Plautus Epidicus 1.1

Henry Thomas Riley (Translator)

Table of Contents

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Line
← Previous Next →

Epidicus. Plautus. Henry Thomas Riley (Translator). London. 1913.

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

Funding provided by NSF, NEH: Digital Libraries Initiative, Phase 2.

Current edition Perseus

Epidicus, or The Fortunate Discovery (English) (Plautus. The Comedies of Plautus, Volume 2. Riley, Henry Thomas, translator. London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1913.)

Editions (1)
Epidicus Perseus (Plautus. Plauti Comoediae, Volume 1. Leo, Friedrich, editor. Berlin: Weidmann, 1895.) — 1.1 focus

Notes on the current edition

Epidicus, or The Fortunate Discovery

1. Translator’s subtitle The Fortunate Discovery: Plautus calls this Play by the name of Epidicus, from the slave, who is the principal actor in it. It will be seen that a fortunate discovery really does take place in the Fifth Act, where Periphanes not only finds his long-lost daughter, but Stratippocles is prevented from unknowingly being guilty of incest. That Plautus thought very highly of this Play, is evident from what is said in the Bacchides, l. 215, where Chrysalus is introduced as saying that he loves the Epidicus as well as his own self.
2. A dinner shall be given you: The coena viatica, or welcome entertainment, has been mentioned in the Notes to the Bacchides, Act I., So. 2.
3. Part of line 9 in the Latin.
4. Part of line 9 in the Latin.
5. To have parted with: The thieves of antiquity are said to have used the left hand for the purposes of their nefarious calling. The cutting off of the hand was a common punishment.
6. I rob above- board: It has been suggested that this is an imitation of a passage in Aristophanes, Act II., Sc. 3, where Blepsidemus says, οὐ κεκλοφάς ἄλλ’ ἥρπακας. You have not pilfered, but plundered. The thought, however, is quite natural, without resorting to a previous author for it.
7. In a varied way: He puns upon the different meanings of the word varie; and alludes to the checquered or striped state of the slave’s back after whipping. By varie, Thesprio simply means, sometimes well, and sometimes ill.
8. Part of the first part of line 19 in the Latin.
9. What’s law: The words operam da and operam dabo, used by Epidicus, were terms used in the Roman courts of law: therefore Thesprio says, jus dicis, meaning, you talk like a judge.
10. Two lictors: The Praetors were attended by lictors As one part of their duty was to scourge refractory slaves, Thesprio means to joke Epidicus, by telling him that he requires the lictors — not to do him honor, but to scourge him.
11. Where are the armns: As Thesprio was his armour-bearer, this question cannot be considered as an impertinent one.
12. Will turn out to his honor: Schmieder thinks that in these words there is a covert allusion to the conduct of Terentius Varro, by whose bad management the Romans lost the battle of Cannae, when fighting against Hannibal. The Senate, however, received him with open arms, because he had not despaired of the state.
13. Flew over to the enemy: Plautus seems here to fancy that the arms made by Mulciber or Vulcan, for Achilles, were taken by Hector from Patroclus, when, in fact, they were made at the request of Thetis, for the purpose of avenging his death. He probably did not care to represent a slave and A camp-follower as being particularly correct in their knowledge of Homer.
14. Part of line 52c in Latin attributed to the prior speaker.