give me ten dinners at my own option, when provisions are dear: thus will I do. Now I\u2019ll go hence to the harbour. There, is my only hope of a dinner; if that shall fail me, I\u2019ll return here to the old gentleman, to his unsavoury dinner. (Enter HEGIO and ARISTOPHONTES.) HEGIO (to himself.) What is there more delightful than to manage one\u2019s own interests well for the public goodFor the public good: It is possible that he may here refer to his purchase of Philocrates, whose high position among the Eleans would probably tend, on his return to his native country, to promote peace between it and the people of Aetolia., just as I did yesterday, when I purchased these men. Every person, as they see me, comes to meet me, and congratulates me on this matter. By thus stopping and detaining unlucky me, they\u2019ve made me quite tired. With much ado have I survivedWith much ado have I survived: Vix eminebam. Literally, I hardly kept myself above water. He means that he was almost overpowered by the crowds of people congratulating him. from being congratulated, to my misfortune. At last, to the Praetor did I get. There, scarcely did I rest myself. I asked for a passport; it was given me: at once I delivered it to Tyndarus. He started for home. Thence, straightway, after that was done, I passed by my house; and I went at once to my brother\u2019s, where my other captives are. I asked about Philocrates from Elis, whether any one of them all knew the person. This man (pointing to ARISTOPHONTES) called out that he had been his intimate friend; I told him that he was at my house. At once he besought and entreated me that I would permit him to see him. Forthwith I ordered him to be released from chains. Thence have I come. (To ARISTOPHONTES.) Now, do you follow me, that you may obtain what you have besought of me, the opportunity of meeting with this person. (They go into the house.) (Enter TYNDARUS, from the house.) TYNDARUS Now stands the matter so, that I would much rather that I had once existed, than that I still exist; now do my hopes, my resources, and my succour, desert me and spurn themselves. This is that day, when, for my life, no safety can be hoped; nor yet is death my end; nor hope is there, in fact, to dispel this fear for me; nor cloak have I anywhere for my deceitful stratagems; nor for my devices or my subterfuges is there anywhere a screen presented to me. No deprecating is there for my perfidy; no means of flight for my offences. No refuge is there anywhere for my trusting; and no escape for my cunning schemes. What was concealed is now exposed; my plans are now divulged. The whole matter is now laid open; nor is there any ado about this matter, but that I must perish outright, and meet with destruction, both on behalf of my master and myself. This Aristophontes has proved my ruin, who has just now come into the house. He knows me. He is the intimate friend and kinsman of Philocrates. Not Salvation herselfNot Salvation herself: This was a proverbial expression among the Romans. Salus, Safety or Salvation, was worshipped as a Goddess at Rome. It is well observed, in Thornton\u2019s translation, that the word Salus may, without irreverence, be translated Salvation, on no less authority than that of Archbishop Tillotson. If, says he, men will continue in their sins, the redemption brought by Christ will be of no advantage to them; such as obstinately persist in an impenitent course, ipsa si velit Salus, servare non potest, Salvation itself cannot save them. can save me now, even if she wishes; nor have I any means of escape, unless, perchance, I devise some artifice in my mind. (He meditates.) Plague on it!-how? What can I contrive?\u2014what can I think of? Some very great folly and trifling I shall have to begin with. I\u2019m quite at a loss. (He retires aside.) (Enter HEGIO, ARISTOPHONTES, and SLAVES, from the house) HEGIO Whither am I to say, now, that this man has betaken himself from the house out of doors? TYNDARUS (apart.) Now, for a very certainty, I\u2019m done for; the enemies are coming to you, Tyndarus! What shall I say?\u2014what shall I talk of? What shall I deny, or what confess? All matters are reduced to uncertainty. How shall I place confidence in my resources? I wish the Gods had destroyed you, before you were lost to your own country, Aristophontes, who, from a plot well concerted, are making it disconcerted. This plan is ruined outright, unless I find out for myself some extremely bold device. HEGIO (to ARISTOPHONTES.) Follow me. See, there is the man; go to him and address him. TYNDARUS (aside, and turning away.) What mortal among mortals is there more wretched than myself? ARISTOPHONTES (coming up to him.) Why\u2019s this, that I\u2019m to say that you are avoiding my gaze, Tyndarus? And why that you are slighting me as a stranger, as though you had never known me? Why, I\u2019m as much a slave as yourself; although at home I was a free man, you, even from your childhood, have always served in slavery in Elis. HEGIO I\u2019 faith, I\u2019m very little surprised, if either he does avoid your gaze, or if he does shun you, who are calling him Tyndarus, instead of Philocrates. TYNDARUS Hegio, this person was accounted a madman in Elis. Don\u2019t you give ear to what he prates about; for at home he has pursued his father and mother with spears, and that malady sometimes comes upon him which is spit outWhich is spit out: Some would render the words qui sputatur which is spit upon, and fancy that they find authorities in the ancient writers for thinking that epilepsy was treated by spitting upon the patient. However, it seems much more probable, that the notion was that epilepsy was cured by the patient himself spitting out the noxious saliva; and that the word sputatur means, is spit out, i. e. is cured by spitting. Celsus thus describes the comitialis morbus, epilepsy, or falling sickness: The person seized, suddenly falls down; foam drops from the mouth; then, after a little time, he comes to himself, and gets up again without any assistance. Pliny, in his Natural History, B. 38, c. 4, says: Despuimus comitiales morbos, hoc est, contagia regerimus, We spit out the epilepsy, that is, we avert the contagion. This is said, probably, in reference to a belief, that on seeing an epileptic person, if we spit, we shall avoid the contagion; but it by no means follows that the person so doing must spit upon the epileptic person. We read in the first Book of Samuel, ch. xxi., ver. 12: And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish, the King of Gath. And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down on his beard. He probably pretended to be attacked with epileptic fits. In fact, after due examination, there seems little doubt that it was a common notion with the ancients that the distemper was discharged with the saliva. Do you this instant stand away at a distance from him. HEGIO (to the SLAVES.) Away with him further off from me. ARISTOPHONTES Do you say, you whipp\u2019d knave, that I am mad, and do you declare that I have followed my own father with spears? And that I have that malady, that it\u2019s necessary for me to be spit uponTo be spit upon: Aristophontes has understood the words, qui sputatur, in the sense of which is spit upon, and asks Tyndarus if he affirms that he is afflicted with a disease which requires such treatment. Hegio, to pacify him, and to show off his medical knowledge, tells him that it has proved beneficial in some diseases to be so treated; but he does not go so far as to say what those diseases were. One malady, called herpes, or spreading ulcer, was said to be highly contagious, but capable of being cured by applications of saliva. Some Commentators here quote the method which our Saviour adopted in curing the blind man at Bethsaida: And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town: and when he had