---
title: "The Rope · Rudens"
author: "Plautus"
translator: "Henry Thomas Riley"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Classical Latin"
section: 1 of 4
url: https://scriptura.si/works/plautus-rudens/1/
cite: "Plautus, tr. Henry Thomas Riley, The Rope · Rudens, section 1. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/plautus-rudens/1/"
---

# The Rope · Rudens

*Plautus, tr. Henry Thomas Riley*

A shipwreck, a lost girl and a fisherman’s net.

> Latin: ed. Friedrich Leo, from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit, phi0119.phi017, CC BY-SA 4.0).

> English: Henry Thomas Riley, from the Perseus Digital Library (phi0119.phi017.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.

## 1. Lines 1–394

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

[¶0] TRACHALIO, the servant of Plesidippus. LABRAX, a Procurer. CHARMIDES, a Sicilian, his guest. FISHERMEN of Cyrene. PTOLEMOCRATIA, Priestess of Venus.
ARCTURUS:
WITH him who sways all nations, seas, and lands, I am a fellow-citizen in the realms of the Gods. I am, as you see, a bright and shining star, a Constellation that ever in its season rises
here on earth and in the heavens. Arcturus is my name. By night, I am glittering in the heavens and amid the Gods, passing among mortals in the day. Other Constellations, too, descend from the heavens upon the earth; Jove, who is the ruler of Gods and men—
he disperses us here in various directions among the nations, to observe the actions, manners, piety, and faith of men, just as the means of each avail him. Those who commence villanous suits at law upon false testimony, and those who, in court, upon false oath deny a debt,
their names written down, do we return to Jove. Each day does he learn who here is calling for vengeance. Whatever wicked men seek here to gain their cause through perjury, who succeed before the judge in their unjust demands, the same case adjudged does he judge over again,
and he fines them in a penalty much greater than the results of the judgment they have gained. The good men written down on other tablets does he keep. And still these wicked persons entertain a notion of theirs, that they are able to appease Jupiter with gifts, with sacrifice; both their labour and their cost they lose. This, for this reason, is so,
because no petition of the perjured is acceptable to Him. If any person that is supplicating the Deities is pious, he will more easily procure pardon for himself than he that is wicked. Therefore I do advise you this, you who are good and who pass your lives in piety and in virtue—
still persevere, that one day you may rejoice that so you did. Now, the reason for which I’ve come hither, I will disclose to you. First, then, Diphilus has willed the name of this city to be Cyrene. There (pointing to the cottage) dwells Daemones, in the country and in a cottage very close adjoining to the sea,
an old gentleman who has come hither in exile from Athens, no unworthy man. And still, not for his bad deserts has he left his country, but while he was aiding others, meanwhile himself he embarrassed: a property honorably acquired he lost by his kindly ways. Long since, his daughter, then a little child, was lost;

> Latin: Arctvrvs:
Qui gentes omnes mariaque et terras movet,
eius sum civis civitate caelitum.
ita sum, ut videtis, splendens stella candida,
signum quod semper tempore exoritur suo
hic atque in caelo: nomen Arcturo est mihi.
[noctu sum in caelo clarus atque inter deos,]
[inter mortalis ambuló interdius.]
[at alia signa de caelo ad terram accidunt.]
qui est imperator divom atque hominum Iuppiter,
is nos per gentis alium ália disparat,
qui facta hominum, mores, pietatem et fidem
noscamus, ut quemque adiuvet opulentia.
qui falsas litis falsis testimoniis
petunt quique in iure abiurant pecuniam,
eorúm referimus nomina exscripta ad Iovem;
cotidie ille scit quis hic quaerat malum:
qui hic litem apisci postulant peiurio
mali, res falsas qui impetrant apud iudicem,
iterum ille eam rem iudicatam iudicat;
maiore multa multat quam litem auferunt.
bonos in aliis tabulis exscriptos habet.
atque hoc scelesti in animum inducunt suom,
Iovem sé placare posse donis, hostiis:
et operam et sumptum perdunt; id eo fit quia
nihil éi acceptumst a periuris supplici;
facilius si qui pius est a dis supplicans,
quam qui scelestust, inveniet veniam sibi.
idcirco moneo vos ego haec, qui estis boni
quique aetatem agitis cum pietate et cum fide:
…
retinete porro, post factum ut laetemini.
nunc, huc qua causa veni, argumentum eloquar.
primumdum huic esse nomen urbi Diphilus
Cyrenas voluit. illic habitat Daemones
in agro atque villa proxima propter mare,
senex, qui húc Athenis exul venit, hau malus;
neque is adeo propter malitiam patria caret,
sed dum alios servat se impedivit interim,
rem bene paratam comitate perdidit.
huíc filiola virgo periit parvola.

[¶1] a most villanous fellow bought her of the thief, and this Procurer brought the maiden hither to Cyrene. A certain Athenian youth, a citizen of this city, beheld her as she was going home from the music-school. He begins to love her; to the Procurer he comes;
he purchases the damsel for himself at the price of thirty minae, and gives him earnest, and binds the Procurer with an oath. This Procurer, just as befitted him, did not value at one straw his word, or what, on oath, he had said to the young man. He had a guest, a fit match for himself, an old man of Sicily,
a rascal from Agrigentum, a traitor to his native city; this fellow began to extol the beauty of that maiden, and of the other damsels, too, that were belonging to him. On this he began to persuade the Procurer to go together with himself to Sicily; he said that there the men were given to pleasure;
that there he might be enabled to become a wealthy man; that there was the greatest profit from courtesans. He prevails. A ship is hired by stealth. Whatever he has, by night the Procurer carries it on board ship from his house; the young man who purchased the damsel of him
he has told that he is desirous of performing a vow to Venus. This is the Temple of Venus, here (pointing at it), and here, for that reason, has he invited the youth hither to a breakfast. From there at once did he embark on board ship, and he carried off the courtesans. Some other persons informed the young man what things were going on,
how that the Procurer had departed. When the young man came to the harbour, their ship had got a great way out to sea. When I beheld how that the maiden was being carried off, I brought at the same instant both relief to her and destruction to the Procurer; the storm I rebuked, and the waves of the sea I aroused.

> Latin: eam dé praedone vir mercatur pessumus,
is eam huc Cyrenas leno advexit virginem.
adulescens quidam civis huius Atticus
eam vídit ire e ludo fidicinio domum,
amare occepit: ad lenonem devenit,
minis triginta sibi puellam destinat
datque arrabonem et iure iurando alligat.
is leno, ut se aequom est, flocci non fecit fidem
neque quod iuratus adulescenti dixerat.
eí erat hospes par sui, Siculus senex
scelestus, Agrigentinus, urbis proditor;
is illius laudare infit formam virginis
et aliarum itidem quae eius erant mulierculae.
infit lenoni suadere, ut secum simul
eat in Siciliam: ibi esse homines voluptários
dicit, potesse íbi eum fieri divitem.
[ibi esse quaestum maximum meretricibus.]
persuadet. navis clanculum conducitur,
quidquid erat noctu in navem comportat domo
leno; adulescenti qui puellam ab eo emerat
ait sése Veneri velle votum solvere
(id hic est Veneris fanum) et eo ad prandium
vocavit adulescentem huc. ipse hinc ilico
conscendit navem, ávehit meretriculas.
adulescenti alii narrant ut res gesta sit,
lenonem abiisse. ad portum ádulescens venit:
illorum navis longe in altum abscesserat.
ego quoniam video virginem asportarier,
tetuli éi auxilium et lenoni exitium simul:
increpui hibernum et fluctus movi maritimos.

