Chapter 89

ENTER OVERSEERS, CARRYING HEAVY RAWHIDES.

_Cola._ _Box_

Num lignatum mittimur?

(_merrily cracking a whip_) You don’t want us to go and tie up faggots, do you, sir?

_Hegio_

Inicite huic manicas[17] mastigiae.

Clap handcuffs on this rogue. (_pointing to Tyndarus_)

_Tynd._

Quid hoc est negoti? quid ego deliqui?

(_as they obey_) What does this mean? What have I done?

_Hegio_

Rogas. 660 sator sartorque scelerum, et messor maxume?

Done! You sower and hoer of sin--(_more savagely_) and reaper, especially!

_Tynd._

Non occatorem dicere audebas prius? nam semper occant prius quam sariunt rustici.

(_politely_) Couldn’t you manage to slip in “harrower”? Why, farmers always harrow before they hoe.

_Hegio_

At tu confidenter[18] mihi contra astitit.

(_angrily_) Now look at that! the bold way he stands up to me!

_Tynd._

Decet innocentem servom atque innoxium confidentem esse, suom apud erum potissimum.

A guiltless, harmless slave ought to face his own master boldly, his own master, of all men.

_Hegio_

Adstringite isti sultis vehementer manus.

(_to overseers_) Fasten his hands, tight, mind you!

_Tynd._

Tuos sum, tu has quidem vel praecidi iube. sed quid negoti est, quam ob rem suscenses mihi?

I am yours. Have them cut off, even, for that matter. But what does this mean? Why this rage at me?

_Hegio_

Quia me meamque rem, quod in te uno fuit, 670 tuis scelestis falsidicis fallaciis deartuasti dilaceravisti atque opes confecisti omnes, res ac rationes meas: ita mi exemisti Philocratem fallaciis. illum esse servom credidi, te liberum: ita vosmet aiebatis itaque nomina inter vos permutastis.

Because as far as in you lay you’ve sent me and my hopes to smash, demolished me, with your rascally deceitful dodges, and spoiled all my chances, all my prospects and plans. That’s the way you, got Philocrates off--by swindling me! I supposed he was the slave and you the freeman; that’s what you said yourselves; that’s how you exchanged names.

_Tynd._

Fateor, omnia facta esse ita ut tu dicis, et fallaciis abiisse eum abs te mea opera atque astutia; an, obsecro hercle te, id nunc suscenses mihi? 680

(_coolly_) I admit it: it is all as you say--yes, you were swindled out of him, and it was my support and my scheming that did it. But heavens and earth, that isn’t what sets you raging at me, is it?

_Hegio_

At cum cruciatu maxumo id factumst tuo.

You shall pay for doing it, though, pay for it with your own best blood!

_Tynd._

Dum ne ob male facta, peream, parvi aestumo. si ego hic peribo, ast ille ut dixit non redit, at erit mi hoc factum mortuo memorabile, me meum erum captum ex servitute atque hostibus reducem fecisse liberum in patriam ad patrem, meumque potius me caput periculo praeoptavisse, quam is periret, ponere.

(_simply_) Provided it is not for wrongdoing, let me die--it matters little. If I myself do die here, and if he does fail to return, as he said he would, what I have done, at least, will be remembered when I am gone--men will tell how I saved my captured master from slavery and from his enemies, restored him, a free man, to his home and his father, and how I chose to put my own life in peril rather than let him die.

_Hegio_

Facito ergo ut Acherunti clueas gloria.

Well then, you can look in the next world for that glorious name of yours.

_Tynd._

Qui per virtutem, periit, at non interit. 690

The man that dies in a worthy cause does not perish utterly.

_Hegio_

Quando ego te exemplis pessumis cruciavero atque ob sutelas tuas te morti misero, vel te interiisse vel periisse praedicent; dum pereas, nihil intererit: dicant vivere.

After I’ve tortured you in the most excruciating ways possible, and sent you to perdition for the lies you’ve patched up, let ’em announce that you’ve perished utterly, or that you’ve merely died; so long as you’re dead, no matter--they can say you’re living, for all I care.