spat on his eyes and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he saw aught. St. Mark, ch. viii., ver. 23. And again, the account given in the ninth chapter of St. John, ver. 6: When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. It may be possible that our Saviour thought fit to adopt these forms, in imitation of some of the methods of treating diseases in those times; though, of course, his transcendant power did not require their agency Rost, in his Commentaries on Plautus, has a very learned disquisition on the meaning of the present passage.? HEGIO Don\u2019t be dismayed; that malady afflicts many a person to whom it has proved wholesome to be spit upon, and has been of service to them. ARISTOPHONTES Why, what do you say? Do you, too, credit him? HEGIO Credit him in what? ARISTOPHONTES That I am mad? TYNDARUS Do you see him, with what a furious aspect he\u2019s looking at you? \u2019Twere best to retire, Hegio; it is as I said, his frenzy grows apace; have a care for yourself. HEGIO I thought that he was mad, the moment that he called you Tyndarus. TYNDARUS Why, he\u2019s sometimes ignorant of his own name, and doesn\u2019t know what it is. HEGIO But he even said that you were his intimate friend. TYNDARUS So far from that, I never saw him. Why, really, Alcmaeon, and Orestes, and LycurgusAlcmaeon, and Orestes, and Lycurgus: He alludes to these three persons as being three of the most celebrated men of antiquity that were attacked with frenzy. Orestes slew his mother, Clytemnestra; Alcmaeon killed his mother, Eriphyle; and Lycurgus, King of Thrace, on slighting the worship of Bacchus, was afflicted with madness, in a fit of which he hewed off his own legs with a hatchet. besides, are my friends on the same principle that he is. ARISTOPHONTES Villain, and do you dare speak ill of me, as well? Do I not know you? HEGIO I\u2019 faith, it really is very clear that you don\u2019t know him, who are calling him Tyndarus, instead of Philocrates. Him whom you see, you don\u2019t know; you are addressing him as the person whom you don\u2019t see. ARISTOPHONTES On the contrary this fellow\u2019s saying that he is the person who he is not; and he says that he is not the person who he really is. TYNDARUS You\u2019ve been found, of course, to excel Philocrates in truthfulness. ARISTOPHONTES By my troth, as I understand the matter, you\u2019ve been found to brazen out the truth by lying. But i\u2019 faith, prithee, come then, look at me. TYNDARUS (looking at him.) Well! ARISTOPHONTES Say, now; do you deny that you are Tyndarus? TYNDARUS I do deny it, I say. ARISTOPHONTES Do you say that you are Philocrates? TYNDARUS I do say so, I say. ARISTOPHONTES (to HEGIO.) And do you believe him? HEGIO More, indeed, than either you or myself. For he, in fact, who you say that he is (pointing to TYNDARUS), has set out hence to-day for Elis, to this person\u2019s father. ARISTOPHONTES What father, when he\u2019s a slaveWhen he\u2019s a slave: Slaves were not considered to have any legal existence; and, therefore, to have neither parents or relations.. TYNDARUS And so are you a slave, and yet you were a free man; and I trust that so I shall be, if I restore his son here to liberty. ARISTOPHONTES How say you, villain? Do you say that you were born a free man [liber]? TYNDARUS I really do not say that I am LiberThat I am Liber: Aristophontes asks him if he means to assert that he was born a free man, liber. As Liber was also a name of Bacchus, Tyndarus quibbles, and says, I did not assert that I am Liber, but that I am Philocrates. In consequence of the idiom of the Latin language, his answer (non equidem me Liberum, sed Philocratem esse aio) will admit of another quibble, and may be read as meaning, I did not say that I am a free man, but that Philocrates is. This maybe readily seen by the Latin scholar, but is not so easily explained to the English reader., but that I am Philocrates. ARISTOPHONTES How\u2019s this? How this scoundrel, Hegio, is making sport of you now. For he\u2019s a slave himself, and never, except his own self, had he a slave. TYNDARUS Because you yourself are destitute in your own country, and haven\u2019t whereon to live at home, you wish all to be found like to yourself; you don\u2019t do anything surprising. \u2019Tis the nature of the distressed to be ill-disposed, and to envy the fortunate. ARISTOPHONTES Hegio, take you care, please, that you don\u2019t persist in rashly placing confidence in this man; for so far as I see, he is certainly now putting some device in execution, in saying that he is redeeming your son from captivity; that is by no means satisfactory to me. TYNDARUS I know that you don\u2019t wish that to be done; still I shall effect it, if the Gods assist me. I shall bring him back here, and he will restore me to my father, in Elis. For that purpose have I sent Tyndarus hence to my father. ARISTOPHONTES Why, you yourself are he; nor is there any slave in Elis of that name, except yourself. TYNDARUS Do you persist in reproaching me with being a slave\u2014a thing that has befallen me through the fortune of war? ARISTOPHONTES Really, now, I cannot contain myself. TYNDARUS (to HEGIO.) Ha! don\u2019t you hear him? Why don\u2019t you take to flight? He\u2019ll be pelting us just now with stones there, unless you order him to be seized. ARISTOPHONTES I\u2019m distracted. TYNDARUS His eyes strike fire; there\u2019s need of a rope, Hegio. Don\u2019t you see how his body is spotted all over with livid spots? Black bileBlack bile: A superabundance of the bile was supposed to be productive of melancholy madness. The word melancholy is from the Greek \u03bc\u03b5\u03bb\u03b1\u03b3\u03c7\u03bf\u03bb\u03b9\u1f70, black bile. is disordering the man. ARISTOPHONTES And, by my faith, if this old gentleman is wise, black pitchBlack pitch: He alludes to a frightful punishment inflicted upon malefactors by the Romans. They were either smeared over with burning pitch, or were first covered with pitch, which was then set fire to. This punishment is supposed to have been often inflicted upon the early Christians. Juvenal alludes to it in his First Satire, l. 155: Pone Tigellinum, taed\u00e2 lucebis in ill\u00e2, Qu\u00e2 stantes ardent, qui fixo gutture fumant. Describe Tigellinus [an infamous minister of Nero], and you shall give a light by those torches, in which those stand and burn who send forth smoke with a stake driven into their throat. will be disordering you with the executioner, and giving a light to your head. TYNDARUS He\u2019s now talking in his fit of delirium; sprites are in possession of the man. HEGIO By my troth, suppose I order him to be seized? TYNDARUS You would be acting more wisely.Part of line 599 in the Latin. ARISTOPHONTES I\u2019m vexed that I haven\u2019t a stone, to knock out the brains of that whip-scoundrel, who\u2019s driving me to madness by his taunts. TYNDARUS Don\u2019t you hear that he\u2019s looking for a stone? ARISTOPHONTES I wish to speak with you alone, separately, Hegio. HEGIO Speak from where you are, if you want anything; though at a distance, I shall hear you. TYNDARUS Yes, for, by my faith, if you approach nearer, he\u2019ll be taking your nose off with his teeth. ARISTOPHONTES By heavens, Hegio, don\u2019t you believe that I am mad, or that I ever was so, or that I have the malady which that fellow avers. But if you fear anything from me, order me to be bound; I wish it, so long as that fellow is bound as well. TYNDARUS Why really, Hegio, rather let him be bound that wishes it. ARISTOPHONTES Now hold your tongue! I\u2019ll make you, you false Philocrates, to be found out this day to be a real Tyndarus. Why are you making signsWhy are you making signs: Abnutas. The verb abnuto means, to nod to a person that he may desist. Tyndarus thinks that by this time Aristophontes must surely understand the plan that has been devised for the escape of