Perde 3
[Textpart 3]
Before the rising of the sun had you not come to the school for exerciseThe school for exercise: Palaestram. This was the school for athletic exercise, probably for both youths and men; though it has been contended that the palaestra was devoted to the youths, and the gymnasium to the men., no slight punishment would you have had at the hands of the master of the school.
LYDUS
There did they exercise themselves rather with running, wrestling, the quoit, the javelin, boxing, the ball, and leaping, rather than with harlots or with kissing;
there did they prolong their livesProlong their lives: Extendere aetatem probably means here, not only to live, but to prolong life by healthy exercise., and not in secret-lurking holes. Then, when from the hippodromeThe hippodrome: The hippodromus answered the same purpose as our riding-schools and school of exercise you had returned home, clad in your belted frockYour belted frock— Cincticulum was a frock worn by children, with a girdle or belt round the waist., upon a stool by your mastersBy your master: This magister would be what the Greeks called the διδάσκαλος, or preceptor, whose duty it was to instruct the children in grammar, music, and other accomplishments would you sit; and there, when you were reading your book, if you made a mistake in a single syllable, your skin would be made as spotted as your nurse’s gownYour nurse’s gown: It is not known whether the words maculosum pallium refer here to a kind of spotted gown, perhaps of dark pattern, peculiar to nurses, or to the dirty, soiled appearance which, not improbably, their gowns usually presented. Some Commentators take a wider range, and think that the passage refers to the robe of Cybele, the Mother of the Gods, which was made of the skin of a panther..
430
MNESILOCHUS
I’m sorely vexed, to my sorrow, that on my account these things should be said about my friend. In his innocence he incurs this suspicion for my sake.
435
PHILOXENUS
The manners, Lydus, now are altered.
LYDUS
That, for my part, I know full well. For formerly, a man used to receive public honors by the votes of the people, before he ceased to be obedient to one appointed his tutor.
But now-a-days, before he is seven years old, if you touch a boy with your hand, at once the child breaks his tutor’s head with his tablet. When you go to complain to the father, thus says the father to the child: Be you my own dear boy, since you can defend yourself from an injury. The tutor then is called for; Hallo! you old good-for-nothingYou old good-for-nothing: That is, in his capacity as a slave, a purchaseable commodity.,
440
don’t you be touching the child for this reason, that he has behaved so boldly. and thus the despised tutor becomes just like a lanternJust like a lantern: This passage has been much discussed by various Commentators. It is, however, most probable that the Romans used lanterns made of oiled linen cloth; and that he is comparing his head, when it has been broken by the tablets, and plaistered over with oiled linen, to one of these lanterns. In his Epistles to Atticus, B. 4, Ep. 3, Cicero makes mention of linen lanterns. with his oiled linen rags. Judgment pronounced, they go away thence. Can this preceptor then, on these terms, keep up his authority, if he himself is to be beaten the first?
445
MNESILOCHUS
This is a severe accusation. So far as I understand his words,
’tis strange if Pistoclerus has never thumped Lydus with his fists.
450
LYDUS
But who is it that I see standing here before the door? O Philoxenus, I would not prefer for myself to behold even the propitious Gods rather than him.
LYDUS
Why, he’s Mnesilochus, the friend of your son. He is not of a like turn of mind with him who reclines and takes his meals in brothels.
Fortunate Nicobulus! who begot him for himself.
455
PHILOXENUS
My greetings to you, Mnesilochus; I’m glad that you have arrived safe.
MNESILOCHUS
May the Gods favour you, Philoxenus.
LYDUS
He, now, was born at a lucky moment for his father; he goes to sea, attends to the interests of his family, takes care of the house, is obedient and attentive to the wish and commands of his father.
He, when but a boy, was the companion of Pistoclerus in his boyhood; ’tis not by three days that he is the older in age, but his disposition is more improved by thirty years than that of the other.
460
PHILOXENUS
Beware of a mischiefOf a mischief: Malo seems here to be a preferable reading to malum. He alludes to the punishment, to which Lydus, as a slave, is liable., and forbear to speak of him unjustly.
LYDUS
Hold your peace. You’re a foolish man, who cannot bear to have him badly spoken of who does badly.
