THE TITLE OF THE PLAY. IT is from the Greek of Menander. Performed at the Megalensian Games; Lucius Cornelius Lentulus and Lucius Valerius Flaccus being Curule Aediles. Ambivius Turpio performed it. Flaccus, the freedman of Claudius, composed the music. The first time it was performed to the music of treble and bass flutes; the second time, of two treble flutes. It was acted three times; Marcus Juventius and Titus Sempronius being Consuls.THE PROLOGUE:LEST it should be a matter of surprise to any one of you, why the Poet has assigned to an old man a part that belongs to the young, that I will first explain to you; and then, the reason for my coming I will disclose. An entire Play from an entire Greek one,the Heautontimorumenos, I am to-day about to represent, which from a two-fold plot has been made but one. I have shown that it is new, and what it is: next I would mention who it was that wrote it, and whose in Greek it is, if I did not think that the greater part of you are aware.Now, for what reason I have learned this part, in a few words I will explain. The Poet intended me to be a Pleader, not the Speaker of a Prologue; your decision he asks, and has appointed me the advocate; if this advocate can avail as much by his oral powers as he has excelled in inventing happily,who composed this speech which I am about to recite. For as to malevolent rumors spreading abroad that he has mixed together many Greek Plays while writing a few Latin ones, he does not deny that this is the case, and that he does not repent of so doing; and he affirms that he will do so again.He has the example of good Poets; after which example he thinks it is allowable for him to do what they have done. Then, as to a malevolent old Poet saying that he has suddenly applied himself to dramatic pursuits, relying on the genius of his friends, and not his own natural abilities;on that your judgment your your opinion, will prevail. Wherefore I do entreat you all, that the suggestions of our antagonists may not avail more than those of our favorers. Do you be favorable; grant the means of prospering to those who afford you the means of being spectators of new Plays;those, I mean, without faults: that he may not suppose this said in his behalf who lately made the public give way to a slave as he ran along in the street; why should he take a madman’s part? About his faults he will say more when he brings out some other new ones, unless he puts an end to his caviling.Attend with favorable feelings; grant me the opportunity that I may be allowed to act a quiet Play in silence; that the servant everlastingly running about, the angry old man, the gluttonous parasite, the impudent sharper, and the greedy procurer, may not have always to be performed by mewith the utmost expense of voice, and the greatest exertion. For my sake come to the conclusion that this request is fair, that so some portion of my labor may be abridged. For nowadays, those who write new Plays do not spare an aged man. If there is any piece requiring exertion, they come running to me;but if it is a light one, it is taken to another Company. In the present one the style is pure. Do you make proof, what, in each character, my ability can effect. If I have never greedily set a high price upon my skill, and have come to the conclusion that this is my greatest gain,as far as possible to be subservient to your convenience, establish in me a precedent, that the young may be anxious rather to please you than themselves.(Enter CHREMES, and MENEDEMUS with a spade in his hand, who falls to digging.)CHREMES:Although this acquaintanceship between us is of very recent date, from the time in fact of your purchasing an estate here in the neighborhood,yet either your good qualities, or our being neighbors (which I take to be a sort of friendship), induces me to inform you, frankly and familiarly, that you appear to me to labor beyond your years,and beyond what your affairs require. For, in the name of Gods and men, what would you have? What can be your aim? You are, as I conjecture, sixty years of age, or more. No man in these parts has a better or a more valuable estate, no onemore servants; and yet you discharge their duties just as diligently as if there were none at all. However early in the morning I go out, and however late in the evening I return home, I see you either digging, or plowing, or doing something, in fact, in the fields.You take respite not an instant, and are quite regardless of yourself. I am very sure that this is not done for your amusement. But really I am vexed how little work is done here. If you were to employ the time you spend in laboring yourself, in keeping your servants at work, you would profit much more.
INTRODUCTION. THE plot of the Heautontimorumenos turns, as is often the case, partly upon the recognition of a child which had been exposed as an infant. Sostrata the wife of Chremes had an infant daughter, which her husband refused to bring up, and ordered to be exposed. She gave it to an old woman for that purpose, attaching to its dress a ring, from a superstitious feeling that the child ought not to be entirely disinherited. The old woman, instead of exposing the child, brought her up as her own daughter, and named her Antiphila. When she grew up she attracted the attention of Clinia. son of Menedemus. Their attachment continued for some time before it came to the knowledge of Clinia’s father. As soon as he discovered it he began to persecute his son about the affair, till at last the young man, to put an end to the dispute, went to Asia, and there entered the service of the king. No sooner had he gone than his father repented his severity; and finding that his son was past recall, he determined, as the only amends he could make, to inflict upon himself a continual penance. He sold his house, and all his servants except a few to work upon a farm which he purchased. There he kept himself at work from morning to night. Three