Benedictiones
from the plays of
Plautus
by
N. Moravius Vado
For faith:
Ita di faciant!
May
the gods do it! (Aulularia 789)
Id te Iuppiter prohibessit!
May
Jupiter prevent it [from happening] to you! (Pseudolus 13)
Tum me faciat quod volt magnus Iuppiter!
May
Great Jupiter do with me as he wills. (Aulularia
776)
Pro di
immortales, obsecro vostram fidem!
By
the immortal gods, I beseech your faith! (Poenulus
967)
Mare, Terra, Caelum, di vostram fidem
(obsecro)!
Sea,
Earth, Heaven! Gods, (I entreat) your faith!
For others:
Bonam animum habe.
Be
of good cheer! (Amphitryon 545)
Bene omnibus nobis.
To
the health of us all. (Persa 775)
Bene ei qui invidet
mi et ei qui hoc gaudet.
To
the health of him who envies me, and of him who rejoices with me. (Persa
776)
Di te ament.
May the gods love you. (Aulularia
183)
Di te bene ament.
May
the gods love you well. (Captivi
138)
Ita di deaque faxint.
May
the gods and goddesses be with you. (Pseudolus 171)
Di tibi omnes
omnia opata afferant, cum me tanto honore honestas.
May
the gods grant you all good things as you may wish; you who treat me nobly. (Captivi 355)
Di tibi dent quaecumque optes.
May
the gods fulfill your wishes. (Asinaria
46)
Di dent tibi, quae
velis.
May
the gods grant your every wish. (Trinummus 1152)
Di te servassint semper, custos erilis, decus
popli, thensaurus copiarum, salus interioris corporis amorisque imperator.
May
the gods always preserve you, you your master’s protector, you the public
treasure, you the salvation of my innermost self, you the emperor of my love.
(Asinaria 654-56)
Nullum
periclum te hinc ire in pransum domun: Cererem te meliust quam Venerem
sectarier: amori haec curat; tritico curat Ceres.
May
Venus, or better still Ceres see that no risk of danger befall you as you
travel from here to your home for lunch; Venus cares for lovers, Ceres cares
for wheat. (Rudens 144-46)
Di te mihi semper servent.
May
the gods keep you and me always. (Pseudolus
121)
For oneself:
Di me salvom et
servatum volunt.
May
the gods wish me safe and sound. (Trinummus
1077)
Di me servant.
May
the gods preserve me. (Amphitryon 1089)
Ita me di bene ament,
measque mihi servassint filias.
May
the gods love me well and preserve my daughters to me. (Stichus 505)
Ita
me Iuppiter, Iuno, Ceres, Minerva, Latona, Spes, Opis, Virtus, Venus, Castor,
Polluces, Mars, Mercurius, Hercules, Summanus, Sol, Saturnus, dique omnes
ament.
May
all the gods love me. (Bacchides
892-97)
Ita me amabit sancta Saturitas, itaque suo
me semper condecoret cognomine ut ego viti.
So
may Sacred Plenty, the deity I serve, be kind to me and bless me always. (Captivi 877)
Di immortales…cave tu illi fidelis, quaeso, potius
foeris quam mihi.
Gods
immortal, in good faith be ware, please, that you are not more kind to him
than to me. (Auluaria 616)
Euge! Euge! Di
me salvom et servatam volunt!
What
good fortune! The gods preserve me and are full of kindness to me. (Aulularia 677)
Pro di immortales,
qui me est fortunatior?
By
the gods immortal, was ever a man more fortunate than me? (Rudens 1191)
Pro di immortales,
quoi homini umquam uno die boni dedi stis plus, qui minus speraverit?
By
the gods immortal, did you ever give more good fortune in a single day to a
man who did not expect it. (Menaechmi
Act III, Scene II)
Di immortales, quibus et quantis me donatis
guadiis…Quis me est ditior? Quis me Athenis nunc magis quisquam est homo cui
di sint propitii?
O,
Gods immortal, with what joy you give me…Who is richer than I? To whom among
the Athenians are the gods more kind? (Aulularia
808-810)
Satin
si cui homini dei esse bene factum volunt, aliquo illud pacto optingit optatum
piis? Ego hodie neque spervi neque <illud> credidi.
Is
it not enough that when the gods wish us well, our piety is rewarded? I
believe today my hopes have been granted. (Rudens
1193-5)
Ei accerse hostias, victumas, lanios, ut
ego (huic) sacruficem summo Iovi.
Go,
fetch offerings, victims, and them that slay them, that I may sacrifice to
(this) Jove supreme.
(Pseudolus
326-7)