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are conducted by the boy with the girl's representative (her "mother"), whereas here Milphio, acting on behalf of Agorastocles, tries to get Adelphasium to forgive his master. The ensuing confusion, as we shall see, is due to the use of a substitute speaker in the peace-talks. |
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Let's look first at the exchange between the young master and his slave at the moment when Agorastocles asks him to intercede: |
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AG. Cur mihi haec irata est? MI. Cur haec irata est tibi?
cur ego id curem? namque istaec magis meast curatio?
AG. Iam hercle tu peristi, nisi illam mihi tam tranquillam facis
quae mare olimst, quom ibi alcedo pullos educit suos
MI. Quid faciam? AG. Exora, blandire, palpa. MI. Faciam sedulo.
sed vide sis, ne tu oratorem hunc pugnis pectas postea.
AG. Non faciam. |
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AG. Why is she angry at me? MI. Why is she angry at you?
Why should I care? I mean, what concern is that of mine?
AG. By Hercules, you're dead if you don't make her as calm
as the sea is when the halcyon is bringing forth its young.
MI. What should I do? AG. Win her over, sweet-talk her, soothe her.
MI. I'll do it with zeal.
But don't, please, afterwards, comb your spokesman with fists.
AG. I won't.
(3539) |
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Agorastocles' instructions to Milphio are explicit. Since she is irata, he must make her tranquilla. To effect this change, he must "sweet-talk" her (or "say sweet nothings" blandiri) and "soothe" or ''stroke" her (palpare). The ambiguity of palpare is important, since Milphio can understand it literally (meaning "stroke") or figuratively ("soothe"). He evidently takes it in the former sense: he says he will eagerly do as he is told, and asks that he not be beaten for having done so. No sooner has Milpio acceded to the request than Adelphasium begins to rail at Agorastocles for not keeping his word: |
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AD. Non aequos in me es, sed morare et male facis.
bene promittis multa ex multis: omnia incassum cadunt.
liberare iuravisti me haud semel, sed centiens:
dum te exspecto, neque ego usquam aliam mihi paravi copiam
neque istuc usquam apparet; ita nunc servio nihilo minus.
i, soror. apscede tu a me. |
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AD. You're not fair to me, you keep delaying, I don't like it.
You're good at promising lots of things on all sides, but nothing comes to anything.
You've sworn not once but a hundred times to free me
and while I've been waiting for you, I've never made myself available to anyone else |
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