Philocrates; and, as he is about to step aside to speak with Hegio, he makes a sign, requesting him to stop short in his contradiction of what he has asserted. at me? TYNDARUS I, making signs at you? (To HEGIO.) What would he do, if you were at a greater distance off? HEGIO What do you say? What if I approach this madman? TYNDARUS Nonsense; you\u2019ll be made a fool of; he\u2019ll be prating stuff, to you, neither the feet nor the head of which will ever be visible. The dress onlyThe dress only: By ornamenta he means the dress of Tragedy. The dresses of Comedy were essentially different from those of Tragedy. He means to say, the man is mad; if he had only the Tragic garb on, you might take him for Ajax Telamon in his frenzy. On being refused the arms of Achilles, Ajax became mad, and slaughtered a flock of sheep fancying that they were Ulysses and the sons of Atreus. is wanting; in seeing this man, you behold Ajax himself. HEGIO I don\u2019t care; still I\u2019ll approach him. (Advances to ARISTOPHONTES.) TYNDARUS (aside.) Now am I utterly undone; now between the sacrifice and the stoneThe sacrifice and the stone: We learn from Livy, that in the most ancient times the animal for sacrifice was killed by being struck with a stone; to stand between the victim and the stone, would consequently imply, to be in a position of extreme danger. do I stand, nor know I what to do. HEGIO I lend you my attention, Aristophontes, if there is anything that you would wish with me. ARISTOPHONTES From me you shall hear that truth, which now you think to be false, Hegio. But I wish, in the first place, to clear myself from this with you\u2014that madness does not possess me, and that I have no malady, except that I am in captivity; and, so may the King of Gods and of men make me to regain my native land, that fellow there is no more Philocrates than either I or you. HEGIO Come, then, tell me who he is? ARISTOPHONTES He whom I\u2019ve told you all along from the beginning. If you shall find him any other than that person, I show no cause why I shouldn\u2019t suffer the loss with you both of my parents and of my liberty for ever. HEGIO (to TYNDARUS.) What say you to this? TYNDARUS That I am your slave, and you my master. HEGIO I didn\u2019t ask that\u2014were you a free man? TYNDARUS I was. ARISTOPHONTES But he really wasn\u2019t; he is deceiving you. TYNDARUS How do you know? Were you, perchance, the midwife of my mother, since you dare to affirm this so boldly? ARISTOPHONTES When a boy, I saw yourself, a boy. TYNDARUS But, grown up, I now see you grown up; so, there\u2019s for you, in return. If you did right, you wouldn\u2019t be troubling yourself about my concerns; do I trouble myself about yours? HEGIO Was his father called Thesaurochrysonicocr\u0153sides? ARISTOPHONTES He was not; and I never heard that name before this day. Theodoromedes was the father of Philocrates. TYNDARUS (aside.) I\u2019m downright undone. Why don\u2019t you be quiet, heart of mine? Go and be stretched, and hang yourself; you are throbbing so, that unfortunate I can hardly stand up for my fear. HEGIO Is a full assurance given me that this was a slave in Elis, and that he is not Philocrates? ARISTOPHONTES So fully, that you will never find this to be otherwise; but where is heBut where is he: Tyndarus has probably betaken himself to some corner of the stage, and Aristophontes misses him from his former position. now? HEGIO Where I the least, and he the most could wish himself. In consequence, then, I\u2019m cut asunderCut asunder: Deruncinatus means, literally, cut asunder with a runcina, or saw., disjointed, to my sorrow, by the devices of this scoundrel, who has bamboozled me by his tricks just as he has thought fit. But do, please, have a care that you are right. ARISTOPHONTES Why, I assure you of this, as an ascertained and established fact. HEGIO For certain? ARISTOPHONTES Why, nothing, I say, will you find more certain than this certainty. Philocrates, from when a boy, has ever since that time been my friend. HEGIO But of what appearance is your friend Philocrates? ARISTOPHONTES I\u2019ll tell you: with a thin face, sharp nose, light hair, dark eyes, somewhat ruddy, with hair rather crisp and curling, HEGIO The description is like. TYNDARUS (aside.) Aye, so much so, indeed, that I\u2019ve this day, much to my sorrow, got into the midst of this, i\u2019 faith. Woe to those unfortunate rods which this day will be meeting their end upon my back. HEGIO I see that I\u2019ve been imposed upon. TYNDARUS (aside.) Why, fetters, do you delay to run towards me and to embrace my legs, that I may have you in custody? HEGIO And have these two rascally captives really deceived me this day with their tricks? The other one pretended that he was the servant, and this one that he himself was the master. I\u2019ve lost the kernel; for a security, I\u2019ve left the shell. To such a degree have they imposed upon meHave they imposed upon me: Os sublevere offuciis. Literally painted my face with varnish. This expression is probably derived from the practice of persons concealing, their defects, by painting over spots or freckles in the face for the purpose of hiding them., both on this side and that, with their trickeries. Still, this fellow shall never have the laugh against me. Colaphus, Cordalio, CoraxColaphus, Cordalio, Corax: These are the names of slaves Colaphus means, also, a blow with the fist. Corax was the Greek name for a crow, and was probably given to a black slave. (to the SLAVES), go you away and bring out the thongs. A SLAVE Are we to be sent to gather faggotsTo gather faggots: He asks this question because cords, lora, were necessary for the purpose of binding up faggots.? (The SLAVES go and bring the thongs from the house.) (HEGIO, TYNDARUS, ARISTOPHONTES, and SLAVES) HEGIO (to the SLAVES.) Put the manacles on this whipp\u2019d villain. TYNDARUS (whilst the SLAVES are fastening him.) What\u2019s the matter? What have I done wrong? HEGIO Do you ask the question? You weeder and sower of villanies, and in especial their reaper. TYNDARUS Ought you not to have ventured to say the harrower first? For countrymen always harrow before they weed. HEGIO Why, with what assurance he stands before me. TYNDARUS It\u2019s proper for a servant, innocent and guiltless, to be full of confidence, most especially before his master. HEGIO (to the SLATES.) Bind this fellow\u2019s hands tightly, will you. TYNDARUS I am your own\u2014do you command them to be cut off even. But what is the matter on account of which you blame me? HEGIO Because me and my fortunes, so far as in you singly lay, by your rascally and knavish stratagems you have rent in pieces, and have distracted my affairs and spoiled all my resources and my plans, in that you\u2019ve thus robbed me of Philocrates by your devices, I thought that he was the slave, you the free man. So did you say yourselves, and in this way did you change names between you. TYNDARUS I confess that all was done so, as you say, and that by a stratagem he has got away from you, through my aid and cleverness; and prithee, now, do you blame me for that, i\u2019 faith? HEGIO Why, it has been done with your extreme torture for the consequence. TYNDARUS So I don\u2019t die by reason of my misdeeds, I care but little. If I do die here, then he returns not, as he said he would; but when I\u2019m dead, this act will be remembered to my honor, that I caused my captive master to return from slavery and the foe, a free man, to his father in his native land; and that I preferred rather to expose my own life to peril, than that he should be undone. HEGIO Take care, then, to enjoy that fame at Acheron. TYNDARUS He who dies for virtue\u2019s sake, still does not perish. HEGIO When I\u2019ve tortured you in the most severe manner, and for your schemes put you to death, let them say either that you have perished or that you have