Scene 4.
ENTER _Tyndarus_ ESCORTED BY OVERSEERS. HE IS HEAVILY IRONED AND CARRIES A CROWBAR.
_Tynd._
Vidi ego multa saepe picta, quae Acherunti fierent cruciamenta, verum enim vero nulla adaeque est Acheruns atque ubi ego fui, in lapicidinis. illic ibi demumst locus, 1000 ubi labore lassitudo est exigunda ex corpore.
(_dryly_) I have seen a good many pictures whose subject was torture in Hell: but upon my soul, there is no hell that can match those stone quarries where I’ve been. That place down there is certainly the one where a weary man can be dead sure of working off his tired feeling.
nam ubi illo adveni, quasi patricus pueris aut monerulae, aut anites aut coturnices dantur, quicum lusitent itidem mi haec advenienti upupa, qui me delectem, datast sed erus eccum ante ostium, et erus alter eccum ex Alide rediit.
Why, when I got there it was just like your young scions of the nobility being given daws or ducks or quails for playfellows: my own case exactly--the moment I arrived they gave me this crow to have a lark with. (_looking toward Hegio’s house_) But there’s my master in front of the door-- and, yes, my other master back from Elis!
_Hegio_
Salve, exoptate gnate mi.
Oh, how are you, my own longed-for son?
_Tynd._
Hem, quid gnate mi? attat. scio cur te patrem adsimules esse et me filium: quia mi item ut parentes lucis das tuendi copiam.
Eh? “My son?” How’s that? (_pauses, then with a weary laugh_) Ah, yes, yes, I see the point of your father and son chaff: just as parents do, you give me a chance to behold the light of day.
_Philocr._
Salve, Tyndare.
God bless you, Tyndarus!
_Tynd._
Et tu, quoius causa hanc aerumnam exigo.
And you, sir, for whose sake I’m undergoing this confounded experience.
_Philocr._
At nunc liber in divitias faxo venies. nam tibi 1010 pater hic est; hic servos, qui te huic hinc quadrimum surpuit. vendidit patri meo te sex minis, is te mihi parvolum peculiarem parvolo puero dedit: illic indicium fecit; nam hunc ex Alide huc reduximus.
But now you shall be a free man, Tyndarus, and a rich one, I promise you. For here is (_indicating Hegio_) your father; this slave (_indicating Stalagmus_) stole you away from him here when you were four years old and sold you to my father for twenty-four pounds. And when we were both small boys, father gave you to me for my own. That fellow there has proved it all; you see we brought him back here from Elis.
_Tynd._
Quid huius filium?
(_dazed_) What about his son?
_Philocr._
Intus eccum fratrem germanum tuom.[28] (1015)
Look--inside there--your own brother!
_Tynd._
Nunc edepol demum in memoriam regredior, audisse me (1023) quasi per nebulam, Hegionem meum patrem vocarier.
Great heavens! When I think back I do now at last remember hearing--in a cloudy sort of way--my father called Hegio!
_Hegio_
Is ego sum.
(_embracing him_) I am that Hegio!
_Philocr._
Compedibus quaeso ut tibi sit levior filius atque huic gravior servos.
(_to Hegio, pointing to the shackles on Tyndarus_). Those irons, sir,--for mercy’s sake get yourself a lighter son, and him a heavier slave. (_indicating Stalagmus_)
_Hegio_
Certum est principio id praevortier. eamus intro, ut arcessatur faber, ut istas compedes tibi adimam, huic dem.
Yes, yes, I must see to that first of all. Let’s go inside and have a blacksmith sent for, so that I may get those irons off of you and make this fellow (_turning to Stalagmus_) a present of them.
_Stal._
Quoi peculi nihil est, recte feceris.
Thanks awfully--seeing I haven’t a thing I can call my own. [EXEUNT OMNES.
CATERVA
EPILOGUE
SPOKEN BY THE COMPANY.
Spectatores, ad pudicos mores facta haec fabula est, neque in hac subigitationes sunt neque ulla amatio 1030 nec pueri suppositio nec argenti circumductio, neque ubi amans adulescens scortum liberet clam suom patrem.
Spectators, this play was composed with due regard to the proprieties: here you have no vicious intrigues, no love affair, no supposititious child, no getting money on false pretences, no young spark setting a wench free without his father’s knowledge.
huius modi paucas poetae reperiunt comoedias, ubi boni meliores fiant. nunc vos, si vobis placet et si placuimus neque odio fuimus, signum hoc mittite: qui pudicitiae esse voltis praemium, plausum date.
Dramatists find few plays such as this which make good men better. Now, if you so please, and if we have pleased you and have not been boring, intimate as much: you who wish virtue to be rewarded, give us your applause.