[¶2] For the most violent Constellation of them all am I, Arcturus; turbulent I am when rising, when I set, more turbulent still. Now, cast ashore there, both the Procurer and his guest are sitting upon a rock; their ship is dashed to pieces. But this maiden, and another as well, her attendant,
affrighted, have leaped from the ship into a boat. At this moment the waves are bringing them from the rocks to land, to the cottage of this old man, who is living here in exile, whose roof and tiles the storm has stript off. And this is his servant who is coming out of doors.

> Latin: nam Arcturus signum sum omniúm acerrimum:
vehemens sum exoriens, cum occido vehementior.
nunc ambo in saxo, leno átque hospes, simul
sedent eiecti: navis confracta est eis.
illa autem virgo atque altera itidem ancillula
de navi timidae desuluerunt in scapham.
nunc eas ab saxo fluctus ad terram ferunt
ad villam illius, exul ubi habitat senex,
cuius déturbavit ventus tectum et tegulas;
et servos illic est éius, qui egreditur foras.

[¶3] The youth will be here just now, and you shall see him, who purchased the maiden of the Procurer. Now, fare ye well, and may your foes distrust themselves.
(Exit.) (Enter SCEPARNIO, with a spade on his shoulder.)
SCEPARNIO: (to himself.)
O ye immortal Gods, what a dreadful tempest has Neptune sent us this last night!

> Latin: adulescens huc iam adveniet, quem videbitis,
qui illam mercatust de lenone virginem.
valete, ut hostes vestri diffidant sibi.—
Sceparnio:
Pro di immortales, tempestatem cuius modi
Neptunus nobis nocte hac misit proxima.

[¶4] The storm has unroofed the cottage. What need of words is there? It was no storm, but what Alcmena met with in Euripides; it has so knocked all the tiles from off the roof; more light has it given us, and has added to our windows.
(Enter PLESIDIPPUS, at a distance, talking with three CITIZENS.)

> Latin: detexit ventus villam—quid verbis opust?
non ventus fuit, verum Álcumena Euripidi,
ita omnís de tecto deturbavit tegulas;
inlustrioris fecit fenestrasque indidit.

[¶5] PLESIDIPPUS:
I have both withdrawn you from your avocations,
and that has not succeeded on account of which I’ve brought you; I could not catch the Procurer down at the harbour. But I have been unwilling to abandon all hope by reason of my remissness; on that account, my friends, have I the longer detained you. Now hither to the Temple of Venus am I come to see,
where he was saying that he was about to perform a sacrifice.
SCEPARNIO: (aloud to himself, at a distance.)

> Latin: Plesidippvs:
Et vos a vestris abduxi negotiis
neque id processit qua vos duxi gratia,
neque quivi ad portum lenonem prehendere.
sed mea desidia spem deserere nolui:
eo vós, amici, detinui diutius.
nunc huc ad Veneris fanum venio visere,
ubi rem divinam se facturum dixerat.

[¶6] If I am wise, I shall be getting ready this clay that is awaiting me.
(Falls to work digging.)
PLESIDIPPUS: (looking round.)

> Latin: Sceparnio:
Si sapiam, hoc quod me mactat concinnem lutum.

[¶7] Some one, I know not who, is speaking near to me.
(Enter DAEMONES, from his house.)
DAEMONES:
Hallo! Sceparnio!

> Latin: Plesidippvs:
Prope me hic nescio quis loquitur.
Daemones:
Heus, Sceparnio.

[¶8] SCEPARNIO:
Who’s calling me by name?

> Latin: Sceparnio:
Qui nominat me?

[¶9] DAEMONES:
He who paid his money for you.
SCEPARNIO: (turning round.)

> Latin: Daemones:
Qui pro te argentum dedit.

[¶10] As though you would say, Daemones, that I am your slave.

> Latin: Sceparnio:
Quasi me tuom esse servom dicas, Daemones.

[¶11] DAEMONES:
There’s occasion for plenty of clay, therefore dig up plenty of earth. I find that the whole of my cottage must be covered; for now it’s shining through it, more full of holes than a sieve.
PLESIDIPPUS: (advancing.)

> Latin: Daemones:
Luto usust multo, multam terram confode.
villam integundam intellego totam mihi,
nam nunc perlucet ea quam cribrum crebrius.

[¶12] Health to you, good father, and to both of you, indeed.
DAEMONES:
Health to you.
SCEPARNIO: (to PLESIDIPPUS, who is muffled up in a coat.)

> Latin: Plesidippvs:
Pater salveto, ámboque adeo.
Daemones:
Salvos sis.

[¶13] But whether are you male or female, who are calling him father?
PLESIDIPPUS:
Why really, I’m a man.
DAEMONES:
Then, man, go seek a father elsewhere.

> Latin: Sceparnio:
Sed utrum tu masne an femina es, qui illum patrem
voces?
Plesidippvs:
Vir sum equidem.
Sceparnio:
Quaere vir porro patrem.

[¶14] I once had an only daughter, that only one I lost. Of the male sex I never had a child.
PLESIDIPPUS:
But the Gods will give—
SCEPARNIO: (going on digging.)

> Latin: Daemones:
Filiolam ego unam hábui, eam unam perdidi.
virile sexus numquam ullum habui.
Plesidippvs:
At di dabunt.

[¶15] A heavy mischance to you indeed, I’ faith, whoever you are, who are occupying us, already occupied, with your prating.
PLESIDIPPUS: (pointing to the cottage.)

> Latin: Sceparnio:
Tibi quidem hercle, quisquis es, magnum malum,
qui oratione [nos] hic occupatos occupes.

[¶16] Pray are you dwelling there?
SCEPARNIO:
Why do you ask that? Are you reconnoitring the place for you to come and rob there?

> Latin: Plesidippvs:
Isticine vos habitatis?
Sceparnio:
Quid tu id quaeritas?
quon furatum mox venias, vestigas loca?

[¶17] PLESIDIPPUS:
It befits a slave to be right rich in his savings, whom, in the presence of his master, the conversation cannot escape, or who is to speak rudely to a free man.

> Latin: Plesidippvs:
Peculiosum esse addecet servom et probum,
quem ero praesente † praetereat oratio
aut qui inclementer dicat homini libero.

[¶18] SCEPARNIO:
And it befits a man to be shameless and impudent, for him to whom there’s nothing owing, of his own accord to come to the house of another person annoying people.