died; so long as you do die, I don\u2019t think it matters if they say you live. TYNDARUS I\u2019 faith, if you do do so, you\u2019ll do it not without retribution, if he shall return here, as I trust that he will return. ARISTOPHONTES (aside.) O ye immortal Gods! I understand it now; now I know what the case really is. My friend Philocrates is at liberty with his father, in his native land. \u2019Tis well; nor have I any person to whom I could so readily wish well. But this thing grieves me, that I\u2019ve done this person a bad turn, who now on account of me and my talking is in chains. HEGIO (to TYNDARUS.) Did I not forbid you this day to utter anything false to me? TYNDARUS You did forbid me. HEGIO Why did you dare to tell me lies? TYNDARUS Because the truth would have prejudiced him whom I was serving; now falsehood has advantaged him. HEGIO But it will prejudice yourself. TYNDARUS \u2019Tis very good. Still, I have saved my master, whom I rejoice at being saved, to whom my elder master had assigned me as a protector. But do you think that this was wrongly done? HEGIO Most wrongfully. TYNDARUS But I, who disagree with you, say, rightly. For consider, if any slave of yours had done this for your son, what thanks you would have given him. Would you have given that slave his freedom or not? Would not that slave have been in highest esteem with you? Answer me that. HEGIO I think so. TYNDARUS Why, then, are you angry with me? HEGIO Because you have proved more faithful to him than to myself. TYNDARUS How now? Did you expect, in a single night and day, for yourself to teach me\u2014a person just made captive, a recent slave, and in his noviciate\u2014that I should rather consult your interest than his, with whom from childhood I have passed my life? HEGIO Seek, then, thanks from him for that. (To the SLAVES.) Take him where he may receive weighty and thick fetters, thence, after that, you shall go to the quarries for cutting stone. There, while the others are digging out eight stones, unless you daily do half as much work again, you shall have the name of the six-hundred-stripe manSix-hundred- stripe man: Sexcentoplago. This is a compound word, coined by the author.. ARISTOPHONTES By Gods and men, I do entreat you, Hegio, not to destroy this man. HEGIO He shall be taken all care ofHe shall be taken all care of: Struck with admiration at his fidelity, Aristophontes begs Hegio not to destroy Tyndarus. As the verb perduis might also mean lose him, Hegio ironically takes it in the latter sense, and says that there is no fear of that, for he shall be well taken care of; or, in other words, strictly watched. For at night, fastened with chains, he shall be watched; in the daytime, beneath the ground, he shall be getting out stone. For many a day will I torture him; I\u2019ll not respite him for a single day. ARISTOPHONTES Is that settled by you? HEGIO Not more settled that I shall die. (To the SLAVES.) Take him away this instant to Hippolytus, the blacksmith; bid thick fetters to be rivetted on him. From there let him be led outside the gate to my freedman, Cordalus, at the stone-quarries. And tell him that I desire this man so to be treated, that he mayn\u2019t be in any respect worse off than he who is the most severely treated. TYNDARUS Why, since you are unwilling, do I desire myself to survive? At your own hazard is the risk of my life. After death, no evil have I to apprehend in death. Though I should live even to extreme age, still, short is the space for enduring what you threaten me with. Farewell and prosper although you are deserving for me to say otherwise. You, Aristophontes, as you have deserved of me, so fare you; for on your account has this befallen me. HEGIO (to the SLAVES.) Carry him off. TYNDARUS But this one thing I beg, that, if Philocrates should come back here, you will give me an opportunity of meeting him. HEGIO (to the SLAVES.) At your peril, if you don\u2019t this instant remove him from my sight. (The SLAVES lay hold of TYNDARUS, and push him along.) TYNDARUS I\u2019 troth, this really is violenceThis really is violence: According to Suetonius, Julius Caesar used an exactly similar expression when first attacked by his murderers in the senate-house. On Tullius Cimber seizing hold of his garments he exclaimed, Ita quidem vis est! Why, really, this is violence!, to be both dragged and pushed at the same time. (He is borne off by the SLAVES.) HEGIO He has been led off straight to prisonTo prison: Phylacam. This is a Greek word Latinized, meaning prison or confinement. as he deserves. Let no one presume to attempt such an enterprise. Had it not been for you who discovered this to me, still would they have been leading me by the bridle with their tricks. Now am I resolved henceforth never to trust any person in anything. This once I have been deceived enough; I did hope, to my sorrow, that I had rescued my son from slavery. That hope has forsaken me. I lost one son, whom, a child in his fourth year, a slave stole from me; and, indeed, never since have I found either slave or son; the elder one has fallen in the hands of the enemy. What guilt is this of mine? As though I had become the father of children for the purpose of being childless. (To AISTOPHONTES.) Follow this way. I\u2019ll conduct you back where you were. I\u2019m determined to have pity upon no one, since no one has pity upon me. ARISTOPHONTES Forth from my chains with evil omen did I come; now I perceive that with like ill omen to my bonds I must return. (Exeunt.) (Enter ERGASILUSErgasilus: He has just come from the harbour, where he has seen the son of Hegio, together with Philocrates and Stalagmus, landing from the packet- boat. Now, as he speaks still of his intended dinner with Hegio, to which he had been invited in the earlier part of the Play, we must conclude, that since then, Philocrates has taken ship from the coast of Aetolia, arrived in Elis, procured the liberation of Philopolemus, and returned with him, all in the space of a few hours. This, however, although the coast of Elis was only about fifteen miles from that of Aetolia, is not at all consistent with probability; and the author has been much censured by some Commentators, especially by Lessing, on acccunt of his negligence. It must, however,be remembered, that Plautus was writing for a Roman audience, the greater part of whom did not know whether Elis was one mile or one hundred from the coast of Aetolia. We may suppose, too, that Philopolemus had already caused Stalagmus, the runaway slave, to be apprehended before the arrival of Philocrates in Elis. ERGASILUS Supreme Jove! thou dost preserve me, and dost augment my means. Plenty, extreme and sumptuous, dost thou present to me; celebrity, profit, enjoyment, mirth, festivity, holidays, sights, provisions, carousings, abundance, joyousness. And to no man have I now determined with myself to go a-begging; for I\u2019m able either to profit my friend or to destroy my enemy, to such extent has this delightful day heaped delights upon me in its delightfulness. I have lighted upon a most rich inheritance without incumbrances.An inheritance without incumbrances: Sine sacris hereditas. The meaning of this expression has been explained in the Notes to the Trinummus, 484. Now will I wend my way to this old gentleman Hegio, to whom I am carrying blessings as great as he himself prays for from the Gods, and even greater. Now, this is my determination, in the same fashion that the slaves of ComedySlaves of Comedy: \u2014 This was done that, when expedition was required, the cloak might not prove an obstruction to the wearer as he walked. The slaves in Comedies usually wore the pallium, and as they were mostly active, bustling fellows, would have it tucked tightly around them. The pallium was usually worn passed over the left shoulder, then drawn behind the back, and under the left arm leaving it bare, and