Perde 3
[Textpart 1]
Whew! You are telling of a King of refined taste.
THRASO
Aye, he is a person of that sort; a man of but very few acquaintanceships.
GNATHO
Indeed, of none,Indeed, of none: Immo, nullorum arbitror, si tecum vivit. This expression which is used aside, has two meanings, neither of which is complimentary to the Captain. It may mean, he has no society if he associates with you, making the Captain equivalent to nobody; or it may signify, if he associates with you he’ll be sure to drive all his other acquaintances away. I fancy, if he’s on intimate terms with you.
THRASO
All the people envied me,
and attacked me privately. I don’t care one straw. They envied me dreadfully; but one in particular, whom the King had appointed over the Indian elephants.Over the Indian elephants: Here he shows his lofty position to perfection; he dares to take down the pride of one who commanded even the royal elephants. The Braggart Captain of Plautus comes into collision with the elephants themselves: l. 26. Artotrogus says to him, In what a fashion it was you broke the fore-leg of even an elephant in India with your fist! Once, when he became particularly troublesome, Prithee, Strato, said I, are you so fierce because you hold command over the wild beasts?
410
GNATHO
Cleverly said, upon my faith, and shrewdly. Astounding! You did give the fellow a home thrust. What said he?
415
THRASO
Dumfounded, instantaneously.
GNATHO
How could he be otherwise?
PARMENO
Ye Gods, by our trust in you! a lost and miserable fellow the one, and the other a scoundrel.
THRASO
Well then, about that: matter, Gnatho, the way in which I touched up the Rhodian at a banquet—
did I never tell you?
420
GNATHO
Never; but pray, do tell me. (Aside.) I’ve heard it more than a thousand times already.
420
THRASO
There was in my company at a banquet, this young man of Rhodes, whom I’m speaking of. By chance I had a mistress there; he began to toy with her, and to annoy me. What are you doing, sir impudence? said I to the fellow;
a hare yourself, and looking out for game? Lookinq out for game?: Pulmentum, more strictly speaking, A nice bit. Patrick has the following Note on this passage: Lepus tute es, et pulmentum quaeris? A proverbial expression in use at that time: the proper meaning of it, stripped of its figure, is, You are little more than a woman yourself, and do you want a mistress? We learn from Donatus and Vopiscus, that Livius Andronicus had used this proverb in his Plays before Terence. Commentators who enter into a minute explanation of it offer many conjectures rather curious than solid, and of a nature not fit to be mentioned here. Donatus seems to think that allusion is made to a story prevalent among the ancient naturalists that the hare was in the habit of changing its sex.
425
THRASO
What’s the matter?
GNATHO
How apt, how smart, how clever; nothing could be more excellent. Prithee, was this a saying of yours? I fancied it was an old one.
THRASO
Did you ever hear it before?
GNATHO
Many a time; and it is mentioned among the first-rate ones.
