---
title: "The Casket Comedy · Cistellaria"
author: "Plautus"
translator: "Henry Thomas Riley"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
url: https://scriptura.si/works/plautus-cistellaria/
cite: "Plautus, tr. Henry Thomas Riley, The Casket Comedy · Cistellaria. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/plautus-cistellaria/"
---

# The Casket Comedy · Cistellaria

*Plautus, tr. Henry Thomas Riley*

A foundling is recognised by the trinkets in a little box.

> Latin: ed. Friedrich Leo, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi0119.phi007, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Henry Thomas Riley, from the Perseus Digital Library (phi0119.phi007.perseus-eng2). Notes are not included.

> Rows follow the references the two texts share (line numbers), cut where both reach the end of a sentence.

## Contents

1. [Lines 1–604](https://scriptura.si/works/plautus-cistellaria/1.md)
2. [Lines 225–787](https://scriptura.si/works/plautus-cistellaria/2.md)

## 1. Lines 1–604

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/plautus-cistellaria/1/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/plautus-cistellaria/1/#p-N

[¶0] (Enter SILENIUM, GYMNASIUM, and PROCURESS, from the house of SILENIUM.
SILENIUM:
Inasmuch as hitherto I have loved you, and have deemed you to be my friend, my dear Gymnasium, and your mother as well; so have you shown it to me this day, both you and she. If you had been my own sister, how more you two could possibly have held me in esteem
I know not; but, according as is my way of thinking, I conceive it could not possibly be, such ready assistance, all other things laid aside, have you given me. For this reason do I love you, and for it a vast obligation have you both conferred upon me.

> Latin: Selenivm:
Cum ego ántehac te amávi et mi amícam esse crévi,
mea Gýmnasium, et mátrem tuám, tum id mihi hódie
apéruistis, tu átque haec: sorór si mea ésses,
qui mágis potuerítis mihi honórem ire habitum,
néscio, nisi, ut meus est animus, fieri non posse arbitror;
íta omnibus relictis rebus mihi frequentem operam dedistis.
éo ego vos amo ét eo á me magnam iniistis gratiam.

[¶1] GYMNASIUM:
I’ faith, at such a price as this, indeed, it’s easy for us to give you our attendance and to do you good offices;

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Pol isto quidem nos pretio facile est frequentare
tibi utilisque habere:

[¶2] so handsomely and so elegantly have you entertained us at breakfast at your house, as we shall ever remember.

> Latin: ita in prándio nos lepide ác nitide
accépisti apúd te, ut sempér meminerímus.

[¶3] SILENIUM:
It has been done with hearty good will by me, and will be done, to get those things which I shall think you are desirous of.

> Latin: Selenivm:
Lubénti edepol ánimo factum ét fiet á me,
quae vós arbitrábor velle, éa ut expetéssam.

[¶4] A PROCURESS:
As the man said, who was borne by a prospering breeze on a calm sea:
“I rejoice that we came to you;” in such a delightful manner have we been here this day received; nor except in the management, was there anything there at your house but what pleased me.

> Latin: Lena:
Quód ille dixit, quí secundo vénto vectus ést tranquilló mari,
véntum gaudeo—écastor ad téd, ita hodie híc acceptaé sumus
suávibus modis,
néc nisi disciplina apud te fuit quicquam ibi quin mihi placeret.

[¶5] SILENIUM:
How so, prithee?

> Latin: Selenivm:
Quid ita, amabo?

[¶6] A PROCURESS:
Too seldom did the servant give me something to drink, and, as it was, it clouded the colour of the wine.

> Latin: Lena:
Raro nimium dabat quod biberem, id merum infuscabat.

[¶7] GYMNASIUM:
Pray, is that becoming to be mentioned here?

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Amábo, hicine ístud decét?

[¶8] A PROCURESS:
It’s both right and proper; there’s no other person here.

> Latin: Lena:
Iusque fásque est:
nemo álienus híc est.

[¶9] SILENIUM:
With reason do I love you both, who esteem and honor me.

> Latin: Selenivm:
Meritó vostro amó vos,
quía me colitis et mágni facitis.

[¶10] A PROCURESS:
I’ faith, my dear Silenium, it befits this class to be kindly disposed among themselves, and carefully to keep up friendships,
when you see these matrons of elevated rank, born of the noblest families, how they value friendship, and how carefully they keep it united between themselves. If we do that same thing, if we imitate the same example, still as it is, with difficulty do we exist with their extreme dislike. Of their own enjoyments they would have us to be in want,
in resources of our own they would have us not to possess any power, and to stand in need of them in all matters, that we may be their humble servants. If you wait upon them, you’d rather be giving your room than your company. So very kind are they before the world to our class; in private, if ever there’s the opportunity,
underhandedly they pour cold water upon us. They declare that we are in the habit of having commerce with their husbands; they say that we are their supplanters; they attempt to crush us. Because we are the free daughters of slaves, both I and your mother, we became Courtesans; she brought up yourself, and I this girl (pointing to GYMNASIUM),
by chance-fathers. Nor yet for the sake of vanity have I driven her to the calling of a Courtesan, but that I mightn’t starve.

> Latin: Lena:
Decet pol, mea Selenium,
hunc ésse ordiném benevoléntis intér se
béneque amicitia útier,
ubi istás videas summó genere natás, summatis mátronas,
ut amícitiam colunt átque ut eam iunctám bene habent intér se.
si idem istúd nos faciamús, si idém imitémur, itá tamen víx vivimús
cum invídia summa. suárum opum nos vólunt esse indigéntes.
nostrá copiá nil volúnt nos potésse
suíque omniúm rerum nós indigére,
út sibi simus súpplices.
éas si ádeas, abitum quam aditum malis, ita nostro ordini
palám blandiúntur, clam, si óccasio usquam est,
aquám frigidám subdolé suffúndunt.
virís cum suís praedicánt nos solére,
suás paelicés esse aiúnt, eunt depréssum.
quia nós libertinaé sumus, et ego ét tua mater, ámbae
meretrices fuimus: illa te, ego hanc mihi educavi
ex patribus conventiciis. neque ego hanc superbiai
causa pepuli ad meretricium quaestum, nisi ut ne ésurirem.

[¶11] SILENIUM:
But it had been better to give her in marriage to a husband in preference.

> Latin: Selenivm:
At satius fuerat eam viro dare nuptum potius.

[¶12] A PROCURESS:
Heyday, now! Surely, faith, she’s married to a husband every day; she has both been married to one to-day, she’ll be marrying again to-night. I’ve never allowed her to go to bed a widow.

> Latin: Lena:
Heia,
haec quidem ecastor cottidie viro núbit, nupsitque hodie,
nubet mox noctu: numquam ego hanc viduam cubare sivi.

[¶13] For if she weren’t to be marrying, the household would perish with doleful famine.

> Latin: nam si haec non nubat, lugubri fame familia pereat.

[¶14] GYMNASIUM:
It behoves me, mother, to be just as you wish I should be.

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Necesse est, quo tu me modo voles esse, ita esse, mater.

[¶15] A PROCURESS:
I’ troth, I don’t regret it, if you will prove such as you say you’ll be; for if, indeed, you shall be such as I intend, you’ll never be a Hecale in your old age, and you’ll ever keep that same tender age which you now have,
and you’ll prove a loss to many and a profit to myself full oft, without any outlay of my own.

> Latin: Lena:
Ecastor haud me paenitet, si ut dicis ita futura es.
nam si quidem ita eris ut volo, numquam senecta fies
semperque istam quam nunc habes aetatulam optinebis,
multisque damno et mihi lucro siné meo saepe eris sumptu.

[¶16] GYMNASIUM:
May the Gods grant it.

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Di faxint.

[¶17] A PROCURESS:
Without your own energies, the Gods cannot possibly do anything in this.

> Latin: Lena:
Sine opera tua di horunc nil facere possunt.

[¶18] GYMNASIUM:
I’ faith, for my own part, I’ll zealously devote my energies to it. But what mean you amid this conversation, apple of my eye, my own Silenium? (never did I see you more sad); prithee, do tell me, why does mirth so shun you?

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Equidem hercle addam operam sedulo; sed tu aufer istaec verba.
meus oculus, mea Selenium, numquam ego te tristiorem
vidi esse. quid, cedo, te obsecro tam abhorret hilaritudo?

[¶19] And you are not so neat as you usually are. (SILENIUM sighs.) Do look at that, please, how deep a sigh she heaved. You are pale too. Tell us both what’s the matter with you, and in what you want our aid; so that we may know. Prithee, don’t by your tears be causing me anxiety.

> Latin: neque munda adaeque es, ut soles (hoc sis vide, ut petivit
suspiritum alte) et pallida es. eloquere utrumque nobis,
et quid tibi est et quid velis nostram operam, ut nos sciamus.
noli, obsecro, lacrumis tuis mi exercitum imperare.

[¶20] SILENIUM:
My dear Gymnasium, I’m sadly affected; I feel ill, I am shockingly distrest;

> Latin: Selenivm:
Méd excrucio, mea Gymnasium: male mihi est, male maceror;

[¶21] I am pained in spirits, I feel pain in my eyes, I am in pain from faintness. What shall I say, but that my own folly drives me to sadness?

> Latin: doleo ab animo, doleo ab oculis, doleo ab aegritudine.
quid dicam, nisi stultitia mea me in maerorem rapi?

[¶22] GYMNASIUM:
Take you care, then, that you have your folly entombed in that very same place from which it takes its rise.

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Indidem unde oritur facito ut facias stultitiam sepelibilem.

[¶23] SILENIUM:
What shall I do?

> Latin: Selenivm:
Quid faciam?

[¶24] GYMNASIUM:
Hide it in darkness, in the very deepest recesses of your breast. Take you care and have it so, that you yourself are alone sensible of your own folly, without any other witnesses.

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
In latebras abscondas pectore penitissimo.
tuam stultitiam sola facito ut scías sine aliis arbitris.

[¶25] SILENIUM:
But I’ve got the heart-ache.

> Latin: Selenivm:
At mihi cordolium est.

[¶26] GYMNASIUM:
Why so? For what reason have you the heartache, prithee, tell me, a thing that I neither have, nor any other woman whatever, according as the men say?

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Quid? id unde est tibi cor? commemora obsecro;
quod neque ego habeo neque quisquam alia mulier, ut perhibent viri.

[¶27] SILENIUM:
If there’s any heart to feel pain, it does feel pain; but if there isn’t, still this pains me here.
(Pointing to her left-side.)

> Latin: Selenivm:
Siquid est quod doleát, dolet; si aútem non est—tamen hoc hic dolet.

[¶28] A PROCURESS:
This woman’s in love.
GYMNASIUM:
Come now, to begin to be in love, is it bitter, prithee?

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Amat haec mulier.
Selenivm:
Eho an amare occipere amarum est, obsecro?

[¶29] A PROCURESS:
Why, troth, love is most fruitful both in honey and in gall;

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Namque ecastor Amor et melle et felle est fecundissimus;

[¶30] inasmuch as it produces sweetness in a mere taste, but causes bitterness even to repletion.