months passed in this way, and at the end of that time, Clinia, who could not support any longer his absence from his mistress, returns and is received into the house of Chremes, whose son Clitipho had been his friend from his childhood. No sooner has he arrived than his servant Dromo is sent with Syrus, Clitipho’s slave, to bring Antiphila to her lover. Syrus discharges his errand more cleverly than was intended; he found Antiphila alone, for her reputed mother, Philtere, had died in the interval, and in circumstances which shewed that she was still faithful to Clinia. Thinking besides to do a stroke of business for his own master, he brings at the same time Bacchis, Clitipho’s mistress, a very different character from Antiphila: and that Chremes may have no suspicion of this connection of his son’s, it is arranged that Bacchis shall pass for Clinia’s mistress, and Antiphila for one of her servants. While this is going on, Chremes and Menedemus have been talking together; Chremes remonstrating with Menedemus upon his unintelligible conduct in working himself to death instead of superintending his slaves, and Menedemus explaining his reasons by an account of what led to his son’s departure, and his consequent determination to punish himself till his return.Chremes being unable to shake his friend’s determination, returns to keep the festival of Bacchus at his own house. There he finds the party assembled, and what with Bacchis and the young men they make a pretty night of it, nearly emptying his cellar, and turning the house upside down. Early next morning Chremes, who has a strong head for an old man, goes to meet his friend Menedemus as he comes out to his work, and informs him of his son’s return. He advises him to be cautious in receiving him, tells him what sort of a life he has to expect, and recommends him to do any thing rather than openly encourage his son in such debauchery. Menedemus begs him to do any thing he can to bring about a reunion with his son, even if it be to encourage the young man and Syrus to cheat him in any imaginable way. Chremes enters into the plan: and encourages Syrus to devise some scheme for making Menedemus supply Clinia with the means of indulgence. Syrus has already some such scheme on foot; but it is to be directed against Chremes, for he has promised Bacchis ten minae for her share in the night’s amusements, and intends to get it out of his master. So he at once explains to his master a plausible scheme that he has, namely, to induce Menedemus to buy Antiphila from Bacchis, to whom she has been left in pawn by Philtere, on the representation that she is a captive from Caria whom her friends are sure to ransom very handsomely. Meanwhile Sostrata has discovered, through the medium of the aforesaid ring, that Antiphila is her own daughter. This disconcerts Syrus, who now springs a new mine; he sends Bacchis off to Menedemus’ house, and explains to Chremes that the only way to deceive Menedemus now, is to pretend that she is Clitipho’s mistress, and at the same time to get Clinia to profess an attachment to Antiphila, and desire his father to demand her in marriage, for then the old man would have to supply him with money for the marriage, which of course would go to his mistress Bacchis. At the same time Chremes is persuaded to release his daughter from her pledge to Bacchis; and the money is given to Clitipho to carry to Bacchis for the purpose forsooth of more fully persuading Menedemus that she is his mistress. At this point the dénouement takes place. Clitipho acts his part of Bacchis’ lover a little too well, and all the circumstances are discovered by Menedemus, who proceeds to inform Chremes of the real state of the case. Now the two old men change places, Chremes is enraged beyond measure at having been made the dupe of his dissolute son, and Menedemus has to urge upon him the same maxims of forbearance which Chremes had used to him. Clitipho has to undergo a complete humiliation; but is ultimately received into favour by his father upon his promising to settle and lead a respectable life.This play is remarkable for a supposed irregularity in its construction, which has made it the subject of an animated controversy among advocates of the “Unities.” It is clear that the opening scene of the play is laid at evening, when Menedemus is just finishing his day’s work. The Third Act commences with the following morning, and in the interval the supper at Chremes’ house takes place. This in itself, though an exception to the general arrangement of Terence’s plays, is not a very important matter. The theory of the “Unities” is not to be received as an absolute law for the Drama: and there is nothing in this case which is not abundantly justified by many other instances. Upon this point turns a theory which was first mooted by Scaliger, and afterwards maintained by Madame Dacier,—that this play was acted in two portions: the first two Acts at night, after sunset; and the three remaining Acts the next morning at break of day; the interval between the two parts being taken up with the supper at Chremes’ house. This idea proceeds entirely upon the supposed necessity of filling up the interval between the Second and Third Acts; and is, as far as we are informed, entirely gratuitous. Colman has shown the absurdity of the idea very well in his remarks on this subject. Any one who considers that the Roman Drama was performed in the open air, will at once see the improbability of such a mode of representation. The Roman Amphitheatre was at any time a disadvantageous arena for the Drama. What must have been the success of a play, acted partly at night-fall, partly before breakfast next morning? Nothing but a devotion to the “Unities” could have led to such an idea; and it will be dismissed without any further discussion, now that a more artistic idea of Dramatic Unity is generally recognized.HEAUTONTIMORUMENOS. ACTA LUDIS MEGALENSIBUS, L. CORNELIO