PROLOGUS. Si quisquam est qui placere se studeat bonis Responsum non dictum esse, quia laesit prior, Terence in this prologue, as in all the others, applies himself to some points particularly connected with his plays. Here he begins by attacking his chief detractor, Lavinius, and shows that in his plays he violated the consistencies of common affairs; and warns him that he has other matters in store if he is further provoked. He then proceeds to a vindication of himself from the particular charge now brought against him; namely, that he had stolen the characters of Gnatho and Thraso from the Colax' of Naevius and Plautus. If the characters are the same, he says in reply, it has happened by accident. The source to which his obligations are really due is the Colax' of Menander, nor was he aware of any Latin copies of it. He concludes by maintaining his right to make free use of the stock characters of the drama, on the ground that there is nothing new under the sun. And so he leaves his best comedy in the hands of his audience. 1. Placere se studeat] Bentley would read 'studeant,' comparing Andria iv. 1. 2: "Tanta vecordia innata cuiquam ut siet Ut malis gaudeant atque ex incommodis Alterius sua ut comparent commoda?" But although this transition from the singular to the plural is not uncommon, we have no MS. authority for the change. Se] See note on Andria iv. 5. 2, and compare Sallust, Catilina cap. i. "Omnes homines qui sese student praestare ceteris animalibus." Compare Cicero, De Officiis ii. 20. 5 3. In his poeta hic nomen profitetur suum] Nomen profiteri' was used of making a return of one's property to the censors and of enlisting in the army. See examples in Forcellini. Thence we have the general notion of declaring or professing oneself, when a man as it were registers his name in voting or in enlistments. We may translate with these my poet declares himself.' For the change from 'si quisquam' to 'in his' we may compare Sophocles, Antigone 707-709: ὅστις γὰρ αὐτὸς ἢ φρονεῖν μόνος δοκεῖ, ἡ γλῶσσαν ἣν οὐκ ἄλλος ἢ ψυχὴν ἔχειν, οὗτοι διαπτυχθέντες ὤφθησαν κενοί, and "Cujus mos maxime est consimilis vostrum hi se ad vos applicant," Heaut. ii. 4. 13. 4. Si quis est] He here alludes to Luscius Lavinius, who has been mentioned before in the Prologue to the Andria v. 7. He is there called 'vetus poeta.' He was considerably older than Terence, and appears to have been a poet of average reputation, though Terence charges him with dramatic faults. He seems to have made Terence the object of an unceasing persecution, and is alluded to frequently by him. See the Introduction. 7. Qui bene vertendo, et easdem scribendo male] For by translating closely enough, and writing badly, he has made bad Latin comedies of good Greek.' 'Bene' is here used in the sense of valde,' as "Litterae Graecis bonis Latinas fecit non bonas. Ita ut facere instituit. Quam nunc acturi sumus bene longae," Cicero, ad Attic. xiv. 7: "Bene et naviter esse impudentem," Ad Fam. v. 12. ⚫ Scribendo male' is ambiguous. It may mean, either that by a too faithful translation he violated the Latin idiom; or that although he translated well enough, he failed in the arrangement of his plots. The former is more natural. Terence first touches upon faults of style, and then passes on to blanders in the matter. 9. Menandri Phasma] Donatus gives the following account of the argument of this play. A young woman is privately brought up by her mother, who meanwhile is married to the father of a certain young man. The mother and daughter are in the habit of conversing through an aperture in the party-wall between the two houses in which they live, the apartment where these meetings take place being fitted up like a shrine for the purpose of disarming suspicion. The young man looks through the aperture, and sees the young woman, whom he takes for an apparition of the goddess. By degrees his awe gives place to a more tender feeling; and a happy marriage is the result. 