Millionaire's Dinner Party Chapter 6 Translation

Question 1

Plausum post hoc servi dederunt et ‘Gaio feliciter’ conclamaverunt.

Answer 1

After this the slaves gave a round of applause and “Good luck to Gaius!” they cried out.

Question 2

et cocus potione honoratus est et argentea corona poculumque
accepit in lance Corinthia.

Answer 2

And the cook was honoured with a drink and silver crown on his head he received a cup on a dish of Corinthian Bronze.

Question 3

quam cum Agamemnon propius consideraret, ait Trimalchio: ‘solus sum qui vera Corinthia habeam. et forsitan
quaeris quare solus Corinthia vera possideam: quia scilicet
aerarius a quo emo Corinthus vocatur.

Answer 3

While Agamemnon was giving closer consideration; Trimalchio said “I am the only one who has true Corinthian bronzes and perhaps you are asking why only I may possess true? Corinthian bronze: because of course the bronze smith from whom I buy is called Corinthius.

Question 4

et ne me putetis nesapium
esse, valde bene scio unde Corinthia nata sint. cum Ilium captum
esset, Hannibal, homo vafer et magnus stelio, omnes statuas
aeneas et aureas et argenteas in unum rogum congessit et eas
incendit.

Answer 4

And lest you should think me an ignoramus?, I know very well from where Corinthian bronzes come from. When Troy was captured, Hannibal, a cunning fellow and a slippery rogue, heaped up all bronze and gold and silver statues into one pile and set them on fire.

Question 5

ita ex hac massa fabri sustulerunt et fecerunt pocula et statuas. sic Corinthia nata sunt.

Answer 5

And so the craftsmen took from this mass of metal and made cups and statues. Thus Corinthian bronzes come/came into being.

Question 6

sed ego malo mihi vitrea; certe non olent. et si non frangerentur, mallem mihi quam aurum. nunc autem vilia sunt.

Answer 6

But I prefer glasswear myself; at least they don’t smell. And if they did not break, I should prefer them myself to gold. But now they are cheap.

Question 7

fuit tamen faber qui fecit phialam vitream
quae non frangebatur.

Answer 7

However, there was a craftsman who made a drinking cup of glass which would not break.

Question 8

admissus ergo ad Caesarem rogavit num
novum genus phialae videre vellet; deinde phialam porrexit et
in pavimentum proiecit.

Answer 8

Therefore having been admitted into Caesar’s presence he asked whether he would like to see a new kind of drinking cup; then he held out the cup and threw it on the floor.

Question 9

Caesar quam maxime timuit. at ille
sustulit phialam de terra; collisa erat tamquam vasum aeneum;
deinde martiolum de sinu protulit et phialam facillime correxit.

Answer 9

Caesar was most afraid.But he picked up the bowl from the ground; it was dented just like a bronze vessel; then he took a little hammer from his pocket and very easily corrected the bowl.

Question 10

hoc facto putabat se solium Iovis tenere, utique postquam Caesar illi dixit: “num quis alius scit quomodo fiant haec vitrea?”

Answer 10

By this fact he thought he would hold the throne of Jupiter , certainly afterwards Caesar said to him “Does anyone else know how these glasses are made?”

Question 11

vide modo. postquam faber negavit quemquam alium talia vitrea facere posse, iussit illum Caesar decollari.

Answer 11

Just see. After the craftsman said that nobody else was able to make glasses of this sort, Caesar ordered for him to be beheaded.

Question 12

quaeritis cur hoc fecerit? quia, si scitum esset, aurum pro luto haberemus.’
tum Trimalchio ‘aquam foras, vinum intro’ clamavit.

Answer 12

You ask why he did this? Because if it were know we would consider gold as cheap as dirt.” Then Trimalchio shouted, “out with the water, in with the wine.”

Question 13

laudavimus eius facetias et ante omnes Agamemnon, qui sciebat quibus meritis
revocaretur ad cenam.

Answer 13

We praised his wit and more than anyone else Agamemnon, who knew what to do to be invited again to dinner.

Question 14

ceterum laudatus Trimalchio hilarius bibit et iam paene ebrius ‘nemo’ inquit ‘vestrum rogat Fortunatam meam ut saltet? credite mihi, cordacem nemo melius ducit.’

Answer 14

But the praised Trimalchio drank more cheerfully and was almost a drunk man. He said “no one is asking for my wife to dance? Believe me, no one dances the cordax/cancan better.”

Question 15

et proditurus erat ipse in medium ut saltaret, sed Fortunata ad aurem accessit et, credo, rogavit eum num deceret gravitatem eius sic ineptire.

Answer 15

And he was about to go forward himself into the middle of the room to dance, but Fortunata put her mouth to his ear and I believe asked if it suited his dignity to play the fool like this.

Question 16

petauristarii autem tandem venerunt. baro insulsissimus cum scalis constitit puerumque iussit per gradus et in summa parte saltare, circulos deinde ardentes transilire et dentibus
amphoras sustinere.

Answer 16

However, acrobats finally arrived. A very stupid blockhead with a ladder came/stopped in and took his stand and ordered a boy to dance on the rungs and the top part. Then to leap through the burning hoops holding up jars in his teeth.

Question 17

mirabatur haec solus Trimalchio; dixit enim duo esse in rebus humanis quae libentissime spectaret, petauristarios et cornicines.

Answer 17

Only Trimalchio was marvelling/interested; for he said that there were two things in the human experience which he watched with great pleasure, acrobats and trumpeters.

Question 18

cum haec diceret, puer delapsus in bracchium Trimalchionis cecidit, conclamavit familia, nec minus
convivae, non propter hominem tam putidum, cuius et cervices fractas libenter vidissent, sed propter malum exitum cenae, ne necesse haberent alienum mortuum plorare.

Answer 18

When he said this, the boy having slipped fell into the arms of Trimalchio. The family/household exclaimed, no less the guests, not on account of such a rotten man, even whose neck they would have gladly seen broken, but because of the bad end to the dinner, lest they should have to mourn the death of a complete stranger,

Question 19

ipse Trimalchio cum
graviter ingemuisset superque bracchium tamquam laesum incubuisset,
concurrere medici, et inter primos Fortunata crinibus passis,
miseramque se esse et infelicem proclamavit.

Answer 19

Trimalchio himself, when he had groaned deeply lay over on his arm, as if it were damaged and the doctors ran over and, among the first, Fortunata, her hair dishevelled, proclaimed that she was miserable and unhappy/unlucky.

Question 20

puer interim, qui ceciderat, circumibat iamdudum pedes nostros et missionem rogabat. ego maxime timebam ne quid ridiculi his precibus quaereretur;
adhuc enim memineram illius coci, qui oblitus fuerat porcum
exinterare.

Answer 20

Meanwhile the boy, who had fallen, was walking around our feet for some time, asking to be let off. But I was very scared lest some joke would be asked for by these prayers; to this point I still remembered that cook who had forgotten to gut the pig.

Question 21

nec longe erravit suspicio mea; non enim puniri iussit Trimalchio sed liberum esse, ne quis posset dicere tantum
virum a servo esse vulneratum

Answer 21

For my inkling had not wandered far; for Trimalchi did not order him to be punished but to be freed, lest someone be able to say such a great man had been wounded by a slave