Chapter 56

_Eucl._

Quis homo hic loquitur?

(_hearing sound of voice only_) Who’s that talking here?

_Lyc._

Ego sum miser.

(_stepping forward_) I’m the poor wretch, sir.

_Eucl._

Immo ego sum, et misere perditus, cui tanta mala maestitudoque optigit.

No, no, I’m the poor wretch, a poor ruined wretch, with all this trouble and tribulation.

_Lyc._

Animo bono es.

Keep your courage up, sir.

_Eucl._

Quo, obsecro, pacto esse possum?

For heaven’s sake how can I?

_Lyc._

Quia istuc facinus, quod tuom sollicitat animum, id ego feci et fateor.

Well, sir, that outrage that distresses you--(_hesitantly_) I’m to blame, and I confess it, sir.

_Eucl._

Quid ego ex te audio?

Hey? What’s that?

_Lyc._

Id quod verumst.

The truth.

_Eucl._

Quid ego de te commerui, adulescens, mali. quam ob rem ita faceres meque meosque perditum ires liberos?

How have I ever harmed you, young man, for you to act like this and try to ruin me and my children?

_Lyc._

Deus impulsor mihi fuit, is me ad illam inlexit.

It was some demon got hold of me, sir, and led me on.

_Eucl._

Quo modo?

How is this?

_Lyc._

Fateor peccavisse et me culpam commeritum scio; id adeo te oratum advenio ut animo aequo ignoscas mihi.

I admit I’ve done wrong, sir; I deserve your reproaches, and I know it; more than that, I’ve come to beg you to be patient and forgive me.

_Eucl._

Cur id ausu’s facere, ut id quod non tuom esset tangeres? 740

How did you dare do it, dare touch what didn’t belong to you?

_Lyc._

Quid vis fieri? factum est illud: fieri infectum non potest. deos credo voluisse; nam ni vellent, nori fieret, scio.

(_penitently_) Well, well, sir,--it’s done, and it can’t be undone. I think it must have been fated; otherwise it wouldn’t have happened, I’m sure of that.

_Eucl._

At ego deos credo voluisse ut apud me te in nervo enicem.

Yes, and I think it must have been fated that I’m to shackle you at my house and murder you!

_Lyc._

Ne istuc dixis.

Don’t say that, sir.

_Eucl._

Quid tibi ergo meam me invito tactiost?

Then why did you lay hands on what was mine, without my permission?

_Lyc._

Quia vini vitio atque amoris feci.

It was all because of drink ... and ... love, sir.

_Eucl._

Homo audacissime, cum istacin te oratione huc ad me adire ausum, impudens! nam si istuc ius est ut tu istuc excusare possies, luci claro deripiamus aurum matronis palam, post id si prehensi simus, excusemus ebrios nos fecisse amoris causa. nimis vilest vinum atque amor, 750 si ebrio atque amanti impune facere quod lubeat licet.

The colossal impudence of it! To dare to come to me with a tale like that, you shameless rascal! Why, if it’s legal to clear yourself that way, we should be stripping ladies of their jewellery on the public highways in broad daylight! And then when we were caught we’d excuse ourselves on the score that we were drunk, and did it out of love. Drink and love are altogether too cheap, if your drunken lover can do what he likes and not suffer for it.

_Lyc._

Quin tibi ultro supplicatum venio obstultitiam meam.

Yes, but I’ve come of my own accord sir, to entreat you to pardon my madness.

_Eucl._

Non mi homines placent qui quando male fecerunt purigant. tu illam scibas non tuam esse. non attactam oportuit.

I have no patience with men who do wrong and then try to explain it away. You knew you had no right to act so: you should have kept hands off.

_Lyc._

Ergo quia sum tangere ausus, haud causificor quin eam ego habeam potissimum.

Well, now that I did venture to act so, I have no objection to holding to it, sir,--I ask nothing better.

_Eucl_

Tun habeas me invito meam?

(_more angry_) Hold to it? Against my will?