> Latin: gustui dat dulce, amarum ad satietatem usque oggerit.

[¶31] SILENIUM:
Of that character is the malady that afflicts me, my dear Gymnasium.

> Latin: Selenivm:
Ad istam faciem est morbus, qui me, mea Gymnasium, macerat.

[¶32] GYMNASIUM:
Love is full of treachery.

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Perfidiosus est Amor.

[¶33] SILENIUM:
He’s taking his spoils of me, then.

> Latin: Selenivm:
Ergo in mé peculatum facit.

[¶34] GYMNASIUM:
Be of good courage, you’ll get the better of this malady.

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Bono animo es, erit isti morbo melius.

[¶35] SILENIUM:
I trust it will be so, if the physician comes that can administer the medicine to this malady.

> Latin: Selenivm:
Confidam fore,
si medicus veniat qui huic morbo facere medicinam potest.

[¶36] GYMNASIUM:
He will come.

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Veniet.

[¶37] SILENIUM:
A hard expression is that to one in love, “He will come,” unless he does come. But by my own fault and foolishness, am I, wretched creature, more afflicted, because for him alone have I longed for myself, with whom to pass my life.

> Latin: Selenivm:
Spissum istuc amanti est verbum, veniet, nisi venit.
sed ego mea culpa et stultitia peius misera maceror,
quom ego illum unum mi exoptavi, quicum aetatem degerem.

[¶38] A PROCURESS:
That is more suitable to a married woman, my dear Silenium, to love but one, and with him to pass her life, to whom she has once been married;

> Latin: Lena:
Matronae magis cónducibilest istuc, mea Selenium,
unum amare et cúm eo aetatem exigere quoi nuptast semel.

[¶39] but, indeed, a Courtesan is most like a flourishing city; she cannot alone increase her fortunes without a multitude of men.

> Latin: verum enim méretrix fortunati est oppidi simillima:
non potest suam rem obtinere sola sine multis viris.

[¶40] SILENIUM:
I want you to give heed to this matter; the thing on account of which you have been sent for to me, I’ll disclose. Now, my mother, because I don’t wish myself to be called a Courtesan, complied with my desire; in that matter she indulged myself who have been obedient to her;
to allow me to live with him alone whom I so ardently loved.

> Latin: Selenivm:
Hoc volo agatis. qua accersitae causa ad me estis, eloquar.
nam mea mater, quia ego nolo me meretricem dicier,
obsecutast de ea re, gessit morem morigerae mihi,
ut me, quém ego amarem graviter, sineret cúm eo vivere.

[¶41] A PROCURESS:
I’ faith, she acted foolishly. But look, have you ever kept company with any man?

> Latin: Lena:
Stulte ecastor fecit. sed tu enumquam cum quiquam viro
consuevisti?

[¶42] SILENIUM:
With no one, indeed, except Alcesimarchus; nor has any other person whatever committed an infringement on my chastity.

> Latin: Selenivm:
Nisi quidem cum Alcesimarcho, nemine,
neque pudícitiam meam mi álius quisquam imminuit.

[¶43] A PROCURESS:
Prithee, by what means did this man gain your good graces?

> Latin: Lena:
Obsecro,
quó is homo insinuavit pacto se ad te?

[¶44] SILENIUM:
At the festival of Bacchus
my mother took me to see the procession. While I was returning home, from a secret look-out he secretly traced me even to the door; after that, he insinuated himself into the friendship of my mother and myself as well, by endearments, presents, and gifts.

> Latin: Selenivm:
Per Dionysia
mater pompam me spectatum duxit. dum redeo domum,
conspicillo consecutust clanculum me usque ad fores.
inde in amicitiam insinuavit cum matre et mecum simul
blanditiis, muneribus, donis.

[¶45] A PROCURESS:
I should like a man of that sort to be offered me. How I’d work him.

> Latin: Lena:
Mihi istunc vellem hominem dari,
ut ego illum vorsarem!

[¶46] SILENIUM:
What need is there of words? Through intercourse, I on the other hand began to love him, and he myself.

> Latin: Selenivm:
Quid opust verbis? consuetudine
coepi amare contra ego illum, et ille me.

[¶47] A PROCURESS:
O my dear Silenium—!
SILENIUM:
What’s the matter?
A PROCURESS:
You ought to pretend to be in love; for if you fall in love at once, you’ll be much better consulting the interests of him whom you love than your own.

> Latin: Lena:
O mea Selenium,
adsimulare amare oportet. nam si ames, extempulo
melius illi multo, quém ames, consulas quam rei tuae.

[¶48] SILENIUM:
But in solemn form he took an oath before my mother that he would take me as his wife. Now, another woman is about to be taken home by him,
a Lemnian lady, his relation, who is living here hard by (pointing to DEMIPHO’S house); for his father has compelled him. Now my mother is enraged with me, because I didn’t return home to her, when I came to know of this matter, that he was about to take another as his wife.

> Latin: Selenivm:
At ille conceptis iuravit verbis apud matrem meam,
me uxorem ducturum esse: ei nunc alia ducendast domum,
sua cognata Lemniensis, quae habitat hic in proxumo.
nam eúm pater eius subégit. nunc mea mater iratast mihi,
quia non redierim domum ad se, postquam hanc rem resciverim,
eum uxorem ducturum esse aliam.

[¶49] A PROCURESS:
Nothing’s unfair in love.

> Latin: Lena:
Nihil amori iniuriumst.

[¶50] SILENIUM:
Now, I entreat you that you’ll let her (pointing to GYMNASIUM) be here only for the next three days,
and keep house for me; for I’ve been sent for to my mother’s house.

> Latin: Selenivm:
Nunc te amabo ut hanc hic ⟨unum⟩ triduom hoc solum sinas
esse et hic servare apud me. nam ad matrem accersita sum.

[¶51] A PROCURESS:
Although this will be a troublesome three days for me, and you’ll be causing me a loss, I’ll do so.

> Latin: Lena:
Quamquam istud mihi erit molestum triduom, et damnum dabis,
faciam.

[¶52] SILENIUM:
You act kindly and like a friend. But you, my dear Gymnasium, if in my absence Alcesimarchus shall come, don’t you chide him roughly; however he has deserved of myself, still he has my affections;
but, prithee, act gently, so that you mayn’t say anything that may cause him pain. Take the keys (giving them to her); if you have need to take out anything for use, take it out. I wish to go—

> Latin: Selenivm:
Facis benigne et amice. sed tu, Gymnasium mea,
si me absente Alcesimarchus veniet, nolito acriter
eum inclámare (utut erga me est meritus, mihi cordi est tamen),
sed, amabo, tranquille: ne quid, quod illi doleat, dixeris.
accipias clavis: si quid opus tibi erit prompto, promito.
ego volo ire.

[¶53] GYMNASIUM:
(weeping.) How you have drawn tears from me.

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Vt mi excivisti lacrimas.

[¶54] SILENIUM:
My dear Gymnasium, kindly, farewell.

> Latin: Selenivm:
Gymnasium mea,
bene vale.

[¶55] GYMNASIUM:
Take care of yourself, there’s a dear. Prithee, will you go in this dishabille?
(Pointing to her dress.)

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Cura te, amabo. sicine immunda, obsecro,
ibis?

[¶56] SILENIUM:
It’s right that such neglect should attend upon my prospects thus disarranged.

> Latin: Selenivm:
Immundas fortunas aequom est squalorem sequi.

[¶57] GYMNASIUM:
At least do lift up that outer garment.

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Amiculum hoc sustolle saltem.

[¶58] SILENIUM:
Let it be dragged, while I myself am being dragged down.

> Latin: Selenivm:
Sine trahi, cum egomet trahor.

[¶59] GYMNASIUM:
Since so it pleases you, fare you well and prosper.

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Quando ita tibi lubet, vale atque salve.

[¶60] SILENIUM:
If I could, I would.
(Exit.)

> Latin: Selenivm:
Si possim, velim.—

[¶61] GYMNASIUM:
Mother, do you wish anything of me, before I go indoors? Upon my faith, to me she does seem to be in love.

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Numquid me vis, mater, intro quin eam? ecastor mihi
visa amare.

[¶62] A PROCURESS:
For this reason, then, it is, that I’m repeatedly dinning it into your ears, not to be in love with any man. Go in-doors.

> Latin: Lena:
Istoc ergo auris graviter obtundo tuas,
ne quem ames. abi intro.

[¶63] GYMNASIUM:
Do you wish anything of me?

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Numquid me vis?

[¶64] A PROCURESS:
That you may fare well.

> Latin: Lena:
Vt valeas.

[¶65] GYMNASIUM:
Fare you well.
(GYMNASIUM goes into the house of SILENTIUM.) (The PROCURESS, alone.)

> Latin: Gymnasivm:
Vale.—

[¶66] A PROCURESS:
(to the AUDIENCE.) It’s the same fault with myself as with a great part of us women who are following this calling; who, as soon as ever we have got our load of food, are forthwith full of talk; more than is enough do we say.
Why, myself now, inasmuch as I’m filled to my heart’s content, and because I’ve charged myself quite full of the choicest of wine, it pleases me to use my tongue more at freedom; to my misfortune I can’t keep silent on that which it were necessary to be silent upon.

> Latin: Lena:
Idem míhi magnae quod parti est vitium mulierum
quae hunc quaestum facimus: quae ubi saburratae sumus,
largiloquae extemplo sumus, plus loquimur quam sat est.

[¶67] But once upon a time, that girl, who has gone hence in tears, from a lane I carried off a little child exposed.

> Latin: nam ego illanc olim, quae hinc flens abiit, parvolam
puellám proiectam ex angiportu sustuli.

[¶68] There is here a certain youth, of the highest rank;
his father, of a very high family, is living at Sicyon;
he is dying desperately in love for this young woman, who has just. now gone hence in tears; on the other hand, she is smitten with love.

> Latin: [adulescens quidam hic est adprime nobilis]
[quin ego nunc quia sum onusta mea ex sententia]
[quiaque adeo me complevi flore Liberi,]
[magis líbera uti lingua conlibitum est mihi,]
[tacere nequeo misera quod tacito usus est.]
[Sicyone, summo genere; ei vivit pater.]
[is amore misere hanc deperit mulierculam,]
[quae hinc modo flens abiit. contra amore eum haec deperit.]

[¶69] I made a present of her to my friend, this Courtesan: who had often made mention of it to me
that somewhere I must find for her a boy or a girl, just born, that she herself might pass it off as her own. As soon as ever the opportunity befell me, I immediately granted her request in that which she had asked of me.

> Latin: eam meae ego amicae dono huic meretrici dedi,
quae saepe mecum mentionem fecerat,
puerum aut puellam alicunde ut reperirem sibi,
recens natum, eapse quod sibi supponeret.
ubi mihi potestas primum evenit, ilico
feci eius ei quod me oravit copiam.