_Tynd._

Pol si istuc faxis, haud sine poena feceris, si ille hue rebitet, sicut confido affore.

You do that, sir, and I swear it will cost you dear, if my master comes back, as I expect him to do.

_Arist._

Pro di immortales, nunc ego teneo, nunc scio quid hoc sit negoti. meus sodalis Philocrates in libertate est ad patrem in patria. bene est, nec quisquam est mihi, aeque melius cui velim. 700 sed hoc mihi aegre est, me huic dedisse operam malam, qui nunc propter me meaque verba vinctus est.

(_aside_) Great God! Now I see it! Now I understand what it all means! My chum Philocrates is free, has gone home to his father. Good! And not a friend have I got that I wish better luck to, either. But I do feel bad about the cursed way I’ve treated Tyndarus here! He’s got me and my tongue to thank for being strapped up at this moment.

_Hegio_

Votuin te quicquam mi hodie falsum proloqui?

Didn’t I tell you not to deceive me in the slightest particular?

_Tynd._

Votuisti.

Yes.

_Hegio_

Cur es ausus mentiri mihi?

Then why did you dare lie to me?

_Tynd._

Quia vera obessent illi quoi operam dabam: nunc falsa prosunt.

Because the truth would have harmed the person I was trying to help: as it is, deceit has served his turn.

_Hegio_

At tibi oberunt.

It won’t serve yours, however.

_Tynd._

Optumest. at erum servavi, quem servatum gaudeo. cui me custodem addiderat erus maior meus. sed malene id factum arbitrare?

Very well, sir. I saved my master, at any rate, and I’m happy in having saved the man that my older master put in my care. Really now, do you think this was a wrong act?

_Hegio_

Pessume.

Atrocious!

_Tynd._

At ego aio recte. qui abs te sorsum sentio. 710 nam cogitato, si quis hoc gnato tuo tuos servos faxit, qualem haberes gratiam? emitteresne necne eum servom manu? essetne apud te is servos aceeptissimus? responde.

Well, sir, I differ with you--I say it was right. Why, just think! if a slave of yours did the same thing for your own son, what would be your feeling toward him? Would you set this slave free, or not? Wouldn’t this slave be your favourite? Answer me that.

_Hegio_

Opinor.

(_reluctantly_) I suppose so.

_Tynd._

Cur ergo iratus mihi es?

Why are you angry at me, then?

_Hegio_

Quia illi fuisti quam mihi fidelior.

Because you have been more faithful to him than to me.

_Tynd._

Quid? tu una nocte postulavisti et die recens captum hominem, nuperum novicium, te perdocere ut melius consulerem tibi, quam illi, quicum una a puero aetatem exegeram? 720

What? Did you expect in a single night and day to teach a man just recently captured, a slave you had hardly bought, to consult your interests more than those of the master I grew up from boyhood with?

_Hegio_

Ergo ab eo petito gratiam istam. ducite, ubi ponderosas crassas capiat compedes. inde ibis porro in latomias lapidarias. ibi quom alii octonos lapides effodiunt, nisi cotidiano sesquiopus confeceris, Sescentoplago nomen indetur tibi.

Well then, look to him for your thanks for it. (_to overseers_) Off with him and have him shackled--heavy ones, solid ones! (_to Tyndarus_) After that you shall go straight to the stone quarries. There, while the rest of them are digging out their eight blocks a day, you’re to do half as much again, or you’ll be dubbed The Cracks-collector.

_Arist._

Per deos atque homines ego te obtestor, Hegio, ne tu istunc hominem perduis.

Hegio! for God’s sake don’t let the man be utterly lost!

_Hegio_

Curabitur; nam noctu nervo vinctus custodibitur, interdius sub terra lapides eximet: 730 diu ego hunc cruciabo, non uno absolvam die.

Lost? We’ll see to that! Why, at night he’ll be chained up in a cell and guarded, and in the daytime he’ll be under ground hewing out stone. It’s agony long drawn out he’ll get from me; I won’t end it for him all in one day.