LENTULO L. VALERIO FLACCO AEDILIBUS CURULIBUS. EGERUNT L. AMBIVIUS TURPIO ET L. ATTILIUS PRAENESTINUS. MODOS FECIT FLACCUS CLAUDII. GRAECA EST MENANDRU. ACTA PRIMUM TIBIIS IMPARIBUS; DEINDE DUABUS DEXTRIS. ACTA III. EDITA M. IUVENTIO ET T. SEMPRONIO COSS.PROLOGUS:NE cui sit vestrum mirum, cur partes seniPoeta dederit quae sunt adolescentium,Id primum dicam: deinde quod veni eloquar.Ex integra Graeca integram comoediamHodie sum acturus Heautontimorumenon;Duplex quae ex argumento facta est simplici.Novam esse ostendi, et quae esset: nunc qui scripserit,Et cuia Graeca sit, ni partem maximamExistimarem scire vestrum, id dicerem.Nunc, quamobrem has partes didicerim, paucis dabo.Oratorem voluit esse me, non prologum.Vestrum iudicium fecit; me actorem dedit.Sed hic actor tantum poterit a facundia,Quantum ille potuit cogitare commodeQui orationem hanc scripsit quam dicturus sum.Nam quod rumores distulerunt malevoli,Multas contaminasse Graecas dum facitPaucas Latinas; factum hic esse id non negat,Neque se pigere: et deinde facturum autumat.Habet bonorum exemplum, quo exemplo sibiLicere id facere quod illi fecerunt putat.Tum quod malevolus vetus poeta dictitat,Repente ad studium hunc se applicasse musicum,Amicum ingenio fretum, haud natura sua;Arbitrium vestrum, vestra existimatioValebit; quamobrem omnes vos oratos volo,Ne plus iniquum possit quam aequum oratio.Facite aequi sitis: date crescendi copiamNovarum qui spectandi faciunt copiamSine vitiis; ne ille pro se dictum existimet,Qui nuper fecit servo currenti in viaDecesse populum. Cur insano serviat?De illius peccatis plura dicet cum dabitAlias novas, nisi finem maledictis facit.Adeste aequo animo; date potestatem mihiStatariam agere ut liceat per silentium;Ne semper servus currens, iratus senex,Edax parasitus, sycophanta autem impudens,Avarus leno, assidue agendi sint mihi,Clamore summo, cum labore maximo.Mea causa causam hanc iustam esse animum inducite,Ut aliqua pars laboris minuatur mihi.Nam nunc novas qui scribunt nihil parcunt seni:Si qua laboriosa est, ad me curritur;Sin lenis est, ad alium defertur gregem.In hac est pura oratio. ExperiminiIn utramque partem ingenium quid possit meum.Si nunquam avare pretium statui arti meae,Et eum esse quaestum in animum induxi maximum,Quam maxime servire vestris commodis;Exemplum statuite in me, ut adolescentuliVobis placere studeant potius quam sibi.(CHREMES. MENEDEMUS.)CHREMES:Quanquam haec inter nos nupera notitia admodum est,Inde adeo quod agrum in proximo hic mercatus es,Nec rei fere sane amplius quicquam fuit;Tamen vel virtus tua me, vel vicinitas,Quod ego in propinqua parte amicitiae puto,Facit ut te audacter moneam et familiariter,Quod mihi videre praeter aetatem tuamFacere, et praeter quam res te adhortatur tua.Nam proh Deum atque hominum fidem, quid vis tibi?Quid quaeris? annos sexaginta natus es,Aut plus eo ut coniicio: agrum in his regionibusMeliorem, neque preti maioris, nemo habet;Servos complures: proinde quasi nemo siet,Ita tute attente illorum officia fungere.Nunquam tam mane egredior, neque tam vesperiDomum revertor, quin te in fundo conspicerFodere, aut arare, aut aliquid ferre. DeniqueNullum remittis tempus, neque te respicis.Haec non voluptati tibi esse satis certo scio.At enim dices, “Quantum hic operis fiat, poenitet.”Quod in opere faciendo operae consumis tuae,Si sumas in illis exercendis, plus agas.
MENEDEMUS:Have you so much leisure, Chremes, from your own affairs, that you can attend to those of others—those which don’t concern you?
MENEDEMUS:Chreme, tantumne est ab re tua oti tibiAliena ut cures, eaque nihil quae ad te attinent?
CHREMES:I am a man, and nothing that concerns a man do I deem a matter of indifference to me. Suppose that I wish either to advise you in this matter, or to be informed myself: if what you do is right, that I may do the same; if it is not, then that I may dissuade you.
CHREMES:Homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto.Vel me monere hoc, vel percontari puta.Rectum est? ego ut faciam: non est? te ut deterream.
MENEDEMUS:It’s requisite for me to do so; do you as it is necessary for you to do.
MENEDEMUS:Mihi sic est usus: tibi ut opus facto est, face.
CHREMES:Is it requisite for any person to torment himself?
CHREMES:An cuiquam est usus homini se ut cruciet?
MENEDEMUS:It is for me.
MENEDEMUS:Mihi.
CHREMES:If you have any affliction, I could wish it otherwise. But prithee, what sorrow is this of yours? How have you deserved so ill of yourself?
CHREMES:Si quid laboris est, nollem: sed quid istuc mali est,Quaeso? quid de te tantum meruisti?
MENEDEMUS:Alas! alas!(He begins to weep.)
MENEDEMUS:Eheu!
CHREMES:Do not weep, but make me acquainted with it, whatever it is.Do not be reserved; fear nothing; trust me, I tell you. Either by consolation, or by counsel, or by any means, I will aid you.
CHREMES:Ne lacrima: atque istuc quicquid est fac me ut sciam:Ne retice: ne verere: crede, inquam, mihi,Aut consolando, aut consilio, aut re iuvero.
MENEDEMUS:Do you wish to know this matter?
MENEDEMUS:Scire hoc vis?
CHREMES:Yes, and for the reason I mentioned to you.
CHREMES:Hac quidem causa qua dixi tibi.
MENEDEMUS:I will tell you.
MENEDEMUS:Dicetur.
CHREMES:But still, in the mean time, lay down that rake; don’t fatigue yourself.
CHREMES:At istos rastros interea tamenAppone: ne labora.
MENEDEMUS:By no means.
MENEDEMUS:Minime.
CHREMES:What can be your object?(Tries to take the rake from him.)
CHREMES:Quam rem agis?
MENEDEMUS:Do leave me alone, that I may give myself no respite from my labor.
MENEDEMUS:Sine me vacivum tempus ne quod dem mihiLaboris.
CHREMES:I will not allow it, I tell you.(Taking the rake from him.)
CHREMES:Non sinam, inquam.
MENEDEMUS:Ah! that’s not fair.
MENEDEMUS:Ah, non aequum facis.
CHREMES: (poising the rake.)Whew! such a heavy one as this, pray!
CHREMES:Hui, tam graves hos, quaeso?
MENEDEMUS:Such are my deserts.
MENEDEMUS:Sic meritum est meum.
CHREMES:Now speak.(Laying down the rake.)
CHREMES:Nunc loquere.