[¶70] After she had received this female child from me, at once
she was brought to bed of the same female child which she had received from me, without the aid of a midwife and without pain, just as other women bring forth, who seek a trouble to themselves; but she said that her lover was a foreigner, and that by reason of that circumstance she was palming it off.

> Latin: postquam eam puellam á me accepit, ilico
eandem puellam peperit quam a me acceperat,
sine obstetricis opera et sine doloribus,
item ut aliae pariunt, quae malum quaerunt sibi.
nam amatorem aibat esse peregrinum sibi
suppositionemque eius facere gratia.

[¶71] This, we two alone are aware of, I who gave the child to her, and she who received it from me; (to the AUDIENCE) except yourselves, indeed. Thus was this affair managed; if any occasion should arise, I wish you to remember this circumstance. I’m off home.
(Exit.) (Enter the GOD OF HELP, who speaks the PROLOGUE.)
THE GOD OF HELP:
(To the AUDIENCE.) This old woman is both a much-talker and a much-tippler.

> Latin: id duae nos solae scimus: ego quae illi dedi
et illa quae a me accepit, praeter vos quidem.
haec sic res gesta est. si quid usus venerit,
meminisse ego hanc rem vos volo. ego abeo domum.—
Avxilivm:
Vtrumque haec, et multiloqua et multibiba, est anus.

[¶72] Isn’t it the fact that she has hardly left room to a Divinity for him to speak, so much has she forestalled him in talking about the substitution of this girl? But if she had held her tongue, still I was about to mention it—a God, who could do it better; for my name is Help. Now (to the AUDIENCE) lend your attention,
that I may clearly explain this plot to you. Some time since, at Sicyon, there was the Festival of Bacchus; a merchant of Lemnos came hither to the games, and he, an ungovernable young man, ravished a maiden in the dark, in the street, at the dead of night.

> Latin: satin víx reliquit deo quod loqueretur loci,
itá properavit de puellae proloqui
suppositione. quod si tacuisset, tamen
ego eram dicturus, deus, qui poteram planius.
nam mihi Auxilio est nomen. nunc operam date,
ut ego argumentum hoc vobis plane perputem.
fuere Sicyoni iam diu Dionysia.
mercator venit huc ad ludos Lemnius,
isque hic compressit virginem, adulescentulus,
⟨vi⟩, vinulentus multa nocte in via.

[¶73] He, as he knew that he was deserving of a heavy punishment, at once found shelter with his heels, and made off for Lemnos, where he then lived. She whom he had ravished, the ninth ensuing month completed, brought forth a daughter here. Since she did not know the person guilty of this deed, who he was,
she made the servant of her father partaker of her counsels, and gave to that servant the child to be exposed to death. He exposed it; this woman took up the child; that servant, who had exposed it, secretly took note whither or to what house she carried away the child.

> Latin: is ubi malam rem scit se meruisse, ilico
pedibus perfugium peperit, in Lemnum aufugit,
ubi habitabat tum. ílla quam compresserat
decumo post mense exacto hic peperit filiam.
quoniam reum eius facti nescit qui siet,
paternum servom sui participat consili,
dat eam puellam ei servo exponendam ad necem.
is eam proiecit. haec puellam sustulit.
ille clam óbservavit servos ⟨qui eam proiecerat⟩
quo aut quas in aedis haec puellam deferat.

[¶74] As you have heard her own self confess, she gave this child to the Courtesan Melaenis; and she brought her up as being her own daughter, honestly and virtuously. But then, this Lemnian married a neighbour there, his relation, for his wife.

> Latin: ut eampse vos audistis confiterier,
dat eam puellam meretrici Melaenidi,
eaque educavit eam sibi pro filia
bene ac pudice. tum illic autem Lemnius
propinquam uxorem duxit, cognatam suam.

[¶75] She departed this life; there she was compliant to her husband. After he had performed the due obsequies to his wife, at once he removed hither; here he married for his wife that same woman whom formerly, when a maid, he ravished. When he understood that it was she whom he had ravished,
she told him that, in consequence of the violation, she had brought forth a daughter, and had at once given her to a servant to be exposed. He forthwith ordered this same servant to make enquiries, if anyhow he could discover who had taken it up. Now to that task
is the servant always assiduously devoting his attention, if he can find out that Courtesan, whom formerly, when he himself exposed her, he from his hidingplace had seen take her up. Now, what remains unpaid, I wish to discharge, that my name may be struck out, so that I mayn’t remain a debtor.

> Latin: ea diem suom obiit, facta morigera est viro.
post⟨quam⟩ ille uxori iusta fecit, ilico
huc commigravit; duxit uxorem hic sibi
eandem quam olim virginem hic compresserat,
et eam cognoscit esse, quam compresserat;
illa illi dicit, eius se ex iniuria
peperisse gnatam átque eam se servo ilico
dedisse exponendam. ille extemplo servolum
iubet illum eundem persequi, si qua queat
reperire quae sustulerit. ei rei nunc suam
operam usque assiduo servos dat, si possiet
meretricem illam invenire, quam olim tollere,
cum ipse exponebat, ex insidiis viderat.
nunc quod relicuom restat volo persolvere,
ut expungatur nomen, ne quid debeam.

[¶76] A young man is here at Sicyon, his father is alive; with affection he distractedly dotes upon this exposed girl, who just now went hence in tears unto her mother; and she loves him in return, which is the most delightful love of all. As human matters go, nothing is granted for everlasting:

> Latin: adulescens hic est Sicyoni, ei vivit pater;
is amore proiecticiam illam deperit
quae dudum flens hinc abiit ad matrem suam,
et illa hunc contra, qui est amor suavissimus.
ut sunt humana, nihil est perpetuom datum.

[¶77] the father is wishful to give the young man a wife. When the mother came to know of this, she ordered her to be sent for home. Thus have these matters come to pass. Kindly fare you well, and conquer by inborn valour, as you have done before; defend your allies, both ancient ones and new;
increase resources by your righteous laws; destroy your foes; laud and laurels gather; that, conquered by you, the Pœni may suffer the penalty.
(Exit.) (Enter ALCESIMARCHUS and MELAENIS.)
ALCESIMARCHUS:
I do believe that Love was the first to invent torture among mankind. This conjecture do I form from myself at home, not to go seek it out of doors;
I, who surpass all men, exceed them in the pangs of my feelings. I’m tossed, tormented, agitated, goaded, whirled on the wheel of love in my misery, I’m deprived of sensation, carried one way, carried another way, I’m torn and rent asunder; such clouded faculties of mind have I,
where I am, there I am not; where I am not, there my thoughts are; to such a degree have I now all kinds of feelings in me; what I like, then all at once I like not the same; so much does love trifle with me changing my mind,
drive me, pursue, desire, and seize for itself, retain, trepan, and promise; what it gives, it gives not; it deludes me; what this moment it has persuaded me, it now dissuades me from; what it has dissuaded me from, it now points out to me that same.

> Latin: pater adulescenti dare volt uxorem; hoc ubi
mater rescivit, iussit accersi eam domum.
haec sic res gesta est. bene valete et vincite
virtute vera, quod fecistis antidhac;
servate vostros socios, veteres et novos,
augete auxilia vostra iustis legibus,
perdite perduelles, parite laudem et lauream,
ut vobis victi Poeni poenas sufferant.—
Alcesimarchvs:
Credo égo Amorem primum ápud homines carníficinam comméntum.
hanc égo de me coniécturam domi fácio, ni foris quaéram,
qui omnés homines supero [atque] ántideo cruciábilitatibus ánimi.
iactór [crucior] agitor stimulór, versor
in amóris rota, miser éxanimor,
feror dífferor distrahor díripior,
ita núbilam mentem animi hábeo.
ubi sum, íbi non sum, úbi non sum, íbist animus,
ita mi ómnia sunt ingénia;
quod lúbet, non lubet iam id cóntinuo,
ita me Amor lassum animi lúdificat,
fugat, ágit, appetit, raptát, retinet,
lactát, largitur: quód dat non dat; déludit:
modo quód suasit, ⟨id⟩ díssuadet,
quod díssuasit, id osténtat.

[¶78] After the manner of the sea is it experienced by me; so much does it distract my enamoured feelings; and only in that, in my misery, I do not sink utterly, is there any evil removed from me thus ruined;

> Latin: maritúmis moribus mecum experitur
ita méum frangit amantem ánimum;
neque, nísi quia miser non eó pessum,
mihi úlla abest perdito pérmities.

[¶79] in such a way has my father detained me these six days running in the country, at his house there; nor has it been allowed me in the meantime to visit my mistress. Isn’t this dreadful to relate?
MELAENIS:
Are you joking for this reason, because you’ve got another wife engaged, a rich lady of Lemnos? Have her then! We are neither of a family so great as you are, nor is our wealth so substantial as yours; but still
I have no fears that any one will impeach our oath; you then, if you shall feel any pain, will know for what reason you do feel pain.