> Latin: Sceparnio:
Et impudicum et impudentem hominem addecet
molestum ultro advenire ad alienam domum,
cui debeatur nil.

[¶19] DAEMONES:
Sceparnio, hold your tongue.

> Latin: Daemones:
Tace, Sceparnio.

[¶20] (To PLESIDIPPUS.) What do you want, young man?
PLESIDIPPUS:
A mishap to that fellow, who is in a hurry to be the first to speak when his master’s present.

> Latin: quid opust, adulescens?
Plesidippvs:
Istic infortunium,
qui praefestinet, ubi erus adsit, praeloqui.

[¶21] But, unless it’s troublesome, I wish to make enquiry of you in a few words.
DAEMONES:
My attention shall be given you, even though in the midst of business.
SCEPARNIO: (to PLESIDIPPUS.)

> Latin: sed nisi molestumst, paucis percontarier
volo ego ex te.
Daemones:
Dabitur opera, atque in negotio.

[¶22] Rather, be off with you to the marsh, and cut down some reeds, with which we may cover the cottage, while it is fine weather.
DAEMONES:
Hold your tongue. Do you tell me (to PLESIDIPPUS) if you have need of anything.

> Latin: Sceparnio:
Quin tu in paludem is exicasque harundinem,
qui pertegamus villam, dum sudumst?
Daemones:
Tace.
tu si quid opus est dice.

[¶23] PLESIDIPPUS:
Inform me on what I ask you;
whether you have seen here any frizzle-headed fellow, with grey hair, a worthless, perjured, fawning knave.

> Latin: Plesidippvs:
Dic quod te rogo,
ecquem tu hic hominem crispum, incanum videris,
malum, periurum, palpatorem—

[¶24] DAEMONES:
Full many a one; for by reason of fellows of that stamp am I living in misery.

> Latin: Daemones:
Plurimos,
nam ego propter eius modi viros vivo miser.

[¶25] PLESIDIPPUS:
Him, I mean, who brought with him to the Temple of Venus here two young women, and who was to make preparations for himself
to perform a sacrifice either to-day or yesterday.

> Latin: Plesidippvs:
Hic dico, in fanum Veneris qui mulierculas
duas sécum adduxit, quique adornaret sibi
ut rem divinam faciat, aut hodie aut heri.

[¶26] DAEMONES:
By my faith, young man, for these very many days past I haven’t seen any one sacrificing there; and yet it can’t be unknown to me if any one does sacrifice there. They are always asking here for water, or for fire, or for vessels, or for a knife, or for a spit,
or for a pot for cooking, or something or other. What need is there of words? I procured my vessels and my well, for the use of Venus, and not my own. There has now been a cessation of it for these many days past.

> Latin: Daemones:
Non hercle, adulescens, iam hos dies complusculos
quemquam istic vidi sacruficare, neque potest
clam me esse si qui sacruficat: semper petunt
aquam hinc aut ignem aut vascula aut cultrum aut veru
aut aulam extarem, aut aliquid—quid verbis opust?
Veneri paravi vasa et puteum, non mihi.
nunc intervallum iam hos dies multos fuit.

[¶27] PLESIDIPPUS:
According to the words you utter, you tell me I’m undone.

> Latin: Plesidippvs:
Vt verba praehibes, me periisse praedicas.

[¶28] DAEMONES:
Really, so far as I’m concerned, I’ faith, you may be safe and sound.
SCEPARNIO: (stopping in his digging.)

> Latin: Daemones:
Mea quidem hercle causa salvos sis licet.

[¶29] Hark you, you that are roaming about Temples for the sake of your stomach,’twere better for you to order a breakfast to be got ready at home.

> Latin: Sceparnio:
Heus tu, qui fana ventris causa circumis,
iubere meliust prandium ornari domi.

[¶30] Perhaps you’ve been invited here to breakfast. He that invited you, hasn’t he come at all?
PLESIDIPPUS:’Tis the fact.

> Latin: Daemones:
Fortasse tu huc vocatus es ad prandium,
ille quí vocavit nullus venit?
Plesidippvs:
Admodum.

[¶31] SCEPARNIO:
There’s no risk then in your betaking yourself hence home without your breakfast.

> Latin: Sceparnio:
Nullumst periclum te hinc ire inpransum domum:

[¶32] It’s better for you to be a waiter upon Ceres than upon Venus; the latter attends to love, Ceres attends to wheat.
PLESIDIPPUS: (to DAEMONES.)

> Latin: Cererem te meliust quam Venerem sectarier:
amori haec curat; tritico curat Ceres.

[¶33] This fellow has been making sport of me in a digraceful manner.
DAEMONES: (looking out at the side.)

> Latin: Plesidippvs:
Deludificavit me illic homo indignis modis.

[¶34] O ye immortal Gods, Sceparnio, what means those people near the sea-shore?
SCEPARNIO:
According to my notion,
they’ve been invited to a parting breakfast.

> Latin: Daemones:
Pro di immortales, quid illuc est, Sceparnio,
hominum secundum litus?
Sceparnio:
Vt mea est opinio,
propter viam illi sunt vocati ad prandium.

[¶35] DAEMONES:
How so?

> Latin: Daemones:
Qui?

[¶36] SCEPARNIO:
Why, because, after dinner, I fancy, they yesterday washed themselves clean;

> Latin: Sceparnio:
Quia post cenam, credo, laverunt heri.

[¶37] their ship has gone to pieces out at sea.
DAEMONES: (looking steadfastly.)
Such is the fact.

> Latin: Daemones:
Confracta navis in mari est illis.
Sceparnio:
Ita est.

[¶38] SCEPARNIO:
But, I’ faith, on dry land our cottage and tiles have done the same.
DAEMONES:
Oh dear! what unfortunate creatures you are; (to SCEPARNIO) how the shipwrecked people are swimming.

> Latin: at hercle nobis villa in terra et tegulae.
Daemones:
Hui,
homunculi quanti estis. eiecti ut natant.

[¶39] PLESIDIPPUS:
Prithee, where are these people?

> Latin: Plesidippvs:
Vbi sunt i homines, obsecro?

[¶40] DAEMONES: (pointing to the distance.)
This way, to the right; don’t you see them near the shore?

> Latin: Daemones:
Hac ad dexteram
(viden?) secundum litus.

[¶41] PLESIDIPPUS: (looking the same way.)
I see them; (to his FRIENDS) follow me. I only wish it may be he that I’m seeking, that most accursed fellow. (To DAEMONES and SCEPARNIO.) Fare you well.

> Latin: Plesidippvs:
Video. sequimini.
utinam is sit quém ego quaero, vir sacerrimus.
valete.—

[¶42] SCEPARNIO:
If you hadn’t put us in mind, we should have thought of that ourselves.
(Exeunt PLESIDIPPUS and FRIENDS. SCEPARNIO looks out towards the sea.)

> Latin: Sceparnio:
Si non moneas, nosmet meminimus.

[¶43] But, O Palaemon, hallowed associate of Neptune, who art said to be the partner of Hercules, what shocking thing do I see?
DAEMONES:
What do you see?