then thrown again over the left shoulder, are wont, so will I throw my cloak around my neck, that from me, the first of all, he may learn this matter. And I trust that I, by reason of this news, shall find provision up to the end. (Enter HEGIO, at a distance.) HEGIO (to himself.) The more that I revolve this matter in my breast, the more is my uneasiness of mind increased. That I should have been duped in this fashion to-day! and that I wasn\u2019t able to see through it! When this shall be known, then I shall be laughed at all over the city. The very moment that I shall have reached the Forum, all will be saying, This is that clever old gentleman, who had the trick played him. But is this Ergasilus, that I see coming at a distance? Surely he has got his cloak gathered up; what, I wonder, is he going to do? ERGASILUS (advancing, and talking to himself.) Throw aside from you all tardiness, Ergasilus, and speed on this business. I threaten, and I strictly charge no person to stand in my way, unless any one shall be of opinion that he has lived long enough. For whoever does come in my way, shall stop me upon his face. (He runs along, flourishing his arms about.) HEGIO (to himself.) This fellow\u2019s beginning to box. ERGASILUS (to himself.) I\u2019m determined to do it; so that every one may pursue his own path, let no one be bringing any of his business in this street; for my fist is a balista, my arm is my catapulta, my shoulder a battering-ram; then against whomsoever I dart my knee, I shall bring him to the ground. I\u2019ll make all persons to be picking up their teethTo be picking up their teeth: Dentilegos. He says that he will knock their teeth out, and so make them pick them up from the ground. We must suppose that while he is thus hurrying on, he is walking up one of the long streets which were represented as emerging on the Roman stage, opposite to the audience., whomsoever I shall meet with. HEGIO (to himself.) What threatening is this? For I cannot wonder enough. ERGASILUS I\u2019ll make him always to remember this day and place, and myself as well. Whoever stops me upon my road, I\u2019ll make him put a stop to his own existence. HEGIO (to himself.) What great thing is this fellow preparing to do, with such mighty threats? ERGASILUS I first give notice, that no one, by reason of his own fault, may be caught\u2014keep yourselves in-doors at home, and guard yourselves from my attack. HEGIO (to himself.) By my faith, \u2018tis strange if he hasn\u2019t got this boldness by means of his stomach. Woe to that wretched man, through whose cheer this fellow has become quite swaggering. ERGASILUS Then the bakers, that feed swine, that fatten their pigs upon refuse bran, through the stench of which no one can pass by a baker\u2019s shop; if I see the pig of any one of them in the public way, I\u2019ll beat the bran out of the masters\u2019 themselves with my fists. HEGIO (to himself.) Royal and imperial edicts does he give out. The fellow is full; he certainly has his boldness from his stomach. ERGASILUS Then the fishmongers, who supply stinking fish to the public\u2014who are carried about on a gelding, with his galloping galling paceGalling pace: Crucianti may mean either tormenting the spectator by reason of the slowness of its pace, or galling to the rider. Quadrupedanti crucianti canterio is a phrase, both in sound and meaning, much resembling what our song-books call the galloping dreary dun.\u2014 the stench of whom drives all the loungers in the BasilicaIn the Basilica: The Basilica was a building which served as a court of law, and a place of meeting for merchants and men of business. The name was perhaps derived from the Greek word \u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03bb\u03b5\u1f7a\u03c2, as the title of the second Athenian Archon, who had his tribunal or court of justice. The building was probably, in its original form, an insulated portico. The first edifice of this kind at Rome was erected B.C. 184; probably about the period when this Play was composed. It was situate in the Forum, and was built by Porcius Cato, from whom it was called the Porcian Basilica. Twenty others were afterwards erected at different periods in the city. The loungers here mentioned, in the present instance, were probably sauntering about under the porticos of the Basilica, when their olfactory nerves were offended by the unsavoury smell of the fishermen\u2019s baskets. into the Forum, I\u2019ll bang their heads with their bulrush fish-baskets, that they may understand what annoyance they cause to the noses of other people. And then the butchers, as well, who render the sheep destitute of their young\u2014who agree with you about killing lambAbout klling lamb: In these lines he seems to accuse the butchers of three faults\u2014cruelty, knavery, and extortion. The general reading is duplam, but Rost suggests dupl\u00e2, at double the price. If duplam is retained, might it not possibly mean that the butchers agree to kill lamb for you, and bring to you duplam agninam, double lamb, or, in other words, lamb twice as old as it ought to be? No doubt there was some particular age at which lamb, in the estimation of Ergasilus and his brother-epicures, was considered to be in its greatest perfection., and then offer you lamb at double the price\u2014 who give the name of wether mutton to a ram\u2014if I should only see that ram in the public way, I\u2019ll make both ram and owner most miserable beings. HEGIO (to hieiself.) Well done! He really does give out edicts fit for an Aedile, and \u2018tis indeed a surprising thing if the Aetolians haven\u2019t made him inspector of marketsInspector of markets: Agoranomum. The Aediles were the inspectors of markets at Rome, while the \u2018Agoranomi\u2019 had a similar office in the Grecian cities. ERGASILUS No Parasite now am I, but a right royal king of kings; so large a stock of provision for my stomach is there at hand in the harbour. But why delay to overwhelm this old gentleman Hegio with gladness? With him, not a person among mankind exists equally fortunate. HEGIO (apart.) What joy is this, that he, thus joyous, is going to impart to me? ERGASILUS (knocking at HEGIO\u2019S door.) Hallo, hallo!\u2014where are you? Is any one coming to open this door? HEGIO (apart.) This fellow\u2019s betaking himself to my house to dine. ERGASILUS Open you both these doorsBoth these doors: The street-doors of the ancients were generally bivalve, or folding-doors., before I shall with knocking cause the destruction, piecemeal, of the doors. HEGIO (apart.) I\u2019d like much to address the fellow. (Aloud.) Ergasilus! ERGASILUS Who\u2019s calling Ergasilus? HEGIO Turn round, and look at me. ERGASILUS (not seeing who it is.) A thing that Fortune does not do for you, nor ever will do, you bid me to do. But who is it. HEGIO Look round at me. \u2019Tis Hegio. ERGASILUS (turning round.) O me! Best of the very best of men, as many as exist, you have arrived opportunely. HEGIO You\u2019ve met with some one at the harbour to dine with; through that you are elevated. ERGASILUS Give me your hand. HEGIO My hand? ERGASILUS Give me your hand, I say, this instant. HEGIO Take it. (Giving him his hand.) ERGASILUS Rejoice. HEGIO Why should I rejoice? ERGASILUS Because I bid you; come now, rejoice. HEGIO I\u2019 faith, my sorrows exceed my rejoicings. ERGASILUS \u2019Tis not so, as you shall find; I\u2019ll at once drive away every spot of sorrowEvery spot of sorrow: He alludes, figuratively, to the art of the fuller or scourer, in taking the spots out of soiled garments. from your body. Rejoice without restraint. HEGIO I do rejoice, although I don\u2019t at all know why I should rejoice. ERGASILUS You do rightly; now order\u2014 HEGIO Order what? ERGASILUS A large fire to be made. HEGIO A large fire? ERGASILUS So I say, that a huge one it must be. HEGIO What, you vulture, do you suppose