Perde 3
[Textpart 4]
On my honour, I will not; come, speak out boldly to me.
LUCRIO
By my troth, I never saw him draw any. But thus was it; he requested me, and then I drew it.
PALAESTRIO
Think of that now! very frequently, I guess, the casks were standing on their headsStanding on their heads: He means to say that the amphorae, no doubt, were often turned bottom upwards for the purpose of pouring out their contents. there.
850
LUCRIO
No, faith, the casks would notThe casks would not: The whole of this passage is of somewhat obscure signification. The two lines probably mean, The casks (cadi) would not have fallen down there so very much, had it not been that one part of the cellar was very slippery indeed. He then shows how (sic) the pot was put close by the casks, so that, they slipping down, it was filled as often as ten times in one day; and he concludes by saying, that when the pot acted the Bacchanal (debacchabatur), the casks slipped down again. Probably by acting the Bacchanal he means to say that the pot got filled and was then emptied, just like the Bacchanals, who, doubtless, were not particular at vomiting a part of the enormous quantities of wine which they imbibed; and he naively tells the truth, by saying that the cask slipping was the result of the pot being emptied, and so laying the fault more upon the pot than the drinker. have stood so very badly there. But there happened to be in the cellar a bit of a slippery spot; a two-pint pot was placed there, near the casks, in this fashion (shows the way.) Frequently, that was filled ten times in a day.
When the pot acted the reveller, the casks were all tottering.
PALAESTRIO
Get you gone in-doors. Both of you, I find, are acting the revellers in the wine-cellar. I’ faith, I shall fetch my master home just now from the Forum.
LUCRIO
I’m ruined. My master, when he comes home, will have me tortured,
when he knows of these doings. I’ faith, I’ll fly somewhither, and put off this punishment to another day. (To the AUDIENCE.) don’t you tell him don’t you tell him: These occasional addresses to the Spectators, in the middle of the dialogue, were made in the same spirit and for the same purpose for which the clown on our stage addresses his jokes to the audience, namely, to provoke a hearty laugh., I do entreat you most earnestly.
860
PALAESTRIO
Whither are you betaking yourself?
LUCRIO
I am sent elsewhere: I’ll come back here just now.
PALAESTRIO
Who has sent you?
PALAESTRIO
Go; be back directly.
LUCRIO
If it is divided, prithee do you only take my share of the punishment while I’m away.
865
[Textpart 5]
So—I understand what scheme the lady is upon. Because Sceledrus is asleep, she has sent her under-keeper away out of doors, whilst she may pass from our house to next door. That’s all right.
PALAESTRIO
(Looks down the street.) But Periplecomenus is bringing here a woman of very comely appearance, her, for whom I commissioned him. By my faith, the Gods are helping us in this matter. How becomingly drest she struts alongShe struts along: By the use of the word incedit, he probably refers to the assumed stateliness of her gait., not like a Courtesan. This business is prospering charmingly in our hands.
870
[Textpart 6]
I have explained the whole affair, Acroteleutium, to you, and, Milphidippa, to you as well.
PERIPLECOMENUS
If you don’t well understand this device and plan, I wish you to hear it all over again. If you comprehend it aright, there is something else that we may speak of in preference.
875
ACROTELEUTIUM
I’ faith, it would be folly, and ignorance, and foolishness, for me to engage in the service of another, or to promise you my assistance,
if, in its fabrication, I did not know how to be either mischievous or clever at deceiving.
880