> Latin: sed, o Palaemon, sancte Neptuni comes,
qui Herculis socius esse diceris,†
quod facinus video.
Daemones:
Quid vides?

[¶44] SCEPARNIO:
I see two young women sitting in a boat alone. How the poor things are being tossed about That’s good, that’s good, well done.
The surge is driving the boat away from the rock towards the shore. Not a pilot could have ever done it better. I don’t think that I ever saw billows more huge. They are saved, if they can escape those waves. Now, now’s the danger; it has sent one overboard!
See you that one whom the waves have thrown out of the boat?
Still, she’s in a shallow place; she’ll easily wade through it now. O capital!

> Latin: Sceparnio:
Mulierculas
video sedentis in scapha solas duas.
ut adflictantur miserae. euge euge, perbene,
ab saxo avortit fluctus ad litus scapham,
nequé gubernator umquam potuit ⟨rectius⟩.
non vidisse undas me maioris censeo.
salvae sunt, si illos fluctus devitaverint.
nunc, nunc periclumst. ⟨unda⟩ eiecit alteram.
at in vadost, iam facile enabit. eugepae,
[viden alteram illam ut fluctus eiecit foras?]

[¶45] now she’s safe; she has escaped from the water; she’s now on shore. But that other one has now sprung towards the land from the boat—from her alarm she has fallen into the waves upon her knees.

> Latin: surrexit, horsum se capessit. salva res.
desiluit haec autem altera in terram e scapha.
ut prae timore in genua in undas concidit.

[¶46] She has got up again; if she takes this direction, the matter’s safe; (a pause) but she has taken to the right, to utter destruction. Ah, she will be wandering all the day—
DAEMONES:
What signifies that to you?

> Latin: salvast, evasit ex aqua. iam in litore est.
sed dextrovorsum avorsa it in malam crucem.
hem, errabit illaec hodie.
Daemones:
Quid id refert tua?

[¶47] SCEPARNIO:
If she should fall down from that rock towards which she is wending her way,
she’ll be putting a period to her wandering.

> Latin: Sceparnio:
Si ad saxum quo capessit, ea deorsum cadit,
errationis fecerit compendium.

[¶48] DAEMONES:
If you are about to dine this evening at their expense, I think you may then be concerned for them, Sceparnio; if you are going to eat at my house, I wish your services to be devoted to myself.

> Latin: Daemones:
Si tu de illarum cenaturus vesperi es,
illis curandum censeo, Sceparnio,
si apud me essurus, mihi darí operam volo.

[¶49] SCEPARNIO:
You ask what’s good and proper.

> Latin: Sceparnio:
Bonum aequomque oras.

[¶50] DAEMONES:
Then follow me this way.

> Latin: Daemones:
Sequere me hac ergo.—

[¶51] SCEPARNIO:
I follow.
(Exeunt.) (Enter PALAESTRA, at a distance, with her clothes torn and drenched.)

> Latin: Sceparnio:
Sequor.—

[¶52] PALAESTRA: (to herself.)
By heavens, the mishaps of mortals are spoken of as much less bitter than … the sharp pangs that are inflicted in the experience of them … Has this then pleased the Deity, that I, clad in this guise, should, in my terror, be cast upon a spot unknown? Shall I then declare that I have been born to this wretched lot?

> Latin: Palaestra:
Nimio hóminum fortunaé minus miseraé memorantur,
… experiundo iis datur acerbum.
… hoc deo cómplacitumst, me hoc órnatu ornatam ín incertas
regiónes timidam eiéctam.
hancíne ego ad rem natam ⟨ésse me⟩ miserám memorábo?

[¶53] Do I receive this meed in return for my exemplary piety? For to me it would not prove a hardship to endure this laborious lot, if I had conducted myself undutifully towards my parents or the Gods; but if studiously I have exerted myself to beware of that, then, unduly and unjustly,
Deities, you send upon me this. For what henceforth shall the glaringly impious receive, if after this fashion you pay honor to the guiltless? But if I knew that I or my parents had done anything wicked, now should I have grieved the less. But the wickedness of this master of mine is pressing hard upon me, his impiety is causing my woes; everything has he lost in the sea;

> Latin: hancíne ego partem cápio ob píetatem praecípuam?
nam hóc mi haud labórist, labórem hunc potíri,
si érga paréntem aut deós me impiávi;
sed íd si paráte curávi ut cavérem,
tum hóc mi indecóre, iníque, inmodéste
datis, dí; nam quid habebúnt sibi signi ímpii posthac,
si ad húnc modum est innóxiis honór apud vos?
nam mé si sciam ⟨ín vos⟩ fecísse aut paréntis
sceléste, minus me míserer;
sed eríle scelus me sóllicitat, eiús me impietas mále habet.
ís navem atque ómnia pérdidit ín mari:

[¶54] these are the remains (looking at her dress) of his property. Even she, who was carried together with me in the boat, was washed out by the violence of the waves; I am now alone. If she at least had been saved for me, through her aid my affliction here would have been lighter to me. Now, what hope or aid or what counsel shall I receive,
a spot so lonesome here have I lighted upon alone? Here are the rocks, here roars the sea, and not one individual comes across my path. This dress that I am clothed in forms all my riches quite entirely; nor know I with what food or roof I am to be provided. What hope have I through which to desire to live?

> Latin: haéc bonorum éius sunt réliquiae; étiam quae simul
vécta mecum ín scaphast, éxcidit. égo nunc sola sum.
quaé mihi sí foret sálva saltém, labor
lénior ésset hic mi éius opera.
nunc quám spem aut opem aút consilí quid capéssam?
ita híc sola sólis locis compotita sum.
hic sáxa sunt, hic máre sonat,
neque quísquam homo mihi obviám venit.
…
hóc quod indúta sum, summae opes óppido,
néc cibo néc loco técta quo sím scio:
quaé mihist spés, qua me vívere velim?

[¶55] Neither am I acquainted with the place, nor was I ever here before. At least I could have wished for some one who would point out to me either a road or a path from these spots; so much am I now at a loss for advice whether to go this way or that; neither, indeed, do I see anywhere near here a cultivated spot.

> Latin: néc loci gnára sum, néc vidi aut híc fui.
sáltem aliquém velim quí mihi ex hís locis
aút viam aut sémitam mónstret, ita nunc
hác an illác eam, incérta sum cónsili;
néc prope usquam híc quidem cúltum agrum cónspicor.

[¶56] Cold, distraction, and alarm, have taken possession of all my limbs. My parents, you know not of this, that I am now thus wretched; I that was born a woman entirely free, was so to no purpose. Am I at all the less in servitude now, than if I had been born a slave? And never in any way has it been a profit to those who for their own sakes reared me up.
(She advances forward, and rests on one side against the cliff.) (Enter AMPELISCA, at a distance, on the other side of the stage, in a similar condition.)
AMPELISCA: (to herself.)

