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Aulularia, or The Concealed Treasure

Perseus Latin · Perseus Latin · 579 sections

1. 5.1.813b

   ’Tis no other.

2. 5.1.813c

   I’ll accost him.

3. 5.1.813d

   I’ll step out towards him. I do think that he has been, as I requested him, to the old woman, the nurse herself of this damsel.

4. 5.1.816

   Why don’t I tell him that I’ve found this prize, and speak out? For that reason, I’ll beg of him to make me free. I’ll go and speak to him. (Addressing him.) I’ve found—

5. 5.1.818b

   What have you found?

6. 5.1.818c

   Not that which the boys cry out that they’ve found in the bean.

7. 5.1.819b

   And are you trifling with me then, as you are in the habit of doing?

8. 5.1.820

   Master, stop; I’ll speak out then; do listen.

9. 5.1.820b

   Come then, tell me.

10. 5.1.820c

    I’ve found to-day, master very great riches.

11. 5.1.821b

    Where, pray?

12. 5.1.821c

    A four pound pot, I say, full of gold!

13. 5.1.822

    What crime is this that I hear of from you?

14. 5.1.822a

    I’ve stolen it from this old fellow, Euclio.

15. 5.1.823

    Where is this gold?

16. 5.1.823b

    In my box at home; I now wish to be made free.

17. 5.1.824

    I, make you free, you fellow,

18. 5.1.825

    brimful of wickedness?

19. 5.1.826

    Out upon you, master, I know what you would be at. Troth, I’ve cleverly tried your inclination; you were just getting ready to take it away from me; what would you do, if I had found it?

20. 5.1.828b

    You can’t make good your pretences. Come, give up the gold!

21. 5.1.829b

    I, give up the gold?

22. 5.1.829c

    Give it up, I say, that it may be given back to him.

23. 5.1.829d

    Where am I to get it from?

24. 5.1.830

    That which you confessed just now to be in your box.

25. 5.1.830b

    I’ faith, I’m in the habit of talking nonsense;

26. 5.1.831b

    ’twas in that way I was speaking.

27. 5.1.831c

    But do you know what?—

28. 5.1.832b

    Even kill me outright, i’ faith, you never shall get it hence of me

29. 5.1.834a

    — the pot belonging to the old fellow, which I’ve not got.

30. 5.1.834b

    I will have it, whether you will or no; when I’ve tied you up all fours, and torn asunder your body for you tied up to the beam. But why do I delay to rush upon the jaws of this rascal, and why this instant do I not compel his soul to take its journey before its time? Are you going to give it me or not?

31. 5.1.834c

    I will give it you.

32. 5.1.834d

    I want you to give it me now, and not at a future time.

33. 5.1.834e

    I’ll give it now; but I entreat you to allow me to recover breath. (LYCONIDES lets him go.) Aha! What is it you want me to give you, master?

34. 5.1.834f

    Don’t you know, you rascal? And do you dare to refuse me the four pound pot full of gold which you just now said you had stolen? (Calling at the door.) Hallo there! Where now are the flogging men?

35. 5.1.834g

    Master, do hear a few words. Lyc. I won’t hear; floggers, hallo there—hallo!

36. 5.2.835a

    What’s the matter?

37. 5.2.835b

    I want the chains to be got ready.

38. 5.2.835c

    Listen to me, I beg of you; afterwards order them to bind me as much as you please.

39. 5.2.835d

    I will hear you; but hasten the matter very quickly.

40. 5.2.835e

    If you order me to be tortured to death, see what you obtain; in the first place, you have the death of your slave. Then, what you wish for you cannot get. But if you had only allured me by the reward of dear liberty, you would already have obtained your wish. Nature produces all men free, and by nature all desire freedom. Slavery is worse than every evil, than every calamity; and he whom Jupiter hates, him he first makes a slave.

41. 5.2.835f

    You speak not unwisely

42. 5.2.835g

    Now then hear the rest. Our age has produced masters too grasping, whom I’m in the habit of calling Harpagos, Harpies, and Tantali, poor amid great wealth, and thirsty in the midst of the waters of Ocean; no riches are enough for them, not those of Midas, not of Crœsus; not all the wealth of the Persians can satisfy their Tartarean maw. Masters use their slaves rigorously, and slaves now obey their masters but tardily; so on neither side is that done which would be fair to be done. Their provisions, kitchens, and store-cellars, avaricious old fellows shut up with a thousand keys. Slaves, thievish, doubledealers, and artful, open for themselves things shut up with a thousand keys, which the owners hardly like to be granted to their lawful children, and stealthily do they carry off, consume, and lick them up—fellows that will never disclose their hundred thefts even at the gibbet; thus in laughter and joking do bad slaves take revenge upon their slavery. So then, I come to the conclusion that liberality renders slaves faithful.

43. 5.2.835h

    Rightly, indeed, have you spoken, but not in a few words, as you promised me. But if I do make you free, will you give me back what I’m asking for?

44. 5.2.835i

    I will give it back; but I wish for witnesses to be present; you’ll pardon me, master, I trust you but little.