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[Footnote 1: Corrupt (Leo): _vincti quia astant_ Fleckeisen.]
[Footnote 2: Leo notes lacuna here: _(cette), iam hoc tenetis_ Schoell.]
[Footnote 3: _vel_ precedes in MSS: Leo brackets.]
[Footnote 4: Leo notes lacuna here: _cupio (fieri)_ Schoell.]
[Footnote 5: Leo’s correction of _multa miraclitis_ of the MSS.]
[Footnote 6: Corrupt (Leo): _ea_ MSS: _consili_ Schoell.]
[Footnote 7: Leo brackets the following v., 237: _quod tibi suadeam, suadeam meo patri._]
[Footnote 8: Leo notes lacuna here: _huius (ille)_ Camerarius.]
[Footnote 9: Leo brackets the following v., 280:
Hegio _Tum igitur ei cum in Aleis tanta gratia est, ut praedicas._]
[Footnote 10: Leo brackets the following v., 288: _nam ille quidem Theodoromedes fuit germano nomine._]
[Footnote 11: Leo brackets the following v., 324:
Hegio _Ego virtute deum et maiorum nostrum dives sum satis._]
[Footnote 12: Corrupt (Leo): _quin te gratiis_ MSS: _gratiis quin te_ Schoell.]
[Footnote 13: Leo brackets the following v., 438: _scito te hinc minis viginti aestumatum mittier._]
[Footnote 14: Corrupt (Leo): _exitium_ Pontanus: _exilium_ MSS.]
[Footnote 15: Leo brackets the following v., 521: _nec sycophantiis nec fucis ullum mantellum obviam est._]
[Footnote 16: Corrupt (Leo): _qui venit modo intro_ MSS: _modo qui venit intro_ Lindsay.]
[Footnote 17: Leo notes lacuna here: _manicas (maxumas)_ Spengel.]
[Footnote 18: Leo notes lacuna here: _ut (etiam)_ Schoell.]
[Footnote 19: Leo notes lacuna here: _mihi (quod domist)_ Schoell.]
[Footnote 20: Leo brackets the following v., 801: _Qui mihi in cursu opstiterit, faxo vitae is extemplo opstiterit suae._]
[The man that stands in my path shall forthwith stand in the way of his own existence.]
[Footnote 21: _Noli irascier_ follows in MSS: Leo brackets.]
[Footnote 22: Corrupt (Leo): _laridum ac pernas_ Schoell.]
[Footnote 23: Corrupt (Leo): _pern[ul]am_ Geppert.]
[Footnote 24: _voltus esurientis (vidi, eius extimescebam)_ Leo: A reading doubtful: other MSS omit the line.]
[Footnote 25: Corrupt (Leo): _te carens dum hic_ P: _carens dum huc_ A.]
[Footnote 26: _tu huic_ MSS: _nunc_ Leo.]
[Footnote 27: Leo brackets the following v., 968: _si eris verax, ex tuis rebus feceris meliusculas._]
[Footnote 28: Leo brackets the following v., 1016-1022:
Tynd. _Quid tu ais? adduatin illum huius captivom filium?_ Philocr. _Quin, inquam, intus hic est._ Tynd. _Fecisti edepol et recte et bene._ Philocr. _Nunc tibi pater hic est. hic fur est tuos, qui parvom hinc te abstulit._ Tynd. _At ego hunc grandis grandem natu ob furtum ad carnificem dabo._ Philocr. _Meritus est_ Tynd. _Ergo edepol merito meritam mercedem dabo._ 1020 _sed tu dic oro. pater meus tune es?_ Hegio. _Ego sum, gnate mi._ Tynd. _Nunc demum in memoriam redeo, cum mecum recogito._]
[_Tynd._ What do you say? Did you bring this gentleman’s captive son? _Philocr._ Yes, yes, he’s inside, I tell you. _Tynd._ By heaven, sir, you have acted fairly and honourably. _Philocr._ Now here is your father: and here is the thief who stole you away from here when you were small. _Tynd._ But now that we’re both big, I’ll hand him over to the executioner for that theft. _Philocr._ He deserves it. _Tynd._ Well then, I’ll give him his deserved deserts deservedly, by gad! But you, sir, speak I beseech you. Are you my father? _Hegio_ I am, my dear lad. _Tynd._ Now at last I remember--when I think it over.]
* * * * *
[Transcriber’s Corrections: _Captivi_ (_The Captives_)
Personae: ERGASILVS PARASITUS... spelling unchanged, as in _Amphitryon_ ]
I. 1. ...have dubbed me Missy, on the ground that... text reads _on the gound_
II. 2. Now the old fellow is in the barber’s chair text reads _barbar’s chair_ ]
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