The Captivi and the MostellariaPlautus, Titus Maccius
General
The Captivi and the Mostellaria
Plautus, Titus Maccius
Latin drama (Comedy); Plautus, Titus Maccius -- Translations into English
[Footnote 1: _Chains of light weight_)--Ver. 112. "Singularias" This
word may admit of three interpretations, and it is impossible to decide
which is the right one. It may mean chains weighting a single
"libra," or pound; it may signify chains for the captives singly, in
contradistiniction to those by which they were fastened to each other;
or it may mean single chains, in opposition to double ones. In the Acts
of the Apostles, ch. 12, v. 6, we read that St. Peter was bound with two
chains; and in ch. 13, v. 33, the chief captain orders St. Paul to be
bound with two chains.]
[Footnote 2: _Don't seem to think so_)--Ver. 120. Hegio means to say
that the slave does not seem to think liberty so very desirable, or
he would try more to please his master and do his duty, which might
probably be the right method for gaining his liberty. As the slave could
generally ransom himself out of his "peculium," or "savings," if they
were sufficient, the slave here either thinks, or pretends to think,
that Hegio is censuring him for not taking those means, and answer,
accordingly, that he has nothing to offer]
[Footnote 3: _Give myself to flight_)--Ver. 121. "Dem in pedes."
Literally, "give myself to my feet," meaning thereby "to run away." He
puns upon this meaning of "dare," and its common signification of "to
give" or "to offer to give."]
[Footnote 4: _Giving you to the cage_)--Ver. 124. "In cavears." He plays
on the word "cavea," which meaning "a cage" for a bird, might also mean
confinement for a prisoner.]
[Footnote 5: _The Bakerians_)--Ver. 162. This and the following
appellations are expressive both of the several trades that contributed
to furnishing entertainments, and, in the Latin, also denoted the names
of inhabitants of several places in Italy or elsewhere. As this meaning
could not be expressed in a literal translation of them, the original
words are here subjoined. In the word "Pistorienses," he alludes to
the bakers, and the natives of Pistorium, a town of Etruria; in the
"Panicei," to the bread or roll bakers, and the natives of Pana, a
little town of the Samnites, mentioned by Strabo; in the "Placentini,"
to the "confectioners" or "cake-makers," and the people of Placentia, a
city in the North of Italy; in the "Turdetani," to the "poulterers"
or "sellers of thrushes," and the people of Turdentania, a district
of Spain; and in the "Fiendulae," to the "sellers of beccaficos," a
delicate bird, and the inhabitants of Ficculae, a town near Rome. Of
course, these appellations, as relating to the trades, are only comical
words coined for the occasion.]
[Footnote 6: _A bottomless pit_)--Ver. 183. He plays upon the
resemblance in sound of the word "fundum," "landed property," to
"profundum," "a deep cavity," to which he compares the Parasite's
stomach. "You sell me landed property, indeed; say rather a bottomless
pit."]
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