This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
Enter CHARMIDES.
CHARMIDES
To Neptune, potent o'er the deep and most powerful, the brother of æthereal Jove, joyously and sincerely do I proffer praise, and return my grateful thanks; to the salt waves, too, with whom lay supreme power over myself,--one, too, that existed over my property and my life, --inasmuch as from their realms they have returned me safe and sound even to my own native city. And, Neptune, before the other Deities, do I both give and return to you extreme thanks. For all people talk of you as being cruel and severe, of voracious habits, filthy, unsightly, unendurable, and outrageous; on the other hand, I have experienced your kindly aid. For, in good sooth, I have found you mild and merciful upon the deep, even to that degree that I wished. This commendation, too, I had already heard with these ears before of you among men,--that you were accustomed to spare the poor, and to depress and overawe the rich. Adieu! I commend you; you know how to treat men properly, according as is just. This is worthy of the Gods; they should ever prove benignant to the needy; to men of high station, quite otherwise. Trusty have you proved, though they are in the habit of saying that you cannot be trusted. For, without you, it would have happened, I am very sure, that on the deep your attendants would have shockingly torn in pieces and rent asunder wretched me, and, together with me, my property as well, in every direction throughout the azure surface of ocean. But just now, like raging dogs, and no otherwise, did the winds in hurricane beset the ship; storms and waves, and raging squalls were about to roar, to break the mast, to bear down the yards, to split the sails; had not your favouring kindness been nigh at hand. Have done with me, if you please; henceforth have I now determined to give myself up to ease; enough have I got. With what pains have I struggled, while I was acquiring riches for my son. But who is this1 that is coming up the street with his new-fangled garb and appearance? I' faith, though I wish to be at home, I'll wait awhile; at the same time, I will give my attention to see what business this fellow is about. He retires aside.
1 But who is this: It seems at first sight rather absurd that Charmides, who has just returned from a voyage, should wait in the street to gossip with a stranger who is coming towards him; but we must remember that he sees that the fellow is making straight for his house, and his curiosity is excited by that fact, combined with the very extraordinary dress which Megaronides has hired for him from the playhouse, and has thereby probably much overdone the character which he is intended to represent.
The Comedies of Plautus. Henry Thomas Riley. London. G. Bell and Sons. 1912.
NSF, NEH: Digital Libraries Initiative, Phase 2 provided support for entering this text.
This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry and has been proofread to a medium level of accuracy.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.