you have brought forth another Amphitryon, I have brought forth another Sosia; now if the goblet has brought forth a goblet, we have all produced our doubles.
tu peperisti Ámphitruonem, ego alium peperi Sosiam;nunc si patera pateram peperit, omnes congeminavimus.
AMPHITRYON:I’m determined to open and examine it.
Amphitrvo:Certum est aperire atque inspicere.
SOSIA:Look, please, how the seal is, that you may not hereafter throw the blame on me.
Sosia:Vide sis signi quid siet,ne posterius in me culpam conferas.
AMPHITRYON:Now do open it. For she certainly is desirous to drive us mad with her talking.
Amphitrvo:Aperi modo;nam haec quidem nos delirantis facere dictis postulat.
ALCMENA:Whence then came this which was made a present to me, but from yourself?
Alcvmena:Vnde haec igitur est nisi abs te quae mihi dono data est?
AMPHITRYON:It’s necessary for me to enquire into this.
Amphitrvo:Opus mi est istuc exquisito.
SOSIA: (opening the casket.)Jupiter, O Jupiter!
Sosia:Iuppiter, pro Iuppiter.
AMPHITRYON:What is the matter with you?
Amphitrvo:Quid tibi est?
SOSIA:There’s no goblet here in the casket.
Sosia:Hic patera nulla in cistulast.
AMPHITRYON:What do I hear.
Amphitrvo:Quid ego audio?
SOSIA:That which is the truth.
Sosia:Id quod verúmst.
AMPHITRYON:But at your peril now, if it does not make its appearance.ALCMENA: (showing it.)
Amphitrvo:At cum cruciatu iam, nisi apparet, tuo.
Why, it does make its appearance.AMPHITRYON:Who then gave it you?
Alcvmena:Haec quidem apparet.Amphitrvo:Quis igitur tibi dedit?
ALCMENA:The person that’s asking me the question.SOSIA: (to AMPHITRYON.)
Alcvmena:Qui me rogat.
You are on the catch for me, inasmuch as you yourself have secretly run before me hither from the ship by another road, and have taken the goblet away from here and given it to her, and afterwards you have secretly sealed it up again.
Sosia:Me captas, quia tute ab navi clanculum huc alia viapraecucurristi, atque hinc pateram tute exemisti atque eamhuic dedisti, post hanc rursum óbsignasti clanculum.
AMPHITRYON:Ah me! and are you too helping her frenzy as well? (To ALCMENA) Do you say that we arrived here yesterday?
Amphitrvo:Ei mihi, iam tu quoque huius adiuvas insaniam?ain heri nos advenisse huc?
ALCMENA:I do say so, and on your arrival you instantlygreeted me, and I you, and I gave you a kiss.SOSIA: (aside.)
Alcvmena:Aio, adveniensque ilicome salutavisti, et ego te, et osculum tetuli tibi.
That beginning now about the kiss doesn’t please me.AMPHITRYON:Go on telling it.
Sosia:Iam illud non placet principium de osculo.Amphitrvo:Perge exsequi.
ALCMENA:Then you bathed.
Alcvmena:Lavisti.
AMPHITRYON:What, after I bathed?
Amphitrvo:Quid postquam lavi?
ALCMENA:You took your place at table.
Alcvmena:Accubuisti.
SOSIA:Bravo, capital! Now make further enquiry.
Sosia:Euge optime.nunc exquire.
AMPHITRYON: (to SOSIA.)Don’t you interrupt. (To ALCMENA.) Go on telling me.
Amphitrvo:Ne interpella. perge porro dicere.
ALCMENA:The dinner was served; you dined with me; I reclined together with you at the repast.
Alcvmena:Cena adposita est; cenavisti mecum, ego accubui simul.
AMPHITRYON:What, on the same couch?
Amphitrvo:In eodem lectó?
ALCMENA:On the same.
Alcvmena:In eodem.
SOSIA:Oh dear, I don’t like this banquet.
Sosia:Ei, non placet convivium.
AMPHITRYON:Now do let her give her proofs. (To ALCMENA.) What, after we had dined?
Amphitrvo:Sine modo argumenta dicat. quid postquam cenavimus?
ALCMENA:You said that you were inclined to go to sleep; the table was removed; thence we went to bed.
Alcvmena:Te dormitare aibas; mensa ablata est, cubitum hinc abiimus.
AMPHITRYON:Where did you lie?
Amphitrvo:Vbi tu cubuisti?
ALCMENA:In the chamber, in the same bed together with your. self.
Alcvmena:In eodem lectó tecum una in cubiculo.
AMPHITRYON:You have proved my undoing.
Amphitrvo:Perdidisti.
SOSIA:What’s the matter with you?
Sosia:Quid tibi est?
AMPHITRYON:This very moment has she sent me to my grave.
Amphitrvo:Haec me modo ad mortem dedit.
ALCMENA:How so, pray?
Alcvmena:Quid iam, amabo?
AMPHITRYON:Don’t address me.
Amphitrvo:Ne me appella.
SOSIA:What’s the matter with you?
Sosia:Quid tibi est?
AMPHITRYON:To my sorrow I’m undone, since, in my absence from here, dishonor has befallen her chastity.
Amphitrvo:Perii miser,quia pudicitiae huius vitium me hinc absente est additum.
ALCMENA:In heaven’s name, my lord, why, I beseech you, do I hear this from you?
Alcvmena:Obsecro ecastor, cur istuc, mi vir, ex ted audio?
AMPHITRYON:I, your lord? False one, don’t call me by a false name.SOSIA: (aside.)
Amphitrvo:Vir ego tuos sim? ne me appella, falsa, falso nomine.
’Tis an odd matter this, if indeed he has been made into my lady from my lord.
Sosia:Haeret haec res, si quidem haec iam mulier facta est ex viro.
ALCMENA:What have I done, by reason of which these expressions are uttered to me?
Alcvmena:Quid ego feci, qua istaec propter dicta dicantur mihi?
AMPHITRYON:You yourself proclaim your own doings; do you enquire of me in what you have offended?
Amphitrvo:Tute edictas facta tua, ex me quaeris quid deliqueris.
ALCMENA:In what have I offended you, if I have been with you to whom I am married?
Alcvmena:Quid ego tibi deliqui, si, cui nupta sum, tecum fui?
AMPHITRYON:You, been with me? What is there of greater effrontery than this impudent woman? At least, if you were wanting in modesty of your own, you might have borrowed it.
Amphitrvo:Tun mecum fueris? quid illac impudente audacius?saltem, tute si pudoris egeas, sumas mutuom.
ALCMENA:That criminality which you lay to my charge befits not my family. If you try to catch me in incontinence, you cannot convict me.
Alcvmena:Istuc facinus, quod tu insimulas, nostro generi non decet.tu si me inpudicitiai captas, capere non potes.
AMPHITRYON:Immortal Gods! do you at least know me, Sosia?
Amphitrvo:Pro di immortales, cognoscin tu me saltem, Sosia?
SOSIA:Pretty well.
Sosia:Propemodum.
AMPHITRYON:Did I not dine yesterday on board ship in the Persian Port?
Amphitrvo:Cenavin ego heri in navi in portu Persico?
ALCMENA:I have witnesses as well, who can confirm that which I say.
Alcvmena:Mihi quoque adsunt testes, qui illud quod ego dicam adsentiant.
SOSIA:I don’t know what to say to this matter, unless, perchance, there is another Amphitryon, who, perhaps, though you yourself are absent, takes care of your business, and who, in your absence, performs your duties here. For about that counterfeit Sosia it is very surprising. Certainly, about this Amphitryon, now, it is another matter still more surprising.
Sosia:Nescio quid istúc negoti dicam, nisi si quispiam estAmphitruó alius, qui forte ted hinc absenti tamentuam rem curet teque absente hic munus fungatur tuom.nam quod de illo subditivo Sosia mirum nimis,certe de istoc Amphitruone iam alterum mirum est magis.
AMPHITRYON:Some magician, I know not who, is bewildering this woman.
Amphitrvo:Nescio quis praestigiator hanc frustratur mulierem.
ALCMENA:By the realms of the supreme Sovereign I swear, and by Juno, the matron Goddess, whom for me to fear and venerate it is most especially fitting, that no mortal being except yourself alone has ever touched my person in contact with his so as to render me unchaste.
Alcvmena:Per supremi regis regnum iuro et matrem familiasIunonem, quam me vereri et metuere est par maxume,ut mi extra unum te mortalis nemo corpus corporecontigit, quo me impudicam faceret.
AMPHITRYON:I could wish that that was true.
Amphitrvo:Vera istaec velim.
ALCMENA:I speak the truth, but in vain, since you will not believe me.