10. Thesauro] The story of this play is thus given by Donatus. A young man had sold a farm in which was his father's tomb. Ten years after his father's death he sends his servant with provisions to the tomb in accordance with his father's will. The servant and the purchaser of the farm open the tomb and discover a hidden treasure. Thereupon the law suit to which Terence here alludes, in which Lavinius made the defendant open the case instead of the plaintiff. There was another play called Thesaurus' written by Philemon, which Plautus has imitated in the Trinummus. For 'unde petitur' see note on i. 2. 32. 10 15 20 12. Quam ille] We must supply' dicat,' otherwise we should naturally have 'quam illum.' For a similar change from the infinitive to the conjunctive after a comparative see note on Andria iv. 5. 3. 15. Defunctus jam sum] 'I am now quit of him he has nothing to say to me.' Compare the use of defungor' in Phormio v. 8. 32: "Cupio misera in hac re jam defungier," and Adelphi iii. 4. 62: "Utinam hic sit modo defunctum." Lavinius is supposed to congratulate himself on having heard the worst that can be said against him. Terence replies that he gives him a respite for the present during good behaviour, but that he has plenty left to bring up against him. 17. Quae nunc condonabitur] 'Condono' takes a double accusative, as in Phormio v. 7. 54: "Argentum quod habes condonamus te." Here the verb is used impersonally, retaining one of the accusatives of the active. The same occurs with other verbs that have a similar construction in the active, as 'doceo,' 'celo,' 'moneo,' 'cogo.' We may compare Hecyra iv. 4. 23: "Hoc nos celatos non oportuit." The corresponding Greek idiom is of common occurrence in such phrases as οὐδὲν ἠδικημένος, φάρμακα δεδιδάχθαι, τοῦτο κρύ πτεσθαι, ἀναγκαζόμενος δεινά. 20. Postquam Aediles emerunt] The penultima of 'eměrunt' is shortened. This licence occurs not only in Plautus and Terence, but in other authors also. See Virgil, Aen. ii. 774: "Obstupui, steteruntque comae, et vox faucibus haesit." In Propertius ii. 8. 10 we have "Et Thebae steterunt; altaque Troja fuit," where however Paley reads 'steterant,' preferring a lax use of the pluperfect to a change of the Perfecit sibi ut inspiciendi esset copia. Dedisse, et nihil dedisse verborum tamen; quantity. Again, in iii. 11. 65 there is the 24. Et nihil dedisse verborum tamen] 'The thief,' he says, 'has stolen and represented a play, and yet he has not deceived us at all.' All the commentators quote Bentley, who imagines that there is a hidden pun in the words 'fabulam dedisse,' as if they meant has played us a trick,' as well as has brought out a play.' 'Fabula' is certainly used in the sense of a fiction, and fabulae' is a common expression of incredulity; but we have not an instance of fabulam dare' in this sense. For dare verba' see note on Andria i. 3. 6. 25. Colacem] Bentley ejects the name of Naevius from this line, reading 'nempe.' He urges that the 'Colax' of Naevius is never mentioned and moreover that if he wrote such a play, then Plautus must have pilfered from him, which would amount to an excuse for Terence. But without such refinement, it is not impossible that both poets may have treated the subject of the Colax; and that this was the very fault of which Lavinius accused Terence, that he borrowed from two Latin writers, as he had already been accused of mixing up two Greek plays. See note on Andria, Prolog. 5. 27. Imprudentia] Compare below i. 2. 56: "Imprudens harum rerum ignarusque omnium;" and Hecyra v. 4. 40: "Plus hodie boni feci imprudens quam sciens ante hunc diem unquam." Terence answers, 'If the fault has been committed, it has been done unwittingly.' In v. 33 he disclaims all acquaintance with the Latin plays alluded to, while he acknowledges that he drew his characters of the Braggadocio and the Parasite from the Colax' of Menander. We need not trouble ourselves to account for his ignorance of these particular plays of Naevius and Plautus. No doubt then as now many a play had a short-lived reputation. 