section 44

Question 1

Visne igitur te inspiciamus a puero? Sic opinor; a principio ordiamur. Tenesne memoria praetextatum te decoxisse? ‘Patris’, inquies, ‘ista culpa est’.

Answer 1

Do you wish for us to scrutinise you from your boyhood? Yes, in my view, let us start at the beginning. Do you remember that you had been bankrupt as a boy, in toga praetexta? You will say ‘that is my father’s fault.’

Question 2

Concedo. Etenim est pietatis plena defensio.

Answer 2

I grant you that. And indeed your defence is full of duty to your family.

Question 3

Illud tamen audaciae tuae, quod sedisti in quattuordecim ordinibus, cum esset lege Roscia decoctoribus certus locus constitutus, quamvis quis fortunae vitio, non suo decoxisset.

Answer 3

However, the following was characteristic of your wild behaviour, because you sat on the 14th row. Since a particular place was appointed for the bankrupt, by the law of Roscius, even if by luck’s fault.

Question 4

Sumpsisti virilem, quam statim muliebrem togam reddidisti.

Answer 4

You put on a male toga, you immediately returned it for the toga of a woman.

Question 5

Primo vulgare scortum, certa flagitii merces, nec ea parva;

Answer 5

First you were a prostitute widely known; you had certain fees for outrageous conduct, nor were they small;

Question 6

sed cito Curio intervenit, qui te a meretricio quaestu abduxit et, tamquam stolam dedisset, in matrimonio stabili et certo collocavit.

Answer 6

but quickly Curio came on the scene, who rescued you from a life of an earning prostitute and as though he had given you a married woman’s dress, he placed you in a lasting and real marriage.