Alcvmena:Vera dico, sed nequiquam, quoniam non vis credere.
AMPHITRYON:You are a woman; you swear at random.
Amphitrvo:Mulier es, audacter iuras.
ALCMENA:She who has not done wrong, her it befits to be bold and to speak confidently and positively in her own behalf.
Alcvmena:Quae non deliquit, decetaudacem esse, confidenter pro se et proterve loqui.
AMPHITRYON:That’s very boldly said.
Amphitrvo:Satis audacter.
ALCMENA:Just as befits a virtuous woman.
Alcvmena:Vt pudicam decet.
AMPHITRYON:Say you so? By your own words you prove it.
Amphitrvo:†In verbis probas.
ALCMENA:That which is called a dowry, I do not deem the same my dowry;but chastity, and modesty, and subdued desires, fear of the Gods, and love of my parents, and concord with my kindred; to be obedient to yourself and bounteous to the good, ready to aid the upright.
Alcvmena:Non ego illam mihi dotem duco esse, quae dos dicitur,sed pudicitiam et pudorem et sedatum cupidinem,deum metum, parentum amorem et cognatum concordiam,tibi morigera atque ut munifica sim bonis, prosim probis.
SOSIA:Surely, by my troth, if she tells the truth in this, she’s perfect to the very ideal.
Sosia:Ne ista edepol, si haec vera loquitur, examussim est optima.
AMPHITRYON:Really I am so bewildered, that I don’t know myself who I am.
Amphitrvo:Delenitus sum profecto ita, ut me qui sim nesciam.
SOSIA:Surely you are Amphitryon; take you care, please, that you don’t peradventure lose yourself; people are changing in such a fashion since we came from abroad.
Sosia:Amphitruo es profecto, cave sis ne tu te usu perduis:ita nunc homines immutantur, postquam peregre advenimus.
AMPHITRYON:Madam, I’m resolved not to omit having this matter enquired into.
Amphitrvo:Mulier, istam rem inquisitam certum est non amittere.
ALCMENA:I’ faith, you’ll do so quite to my satisfaction.
Alcvmena:Edepol me libente facies.
AMPHITRYON:How say you? Answer me; what if I bring your own kinsman, Naucrates, hither from the ship,who, together with me, has been brought on board the same ship; and if he denies that that has happened which you say has happened, what is proper to be done to you? Do you allege any reason. why I should not at your cost dissolve this our marriage?
Amphitrvo:Quid ais? responde mihi,quid si adduco tuom cognatum húc a navi Naucratem,qui mecum una vectust una navi, atque is si denegatfacta quae tu facta dicis, quid tibi aequom est fieri?numquid causam dicis, quin te hoc multem matrimonio?
ALCMENA:If I have done wrong, there is no reason.
Alcvmena:Si deliqui, nulla causa est.
AMPHITRYON:Agreed. Do you, Sosia, take these people in-doors. I’ll bring Naucrates hither with me from the ship.(Exit.)
Amphitrvo:Convenit. tu, Sosia,duc hos intro. ego huc ab navi mecum adducam Naucratem.—
SOSIA: (going close to ALCMENA.)Now then, there’s no one here except ourselves; tell me the truth seriously, is there any Sosia in-doors who is like myself?
Sosia:Nunc quidem praeter nos nemo est. dic mihi verum serio:ecquis alius Sosia intust, qui mei similis siet?
ALCMENA:Won’t you hence away from me, fit servant for your master?
Alcvmena:Abin hinc a me dignus domino servos?
SOSIA:If you command me, I’m off,(Goes into the house.)
Sosia:Abeo, si iubes.—
ALCMENA: (to herself.)By heavens, it is a very wondrous proceeding, how it has pleased this husband of mine thus to accuse me falsely of a crime so foul.
Alcvmena:Nimis ecastor facinus mirum est, qui illi conlibitum sietmeo viro sic me insimulare falso facinus tam malum.
Whatever it is, I shall now learn it from my kinsman Naucrates.(Goes into the house.) (Enter JUPITER.)JUPITER:I am that Amphitryon, whose servant Sosia is the same that becomes Mercury when there is occasion—I, who dwell in the highest story, who sometimes, when it pleases me, become Jupiter.
quidquid est, iam ex Naucrate cognato id cognoscam meo.—Ivppiter:Ego sum ille Amphitruo, cui est servos Sosia,idem Mercurius qui fit, quando commodumst,in superiore quí habito cenaculo,qui interdum fio Iuppiter, quando lubet;
But, hither soon as ever I turn my steps, I become Amphitryon that moment, and I change my garb. Now hither am I come for the sake of a compliment to you, that I may not leave this Comedy incomplete. I’ve come as well to bring assistance to Alcmena, whom, guiltless woman, her husbandAmphitryon is accusing of dishonor. For what I myself have brought about, if that undeservedly should fall as an injury upon her in her innocence, it would be my blame. Now, as I have already begun, I’ll again pretend that I am Amphitryon,and this day will I introduce extreme confusion into this household. Then afterwards, at last, I’ll cause the matter to be disclosed, and to Alcmena timely aid will I bring, and will cause that at one birth she shall bring forth, without pangs, both the child with which she is pregnant by her husband and that with which she is pregnant by myself.
huc autem quom extemplo adventum adporto, ilicoAmphitruo fio et vestitum immuto meum.nunc huc honoris vostri venio gratia,ne hanc incohatam transigam comoediam;simul Alcumenae, quam vir insontem probriAmphitruo accusat, veni ut auxilium feram:nam mea sit culpa, quod egomet contraxerim,si id Alcumenae innocenti expetat.nunc Amphitruonem memet, út occepi semel,esse adsimulabo, atque in horum familiamfrustrationem hodie iniciam maxumam;post igitur demum faciam res fiat palamatque Alcumenae in tempore auxilium feramfaciamque ut uno fetu et quod gravida est viroet me quod gravidast pariat sine doloribus.
I have ordered Mercury forthwith to follow me, if I should wish to give him any commands. Now will I accost her.(He stands apart.) (Enter ALCMENA, from the house.)
Mercurium iussi me continuo consequi,si quid vellem imperare. nunc hanc adloquar.
ALCMENA:I cannot remain in the house. That I should be thus accused by my husband of dishonor, incontinence, and disgrace! he cries aloud that things which have been done, have really not been done;and of things which have not been done, and of which I have not been guilty, he accuses me, and supposes that I shall treat it with indifference. By heavens, I will not do so, nor will I allow myself to be falsely charged with dishonor; but rather I’ll either leave him, or make him give satisfaction and swear as wellthat he wishes unsaid the things which he has alleged against me in my innocence.JUPITER: (apart.)
Alcvmena:Durare nequeo in aedibus. ita me probri,stupri, dedecoris a viro argutam meo!ea quae sunt facta infecta ut reddat clamitat,quae neque sunt facta neque ego in me admisi arguit;atque id me susque deque esse habituram putat.non edepol faciam, neque me perpetiar probrifalso insimulatam, quin ego illum aut deseramaut sátis faciat mi ille átque adiuret insuper,nolle esse dicta quae in me insontem protulit.
This must be done by me, which she requires to be done, if I wish for her to receive me into her company as loving her: since that which I have done, that same conduct has proved to the detriment of Amphitryon, and since my love has already created trouble for him who is reallyguiltless, why now his wrath and his resentment towards her shall fall on me that am not accused.
Ivppiter:Faciundum est mi illud, fieri quód illaec postulat,si me illam amantem ad sese studeam recipere,quando ego quod feci, id factum Amphitruoni offuitatque illi dudum meus amor negotiuminsonti exhibuit, nunc autem insonti mihiillius ira in hanc et male dicta expetent.
ALCMENA:And lo! I see him, who just now was accusing wretched me of incontinence and dishonor.
Alcvmena:Sed eccum video qui me miseram arguitstupri, dedecoris.
JUPITER: (advancing.)Wife, I would discourse with you. (She turns from him.) Why turn yourself away?
Ivppiter:Te volo, uxor, conloqui.quo te avortisti? …
ALCMENA:Such is my disposition;
Alcvmena:Ita ingenium meumst:
I always hate to look upon my enemies.
inimicos semper osa sum optuerier.
JUPITER:Heyday! enemies indeed!
Ivppiter:Heia autem inimicos?
ALCMENA:It is so, I speak the truth; unless you are going to allege that this is falsely said as well.JUPITER: (offering to embrace her.)
Alcvmena:Sic est, vera praedico;nisi etiam hoc falso dici insimulaturus es.