> Latin: ita páter apud villam détinuit
me hos diés sex ruri cóntinuos,
neque lícitum interea est méam amicam visére …
estne hóc miserum memorátu?
…
nudiussextus
(Alcesimarchvs):
Pótine tu homo facinus facere strenuom?
(Servvs):
Aliorum affatim est
qui faciant. sane ego me nolo fortem perhiberi virum.
…
Alcesimarchvs:
Quia vivo.
Servvs:
Facile id quidem edepol possum, si tu vis.
Alcesimarchvs:
Volo.
Servvs:
At enim ne tu exponas pugno os metuo in imperio meo.
Alcesimarchvs:
Numquam edepol faciam.
Servvs:
Fidem da.
Alcesimarchvs:
Do, non facturum esse me.
sed ego primum, tot qui ab amica abesse potuerim dies,
sum nihili.
Servvs:
Nihili hercle vero es.
Alcesimarchvs:
… perdite,
quae me amaret contra.
Servvs:
Dignus hercle es infortunio.
Alcesimarchvs:
Ei me ⟨tot tam⟩ acerba facere in corde.
Servvs:
Frugi nunquam eris.
Alcesimarchvs:
Praesertim quae coniurasset mecum et firmasset fidem,
Servvs:
Neque deos neque homines aequom est facere tibi posthac bene.
Alcesimarchvs:
Quae esset aetatem exactura mecum in matrimonio,
Servvs:
Compedes te capere oportet neque eas unquam ponere.
Alcesimarchvs:
Quae mihi esset commendata et meae fidei concredita,
Servvs:
Hercle te verberibus multum caedi oportere arbitror.
Alcesimarchvs:
Quae mellillam me vocare et suavium solitast suom.
Servvs:
Ob istuc unum verbum dignu's dignus es, deciens qui furcam feras.
Alcesimarchvs:
Egomet laetor. sed quid auctor nunc mihi es?
Servvs:
Dicam tibi:
Supplicium illi des, suspendas te, ne tibi suscenseat.
Alcesimarchvs:
Quian …
Servvs:
Quid tu ergo … te manuleo
…
(Alcesimarchvs):
Quid si amo? …
(Tertia):
… est amor
… atque illam quam ⟨te⟩ amare intellego
… si conclusos vos ⟨me⟩ habere in carcere
… amoris noctesque et dies
ni emórtuos …
mihi nunquam quisquam …
(Tertia):
Immo maxumus.
nam quí amant stulte atque inmodeste atque inprobe
… ne ament.
…
(Alcesimarchvs):
… ubi tu es?
Servvs:
Ecce me.
Alcesimarchvs:
I, adfer mihi arma ét loricam adducito.
Servvs:
Loricam adducam?
Alcesimarchvs:
I, curre, equom adfer.
Servvs:
Hercle hic insanit miser.
Alcesimarchvs:
Abi atque hastatos multos, multos velites,
multos cum multis—nil moror precario.
ubi sunt quae iussi?
Servvs:
Sanus hic non est satis.
Tertia:
Ab anu esse credo nocitum, cum illaec sic facit.
Servvs:
Vtrum deliras, quaeso, an astans somnias,
qui equom me adferre iúbes, loricam adducere,
multos hastatos, post id multos velites,
multos cum multis? haec tu pervorsario
mihi fabulatu's fabulatus es.
Alcesimarchvs:
Dixin égo istaec, obsecro?
Servvs:
Modó quidem hercle haec dixisti.
Alcesimarchvs:
Non praesens quidem.
Servvs:
Praestigiator, siquidem hic non es atque ades.
Tertia:
Video ego te Amoris valde tactum toxico,
adulescens; eo te magis volo monitum.
Alcesimarchvs:
Mone.
Tertia:
Cave sís cum Amore tu unquam bellum sumpseris.
Alcesimarchvs:
Quid faciam?
Tertia:
Ad matrem eius devenias domum,
expurges, iures, ores blande per precem
eamque exores ne tibi suscenseat.
Alcesimarchvs:
Expurigabo hercle omnia ad raucam ravim.
…
Senex:
…
prohibét divitiis máximis, dóte áltili atque opíma.
…
muliérculam exornatulam. … quidem hercle scita.
quamquam vetus cantherius sum, etiam nunc, ut ego opinor,
adhinnire equolam possum ego hanc, si detur sola soli.
Gymnasivm:
Nimis opportune mi evenit rediisse Alcesimarchum;
nam sola nulla invitior solet esse.
Senex:
Me vocato,
ne sola sis: ego tecum ⟨ero, volo⟩ ego agere, ut tú agas aliquid.
Gymnasivm:
Nimis lépide exconcinnavit hasce aedis Alcesimarchus.
Senex:
Vt quo⟨m Ven⟩us adgreditur, ⟨place⟩t; lepidumst amare semper.
Gymnasivm:
Venerem meram haec aedes olent, quia amator expolivit.
Senex:
Non modo ipsa lepidast, commode quoque hercle fabulatur.
sed cum dicta huius intérpretor, haec herclest, ut ego opinor,
meum quaé corrumpit filium. suspiciost eam esse,
utpote quam nunquam viderim; de opinione credo.
nam hasce aedis conductas habet meus gnatus, haec ubi astat:
hoc hanc eam esse opiniost; nam haec illum nominavit.
quid si adeam atque appellem. mali damnique inlecebra, salve.
Gymnasivm:
… vapulabis.
Senex:
… volo apud te.
…
Gymnasivm:
Intro abeo,
nam méretricem astare in via solam prostibuli sanest.
…
Gymnasivm:
quid vis.
Senex:
Volo éx te scire quidquid est …
quid ego usquam male feci tibi ⟨aut meu⟩s quisquam, id edisserta,
quam ob rem me meumque filium quom ⟨matr⟩e remque nostram
habes pérditui et praedatui?
Gymnasivm:
Miser errat, ut ego dixi.
lepidast materies, ludam ego hunc, nam occasio videtur.
potin operam inique equidem malam ⟨ut ne⟩ des innocenti?
Senex:
Sed ⟨obsecro⟩ te, nullusnest tibi amator alius quisquam,
nisi meus modo unus filius?
Gymnasivm:
Quem quidem ego amem, alius nemo est.
Senex:
At ego …
Gymnasivm:
Nil moror: damno sunt tui mihi similes.
Senex:
Quid …
(Gymnasivm):
isne est id arbitratus?
…
(Gymasivm):
datores
negotioli bellissimi senices soletis esse. …
…
Lena:
Me respondere postulas? iniurium est.
stipulari semper me ultro oportet a viris,
eum quaestum facio, nil viris promittere.
…
siquidem ímperes pro copia, pro recula
…
Lena:
Quin is, si itura es? nimium is vegrandi gradu.
Gymnasivm:
Pol ad cubituram, mater, magis sum exercita
fere quam ad cursuram. eo sum tardiuscula.
… meminere officium suom.
ita mustulentus ventus nares attigit.
capillo scisso atque excissatis auribus
quae quasi carnificis angiporta purigans
…
non quasi nunc haec sunt hic, limaces, lividae,
febriculosae, miserae amicae, ósseae,
diobolares, schoeniculae, miraculae,
cum extritis talis, cum todillis crusculis
…
Selenivm:
Molestus es.
Alcesimarchvs:
Meae issula sua ⟨aede⟩s egent. ad me ⟨sine ducam⟩.
Selenivm:
Aufer manum.
Alcesimarchvs:
Germana mea sororcula.
Selenivm:
Repudio te fraterculum.
Alcesimarchvs:
Tum tu igitur, mea matercula.
Melaenis:
Repudio te † fraterculum.
Alcesimarchvs:
Opsecro te
Selenivm:
Valeas.
Alcesimarchvs:
Vt sinas
Selenivm:
Nil moror.
Alcesimarchvs:
Expurigare me.
Selenivm:
…
Alcesimarchvs:
Sine dicám.
Melaenis:
Satis sapit mihi tuis periuriis.
… at nunc non potest.
Alcesimarchvs:
Supplicium polliceri volo.
Selenivm:
At mi aps te accipere non libet.
Alcesimarchvs:
Em omnia
patior iure infelix.
Selenivm:
Volup est neque tis misereri decet.
quamquam hominem …
verba dare …
non illa … qui frangant foedera
… eos …
(unknown):
…
(Selenivm):
dabis.—
Alcesimarchvs:
At egó nec do néque te amíttam hodie, nisi quaé volo tecúm loqui
das mihi operam.
Melaenis:
Pótin ut mihi molestus ne sis?
Alcesimarchvs:
Quin id est nomen mihi,
omnes mortales vocant molestum. …
… obsecro.
Melaenis:
At frustra obsecras.
…
quia sine omni …
Alcesimarchvs:
Dabo
ius iurandum. …
Melaenis:
At ego nunc ⟨ab⟩ illo mihi ⟨caveo⟩ iure iurando tuo;
similest ius iurandum amantum quasi ius confusicium.
Alcesimarchvs:
Nescia …
…
(Melaenis):
nugas agis.
…
Alcesimarchvs:
Supplicium dabo …
quo modo ego …
…
(Melaenis):
quia es nactus novam,
quae … quaedam quasi tu nescias.
…
Alcesimarchvs:
Di deaeque illam perdant † pariter.
… umquam, si hoc fallo.
Melaenis:
Nil moror
… falsum fallis, eo te … ignorat fides.
postremo, si mihi dedisses verba, deis numquam dares.
Alcesimarchvs:
Quin equidem illam ducam uxorem.
Melaenis:
Ducas, si …
nunc hoc si tibi commodumst, quae …
Alcesimarchvs:
Instruxi illi aurum atque vestem.
(Melaenis):
…
siquidem amabas, … illi instrui.
sed sino. iam hoc mihi responde quod ⟨ego⟩ te rogavero:
instruxisti …
tibi ita ut voluisti …
(Alcesimarchvs):
quod volo.
Melaenis:
Eo facetu's facetus es quia tibi aliast sponsa locuples Lemnia.
habeas. neque nos factione tanta quanta tu sumus
neque opes nostrae tam sunt validae quam tuae; verum tamen
hau metuo ne ius iurandum nostrum quisquam culpitet:
tu iam, si quid tibi dolebit, scies qua doleat gratia.

## 2. Lines 225–787

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/plautus-cistellaria/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/plautus-cistellaria/2/#p-N

[¶0] ALCESIMARCHUS:
May the Gods confound me—

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
Di me perdant—

[¶1] MELAENIS:
Whatever you wish for, I desire it may befall you.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Quodcumque optes, tibi velim contingere.

[¶2] ALCESIMARCHUS:
If ever I’ll marry that wife which my father has engaged for me.

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
Si illam uxorem duxero umquam, mihi quam despondit pater.

[¶3] MELAENIS:
And me, if ever I give you my daughter for a wife.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Et me, si umquam tibi uxorem filiam dedero meam.

[¶4] ALCESIMARCHUS:
Will you allow me to be forsworn?

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
Patierin me periurare?

[¶5] MELAENIS:
Yes, and a little more easily than myself and my affairs to go to ruin, and my daughter to be trifled with. Begone! go seek where there is confidence enough in your oaths; here now, with us, Alcesimarchus, you’ve renounced your title to our friendship.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Pol te aliquanto facilius,
quam me meamque rem perire et ludificari filiam.
alibi quaere ubi iuri iurando tuo satis sit subsidi:
hic apud nós iam, Alcesimarche, confregisti tesseram.

[¶6] ALCESIMARCHUS:
Make trial of me but once.

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
Face semel periclum.

[¶7] MELAENIS:
I have made that trial full oft; which I lament has been so made.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Feci saepe, quod factum queror.

[¶8] ALCESIMARCHUS:
Give her back to me.

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
Redde mi illam.

[¶9] MELAENIS:
Under new circumstances I’ll use an old proverb: “What I have given, I wish I had not given; what’s left, that I shall not give.”

> Latin: Melaenis:
Inter novam rem verbum usurpabo vetus:
quod dedi datum non vellem, quod relicuomst non dabo.

[¶10] ALCESIMARCHUS:
Won’t you restore her again to me?

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
Non remissura es mihi illam?

[¶11] MELAENIS:
Answer yourself for me.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Pro me responsas tibi.

[¶12] ALCESIMARCHUS:
You won’t restore her then?

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
Non remittes?

[¶13] MELAENIS:
You know the whole of my resolution already.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Scis iam dudum omnem meam sententiam.

[¶14] ALCESIMARCHUS:
Is that quite resolved upon by you in your heart?

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
Satin istuc tibi in corde certumst?

[¶15] MELAENIS:
Why, in fact, I’m thinking about something else;
i’ faith, I don’t at present catch these words of yours with my ears.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Quin ego commentor quidem.

[¶16] ALCESIMARCHUS:
Not hear? Why, what are you doing?

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
Non edepol ⟨ego⟩ istaec tua dicta nunc in auris recipio.

[¶17] MELAENIS:
Then do you give heed at once, that you may know what you are doing.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Non? hem, quid agis igitur? animum advorte iam, ut quid agas scias.

