dare engage in such deviltry.  If it hadn’t been for this fellow here who disclosed it all, they’d have bitted me and led me along with their tricks till the end of time.

nunc certum est nulli posthac quicquam credere. satis sum semel deceptus. speravi miser ex servitute me exemisse filium:  ea spes elapsa est. perdidi unum filium, puerum quadrimum quem mihi servos surpuit, 760 neque eum servom umquam repperi neque filium;

Never again do I trust a soul in anything, that’s settled.  Once cheated is enough. (pauses, then gloomily) I hoped, poor fool, that I had ransomed my son from slavery—­a hope that’s slipped away!  I lost one son, a four-year-old boy that a slave kidnapped, and never a trace of slave or son since.

maior potitus hostium est. quod hoc est scelus? quasi in orbitatem liberos produxerim. sequere hac. reducam te ubi fuisti. neminis miserere certum est, quia mei miseret neminem.

And my older boy in the hands of enemies!  What curse am I under?  As if I’d begotten children so as to be left childless! (to Aristophontes) This way, you. (going toward brother’s house) Back you go where you were before.  I am determined to pity no one, since no one pities me.

Arist.

Exauspicavi ex vinclis. nunc intellego
redauspicandum esse in catenas denuo.

(wryly) It seemed a good omen, my getting out of irons. 
Now I perceive I must omen myself back to chains again.
[EXEUNT.

ACTVS IV

ACT IV

(It is to be assumed that several hours only have elapsed.)

    ENTER Ergasilus, ELATED.

Erg.

Iuppiter supreme, servas me measque auges opes, maximas opimitates opiparasque offers mihi, laudem lucrum, ludum iocum, festivitatem ferias, 770 pompam penum, potationis saturitatem, gaudium, nec cuiquam homini supplicare[19] nunc certum est mihi; nam vel prodesse amico possum vel inimicum perdere, ita hic me amoenitate amoena amoenus oneravit dies, sine sacris hereditatem sum aptus effertissimam.

      Great God on high, thou dost preserve me and prosper me with
  fatness!  Boundless abundance, yea, sublime abundance dost
  thou bring me!  Praise, profit, pleasure, jollity, festivity,
  feasting, trains of victuals, eatables, drinkables, satiety,
  joy!  Never will I toady to human being more, I now resolve
  it.  Why, I can bless my friend or blast my foe, now that
  this delightful day has loaded me down with its delightful
  delightfulness!  I’ve landed a legacy stuffed fit to burst,
  and not a single encumbrance attached!