You are too angry.ALCMENA: (repulsing him.)Can’t you keep your hands off? For surely if you were wise, or quite in your senses,with her, whom you deem and pronounce to be unchaste, you would neither hold discourse, in mirth or in seriousness, unless, indeed, you are more foolish than the most foolish.
Ivppiter:Nimis iracunda es.Alcvmena:Potin ut abstineas manum?nam certo, si sis sanus aut sapias satis,quam tu impudicam esse arbitrere et praedices,cum ea tú sermonem nec ioco nec seriotibi habeas, nisi sis stultior stultissimo.
JUPITER:If I did say so, not a bit the more are you so, nor do I think you so, and therefore have I returned hither that I might excuse myself to you.
Ivppiter:Si dixi, nihilo magis es, neque ego esse arbitror,et id huc revorti uti me purgarem tibi.
For never has anything proved more grievous to my feelings than when I heard that you were angry with me. “Why did you charge me?” you will say. I’ll tell you; by my troth, not that I deemed you to be unchaste; but I was trying your feelings,what you would do, and in what manner you would bring yourself to bear it. Really, I said these things to you just now in jest, for the sake of the joke. Do but ask Sosia this.
nam numquam quicquam meo animo fuit aegrius,quam postquam audivi ted esse iratam mihi.cur dixisti? inquies. ego expediam tibi.non edepol quo te esse impudicam crederem;verum periclitatus súm animum tuom,quid faceres et quo pacto id ferre induceres.equidem ioco illa dixeram dudum tibi,ridiculi causa. vél hunc rogato Sosiam.
ALCMENA:But why don’t you bring here my kinsman, Naucrates, whom you said just now that you would bring as a witnessthat you had not come here?
Alcvmena:Quin huc adducis meum cognatum Naucratem,testem quem dudum te adducturum dixeras,te huc non venisse?
JUPITER:If anything was said in joke, it isn’t right for you to take it in earnest.
Ivppiter:Si quid dictum est per iocum,non aequom est id te serio praevortier.
ALCMENA:I know how much this has pained me at heart.
Alcvmena:Ego illúd scio quam doluerit cordi meo.
JUPITER:Prithee, Alcmena (taking her hand), by your right hand I do entreat you, grant me pardon; forgive me, don’t be angry.
Ivppiter:Per dexteram tuam te, Alcumena, oro obsecro,da mihi hanc veniam, ignosce, irata ne sies.
ALCMENA:By my virtue have I rendered these accusations vain. Since then I eschew conduct that’s unchaste, I would wish to avoid imputations of unchastity. Fare you well, keep your own property to yourself, return me mine. Do you order any maids to be my attendants?
Alcvmena:Ego istaec feci verba virtute irrita;nunc, quando factis me impudicis abstini,ab impudicis dictis avorti volo.valeas, tibi habeas res tuas, reddas meas.iuben mi íre comites?
JUPITER:Are you in your senses?
Ivppiter:Sanan es?
ALCMENA:If you don’t order them,let me go alone; chastity shall I take as my attendant.(Going.)
Alcvmena:Si non iubes,ibo egomet; comitem mihi Pudicitiam duxero.†
JUPITER:Stay—at your desire, I’ll give my oath that I believe my wife to be chaste. If in that I deceive you, then, thee, supreme Jupiter, do I entreat that thou wilt ever be angered against Amphitryon.
Ivppiter:Mane. arbitratu tuo ius iurandum dabo,me meam pudicam esse uxorem arbitrarier.id ego si fallo, tum te, summe Iuppiter,quaeso, Amphitruoni ut semper iratus sies.
ALCMENA:Oh! rather may he prove propitious.
Alcvmena:A, propitius sit potius.
JUPITER:I trust that it will be so; for before you have I taken a truthful oath. Now then, you are not angry?
Ivppiter:Confido fore;nam ius iurandum verum te advorsum dedi.iam nunc irata non es?
ALCMENA:I am not.
Alcvmena:Non sum.
JUPITER:You act properly. For in the life of mortals many things of this nature come to pass; and now they take their pleasures, again they meet with hardships.
Ivppiter:Bene facis.nam in hominum aetate multa eveniunt huius modi:capiunt voluptátes, capiunt rursum miserias;
Quarrels intervene, again do they become reconciled. But it perchance any quarrels of this nature happen between them, when again they have become reconciled, twofold more loving are they between themselves than they were before.
irae interveniunt, redeunt rursum in gratiam.verum irae si quae forte eveniunt huius modiinter eos, rursum si reventum in gratiam est,bis tanto amici sunt inter se quam prius.
ALCMENA:At the first you ought to have been careful not to say so;but if you excuse yourself to me for the same, it must be put up with.
Alcvmena:Primum cavisse oportuit ne diceres,verum eadem si isdem purgas mi, patiunda sunt.
JUPITER:But bid the sacred vessels to be got ready for me, that I may fulfil all those vows which I made when with the army, in case I should return safe home.
Ivppiter:Iube véro vasa pura adornari mihi,ut quae ápud legionem vota vovi, si domumrediissem salvos, ea ego exsolvam omnia.
ALCMENA:I’ll take care of that.
Alcvmena:Ego istuc curabo.
JUPITER: (To a SERVANT.)Call out Sosia hither.
Ivppiter:Evocate huc Sosiam;
Let him fetch Blepharo, the pilot that was on board my ship, to breakfast with us. (Aside.) He shall be fooled this day so as to go without his breakfast, while I shall drag Amphitryon hence by the throat.ALCMENA: (aside.)
gubernatorem qui in mea navi fuitBlepharonem arcessat, qui nobiscum prandeat.is adeo … inpransus ludificabitur,cum ego Amphitruonem collo hinc obstricto traham.
It’s surprising what he can be arranging alone in secrecy with himself. But the door opens; Sosia’s coming out.(Enter SOSIA, from the house)SOSIA:Amphitryon, I’m here; if any way you have need of me, command me; your commands I will obey.
Alcvmena:Mirum quid solus secum secreto ille agat.atque aperiuntur aedes. exit Sosia.Sosia:Ámphitruo, assum. sí quid opus est, impera, imperium éxequar.
JUPITER:Very opportunely are you come.
Ivppiter:⟨Sosia,⟩ optume advenis.
SOSIA:Has peace been made then between you two? But since I see you in good humour, I’m delighted, and it is a pleasure to myself. And so does it seem becoming for a trusty servant to conduct himself;
Sosia:Iam pax est inter vos duos?nam quia vos tranquillos video, gaudeo et volup est mihi.atque ita servom par videtur frugi sese instituere:
just as his superiors are, so should he be likewise; by their countenances he should fashion his own countenance; if his superiors are grave, let him be grave; if they rejoice, let him be merry. But come, answer me; have you two now come to a reconciliation?
proinde eri ut sint, ipse item sit; voltum e voltu comparet:tristis sit, si eri sint tristes; hilarus sit, si gaudeant.sed age responde: iam vos rediistis in concordiam?
JUPITER:You are laughing at me, who know full well that these things were just now said by me in joke.
Ivppiter:Derides, qui scis haec dudum me dixisse per iocum.
SOSIA:In joke did you say it? For my part, I supposed that it was said seriously and in truthfulness.
Sosia:An id ioco dixisti? équidem serio ac vero ratus.
JUPITER:Still, I’ve made my excuses; and peace has been made.SOSIA:’Tis very good.
Ivppiter:Habui expurigationem; facta pax est.Sosia:Optume est.
JUPITER:I shall now perform the sacrifice in-doors, and the vows which I have made.
Ivppiter:Ego rem divinam intus faciam, vota quae sunt.
SOSIA:So I suppose.
Sosia:Censeo.
JUPITER:Do you invite hither, in my name, Blepharo, the pilot, from the ship, so that when the sacrifice has been performed, he may breakfast with me.
Ivppiter:Tu gubernatorem a navi huc evoca verbis meisBlepharonem, qui re divina facta mecum prandeat.
SOSIA:I shall be here again, while you’ll be thinking that I’m there.
Sosia:Iam hic ero, cum illic censebis esse me.—
JUPITER:Return here directly.(Exit SOSIA.)
Ivppiter:Actutum huc redi.
ALCMENA:Do you wish for anything else, but that I should go in-doors now, that the things that are requisite may be got ready?
Alcvmena:Numquid vis, quin abeam iam intro, ut apparentur quibus opust?
JUPITER:Go then, and take care that everything is prepared as soon as possible.
Ivppiter:I sane, et quantum potest parata fac sint omnia.
ALCMENA:Why, come in-doors whenever you please; I’ll take care that there shall not be any delay.
