Yes, and the butchers, too, that bereave sheep of their little ones, that engage to sell you lambs fit for slaughter, and then give you lamb as old as two lambs, and pass off a tough old ram as a prime wether—if I spy that ram on a city thoroughfare, I’ll make ram and owner the saddest men alive!
Hegio
Eugepae, edictiones aedilicias hic quidem
habet,
mirumque adeost ni hunc fecere sibi Aetoli
agoranomum.
(aside)
Splendid! Why, he is issuing edicts like a
Comptroller of
the Victualling: I shouldn’t be surprised
if
the Aetolians
have made him market inspector.
Erg.
Non ego nunc parasitus sum, sed regum rex regalior, tantus ventri commeatus meo adest in portu cibus sed ego cesso hunc Hegionem onerare laetitia senem, quo homine hominum adaeque nemo vivit fortunatior?
I’m no parasite now, not I! I’m a precious potent potentate of potentates, with all that invoice at the harbour for my belly—food, food! But I must hurry and load old Hegio here with ecstasy. There’s not a luckier man alive than he!
Hegio
Quae illaec est laetitia, quam illic laetus largitur mihi?
(aside)
What ecstasy is it this ecstatic creature is going
to lavish on me?
Erg.
Heus ubi estis? ecquis hic est? ecquis hoc aperit ostium? 830
(pounding on
Hegio’s door) Hi! Where are you?
Anybody
here? Anybody
going to open this door?
Hegio
Hic homo ad cenam recipit se ad me.
(aside) The fellow is coming to dine with me.
Erg.
Aperite hasce ambas fores
prius quam pultando assulatim foribus
exitium adfero.
Open this door—both
doors—before I knock ’em to flinders
and finish ’em
for good and all!
Hegio
Perlubet hunc hominem colloqui. Ergasile.
(aside)
I should quite enjoy a word with him. (aloud)
Ergasilus!
Erg.
Ergasilum qui vocat?
(still pounding) Who calls Ergasilus?
Hegio
Respice.
Vouchsafe me a look, sir.
Erg.
Fortuna quod tibi nec facit nec faciet,
me iubes.
sed quis est?
(without turning
his head) Vouchsafe you a look, eh!
That is more than
Good Luck does for you, or ever will do,
either! Who
is it, though?
Hegio
Respice ad me, Hegio sum.
Look around this way. It’s Hegio.
Erg.
Oh mihi,
quantum est hominum optumorum optume,
in
tempore advenis.
(rushing up)
Oh! oh! You best of all the best men that
tread the earth,
you come just in time!