that for your sake I\u2019m going to set my house on fire? ERGASILUS Don\u2019t be angry. Will you order, or will you not order, the pots to be put on, and the saucepans to be washed out, the bacon and the dainties to be made warm in the heated cooking-stoves, another one, too, to go purchase the fish? HEGIO This fellow\u2019s dreaming while awake. ERGASILUS Another to buy pork, and lamb, and pullets. HEGIO You understand how to feed well, if you had the means. ERGASILUS Gammons of bacon, too, and lampreys, spring pickled tunny-fish, mackerel, and sting-ray; large fish, too, and soft cheese. HEGIO You will have more opportunity, Ergasilus, here at my house, of talking about these things than of eating them. ERGASILUS Do you suppose that I\u2019m saying this on my own account? HEGIO You will neither be eating nothing here to-day, nor yet much more than usual, so don\u2019t you be mistaken. Do you then bring an appetite to my house for your every-day fare. ERGASILUS Why, I\u2019ll so manage it, that you yourself shall wish to be profuse, though I myself should desire you not. HEGIO What, I? ERGASILUS Yes, you. HEGIO Then you are my master. ERGASILUS Yes, and a kindly disposed one. Do you wish me to make you happy? HEGIO Certainly I would, rather than miserable. ERGASILUS Give me your hand. HEGIO (extending his hand.) Here is my hand. ERGASILUS All the Gods are blessing you. HEGIO I don\u2019t feel it so. ERGASILUS Why, you are not in a quickset hedgeIn a quickset hedge: Here is a most wretched attempt at wit, which cannot be expressed in a literal translation. Hegio says, Nihil sentio, I don\u2019t feel it. Ergasilus plays upon the resemblance of the verb sentio to sentis and senticetum, a bramble-bush or quickset hedge; and says You don\u2019t feel it so non senis. because you are not in a quickset hedge, in senticeto., therefore you don\u2019t feel it; but order the vessels, in a clean state, to be got for you forthwith in readiness for the sacrifice, and one lamb to be brought here with all haste, a fat one. HEGIO Why? ERGASILUS That you may offer sacrifice HEGIO To which one of the Gods? ERGASILUS To myself, i\u2019 faith, for now am I your supreme Jupiter. I likewise am your salvation, your fortune, your life, your delight, your joy. Do you at once, then, make this Divinity propitious to you by cramming him. HEGIO You seem to me to be hungry. ERGASILUS For myself am I hungry, and not for you. HEGIO I readily allow of it at your own good will. ERGASILUS I believe you; from a boyFrom a boy: An indelicate allusion is covertly intended in this line. you were in the habit\u2014 HEGIO May Jupiter and the Gods confound you. ERGASILUS I\u2019 troth, \u2018tis fair that for my news you should return me thanks; such great happiness do I now bring you from the harbour. HEGIO Now you are flattering me. Begone, you simpleton; you have arrived behind time, too late. ERGASILUS If I had come sooner, then for that reason you might rather have said that. Now, receive this joyous news of me which I bring you; for at the harbour I just now saw your son Philopolemus in the common fly-boat, alive, safe and sound, and likewise there that other young man together with him, and Stalagmus your slave, who fled from your house, who stole from you your little son, the child of four years old. HEGIO Away with you to utter perdition! You are trifling with me. ERGASILUS So may holy GluttonySo may holy Gluttony: The Parasite very appropriately deifies Gluttony: as the Goddess of Bellyful would, of course, merit his constant worship. love me, Hegio, and so may she ever dignify me with her name, I did see\u2014 HEGIO My son? ERGASILUS Your son, and my good Genius. HEGIO That Elean captive, too? ERGASILUS Yes, by ApolloYes, by Apollo: In the exuberance of his joy at his prospects of good eating, the Parasite gives this, and his next five replies, in the Greek language; just as the diner-out, and the man of bon-mots and repartee, might in our day couch his replies in French, with the shrug of the shoulder and the becoming grimace. He first swears by Apollo, and then by Cora, which may mean either a city of Campania so called, or the Goddess Proserpine, who was called by the Greeks, \u039a\u03bf\u03c1\u1f74, the maiden. He then swears by four places in Campania\u2014Praeneste, Signia, Phrysinone, and Alatrium. As the scene is in Greece, Hegio asks him why he swears by these foreign places; to which he gives answer merely because they are as disagreable as the unsavoury dinner of vegetables which he had some time since promised him. This is, probably, merely an excuse for obtruding a slighting remark upon these places, which would meet with a ready response from a Roman audience, as the Campanians had sided with Hannibal against Rome in the second Punic war. They were probably miserable places besides, on which the more refined Romans looked with supreme contempt. HEGIO The slave, too? My slave Stalagmus, he that stole my son\u2014? ERGASILUS Yes, by Cora. HEGIO So long a time ago? ERGASILUS Yes, by Praeneste! HEGIO Is he arrived? ERGASILUS Yes, by Signia! HEGIO For sure? ERGASILUS Yes, by Phrysinone! HEGIO Have a care, if you please. ERGASILUS Yes, by Alatrium! HEGIO Why are you swearing by foreign cities? ERGASILUS Why, because they are just as disagreable as you were declaring your fare to be. HEGIO Woe be to you! ERGASILUS Because that you don\u2019t believe me at all in what I say in sober earnestness. But of what country was Stalagmus, at the time when ne departed hence? HEGIO A Sicilian. ERGASILUS But now he is not a Sicilian\u2014he is a Boian; he has got a Boian woman.Got a Boian woman: There is an indelicate meaning in the expression Boiam terere. The whole line is intended as a play upon words. Boia means either a collar, which was placed round a prisoner\u2019s neck, or a female of the nation of the Boii in Gaul. Boiam terere may mean either to have the prisoner\u2019s collar on, or, paraphrastically, to be coupled with a Boian woman. Ergasilus having seen Stalagmus in the packet-boat with this collar on, declares that Stalagmus is a Sicilian no longer, for he has turned Boian having a Boian helpmate. A wife, I suppose, has been given to him for the sake of obtaining children. HEGIO Tell me, have you said these words to me in good earnest? ERGASILUS In good earnest. HEGIO Immortal Gods, I seem to be born again, if you are telling the truth. ERGASILUS Do you say so? Will you still entertain doubts, when I have solemnly sworn to you? In fine, Hegio, if you have little confidence in my oath, go yourself to the harbour and see. HEGIO I\u2019m determined to do so. Do you arrange in-doors what\u2019s requisite. Use, ask for, take from my larder what you like; I appoint you cellarman. ERGASILUS Now, by my troth, if I have not prophesied truly to you, do you comb me out with a cudgel. HEGIO I\u2019ll find you in victuals to the end, if you are telling me the truth. ERGASILUS Whence shall it be? HEGIO From myself and from my son. ERGASILUS Do you promise that? HEGIO I do promise it. ERGASILUS But I, in return, promiseI, in return, promise: Ergasilus says, Do you really promise me this fine entertainment? To which, Hegio answers, Spondeo, I do promise. On this, Ergasilus replies, that your son really has returned, I answer you, respondeo, or, as he intends it to be meant, I promise you once again, or in return for your promise. you that your son has arrived. HEGIO Manage as well as ever you can. ERGASILUS A happy walk there to you, and a happy walk back. (Exit HEGIO.) (ERGASILUS, alone) ERGASILUS He has gone away from here, and has entrusted to me the most important concern of catering. Immortal Gods how I shall now be slicing necks off of sides; how vast a downfall will befall the gammonBefall the gammon: An alliteration is employed in these two lines, which cannot be well kept up in a literal translation. As, however, in