Alcvmena:Quin venis quando vis intro? faxo haud quicquam sit morae.—
JUPITER:You say well, and just as befits an attentive wife. (ALCMENA goes into the house.) Now both of these, both servant and mistress, are, the pair of them, deceived,in taking me to be Amphitryon; egregiously do they err. Now, you immortal Sosia, take you care and be at hand for me. You hear what I say, although you are not present here. Take care that you contrive to drive away Amphitryon, on his arrival just now, by some means or other, from the house.
Ivppiter:Recte loquere et proinde diligentem ut uxorem decet.iam hisce ambo, et servos et era, frustra sunt duo,qui me Amphitruonem rentur esse: errant probe.nunc tu divine húc fac adsis Sosia(audis quae dico, tam etsi praesens non ades),fac Amphitruonem ádvenientem ab aedibusut abigas; quovis pacto fac commentus sis.
I wish him to be cajoled, while with this borrowed wife I now indulge myself. Please, take care that this is attended to just in such way as you know that I desire, and that you assist me while to myself I am offering sacrifice.(Goes into AMPHITRYON’S house.) (Enter MERCURY, running, at the end of the stage.)
volo déludi illunc, dum cum hac usurariauxore nunc mihi morigero. haec curata sintfac sis, proinde adeo ut velle med intellegis,atque ut ministres mihi, mihi cum sacruficem.
MERCURY:Stand by and make room all of you, get you out of the way.And let not any person now be so presumptuous as to stand before me in the road. For surely, why, by my troth, should I, a God, be any less allowed to threaten the public, if it does not get out of my way, than a slave in Comedies? He is bringing news that the ship is safe, or else the approach of some angry old blade; whereas I am obeying the bidding of Jove, and by his command do I now hie me.
Mercvrivs:Concédite atque abscédite omnes, dé via decédite,nec quísquam tam audax fúat homo, qui óbviam obsistát mihi.nam mihi quidem hercle qui minus liceat deo minitarierpopulo, ni decedat mihi, quam servolo in comoediis?ille návem salvam nuntiat aut irati adventum senis:ego sum Iovi dicto audiens, eius iussu nunc huc me adfero.
For this reason, it is more fitting to get out of the road and to make room for me. My father calls me, I am following him, to his orders so given am I obedient. As it befits a son to be dutiful to his father, just so am I to my father; in his amours I play second fiddle to him, I encourage him, assist him, advise him, rejoice with him. If anything is pleasing to my father, that pleasure is an extremely great one for myself.
quam ob rem mihi magis par est via decedere et concedere.pater vocat me, eum sequor, eius dicto imperio sum audiens;ut filium bonum patri esse oportet, itidem ego sum patri.amanti subparasitor, hortor, adsto, admoneo, gaudeo.si quid patri volup est, voluptas ea mi multo maxumast.
Is he amorously disposed? He is wise; he does right, inasmuch as he follows his inclination; a thing that all men ought to do, so long as it is done in a proper manner. Now, my father wishes Amphitryon to be cajoled; I’ll take care, Spectators, that he shall be rarely cajoled, while you look on. I’ll place a chaplet on my head, and pretend that I am drunk.
amat: sapit; recte facit, animo quando obsequitur suo,quod omnis homines facere oportet, dum id modo fiat bono.nunc Amphitruonem volt deludi meus pater: faxo probeiam hic deludetur, spectatores, vobis inspectantibus.capiam coronam mi in caput, adsimulabo me esse ebrium;
And up there (pointing to the top of the house) will I get; from that spot, at the top of the house, I’ll cleverly drive this person off when he comes hither: I’ll take care that, sober, he shall be drenched. Afterwards, his own servant Sosia will presently be suffering the punishment for it; he’ll be accusing him of doing, this day, the things which I myself have done what’s that to me? It’s proper for me to be obedient to my father; it’s right to be subservient to his pleasure.
atque illuc sursum escendero: inde optume aspellam virumde supero, cum huc accesserit; faciam ut sit madidus sobrius.deinde illi actutum sufferet suos servos poenas Sosia:eum fécisse ille hodie arguet quae ego feceró hic. quid mea?meo me aéquomst morigerum patri, eius studio servire addecet.
But see! here is Amphitryon; he’s coming. Now shall he be rarely fooled, if, indeed, (to the AUDIENCE) you are willing, by listening, to lend your attention. I’ll go in-doors, and assume a garb that more becomes me; then I’ll go up upon the roof, that I may drive him off from hence.(Goes into the house, and fastens the door.) (Enter AMPHITRYON.)AMPHITRYON: (to himself.)
sed eccum Amphitruonem, advenit; iam ille hic deludetur probe,siquidém vos voltis auscultando operam dare.ibo intro, ornatum capiam qui potis decet;dein susum ascendam in tectum, ut illum hinc prohibeam.
Naucrates, whom I wanted to find, was not on board ship;neither at home nor in the city do I meet with any one that has seen him; for through all the streets have I crawled, the wrestling-rings and the perfumers’ shops, to the market, too, and in the shambles, the school for exercise, and the Forum, the doctors’ shops, the barbers’ shops, and among all the sacred buildings. I’m wearied out with seeking him, and yet I nowhere meet with Naucrates.
Amphitrvo:Naúcratem quem cónvenire vólui, in navi nón erat,neque domi neque in urbe invenio quemquam qui illum viderit.nam omnis plateas perreptavi, gymnasia et myropolia;apud emporium atque in macello, ín palaestra atque in foro,in medicinis, in tonstrinis, apud omnis aedis sacrassum defessus quaeritando: nusquam invenio Naucratem.
Now I’ll go home, and from my wife will I continue to make enquiry into this matter, who the person was, by the side of whom she submitted her body to dishonor. For it were better that I was dead, than that I this day should leave this enquiry incomplete. (Goes up to the door.) But the house is closed. A pretty thing indeed! This is done just like the other things have been done: I’ll knock at the door. (Knocks.)
nunc domum ibo atque ex uxore hánc rem pergam exquirere,quis fuerit quem propter corpus suom stupri compleverit.nam me, quam illam quaestionem inquisitam hodie amittere,mortuom satiust. sed aedis occluserunt. eugepae,pariter hoc fit atque ut alia facta sunt. feriam foris.
Open this door; ho there! is there anybody here? Is any one going to open this door?(MERCURY appears on the top of the house, with a chaplet on his head, pretending to be drunk.)
aperite hoc. heus, ecquis hic est? ecquis hoc aperit ostium?
MERCURY:Who’s that at the door?AMPHITRYON:’Tis I.
Mercvrivs:Quís ad fores est?Amphitrvo:Égo sum.
MERCURY:Who’s “’tis I?”AMPHITRYON:’Tis I that say so.
Mercvrivs:Quid ego sum.Amphitrvo:Íta loquor.
MERCURY:For sure, Jupiter and all the Deities are angered with you who are banging at the door this way.
Mercvrivs:Tibi Iúppiterdique omnes irati certo sunt, qui sic frangas fores.
AMPHITRYON:In what manner?
Amphitrvo:Quo modo?
MERCURY:In this manner, that without a doubt you must be spending a wretched life.
Mercvrivs:Eo modo, ut profecto vivas aetatem miser.
AMPHITRYON:Sosia.MERCURY:Well; I’m Sosia, unless you think that I’ve forgotten myself.
Amphitrvo:Sosia.Mercvrivs:Ita, sum Sosia, nisi me esse oblitum existimas.
What do you want now?AMPHITRYON:What, you rascal, and do you even ask me that, what it is I want?
quid nunc vis?Amphitrvo:Sceleste, at etiam quid velim, id tu me rogas?
MERCURY:I do so ask you; you blockhead, you’ve almost broken the hinges from off the door. Did you fancy that doors were supplied us at the public charge? Why are you looking up at me, you stupid? What do you want now for yourself, or what fellow are you?
Mercvrivs:Ita, rogo. paene effregisti, fatue, foribus cardines.an foris censebas nobis publicitus praeberier?quid me aspectas, stolide? quid nunc vis tibi? aut quis tu es homo?
AMPHITRYON:You whip-scoundrel, do you even ask me who I am, you hell of elm-saplings?
Amphitrvo:Verbero, etiam quis ego sim me rogitas, ulmorum Acheruns?
I’ faith, this day I’ll make you burn with smarts of the scourge for these speeches of yours.
quem pol ego hodie ob istaec dicta faciam ferventem flagris.
MERCURY:You surely must have formerly been a spendthrift in your young days.
Mercvrivs:Prodigum te fuisse oportet olim in adulescentia.
AMPHITRYON:How so?
Amphitrvo:Quidum?
MERCURY:Because in your old age you come begging a hap-ill of me for yourself.
Mercvrivs:Quia senecta aetate á me mendicas malum.
AMPHITRYON:Slave! for your own torture do you give vent to these expressions this day.