_Lyc._

Haud te invito postulo, sed meam esse oportere arbitror. quin tu iam invenies, inquam, meam illam esse oportere, Euclio.

I won’t insist on it against your will, sir, but I do think my claim is just. Why, you’ll soon come to realize the justice of it yourself, sir, I assure you.

_Eucl._

Iam quidem hercle te ad praetorem rapiam et tibi scribam dicam, nisi refers.

I’ll march you off to court and sue you, by heaven I will, this minute, unless you bring it back.

_Lyc._

Quid tibi ego referam?

I? Bring what back?

_Eucl._

Quod surripuisti meum. 760

What you stole from me.

_Lyc._

Surripui ego tuom? unde? aut quid id est?

I stole something of yours? Where from? What?

_Eucl._

Ita te amabit Iuppiter ut tu nescis.

(_ironically_) God bless your innocence--you don’t know!

_Lyc._

Nisi quidem tu mihi quid quaeras dixeris.

Not unless you say what you’re looking for.

_Eucl._

Aulam auri, inquam, te resposco, quam tu confessu’s mihi te abstulisse.

The pot of gold, I tell you; I want back the pot of gold you owned up to taking.

_Lyc._

Neque edepol ego dixi neque feci.

Great heavens, man! I never said that or did it, either.

_Eucl._

Negas?

You deny it?

_Lyc._

Pernego immo. nam neque ego aurum neque istaec aula quae siet scio nec novi.

Deny it? Absolutely. Why, I don’t know, haven’t any idea, about your gold, or what that pot is.

_Eucl._

Illam, ex Silvani luco quam abstuleras, cedo. i, refer. dimidiam tecum potius partem dividam. tam etsi fur mihi es, molestus non ero. i vero, refer.

The one you took from the grove of Silvanus--give it me. Go, bring it back. (_pleadingly_) You can have half of it, yes, yes, I’ll divide. Even though you are such a thief, I won’t make any trouble for you. Do, do go and bring it back, oh do!

_Lyc._

Sanus tu non es qui furem me voces. ego te, Euclio, de alia re rescivisse censui, quod ad me attinet; 770 [16]magna est res quam ego tecum otiose, si otium est, cupio loqui.

Man alive, you’re out of your senses, calling me a thief. I supposed you had found out about something else that does concern me, Euclio. There’s an important matter I’m anxious to talk over quietly with you, sir, if you’re at leisure.

_Eucl._

Dic bona fide: tu id aurum non surripuisti?

Give me your word of honour: you didn’t steal that gold?

_Lyc._

Bona.

(_shaking his head_) On my honour.

_Eucl._

Neque eum scis qui abstulerit?

And you don’t know the man that did take it?

_Lyc._

Istuc quoque bona.

Nor that, either, on my honour.

_Eucl._

Atque id si scies qui abstulerit, mihi indicabis?

And if you learn who took it, you’ll inform me?

_Lyc._

Faciam.

I will.

_Eucl._

Neque partem tibi ab eo qui habet indipisces neque furem excipies?

And you won’t go shares with the man that has it, or shield the thief?

_Lyc._

Ita.

No.

_Eucl._

Quid si fallis?

What if you deceive me?

_Lyc._

Tum me faciat quod volt magnus Iuppiter.

Then, sir, may I be dealt with as great God sees fit.

_Eucl._

Sat habeo. age nunc loquere quid vis.

That will suffice. All right now, say what you want.

_Lyc._

Si me novisti minus, genere quo sim gnatus: hic mihi est Megadorus avonculus, meus pater fuit Antimachus, ego vocor Lyconides. mater est Eunomia.

In case you’re not acquainted with my family connections, sir,--Megadorus here is my uncle: my father was Antimachus, and my own name is Lyconides: Eunomia is my mother.

_Eucl._

Novi genus. nunc quid vis? id volo 780 noscere.

I know who you are. Now what do you want? That’s what I wish to know.

