Plautus Trinummus 1.2

Henry Thomas Riley (Translator)

Table of Contents

Search the Perseus Catalog for:

View: By Line
← Previous Next →

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

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

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

Current edition Perseus

Trinummus: The Three Pieces of Money (English) (Plautus. The Comedies of Plautus, Volume 1. Riley, Henry Thomas, translator. London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1912.)

Editions (1)
Trinummus Perseus (Plautus. Plauti Comoediae, Volume 2. Leo, Friedrich, editor. Berlin: Weidmann, 1896.) — 1.2 focus

Notes on the current edition

Trinummus: The Three Pieces of Money

1. Household God: Literally, Lar. The Lares were the household Gods, or tutelary Deities of each family. The figures of them were kept, among the Romans, near the hearth, in the Lararium which was a recess formed for that purpose, and in which prayers were offered up on rising in the morning. There were both public and private Lares. The latter were by some thought to have been identical with the Manes, or shades, of the ancestors of the family occupying the house. The public Lares were the Urbani, presiding over the cities; Rustici, over the country; Compitales, over crossroads; and Marini, over the sea. Varro tells us that there were 265 stations for the statues of the Lares at the corner of the streets of Rome . Lar was an Etrurian word, signifying noble, or lord. The Greeks adorned their household Gods with the leaves of the plane-tree, the Romans with ears of corn. This was especially done on entering a new house, on which the wish was expressed that it might turn out prosperous, lucky, happy, and fortunate to the new occupants. Quod bonum, faustum, felix, fortunatumque sit. Callicles here expresses this wish on taking possession of the house which he has just bought of Lesbonicus.
2. Wife: Being at the door of his house, before shutting it, he calls to his wife within. His kind wish as to the duration of her life he expresses just as he shuts the door.
3. Has become a child: He means to say that he has become a boy from the fact of his being in need of correction.
4. And i’ faith: Hercle, by Hercules; Ecastor, by Castor, Edepol, by Pollux, or by the temple of Pollux, and Pol, by Pollux, were the every-day oaths in the mouths of the Romans, and were used for the purpose of adding weight to the asseverations of the speaker. A literal translation of them throughout this work would hardly be in accordance with the euphony required by the English ear. They are therefore rendered throughout by such expressions as i’ faith, troth, by my troth, etc.
5. Indeed I fancy: Neque, which implies a negative, seems to be more in accordance with the sense of the passage than the affirmative nempe, which is the reading of Ritschel; it has therefore been adopted.
6. Not to be knowing: That is, the risk you would run in taking her or your wife.
7. Just as one lives: The meaning of this passage seems to be somewhat obscure, and many of the Editions give this line to Megaronides. It is probable however, that Callicles intends, as a consolation for them both, to say that life itself is a blessing, and that they ought not by unnecessary anxieties to shorten it, but rather to submit with patience to their domestic grievances.
8. In the Capitol: Plautus does not much care about anachronism or dramatic precision; though the plot of the play is derived from the Greek, and the scene laid at Athens , he makes frequent reference to Roman localities and manners. It is probable that the expression here employed was proverbial at Rome , to signify a deed of daring and unscrupulous character. From ancient writers we learn that there was a statue of Jupiter seated in a chariot, placed on the roof of the Capitoline Temple. Tarquinius Priscus employed Etrurian artists to make a statue of pottery for this purpose; and the original chariot, with its four horses, was made of baked clay. In later and more opulent times, the crown placed on the statue was of great value, so much so as to act as a temptation to one Petilius, who attempted to steal it, and being caught in the fact, was afterwards nicknamed Capitolinus. Mention is again made of this status in the Menaechmi, act v, sc. b. l. 38.
9. Greedy of grovelling gain: Plautus makes this into one word turpilucricupidum. Probably it was used as a nickname for avaricious persons. It is here attempted to be expressed by an alliteration. Thornton renders it Gripeall.
10. A vulture: Both on account of the sordid and greedy habits of that bird, and because, as is stated in the next line, it cares not which side supplies its maw when it follows the course of contending armies.
11. Hence to Seleucia : There were several cities of this name. The one in Syria , a maritime city on the Orontes, near Antioch , is probably here referred to.
12. Forty minae: Unless he adds the adjective aurea, golden, Plautus always means silver minae. The mina was the sixtieth part of the Attic talent, and contained one hundred drachmae, of about ninepence three-farthings each.
13. Of Philippean pieces: These were gold coins much in circulation throughout Greece , struck by Philip, King of Macedon .
14. Advertised with bills: The method among the Romans of letting, or selling houses, was similar to ours. A ball was fixed upon the house, or some conspicuous place near it, inscribed with Aedes locandae, This house to be lot, or Aedes vendundae, This house for sale.
15. He watched till: He alludes to the conduct of Lesbonicus, who watched for the absence of his guardian, Callicles, that he might sell the house. This he would attempt to do, probably, on the plea that his father, not having been heard of for a long time, must be presumed to be dead, and the house has consequently descended to him, as his heir
16. The back part: Posticulum probably means detached buildings at the back of the house, and within the garden walls, which adjoin the posticum or posticula, the back door or garden-gate.
17. Call Busybodies: The word Scurra, which is here rendered busybody, originally meant a fellow-townsman, well to do in life, and a pleasant companion. In time, however, the word came to have a bad signification attached to it, and to mean an idle fellow, who did nothing but go about cracking his jokes at the expense of others, gossiping, and mischief-making, and at last to signify a clown, buffoon, or mimic on the stage. These men are most probably termed here assidui, everlasting gossipers, from a habit which many people have of making frequent calls on their neighbours, sitting down, and never thinking of taking their departure till they have exhausted all their stock of evil-speaking, lying, and slandering. Gossiping was notoriously the propensity of the Athenians. Numbers did nothing but saunter about the city, and go from spot to spot, with the question τι καινοῦ, Any news? Few will fail to remember the censure of them in the Seventeenth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, v. 21: For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.
18. They do not know: That is, who only pretend to know.