[¶18] ALCESIMARCHUS:
Then, so may the Gods and Goddesses of above and below, and of middle rank, and so may Juno the queen and the daughter of supreme Jove, and so may Saturn his uncle—

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
At ita me di deaeque, superi atque inferi et medioxumi,
itaque me Iuno regina et Iovis supremi filia
itaque me Saturnus eius patruos—

[¶19] MELAENIS:
I’ troth, his father—

> Latin: Melaenis:
Ecastor pater.

[¶20] ALCESIMARCHUS:
And so may Ops the opulent, his grandam—

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
Itaque me Ops opulenta illius avia—

[¶21] MELAENIS:
Indeed, his mother, rather.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Immo mater quidem.

[¶22] ALCESIMARCHUS:
Juno his daughter, and Saturn his uncle, supreme Jove—You are maddening me; it’s through you I make these mistakes.

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
Iuno filia et Saturnus patruos et summus Iuppiter—
tu me delenis, propter te haec pecco.

[¶23] MELAENIS:
Go on saying so.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Perge dicere.

[¶24] ALCESIMARCHUS:
Is it that I’m to know what conclusion you are going to come to?

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
Anne etiam, ut quid consultura sis sciam, pérgis eloqui?

[¶25] MELAENIS:
Go on talking; I shall not send her back, that’s resolved upon.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Non remittam. definitumst.

[¶26] ALCESIMARCHUS:
Why then, so may Jupiter,
and so may Juno and Saturn, to me, so may—I don’t know what to say—Now I know—Yes, madam, listen, that you may know my mind; may all the Deities, great and small, and those honored with the platter … cause me not surviving to give a kiss this day to Silenium, if I don’t this very day murder you and your daughter and myself,
and after that, with the break of day, if I don’t to-morrow kill you both, and indeed, by all the powers, if at the third onset I don’t demolish you all, if you don’t send her back to me. I’ve said what I intended. Farewell.
(Goes into his FATHER’S house.)

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
Enim vero ita me Iuppiter
itaque me Iuno itaque Ianus ita—quid dicam nescio.
iam scio. immo, mulier, audi, meam ut scias sententiam.
di me omnes, magni minuti, ét etiam patellarii
faxint, ne ego ⟨dem vivae⟩ vivos savium Selenio,
nisi ego teque tuamque † filiam meque hodie obtruncavero,
poste autem cum primo luci cras nisi ambo occidero,
et equidem hercle nisi pedatu tertio † omnis efflixero,
nisi tu illam remittis ad me. dixi quae volui. vale.—

[¶27] MELAENIS: (to herself.)
He’s gone in-doors in a rage. What shall I do now? If she comes back to him, matters will be just in the same position. When satiety begins to take possession;
he’ll be turning her out of doors, when he shall be bringing home this Lemnian wife. But still I’ll go and follow him; there’s necessity for caution, lest he, in love, should be doing some mischief. In fine, since with strict justice a poor person’s not allowed to contend with a rich one, I’ll lose my labour rather than lose my daughter. But who’s this that straight along the street is directing his course this way?
Both the other matter do I fear, and this do I dread; so utterly in trepidation am wretched I.
(She stands aside.) (Enter LAMPADISCUS.)

> Latin: Melaenis:
Abiit intro iratus. quid ego nunc agam? si redierit
illa ad hunc, ibidem loci res erit: ubi odium occeperit,
illam extrudet, tum hanc uxorem Lemniam ducet domum.
sed tamen ibo et persequar: amens ne quid faciat, cauto opust.
postremo, quando aequa lege pauperi cum divite
non licet, perdam operam potius quam carebo filia.
sed quis hic est qui recta platea cursum huc contendit suom?
et illud paveo et hoc formido, ita tota sum misera in metu.

[¶28] LAMPADISCUS: (to himself.)
I’ve followed the old woman with my clamour through the streets; I’ve kept her most dreadfully plagued. In what a multitude of ways has she, this day, kept guard upon herself, and been able to remember nothing. How many alluring things, what advantages I’ve promised her.
How many inventions I’ve applied to her, how many stratagems in questioning her. With difficulty have I extorted it from her that she should tell me, because I promised to give her a cask of wine.
(Enter PHANOSTRATA, from her house.)

> Latin: Lampadio:
Anum sectatus sum clamore per vias,
miserrumam habui. ut illaec hodie quot modis
moderatrix ⟨linguae⟩ fuit atque immemorabilis.
quot illí blanditias, quid illi promisi boni,
quot admoenivi fabricas, quot fallacias
in quaestione. vix exculpsi ut diceret,
quia ei promisi dolium vini dare.

[¶29] PHANOSTRATA: (to herself.)
I seemed just now to be hearing the voice of my servant Lampadiscus before the house.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Audire vocem visa sum ante aedis modo
mei Lampadisci servi.

[¶30] LAMPADISCUS: (stepping forward.)
You are not deaf, mistress, you heard aright.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Non surda es, era:
recte audivisti.

[¶31] PHANOSTRATA:
What are you doing here?

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Quid agis hic?

[¶32] LAMPADISCUS:
A thing for you to rejoice at.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Quod gaudeas.

[¶33] PHANOSTRATA:
What’s that?

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Quid id est?

[¶34] LAMPADISCUS: (pointing to the house of SILENIUM.)
A little while ago, I saw a woman coming out of that house there.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Hinc ex hisce aedibus paulo prius
vidi exeuntem mulierem.

[¶35] PHANOSTRATA:
Her that took up my daughter?

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Illam quae meam
gnatam sustulerat?

[¶36] LAMPADISCUS:
You have the matter rgiht.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Rem tenes.

[¶37] PHANOSTRATA:
What after that?

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Quid postea?

[¶38] LAMPADISCUS:
I told her in what way I had seen her take up the daughter of my mistress from the Hippodrome.
Then she was in a fright.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Dico éi, quo pacto eam ab hippodromo viderim
erilem nostram filiam sustollere.
extimuit tum illa.

[¶39] MELAENIS:
(apart.) Now my body’s in a shudder, my heart is throbbing; for I recollect that from the Hippodrome the little female infant was brought to me, and that I brought it up as my own.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Iam horret corpus, cor salit.
nam mihi ab hippodromo memini adferri parvolam
puellam eamque me mihi supponere.

[¶40] PHANOSTRATA:
Come, prithee, do go on; my soul’s longing to hear
how the matter proceeded.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Age perge, quaeso. ánimus audire expetit
ut gesta res sit.

[¶41] MELAENIS:
(apart.) I only wish you couldn’t hear.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Vtinam audire non queas.
…

[¶42] LAMPADISCUS:
I proceed … saying, “This old woman calls you her daughter wrongfully. … For this woman here is your foster-mother, so don’t think she is your mother. I’m to take you back and invite you to opulence, where you may be settled in a noble family,”
“where your father may present you with twenty great talents for a portion. For this is not a place where after the Etrurian mode you are disgracefully to earn a dowry for yourself by prostitution of your person.”

> Latin: Lampadio:
Pergo illa⟨m onerare⟩ dictis: “illaec ted anus
fortu⟨nis ex secundis ad mi⟩seras vocat.
nam illaec tibi nutrix est, ne matrem censeas.
ego te reduco et revoco ad ⟨summas⟩ ditias,
ubi tu locere in luculentam familiam,
unde tíbi talenta magna viginti pater
det dotis; non enim hic, ubi ex Tusco modo
tute tibi indigne dotem quaeras corpore.”

[¶43] PHANOSTRATA:
Is she, pray, a Courtesan, who took it up?

> Latin: Phanostrata:
An, amabo, meretrix illa est quae illam sustulit?

[¶44] LAMPADISCUS:
Yes, she was a Courtesan. But how it happened, I’ll tell you about that matter. I was now winning her over to me by my persuasion. The old woman embraced her knees, weeping and entreating that she would not forsake her; saying that she was her own daughter; and she took a solemn oath to me that she herself had borne her.
“Her,” said she, “whom you are in search of, I gave to a friend of mine to bring her up as her own daughter; and she is alive,” said she. “Where is she?” immediately said I.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Immo [meretrix] fuit; sed ut sit dé ea re, eloquar.
iam perducebam illam ad me suadela mea:
anus éi amplexa est genua, plorans, obsecrans,
ne deserat se: eam suam esse filiam,
seque eam peperisse sancte adiurabat mihi.
“istanc quam quaeris” inquit “ego amicae meae
dedi, quae éducaret eam pro filiola sua;
et vivit” inquit. “ubi ea est?” inquam extempulo.

[¶45] PHANOSTRATA:
Preserve me, ye Gods, I do entreat you.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Servate di med obsecro.

[¶46] MELAENIS: (apart.)
But me you are undoing!

> Latin: Melaenis:
At me perditis.

[¶47] PHANOSTRATA:
You ought to have enquired to whom she gave it.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Quoi illam dedisset exquisisse oportuit.

[¶48] LAMPADISCUS:
I did enquire, and she said to the Courtesan Melaenis.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Quaesivi, et dixit meretrici Melaenidi.

[¶49] MELAENIS: (apart.)
He has mentioned my name? I’m utterly undone!

> Latin: Melaenis:
Meum elocutust nomen, interii ⟨oppido⟩.

[¶50] LAMPADISCUS:
When she mentioned her, I straightway asked, “Where does she live?” said I; “take and show me.” “She has been carried off hence,” says she, “to live abroad.”

> Latin: Lampadio:
Vbi elocuta est, ego continuo [anum] interrogo;
“ubi habitat?” inquam “duc ac demonstra mihi.”
“avecta est” inquit “peregre hinc habitatum.”

[¶51] MELAENIS:
He’s sprinkling a little cold water now.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Obsipat
aculam.

[¶52] LAMPADISCUS:
“Wherever she has been carried off, thither we will follow. Do you trifle in this fashion? You are undone, if, i’ faith, you don’t disclose this.”I insisted to such a degree, that the old woman swore that she would soon inform me.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Quo avecta est, eo sequemur. sicine
agis núgas? periisti hercle, ni …
… ⟨non⟩ hoc longe destiti
instare, usque adeo donec se adiurat anus
iam mihi monstrare.

[¶53] PHANOSTRATA:
But you oughtn’t to have let her go.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Át non missam oportuit.

[¶54] LAMPADISCUS:
She’s all safe; but she said that she wished first to meet a certain woman, a friend of hers, with whom this was a matter of interest in common, and I’m sure she’ll come.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Servatur. sed illaec se quandam aibat mulierem
suam bene volentem convenire etiam prius,
commune quacum id esset sibi negotium.
et scio venturam.

[¶55] MELAENIS: (apart.)
She’ll be discovering me, and adding her own distress to mine.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Me indicabit, et suas
ad meas miserias † alias faciem consciam.

[¶56] PHANOSTRATA:
Make me acquainted what you now wish me to do.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Quid nunc vis facere me?

[¶57] LAMPADISCUS:
Go in-doors, and be of good heart. If your husband shall come, bid him wait at home, lest he should be required by me, if I want him for anything. I’m going to run back to the old woman.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Intro abi atque animo bono es.
vir tuos si veniet, iube domi opperirier,
ne in quaestione mihi sit, si quid eum velim.
ego ad ánum recurro rursum.

