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Enter EUCLIO, from the Temple
EUCLIO
O Goddess Faith, do thou but take care not to discover to any person that my gold is there. I have no fear that any one will find it, so well is it concealed in its hiding place. By my troth, he will surely have a charming booty there, if any one shall meet with that pot loaded with gold. But I entreat thee, Faith, to hinder that. Now I shall go wash me, that I may perform the sacrifice; so that I may not delay my new connexion by marriage, but that, when he sends to me, he may forthwith take my daughter home. Over and over again now, Goddess Faith, do thou take care that I shall carry away the pot safe from thy Temple. To thy fidelity1 have I entrusted the gold; in thy grove and Temple is it placed. Goes into his house. STROBILUS
coming from behind the altar . Immortal Gods, what a deed did I hear this person speaking of, how that he had hidden here, in the Temple of Faith, a pot filled with gold; prithee, beware you, how you are more faithful to him than to myself! And he, as I fancy, is the father of her whom my master's in love with. I'll go hence into it; I'll thoroughly ransack the Temple, to see if I can anywhere find the gold, while he's engaged. But if I do find it, O Goddess Faith, I'll offer to thee a gallon jug2 full of honeyed wine, that I'll surely offer to thee; but I'll drink it up myself, when I have offered it. Retreats behind the altar.
1 To thy fidelity: "Tuæ fidei." He plays upon the word "fides," and flatters himself that his treasure cannot be more secure than when entrusted "to the faith of Falt..."
2 A gallon jug: "Congialem." Literally, "holding a congius.' This contained about nine pints of English measure. By the use of the word "fidelia," "a jug," he plays on its resemblance to the name of "Fides."
The Comedies of Plautus. Henry Thomas Riley. London. G. Bell and Sons. 1912.
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