Miles Gloriosus

Plautus, Titus Maccius

Plautus. The Comedies of Plautus, Volume 1. Riley, H. T., translator. London: G. Bell and Sons, Ltd., 1912.

  1. How cleverly you do suit your mind to my own mind.
ARTOTROGUS
  1. ’Tis fit that I should know your inclinations studiously, so that whatever you wish should first occur[*](Should first occur: Praevolat mihi.Literally, should fly to me beforehand.) to me.
PYRGOPOLINICES
  1. What do you remember?
ARTOTROGUS
  1. I do remember this. In Cilicia there were a hundred and fifty men, a hundred in Cryphiolathronia [*](Cryphiolathronia: This word is mere gibberish: it is compounded of Greek words, which would make it to mean the place of hidden secrecy. The part of the flatterer seems to be a little overdone here.), thirty at Sardis, sixty men of Macedon, whom you slaughtered altogether in one day.
PYRGOPOLINICES
  1. What is the sum total of those men?
ARTOTROGUS
  1. Seven thousand.
PYRGOPOLINICES
  1. It must be as much: you keep the reckoning well.
ARTOTROGUS
  1. Yet I have none of them written down; still, so I remember it was.
PYRGOPOLINICES
  1. By my troth, you have a right good memory.
ARTOTROGUS
  1. aside. ’Tis the flesh-pots [*](’Tis the flesh-pots: Offae monent.Offaproperly means a lump of flesh, from which it came to signify victuals in general.) give it a fillip.
PYRGOPOLINICES
  1. So long as you shall do such as you have done hitherto, you shall always have something to eat: I will always make you a partaker at my table.
ARTOTROGUS
  1. Besides, in Cappadocia, you would have killed five hundred men altogether at one blow, had not your sabre been blunt.
PYRGOPOLINICES
  1. I let them live, because I was quite sick of fighting.
ARTOTROGUS
  1. Why should I tell you what all mortals know, that you, Pyrgopolinices, live alone upon the earth, with valour, beauty, and achievements most unsurpassed? All the women are in love with you, and that not without reason, since you are so handsome. Witness those girls that pulled me by my mantle yesterday.
PYRGOPOLINICES
  1. What was it they said to you?
ARTOTROGUS
  1. They questioned me about you. Is Achilles here?says one to me. No,says I, his brother is.Then says the other to me: By my troth, but he is a handsome and a noble man. See how his long hair becomes him Certainly the women are lucky who share his favours.
PYBG.
  1. And pray, did they really say so?
ARTOTROGUS
  1. They both entreated me to bring you past to-day by way of a sight[*](By way of a sight: Pompam.Strictly speaking, this word means the escort of a procession, whence it came to signify the procession itself.) to them.
PYRGOPOLINICES
  1. ’Tis really a very great plague to be too handsome a man.
ARTOTROGUS
  1. They are quite a nuisance to me; they are praying, entreating, beseeching me, to let them see you; bidding me be fetched to them; so that I can’t give my attention to your business.