[¶58] PHANOSTRATA:
Lampadio, prithee, do take care.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Lampadio, obsecro,
cura.

[¶59] LAMPADISCUS:
I’ll have this matter well managed.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Perfectum ego hoc dabo negotium.

[¶60] PHANOSTRATA:
I trust in the Gods and in yourself.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Deos téque spero.—

[¶61] LAMPADISCUS:
And I in the same.—that you’ll now go home.
(PHANOSTRATA goes into her house.)

> Latin: Lampadio:
Eosdem ego, uti abeas domum.

[¶62] MELAENIS: (coming forward.)
Young man, stay and listen.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Adulescens, asta atque audi.

[¶63] LAMPADISCUS:
What, are you calling to me, woman?

> Latin: Lampadio:
Men, mulier, vocas?

[¶64] MELAENIS:
To you.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Te.

[¶65] LAMPADISCUS:
What’s the matter? For I’m fully engaged.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Quid negoti est? nam occupatus sum ampliter.

[¶66] MELAENIS: (Pointing to the house of DEMIPHO.)
Who lives there?

> Latin: Melaenis:
Quis istic habitat?

[¶67] LAMPADISCUS:
Demipho, my master.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Demipho dominus meus.

[¶68] MELAENIS:
It is he, I suppose, that has betrothed his daughter with such great wealth to Alcesimarchus?

> Latin: Melaenis:
Nempe istic est, qui Alcesimarcho filiam
suam despondit in divitias maxumas?

[¶69] LAMPADISCUS:
It is he himself.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Is ipsust.

[¶70] MELAENIS:
How now, you? What other daughter, then, are you people now in search of?

> Latin: Melaenis:
Eho tu, quam vos igitur filiam
nunc quaeritatis alteram?

[¶71] LAMPADISCUS:
I’ll tell you; not his daughter by his wife, but his wife’s daughter.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Ego dicam tibi:
non ex uxore natam uxoris filiam.

[¶72] MELAENIS:
What’s the meaning of that speech?

> Latin: Melaenis:
Quid istuc est verbi?

[¶73] LAMPADISCUS:
By a former woman, I say, my master had a daughter born.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Ex priore muliere
nata, inquam, meo ero est filia.

[¶74] MELAENIS:
Surely, just now you said you were in search of the daughter of her who has been talking here.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Certe modo
huius, quaé locuta est, quaerere aibas filiam.

[¶75] LAMPADISCUS:
Her daughter I am in search of.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Huius ergo quaero.

[¶76] MELAENIS:
In what way then, pray, is she a “former woman,” who is now his wife?

> Latin: Melaenis:
Quo modo igitur, obsecro,
haec est prior, quae nupta nunc est?

[¶77] LAMPADISCUS:
Woman, whoever you are, you weary me with your prating.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Conteris
tu tua me oratione, mulier, quisquis es.

[¶78] The middle woman whom he had for a wife, of her this maiden was born that’s being given to Alcesimarchus. That wife is dead. Do you understand now?
MELAENIS:
I understand that quite well; but it’s this knotty point I’m enquiring about, how
the first can be the last, the last be the first.

> Latin: medioxumam quam duxit uxorem, ex ea
nata est haec virgo, Alcesimarcho quae datur.
ea uxór diem obiit. iam scis?
Melaenis:
Teneo istuc satis.
sed ego illud quaero confragosum, quo modo
prior pósterior sit et posterior sit prior?

[¶79] LAMPADISCUS:
The fact is this; this woman he ravished before he took her home as his wife; before that she was pregnant, and before that she gave birth to a daughter: after she gave birth to her, she ordered the infant to be exposed; I myself exposed her; another woman took her away;
I was on the look-out; after that, my master married her. That girl, her daughter, we are now in search of. (MELAENIS turns aside her head.) Why now, with face upturned, are you looking up towards the heavens?

> Latin: Lampadio:
Prius hanc compressit quam uxorem duxit domum,
prius grávida facta est priusque peperit filiam;
eam póstquam peperit, iussit parvam proici:
ego eam proieci, ália mulier sustulit,
ego inspectavi. érus hanc duxit postibi.
eam núnc puellam filiam eius quaerimus.
quid nunc supina susum in caelum conspicis?

[¶80] MELAENIS:
Now, then, be off at once whither you were hastening; I won’t detain you; I understand it now.

> Latin: Melaenis:
Ei nunciam istuc quo properabas, nil moror.
nunc intellexi.

[¶81] LAMPADISCUS:
I’ troth, to the Deities I do give thanks;
for if you hadn’t understood me, I do think you would never have let me go.
(Exit.)

> Latin: Lampadio:
Dis hercle habeo gratiam,
nam ni intellexes, numquam, credo, amitteres.—

[¶82] MELAENIS: (to herself.)
Now it’s necessary for me to be honest, whether I will or no, although I had rather not; I find the thing is discovered. Now will I myself lay them under an obligation to me, rather than she shall peach upon me. I’ll go home,
and I’ll bring Silenium to her parents.
(Exit.) (Enter MELAenis, SILENIUM, and HALISCA.)

> Latin: Melaenis:
Nunc mihi bonae necessumst esse ingratiis,
quamquam esse nolo. rem palam esse intellego:
nunc egomet potius hanc inibo gratiam
ab illis, quam illaec me indicet. ibo domum,
atque ad parentes redducam Selenium.—

[¶83] MELAENIS:
I’ve disclosed the whole matter to you; follow, my Silenium, that you may rather belong to those to whom you ought to belong, than be mine. Although against my will I shall part with you, still I’ll reconcile my mind to consult that which in especial conduces to your benefit. (Giving her a casket.)

> Latin: Melaenis:
Rem élocuta sum tibi omnem; sequere hac me, Selenium,
ut eorum quoiam esse oportet te sis potius quam mea.
quamquam invita te carebo, ánimum ego inducam tamen
ut illud quem ⟨ad modum⟩ tuam in rem bene conducat consulam.

[¶84] For here in this are the trinkets, together with which she who gave you to me formerly brought you to me; that your parents may recognize you the more easily. Take this casket, Halisca, and then go and knock at that door (pointing to the house of DEMIPHO): say that I request that some one will come from within. Make haste, quickly.
ALCESIMARCHUS: (Enter ALCESIMARCHUS, from his FATHER’S house, with his sword drawn.) (calling aloud.)

> Latin: nam hic crepundia insunt, quibuscum te illa olim ad me detulit,
quae mihí dedit, parentes te ut cognoscant facilius.
accipe hanc cistellam, Halisca. ágedum pulta illas fores.
dic me orare ut aliquis intus prodeat propere ocius.

[¶85] Death, receive me unto thyself, a friend and well-wisher to me!
SILENIUM:
My mother, to our sorrow, we are undone!

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
Recipe me ad te, Mors, amicum et benevolum.
Selenivm:
Mater mea,
periimus miseraé.

[¶86] ALCESIMARCHUS: (aloud, to himself.)
Whether shall I pierce my side here (striking his right side) or on the left.
MELAENIS: (to SILENIUM.)

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
Vtrum hac me feriam an ab laeva latus?

[¶87] What’s the matter with you?
SILENIUM: (pointing.)
Don’t you see Alcesimarchus? He’s grasping a sword.
ALCESIMARCHUS: (aloud, in a frantic manner.)

> Latin: Melaenis:
Quid tibi est?
Selenivm:
Alcesimarchum non vides? ferrum tenet.

[¶88] What art about? Thou art delaying. Quit the light of day.
SILENIUM:
Do run and aid him, pray, that he mayn’t kill himself.
(They run to assist him, on which HALISCA drops the casket.)

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
Ecquid agis? remorare. lumen linque.
Selenivm:
Amabo, accurrite,
ne se interemat.

[¶89] ALCESIMARCHUS:
O Safety more healthful than my own safety, you now, whether I wish or don’t wish, alone do cause me to live.

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
O Salute méa salus salubrior,
tu nunc, si ego volo seu nolo, sola me ut vivam facis.

[¶90] MELAENIS:
Fie on it! Were you ready to commit such violence?

> Latin: Melaenis:
Haud voluisti istuc severum facere.

[¶91] ALCESIMARCHUS:
I’ve nought to do with you—to you I’m dead. (Clasping SILENIUM in his arms.) Her, as I hold her, I’m determined not to lose. For, by heaven, I am resolved henceforth to have her entirely rivetted fast unto me. (Goes to the door of the house, and calls.) Where are you, servants? Shut the door with bolts, with bars,
when I shall have carried her within the threshold!
(He carries SILENIUM into the house, followed by HALISCA.)

> Latin: Alcesimarchvs:
Nil mecum tibi,
mortuos tibi sum: hanc ut habeo certum est non amittere;
nam hercle iam ad me adglutinandam totam decretum est dare.
ubi estis, servi? occludite aedis pessulis, repagulis
ilico: hanc ego tetulero intra limen.—

[¶92] MELAENIS: (exclaiming, while wringing her hands.)
He’s gone off: he has carried the damsel away. I’ll go—I’ll at once follow him in-doors, that he may know of me these same things, if from being angered with me I can render him pleased.
(Goes into the house.) (Enter LAMPADISCUS.)

> Latin: Melaenis:
Abiit, abstulit
mulierem. ibo, persequar iam illum intro, ut haec ex me sciat
éadem, si possum tranquillum facere ex irato mihi.

[¶93] LAMPADISCUS:
I do believe I never saw a more tormenting old nag than this is. What she just now confessed to me, is she to be denying it?

> Latin: Lampadio:
Nullam ego me vidisse credo magis anum excruciabilem
quam illaec est, quae dudum fassa est mihi quaene infitias eat.

[¶94] But look, I see my mistress. Why (seeing the casket on the ground), how’s this, that this casket is lying here with these trinkets, and that I see no other person in the street? I must act the child’s part; I’ll stoop to pick up the casket.
(Picks it up.)
PHANOSTRATA: (from her house.)

> Latin: sed eccam eram video. sed quíd hoc est, haec quod cistella hic iacet
cum crepundiis? nec quemquam conspicor alium in via.
faciundum est puerile officium: conquiniscam ad cistulam.

[¶95] What are you about, Lampadio?
LAMPADISCUS: (giving the casket to PHANOSTRATA.)
Is this casket from out of our house here, I wonder. For I picked it up, lying here near the door.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Quid agis, Lampadio?
Lampadio:
Haec cistella numnam hinc ab nobis domo est?
nam hinc ab ostio iacentem sustuli.

[¶96] PHANOSTRATA:
What news do you bring about the old woman?

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Quid nuntias
super anu?

[¶97] LAMPADISCUS:
That there’s not one other on earth more wicked. She denies all those things which she just now confessed to me. But, i’ faith, for me to allow that old jade to be laughing at me, it’s preferable for me to die by any kind of death.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Scelestiorem in terra nullam esse alteram.
omnia infitiatur ea quae dudum confessa est mihi.
nam hercle ego ⟨quam⟩ illam anum inridere me ut sinam, satiust mihi
quovis exitio interire.