MENEDEMUS:I have an only son,—a young man,—alas! why did I say—“I have?”—rather I should say, “I had” one, Chremes:—whether I have him now, or not, is uncertain.
MENEDEMUS:Filium unicum adolescentulumHabeo: ah, quid dixi habere me? immo habui, Chreme:Nunc habeam necne incertum est.
CHREMES:Why so?
CHREMES:Quid ita istuc?
MENEDEMUS:You shall know:—There is a poor old woman here, a stranger from Corinth:—her daughter, a young woman, he fell in love with, insomuch that he almost regarded her as his wife; all this took place unknown to me. When I discovered the matter, I began to reprove him, not with gentleness,nor in the way suited to the love-sick mind of a youth, but with violence, and after the usual method of fathers. I was daily reproaching him,—“Look you, do you expect to be allowed any longer to act thus, myself, your father, being alive; to be keeping a mistress pretty much as though your wife?”“You are mistaken, Clinia, and you don’t know me, if you fancy that. I am willing that you should be called my son, just as long as you do what becomes you; but if you do not do so, I shall find out how it becomes me to act toward you. This arises from nothing, in fact, but too much idleness.”“At your time of life, I did not devote my time to dalliance, but, in consequence of my poverty, departed hence for Asia, and there acquired in arms both riches and military glory.” At length the matter came to this,—the youth, from hearing the same things so often, and with such severity, was overcome.He supposed that I, through age and affection, had more judgment and foresight for him than him-self. He went off to Asia, Chremes, to serve under the king.
MENEDEMUS:Scies.Est e Corintho hic advena anus paupercula:Eius filiam ille amare coepit perdite,Prope iam ut pro uxore haberet: haec clam me omnia.Ubi rem rescivi coepi non humanitus,Neque ut animum decuit aegrotum adolescentuli,Tractare; sed vi, et via pervulgata patrum.Quotidie accusabam. “Hem, tibine haec diutius”“Licere speras facere me vivo patre,”“Amicam ut habeas prope iam in uxoris loco?”“Erras, si id credis, et me ignoras, Clinia.”“Ego te meum esse dici tantisper volo,”“Dum, quod te dignum est, facies: sed si id non facis,”“Ego quod me in te sit facere dignum invenero.”“Nulla adeo ex re istuc fit nisi ex nimio otio.”“Ego istuc aetatis non amori operam dabam,”“Sed in Asiam hinc abii propter pauperiem; atque ibi”“Simul rem, et belli gloriam armis repperi.”Postremo adeo res rediit: adolescentulus,Saepe eadem et graviter audiendo victus est,Et aetate putavit me et benevolentiaPlus scire et providere quam se ipsum sibi.In Asiam ad regem militatum abiit, Chreme.
CHREMES:What is it you say?
CHREMES:Quid ais?
MENEDEMUS:He departed without my knowledge—and has been gone these three months.
MENEDEMUS:Clam me profectus, menses tres abest.
CHREMES:Both are to be blamed—although I still think this step shows an ingenuous and enterprising disposition.
CHREMES:Ambo accusandi; etsi illud inceptum tamenAnimi est pudentis signum, et non instrenui.
MENEDEMUS:When I learned this from those who were in the secret, I returned home sad, and with feelings almost over-whelmed and distracted through grief. I sit down; my servants run to me; they take off my shoes: then some make all haste to spread the couches,and to prepare a repast; each according to his ability did zealously what he could, in order to alleviate my sorrow. When I observed this, I began to reflect thus:—“What! are so many persons anxious for my sake alone, to pleasure myself only?”“Are so many female servants to provide me with dress? Shall I alone keep up such an expensive establishment, while my only son, who ought equally, or even more so, to enjoy these things—inasmuch as his age is better suited for the enjoyment of them—him, poor youth, have I driven away from home by my severity!”“Were I to do this, really I should deem myself deserving of any calamity. But so long as he leads this life of penury, banished from his country through my severity, I will revenge his wrongs upon myself, toiling, making money, saving, and laying up for him.”At once I set about it; I left nothing in the house, neither movables nor clothing; every thing I scraped together. Slaves, male and female, except those who could easily pay for their keep by working in the country, all of them I set up to auction and sold. I at once put up a billto sell my house. I collected somewhere about fifteen talents, and purchased this farm; here I fatigue myself: I have come to this conclusion, Chremes, that I do my son a less injury, while I am unhappy; and that it is not right for me to enjoy any pleasure here,until such time as he returns home safe to share it with me.
MENEDEMUS:Ubi comperi ex iis qui ei fuere conscii,Domum revertor moestus, atque animo ferePerturbato, atque incerto prae aegritudine:Assido; accurrunt servi, soccos detrahunt;Video alios festinare, lectos sternere,Coenam apparare: pro se quisque seduloFaciebat quo illam mihi lenirent miseriam.Ubi video haec, coepi cogitare: “Hem! tot mea”“Solius solliciti sint causa, ut me unum expleant?”“Ancillae tot me vestiant? sumtus domi”“Tantos ego solus faciam? sed gnatum unicum,”“Quem pariter uti his decuit, aut etiam amplius,”“Quod illa aetas magis ad haec utenda idonea est,”“Eum ego hinc eieci miserum iniustitia mea.”“Malo quidem me dignum quovis deputem,”“Si id faciam: nam usque dum ille vitam illam colet”“Inopem, carens patria ob meas iniurias,”“Interea usque illi de me supplicium dabo,”“Laborans, quaerens, parcens, illi serviens.”Ita facio prorsus: nihil relinquo in aedibusNec vas, nec vestimentum: conrasi omnia,Ancillas, servos, nisi eos qui opere rusticoFaciundo facile sumtum exercerent suum:Omnes produxi ac vendidi: inscripsi ilicoAedes mercede; quasi talenta ad quindecimCoegi; agrum hunc mercatus sum; hic me exerceo.Decrevi tantisper me minus iniuriae,Chreme, meo gnato facere dum fiam miser;Nec fas esse ulla me voluptate hic frui,Nisi ubi ille huc salvus redierit meus particeps.
