Publius Terentius Afer [Terence]
195-159 BC
Trans RMBullard
Latin (Republican Era)
P. TERENTI AFRI ANDRIA
DIDASCALIA
INCIPIT ANDRIA TERENTI [So begins Terence's Andria]
ACTA LVDIS MEGALENSIBVS [Put on at the Megalensian Games]
M. FVLVIO M'. GLABRIONE AEDILIB. CVRVLIB. [For the aediles of curule rank Marcus Fulvius and Marcus Glabrio]
EGERE L. AMBIVIVS TVRPIO L. HATILIVS PRAENESTINVS [Played by Lucius Ambivivus and Lucius Hatilius from Praeneste]
MODOS FECIT FLACCVS CLAVDI [Flaccius Claudius performed the music]
TIBIS PARIBVS TOTA [Everything was played to a pair of pipes]
GRAECA MENANDRV
FACTA PRIMA [The Greek version was first written by Menander]
M. MARCELLO C. SVLPICIO COS. [Performed during the consul years of Marcus Marcellus and Gaius Sulpicius]
PERSONAE [characters]
PROLOGUS [prologue]
SIMO SENEX [Simo the old man]
SOSIA LIBERTVS [Sosia the freedman]
DAVOS SERVOS [Davos the slave]
MYSIS ANCILLA [Mysis the slave woman]
PAMPHILVS ADVLESCENS [The young man Pamphilos]
CHARINVS ADVLESCENS [The young man Charinos]
BYRRIA SERVOS [Burria the slave]
LESBIA OBSTETRIX [Lesbia the midwife]
GLYCERIVM MVLIER [Glycerium the wife]
CHREMES SENEX [Chermes the old man]
CRITO SENEX [Crito the old man
DROMO LORARIVS [Dromo the charioteer]
PERIOCHA
G. SVLPICI APOLLINARIS [Introduction by Gaius Sulpicius Apollinaris]
Sororem falso creditam meretriculae
Genere Andriae, Glycerium, uitiat Pamphilus
[Disguising himself as Andria, Pamphilos has a sexual affair with Glycerium, the sister of a courtesan,]
Grauidaque facta dat fidem, uxorem sibi
Fore hanc;
[and after knocking her up, he proposes to her so as to make her his wife;]
namque aliam pater ei desponderat,
Gnatam Chremetis, atque ut amorem comperit,
Simulat futuras nuptias,
[By this token, his father had already bethroted his daughter of Chremes to this man, and as soon as he finds out the love affair, he pretends to plan a future wedding,]
cupiens suus
Quid haberet animi filius cognoscere.
[since he desires to know what his son had in mind.]
Daui suasu non repugnat Pamphilus.
[Pamphilos does not refuse Davos' advice.]
Sed ex Glycerio natum ut uidit puerulum
Chremes, recusat nuptias, generum abdicat.
[But Cremes, as soon as he sees the young boy born from Glycerium, refuses the marriage, and disowns his son in law.]
Mox Pamphilo, aliam dat Charino coniugem.
[Sooner or later though, he gives her to Pamphilus, and another wife to Charinos.]
PROLOGVS
Poeta quom primum animum ad scribendum adpulit,
[The poet who first sets his mind to writing,]
id sibi negoti credidit solum dari,
[he believed that it alone should be of importance to him]
populo ut placerent quas fecisset fabulas.
[that he had made stories that were pleasing to the people.]
verum aliter evenire multo intellegit;
[but otherwise he understands by far how it will turn out;]
nam in prologis scribundis operam abutitur, 5
[you see, a man does abuse to his play by writing the prologue]
non qui argumentum narret
[not when he tells the set of his story's events]
sed qui malevoli
veteris poetae maledictis respondeat.
[but when he replies to the criticisms of an old and ill-wishing poet.]
nunc quam rem vitio dent quaeso animum adtendite.
[Now pay attention, I beg you, to the issue that causes their criticism.]
Menander fecit Andriam et Perinthiam.
[Menander wrote the 'Andria' and 'Perinthia']
qui utramvis recte norit ambas noverit: 10
[any one who rightly knows, should know that he wrote both.]
non ita dissimili sunt argumento,
[So they do not have a different plot]
[s]et tamen
dissimili oratione sunt factae ac stilo.
[in any event, they were made in a different mode of speech and style.]
quae convenere in Andriam ex Perinthia
fatetur transtulisse atque usum pro suis.
[The things that happened in the Andria are those he is said to have takenfrom the Perinthia, and so the case remains for his own works.]
id isti vituperant factum
[These are the kinds of fellows who cast spite upon this act]
atque in eo disputant 15
contaminari non decere fabulas.
[and they dispute that it is improper for the stories to be mixed in the one tonight.]
faciuntne intellegendo ut nil intellegant?