Amphitrvo:Cum cruciatu tuo istaec hodie, verna, verba funditas.
MERCURY:Now I’m performing a sacrifice to you.
Mercvrivs:Sacrufico ego tibi.
AMPHITRYON:How?
Amphitrvo:Qui?
MERCURY:Why, because I devote you to ill-luck with this libation.(Throws water on him.) …
Mercvrivs:Quia enim te macto infortunio.
AMPHITRYON:What, you, devote me, you villain? If the Gods have not this day taken away my usual form, I’ll take care that you shall be laden with bull’s hide thongs, you victim of Saturn. So surely will I devote you to the cross and to torture. Come out of doors, you whip-knave.MERCURY:You shadowy ghost—you, frighten me with your threats? If you don’t betake yourself off from here this instant, if you knock once more, if the door makes a noise with your little finger even, I’ll break your head with this tile, so that with your teeth you may sputter out your tongue.
Amphitrvo:At ego te cruce et cruciatu mactabo, mastigia.(Mercvrivs):Érus Amphitruo⟨st⟩ occupatus.(Mercvrivs):abiendi nunc tibi etiam occasiost.(Mercvrivs):Optimo iure infringatur aula cineris in caput.(Mercvrivs):Ne tu postules matulam unam tibi aquae ínfundi in caput.(Mercvrivs):Laruatu's laruatus es. edepol hominem miserum. medicum quaerita.(Alcvmena):Exiúravisti te mihi dixe per iocum.(Alcvmena):Quaeso advenienti morbo medicari iube:tu certe aut laruatus aut cerritus es.(Alcvmena):Nisi hoc ita factum est, proinde ut factum esse autumo,non causam dico quin vero insimules probri(Amphitrvo):Cuius? quaé me absente corpus volgavit suom.(Amphitrvo):Quíd minitabas te facturum, si istas pepulissem fores?(Amphitrvo):Ibi scrobes ecfodito ⟨tu⟩ plus sexagenos in die.(Amphitrvo):Noli pessimo precari.(Blepharo):animam comprime(Ivppiter):Mánifestum hunc optorto collo teneo furem flagiti.(Amphitrvo):Immo ego hunc, Thebani cives, qui domi uxorem meamimpudicitia impedivit, teneo, thensaurum stupri.(Amphitrvo):Nilne te pudet, sceleste, populi in conspectum ingredi?(Amphitrvo):clandestino(Amphitrvo sive Ivppiter):Qui nequeas nostrorum uter sit Amphitruo decernere.(Blepharo):Vós inter vos partite; ego abeo, mihi negotium est;neque ego umquam usquam tanta mira me vidisse censeo.
AMPHITRYON:What, rascal, would you be for driving me away from my own house? What, would you hinder me from knocking at my own door? I’ll this instant tear it from off all its hinges.MERCURY:Do you persist?AMPHITRYON:I do persist.MERCURY:Take that, then.(Throws a tile at him.)AMPHITRYON:Scoundrel! at your master? If I lay hands upon you this day, I’ll bring you to that pitch of misery, that you shall be miserable for evermore.MERCURY:Surely, you must have been playing the Bacchanal, old gentleman.AMPHITRYON:Why so?MERCURY:Inasmuch as you take me to be your slave.AMPHITRYON:What? I—take you?MERCURY:Plague upon you! I know no master but Amphitryon.AMPHITRYON: (to himself.)Have I lost my form? It’s strange that Sosia shouldn’t know me. I’ll make trial. (Calling out.) How now! Tell me who I appear to be? Am I not really Amphitryon?MERCURY:Amphitryon? Are you in your senses? Has it not been told you before, old fellow, that you have been playing the Bacchanal, to be asking another person who you are? Get away, I recommend you, don’t be troublesome while Amphitryon, who has just come back from the enemy, is indulging himself with the company of his wife.AMPHITRYON:What wife?MERCURY:Alcmena.AMPHITRYON:What man?MERCURY:How often do you want it told? Amphitryon, my master;—don’t be troublesome.AMPHITRYON:Who’s he sleeping with?MERCURY:Take care that you don’t meet with some mishap in trifling with me this way.AMPHITRYON:Prithee, do tell me, my dear Sosia.MERCURY:More civilly said—with Alcmena.AMPHITRYON:In the same chamber?MERCURY:Yes, as I fancy, he is sleeping with her side by side.AMPHITRYON:Alas!—wretch that I am!MERCURY: (to the AUDIENCE.)It really is a gain which he imagines to be a misfortune. For to lend one’s wife to another is just as though you were to let out barren land to be ploughed.AMPHITRYON:Sosia!MERCURY:What, the plague, about Sosia?AMPHITRYON:Don’t you know me, you whip-scoundrel?MERCURY:I know that you are a troublesome fellow, who have no need to go buy a lawsuit.AMPHITRYON:Still once more—am I not your master Amphitryon?MERCURY:You are Bacchus himself, and not Amphitryon. How often do you want to be told? Any times more? My master Amphitryon, in the same chamber, is holding Alcmena in his embraces. If you persist, I’ll produce him here, and not without your great discomfiture.AMPHITRYON:I wish him to be fetched. (Aside.) I pray that this day, in return for my services, I may not lose house, wife, and household, together with my figure.MERCURY:Well, I’ll fetch him; but, in the meantime, do you mind about the door, please. (Aside.) I suppose that by this he has brought the sacrifice that he was intending, as far as the banquet. (Aloud.) If you are troublesome, you shan’t escape without my making a sacrifice of you.(He retires into the house.)AMPHITRYON:Ye Gods, by my trust in you, what madness is distracting my household? What wondrous things have I seen since I arrived from abroad! Why, it’s true, surely, what was once heard tell of, how that men of Attica were transformed in Arcadia, and remained as savage wild beasts, and were not ever afterwards known unto their parents.(Enter BLEPHARO and SOSIA, at a distance.)BLEPHARO:What’s this, Sosia? Great marvels are these that you are telling of. Do you say that you found another Sosia at home exactly like yourself?SOSIA:I do say so—but, hark you, since I have produced a Sosia, Amphitryon an Amphitryon, how do you know whether you, perchance, may not be producing another Blepharo? O that the Gods would grant that you as well, belaboured with fists, and with your teeth knocked out, going without your breakfast, might credit this. ForI, that other Sosia, that is to say, who am yonder, has mauled me in a dreadful manner.BLEPHARO:Really, it is wonderful; but it’s as well to mend our pace; for, as I perceive, Amphitryon is waiting for us, and my empty stomach is grumbling.AMPHITRYON: (apart.)—And why do I mention foreign legends? More wondrous things they relate to have happened among our Theban race in former days; that mighty searcher for Europa, attacking the monster sprung from Mars, suddenly produced his enemies from the serpent-seed; and in that battle fought, brother pressed on brother with lance and helm; the Epirote land, too, beheld the author of our race, together with the daughter of Venus, gliding as serpents. From on high supreme Jove thus willed it; thus destiny directs. All the noblest of our country, in return for their bright achievements, are pursued with direful woes. This fatality is pressing hard on me—still I could endure disasters so great, and submit to woes hardly to be endured—SOSIA:Blepharo.BLEPHARO:What’s the matter?SOSIA:I don’t know; I suspect something wrong.BLEPHARO:Why?SOSIA:Look, please, our master, like an humble courtier, is walking before the door bolted fast.BLEPHARO:It’s nothing; walking to and fro, he’s looking for an appetite.SOSIA:After a singular fashion, indeed; for he has shut the door, that it mayn’t escape out of the house.BLEPHARO:You do go yelping on.SOSIA:I go neither yelping on nor barking on; if you listen to me, observe him. I don’t know why he’s by himself alone; he’s making some calculation, I suppose. I can hear from this spot what he says— don’t be in a hurry.AMPHITRYON: (apart.)How much I fear lest the Gods should blot out the glory I have acquired in the conquest of the foe. In wondrous manner do I see the whole of my household in commotion. And then my wife, so full of viciousness, incontinence, and dishonor, kills me outright. But about the goblet, it is a singular thing; yet the seal was properly affixed. And what besides? She recounted to me the battles I had fought; Pterelas, too, besieged and bravely slain by my own hand, Aye, aye—now I know the trick; this was done by Sosia’s contrivance, who as well has disgracefully presumed to-day to get before me on my arrival.SOSIA: (to BLEPHARO.)He’s talking about me, and in terms that I had rather not. Prithee, don’t let’s accost this man until he has disclosed his wrath.BLEPHARO:Just as you please.AMPHITRYON: (apart.)If it is granted me this day to lay hold of that whip-scoundrel, I’ll show him what it is to deceive his master, and to assail me with threats and tricks.SOSIA:Do you hear him?BLEPHARO:I hear him.SOSIA:That implement (pointing to AMPHITRYON’S walkingstick) is a burden for my shoulder-blades. Let’s accost the man, if you please. Do you know what is in the habit of being commonly said?BLEPHARO:What you are going to say, I don’t know; what you’ll have to endure I pretty well guess.SOSIA:It’s an old adage—“Hunger and delay summon anger to the nostrils.”BLEPHARO:Aye, and well suited to the occasion. Let’s address him directly—Amphitryon!AMPHITRYON: (looking round.)Is it Blepharo I hear? It’s strange why he’s come to me. Still, he presents himself opportunely, for me to prove the guilty conduct of my wife. Why have you come here to me, Blepharo?BLEPHARO:Have you so soon forgotten how early in the morning you sent Sosia to the ship, that I might take a repast with you to-day?AMPHITRYON:Never in this world was it done. But where is that scoundrel?BLEPHARO:Who?AMPHITRYON:Sosia.BLEPHARO:See, there he is.