CHREMES:I believe you to be of an affectionate disposition toward your children, and him to be an obedient son, if one were to manage him rightly or prudently. But neither did you understand him sufficiently well, nor he you—a thing that happens where persons don’t live on terms of frankness together.You never showed him how highly you valued him, nor did he ever dare put that confidence in you which is due to a father. Had this been done, these troubles would never have befallen you.
CHREMES:Ingenio te esse in liberos leni puto,Et illum obsequentem si quis recte aut commodeTractaret. Verum nec tu illum satis noveras,Nec te ille: hocque fit ubi non vere vivitur.Tu illum numquam ostendisti quanti penderes,Nec tibi ille est credere ausus quae est aequum patri;Quod si esset factum haec numquam evenissent tibi.
MENEDEMUS:Such is the fact, I confess; the greatest fault is on my side.
MENEDEMUS:Ita res est, fateor: peccatum a me maximum est.
CHREMES:But still, Menedemus, I hope for the best, andI trust that he’ll be here safe before long.
CHREMES:Menedeme, at porro recte spero, et illum tibiSalvum affuturum esse hic confido propediem.
MENEDEMUS:Oh that the Gods would grant it!
MENEDEMUS:Utinam ita Di faxint.
CHREMES:They will do so. Now, if it is convenient to you—the festival of Bacchus is being kept here to-day—I wish you to give me your company.
CHREMES:Facient: nunc, si commodum est,Dionysia hic sunt; hodie apud me sis volo.
MENEDEMUS:I can not.
MENEDEMUS:Non possum.
CHREMES:Why not? Do, pray, spare yourself a little while. Your absent son would wish you do so.
CHREMES:Cur non? quaeso, tandem aliquantulumTibi parce: idem absens facere te hoc vult filius.
MENEDEMUS:It is not right that I, who have driven him hence to endure hardships, should now shun them myself.
MENEDEMUS:Non convenit qui illum ad laborem impulerimNunc me ipsum fugere.
CHREMES:Is such your determination?
CHREMES:Sicine est sententia?
MENEDEMUS:It is.
MENEDEMUS:Sic.
CHREMES:Then kindly fare you wall.
CHREMES:Bene vale.
MENEDEMUS:And you the same.(Goes into his house.)
MENEDEMUS:Et tu.
CHREMES: (to himself.)He has forced tears from me, and I do pity him. But as the day is far gone, I must remind Phania, this neighbor of mine,to come to dinner. I’ll go see whether he is at home. (Goes to PHANIA’s door, makes the inquiry, and returns.) There was no occasion for me to remind him: they tell me he has been some time already at my house; it’s I myself am making my guests wait. I’ll go in-doors immediately. But what means the noise at the door of my house? I wonder who’s coming out! I’ll step aside here.(He stands aside.)
CHREMES:Lacrimas excussit mihi,Miseretque me eius. Sed, ut diei tempus est,Monere oportet me hunc vicinum Phaniam,Ad coenam ut veniat. Ibo, visam si domi est.Nihil opus fuit monitore: iam dudum domiPraesto apud me esse aiunt: egomet convivas moror.Ibo adeo hinc intro: sed quid crepuerunt foresHinc a me? quisnam egreditur? huc concessero.
(Enter CLITIPHO, from the house of CHREMES.)CLITIPHO: (at the door, to CLINIA within.)There is nothing, Clinia, for you to fear as yet: they have not been long by any means: and I am sure that she will be with you presently along with the messenger. Do at once dismiss these causeless apprehensions which are tormenting you.
(CLITIPHO. CHREMES.)CLITIPHO:Nihil adhuc est quod vereare, Clinia: haudquaquam etiam cessant:Et illam simul cum nuntio tibi hic ego affuturam hodie scio:Proin tu sollicitudinem istam falsam quae te excruciat mittas.
CHREMES: (apart.)Who is my son talking to?(Makes his appearance.)
CHREMES:Quicum loquitur filius?
CLITIPHO: (to himself.)Here comes my father, whom I wished to see: I’ll accost him. Father, you have met me opportunely.
CLITIPHO:Pater adest quem volui: adibo. Pater, opportune advenis.
CHREMES:What is the matter?
CHREMES:Quid id est?
CLITIPHO:Do you know this neighbor of ours, Menedemus?
CLITIPHO:Hunc Menedemum nostin nostrum vicinum?
CHREMES:Very well.
CHREMES:Probe.
CLITIPHO:Do you know that he has a son?
CLITIPHO:Huic filium scis esse?
CHREMES:I have heard that he has; in Asia.
CHREMES:Audivi esse in Asia.
CLITIPHO:He is not in Asia, father; he is at: our house.
CLITIPHO:Non est, pater:Apud nos est.
CHREMES:What is it you say?
CHREMES:Quid ais?
CLITIPHO:Upon his arrival, after he had just landed from the ship, I immediately brought him to dine with us; for from our very childhood upward I have always been on intimate terms with him.
CLITIPHO:Advenientem, e navi egredientem, ilicoAdduxi ad coenam: nam mihi magna cum eo iam inde usque a pueritiaFuit semper familiaritas.
