Plautus Aulularia 2.4

Henry Thomas Riley (Translator)

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Aulularia. Plautus. Henry Thomas Riley (Translator). London. 1912.

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Current edition Perseus

Aulularia, or The Concealed Treasure (English) (Plautus. The Comedies of Plautus, Volume 1. Riley, Henry Thomas, translator. London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1912.)

Editions (1)
Aulularia Perseus (Plautus. Plauti Comoediae, Volume 1. Leo, Friedrich, editor. Berlin: Weidmann, 1895.) — 2.4 focus

Notes on the current edition

Aulularia, or The Concealed Treasure

1. Hired the cooks: Allusion has been made, in the Notes to the Pseudolus, to the custom of hiring cooks in the markets on any special occasion. These were frequently slaves; and in such case, the greater portion of their earnings would go into the pockets of their masters. From the remark made in l. 265, we find that Congrio and Anthrax are slaves.
2. You really shan’t be dividing me: He alludes to his own name, Congrio, a conger eel, which was cut up before it was cooked; and he means to say, that spite of his name, he will not stand being divided by Strobilus.
3. Modest fellow, indeed: Anthrax gives a very indelicate turn to the remark of Congrio; and the liberty has been taken of giving a more harmless form to the gross witticism of Anthrax. It may be here remarked, that he takes his name from the Greek word, signifying a coal, a commodity, of course much in request with cooks.
4. Part of line 288 in the Latin.
5. He ties a bag: He probably intends to hint here that Euclio sleeps with his purse (which consisted of a follis, or leathern bag) tied round his throat, but implies that he not only wishes thereby to save his money, but his breath as well, by having the mouth of the bag so near to his own. Although Thornton thinks that the suggestion of Lambinus that follem obstringit means, he ties up the nozzle of the bellows, is forced and far-fetched, it is far from improbable that that is the meaning of the passage. It may possibly mean that he ties the bellows to his throat.
6. Part of his windpipe: An indelicate remark is here made, which has been obviated in the translation.
7. A great talent: As the ancients weighed silver on paying a talent, the word talentum denoted both a sum of money and a weight. The great talent here mentioned, was the Attic talent of sixty minae, or six thousand drachmae.
8. Had cut his nails: From this passage we learn that barbers were in the habit of paring the nails of their customers; in the Epistles of Horace, B. 1, Ep. 7, l. 50, we are informed that idlers pared their nails in the shops to Rome .
9. To the Prœtor: The Praetor was a magistrate at Rome , who administered justice, and ranked next to the Consuls. There were eight Praetors in the time of Cicero . Two of them were employed in adjudicating in causis privatis, disputes concerning private property. One of these was called Praetor urbanus, or the city Praetor, who administered justice when the parties were cives, or possessed the rights of Roman citizenship. The other was called Praetor peregrinus, or the foreigners’ Praetor, who administered justice when both the litigating parties, or only one of them, were peregrini, or foreigners, and had not the right of Roman citizenship. The other six Praetors had jurisdiction in criminal cases, such as murder, adultery, and violence. The Praetors committed the examination of causes to subordinate judges, who were called judices selecti, and they published the sentences of the judges so appointed by them. The Praetors wore the toga praetexta, or magisterial robe, sat on the sella curulis, and were preceded by six lictors. Their duties lasted for a year, after which they went as governors to such provinces as had no army, which were assigned to them by lot. There they administered justice in the same way as they had done as Praetors at Rome , and were called by the name of Propraetores; though, as such governors, they were also sometimes called Praetores. The office of Praetor was first instituted at Rome A.U.C. 388, partly because the Consuls, on account of the many wars in which the Romans were engaged, could no longer administer justice; partly that the Patricians might thereby have a compensation for admitting the Plebeians to a share in the Consulate. At first there was only one Praetor; Sylla made their number six; Julius Caesar eight; and Augustus increased them to sixteen. It will not escape observation, that Plautus, as usual, mentions a Roman officer in a Play, the scene of which is supposed to be Athens .
10. Not a thief: Because celer, sharp or nimble, would especially apply to the requisite qualifications for an expert thief.
11. A nine-day cook: Congrio probably means to say that Anthrax is a cook who only gets employment on the Nundinae, when the influx of country-people into the city called the services of even the worst cooks into requisition, and the eaters were not of the most fastidious description. The Nundinae (so called from nonae, ninth, and dies, day) returned every eighth day, according to our mode of reckoning; but according to the Romans, who, in counting, reckoned both extreme, every ninth day, whence the name. On this day the country-people came into the city to sell their wares, make their purchases, hear the new laws read, and learn the news. By the Hortensian law, the Nundinae, which before were only feriae, or holidays, were made fasti, or court-days, that the country-people then in town might have their lawsuits determined. Lipsius thinks that reference is here made to the feast called novendiale, which was sometimes given to the poorer classes on the ninth day after the funeral of a person of affluence. Probably, the cooking of these banquets was not of the highest order; but the former seems the more probable explanation of the passage.
12. Three-lettered fellow: Trium literarum homo; literally, man of three letters— F U R, thief.
13. Thief of thieves: Funtrifurcifer. Strictly speaking, the latter word signifies thief three times over.