Scene 3.
ENTER _Lydus_ AND _Philoxenus_.
_Lydus_
Nunc experiar, sitne aceto tibi cor acre in pectore. sequere.
(_struggling to control himself_) Now we shall see whether or no you have a heart of fiery feeling within you. Follow me!
_Phil._
Quo sequar? quo ducis nunc me?
(_calmly_) Follow you where? Where are you taking me to now?
_Lydus_
Ad illam quae tuom perdidit, pessum dedit tibi filium unice unicum
To the woman who has depraved, destroyed your one and only son!
_Phil._
Heia, Lyde, leniter qui saeviunt sapiunt magis. minus mirandumst, illaec aetas si quid illorum facit, quam si non faciat. feci ego istaec itidem in adulescentia. 410
Gently, gently, Lydus! “Ire restrained is wisdom gained.” It’s less surprising to have a youngster up to something of that kind than not. I’ve done the same sort of thing myself in my younger days.
_Lydus_
Ei mihi, ei mihi, istaec illum perdidit assentatio nam absque te esset, ego illum haberem rectum ad ingenium bonum nunc propter te tuamque pravos factus est fiduciam Pistoclerus.
Oh-h-h dear, oh dear! It is that very tolerance that has been his undoing. Why, but for you, I should have made a good moral man of him: as it is, you and your support have made a debauchee of Pistoclerus.
_Mnes._
Di immortales, meum sodalem hic nominat. quid hoc negoti est, Pistoclerum Lydus quod erum tam ciet?
(_aside_) Good God! My chum’s name! What does this mean-- Lydus running down his master Pistoclerus so?
_Phil._
Paulisper, Lyde est libido homini suo animo obsequi; iam aderit tempus, cum sese etiam ipse oderit. morem geras; dum caveatur, praeter aequom ne quid delinquat, sine.
A man’s eager to have his fling for a little while, Lydus; the time will soon come when he’ll actually loathe himself for it. Give him rein; so long as he’s careful not to go too far in his indiscretions, why, let him be.
_Lydus_
Non sino, neque equidem illum me vivo corrumpi sinam. sed tu, qui pro tam corrupto dicis causam filio, 420 eademne erat haec disciplina tibi, cum tu adulescens eras? nego tibi hoc annis viginti fuisse primis copiae, digitum longe a paedagogo pedem ut efferres aedibus.
I will not let him be, no, nor let him be corrupted and live to see it, never! But you--with your pleas for a son so corrupted--was your own training of this same sort when you were a young man? I say no, I say you never had a chance during the first twenty years of your life to stir a single finger’s breadth from the house without your tutor.
ante solem exorientem nisi in palaestram veneras, gymnasi praefecto haud mediocris poenas penderes. id quom optigerat, hoc etiam ad malum accersebatur malum: et discipulus et magister perhibebantur improbi. ibi cursu luctando hasta disco pugilatu pila saliendo sese exercebant magis quam scorto aut saviis: ibi suam aetatem extendebant, non in latebrosis locis. 430
Unless you had arrived at the athletic grounds before sunrise, it was no slight penalty the Gymnasium Director imposed on you. When this had happened, this further trouble was added, that pupil and teacher too were held to be disgraced. There it was by running, wrestling, throwing the spear and discus, boxing, ball, jumping, they used to get their exercise, rather than by means of wenches, or kisses: it was there they used to spend their lives, not in dark dens of vice.
inde de hippodromo et palaestra ubi revenisses domum, cincticulo praecinctus in sella apud magistrum adsideres cum libro: cum legeres, si unam peccavisses syllabam, fieret corium tam maculosum quam est nutricis pallium.
Then when you had returned home from the track and field, all neat and trim you would sit on your chair before your teacher with your book: and while you were reading, if you had missed a single syllable, your hide would be made as spotted as a nurse’s gown.
_Mnes._
Propter me haec nunc meo sodali dici discrucior miser; innocens suspicionem hanc sustinet causa mea.
(_aside_) It’s torment, hang it, to have my chum coming in for all this on my account; it’s for my sake he’s shouldering this suspicion, poor innocent.
_Phil._
Alii, Lyde, nunc sunt mores.