45. 5.2.835j

    Just as you please; let there be present even a hundred; then I shouldn’t care about it.

46. 5.2.835k

    Megadorus, and you, Eunomia, please come here, I beg of you; the business finished, you shall return directly.

47. 5.3.836a

    Who’s calling us? Ha! Lyconides!

48. 5.3.836b

    Ha! Strobilus, what is the matter? Say.

49. 5.3.836c

    ’Tis a short matter.

50. 5.3.836d

    What is it?

51. 5.3.836e

    I’m calling you as witnesses. If I bring here a four pound pot full of gold and give it up to Lyconides, Lyconides makes me a free man, and orders me to be my own master. (To LYCONIDES.) Do you not promise me so?

52. 5.3.836f

    I do promise so.

53. 5.3.836g

    Have you heard now what he has said?

54. 5.3.836h

    We have heard.

55. 5.3.836i

    Swear, then, by Jupiter.

56. 5.3.836j

    Alas! to what I am reduced by the misfortunes of others! You are too insulting; still, I’ll do what he bids me.

57. 5.3.836k

    Hark you, our generation hasn’t much confidence in people: the documents are signed; the twelve witnesses are present; the registrar writes down the time and the place; and still, the pleader is found to deny that it has been done.

58. 5.3.836l

    But release me speedily, please.

59. 5.3.836m

    Here, take this stone.

60. 5.3.836n

    If I knowingly deceive you, so may Jupiter reject from me his blessings, the city and citadel safe, as I do this stone. (He throws it.) Have I now satisfied you?

61. 5.3.836o

    I am satisfied; and I’m going to bring the gold.

62. 5.3.836p

    Go with the speed of Pegasus, and return devouring the road with your rapid steps. (Exit STROBILUS.) Any impertinent slave, that wishes to be more wise than his master, is a nuisance to a decent man. Let this Strobilus be off as a free man to utter perdition, if he only brings me the pot full of pure gold, so that I may restore Euclio, my father-in-law, from his grief to joy, and obtain the favour of his daughter, who is just brought to bed by reason of my debauching her. But see! Strobilus is returning, loaded; as I guess, he’s bringing the pot; and, for sure, it is the pot that he’s carrying.

63. 5.4.837a

    Lyconides, I bring you my findings that I promised—the four pound pot of gold; have I been long?

64. 5.4.837b

    Why, yes. (He takes some of the gold out of the pot.) O immortal Gods, what do I behold? Or what is it I hold? More than six hundred Philippean pieces, three or four times over. But let’s call out Euclio forthwith.

65. 5.5.838a

    Ho, Eucho, Euclio!

66. 5.5.838b

    Euclio, Euclio!

67. 5.5.838c

    What’ the matter?

68. 5.5.838d

    Come down to us, for the Gods will you to be saved; we’ve got the pot.

69. 5.5.838e

    Have you got it, or are you trifling with me?

70. 5.5.838f

    We’ve got it, I say. Now, if you can, fly down hither.

71. 5.5.838g

    O great Jupiter! O household Divinity and Queen Juno! and Alcides, my treasurer! that at length you do show pity upon a wretched old man. (Taking the pot in his arms.) O my pot! O how aged I, your friend, do clasp you with joyful arms, and receive you with kisses; with a thousand embraces even I cannot be satisfied. O my hope! my heart! that dissipates my grief.

72. 5.5.838h

    I always thought that to be in want of gold was the worst thing for both boys and men, and all old people. Indigence compels boys to be guilty of misdeeds, men to thieve, and old men themselves to become beggars. But ’tis much worse, as I now see, to abound in gold beyond what’s necessary for us. Alas! what miseries has Euclio endured on account of the pot, that a little while since was lost by him!

73. 5.5.838i

    To whom shall I give deserved thanks? Whether to the Gods, who show regard for good men, or to my friends, upright men, or to them both? Rather to both, I think; and first to you, Lyconides, the origin and author of so great a good; you do I present with this pot of gold; accept it with pleasure. I wish it to be your own, and my daughter as well, in the presence of Megadorus, and his good sister, Eunomia.

74. 5.5.838j

    The favour is received, and is returned, in thanks, as you deserve, Eucho, a father-in-law most acceptable to me.

75. 5.5.838k

    I shall think the favour sufficiently returned to me, if you now receive with pleasure my gift, and myself as well for your father-in-law.

76. 5.5.838l

    I do receive it; and I wish my house to be that of Euclio.

77. 5.5.838m

    What still remains, master,—remember now that I’m to be free.

78. 5.5.838n

    You’ve well put me in mind. Be you a free man, O Strobilus, for your deserts; and now prepare in-doors the dinner that has been so disturbed.

79. 5.5.838o

    Spectators, the avaricious Euclio has changed his nature; he has suddenly become liberal; so, too, do you practise liberality; and if the play has pleased you well, loudly clap your hands.

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Perseus Latin. CTS URN phi0119.phi003.perseus-eng2. Via the Perseus Digital Library / Open Greek and Latin TEI corpora. Licence: Available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Source.