> Latin: álgor, errór, pavor, me ómnia tenent.
haéc parentés mei haud scítis miseri,
me núnc miseram esse ita utí sum.
líbera ego prognáta fui máxume, nequíquam fui.
nunc quí minus servio, quám si servá forem náta?
neque quícquam umquam illis prófuit qui mé sibi eduxérunt.

[¶57] What is there better for me, what more to my advantage, than to shut out life from my body? So wretched am I in my existence, and so many deadening cares are there in my breast; so despicable is my lot; I care not for my life; I have lost the hope with which I used to comfort myself. All places have I now rambled about, and through each covert spot have I crawled along, to seek my fellow-slave with voice, eyes, ears, that I might trace her out.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Quid míhi meliust, quid mágis in remst, quam a córpore vitam ut sécludam?
ita mále vivo atque ita míhi multae in pectóre sunt curae exánimales.
ita rés se habent: vitae haú parco, perdidí spem qua me obléctabam.
omnía iam circumcúrsavi atque omníbus latebris perréptavi
quaerére conservam, vóce oculis auríbus ut pervestígarem.

[¶58] And still I find her nowhere, nor have I yet determined whither to go, nor where to seek her, nor, in the meantime, do I find any person here to give me an answer, of whom I might make enquiry. No place, too, is there on earth more solitary than are these spots and this locality. And yet, if she lives, never while I exist will I cease before I discover her alive.
PALAESTRA: (aloud.)

> Latin: neque eam úsquam invenio néque quo eam neque quá quaeram consúltumst,
neque quém rogitem respónsorem quemquam ínterea convénio,
neque mágis solae terraé solae sunt quam haéc loca atque hae regiónes;
neque sí vivit, eam víva umquam quin ínveniam desístam.

[¶59] Whose voice is it that sounds close by me here?
AMPELISCA: (starting.)

> Latin: Palaestra:
Quóianam vox míhi prope hic sonat?

[¶60] I am alarmed. Who’s speaking near me?

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Pértimui, quis híc loquitur prope?

[¶61] PALAESTRA:
Prithee, kind Hope, do come to my aid.

> Latin: Palaestra:
Spés bona, obsecro, súbventa mihi,
éxime ex hóc miseram metu.

[¶62] AMPELISCA:
It’s a woman: a woman’s voice reaches my ears.
Will you not rescue wretched me from this alarm?

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Cérto vox múliebris aúris tetigít meas.

[¶63] PALAESTRA:
Surely a woman’s voice reached my ears.

> Latin: Palaestra:
Múlier est, múliebris vóx mi ad aurís venit.

[¶64] Prithee is it Ampelisca?
AMPELISCA:
Is it you, Palaestra, that I hear?

> Latin: num Ámpelisca óbsecro est?
Ampelisca:
Tén, Palaestra, aúdio?

[¶65] PALAESTRA:
But why don’t I call her by her own name, that she may hear me? (With a loud voice.) Ampelisca!

> Latin: Palaestra:
Quín voco, ut me aúdiat, nómine illám suo?
Ámpelisca.

[¶66] AMPELISCA:
Ha! who’s that?
PALAESTRA:’Tis I.
AMPELISCA:
Is it Palaestra?

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Hém quis est?

[¶67] PALAESTRA:
It is.

> Latin: Palaestra:
Ego, Palaestra …

[¶68] AMPELISCA:
Tell me where you are.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Díc ubi es?

[¶69] PALAESTRA:
Troth, I’m now in the midst of a multitude of woes.

> Latin: Palaestra:
Pól ego nunc ín malis plúrimis.

[¶70] AMPELISCA:
I am your partner; and no less is my own share than yours.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Sócia sum, néc minor párs meast quam tua.

[¶71] But I long to see you.
PALAESTRA:
In that wish you are my rival.

> Latin: séd videre éxpeto té.
Palaestra:
Mihi es aémula.

[¶72] AMPELISCA:
Let’s follow our voices with our steps; where are you?

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Cónsequamúr gradu vócem. ubi es?

[¶73] PALAESTRA:
See, here am I. Step onward towards me, and come straight on to meet me.

> Latin: Palaestra:
Écce me.
áccede ad me átque adi cóntra.

[¶74] AMPELISCA:
I’m doing so with care.
(They meet in front of the stage.)

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Fit sédulo.

[¶75] PALAESTRA:
Give me your hand.

> Latin: Palaestra:
Cédo manum.

[¶76] AMPELISCA:
Take it.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Áccipe.

[¶77] PALAESTRA:
Are you still alive? Prithee, tell me.

> Latin: Palaestra:
Díc, vivisne? óbsecro.

[¶78] AMPELISCA:
You, indeed, make me now wish to live,
since I’m empowered to touch you. How hardly can I persuade myself of this, that I am holding you. Prithee, do embrace me (they embrace), my only hope; how you are now easing me of all my woes.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Tú facis mé quidem ut vívere núnc velim,
quóm mihi té licet tángere. ut víx mihi
crédo ego hoc, té tenere. óbsecro, ampléctere,
spés mea. ut me ómnium iám laborúm levas.

[¶79] PALAESTRA:
You are beforehand with me in using expressions which belong to me. Now it befits us to be going hence.

> Latin: Palaestra:
Óccupas praéloqui quaé mea orátiost.
núnc abire hínc decet nós.

[¶80] AMPELISCA:
Prithee, whither shall we go?

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Quo, amabo, íbimus?

[¶81] PALAESTRA:
Let’s keep along this sea-shore.
(Pointing to the shore.)

> Latin: Palaestra:
Lítus hoc pérsequamúr.

[¶82] AMPELISCA:
Wherever you please, I’ll follow.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Sequor quó lubet.

[¶83] PALAESTRA:
Shall we go along thus with our wet clothing?

> Latin: sícine hic cum úvida véste grassábimur?

[¶84] AMPELISCA:
That which exists, the same must of necessity be borne. (Looking up at the Temple.) But, pray, what’s this?

> Latin: Palaestra:
Hóc quod est, íd necessárium est pérpeti.
séd quid hoc, óbsecro, est?
Ampelisca:
Quid?

[¶85] PALAESTRA:
What is it?

> Latin: Palaestra:
Víden, amabo,
fanum [videsne] hóc?

[¶86] AMPELISCA:
Prithee, don’t you see this Temple?
(Pointing towards it.)

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Vbi est?

[¶87] PALAESTRA:
Where is it?
AMPELISCA:
On the right hand.

> Latin: Palaestra:
Ad déxteram.

[¶88] PALAESTRA:
I seem to be looking at a place becoming the Divinities.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Videó decorum dís locum vidérier.

[¶89] AMPELISCA:
There must be people not far hence; it is so delightful a spot. Whoever the God is, I pray him to relieve us from these troubles, and to succour us females, wretched, helpless, and in distress.
(They advance towards the Temple, and kneel down before it.) (Enter PTOLEMOCRATIA, the Priestess, from the Temple of Venus.)