CHREMES:You announce to me a great pleasure.How much I wish that Menedemus had accepted my invitation to make one of us: that at my house I might have been the first to surprise him, when not expecting it, with this delight!—and even yet there’s time enough—
CHREMES:Voluptatem magnam nuntias.Quam vellem Menedemum invitatum ut nobiscum esset hodie amplius;Ut hanc laetitiam nec opinanti primus ei obiicerem domi:Atque etiam nunc tempus est.
CLITIPHO:Take care what you do; there is no necessity, father, for doing so.
CLITIPHO:Cave faxis: non opus est, pater.
CHREMES:For what reason?
CHREMES:Quapropter?
CLITIPHO:Why, because he is as yet undetermined what to do with himself. He is but just arrived. He fears every thing; his father’s displeasure, and how his mistress may be disposed toward him.He loves her to distraction: on her account, this trouble and going abroad took place.
CLITIPHO:Quia enim incertum est etiam, quid se faciat. Modo venit;Timet omnia, patris iram et animum amicae se erga ut siet suae:Eam misere amat: propter eam haec turba atque abitio evenit.
CHREMES:I know it.
CHREMES:Scio.
CLITIPHO:He has just sent a servant into the city to her, and I ordered our Syrus to go with him.
CLITIPHO:Nunc servulum ad eam in urbem misit, et ego nostrum una Syrum.
CHREMES:What does Clinia say?
CHREMES:Quid narrat?
CLITIPHO:What does he say? That he is wretched.
CLITIPHO:Quid ille? miserum se esse.
CHREMES:Wretched? Whom could we less suppose so? What is there wanting for him to enjoy every thing that among men, in fact, are esteemed as blessings? Parents, a country in prosperity, friends, family, relations, riches?And yet, all these are just according to the disposition of him who possesses them. To him who knows how to use them, they are blessings; to him who does not use them rightly, they are evils.
CHREMES:Miserum? quem minus crederes?Quid reliqui est quin habeat quae quidem in homine dicuntur bona;Parentes, patriam incolumem, amicos, genus, cognatos, divitias?Atque haec perinde sunt ut illius animus qui ea possidet:Qui uti scit ei bona; illi qui non utitur recte mala.
CLITIPHO:Aye, but lie always was a morose old man; and now I dread nothing more, father, than that in his displeasure he’ll be doing something to him more than is justifiable.
CLITIPHO:Immo ille fuit senex importunus semper: et nunc nihil magisVereor quam ne quid in illum iratus plus satis faxit, pater.
CHREMES:What, he? (Aside.) But I’ll restrain myself; for that the other one should be in fear of his father is of service to him.
CHREMES:Illene? sed reprimam me: nam in metu esse hunc illi est utile.
CLITIPHO:What is it you are saying to yourself?
CLITIPHO:Quid tute tecum?
CHREMES:I’ll tell you. However the case stood, Clinia ought still to have remained at home. Perhaps his father was a little stricter than he liked: he should have put up with it. For whom ought he to bear with, if he would not bear with his own father? Was it reasonable that he should live after his son’s humor, or his son after his? And as to charging him with harshness, it is not the fact. For the severities of fathersare generally of one character, those I mean who are in some degree reasonable men. They do not wish their sons to be always wenching; they do not wish them to be always carousing; they give a limited allowance; and yet all this tends to virtuous conduct. But when the mind, Clitipho, has once enslaved itself by vicious appetites, it must of necessity follow similar pursuits. Thisis a wise maxim, “to take warning from others of what may be to your own advantage.”
CHREMES:Dicam: ut ut erat, mansum tamen oportuit.Fortasse aliquantum iniquior erat praeter eius libidinem:Pateretur; nam quem ferret, si parentem non ferret suum?Huncine erat aequum ex illius more, an illum ex huius vivere?Et quod illum insimulat durum, id non est: nam parentum iniuriaeUniusmodi sunt ferme, paulo qui est homo tolerabilis.Scortari crebro nolunt; nolunt crebro convivarier:Praebent exigue sumtum: atque haec sunt tamen ad virtutem omnia.Verum ubi animus semel se cupiditate devinxit mala,Necesse est, Clitipho, consilia consequi consimilia: hocScitum est; periculum ex aliis facere, tibi quod ex usu siet.
CLITIPHO:I believe so.
CLITIPHO:Ita credo.
CHREMES:I’ll now go hence in-doors, to see what we have for dinner. Do you, seeing what is the time of day, mind and take care not to be any where out of the way.(Goes into his house, and exit CLITIPHO.)
CHREMES:Ego ibo hinc intro, ut videam nobis quid coenae siet.Tu, ut tempus est diei, vide sis ne quo hinc abeas longius.
(Enter CLITIPHO.)CLITIPHO: (to himself.)What partial judges are all fathers in regard to all of us young men, in thinking it reasonable for us to become old men all at once from boys,and not to participate in those things which youth is naturally inclined to. They regulate us by their own desires,—such as they now are,—not as they once were. If ever I have a son, he certainly shall find in me an indulgent father. For the means both of knowing and of pardoning his faults shall be found by me; not like mine, who by means of another person, discloses to me his own sentiments.I’m plagued to death,—when he drinks a little more than usual, what pranks of his own he does relate to me! Now he says, “Take warning from others of what may be to your advantage.” How shrewd! He certainly does not know how deaf I am at the moment when he’s telling his stories. Just now, the words of my mistress make more impression upon me. “Give me this, and bring me that,” she cries; I have nothing to say to her in answer, and no one is there more wretched than myself.But this Clinia, although he, as well, has cares enough of his own, still has a mistress of virtuous and modest breeding, and a stranger to the arts of a courtesan. Mine is a craving, saucy, haughty, extravagant creature, full of lofty airs. Then all that I have to give her is—fair words —for I make it a point not to tell her that I have nothing. This misfortune I met with not long since, nor does my father as yet know any thing of the matter.(Exit.)
