Cistellaria, or The Casket

Perseus Latin · Perseus Latin · 346 sections

4.2.739a
But still he looks for it in vain.
4.2.740
But, by my faith, good woman, in no matter does this certain man give his pains for nothing.
4.2.741
Lend me your conversation: it will now be for your own advantage. We confess that we have got the casket.
4.2.742b
Then may Salvation preserve you; where is it now?
4.2.743
See, here it is, safe. But I wish to discourse with you upon a matter of importance to myself; I take you as a sharer with me in my own preservation.
4.2.745
What matter is this, or who are you?
4.2.745b
I am the mother of her who had these things with her, when exposed.
4.2.746b
Do you live here then?
4.2.746c
You are a diviner. But, prithee, good woman, do lay aside all mystification, and to the point; tell me at once, whence did you get these trinkets?
4.2.749
This daughter of my mistress had them.
4.2.750
You tell a falsehood; for my own mistress’s daughter had them, not yours.
4.2.751
Don’t interrupt.
4.2.751b
I’ll be mum.
4.2.751c
Good woman, go on speaking. Where is she who had them?
4.2.752b
Here, next door.
4.2.753
By the powers, surely the son-in-law of my husband is living there.
4.2.753aa
Surely—
4.2.753b
Interrupting again? (To HALISCA.) Go on relating it. How many years old is she said to be?
4.2.755b
Seventeen.
4.2.756
She is my own daughter then!
4.2.756b
’Tis she, as the number of her years has proved.
4.2.757
What you are seeking, you have found; I now seek what’s mine.
4.2.758
Why, faith, they’ve found what’s their own, I’ll seek for number three.
4.2.759
My daughter, the object which I was seeking, I have discovered.
4.2.760
It’s proper to keep in safety what has been entrusted in confidence, lest a kindness should turn out a detriment to the well-deserving. This fosterling of ours is assuredly your daughter,
4.2.762b
and my mistress is about to restore you your own, and for that purpose has she come from her house. But, prithee,
4.2.765
enquire of her own self; I am but a servant.
4.2.765b
You ask what’s just.
4.2.766
To her rather do I choose this obligation to belong. But I beg that you’ll restore me that casket.
4.2.768
What’s to be done, Lampadio?
4.2.768b
What’s your own, keep as your own.
4.2.769
But I feel compassion for her.
4.2.769b
This I think ought to be done;
4.2.770
give her the casket, and go in-doors together with her.
4.2.771
I’ll follow your advice. (Giving it to HALISCA.) Take you the casket. Let’s go in-doors. But what’s the name of your mistress?
4.2.773b
Melaenis.
4.2.773c
Go first; I’ll follow you at once.
5.1.774
What affair is this, that all persons are talking about in the street—that my daughter has been found? They say, too, that Lampadio has been seeking me in the Forum.
5.1.776b
Master, whence come you?
5.1.776c
From the Senate.
5.1.776d
I rejoice that through my means there is an addition to your children.
5.1.777b
But it don’t please me; I don’t want that I should be having more children by means of another person. But what is the meaning of this?
5.1.779b
Make haste, and go in-doors here to the house of your neighbour; you’ll at once recognize your daughter. Your wife’s in-doors there as well. Go quickly.
5.1.781b
I’m resolved that this shall, before all other matters, be attended to.
5.1.782
Don’t you wait, Spectators, till they come out to you; no one will come out; they’ll all finish the business indoors; when that shall be done, they’ll lay aside their dress; then, after that,
5.1.785
he that has done amiss will get a beating; he that has not done amiss will get some drink. Now as to what’s left, Spectators, for you to do, after the manner of your ancestors, give your applause at the conclusion of the Play.

Perseus Latin. CTS URN phi0119.phi007.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.