Publius Terentius Afer (Terence) Heautontimorumenos 4.4

Henry Thomas Riley (Translator), George Colman (Translator)

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Heautontimorumenos. Publius Terentius Afer (Terence). Henry Thomas Riley (Translator), George Colman (Translator). Ney York. 1874.

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Current edition Perseus

Heautontimorumenos; or, The Self-Tormenter (English) (Terence. The Comedies of Terence. Riley, Henry Thomas; Colman, George, translators. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1872.)

Editions (1)
Heautontimorumenos Perseus (Terence. Publii Terentii Comoediae Sex. Parry, Edward St. John, editor. London: Whittaker and Co.; George Bell, 1857.) — 4.4 focus

Notes on the current edition

Heautontimorumenos; or, The Self-Tormenter

1. To a very fine purpose: Satis pol proterve, etc. C. Laelius was said to have assisted Terence in the composition of his Plays, and in confirmation of this, the following story is told by Cornelius Nepos:
C. Laelius, happening to pass the Matronalia [a Festival on the first of March, when the husband, for once in the year, was bound to obey the wife] at his villa near Puteoli , was told that dinner was waiting, but still neglected the summons. At last, when he made his appearance, he excused himself by saying that he had been in a particular vein of composition, and quoted certain lines which occur in the Heautontimorumenos, namely, those beginning
Satis pol proterve me Syri promissa hue induxerunt.
2. They’re asleep: Dormiunt. This is clearly used figuratively, though Hedelin interprets it literally.
3. Farm here on the right-hand side: Cooke suggests that the Poet makes Bacchis call the house of Charinus villa, and that of Chremes fundus (which signifies a farm-house, or farm), for the purpose of exalting the one and depreciating the other in the hearing of Syrus.
4. The feast of Bacchus: This passage goes far to prove that the Dionysia here mentioned as being celebrated, were those κάτ’ ἀγρούς or the rural Dionysia.
5. Let’s be going: Colman here remarks to the following effect:
There is some difficulty in this and the next speech in the original, and the Commentators have been puzzled to make sense of them. It seems to me that the Poet’s intention is no more than this: Bacchis expresses some reluctance to act under the direction of Syrus, but is at length prevailed on, finding that he can by those means contrive to pay her the money which he has promised her.