[Do they act like they understand, so that they don't?]
qui quom hunc accusant,
[Wherefore they who accuse this man here,]
Naevium Plautum Ennium
accusant
[also accuse Naevius, Plautus, and Ennius]
quos hic noster auctores habet,
[who are authors from whom ours takes his cue]
quorum aemulari exoptat neglegentiam 20
[and whose negligence he wishes to emulate]
potius quam istorum obscuram diligentiam.
[more than the hard work of unknown writers.]
de(h)inc ut quiescant porro moneo
[So now I advise that the people here be quiet,]
et desinant
male dicere,
[and stop talking shit]
malefacta ne noscant sua.
[unless they should wish to hear about their own foul deeds.]
favete,
[Show us love]
adeste aequo animo
[come with no bias]
et rem cognoscite,
[and understand the situation]
ut pernoscatis ecquid <spei> sit relicuom, 25
[so that you truly know whether
posthac quas faciet de integro comoedias,
[afterwhich, whatever comedies he might make anew,]
spectandae an exigendae sint vobis prius.
[let them be first and foremost watched and played before you all.]
ACTVS I [Act 1]
Simo Sosia
SI. Vos istaec intro auferte:
[You there, bring those things inside.]
abite.
[Now go away.]
-- Sosia,
[Sosia.]
ades dum:
[Come here now.]
paucis te volo.
[I want to you talk to you for a bit.]
SO. dictum puta:
[Think about what you say:]
nempe ut curentur recte haec?
[Do you mean things that things like these have been taken care of?]
SI. immo aliud.
[Why, in fact, something else.]
SO. quid est 30
quod tibi mea ars efficere hoc possit amplius?
[What more can my skills manage to accomplish for you than this?]
SI. nil istac opus est arte ad hanc rem quam paro,
[There's no need for anything more than the matter I'm now preparing,]
sed eis quas semper in te intellexi sitas,
[but only for those that I've come to understand have been put in your hands,]
fide et taciturnitate.
[with loyalty and refusal to blurt out.]
SO. exspecto quid velis.
[I await the thing you wish for.]
SI. ego postquam te emi,
[Well, after I bought you,]
a parvolo ut semper tibi 35
apud me iusta et clemens fuerit servitus
scis.
[since the time you were a young squirt, you know that my house's always been just and merciful to you.]
feci ex servo ut esses libertus mihi,
[I turned you from a slave, so that you could my freedman,]
propterea quod servibas liberaliter:
[so that you would freely do service:]
quod habui summum pretium persolvi tibi.
[one of the greatest costs I've had to pay on your behalf.]
SO. in memoria habeo.
[I do remember.]
SI. haud muto factum.
[I've not changed our arrangement.]
SO. gaudeo 40
si tibi quid feci
[I'm glad to hear I've do something for you,]
aut facio quod placeat, Simo,
[or rather, that I do anything that might please you, Simo,]
et id gratum <fui>sse advorsum te habeo gratiam.
[I thank you for having this reason for gratitude, by your account.]
sed hoc mihi molestumst;
[but something like this pisses me off;]
nam istaec commemoratio
quasi exprobratiost inmemoris benefici.
[you see, a reminder like this is kinda like criticism of an unrecognized favor.]
quin tu uno verbo dic quid est quod me velis. 45
[but come now, really you, tell me the deal about what it is you want me to do.]
SI. ita faciam.
[Ok, I do it.]
hoc primum in hac re praedico tibi:
[But first, I'll now say this to you about the matter:]
quas credis esse has non sunt verae nuptiae.
[the marriage that you
SO. quor simulas igitur?
[So why the hell are you pretending so?]
SI. rem omnem a principio audies:
[Just listen to the whole scheme from the beginning:]
<eo> pacto et gnati vitam et consilium meum
cognosces
[By that token, you will know my son's life, and my decision,]
et quid facere in hac re te velim. 50
[and why I want to involve you in my plot.]
nam is postquam excessit ex ephebis, Sosia,
[you see, Sosia, ever since he grew up from his coming of age,]
<et>
~liberius vivendi fuit potestas~
[and and his life became more freely,]
(nam antea
qui scire posses aut ingenium noscere,
[you see, how could you know beforehand, and understand his character,]
dum aetas metus magister prohibebant?
[while his age, his fear, and his teacher stand in the way?]
SO. itast.)
[That's the case.]
SI. quod plerique omnes faciunt adulescentuli, 55
[But very often, all the young teens act,]
ut animum ad aliquod studium adiungant,
[in any way they can join their character and some passion of theirs,]
aut equos
alere aut canes ad venandum aut ad philosophos,
[be it horses, or gambling, or dogs, or going hunting, or following philosophers around,]
horum ille nil egregie praeter cetera
studebat
[so he, among them, wasn't feeling any tremendously stranger passion beyond the rest,]
et tamen omnia haec mediocriter.
[and, in fact, all of these kinds are rather moderate.]
gaudebam.
[I was glad for him.]
SO. non iniuria;
[That's no offense;]