> Latin: Palaestra:
Haud lónge abesse opórtet homines hínc, ita hic lepidúst locus.
⟨quísquis⟩ est deus, véneror ut nos éx hac aerumna éximat,
míseras inopis aérumnosas út aliquo auxilio ádiuvet.

[¶90] PTOLEMOCRATIA:
Who are these, that in their prayers are soliciting aid from my Patroness?

> Latin: Ptolemocratia:
Qui súnt qui a patróna precés mea expetéssunt?

[¶91] For the voice of suppliants has brought me hither out of doors. They pay suit to a kind and compliant Goddess and a Patroness that makes no difficulties, and one who is very benevolent.

> Latin: nam vóx me precántum huc forás excitávit.
bonam átque obsequéntem deam átque haud gravátam
patrónam exsequontur benígnamque múltum.

[¶92] PALAESTRA:
Mother, we bid you hail.

> Latin: Palaestra:
Iubémus te sálvere, máter.

[¶93] PTOLEMOCRATIA:
Maidens, hail to you. But, prithee, whence
am I to say that you are hither come with your wet garments, thus wofully arrayed?

> Latin: Ptolemocratia:
Salvéte,
puéllae. sed únde
vos íre [cum uvida veste] dicam, óbsecro, tam maéstiter vestítas?

[¶94] PALAESTRA:
Just now, we came from a place there (pointing towards the shore), not a great way from this spot; but it is a great way off from here, whence we have been brought hither.

> Latin: Palaestra:
Ílico hinc ímus, haud lóngule ex hóc loco;
vérum longe hínc abest únde advectae húc sumus.

[¶95] PTOLEMOCRATIA:
Have you been borne, do you mean, by a ship, the wooden steed, over the azure paths?

> Latin: Ptolemocratia:
Némpe equo lígneo pér vias caérulas
éstis vectae?

[¶96] PALAESTRA:
Even so.

> Latin: Palaestra:
Ádmodum.

[¶97] PTOLEMOCRATIA:
Then it were more fitting that you should have come
arrayed in white and provided with victims; it isn’t the practice for people to come to this Temple in that fashion.
(Pointing at their dresses.)

> Latin: Ptolemocratia:
Ergo aéquius vós erat
cándidatás venire hóstiatásque. ad hoc
fánum ad istúnc modum nón venirí solet.

[¶98] PALAESTRA:
Prithee, whence would you have us, who have been both cast away at sea, to be bringing victims hither? Now, in want of assistance, do we embrace your knees,
we who are of hopes undefined in places unknown, that you may receive us under your roof and shelter us, and that you will pity the miseries of us both, who have neither any place of refuge nor hope at hand, nor have anything whatever of our own beyond that which you see.

> Latin: Palaestra:
Quaéne eiectae é mari símus ambae, óbsecro,
únde nos hóstias agere voluisti huc?
núnc tibi ampléctimur génua egentés opum,
quae ín locis nésciis néscia spé sumus,
út tuo récipias técto servésque nos
míseriarúmque te ambárum uti mísereat,
quibús nec locúst ullus néc spes parata,
neque hóc ampliús, [quam] quod vidés, nobis quícquamst.

[¶99] PTOLEMOCRATIA:
Give me your hands, arise, both of you, from off your knees; no one among women is more compassionate than I. (They arise from the ground.) But, maidens, my circumstances are poor and limited; with difficulty I support my own existence; Venus I serve for my maintenance.

> Latin: Ptolemocratia:
Manús mihi date, éxurgite á genibus ámbae.
miséricordiór nulla me ést feminárum.
sed haéc pauperés res sunt inopesque, puellae:
egomét ⟨meam⟩ vix vitám colo; Venerí cibo meo sérvio.

[¶100] AMPELISCA:
Prithee, is this a Temple of Venus?

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Venerís fanum, obsecro, hóc est?

[¶101] PTOLEMOCRATIA:
I will admit it; I am styled the Priestess of this Temple. But whatever it is, it shall be done by me with a hearty welcome, so far as my means shall suffice. Come with me this way.

> Latin: Ptolemocratia:
Fateór. ego huius fáni sacérdos clueo.
verúm, quidquid ést, comitér fiet á me,
quo núnc copia valebit.
ite hác mecum.

[¶102] PALAESTRA:
Kindly and attentively, mother, do you show your attentions to us.

> Latin: Palaestra:
Amíce benígneque honórem,
matér, nostrum habés.—

[¶103] PTOLEMOCRATIA:
So I ought to do.
(They go into the Temple.) (Ente some FISHERMEN, with lines and nets.)
A FISHERMAN:
Persons who are poor live wretchedly in every way, especially those who have no calling and have learned no art. Of necessity must that be deemed enough, whatever they have at home. From our garb, then, you pretty well understand how wealthy we are. These hooks and these rods here are as good to us as a calling and as our clothing.

> Latin: Ptolemocratia:
Oportet.—
Piscatores:
Omníbus modis qui paúperes sunt hómines miseri vívont,
praesertim quibus nec quaestus est, nec didicere artem ullam:
necessitate quidquid est domi id sat est habendum.
nos iam de ornatu propemodum ut locupletes simus scitis:
hisce hami atque haec harundines sunt nobis quaestu et cultu.

[¶104] Each day from the city do we come out hither to the sea to seek for forage. Instead of exertion in the wrestling-school and the place for exercise, we have this: sea-urchins, rock-mussels, oysters, limpets, cockles, sea-nettles, sea-mussels and spotted crabs, we catch. After that, we commence our fishing with the hook and among the rocks,
and thus we take our food from out of the sea. If success does not befall us, and not any fish is taken, soaked in salt water and thoroughly drenched, we quietly betake ourselves home, and without dinner go to sleep. And since the sea is now in waves so boisterous, no hopes have we; unless we take some cockles, without a doubt we’ve had our dinners.

> Latin: … ex urbe ad mare huc prodimus pabulatum:
pro exercitu gymnastico et palaestrico hoc habemus;
echinos, lopadas, ostreas, balanos captamus, conchas,
marinam urticam, musculos, plagusias striatas;
post id piscatum hamatilem et saxatilem aggredimur.
cibum captamus e mari: si eventus non evenit
neque quicquam captumst piscium, salsi lautique pure
domum redimus clanculum, dormimus incenati.
atque ut nunc valide fluctuat mare, nulla nobis spes est:
nisi quid conclarum capsimus, incenati sumus profecto.

[¶105] Now let’s adore good Venus here, that she may kindly befriend us to-day.
(They advance towards the door of the Temple.) (Enter TRACHALIO, at a distance, in haste.)
TRACHALIO: (to himself.)

> Latin: nunc Venerem hanc veneremur bonam, ut nos lepide adiuerit hodie.

[¶106] I’ve carefully given all attention that I mightn’t pass my master anywhere; for when some time since he went out of the house, he said that he was going to the harbour, and he ordered me to come here to meet him at the Temple of Venus. But see, opportunely do I espy some people standing here of whom I may enquire; I’ll accost them.