the translation an attempt is made to give the spirit of the passage, the literal meaning may be here stated. Pernis pestis, a plague to the gammons; labes larido, a fail for the bacon; sumini absumedo, a consumption of udder; callo calamitas, destruction to the brawn; and laniis lassitudo, weariness to the butchers. Sows\u2019 udder, with the milk in it, first dried, and then cooked in some peculiar manner, was considered a great delicacy by the Roman epicures.; how vast a belabouring the bacon! How great a using-up of udders, how vast a bewailing for the brawn! How great a bestirring for the butchers, how great a preparation for the porksellers! But if I were to enumerate the rest of the things which minister to the supply of the stomach, \u2018twould be sheer delay. Now will I go off to my government, to give laws to the bacon, and, those gammons that are hanging uncondemned,Hanging uncondemned: He\u2019ll commute the punishment of the gammons and hams, for they shall hang no longer. to give aid to them. (Goes into the house.) (Enter a LAD, a servant of HEGIO.) A LAD May Jupiter and the Deities confound you, Ergasilus, and your stomach, and all Parasites, and every one who henceforth shall give a dinner to Parasites. Destruction and devastation and ruin have just now entered our house. I was afraid that he would be making an attack on me, as though he had been an hungry wolf. And very dreadfully, upon my faith, was I frightened at him; he made such a gnashing with his teeth. On his arrival, the whole larder, with the meat, he turned upside down. He seized a knife, and first cut off the kernels of the neckThe kernels of the neck: The glandia were the kernels or tonsils of the throat, situate just below the root of the tongue. These portions of the dead pig seem to have been much prized as delicate eating. Judging from the present passage, the whole side of the pig, including the half-head, was salted and dried in one piece. The first thing that the Parasite does, is to cut the kernels from off of three sides, which he has relieved from the punishment of hanging. from three sides. All the pots and cups he broke, except those that held a couple of gallonsA couple of gallons: Modiales. Literally, containing a modius, which contained sixteen sextarii, something more than a peck of drymeasure English.; of the cook he made enquiry whether the salting pans could be set on the fire to be made hot. All the cellars in the house he has broken into, and has laid the store-closetThe store-closet: Armarium was so called because it was originally a place for keeping arms. It afterwards came to signify a cupboard in a wall, in which clothes, books, money, and other articles of value, were placed. It was generally in the atrium, or principal room of the house. In this instance it evidently means the store-closet, distinguished from the arder and the cellars. open. (At the door.) Watch him, servants, if you please; I\u2019ll go to meet the old gentleman. I\u2019ll tell him to get ready some provisions for his own self, if, indeed, he wishes himself to make use of any. For in this place, as this man, indeed, is managing, either there\u2019s nothing already, or very soon there will be nothing. (Exit.) (Enter HEGIO, PHILOPOLEMUS, PHILOCRATES, and behind them, STALAGMUS.) HEGIO To Jove and to the Deities I return with reason hearty thanks, inasmuch as they have restored you to your father, and inasmuch as they have delivered me from very many afflictions, which, while I was obliged to be here without you, I was enduring, and inasmuch as I see that that fellow (pointing to STALAGMUS) is in my power, and inasmuch as his word (pointing to PHILOCIATES) has been found true to me. PHILOPOLEMUS Enough now have I grieved from my very soul, and enough with care and tears have I disquieted myself. Enough now have I heard of your woes, which at the harbour you told me of. Let us now to this business. PHILOCRATES What now, since I\u2019ve kept my word with you, and have caused him to be restored back again to freedom? HEGIO Philocrates, you have acted so that I can never return you thanks enough, in the degree that you merit from myself and my son. PHILOPOLEMUS Nay, but you can, father, and you will be able, and I shall be able; and the Divinities will give the means for you to return the kindness he merits to one who deserves so highly of us; as, my father, you are able to do to this person who so especially deserves it. HEGIO What need is there of words? I have no tongue with which to deny whatever you may ask of me. PHILOCRATES I ask of you to restore to me that servant whom I left here as a surety for myself; who has always proved more faithful to me than to himself; in order that for his services I may be enabled to give him a reward. HEGIO Because you have acted thus kindly, the favour shall be returned, the thing that you ask; both that and anything else that you shall ask of me, you shall obtain. And I would not have you blame me, because in my anger I have treated him harshly. PHILOCRATES What have you done? HEGIO I confined him in fetters at the stone-quarries, when I found out that I had been imposed upon. PHILOCRATES Ah wretched me! That for my safety misfortunes should have happened to that best of men. HEGIO Now, on this account, you need not give me even one groat of silverOne groat of silver: Libella was the name of the smallest silver coin with the Romans, being the tenth part of a denarius. Hegio seems to make something of a favour of this, and to give his liberty to Tyndarus in consideration of his punishment; whereas he had originally agreed with Philocrates that, if Philopolemus was liberated, both he and Tyndarus should be set at liberty. for him. Receive him of me without cost that he may be free. PHILOCRATES On my word, Hegio, you act with kindness; but I entreat that you will order this man to be sent for. HEGIO Certainly. (To the attendants, who immediately obey.) Where are you? Go this instant, and bring Tyndarus here. (To PHILOPOLEMUS and PHILOCRATES.) Do you go in-doors; in the meantime, I wish to enquire of this statue for whippingThis statue for whipping: The same expression occurs in the Pseudolus, l. 911., what was done with my younger son. Do you go bathe in the meantime. PHILOPOLEMUS Philocrates, follow me this way in-doors. PHILOCRATES I follow you. (They go into the house.) (HEGIO and STALAGMUS.) HEGIO Come you, step this way, you worthy fellow, my fine slave. STALAGMUS What is fitting for me to do, when you, such a man as you are, are speaking false? I was never a handsome, or a fine, or a good person, or an honest one, nor shall I ever be; assuredly, don\u2019t you be forming any hopes that I shall be honest. HEGIO You easily understand pretty well in what situation your fortunes are. If you shall prove truth-telling, you\u2019ll make your lot from bad somewhat better. Speak out, then, correctly and truthfully; but never yet truthfully or correctly have you acted. STALAGMUS Do you think that I\u2019m ashamed to own it, when you affirm it? HEGIO But I\u2019ll make you to be ashamed; for I\u2019ll cause you to be blushes all overBe blushes all over: He means that he will have him flogged until he is red all over.. STALAGMUS Heyday\u2014you\u2019re threatening stripes, I suppose, to me, quite unaccustomed to them! Away with them, I beg. Tell me what you bring, that you may carry off hence what you are in want of. HEGIO Very fluent indeed. But now I wish this prating to be cut short. HEGIO As you desire, so be it done. HEGIO (to the AUDIENCE.) As a boy he was very obedientWas very obedient: An Indelicate remark is covertly intended in this passage.; now that suits him not. Let\u2019s to this business; now give your attention, and inform me upon what I ask. If you tell the truth, you\u2019ll make your fortunes somewhat better. STALAGMUS That\u2019s mere trifling. Don\u2019t you think that