_Arist._

Certumne est tibi istuc?

(_distressed_) Is this your fixed intention, sir?

_Hegio_

Non moriri certius. abducite istum actutum ad Hippolytum fabrum, iubete huic crassas compedes impingier; inde extra portam ad meum libertum Cordalum in lapicidinas facite deductus siet: atque hunc me velle dicite ita curarier, ne qui deterius huic sit quam cui pessume est.

Fixed as death! (_to overseers_) Quick! March him off to Hippolytus the blacksmith and have some solid irons forged on him; then he’s to be escorted outside the city to my freedman Cordalus and the quarries. Yes, and tell Cordalus I want it seen to that he be treated quite as well as the man that’s treated (_ferociously_) worst.

_Tynd._

Cur ego te invito me esse salvom postulem? periclum vitae meae tuo stat periculo. 740 post mortem in morte nihil est quod metuam mali. etsi pervivo usque ad summam aetatem, tamen breve spatium est perferundi quae minitas mihi.

Why should I ask for mercy when you refuse it? My life is risked at risk to you. After death, there is no evil in death for me to fear. And even if I live on and on to the very limits of human life, it’s still only for a short time I shall have to endure what you threaten me with.

vale atque salve, etsi aliter ut dicam meres. tu, Aristophontes, de me ut meruisti, ita vale; nam mihi propter te hoc optigit.

Farewell, sir, and God bless you, no matter if you do deserve to have me wish you something else. As for you, Aristophontes, fare you well--as well as you deserve of me; for it is all on account of you that this has happened to me.

_Hegio_

Abducite.

(_to overseers_) Off with him.

_Tynd._

At unum hoc quaeso, si huc rebitet Philocrates, ut mi eius facias conveniundi copiam.

But I do ask this one thing of you, sir: if Philocrates comes back, give me a chance to meet him.

_Hegio_

Periistis, nisi hunc iam e conspectu abducitis.

(_to overseers_) Out of my sight with him this instant, or I’ll murder you! (_they seize Tyndarus and hurry him off roughly_)

_Tynd._

Vis haec quidem hercle est, et trahi et trudi simul. 750

(_dryly_) Well, well! This is positive violence, being pushed and pulled at the same time. [EXEUNT.

_Hegio_

Illic est abductus recta in phylacam, ut dignus est. ego illis captivis aliis documentum dabo, ne tale quisquam facinus incipere audeat. quod absque hoc esset, qui mihi hoc fecit palam, usque offrenatum suis me ductarent dolis.

That rascal is bound straight for the prison cell he’s entitled to. I’ll make an example of him for the benefit of those other prisoners, so that none of them will dare engage in such deviltry. If it hadn’t been for this fellow here who disclosed it all, they’d have bitted me and led me along with their tricks till the end of time.

nunc certum est nulli posthac quicquam credere. satis sum semel deceptus. speravi miser ex servitute me exemisse filium: ea spes elapsa est. perdidi unum filium, puerum quadrimum quem mihi servos surpuit, 760 neque eum servom umquam repperi neque filium;

Never again do I trust a soul in anything, that’s settled. Once cheated is enough. (_pauses, then gloomily_) I hoped, poor fool, that I had ransomed my son from slavery--a hope that’s slipped away! I lost one son, a four-year-old boy that a slave kidnapped, and never a trace of slave or son since.

maior potitus hostium est. quod hoc est scelus? quasi in orbitatem liberos produxerim. sequere hac. reducam te ubi fuisti. neminis miserere certum est, quia mei miseret neminem.

And my older boy in the hands of enemies! What curse am I under? As if I’d begotten children so as to be left childless! (_to Aristophontes_) This way, you. (_going toward brother’s house_) Back you go where you were before. I am determined to pity no one, since no one pities me.

_Arist._

Exauspicavi ex vinclis. nunc intellego redauspicandum esse in catenas denuo.

(_wryly_) It seemed a good omen, my getting out of irons. Now I perceive I must omen myself back to chains again. [EXEUNT.

ACTVS IV