[¶98] PHANOSTRATA:
Ye Gods, I do adjure you by our trust in you!
(Opening the casket.)

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Di, obsecro vostram fidem.

[¶99] LAMPADISCUS:
Why do you call upon the Gods?

> Latin: Lampadio:
Quid deos obsecras?

[¶100] PHANOSTRATA:
Save us!

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Servate nos.

[¶101] LAMPADISCUS:
What’s the matter?

> Latin: Lampadio:
Quid est?

[¶102] PHANOSTRATA:
These are the trinkets with which you exposed my little daughter to death.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Crepundia
haec sunt, quibuscum tu extulisti nostram filiolam ad necem.

[¶103] LAMPADISCUS:
Are you in your senses?

> Latin: Lampadio:
Sanane es?

[¶104] PHANOSTRATA:
These certainly are.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Haec sunt profecto.

[¶105] LAMPADISCUS:
Do you persist?

> Latin: Lampadio:
Pergin?

[¶106] PHANOSTRATA:
These are they.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Haec sunt.

[¶107] LAMPADISCUS:
If any other woman were to speak to me after that fashion, I should say she was drunk.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Si mihi
alia mulier istoc pacto dicat, dicam esse ebriam.

[¶108] PHANOSTRATA:
By heaven! I’m talking no nonsense.
But prithee, whence in the world did these come, or what Deity placed this before our door? As though
for a given purpose, at the very instant
sacred Hope comes to my aid?
(Enter HALISCA, at a distance, from the house of the FATHER of ALCESIMARCHUS.)
HALISCA: (to herself.)

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Non ecastor falsa memoro.
Lampadio:
Nam, obsecro, unde haec gentium?
aut quis deus obiecit hanc ante ostium nostrum, quasi
dedita opera, in tempore ipso?
Phanostrata:
Spes mihi sancta subveni.

[¶109] Unless the Gods give me some aid, I’m utterly undone; nor do I know whence I am to seek for aid. To such a degree does carelessness possess wretched me in mind, which I sadly fear may be lighting upon my own back, if my mistress knows that I’m so negligent as I really am.

> Latin: Halisca:
Nisi quíd mi opis di dant, dísperii, neque unde aúxilium expetam hábeo.
itaque † petulantia mea me animi miseram habet.
quae in térgum meúm ne veniánt, male formído,
si era méa ⟨me⟩ sciát tam socórdem esse quám sum.

[¶110] The casket which I took and held in my hands here before the door, where it is I know not; except, as I fancy, it was dropt by me about this spot. (Looks about on the ground.) My good sirs (to the AUDIENCE), my kind Spectators, do give me information if any one has seen it, if any one has taken it away, or any one picked it up; and whether in this direction or that he has taken his departure?
(She pauses for a reply.)

> Latin: quamne ín manibus ténui atque accépi hic ante aédis
cistéllam, ubi ea sít nesció, nisi ut opínor
loca haec circiter excidit mihi.
mei hómines, mei spectátores, facite índicium, si quís vidit,
quis eam ábstulerit quisve sústulerit et utrum hác an illac iter ínstiterit.

[¶111] I’m none the wiser for asking these persons, or for worrying them, who are always delighted at a woman’s mishaps. Now I’ll mark if there are any footsteps here; for if no one had passed this way since I went in-doors, the casket would be lying here. Why say “here?” It’s lost, I guess;

> Latin: non súm scitiór, quae hos rogem aút quae fatígem,
qui sémper maló muliebrí sunt lubéntes.
nunc véstigia híc si qua súnt noscitábo.
nam sí nemo hac praéter iít, postquam intro ábii,
cistélla hic iacéret. quid híc? perii, opínor.

[¶112] it’s done for. It’s all over with unhappy and unlucky me! It’s nowhere, and nowhere am I. This, by its loss, has proved my loss. But still, as I’ve begun, I’ll e’en go on; I’ll make search; for both within do I fear, and without I am afraid; so much, on either side, does fear agitate me now. In this are mortals intensely wretched.

> Latin: actum ést, ilicét me infelícem et sceléstam.
nulla ést, neque ego sum úsquam. perdíta perdidít me.
sed pérgam ut coépi tamén, quaeritábo.
nam et intús paveo et foris fórmido,
ita núnc utrubique metús me agitat.
ita súnt homines miseré miseri:

[¶113] He is now joyous, whoever he is, that has found it, which is of no use at all to any person else; to myself it may be. But I cause delay to myself, while I’m doing this with remissness. Halisca, attend to what you are about: look down upon the ground, and look round about; search with your eyes; guess with shrewdness.
LAMPADISCUS: (apart, at a distance.)

> Latin: ílle nunc laétus est, quísquis est, qui íllam habet,
quaé neque illa ílli quicquam úsui et mi exítio est.
sed mémet morór, quom hoc agó setius.
Halísca, hoc age, ad térram aspice ét despice,
oculís investíges, astúte augura.

[¶114] Mistress!
PHANOSTRATA: (apart.)
Well, what’s the matter?

> Latin: Lampadio:
Era.
Phanostrata:
Hém quid est?

[¶115] LAMPADISCUS: (apart.)
That’s she.
(Pointing at HALISCA.)

> Latin: Lampadio:
Haec ést.

[¶116] PHANOSTRATA: (apart.)
Who?

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Quis est?

[¶117] LAMPADISCUS: (apart.)
She who let fall the casket.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Quoi haec éxcidit cistélla.

[¶118] Why surely she’s tracing out that spot where it fell.
PHANOSTRATA: (apart.)
It seems so.
HALISCA: (to herself, looking on the ground.)

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Certe est, eum locum signat, ubí ea excidit: apparet.

[¶119] But that person has gone this way; this way I perceive the imprint of his shoe; this way I’ll follow him. (She moves along, still looking on the ground.) In this spot now has he stopped, along with another person. Here now a circle presents itself to my sight,
nor did he go straight forward this way; here he came to a pause. This way did he come out of that circle. Here was a conference with some one. It points to two persons now. Who are these? Heyday I see the footsteps of only one. But he has gone this way. I’ll consider it: hither he went from thence; from hence he has never gone.

> Latin: Halisca:
Sed is hác iit, hac soccí video
vestígium in pulvere, pérsequar hac.
in hoc iám loco cum altero cónstitit. hic
meis túrba oculis modo se óbiecit:
neque prórsum iit hac: hic stétit, hinc illo
exiít. hic conciliúm fuit.
ad duós attinet, liquidúmst. attat,
singulúm video vestígium.
sed is hác abiit. contémplabor. hinc húc iit, hinc nusquam ábiit.

[¶120] I’m troubling myself to no purpose. What’s lost is lost; my hide along with the casket. I’ll go in-doors again.
(Going towards the house of the FATHER of ALCESIMARCHUS.)
PHANOSTRATA: (calling out.)
Hallo, woman-stop; there are some persons who wish to meet with you.

> Latin: actám rem ago. quod periít, periit: meum córium ⟨cum⟩ cistélla.
redeo íntro.
Phanostrata:
Muliér, mane. sunt quí volunt té conventam.

[¶121] HALISCA:
Who’s calling me back?

> Latin: Halisca:
Quis mé revocat?

[¶122] LAMPADISCUS:
A good female and a bad male want you.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Bona femina et malus masculus volunt te.

[¶123] HALISCA:
Away with you, bad male; I want a good one. (To herself.) After all, he who calls knows better what he wants than I who am called; I’ll return. (Aloud.) Prithee, have you seen any person hereabouts pick up a casket with some trinkets, which I, to my misfortune, have lost here?

> Latin: Halisca:
… postremo ille
plus qui vocat scit quod velit, quam ego quae vocor. revortor.
[ecquem vidisti † quaerere hic, amabo, in hac regione]
cistellam cum crepundiis, quam ego hic amisi misera?

[¶124] For when, just now, we were running into the house of Alcesimarchus, that he mightn’t put an end to his life, at that moment I think that, through terror, the casket fell down from me here.
LAMPADISCUS: (aside to PHANOSTRATA.)

> Latin: nam dudum ut accucurrimus ad Alcésimarchum, ne se
vita interemeret, tum ⟨éam mihi op⟩inor excidisse.

[¶125] This woman’s to our purpose; let’s then give heed to her a little, mistress.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Cistellam haec mulier ⟨perdidit. tace⟩amus, era, parumper.

[¶126] HALISCA:
To my sorrow, I’m utterly undone. What shall I say to my mistress, who bade me with such earnestness take care of it, through which Silenium might the more readily recognize her parents—who, when little, was adopted by my mistress as her own,
and whom a certain Courtesan gave to her?

> Latin: Halisca:
Disperii misera. quid ego erae dicam? quae me opere tanto
servare iussit, qui suos Selenium parentes
facilius posset noscere, quae erae [meae] supposita est parva,
quam quaedam meretríx ei dedit.

[¶127] LAMPADISCUS:
(aside.) She’s talking about this matter of ours. According as she gives these indications by her talk, she must surely know where your daughter is.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Nostram haec rem fabulatur,
hanc scire oportet, filia tua ubí sit, signa ut dicit.

[¶128] HALISCA:
Now is she desirous of her own accord to restore her to her father and mother, whose daughter she is; prithee, my good sir, you are attending to something else; I commend my matter to you.

> Latin: Halisca:
Nunc eam volt suae matri et patri, quibus nata est, reddere ultro.
mi homo, obsecro, alias res geris, ego tibi meas res mando.

[¶129] LAMPADISCUS:
I’m giving my attention to this, and this is as good as food to me, that you are talking of; but amid my attending to this matter, I was answering this mistress of mine what she was enquiring; now I return to you. If you have need of anything, say you, and give your orders. What were you looking, for?

> Latin: Lampadio:
Istuc ago, atque istic mihi cibus est, quod fabulare,
sed inter rém agendam istam erae huic respondi quod rogabat.
[nunc ad te redeo: si quid est opus, dic, impetratumst.]
quid quaeritabas?

[¶130] HALISCA:
My good sir and my good madam, I greet you.

> Latin: Halisca:
Mí homo et mea mulier, vos saluto.

[¶131] PHANOSTRATA:
And we you. But what are you looking for?

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Et nos te. sed quid quaeritas?

[¶132] HALISCA:
I’m tracing footsteps here,
the way that something has escaped me here, I don’t know how.
PHANOSTRATA:
What is it?

> Latin: Halisca:
Vestigium hic requiro,
qua aufugit quaedam … aestio …

[¶133] LAMPADISCUS:
What is it, pray?

> Latin: Lampadio:
Quid id? quid nam est?

[¶134] HALISCA:
Something to bring a loss to another, and a calamity on our family.
LAMPADISCUS: (aside to PHANOSTRATA.)

> Latin: Halisca:
Alienum … et maerorem familiarem.