(_soothingly_) The customs of to-day are different, Lydus.
_Lydus_
Id equidem ego certo scio. nam olim populi prius honorem capiebat suffragio, quam magistro desinebat esse dicto oboediens; at nunc, prius quam septuennis est, si attingas eum manu, 440 extemplo puer paedagogo tabula disrumpit caput.
Indeed they are! I realize the truth of that. Why, in the old days a young man would be holding office, by popular vote, before he had ceased to hearken to his teacher’s precepts. But nowadays, before a youngster is seven years old, if you lay a finger on him, he promptly takes his writing tablet and smashes his tutor’s head with it.
cum patrem adeas postulatum, puero sic dicit pater: “noster esto, dum te poteris defensare iniuria.” provocatur paedagogus: “eho senex minimi preti, ne attigas puerum istac causa, quando fecit strenue.”[14] (445) itur illinc iure dicto. hocine hic pacto potest (447) inhibere imperium magister, si ipsus primus vapulet?
When you go to his father with a protest, he talks to the youngster in this strain: (_mimicking_) “You’re father’s own boy so long as you can defend yourself against abuse.” Then the tutor is summoned: “Hey, you worthless old baggage, don’t you touch my boy merely for acting like a lad of spirit!“ Judgment pronounced, the court adjourns. Can a teacher exert authority here under such conditions, if he is beaten first himself?
_Mnes._
Acris postulatio haec est. cum huius dicta intellego, mira sunt ni Pistoclerus Lydum pugnis contudit. 450
(_aside_) Here’s a warm protest! Judging from his remarks, it’s a wonder if Pistoclerus hasn’t been punching Lydus’s head.
_Lydus_
Sed quis hic est, quem astantem video ante ostium? o Philoxene, deos propitios me videre quam illum haud mavellem mihi.
(_looking in the direction of Mnesilochus_) But who is this I see standing in front of the door? (_recognizing him_) Ah, Philoxenus, that is a man whose support I should value no less than that of the gods!
_Phil._
Quis illic est?
Who is it?
_Lydus_
Mnesilochus, gnati tui sodalis.[15] haud consimili ingenio atque ille est qui in lupanari accubat. fortunatum Nicobulum, qui illum produxit sibi.
Mnesilochus, your son’s chum. And a youth so, so different from the one lolling in that vile house! (_pointing to Bacchis’s_) Happy, happy Nicobulus to have brought up such a lad!
_Phil._
Salvos sis, Mnesiloche, salvom te advenire gaudeo.
(_stepping forward_) How are you, Mnesilochus? I’m glad to see you safely back.
_Mnes._
Di te ament, Philoxene.
(_heartily shaking hands_) God bless you, Philoxenus!
_Lydus_
Hic enim rite productust patri: in mare it, rem familiarem curat, custodit domum, obsequens oboediensque est mori atque imperiis patris. hic sodalis Pistoclero iam puer puero fuit; 460 triduom non interest aetatis uter maior siet: verum ingenium plus triginta annis maiust quam alteri.
Ah, yes, here is a son to rejoice a father’s heart: goes to sea, attends to family affairs, is the bulwark of the home, observes and obeys his father’s every wish and word. He was Pistoclerus’s chum even when they were boys--not three days’ difference between them so far as age is concerned, but this lad is more than thirty years his senior in native sense.
_Phil._
Cave malo et compesce in illum dicere iniuste.
(_angrily_) Look out for yourself, and stop speaking about the lad unfairly!
_Lydus_
Tace. stultus es qui illi male aegre patere dici qui facit.[16] (464)
Peace! fool that you are to be pained at hearing him badly spoken of, when he is bad![16]
_Mnes._
Quid sodalem meum castigas, Lyde, discipulum tuom? (467)
(_innocently_) Why are you finding fault with my chum, Lydus, your own pupil?
_Lydus_
Periit tibi sodalis.
(_tragically_) Your chum has perished!
_Mnes._
Ne di sirint.
God forbid!
_Lydus_
Sic est ut loquor. quin ego cum peribat vidi, non ex audito arguo.
It’s just as I tell you. Ah yes, I myself beheld him in the act: I am not accusing him on hearsay.
_Mnes._
Quid factum est?