(CLITIPHO.)CLITIPHO:Quam iniqui sunt patres in omnes adolescentes iudices,Qui aequum esse censent nos iam a pueris ilico nasci senes,Neque illarum affines esse rerum quas fert adolescentia.Ex sua libidine moderantur, nunc quae est, non quae olim fuit.Mihi si unquam filius erit, nae ille facili me utetur patre;Nam et cognoscendi et ignoscendi dabitur peccati locus;Non ut meus, qui mihi per alium ostendit suam sententiam.Perii! is mihi, ubi adbibit plus paulo, sua quae narrat facinora!Nunc ait, “Periculum ex aliis facito, tibi quod ex usu siet:”Astutus: nae ille haud scit quam mihi nunc surdo narret fabulam.Magis nunc me amicae dicta stimulant: “Da mihi, atque affer mihi;”Cui quid respondeam nihil habeo; neque me quisquam est miserior:Nam hic Clinia, etsi is quoque suarum rerum satagit, attamenHabet bene ac pudice eductam, ignaram artis meretriciae.Mea est potens, procax, magnifica, sumtuosa, nobilis.Tum quod dem ei recte est; nam, nihil esse mihi, religio est dicere.Hoc ego mali non pridem inveni; neque etiamdum scit pater.
(Enter CLINIA from the house of CHREMES.)CLINIA: (to himself.)If my love-affairs had been prosperous for me, I am sure she would have been here by this; but I’m afraid that the damsel has been led astray here in my absence. Many things combine to strengthen this opinion in my mind; opportunity, the place, her age, a worthless mother, under whose control she is, with whom nothing but gain is precious.(Enter CLITIPHO.)
(CLINIA. CLITIPHO.)CLINIA:Si mihi secundae res de amore meo essent, iamdudum, scio,Venissent: sed vereor ne mulier me absente hic corrupta sit.Concurrunt multae opiniones quae mihi animum exaugeant;Occasio, locus, aetas, mater cuius sub imperio est mala;Cui nihil iam praeter pretium dulce est.
CLITIPHO:Clinia!
CLITIPHO:Clinia.
CLINIA:Alas! wretched me!
CLINIA:Hei misero mihi!
CLITIPHO:Do, pray, take care that no one coming out of your father’s house sees you here by accident.
CLITIPHO:Etiam caves ne videat forte hinc te a patre aliquis exiens?
CLINIA:I will do so; but really my mind presages I know not what misfortune.
CLINIA:Faciam: sed nescio quid profecto mihi animus praesagit mali.
CLITIPHO:Do you persist in making up your mind upon that, before you know what is the fact?
CLITIPHO:Pergin istuc prius diiudicare quam scis quid veri siet?
CLINIA:Had no misfortune happened, she would have been here by this.
CLINIA:Si nihil mali esset, iam hic adessent.
CLITIPHO:She’ll be here presently.
CLITIPHO:Iam aderunt.
CLINIA:When will that presently be?
CLINIA:Quando istuc erit?
CLITIPHO:You don’t consider that it is a great way fiom here. Besides, you know the ways of women,while they are bestirring themselves, and while they are making preparations a whole year passes by.
CLITIPHO:Non cogitas hinc longule esse? et nosti mores mulierum:Dum moliuntur, dum conantur, annus est.
CLINIA:O Clitipho, I’m afraid—
CLINIA:O Clitipho,Timeo.
CLITIPHO:Take courage. Look, here comes Dromo, together with Syrus: they are close at hand.(They stand aside.)
CLITIPHO:Respira: eccum Dromonem cum Syro: una adsunt tibi.
(Enter SYRUS and DROMO, conversing at a distance.)SYRUS:Do you say so?DROMO:’Tis as I told you,—but in the mean time, while we’ve been carrying on our discourse, these women have been left behind.
(SYRUS.DROMO.CLITIPHO. CLINIA.)SYRUS:Ain tu?DROMO:Sic est.SYRUS:Verum interea dum sermones caedimus,Illae sunt relictae.
CLITIPHO: (apart.)Don’t you hear, Clinia? Your mistress is close at hand.
CLITIPHO:Mulier tibi adest; audin, Clinia?
CLINIA: (apart.)Why yes, I do hear now at last, and I see and revive, Clitipho.
CLINIA:Ego vero audio nunc demum et video et valeo, Clitipho.
DROMO:No wonder; they are so encumbered; they are bringing a troop of female attendants with them.
DROMO:Minime mirum, adeo impeditae sunt: ancillarum gregemDucunt secum.
CLINIA: (apart.)I’m undone! Whence come these female attendants?
CLINIA:Perii. Unde illi sunt ancillae?
CLITIPHO: (apart.)Do you ask me?
CLITIPHO:Men rogas?
SYRUS:We ought not to have left them; what a quantity of things they are bringing!
SYRUS:Non oportuit relictas: portant quid rerum!
CLINIA: (apart.)Ah me!
CLINIA:Hei mihi.
SYRUS:Jewels of gold, and clothes; it’s growing late too, and they don’t know the way. It was very foolish of us to leave them. Just go back, Dromo, and meet them. Make haste—why do you delay?(Exit DROMO).)
SYRUS:Aurum, vestem: et vesperascit, et non noverunt viam.Factum a nobis stulte est: abidum tu, Dromo, illis obviam,Propera: quid stas?
CLINIA: (apart.)Woe unto wretched me!—from what high hopes am I fallen!