> Latin: Trachalio:
Animum adversavi sedulo, ne erum usquam praeterirem;
nam cum modo exibat foras, ad portum se aibat ire,
me huc obviam iussit sibi venire ad Veneris fanum.
sed quos perconter commode eccos video astare. adibo.

[¶107] (Goes up to the FISHERMEN.) Save you, thieves of the sea, shellfish-gatherers and hook-fishers, hungry race of men, how fare ye? How perish apace?

> Latin: salvete, fures maritimi, conchitae atque hamiotae,
famelica hominum natio. quid agitis? ut peritis?

[¶108] FISHERMEN of Cyrene:
Just as befits a fisherman with hunger, thirst, and expectation.

> Latin: Piscatores:
Vt piscatorem aequomst, fame sitique [speque] …

[¶109] TRACHALIO:
Have you seen to-day, while you’ve been standing here, any young man, of courageous aspect, ruddy, stout, of genteel appearance, come by this way,
who was taking with him three men in scarfs, with swords?

> Latin: Trachalio:
… ecquem adulescentem
huc, dum hic astatis, strenua facie rubicundum fortem,
qui tres secum homines duceret chlamydatos cum machaeris,
vidistis ⟨vos⟩ venire …? …

[¶110] FISHERMEN of Cyrene:
We know of no one coming this way of that appearance which you mention.

> Latin: Piscatores:
Nullum istac facie ut praedicas venisse huc scimus.

[¶111] TRACHALIO:
Have you seen any old fellow, bald on the forehead and snub-nosed, of big stature, pot-bellied, with eyebrows awry, a narrow forehead, a knave, the scorn of Gods and men, a scoundrel, one full of vile dishonesty and of iniquity,
who had along with him two very pretty-looking young women?

> Latin: Trachalio:
Ecquem
recalvom ac silanum senem, statutum, ventriosum,
tortis superciliis, contracta fronte, fraudulentum,
deorum ódium atque hominum, málum, mali viti probrique plenum,
qui duceret mulierculas duas sécum satis venustas?

[¶112] FISHERMEN of Cyrene:
One who has been born with qualities and endowments of that sort,’twere really fitter for him to resort to the executioner than to the Temple of Venus.

> Latin: Piscatores:
Cum istius modi virtutibus operisque natus qui sit,
eum quídem ad carnificem est aequius quam ad Venerem commeare.

[¶113] TRACHALIO:
But tell me if you have seen him.

> Latin: Trachalio:
At si vidistis, dicite.

[¶114] FISHERMEN of Cyrene:
Really, no one has passed this way. Fare you well.

> Latin: Piscatores:
Huc profecto nullus venit.
vale.—

[¶115] TRACHALIO:
Fare ye well. (Exeunt FISHERMEN.) (to himself.) I thought so; it has come to pass as I suspected;
my master has been deceived; the cursed Procurer has taken himself off to distant lands. He has embarked on board ship, and carried the women away; I’m a wizard. He invited my master here to breakfast, as well, this very spawn of wickedness. Now what is better for me than to wait here in this spot until my master comes? At the same time, if this Priestess of Venus knows anything more,
if I see her, I’ll make enquiries; she’ll give me the information.
(Enter AMPELISCA, from the Temple.)
AMPELISCA: (to the PRIESTESS, within.)

> Latin: Trachalio:
Valete. credidi: factum est quod suspicabar,
data verba ero sunt, leno abit scelestus exulatum,
in navem ascendit, mulieres avexit: hariolus sum.
is huc erum etiam ad prandium vocavit, sceleris semen.
nunc quid mihi meliust, quam ilico hic opperiar erum dum veniat?
eadém, sacerdos Veneria haec sí quid amplius scit,
si videro, exquisivero: faciet me certiorem.

[¶116] I understand; here at this cottage (pointing to it), which is close by the Temple of Venus, you’ve requested me to knock and ask for water.
TRACHALIO:
Whose voice is it that has flown to my ears?

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Intellego: hanc quae proxuma est víllam Veneris fano
pulsare iussisti atque aquam rogare.
Trachalio:
Cuia ad auris
vox mi advolavit?

[¶117] AMPELISCA:
Prithee, who’s speaking here? Who is it that I see?

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Obsecro, quis hic loquitur? quém ego video?

[¶118] TRACHALIO:
Isn’t this Ampelisca that’s coming out from the Temple?

> Latin: Trachalio:
Estne Ampelisca haec quae foras e fano egreditur?

[¶119] AMPELISCA:
Isn’t this
Trachalio that I see, the servant of Plesidippus?

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Estne hic
Trachalio, quem conspicor, calator Plesidippi?

[¶120] TRACHALIO:
It is she.

> Latin: Trachalio:
East.

[¶121] AMPELISCA:
It is he; Trachalio, health to you.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Is est. Trachalio, salve.

[¶122] TRACHALIO:
Health, Ampelisca, to you; how fare you?

> Latin: Trachalio:
Salve, Ampelisca.
quid agis tu?

[¶123] AMPELISCA:
In misery I pass a life not far advanced.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Aétatem haud malam male.

[¶124] TRACHALIO:
Do give some better omen.

> Latin: Trachalio:
Melius ominare.

[¶125] AMPELISCA:
Still it behoves all prudent persons to confer and talk together. But, prithee, where’s your master, Plesidippus?

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Verum omnes sapientes decet conferre et fabulari.
sed Plesidippus tuos erus ubi, amabo, est?

[¶126] TRACHALIO:
Marry, well said, indeed; as if he wasn’t within there.
(Pointing to the Temple.)

> Latin: Trachalio:
Heia vero,
quasi non sit intus.

[¶127] AMPELISCA:
By my troth, he isn’t, nor, in fact, has he come here at all.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Neque pol est neque huc quidem ullus venit.

[¶128] TRACHALIO:
He hasn’t come?

> Latin: Trachalio:
Non venit?

[¶129] AMPELISCA:
You say the truth.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Vera praedicas.

[¶130] TRACHALIO:
That’s not my way, Ampelisca. But how nearly is the breakfast got ready?

> Latin: Trachalio:
Non est meum, Ampelisca.
sed quam mox coctum est prandium?

[¶131] AMPELISCA:
What breakfast, I beg of you?

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Quod prandium, obsecro te?

[¶132] TRACHALIO:
The sacrifice, I mean, that you are performing here.

> Latin: Trachalio:
Nempe rém divinam facitis hic.

[¶133] AMPELISCA:
Prithee, what is it you are dreaming about?

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Quid somnias, amabo?

[¶134] TRACHALIO:
For certain, Labrax invited Plesidippus hither to a breakfast, your master, my master.

> Latin: Trachalio:
Certe huc Labrax ad prandium vocavit Plesidippum
erúm meum erus vestér.

[¶135] AMPELISCA:
By my troth, you’re telling of no wondrous facts: if he has deceived Gods and men, he has only acted after the fashion of Procurers.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Pol haud miranda facta dicis:
si deos decepit et homines, lenonum more fecit.

[¶136] TRACHALIO:
Then neither yourselves nor my master are here performing a sacrifice.

