Sos.

  Perii, pugnos ponderat.

      (aside) I’m finished!  He’s a-weighing his fists!

Mer.

  Quid si ego illum tractim tangam, ut dormiat?

      (sparring) What if I should stroke him softly into
      somnolence?

Sos.

  Servaveris,
  nam contiuas has tris noctes pervigilavi.

      (aside) You’d save my life:  I haven’t slept a wink
      for three nights running.

Mer.
      Pessumest,
  facimus nequiter, ferire malam male discit manus;
  alia forma esse oportet quem tu pugno legeris.

(swinging heavily) Downright sinful, this!  This is a shame!  ’Tis wrong of my arm to learn really to jab a jaw! (to arm as he feels biceps) Merely graze a man with thy fist and his shape must needs be altered.

Sos.

  Illic homo me interpolabit meumque os finget denuo.

      (aside) That bully’s going to do me up and mould my face
      all over again for me.

Mer.

  Exossatum os esse oportet quem probe percusseris.

      The face that thou shalt smite in earnest is bound
      thereafter to be boneless.

Sos.

  Mirum ni hic me quasi murenam exossare cogitat.
  ultro istunc qui exossat homines, perii, si me aspexerit. 320

      (aside) Sure enough he’s reckoning on boning me like
      a lamprey.  I—­I object to these man-boners.  It’s all up if
      he catches sight of me.

Mer.

  Olet homo quidam malo suo.

      (sniffing the air) Ha!  I smell somebody, and woe to him!

Sos.

      Ei, numnam ego obolui?

      (aside) Oh, dear!  It can’t be he’s got a whiff of me?

Mer.

  Atque haud longe abesse oportet, verum longe hinc afuit.

      Aye, and he must be near at hand, albeit he has been afar
      from here.

Sos.

  Illi homo superstitiosust.

      (aside) The fellow’s got second sight.

Mer.

  Gestiunt pugni mihi.

      My fists are rampant.

Sos.

  Si in me exercituru’s, quaeso in parietem ut primum domes.

      (in low tone) If you intend to put ’em through their
      paces on me, for heaven’s sake break ’em in first on the
      wall.

Mer.

  Vox mi ad aures advolavit.

      A voice hath flown unto my ear.

Sos.

  Ne ego homo infelix fui,
  qui non alas intervelli:  volucrem vocem gestito.

      (aside) There you are!  I swear I am an unlucky devil
      not to have clipped its wings, and me with such a bird-like
      voice.