[¶135] A worthless baggage is this, mistress, and a crafty one.
PHANOSTRATA: (aside.)
I’ faith, and so she seems.
LAMPADISCUS: (aside.)

> Latin: Lampadio:
Mala mers, era, haec et callida est.
Phanostrata:
Ecastor ita videtur.

[¶136] She imitates a worthless animal and a mischievous.
PHANOSTRATA: (aside.)
Which one, prithee?
LAMPADISCUS: (aside.)

> Latin: Lampadio:
Imitatur nequam bestiam et damnificam.
Phanostrata:
Quamnam, amabo?

[¶137] A caterpillar, which twisting about winds itself in the leaf of the vine;

> Latin: Lampadio:
Involvolum, quae in pampini folio intorta implicat se:

[¶138] just in the same way does she begin a story that twists about. (To HALISCA.) What are you looking for?
HALISCA:
A casket, my good young man, has flown away from me here.

> Latin: itidem haec exorditur sibi intortam orationem.
quid quaeritas?
Halisca:
Cistellula hinc mi, adulescens, evolavit.

[¶139] LAMPADISCUS:
You ought to have put it in a cage.

> Latin: Lampadio:
In caveam latam oportuit.

[¶140] HALISCA:
I’ faith, the booty was no great one.

> Latin: Halisca:
Non edepol praeda magna.

[¶141] LAMPADISCUS:
It’s a wonder, if a whole troop of slaves isn’t there in the casket.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Mirum quin grex venalium in cistella infuerit una.

[¶142] PHANOSTRATA:
Do let her speak.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Sine dicat.

[¶143] LAMPADISCUS:
If indeed she would speak.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Si dicat quidem.

[¶144] PHANOSTRATA: (to HALISCA.)
Come say you, what was in it?

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Age lóquere [tu] quid ibi infuerit.

[¶145] HALISCA:
Trinkets only.

> Latin: Halisca:
Crepundia una.

[¶146] LAMPADISCUS:
There’s a certain man, who declares that he knows where it is.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Est quidam homo, qui illam ait se scire ubi sit.

[¶147] HALISCA:
But, by my faith, he’ll confer an obligation on a certain woman if he’ll discover it.

> Latin: at pol ille a quadam muliere, si eam monstret, gratiam ineat.

[¶148] LAMPADISCUS:
But this certain man wishes a reward to be given to him.

> Latin: Lampadio:
At sibi ille quidam volt dari mercedem.

[¶149] HALISCA:
But, by my faith, this certain woman, that has lost this casket, declares that she has nothing to give to this certain man.

> Latin: Halisca:
At pol illa quaedam,
quae illam cistellam perdidit, quoidam negat esse quod det.

[¶150] LAMPADISCUS:
But still this certain man looks for some money.
HALISCA:
But still he looks for it in vain.

> Latin: Lampadio:
At enim ille quidam o⟨peram bonam magis⟩ expetit quam argentum.

[¶151] LAMPADISCUS:
But, by my faith, good woman, in no matter does this certain man give his pains for nothing.

> Latin: Halisca:
At pol illi quoidam mulieri nulla opera gratuita est.

[¶152] PHANOSTRATA:
Lend me your conversation: it will now be for your own advantage. We confess that we have got the casket.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Commodule quaedam. tu tibi nunc prodes. confitemur
cistellam habere.

[¶153] HALISCA:
Then may Salvation preserve you; where is it now?
PHANOSTRATA: (producing the casket.)

> Latin: Halisca:
At vos Salus servassit. ubi ea nunc est?

[¶154] See, here it is, safe. But I wish to discourse with you upon a matter of importance to myself; I take you as a sharer with me in my own preservation.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Salvam eccam. sed ego rem meam magnam confabulari
tecum volo: sóciam te mihi adopto ad meam salutem.

[¶155] HALISCA:
What matter is this, or who are you?

> Latin: Halisca:
Quid istúc negoti est? aut quis es?

[¶156] PHANOSTRATA:
I am the mother of her who had these things with her, when exposed.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Egó sum illius mater,
quae haec gestitavit.

[¶157] HALISCA:
Do you live here then?
(Pointing to the house.)

> Latin: Halisca:
Hicine tu ergo habitas?

[¶158] PHANOSTRATA:
You are a diviner. But, prithee, good woman, do lay aside all mystification, and to the point; tell me at once, whence did you get these trinkets?

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Hariolare.
sed quaéso, ambages, mulier, mitte atque hoc age.
eloquere, unde haec sunt tibi, cito, crepundia.

[¶159] HALISCA:
This daughter of my mistress had them.

> Latin: Halisca:
Mea haec erilis gestitavit filia.

[¶160] LAMPADISCUS:
You tell a falsehood; for my own mistress’s daughter had them, not yours.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Mentiris, nam mea gestitavit, non tua.

[¶161] PHANOSTRATA:
Don’t interrupt.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Ne obloquere.

[¶162] LAMPADISCUS:
I’ll be mum.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Taceo.

[¶163] PHANOSTRATA:
Good woman, go on speaking. Where is she who had them?

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Mulier, perge dicere.
ubi ea est, quae gestitavit?

[¶164] HALISCA: (pointing to the house of ALCESIMARCHUS.)
Here, next door.

> Latin: Halisca:
Hic in proximo.

[¶165] PHANOSTRATA:
By the powers, surely the son-in-law of my husband is living there.
LAMPADISCUS:
Surely—

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Istic quidem edepol mei virí habitat gener.
…

[¶166] PHANOSTRATA: (to LAMPADISCUS.)
Interrupting again? (To HALISCA.) Go on relating it. How many years old is she said to be?

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Ne obloquere rusus. perge porro dicere.
quot annos nata dicitur?

[¶167] HALISCA:
Seventeen.

> Latin: Halisca:
Septemdecim.

[¶168] PHANOSTRATA:
She is my own daughter then!
LAMPADISCUS:’Tis she, as the number of her years has proved.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Mea est.
Lampadio:
East: u⟨… numer⟩us annorum attulit.

[¶169] HALISCA:
What you are seeking, you have found; I now seek what’s mine.

> Latin: Halisca:
Quid qua ⟨tibi causa haec dixi?⟩ iam quaero meam.

[¶170] LAMPADISCUS:
Why, faith, they’ve found what’s their own, I’ll seek for number three.

> Latin: Lampadio:
At po⟨l ego … ⟩ sunt, quaero tertiam.

[¶171] PHANOSTRATA:
My daughter, the object which I was seeking, I have discovered.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Quod quaeritabam, filiam inveni meam.

[¶172] HALISCA:
It’s proper to keep in safety what has been entrusted in confidence, lest a kindness should turn out a detriment to the well-deserving. This fosterling of ours is assuredly your daughter,
and my mistress is about to restore you your own, and for that purpose has she come from her house. But, prithee,
enquire of her own self; I am but a servant.

> Latin: Halisca:
Aequom est ⟨reponi⟩ per fidem quod creditum est,
ne bene merenti sit malo benignitas.
nostra haec alumna est, tua profecto filia:
…
et redditura est tuam tibi, et ea gratia
domo profecta est. ceterum ex ipsa, obsecro,
exquaeritote: ego serva sum.

[¶173] PHANOSTRATA:
You ask what’s just.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Aequom postulas.

[¶174] HALISCA:
To her rather do I choose this obligation to belong. But I beg that you’ll restore me that casket.

> Latin: Halisca:
Illius égo istanc esse malo gratiam.
sed istánc cistellam te opsecro ut reddas mihi.

[¶175] PHANOSTRATA:
What’s to be done, Lampadio?

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Quid fit, Lampadio?

[¶176] LAMPADISCUS:
What’s your own, keep as your own.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Quod tuom est teneas tuom.

[¶177] PHANOSTRATA:
But I feel compassion for her.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
At me huius miseret.

[¶178] LAMPADISCUS:
This I think ought to be done;

> Latin: Lampadio:
Sic faciundum censeo:

[¶179] give her the casket, and go in-doors together with her.

> Latin: da isti cistellam et intro abi cum istac semul.

[¶180] PHANOSTRATA:
I’ll follow your advice. (Giving it to HALISCA.) Take you the casket. Let’s go in-doors. But what’s the name of your mistress?
HALISCA:
Melaenis.

> Latin: Phanostrata:
Tibi auscultabo. tene tu cistellam tibi,
abeamus intro. sed quid ⟨est⟩ nomen tuae
dominae?
Halisca:
Melaenis.

[¶181] PHANOSTRATA:
Go first; I’ll follow you at once.
(Exit LAMPADISCUS, and the others go into the house of the FATHER of ALCESIMARCHUS.) (Enter DEMIPHO.)

> Latin: Phanostrata:
I prae, iám ego te sequar.—

[¶182] DEMIPHO:
What affair is this, that all persons are talking about in the street—that my daughter has been found? They say, too, that Lampadio has been seeking me in the Forum.
(Enter LAMPADISCUS.)

> Latin: Demipho:
Quíd hoc negoti est, quód omnes homines fabulantur per vias
mihi esse filiam inventam? et Lampadionem me in foro
quaesivisse aiunt.

[¶183] LAMPADISCUS:
Master, whence come you?

> Latin: Lampadio:
Ere, unde is?

[¶184] DEMIPHO:
From the Senate.

> Latin: Demipho:
Ex senatu.

[¶185] LAMPADISCUS:
I rejoice that through my means there is an addition to your children.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Gaudeo
tibi mea opera liberorum esse amplius.

[¶186] DEMIPHO:
But it don’t please me; I don’t want that I should be having more children by means of another person. But what is the meaning of this?

> Latin: Demipho:
Enim non placet.
nil moror aliena mi opera fieri pluris liberos.
sed quid istúc est?

[¶187] LAMPADISCUS: (pointing to the house of the FATHER of ALCESIMARCHUS.)
Make haste, and go in-doors here to the house of your neighbour; you’ll at once recognize your daughter. Your wife’s in-doors there as well. Go quickly.

> Latin: Lampadio:
Propera ire intro húc ad adfinem tuom,
filiam tuam iám cognosces intus. íbidem uxor tua est.
abi cito.

[¶188] DEMIPHO:
I’m resolved that this shall, before all other matters, be attended to.
(They go into the house of the FATHER of ALCESIMARCHUS.)
The Company of COMEDIANS:
Don’t you wait, Spectators, till they come out to you; no one will come out; they’ll all finish the business indoors; when that shall be done, they’ll lay aside their dress; then, after that,
he that has done amiss will get a beating; he that has not done amiss will get some drink. Now as to what’s left, Spectators, for you to do, after the manner of your ancestors, give your applause at the conclusion of the Play.

> Latin: Demipho:
Praevorti hoc certumst rebus aliis omnibus.—
Caterva:
Ne exspectetis, spectatores, dum illi huc ad vos exeant:
nemo exibit, omnes intus conficient negotium.
ubi id erit factum, ornamenta ponent; postidea loci
qui deliquit vapulabit, qui non deliquit bibet.
nunc quod ad vos, spectatores, relicuom relinquitur,
more maiorum date plausum postrema in comoedia.