CLINIA:Vae misero mihi, quanta de spe decidi!
CLITIPHO: (apart.)What’s the matter? Why, what is it that troubles you?
CLITIPHO:Quid istuc? quae res te sollicitat autem?
CLINIA: (apart.)Do you ask what it is? Why, don’t you see? Attendants, jewels of gold, and clothes. her too, whom I left here with only one little servant girl. Whence do you suppose that they come?
CLINIA:Rogitas quid siet?Viden tu ancillas, aurum, vestem? quam ego cum una ancillulaHic reliqui. Unde ea esse censes?
CLITIPHO: (apart.)Oh! now at last I understand you.
CLITIPHO:Vah! nunc demum intelligo.
SYRUS: (to himself.)Good Gods! what a multitude there is! Our house will hardly hold them, I’m sure.How much they will eat! how much they will drink! what will there be more wretched than our old gentleman? (Catching sight of CLINIA and CLITIPHO.) But look, I espy the persons I was wanting.
SYRUS:Di boni, quid turbae est? aedes nostrae vix capient, scio.Quid comedent? quid ebibent? quid sene erit nostro miserius?Sed video eccos quos volebam.
CLINIA: (apart.)Oh Jupiter! Why, where is fidelity gone? While I, distractedly wandering, have abandoned my country for your sake, you, in the mean time, Antiphila, have been enriching yourself, and have forsaken me in these troubles, you for whose sake I am in extreme disgrace, and have been disobedient to my father;on whose account I am now ashamed and grieved, that he who used to lecture me about the manners of these women, advised me in vain, and was not able to wean me away from her:—which, however, I shall now do; whereas when it might have been advantageous to me to do so, I was unwilling. There is no being more wretched than I.
CLINIA:O Iupiter, ubinam est fides?Dum ego propter te errans patria careo demens, tu interea lociConlocupletasti te, Antiphila; et me in his deseruisti malis;Propter quam in summa infamia sum, et meo patri minus obsequens;Cuius nunc pudet me et miseret, qui harum mores cantabat mihiMonuisse frustra; neque potuisse unquam ab hac me expellere;Quod tamen nunc faciam: tum quum gratum mihi esse potuit nolui.Nemo est miserior me.
SYRUS: (to himself.)He certainly has been misled by our words which we have been speaking here. (Aloud.) Clinia, you imagine your mistress quite different from what she really is.For both her mode of life is the same, and her disposition toward you is the same as it always was; so far as we could form a judgment from the circumstances themselves.
SYRUS:Hic de nostris verbis errat videlicetQuae hic sumus locuti. Clinia, aliter tuum amorem atque est accipis:Nam et vita est eadem, et animus te erga idem ac fuit;Quantum ex ipsa re coniecturam cepimus.
CLINIA:How so, prithee? For nothing in the world could I rather wish for just now, than that I have suspected this without reason.
CLINIA:Quid est, obsecro? nam mihi nunc nihil rerum omnium estQuod malim quam me hoc falso suspicarier.
SYRUS:This, in the first place, then (that you may not be ignorant of any thing that concerns her); the old woman,who was formerly said to be her mother, was not so.—She is dead: this I overheard by accident from her, as we came along, while she was telling the other one.
SYRUS:Hoc primum, ut ne quid huius rerum ignores; anusQuae est dicta mater esse ei antehac non fuit:Ea obiit mortem: hoc ipsa in itinere alteraeDum narrat forte audivi.
CLITIPHO:Pray, who is the other one?
CLITIPHO:Quaenam est altera?
SYRUS:Stay; what I have begun I wish first to relate, Clitipho; I shall come to that afterward.
SYRUS:Mane: hoc quod coepi primum enarrem, Clitipho:Post istuc veniam.
CLITIPHO:Make haste, then.
CLITIPHO:Propera.
SYRUS:First of all then,when we came to the house, Dromo knocked at the door; a certain old woman came out; when she opened the door, he directly rushed in; I followed; the old woman bolted the door, and returned to her wool. On this occasion might be known, Clinia, or else on none,in what pursuits she passed her life during your absence; when we thus came upon a female unexpectedly. For this circumstance then gave us an opportunity of judging of the course of her daily life; a thing which especially discovers what is the disposition of each individual.We found her industriously plying at the web; plainly clad in a mourning dress, on account of this old woman, I suppose, who was lately dead; without golden ornaments, dressed, besides, just like those who only dress for themselves, and patched up with no worthless woman’s trumpery.Her hair was loose, long, and thrown back negligently about her temples. (To CLINIA.) Do you hold your peace.
SYRUS:Iam primum omnium,Ubi ventum ad aedes est, Dromo pultat fores:Anus quaedam prodit: haec ubi aperuit ostium,Continuo hic se coniecit intro: ego consequor.Anus foribus obdit pessulum; ad lanam redit.Hinc sciri potuit, aut nusquam alibi, Clinia,Quo studio vitam suam te absente exegerit,Ubi de improviso interventum est mulieri:Nam ea res dedit tum existimandi copiamQuotidianae vitae consuetudinem,Quae cuiusque ingenium ut sit declarat maxime:Texentem telam studiose ipsam offendimus,Mediocriter vestitam veste lugubri,Eius anuis causa, opinor, quae erat mortua;Sine auro, tum ornatam ita uti quae ornantur sibi;Nulla mala re esse expolitam muliebri;Capillus passus, prolixus, circum caputReiectus negligenter: pax.
CLINIA:My dear Syrus, do not without cause throw me into ecstasies, I beseech you.
CLINIA:Syre mi, obsecro,Ne me in laetitiam frustra coniicias.