> Latin: Trachalio:
Non rem divinam facitis hic vos neque erus?

[¶137] AMPELISCA:
You are a wizard.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Hariolare.

[¶138] TRACHALIO:
What are you doing then?

> Latin: Trachalio:
Quid tu agis hic igitur?

[¶139] AMPELISCA:
The Priestess of Venus has received here into her abode both myself and Palaestra, after many mishaps and dreadful alarm, and from being in danger of our lives, destitute of aid and of resources.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Ex malis multis metuque summo
capitalique ex periculo orbas auxilique opumque huc
recepit ad se Veneria haec sacerdos me et Palaestram.

[¶140] TRACHALIO:
Prithee, is Palaestra here, the beloved of my master?

> Latin: Trachalio:
An hic Palaestrast, obsecro, erí mei amica?

[¶141] AMPELISCA:
Assuredly.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Certo.

[¶142] TRACHALIO:
Great joyousness is there in your news, my dear Ampelisca. But I greatly long to know what was this danger of yours.

> Latin: Trachalio:
Inest lepos in nuntio tuo mágnus, mea Ampelisca.
sed istúc periclum perlubet quod fuerit vobis scire.

[¶143] AMPELISCA:
Last night our ship was wrecked, my dear Trachalio.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Confracta est, mi Trachalio, hac nocte navis nobis.

[¶144] TRACHALIO:
How, ship? What story’s this?

> Latin: Trachalio:
Quid navis? quae istaec fabulast?

[¶145] AMPELISCA:
Prithee, have you not heard in what way the Procurer intended secretly to carry us away hence to Sicily, and how, whatever there was at home, he placed on board ship? That has all gone to the bottom now.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Non audivisti, amabo,
quo pacto leno clanculum nos hinc auferre voluit
in Siciliam et quidquid domi fuit in navem imposivit?
ea nunc perierunt omnia.

[¶146] TRACHALIO:
O clever Neptune, hail to thee! Surely, no dicer is more skilful than thyself. Decidedly
a right pleasant throw hast thou made; thou didst break a-villain. But where now is the Procurer Labrax?

> Latin: Trachalio:
Oh, Neptune lepide, salve,
nec te aleator nullus est sapientior; profecto
nimis lépide iecisti bolum: periurum perdidisti.
sed nunc ubi est leno Labrax?

[¶147] AMPELISCA:
Perished through drinking, I suppose; Neptune last night invited him to deep potations.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Periit potando, opinor.
Neptunus magnis poculis hac nocte eum invitavit.

[¶148] TRACHALIO:
By my troth, I fancy it was given him to drink by way of cup of necessity. How much I do love you, my dear Ampelisca; how pleasing you are; what honied words you do utter.

> Latin: Trachalio:
Credo hercle anancaeo datum quod biberet. ut ego amo te,
mea Ampelisca, ut dulcis es, ut mulsa dicta dicis.

[¶149] But you and Palaestra, in what way were you saved?
AMPELISCA:
I’ll let you know. Both in affright, we leapt from the ship into a boat, because we saw that the ship was being borne upon a rock; in haste, I unloosed the rope, while they were in dismay. The storm separated us from them with the boat in a direction to the right. And so, tossed about by winds and waves,
in a multitude of ways, we, wretched creatures, during the livelong night … half dead, the wind this day has scarce borne us to the shore.

> Latin: sed tu et Palaestra quomodo salvae estis?
Ampelisca:
Scibis faxo.
⟨de⟩ navi timidae ambae in scapham insiluimus, quia videmus
ad saxa navem ferrier; properans exsolvi restim,
dum illi timent; nos cum scapha tempestas dextrovorsum
differt ab illis. itaque nos ventisque fluctibusque
iactatae exemplis plurimis miserae perpetuam noctem;
vix hodie ad litus pertulit nos ventus exanimatas.

[¶150] TRACHALIO:
I understand; thus is Neptune wont to do; he is a very dainty Aedile; if any wares are bad, over he throws them all.

> Latin: Trachalio:
Novi, Neptunus ita solet, quamvis fastidiosus
aedilis est: si quae improbae sunt merces, iactat omnis.

[¶151] AMPELISCA:
Woe to your head and life!

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Vae capiti atque aetati tuae.

[¶152] TRACHALIO:
To your own, my dear Ampelisca. I was sure that the Procurer would do that which he has done; I often said so. It were better I should let my hair grow, and set up for a soothsayer.

> Latin: Trachalio:
Tuo, mea Ampelisca.
scivi lenonem facere hóc, quod fecit, saepe dixi;
capillum promittam optimumst occipiamque hariolari.

[¶153] AMPELISCA:
Did you not take care then, you and your master, that he shouldn’t go away, when you knew this?

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Cavistis ergo tu atque erus ne abiret, cum scibatis.

[¶154] TRACHALIO:
What could he do?

> Latin: Trachalio:
Quid faceret?

[¶155] AMPELISCA:
If he was in love, do you ask what he could do?
Both night and day he should have kept watch; he should have been always on his guard. But, by my troth, he has done like many others; thus finely has Plesidippus taken care of her.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Sí amabat, rogas, quid faceret? adservaret
dies nóctesque, in custodia esset semper. verum ecastor
ut multi fecit ita probe curavit Plesidippus.

[¶156] TRACHALIO:
For what reason do you say that?

> Latin: Trachalio:
Cur tu istuc dicis?

[¶157] AMPELISCA:
The thing is evident.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Res palam est.

[¶158] TRACHALIO:
Don’t you know this? Even he who goes to the bath to bathe, while there he carefully keeps an eye upon his garments, still they are stolen; inasmuch as some one of those that he is watching is a rogue;

> Latin: Trachalio:
Scin tu? etiam qui it lavatum
in balineas, cum ibi sedulo sua vestimenta servat,
tamen surripiuntur, quippe qui quem illorum observet falsust;

[¶159] the thief easily marks him for whom he’s upon the watch; the keeper knows not which one is the thief. But bring me to her; where is she?
AMPELISCA:
Well then, go here into the Temple of Venus; you’ll find her sitting there, and in tears.

> Latin: fur facile qui observat videt: custos qui fur sit nescit.
sed duce me ad illam ubi est.
Ampelisca:
I sane in Veneris fanum huc intro,
sedentem flentemque opprimes.

[¶160] TRACHALIO:
How disagreable is that to me already. But why is she weeping?

> Latin: Trachalio:
Vt iam istuc mihi molestumst.
sed quid flet?

[¶161] AMPELISCA:
I’ll tell you; she’s afflicting herself in mind for this; because the Procurer took away a casket from her which she had,
and in which she kept that by which she might be enabled to recognize her parents; she fears that this has been lost.

> Latin: Ampelisca:
Ego dicam tibi: hoc sése excruciat animi,
quia leno ademit cistulam ei, quam habebat ubique habebat
qui suos parentis noscere possét: eam veretur
ne perierit.

[¶162] TRACHALIO:
Where was that little casket, pray?

> Latin: Trachalio:
Vbinam ea fuit cistellula?