Titus Maccius Plautus {Plautus}
254-185 BC
Trans RMBullard
Latin (Republican Era)
T. MACCI PLAVTI CISTELLARIA
PERSONAE [Characters]
SELENIVM MERETRIX [Selenium the courtesan]
GYMNASIVM MERETRIX [Gymnasium the courtesan]
LENA [The she-pimp]
AVXILIVM DEVS [Aulixium the god]
ALCESIMARCHVS ADVLESCENS [Alcesimarchus the young man]
SERVVS [The slave]
SENEX [the old man]
LAMPADIO SERVVS [Lampadio the slave]
MELAENIS LENA [Melaenis the she-pimp]
PHANOSTRATA MATRONA [Phanostrata the matron]
HALISCA ANCILLA [Halisca the slave woman]
DEMIPHO SENEX [Demipho the old man]
ARGVMENTVM
[Plot]
Comprimit adulescens Lemnius Sicyoniam,
[The young man Lemnius beds Sicyonia,]
Is redit in patriam, et gnatam generat nuptiis.
[and he returns to his native country and fathers a baby girl from his lawful wedded wife.]
Sicyonia aeque parit puellam.
[Sicyonia likewise begets a girl.]
hanc servolus
Tollit atque exponit,
[A young slave boy raises her, then exposes her]
et ex insidiis aucupat.
[and relies on these drastic tricks.]
Eam sublatam meretrix alli detulit.
[A courtesan adopts and brings her down to raise her.]
Lemno post rediens ducit quam compresserat
[After returning from Lemnos, he leads back the same woman he had wedded,]
Lemnique natam spondet adulescentulo
Amore capto illius proiecticiae.
[and he betrothes his daugther to a young man from Lemnos, who's been seized by love for that castaway girl I mentioned.]
Requirens servos reperit quam proiecerat.
[The slave, after make an inquiry, discovers the girl he had beforehand cast away.]
Itaque lege et rite civem cognitam
Alcesimarchus, ut erat nactus, possidet.
[And so, Alcesimarchus, gains possession of her, now a recognized citizen, by rights of law and custom, just as he had gained her.]
ACTVS 1 - Act I
SELENIVM Cum ego antehac te amavi et mi amicam esse crevi,
mea Gymnasium, et matrem tuam, tum id mihi hodie
aperuistis, tu atque haec:
[As I did so love you (and your mother), even before this moment, and I made you my girlfriend, my dear Gymnasion, only then have you revealed this thing to me today, I mean you and her:]
soror si mea esses,
[if you were my sister,]
qui magis potueritis mihi honorem ire habitum,
[who more will've managed to return my honor that I once held,]
nescio, nisi, ut meus est animus, fieri non posse arbitror;
[I know not, unless--so is my own prediction--I think it not possible to happen;]
ita omnibus relictis rebus mihi frequentem operam dedistis.
[and so, you have given me relief, at the point when all my affairs have been forsaken.]
eo ego vos amo et eo a me magnam iniistis gratiam.
[For this, I do indeed love you both, and, for this, you have brought this wonderful gift by my side.]
GYMNASIVM Pol isto quidem nos pretio facile est frequentare
tibi utilisque habere:
[Well golly, really, visiting us is worth this manageable price, and having us is a useful thing to you:]
ita in prandio nos lepide ac nitide 10
accepisti apud te,
[and so, you welcomed us on a splendid and sunny lunch hour, at your place,]
ut semper meminerimus.
[as we shall always recall.]
SEL. Lubenti edepol animo factum et fiet a me,
[Yes, by god, and may I have done so when my mind was willing,]
quae vos arbitrabor velle, ea ut expetessam.
[I mean, the very things I think you both wanted were what I had long sought for.]
LENA Quod ille dixit, qui secundo vento vectus est tranquillo
mari,
ventum gaudeo
["I cheer for wind!", that's what a famous man said, a man carried across the tranquil swell of sea upon a favorable breeze]
ecastor ad ted, ita hodie hic acceptae sumus 15
suavibus modis,
[and good grief, same for you: so here today we've been welcomed in sweet overtures,]
nec nisi disciplina apud te fuit quicquam ibi quin mihi placeret.
[why, except there was not a damn thing, when it comes to you, that could place me, in that station, except for strict discipline.]
SEL. Quid ita, amabo?
[So what now, if I may ask?]
LENA. Raro nimium dabat quod biberem,
id merum infuscabat.
[All too seldomly, whatever he gave that I would guzzle down, he would stir it into the pure stuff.]
GYMN. Amabo, hicine istud decet?
[Now, please, does he really deserve something like this?]
LENA. Iusque fasque
est: 19-20
[It's just and right.]
nemo alienus hic est.
[No one's a stranger here.]
SEL. Merito vostro amo vos, 21
[On your merit, I love you all,]
quia me colitis et magni facitis.
[because you worship and make a big deal about me.]
LENA. Decet pol, mea Selenium,
hunc esse ordinem benevolentis inter se
beneque amicitia utier,
[Well geez, my dear Selenium, it's only right this be the order of well-wishers between themselves, and that I make good use of our friendly arrangement]
ubi istas videas summo genere natas, summatis matronas,
[when you behold these girls, fathered from the greatest brood of people, you call them matrons,]
ut amicitiam colunt atque ut eam iunctam bene habent inter se.
[because they honor friendly arrangements, and they hold it hard and fast between each other.]
si idem istud nos faciamus,
[All the same, if we ourselves do something like that,]
si idem imitemur,
[if we likewise copycat,]
ita tamen vix vivimus
cum invidia summa.
[even still, barely turns out how we live with the greatest ill will you can imagine.]
suarum opum nos volunt esse indigentes.
[They want us to be experts of their own goings-on.]
nostra copia nil volunt nos potesse 29-30
suique omnium rerum nos indigere,
[they don't want us to manage our own brood and mind the business that belongs to oneself,]
ut sibi simus supplices.
[all so that we can be beggars to them.]
eas si adeas,
[Go away, if you come,]
abitum quam aditum malis,
[you prefer leaving over approaching,]
ita nostro ordini
palam blandiuntur,
[they're charmed by our ranks so out in the open,]
clam, si occasio usquam est,
[secretly, if there's ever the occasion,]
aquam frigidam subdole suffundunt.
[they pour ice water right over their scandal.]
viris cum suis praedicant nos solere,
[They claim that we've grown familiar with their men,]
suas paelices esse aiunt,
[they say we're their mistresses,]
eunt depressum.
[they get despondent.]
quia nos libertinae sumus,
[Since it's we who are the freedwomen,]
et ego et tua mater, ambae
meretrices fuimus:
[and I myself, and your mother, both of us used to be courtesans:]
illa te, ego hanc mihi educavi
ex patribus conventiciis.
[that woman led you out, and I led her out, for my purposes, from the abuses of your father.]
neque ego hanc superbiai 40
causa pepuli ad meretricium quaestum,
[And I declare, I didn't push her to a courtesan's career on account of pride,]
nisi ut ne esurirem.
[not so long as I risk going hungry.]
SEL. At satius fuerat eam viro dare nuptum potius.
[But it had been more than fair to rather betroth her to a man.]
LENA.
Heia,
haec quidem ecastor cottidie viro nubit,
[Ah well, by golly, this girl technically "weds a man" everyday,]
nupsitque hodie,
[and she "got married" today,]
nubet mox noctu:
[she'll be "getting married" soon tonight:]