(Points at him.)AMPHITRYON: (looking about.)Where? BLEPH. Before your eyes; don’t you see him?AMPHITRYON:I can hardly see for anger, so distracted has that fellow made me this day. You shall never escape my making a sacrifice of you. (Offers to strike SOSIA, on which BLEPHARO prevents him.) Do let me, Blepharo.BLEPHARO:Listen, I pray.AMPHITRYON:Say on, I’m listening— (gives a blow to SOSIA) you take that.SOSIA:For what reason? Am I not in good time? I couldn’t have gone quicker, if I had betaken myself on the oar-like wings of Daedalus.(AMPHITRYON tries to strike him again.)BLEPHARO:Prithee, do leave him alone; we couldn’t quicken our pace any further.AMPHITRYON:Whether it was the pace of a man on stilts or that of the tortoise, I’m determined to be the death of this villain. (Striking him at each sentence.) Take that for the roof; that for the tiles; that for closing the door; that for making fun of your master; that for your abusive language.BLEPHARO:What injury has he been doing to you?AMPHITRYON:Do you ask? Shut out of doors, from that housetop (pointing to it) he has driven me away from my house.SOSIA:What, I?AMPHITRYON:What did you threaten that you would do if I knocked at that door? Do you deny it, you scoundrel?SOSIA:Why shouldn’t I deny it? See, he’s sufficiently a witness with whom I have just now come; I was sent on purpose that by your invitation I might bring him to your house.AMPHITRYON:Who sent you, villain?SOSIA:He who asks me the question.AMPHITRYON:When, of all things?SOSIA:Some little time since-not long since—just now. When you were reconciled at home to your wife.AMPHITRYON:Bacchus must have demented you.SOSIA:May I not be paying my respects to Bacchus this day, nor yet to Ceres. You ordered the vessels to be made clean, that you might perform a sacrifice, and you sent me to fetch him (pointing to BLEPHARO), that he might breakfast with you.AMPHITRYON:Blepharo, may I perish outright if I have either been in the house, or if I have sent him. (To SOSIA.) Tell me—where did you leave me?SOSIA:At home, with your wife Alcmena. Leaving you, I flew towards the harbour, and invited him in your name. We are come, and I’ve not seen you since till now.AMPHITRYON:Villanous fellow! With my wife, say you? You shall never go away without getting a beating.(Gives him a blow.)SOSIA: (crying out.)Blepharo!BLEPHARO:Amphitryon, do let him alone, for my sake, and listen to me.AMPHITRYON:Well then, I’ll let him alone. What do you want? Say on.BLEPHARO:He has just now been telling me most extraordi nary marvels. A juggler, or a sorcerer, perhaps, has enchanted all this household of yours. Do enquire in other quarters, and examine how it is. And don’t cause this poor fellow to be tortured, before you understand the matter.AMPHITRYON:You give good advice; let’s go in, I want you also to be my advocate against my wife.(Knocks at the door.) (Enter JUPITER, from the house.)
Amphitrvo:Blepharo, quaeso ut advocatus mi adsis neve abeas.Blepharo:Vale.quid opust me advocato, quí utri sim advocatus nescio?—
JUPITER:Who with such weighty blows has been shaking this door on all the hinges? Who has been making such a great disturbance for this long while before the house? If I find him out, I’ll sacrifice him to the shades of the Teleboans. There’s nothing, as the common saying is, that goes on well with me to-day. I left Blepharo and Sosia that I might find my kinsman Naucrates; him I have not found, and them I have lost. But I espy them; I’ll go meet them, to enquire if they have any news.SOSIA:Blepharo, that’s our master that’s coming out of the house; but this man’s the sorcerer.BLEPHARO:O Jupiter! What do I behold? This is not, but that is, Amphitryon; if this is, why really that cannot be he, unless, indeed, he is double.JUPITER:See now, here’s Sosia with Blepharo; I’ll accost them the first. Well, Sosia, come to us at last? I’m quite hungry.SOSIA:Didn’t I tell you, Blepharo, that this one was the sorcerer?
Ivppiter:Intro ego hinc eo. Alcumena parturit.—
AMPHITRYON:Nay, Theban citizens, I say that this is he (pointing to JUPITER) who in my house has made my wife guilty of incontinence, through whom I find a store of unchastity laid up for me.SOSIA: (to JUPITER)Master, if now you are hungry, crammed full of fisticuffs, I betake me to you.AMPHITRYON:Do you persist, whip-scoundrel?SOSIA:Hie thee to Acheron, sorcerer.AMPHITRYON:What, I a sorcerer? (Strikes him.) Take that.JUPITER:What madness possesses you, stranger, for you to be beating my servant?AMPHITRYON:Your servant?JUPITER:Mine.AMPHITRYON:You lie.JUPITER:Sosia, go in-doors, and take care the breakfast is got ready while I’m sacrificing this fellow.SOSIA:I’ll go. (Aside.) Amphitryon, I suppose, will receive the other Amphitryon as courteously as I, that other Sosia, did me, Sosia, a while ago. Meantime, while they are contending, I’ll turn aside into the victualling department: I’ll clean out all the dishes, and all the vessels I’ll drain.(Goes into the house.) (JUPITER, AMPHITRYON, and BLEPHARO.)JUPITER:Do you say that I lie?AMPHITRYON:You lie, I say, you corrupter of my family.JUPITER:For that disgraceful speech, I’ll drag you along here, seizing you by the throat.(Seizes him by the throat.)AMPHITRYON:Ah wretched me!JUPITER:But you should have had a care of this beforehand.AMPHITRYON:Blepharo, aid me!BLEPHARO: (aside.)The two are so exactly alike that I don’t know which to side with. Still, so far as possible, I’ll put an end to their contention. (Aloud.) Amphitryon, don’t slay Amphitryon in fight; let go his throat, I pray.JUPITER:Are you calling this fellow Amphitryon?BLEPHARO:Why not? Formerly he was but one, but now he has become double. While you are wanting to be he, the other, too, doesn’t cease to be of his form. Meanwhile, prithee, do leave go of his neck.JUPITER:I will leave go. (Lets go of AMPHITRYON.) But tell me, does that fellow appear to you to be Amphitryon?BLEPHARO:Really, both of you do.AMPHITRYON:O supreme Jupiter! when this day didst thou take from me my form? I’ll proceed to make enquiry of him; are you Amphitryon?JUPITER:Do you deny it?AMPHITRYON:Downright do I deny it, inasmuch as in Thebes there is no other Amphitryon besides myself.JUPITER:On the contrary, no other besides myself; and, in fact, do you, Blepharo, be the judge.BLEPHARO:I’ll make this matter clear by proofs, if I can. (To AMPHITRYON.) Do you answer first.AMPHITRYON:With pleasure.BLEPHARO:Before the battle with the Taphians was begun by you, what orders did you give me?AMPHITRYON:The ship being in readiness, for you carefully to keep close to the rudder.JUPITER:That if our people should take to flight, I might betake myself in safety thither.BLEPHARO:Anything else as well?AMPHITRYON:That the bag loaded with treasure should be carefully guarded.JUPITER:Because the money—BLEPHARO:Hold your tongue, you, if you please; it’s my place to ask. Did you know the amount?JUPITER:Fifty Attic talents.BLEPHARO:He tells the truth to a nicety. And you (to AMPHITRYON), how many Philippeans?AMPHITRYON:Two thousand.JUPITER:And obols twice as many.BLEPHARO:Each of you states the matter correctly. Inside the bag one of you must have been shut up.JUPITER:Attend, please. With this right hand, as you know, I slew king Pterelas; his spoils I seized, and the goblet