_Lyc._

Filiam ex te tu habes.

You have a daughter.

_Eucl._

Immo eccillam domi.

Yes, yes, at home there!

_Lyc._

Eam tu despondisti, opinor, meo avonculo?

You have betrothed her to my uncle, I understand.

_Eucl._

Omnem rem tenes.

Precisely, precisely.

_Lyc._

Is me nunc renuntiare repudium iussit tibi.

He has asked me to inform you now that he breaks the engagement.

_Eucl._

Repudium rebus paratis, exornatis nuptiis? ut illum di immortales omnes deaeque quantum est perduint, quem propter hodie auri tantum perdidi infelix, miser.

(_furious_) Breaks the engagement, with everything ready, the wedding prepared for? May all the everlasting powers above consume that villain that’s to blame for my losing my gold, all that gold, poor God forsaken creature that I am!

_Lyc._

Bono animo es, bene dice. nunc quae res tibi et gnatae tuae bene feliciterque vortat--ita di faxint, inquito.

Brace up, sir: don’t curse. And now for some thing that I pray will turn out well and happily for yourself and your daughter--“God grant it may!” Say that.

_Eucl._

Ita di faciant.

(_doubtfully_) God grant it may!

_Lyc._

Et mihi ita di faciant. audi nunciam. qui homo culpam admisit in se, nullust tam parvi preti, 790 quom pudeat, quin purget sese. nunc te obtestor, Euclio, ut si quid ego erga te imprudens peccavi aut gnatam tuam, ut mi ignoscas eamque uxorem mihi des, ut leges iubent. ego me iniuriam fecisse filiae fateor tuae, Cereris vigiliis, per vinum atque impulsu adulescentiae.

And God grant it may for me, too! Now listen, sir. There isn’t a man alive so worthless but what he wants to clear himself when he’s done wrong and is ashamed. Now, sir, if I’ve injured you or your daughter without realizing what I was doing, I implore you to forgive me and let me marry her as I’m legally bound to. (_nervously_) It was the night of Ceres’ festival ... and what with wine and ... a young fellow’s natural impulses together ... I wronged her, I confess it.

_Eucl._

Ei mihi, quod ego facinus ex te audio?

Oh, oh, my God! What villainy am I hearing of?

_Lyc._

Cur eiulas, quem ego avom feci iam ut esses filiai nuptus? nam tua gnata peperit, decumo mense post: numerum cape; ea re repudium remisit avonculus causa mea. i intro, exquaere, sitne ita ut ego praedico.

(_patting his shoulder_) Lamenting, sir, lamenting, when you’re a grandfather, and this your daughter’s wedding day? You see it’s the tenth month since the festival--reckon it up--and we have a child, sir. This explains my uncle’s breaking the engagement: he did it for my sake. Go in and inquire if it isn’t just as I tell you.

_Eucl._

Perii oppido, 800 ita mihi ad malum malae res plurimae se adglutinant. ibo intro, ut quid huius verum sit sciam.

Oh, my life is wrecked, wrecked! The way calamities swarm down and settle on me one after another! Go in I will, and have the truth of it! [EXIT INTO HIS HOUSE.

_Lyc._

Iam te sequor haec propemodum iam esse in vado salutis res videtur nunc servom esse ubi dicam meum Strobilum non reperio; nisi etiam hic opperiar tamen paulisper, postea intro hunc subsequar. nunc interim spatium ei dabo exquirendi meum factum ex gnatae pedisequa nutrice anu. ea rem novit.

(_as he disappears_) I’ll soon be with you, sir. (_after a pause, contentedly_) It does look as if we were pretty nearly safe in the shallows now. (_looking around_) Where in the world my fellow Strobilus is I can’t imagine. Well, the only thing to do is to wait here a bit longer; then I’ll join father-in-law inside. Meanwhile I’ll let him have an opportunity to inquire into the case from the old nurse that’s been his daughter’s maid: she knows about it all. (_waits in doorway_)

ACTVS V