What has happened?
_Lydus_
Meretricem indigne deperit.
He is shockingly infatuated with a courtesan.
_Mnes._
Non tu taces? 470
(_apparently scandalized_) Oh, don’t say such a thing!
_Lydus_
Atque acerrume aestuosam: absorbet ubi quemque attigit.
Yes, and a perfect maelstrom of a woman: she sucks down every man who comes within her reach.
_Mnes._
Ubi ea mulier habitat?
Where does this woman live?
_Lydus_
Hic.
(_pointing_) Here.
_Mnes._
Unde esse eam aiunt?
Where do they say she is from?
_Lydus_
Ex Samo.
Samos.
_Mnes._
Quae vocatur?
What is her name?
_Lydus_
Bacchis.
Bacchis.
_Mnes._
Erras, Lyde: ego omnem rem scio quem ad modumst. tu Pistoclerum falso atque insontem arguis. nam ille amico et benevolenti suo sodali sedulo rem mandatam exsequitur. ipsus neque amat nec tu creduas.
(_with an air of relief_) You’re mistaken, Lydus: I know all about the matter, just how it stands. That’s a false charge of yours, and Pistoclerus is innocent. Why, he’s fulfilling a commission for a friend and well-wisher of his, a chum, and doing it zealously. He doesn’t love her himself, and you mustn’t think he does.
_Lydus_
Itane oportet rem mandatam gerere amici sedulo, ut ipsus in gremio osculantem mulierem teneat sedens? nullo pacto res mandata potest agi, nisi identidem manus ferat ei ad papillas, labra a labris nusquam auferat? 480
(_sharply_) Does executing this commission for his friend, and doing it zealously, call for his sitting down and holding the girl in his lap while she kisses him? Is there no way of his carrying out this commission save by his embracing her time and again in unseemly fashion and never taking his lips an inch from hers?
nam alia memorare quae illum facere vidi dispudet: cum manum sub vestimenta ad corpus tetulit Bacchidi me praesente, neque pudere quicquam. quid verbis opust? mini discipulus, tibi sodalis periit, huic filius; nam ego illum periisse dico quoi quidem periit pudor.[17] (485)
Why, I feel ashamed to mention other things I saw him do, dreadful, dreadful things, in my presence--and never a trace of shame about him. Why say more? My pupil, your chum, this father’s son, has perished; for perished I say he has, when his sense of shame has perished.[17]
_Mnes._
Perdidisti me, sodalis. egone ut illam mulierem (489) capitis non perdam? perire me malis malim modis. 490 satin ut quem tu habeas fidelem tibi aut cui credas nescias?
You’ve wrecked my life, (_with special acrimony_) chum! Oh, won’t I wreck that woman’s! I’d rather die a dog’s death than not get even with her! Can it really be you don’t know whom to think loyal to you, whom to trust?
_Lydus_
Viden ut aegre patitur gnatum esse corruptum tuom, suom sodalem, ut ipsus sese cruciat aegritudine?
(_to Philoxenus_) Do you see how he suffers at your son, his chum, being corrupted; how his very soul is tormented?
_Phil._
Mnesiloche, hoc tecum oro, ut illius animum atque ingenium regas; serva tibi sodalem et mihi filium.
Mnesilochus, try to control the lad’s impulses and disposition, I beg you. Save your chum for yourself and my son for me.
_Mnes._
Factum volo.
(_vehemently_) I wish I might!
_Lydus_
Melius esset, me quoque una si cum illo relinqueres.
(_to Philoxenus_) It would be better for you to leave me with him, too.
_Phil._
Adfatim est.
No, no, he’ll manage.
_Lydus_
Mnesiloche, cura, ei, concastiga hominem probe, qui dedecorat te, me amicosque alios flagitiis suis.
Mnesilochus, take charge of him! Go, rate him well--for degrading you, and me and his other friends with his enormities.
_Phil._
In te ego hoc onus omne impono. Lyde, sequere hac me.
I put the whole load on your shoulders. (_turns to go_) This way, Lydus; come.
_Lydus_
Sequor.
(_gloomily_) Very well. [EXEUNT _Philoxenus_ AND _Lydus_.
III. 4.