I know what I\u2019m deserving of? HEGIO Still, it is in your power to escape a small portion of it, if not the whole. STALAGMUS A small portion I shall escape, I know; but much will befall me, and with my deserving it, because I both ran away, and stole your son and sold him. HEGIO To what person? STALAGMUS To Theodoromedes the Polyplusian, in Elis, for six minae. HEGIO O ye immortal Gods! He surely is the father of this person, Philocrates. STALAGMUS Why, I know him better than yourself, and have seen him more times. HEGIO Supreme Jove, preserve both myself and my son for me. (He goes to the door, and calls aloud.) Philocrates, by your good Genius, I do entreat you, come out, I want you. (Enter PHILOCRATES, from the house) PHILOCRATES Hegio, here am I; if you want anything of me, command me. HEGIO He (pointing to STALAGMUS) declares that he sold my son to your father, in Elis, for six minae. PHILOCRATES (to STALAGMUS.) How long since did that happen? STALAGMUS This is the twentieth year, commencing from it. PHILOCRATES He is speaking falsely. STALAGMUS Either I or you do. Why, your father gave you the little child, of four years old, to be your own slave. PHILOCRATES What was his name? If you are speaking the truth, tell me that, then. STALAGMUS Paegnium, he used to be called; afterwards, you gave him the name of Tyndarus. PHILOCRATES Why don\u2019t I recollect you? STALAGMUS Because it\u2019s the fashion for persons to forget, and not to know him whose favour is esteemed as worth nothing. PHILOCRATES Tell me, was he the person whom you sold to my father, who was given me for my private service? STALAGMUS It was his son. (pointing to HEGIO.) HEGIO Is this person now living? STALAGMUS I received the money I cared nothing about the rest. HEGIO (to PHILOCRATES.) What do you say? PHILOCRATES Why, this very Tyndarus is your son, according, indeed, to the proofs that he mentions. For, a boy himself together with me from boyhood was he brought up, virtuously and modestly, even to manhood. HEGIO I am both unhappy and happy, if you are telling the truth. Unhappy for this reason, because, if he is my son, I have badly treated him. Alas! why have I done both more and less than was his due. That I have ill treated him I am grieved; would that it only could be undone. But see, he\u2019s coming here, in a guise not according to his deserts. (Enter TYNDARUS, in chains, led in by the SERVANTS.) TYNDARUS (to himself.) I have seen many of the torments which take place at AcheronAt Acheron: He here speaks of Acheron, not as one of the rivers of hell, but as the infernal regions themselves. often represented in paintingsRepresented in paintings: Meursius thinks that the torments of the infernal regions were frequently represented in pictures, for the purpose of deterring men from evil actions, by keeping in view the certain consequences of their bad conduct.; but most certainly there is no Acheron equal to where I have been in the stone-quarries. There, in fine, is the place where real lassitude must be undergone by the body in laboriousness. For when I came there, just as either jackdaws, or ducks, or quails, are given to Patrician childrenTo Patrician children: This passage is confirmed by what Pliny the Younger tells us in his Second Epistle. He says, that on the death of the son of Regulus, his father, in his grief, caused his favourite ponies and dogs, with his nightingales, parrots, and jackdaws, to be consumed on the funeral pile. It would certainly have been a greater compliment to his son\u2019s memory had he preserved them, and treated them kindly; but probably he intended to despatch them as playthings for the child in the other world., for them to play with, so in like fashion, when I arrived, a crow was givenA crow was given: Upupa. He puns upon the twofold meaning of this word, which signified either a mattock or a bird called a hoopoe, according to the context. To preserve the spirit of the pun, a somewhat different translation has been given. me with which to amuse myself. But see, my master\u2019s before the door; and lo! my other master has returned from Elis. HEGIO Hail to you, my much wished-for son. TYNDARUS Ha! how\u2014my son? Aye, aye, I know why you pretend yourself to be the father, and me to be the son; it is because, just as parents do, you give me the means of seeing the lightOf seeing the light: He says, You can only resemble a parent in the fact that you have given me the opportunity of seeing the light of day by taking me out of the dark stone-quarries.. PHILOCRATES Hail to you, Tyndarus. TYNDARUS And to you, for whose sake I am enduring these miseries. PHILOCRATES But now I\u2019ll make you in freedom come to wealth. For (pointing to HEGIO) this is your father; (pointing to STALAGMUS) that is the slave who stole you away from here when four years old, and sold you to my father for six minae. He gave you, when a little child, to me a little child for my own service. He (pointing to STALAGMUS) has made a confession, for we have brought him back from Elis. TYNDARUS How, where\u2019s Hegio\u2019s son? PHILOCRATES Look now; indoors is your own brother. TYNDARUS How do you say? Have you brought that captive son of his? PHILOCRATES Why, he\u2019s in-doors, I say. TYNDARUS By my faith, you\u2019ve done both well and happily. PHILOCRATES (pointing to HEGIO.) Now this is your own father; (pointing to STALAGMUS) this is the thief who stole you when a little child. TYNDARUS But now, grown up, I shall give him grown up to the executioner for his thieving. PHILOCRATES He deserves it. TYNDARUS I\u2019 faith, I\u2019ll deservedly give him the reward that he deserves. (To HEGIO.) But tell me I pray you, are you my father? HEGIO I am he, my son. TYNDARUS Now, at length, I bring it to my recollection, when I reconsider with myself: troth, I do now at last recall to memory that I had heard, as though through a mist, that my father was called Hegio. HEGIO I am he. PHILOCRATES I pray that your son may be lightened of these fetters, and this slave be loaded with them. HEGIO I\u2019m resolved that that shall be the first thing attended to. Let\u2019s go in-doors, that the blacksmith may be sent for, in order that I may remove those fetters from you, and give them to him. (They go into the house.) STALAGMUS To one who has no savings of his own, you\u2019ll be rightly doing soBe rightly doing so. Stalagmus chooses to take the word dem, may give, used by Hegio in its literal sense, and surlily replies, I have nothing of my own by way of savings, \u2018peculium,\u2019 so I am the very person to whom you ought to give.. COMPANY of PLAYERS (coming forward.) Spectators, this play is founded on chaste manners. No wenching is there in this, and no intriguing, no exposure of a child, no cheating out of money; and no young man in love here make his mistress free without his father\u2019s knowledge. The Poets find but few ComediesFind but few Comedies: He here confesses that he does not pretend to frame the plots of his Plays himself, but that he goes to Greek sources for them; and forgetting that beggars must not be choosers, he complains that so very few of the Greek Comedies are founded upon chaste manners. Indeed, this Play is justly deemed the most pure and innocent of all the Plays of Plautus; and the Company are quite justified in the commendations which, in their Epilogue, they bestow on it, as the author has carried out the promise which he made in the Prologue (with only four slight exceptions), of presenting them with an immaculate Play. of this kind, where good men might become better. Now, if it pleases you, and if we have pleased you, and have not been tedious, do you give this sign of it: you who wish that chaste manners should have their reward, give us your applause.","title":"Plautus, Captivi: The Captives (tr. Henry Thomas Riley)","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":22016}