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Terence, Adelphoe 155–9

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

V. J. Rosivach
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Extract

To whom is Aeschinus speaking? Editors in general follow Eugraphius (ad 156–7) and have Aeschinus address his lines to the psaltria. According to this interpretation, it would be the psaltria who anxiously looks back (cf. quid respectas?, 157); since Sannio is the only person on stage whom the girl would have reason to fear, the leno would have to be standing behind her, and hence must have followed the psaltria (and Aeschinus and Parmeno who are escorting her) on to the stage.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Classical Quarterly , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , May 1973 , pp. 85 - 87
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1973

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References

page 85 note 1 Donatus does not say to whom these lines are addressed. His explanation of otiose (156) as secure is usually taken to indicate that he felt at least 156 was addressed to the psaltria, but otiose in the sense of secure can also be addressed to Sannio (see W. Schulze, Kleine Schriften, p. 174).

page 85 note 2 For the sense of respecto, ‘look behind one's back’, cf. Plautus Men. 160–1: ‘ne tu … esses agitator probus … ne to uxot sequatur respectas identidem.’

page 85 note 3 e.g. Plautus Amph. 376 (cf. 370), Aul. 406 ff. (cf. 409), Cure. 626 (cf. 625–6), Men. 999 ff. (cf. 999); on Rud. 615 see following note. Schulze, op. cit., pp. 160–89. discusses numerous instances of this sort of appeal from Latin and Greek literature; all of his examples refer to present or threatened acts, and all, with the exception of Caeciliu: 211 R.3 (an obvious comic exaggeration) deal with acts of violence. From Schulze': brief discussion of Adelph. 155–7 (p. 174), if appears that he felt 156–7 were addressed to Sannio (rather than to the psaltria); see, however, below, p. 86 n. 2.

page 85 note 4 Editors cite Plautus Rud. 615 as parallel to the present situation. In the Rud. passage, however, Trachalio comes from the shrine of Venus looking for help against Labrax who at the very moment is attempting to seize Palaestra and Ampelisca inside the shrine. Rud. 615 ff. is thus another example of seeking protection against an act of violence while it is taking place, and is not parallel to the present situation if we understand that Sannio is seeking to recover the psaltria who was taken from him some time earlier.

page 85 note 5 Dziatzko-Kauer would eliminate this difficulty by having Sannio begin to shout 155–6 while he is still off stage, i.e. just as Aeschinus and the psaltria enter. There is, however, no other example in Roman comedy of a person who enters from off stage beginning to deliver his lines before he actually reaches the stage.

page 86 note 1 Presumably Sannio would have been shouting after Aeschinus all the way from his house. If Aeschinus did not stop before, there is no reason for him to stop now. Conversely, there is nothing which Aeschinus or the psaltria do or say to cause Sannio to start shouting now if he had not been doing so before.

page 86 note 2 Schulze, op. cit., p. 174, seems to feel that both 156 and 157 were addressed to Sannio. If we assume that at 157 Aeschinus is speaking to Sannio, then the hic of 157 can only refer to Parmeno who would have been assaulting Sannio and causing his cry of 155–6. If Parmeno is assaulting Sannio at 155–6, then Aeschinus must halt the assault before he can say nil periclist at 157; this he does with the words otiose … consiste (156). Otiose would therefore not mean secure (as Donatus, ad loc., and Schulze would have it), but would be closer in sense to placide (cf. Plautus M.G. 1221, Poen. 545, True. 75), and should be taken together with what follows. Translate: ‘Calmly now … now stand here.’

page 86 note 3 With numquam … tanget (157) Aeschinus dissociates himself from the beating which had just taken place, as though Parmeno alone was responsible for the mistreatment of Sannio. The statement is a further insult to Sannio since it implies that the leno, although a free man, requires Aeschinus' protection from a mere slave.