11 Explōrātiō Tertia (III) Adventure Three
Terence, Andria, The Woman from Andros
Conjunctions
E-Verbs (Second Conjugation) Questions
Imperatives
Campus Martius, Rōma Mēnsis Aprilis
Cn. Octaviō T. Manliō Torquātō cōnsulibus
O
Campus Martius, Rome April, 165 BCE
ur third visit to ancient Italy took us back to the city of Rome, and to the same muddy field, the Campus Martius, or Field of Mars, where we had been when we watched the Menaechmi. We were even facing a stage again, only this time, no audience sat in the
bleachers: this was a rehearsal. The actors on stage were practicing a scene from a play called the Andria, the Woman from Andros. Its storyline, in case you were wondering, revolves around a conflict between a young man named Pamphilus and his father Simo. Pamphilus wants to marry Glycerium, the sister of a sex worker from Andros. His father Simo has arranged for him to be married to a ‘more respectable’ woman, Philumena, daughter of Chremes. Chremes calls off the arrangement after finding out who Pamphilus had been hanging out with. Simo wants to teach his son a lesson by embarrassing him, so he forges ahead with plans for a wedding that will have no bride. Simo’s slave Davus then gets involved, launching an elaborate plot to thwart Simo. To further complicate matters, Pamphilus’ friend Charinus has fallen in love with Philumena, a love he confesses to his slave Byrrhia.
That at any rate was how the action of the play was supposed to begin. But the rehearsal was a disaster: actors were forgetting their lines, props were blowing away in the wind, stagehands were fighting over who should pay for food. The playwright, Publius Terentius Afer, or Terence, who was also the director, was at the end of his rope and yelling at everybody.
Vōs, vidēte, You, look!
Operam dare dēbētis, You ought to make an effort. Verba nōn servās! You’re not preserving the words! Verba mūtātis! You’re changing the words!
Verba servāte! Preserve the words!
Nōn sīc tē docēbam! That’s not how I taught you!
Finally he took a position center stage and shouted – Satis est! Fiat fīnis! That’s enough! Let that be the end! – before storming off to the city. With the director gone, all the actors and stagehands shrugged their shoulders and walked away.
Latinitas and I climbed onto the stage and picked up the script, looking at the page it was open to. After translating the Latin for me, she had me read the characters’ lines:
CHARINUS What do you say, Byrrhia? Has that woman been given to Pamphilus to marry today? BYRRHIA It’s so.
CHARINUS How do you know? BYRRHIA I just heard it in the forum from Davus. CHARINUS
Oh it sucks for poor me!
As much as my mind was constantly torn between hope and fear before this, now that its hope is gone, it’s so weary and drained by worry, it’s stunned.
BYRRHIA Please, Charinus, because it’s impossible, this thing you want, wish for what is possible. CHARINUS I want nothing else except Philumena.
CHARINUS Quid ais, Byrria? Daturne illa Pamphilō hodiē nūptum? BYRRHIA Sīc est. CHARINUS Quō scīs? BYRRHIA Apud forum modo ē Dāvō audīvī. CHARINUS Vae miserō mihi!
Ut animus in spē atque in timōre usque antehāc attentus fuit, ita, postquam adēmpta spēs est, lassus cūrā cōnfectus stupet.
BYRRHIA Quaesō edepol, Chārīne, quoniam nōn potest id fierī quod vīs, id velīs quod possit. CHARINUS Nīl volō aliud nisi Philūmenam.
BYRRHIA
Ah, how much more satisfying it would be for you to work on removing that crazy love from your mind,
rather than say something that makes your desire burn more in frustration.
CHARINUS It’s easy, when we are all healthy, to give the sick correct advice.
If you were here in my shoes, you would feel differently. BYRRHIA Go do as you like. CHARINUS Wait, I see Pamphilus. My mind’s made up to try everything before I’m done. BYRRHIA What’s he doing?
BYRRHIA Āh, quantō satius est tē id dare operam quō istum amōrem ex animō āmoveās tuō, quam id loquī quō mage libīdō frustrā incendātur tua!
CHARINUS Facile omnēs cum valēmus rēcta cōnsilia aegrōtīs damus.
Tū sī hīc sīs, aliter sentiās. BYRRHIA Age age, ut lubet. CHARINUS Sed Pamphilum videō. Omnia experīrī certum est prius quam pereō. BYRRHIA Quid hic agit?
CHARINUS I will beg him in person, I will get on my knees for him, I will tell him about my love!
I believe I can get him to postpone the wedding at least a few days;
meanwhile something will happen, I hope. BYRRHIA This ‘something’ is nothing. CHARINUS Byrrhia, What do you think? Should I go to him? BYRRHIA Sure, why not? If you accomplish nothing else,
he’ll probably suspect you’re prepared to seduce her, if he marries her.
CHARINUS Get out of here, to hell with that ‘suspicion’, you jerk. PAMPHILUS It’s Charinus I see. Hello! CHARINUS Oh Pamphilus, hello; to you I come seeking hope, security, aid, advice.
PAMPHILUS I have no room for advice, nor any means to help.
CHARINUS Ipsum hunc ōrābō, huic supplicābō, amōrem huic nārrābō meum: crēdō impetrābō ut aliquot saltem nūptiīs prōdat diēs:
intereā fiet aliquid, spērō. BYRRHIA Id ‘aliquid’ nīl est. CHARINUS Byrrhia, quid tibi vidētur? Adeōn ad eum? BYRRHIA Quidnī? Sī nīl impetrēs,
ut tē arbitrētur sibi parātum moechum, sī illam dūxerit.
CHARINUS Abīn hinc in malam rem cum suspīciōne istāc, scelus? PAMPHILUS Charīnum videō. Salvē. CHARINUS Ō salvē, Pamphile: ad tē adveniō spem salūtem auxilium cōnsilium expetēns.
PAMPHILUS Neque pol cōnsilī locum habeō neque ad auxilium cōpiam.
“Here,” she said to me, “are a few common words and expressions from this scene you should write in your book:”
vaeit sucks
sī fierī potestif it is possible
nīl or nihilnothing
aliquidsomething
quidwhat?