Ergasile, salve.

      Ah, good day, Ergasilus.

Erg.

  Di te bene ament, Hegio.

      God bless you, Hegio, bless you bounteously! (grasps
      Hegio’s hand fervently and bursts into tears)

Hegio

  Ne fle.

      Don’t cry.

Erg.

  Egone illum non fleam? egon non defleam
  talem adulescentem?

      I not cry for him?  I not cry my eyes out for such a youth?

Hegio

  Semper sensi, filio 140
  meo te esse amicum, et illum intellexi tibi.

      (somewhat moved) I always did feel that you were a friend
      to my son, and I realized that he regarded you as one.

Erg.

Tum denique homines nostra intellegimus bona, quom quae in potestate habuimus, ea amisimus. ego, postquam gnatus tuos potitust hostium, expertus quanti fuerit nunc desidero.

Ah, we mortals realize the value of our blessings only when we have lost them.  Myself now—­after your son fell in with the enemy, I have come to understand how much he meant to me, and now I long for him.

Hegio

  Alienus cum eius incommodum tam aegre feras,
  quid me patrem par facerest, cui ille est unicus?

      When an outsider like you takes his misfortune so bitterly,
      how must I feel, his father, and he my only son?

Erg.

  Alienus ego? alienus illi? aha, Hegio,
  numquam istuc dixis neque animum induxis tuom;
  tibi ille unicust, mi etiam unico magis unicus. 150

(choking) An outsider?  I?  An outsider to that boy?  Oh-h-h, Hegio! don’t say a thing like that, don’t let such a thought enter your mind, ever!  Your only son, yes,—­but he was even more than that to me:  he was my only only! (sobs violently)

Hegio

  Laudo, malum cum amici tuom ducis malum,
  nunc habe bonum animum.

      I appreciate this, that you consider your friend’s disaster
      your own. (patting him on the back) Come now, take heart.

Erg.

  Eheu, huic illud dolet,
  quia nunc remissus est edendi exercitus.

      Oh, dear! oh, dear! here’s (rubbing his stomach) where it
      hurts:  my whole commissary department has been disbanded
      now, you see.

Hegio

  Nullumne interea nactu’s, qui posset tibi
  remissum quem dixti imperare exercitum?

      (smiling) And meantime haven’t you hit upon anyone that
      could reorganize the department you say is disbanded?

Erg.

  Quid credis? fugitant omnes hanc provinciam,
  quoi optigerat postquam captust Philopolemus tuos.