33. Ex Graeca] No apology was required, and none is made, for the translation of Greek originals. The Roman drama made no attempt at originality, and Terence kept closer perhaps than any other to his models. Cicero has left us a curious instance of his taste in De Finibus i. 2, where he is defending his own practice of writing on philosophy in Latin. The whole passage is worth transcribing : "Hoc primum est in quo admirer cur in gravissimis rebus (the treatment of philosophical subjects) non delectat eos patrius sermo, quum iidem fabellas Latinas ad verbum e Graecis expressas non inviti legant Quod si personis iisdem uti aliis non licet, Nullum est jam dictum, quod non dictum sit prius. 335 40 45 Ph. Quid igitur faciam ? non eam? ne nunc quidem Non perpeti meretricum contumelias ? Exclusit revocat. Redeam? non, si me obsecret. 42. Cognoscere] See note on Andria, Prol. 24. 44. Cum silentio] A very necessary exhortation in the case of Roman plays. We see in the Prologue to the Poenulus' of Plautus a very amusing account of all the distractions of the audience. See particularly vv. 28-35: "Nutrices pueros infantes minutulos Domi ut procurent, neu quae spectatum Ne et ipsae sitiant et pueri pereant fame, ACT I. SCENE I. Phaedria is introduced half deliberating with himself, half advising with Parmeno, how he shall take Thais' conduct. She is on and off with him, hot and cold; shuts him out and then sends for him. He will not bear it, and yet he 5 Parmeno mo cannot be away from her. The metre of this scene and of the prologue is iambic trimeter. 1. Quid igitur faciam?] Horace, Sat. ii. 3. 260-271, imitates this first scene of the Eunuchus, or rather gives a brief outline of it. Persius in his fifth Satire, v. 172, follows the words of Terence more closely: "Quidnam igitur faciam? ne nunc quum arcessor, et ultro Supplicat, accedam?" For the meaning of 'ultro' see note on 2. An potius ita me compare] 'Or shall I rather determine?' Donatus compares the phrase, "Quam inique comparatum est," in Phormio i. 1. 7. We have a closer parallel in Eun. ii. 2. 9: "Itan parasti te ut spes nulla reliqua in te esset tibi?" Infecta pace, ultro ad eam venies, indicans Te amare et ferre non posse, actum est: ilicet: Proin tu dum est tempus etiam atque etiam cogita, In amore haec omnia insunt vitia; injuriae, Bellum, pax rursum. Incerta haec si tu postules Quam si des operam ut cum ratione insanias. Et quod nunc tute tecum iratus cogitas, 10 15 Egone illam quae illum? quae me? quae non ? sine modo: 20 9. Actum est: ilicet] It is all over with you; you may take yourself off.' For 'actum est see note on Andria iii. 1. 7. 'Ilicet' was a word in very common use at all public ceremonies, signifying that business was over, that the audience or spectators might depart. It retains this meaning in Plautus and Terence, when affairs are spoken of as desperate. Thus in Phormio Ilicet. i. 4. 31: "Hoc nihil est, Phaedria. 10. Eludet, ubi te victum senserit] 'She will mock you when she sees that you are beaten.' This is the most simple translation of eludet' in this passage. Donatus explains it thus: "Eludere proprie gladiatorum est cum vicerint-et eludere est finem ludo imponere." In that sense the passage would mean, She will have done with you.' • Eludere' again means to parry a blow, as in Martial xiv. 202: "Callidus emissas eludere simius hastas." She will content herself with keeping you at a distance when she sees that you are conquered.' All these meanings enter into the idea of the passage. The young man's mistress delights in the sport of conquest, and when her conquest is made, she does not care to continue the game, but dismisses her fallen antagonist with derision. suspension of hostilities, as opposed to a "Insomnia, aerumna, error, terror, et fuga, The reader should particularly look at the "Sine venias modo domum: faxo ut scias Quid pericli sit dotatae uxori vitium dicere." |