from which he had been used to drink I brought away in a casket; I made a present of it to my wife, with whom this day at home I bathed, I sacrificed, and slept.AMPHITRYON:Ah me! what do I hear? I scarcely am myself. For, awake, I am asleep; awake, I am in a dream; alive and well, I come to destruction. I am that same Amphitryon, the descendant of Gorgophone, the general of the Thebans, and the sole combatant for Creon against the Teleboans; I, who have subdued by my might the Acarnanians and the Taphians, and, by my consummate warlike prowess, their king. Over these have I appointed Cephalus, the son of the great Deioneus.JUPITER:I am he who by warfare and my valour crushed the hostile ravagers. They had destroyed Electryon and the brothers of my wife. Wandering through the Ionian, the Aegean, and the Cretan seas, with piratical violence they laid waste Achaia, Aetolia, and Phocis.AMPHITRYON:Immortal Gods! I cannot trust my own self, so exactly does he relate all the things that happened there. Consider, Blepharo.BLEPHARO:One thing only remains; if so it is, do you be Amphitryons both of you.JUPITER:I knew what you would say. The scar that I have on the muscle of my right arm, from the wound which Pterelas gave me—BLEPHARO:Well, that.AMPHITRYON:Quite to the purpose.JUPITER:See you! look, behold!BLEPHARO:Uncover, and I’ll look.JUPITER:We have uncovered. Look!(They show their naked arms.)BLEPHARO: (looking at the right arm of each.)Supreme Jupiter, what do I behold? On the right-arm muscle of each, in the same spot, the scar clearly appears with the same mark, reddish and somewhat livid, just as it has first commenced to close. Reasoning is at a standstill, all judgment is struck dumb; I don’t know what to do.BLEPHARO:Do you settle these matters between yourselves; I’m off, for I have business; and I do not think that I have ever anywhere beheld such extraordinary wonders.AMPHITRYON:Blepharo, I pray that you’ll stay as my advocate, and not go away.BLEPHARO:Farewell. What need is there of me for an advocate, who don’t know which of the two to side with?JUPITER:I’m going hence in-doors: Alcmena is in labour.(Exit BLEPHARO, and JUPITER goes into AMPHITRYON’S house.)AMPHITRYON: (aloud to himself.)I’m undone, wretch that I am;for what am I to do, when my advocates and friends are now forsaking me? Never, by heavens, shall he deride me unrevenged, whoever he is. Now will I betake myself straight to the king, and tell him of the matter as it has happened. By my faith, I will this day take vengeance on this Thessalian sorcerer, who has wrongfully distracted the minds of my household.But where is he? (Looking around.) By my troth, he’s off into the house, to my wife, I suppose. What other person lives in Thebes more wretched than myself? What now shall I do? I, whom all men deny and deride just as they please. I am resolved; I’ll burst into the house; there, whatever person I perceive, whether maid-servant or man-servant, whether wife or whether paramour,whether father or whether grandfather, I’ll behead that person in the house; neither Jupiter nor all the Deities shall hinder me from this, even if they would, but that I’ll do just as I have resolved.(As he advances to the door, it thunders, and he falls in a swoon upon the ground.) (Enter BROMIA, from the house, AMPHITRYON lying on the ground.)
Amphitrvo:Perii miser.quid ego ⟨faciam,⟩ quem advocati iam atque amici deserunt?numquam edepol me inultus istic ludificabit, quisquis est;nam iam ad regem recta me ducam resque ut facta est eloquar.†ego pol illum ulciscar hodie Thessalum veneficum,qui pervorse perturbavit familiae mentem meae.sed ubi illest? intro edepol abiit, credo ad uxorem meam.qui me Thebis alter vivit miserior? quid nunc agam,quem omnes mortales ignorant et ludificant ut lubet.certumst, intro rumpam in aedis: ubi quemque hominem aspexero,si ancillam seu servom sive uxorem sive adulterumseu patrem sive ávom videbo, óbtruncabo in aedibus.neque me Iuppiter neque di omnes id prohibebunt, si volent,quin sic faciam ut constitui. pergam in aedis nunciam.
BROMIA: (to herself.)The hopes and resources of my life lie buried in my breast, nor is there any boldness in my heart, but what I have lost it.So much to me do all things seem, the sea, the earth, the heavens, to be conspiring, that now I may be crushed, that I may be destroyed. Ah, wretched me! I know not what to do. Prodigies so great have come to pass within the house. Ah! woe is me! I’m sick at heart, some water I could wish! I’m overpowered and I’m utterly undone. My head is aching, and I cannot hear, nor do I see well with my eyes.No woman is there more wretched than myself, nor can one seem to be more so. Thus has it this day befallen my mistress; for when she invoked for herself the Deities of travail, what rumblings and grumblings, crashes and flashes; suddenly, how instantaneously did it thunder, and how woundy loud. On the spot where each one stood, at the peal he fell; then some one, I know not who, exclaimed in a mighty voice, “Alcmena, succour is at hand, fear not:”“propitious both to thee and thine, the Ruler of the Heavens comes. Arise,” it said, “ye who have fallen down in your terror through dread of me.” As I lay, I arose; I fancied that the house was in flames. Then Alcmena called me; and then did that circumstance strike me with horror. Fears for my mistress took possession of me; I ran to her to enquire what she wanted;and then I beheld that she had given birth to two male children; not yet did any one of us perceive when she was delivered, or indeed expect it. (Sees AMPHITRYON.) But what’s this? Who’s this old man that’s lying thus before our house? Has Jupiter then smitten him with his thunders? By my troth, I think so; for, oh Jupiter! he is in a lethargy just like one dead.I’ll approach, that I may learn who it is. (She advances.) Surely, this is my master Amphitryon. (Calls aloud.) Ho! Amphitryon!
Bromia:Spes átque opes vitaé meae iacént sepultae in pectore,neque ullast confidentia iam in corde, quin amiserim;ita mihi videntur omnia, mare terra caelum, consequi,iam ut opprimar, ut enicer. me miseram, quid agam nescio.ita tanta mira in aedibus sunt facta. vae miserae mihi,animo malest, aquam velim. corrupta sum atque absumpta sum.caput dolet, neque audio, nec oculis prospicio satis,nec me miserior femina est neque ulla videatur magis.ita erae meae hodie contigit. nam ubi parturit, deos síbi invocat,strepitús, crepitus, sonitús, tonitrus: ut subito, ut propere, ut valide tonuit!ubi quísque institerat, cóncidit crepitu. íbi nescio quis máxumavóce exclamat: “Alcumena, adest auxilium, ne time:et tibi et tuis propitius caeli cultor advenit.exsúrgite” inquit “qui terrore meo occidistis prae metu.”ut iácui, exsurgo. ardére censui aédis, ita tum cónfulgebant.íbi me inclamat Álcumena; iam éa res me horrore ádficit,erílis praevertít metus: accúrro, ut sciscam quíd velit.atque illam geminos filios pueros peperisse conspicor;neque nostrum quisquam sensimus, quom peperit, neque providimus.séd quid hoc? quis hic ést senex, qui ante aédis nostras síc iacet?numnam húnc percussit Iúppiter?credo édepol, nam, pro Iúppiter, sepúltust quasi sit mórtuos.ibo et cognoscam, quisquis est. Amphitruo híc quidem ⟨est⟩ érus meus.Amphítruo.
AMPHITRYON:I’m dead.
Amphitrvo:Perii.
BROMIA:Arise.
Bromia:Súrge.
AMPHITRYON:I’m slain outright.
Amphitrvo:Interii.
BROMIA:Give me your hand.(Takes his hand.)
Bromia:Cédo manum.
AMPHITRYON: (recovering.)Who is it that has hold of me?
Amphitrvo:Quis mé tenet?
BROMIA:Bromia, your maid-servant.
Bromia:Tua Bromia ancilla.
AMPHITRYON: (rising.)I tremble all over, to such a degree has Jove pealed against me. And no otherwise is it than if I had come hither from Acheron. But why have you come out of the house?
Amphitrvo:Totus timeo, íta me increpuit Iuppiter.nec secus est, quasi si ab Acherunte veniam. sed quid tu forasegressa es?
BROMIA:The same alarm has scared ourselves, affrighted with horror;in the house where you yourself dwell, have I seen astounding prodigies. Woe to me, Amphitryon; even now do my senses fail me to such a degree.
Bromia:Eadem nos formido timidas terrore impulitin aedibus, tu ubi habitas. nimia mira vidi. vae mihi,Amphitruo, íta mihi animus etiam nunc abest.
AMPHITRYON:Come now, tell me; do you know me to be your master Amphitryon?
