It was not unusual for
urbane rich Roman young men to frequent a brothel and have a single prostitute
(meretrix) for some time. Of course
these prostitutes tried to get as much money as possible out of these men and
had no mercy, when they were financially ruined: enough other young men to seduce.
Not having a meretrix was seen as
problematic, but the potential loss of money. Roman comedy exploited such
relations and this especially true of Plautus’ Truculentus (`the grim’, the name of the slave who had to rescue
the situation for his master.)
The following lines are
taken from the beginning of the second act: Dinarchus, a young man impoverished
by spending too much money on his meretrix
Phronesium, has just entered the house in order to speak with this shrewd lady.
Astaphium – maid of Phronesium and herself well acquainted with the oldest
profession - is waiting outside the door of the brothel and tells the tricks of
her trade. Nothing has changed much since, I guess.
The Latin of Plautus
differs from Classical Latin: it has older spellings like o for u, elision of the e in est
(e.g. vitast = vita est) and the use of words and meanings considered obsolete in
the Classical period.
Plautus, Truculentus, 217 - 231
dum fuit, dedit; nunc
nihil habet: quod habebat nos habemus,
iste id habet quod nos habuimus. humanum facinus factumst.
actutum fortunae solent mutari, varia vitast:
nos divitem istum meminimus atque iste pauperes nos: 220
verterunt sese memoriae; stultus sit qui id miretur.
si eget, necessest nos pati: amavit, aequom ei factum est.
piaculumst miserere nos hominum rei male gerentum.
bonis esse oportet dentibus lenam probam,
adripere ut quisquis veniat blandeque adloqui, 225
male corde consultare, bene lingua loqui.
meretricem sentis similem esse condecet,
quemquem hominem attigerit, profecto ei aut malum aut damnum dare.
numquam amatoris
meretricem oportet causam noscere,
quin, ubi nil det, pro
infrequente eum mittat militia domum.
230
nec umquam erit probus quisquam amator nisi qui rei inimicust suae.
dum fuit (ei): as long as he had something.
id: i.e.
poverty
facinus –oris (n.):
deed (in Classical Latin often an evil deed, but here without that pejorative
meaning: humanum facinus factumst (factum est): it is simply human to do
so.)
actutum: quickly
divitem istum:
him as a rich man
memoriae: the
things remembered, i.e. money
si eget, necessest
nos pati: if he is in want, we must endure that. i.e. we should show no
mercy
aequom (= aequum) ei factum est: a fair thing
has happened to him. i.e. in return for loving a meretrix he is now poor.
piaculum: sin-offering
or something which requires a sin-offering, hence: crime. (Others take piaculum in the first meaning and regard it as ironical from the
mouth of the immoral Astaphium.)
rei male gerentum
(= gerentium): badly performing for
their own interest
bonis dentibus:
beautiful teeth (Think
of currentday toothpast advertisements)
lena:
prostitute
probus: good
ut: as soon as
adripio: to
take hold of
blande:
flatteringly
sentis- is
(m.): thorn (similis + gen)
condecet = decet
attingo attigi
attactum: to touch (here both physically and mentally)
profecto:
indeed
amatoris causam
noscere: to know the interest of her
lover, i.e. to have pity with him
quin…mittat:
but she must send him
pro infrequente militia:
as a deserting soldier (infrequente (not
turning up regularly) suppl. milite)
from the army (ab militia)
nisi qui:unless he
Translation by Henry Thomas Riley (1912)
While he had it, he gave; now he has got nothing; what he
did have, we have got; what we had, he has now got the same. The common course
of things has happened. For. tunes are wont to change upon the instant. Life is
checquered. We remember him as rich, and he us as poor; our reminiscences have
shifted places. He must be a fool to wonder at it. If he is in want, it's
necessary that he should allow us to make a living; that's proper to be done.
'Twere a disgrace for us to have compassion on men that squander away their
fortunes. A clever Procuress ought to have good teeth; to smile upon whoever
comes, to address him in flattering terms; to design mischief in her heart, but
to speak fairly with her tongue. A Courtesan it befits to be like a briar;
whatever man she touches, for either mischief or loss certainly to be the
result. A Courtesan ought never to listen to the plea of a lover, but, when he
has nothing to give, do you pack him off home from service as a deserter
; and never is any gallant good for anything unless he's
one who is the enemy of his own fortune.
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