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Captivi · 1852

Act IV, Scene I

by Plautus c. 254 – 184 BC

Translated by Henry Thomas Riley (1852)


Enter ERGASILUS.

ERG. Supreme Jove! thou dost preserve me, and dost augment my means. Plenty, extreme and sumptuous, dost thou present to me; celebrity, profit, enjoyment, mirth, festivity, holidays, sights, provisions, carousings, abundance, joyousness. And to no man have I now determined with myself to go a-begging; for I'm able either to profit my friend or to destroy my enemy, to such extent has this delightful day heaped delights upon me in its delightfulness. I have lighted upon a most rich inheritance without incumbrances. Now will I wend my way to this old gentleman Hegio, to whom I am carrying blessings as great as he himself prays for from the Gods, and even greater. Now, this is my determination, in the same fashion that the slaves of Comedy are wont, so will I throw my cloak around my neck, that from me, the first of all, he may learn this matter. And I trust that I, by reason of this news, shall find provision up to the end.

This translation is printed as prose in its source edition.

MLA

Plautus. Captivi, Act IV, Scene I. Translated by Henry Thomas Riley. Poetry Codex, poetrycodex.com/work/plautus-captivi-riley/14/.

Chicago

Plautus. Captivi, Act IV, Scene I. Translated by Henry Thomas Riley. Poetry Codex. https://poetrycodex.com/work/plautus-captivi-riley/14/.

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