Amphitrvo:Agedum expedi:scin me tuom esse erum Amphitruonem?
BROMIA:I do know it.
Bromia:Scio.
AMPHITRYON:Look even once again.
Amphitrvo:Vide etiam nunc.
BROMIA:I do know it.
Bromia:Scio.
AMPHITRYON:She alone of all my household has a sane mind.
Amphitrvo:Haec sola sanam mentem gestat meorum familiarium.
BROMIA:Nay but, really, they are all of them sane.
Bromia:Immo omnes sani sunt profecto.
AMPHITRYON:But my wife causes me to be insaneby her own shameful practices.
Amphitrvo:At me uxor insanum facitsuis foedis factis.
BROMIA:But I’ll make you, Amphitryon, to be holding other language; that you may understand that your wife is dutiful and chaste, upon that subject I will in a few words discover some tokens and some proofs. In the first place of all, Alcmena has given birth to two sons.
Bromia:At ego faciam, tu idem ut aliter praedices,Ámphitruo, piam et pudicam ésse tuam uxorem ut scias.de ea re signa atque argumenta paucis verbis eloquar.omnium primum: Alcumena geminos peperit filios.
AMPHITRYON:Two, say you?
Amphitrvo:Ain tu, geminos?
BROMIA:Two.
Bromia:Geminos.
AMPHITRYON:The Gods preserve me!
Amphitrvo:Di me servant.
BROMIA:Allow me to speak,that you may know that all the Deities are propitious to yourself and to your wife.
Bromia:Sine me dicere,ut scias tibi tuaeque uxori deos esse omnis propitios.
AMPHITRYON:Say on.
Amphitrvo:Loquere.
BROMIA:After that, this day, your wife began to be in labour, when the pangs of childbirth came on, as is the custom with women in travail, she invoked the immortal Gods to give her aid, with washed hands and with covered head. Then forthwith it thunderedwith most tremendous crash. At first we thought that your house was falling; all your house shone bright, as though it had been made of gold.
Bromia:Postquam parturire hodie uxor occepit tua,ubi utero exorti dolores, ut solent puerperaeinvocat deos immortales, ut sibi auxilium ferant,manibus puris, capite operto. íbi continuo contonatsonitu maxumo; aedes primo ruere rebamur tuas.aedes totae confulgebant tuae, quasi essent aureae.
AMPHITRYON:Prithee, relieve me quickly from this, since you have kept me long enough in suspense. What happened then?
Amphitrvo:Quaeso absolvito hinc me extemplo, quando satis deluseris.quid fit deinde?
BROMIA:While these things were passing, meanwhile, not one of us heard your wife groaning or complaining;and thus, in fact, without pain was she delivered.
Bromia:Dum haec aguntur, interea uxorem tuamneque gementem neque plorantem nostrum quisquam audivimus;ita profecto sine dolore peperit.
AMPHITRYON:Then do I rejoice at this, whatever she has merited at my hands.
Amphitrvo:Iam istuc gaudeo,utut erga me merita est.
BROMIA:Leave that alone, and hear these things which I shall tell you. After she was delivered, she bade us wash the babes; we commenced to do so. But that child which I washed, how stout, how very powerful he is; and not a person was there, able to wrap him in the swaddling-clothes.
Bromia:Mitte ista atque haec quae dicam accipe.postquam peperit, pueros lavere iussit nos. occepimus.sed puer ille quém ego lavi, ut magnust et multum valet!neque eum quisquam colligare quivit incunabulis.
AMPHITRYON:Most wondrous things you tell of. If these things are true, I do not apprehend but that succour has been brought to my wife from heaven.
Amphitrvo:Nimia mira memoras; si istaec vera sunt, divinitusnon metuo quin méae uxori latae suppetiae sient.
BROMIA:Now shall I make you own to things more wondrous still. After he was laid in the cradle, two immense crested serpents glided down through the skylight; instantly they both reared their heads.
Bromia:Magis iam faxo mira dices. postquam in cunas conditust,devolant angues iubati deorsum in impluvium duomaximi: continuo extollunt ambo capita.
AMPHITRYON:Ah me!
Amphitrvo:Ei mihi.
BROMIA:Be not dismayed—but the serpents began to gaze upon all around. After they beheld the children, quickly they made towards the cradle; I, fearing for the children, alarmed for myself, going backwards, began to draw and pull the cradle to and fro, and so much the more fiercely did the serpents pursue. After that one of the children caught sight of the serpents,he quickly leapt from the cradle, straightway he made an attack upon them, ana suddenly he grasped them, one in each hand.
Bromia:Ne pave. sed angues oculis omnis circumvisere.postquam pueros conspicati, pergunt ad cunas citi.ego cunas recessim rursum vorsum trahere et ducere,metuens pueris, mihi formidans; tantoque angues acriuspersequi. postquam conspexit angues ille alter puer,citus e cunis exilit, facit recta in anguis impetum:alterum altera prehendit eos manu perniciter.
AMPHITRYON:You tell of wondrous things; a very fearful exploit do you relate; for at your words horror steals upon the limbs of wretched me. What happened then? Say on.
Amphitrvo:Mira memoras, nimis formidolosum facinus praedicas;nam mihi horror membra misero percipit dictis tuis.quid fit deinde? porro loquere.
BROMIA:The child slew both the serpents. While these things are passing, in a loud voice there calls upon your wife—
Bromia:Puer ambo angues enicat.dum haec aguntur, voce clara exclamat uxorem tuam—
AMPHITRYON:What person—?
Amphitrvo:Quis homo?
BROMIA:Jupiter, the supreme Ruler of Gods and men. He said that he had secretly enjoyed Alcmena in his embraces, and that he was his own son who had overcome those serpents; the other, he said, was your child.
Bromia:Summus imperator divom atque hominum Iuppiter.is se dixit cum Alcumena clam consuetum cubitibus,eumque filium suom esse qui illos angues vicerit;alterum tuom esse dixit puerum.
AMPHITRYON:By my troth, I am not sorryif I am allowed to take my half of a blessing in partnership with Jupiter. Go home, and bid the sacred vessels to be at once prepared for me, that with many victims I may seek my peace with supreme Jove. I will apply to Tiresias the soothsayer, and consult him what he considers ought to be done; at the same time I’ll relate to him this matter just as it has happened. (It thunders.)But what means this? How dreadfully it thunders! Ye Gods, your mercy, I do entreat.(JUPITER appears, in his own character, above.)
Amphitrvo:Pol me haud paenitet,si licet boni dimidium mihi dividere cum Iove.abi domum, iube vasa pura actutum adornari mihi,ut Iovis supremi multis hostiis pacem expetam.ego Teresiam coniectorem ádvocabo et consulamquid faciundum censeat; simul hanc rem ut facta est eloquar.sed quid hoc? quam valide tonuit. di, obsecro vostram fidem.
JUPITER:Be of good cheer, Amphitryon; I am come to thy aid: thou hast nothing to fear; all diviners and soothsayers let alone. What is to be, and what has past, I will tell thee; and so much better than they can, inasmuch as I am Jupiter.First of all, I have made loan of the person of Alcmena, and have caused her to be pregnant with a son. Thou, too, didst cause her to be pregnant, when thou didst set out upon the expedition; at one birth has she brought forth the two together. One of these, the one that is sprung from my parentage,shall bless thee with deathless glory by his deeds. Do thou return with Alcmena to your former affection; she merits not that thou shouldst impute it to her as her blame; by my power has she been compelled thus to act. I now return to the heavens.(He ascends.)
Ivppiter:Bono ánimo es, adsum auxílio, Amphitruo, tíbi et tuis:nihil est quod timeas. hariolos, haruspicesmitte omnes; quae futura et quae facta eloquar,multo adeo melius quam illi, quom sum Iuppiter.primum omnium Alcumenae usuram corporiscepi, et concubitu gravidam feci filio.tu gravidam item fecisti, cúm in exercitumprofectu's profectus es: uno partu duos peperit simul.eorum alter, nostro qui est susceptus semine,suis factis te immortali adficiet gloria.tu cum Alcumena uxore antiquam in gratiamredi: haud promeruit quam ob rem vitio vorteres;mea vi subactast facere. ego in caelum migro.—
AMPHITRYON:I’ll do as thou dost command me; and I entreat thee to keep thy promises.I’ll go in-doors to my wife. I dismiss the aged Tiresias from my thoughts.An ACTOR:Spectators, now, for the sake of supreme Jove, give loud applause.
Amphitrvo:Fáciam ita ut iubés et te oro, prómissa ut servés tua.ibo ad uxorem intro, missum facio Teresiam senem.nunc, spectatores, Iovis súmmi causa clare plaudite.