M. Et quae tanta fuit Rōmam tibi causa videndī?
T. Lībertās, quae sēra tamen respexit inertem,
candidior postquam tondentī barba cadēbat,
respexit tamen et longō post tempore vēnit,
postquam nōs Amaryllis habet, Galatēa relīquit.30
namque (fatēbor enim) dum mē Galatēa tenēbat,
nec spēs lībertātis erat nec cūra pecūlī.
quamvīs multa meīs exīret victima saeptīs
pinguis et ingrātae premerētur cāseus urbī,
nōn umquam gravis aere domum mihi dextra redībat.35
notes
26–35 M: Why did you go to Rome? T: For Freedom, which I could not afford when I was with Galatea.
26 Rōmam … causa videndī: Rōmam is the direct object of the gerund videndī (AG 159, 504a), an objective genitive modifying causa (AG 348).
26 tibi: dative of reference (AG 378).
27 lībertās: a one-word response whose significance is marked by its initial position in the line. The succeeding quae clause, which goes through the end of line 30, elaborates on it.
27–30 This passage clarifies Tityrus’s social position as a formerly enslaved man who saved the money to purchase his freedom; lībertās refers to Tityrus’s goal of travelling to Rome to gain his freedom.
27 sēra tamen: tamen gives sēra a concessive force (“though late”).
27 respexit: used in reference to deities turning their attention upon one in need. LS respicio II.B.1.
28 candidior: modifies barba in the temporal clause introduced by the postponed postquam. Tityrus’s whitening beard indicates his age since he was enslaved longer than he hoped (AG 291a).
28 tondentī: “to someone who trims,” i.e., a barber. Dative with cadēbat (AG 366); “after my beard fell whiter to the barber’s trim” (Lee).
29 respexit … vēnit: take mihi with both verbs.
29 longō … tempore: ablative of degree of difference after the temporal adverb post (AG 414).
30 postquam … Amaryllis habet [et] Galatea reliquit: asyndeton frequently occurs with antithesis, itself indicated by anaphora and the contrasting meanings of the verbs (AG 598f, 601c): freedom looked Tityrus’s way after Amaryllis arrived and Galatea left.
30 nōs: “me,” object of both habet and reliquit. The “royal we” is common and not pretentious in Latin.
30 Galatea: Tityrus’s former lover; like Amaryllis, she appears in Theocritus Idyll 11, in which she is a Nereid (water nymph) in Sicily wooed by the Cyclops Polyphemus. Galatea reappears at Ecl. 3.64, 72; 7.37; 9.39.
32 pecūlī: contracted genitive singular for pecūliī (AG 49.b). Slaves and others under patria potestās (the legal authority of the male head of household) lacked the right to own property, but they could have pecūlium, property for personal use and management, which slaves often used to purchase their freedom.
33–35 quamvīs … exīret … premētur: quamvīs introduces a concessive clause with a subjunctive verb (“although …”) (AG 527a). When Galatea was his companion, he could not save money to purchase his freedom, whether because he was too distracted to earn extra income, or because he spent his extra money on Galatea.
34 pinguis … cāseus: fresh cheese for market.
34 ingrātae … urbī: dative with premētur.
35 gravis aere … mihi dextra: aere is ablative of specification or cause, explaining gravis … dextra.
35 domum: accusative of place to which (AG 427); as usual, domus does not take a preposition.
vocabulary
Rōma Rōmae f.: Rome
sērus –a –um: late
iners inertis: lazy, sluggish
tondeō –ēre –totondī –tōnsus: to shear, clip, trim
barba –ae f.: beard
Amaryllis –idis or –idos f.: Amaryllis, woman's name
Galatēa –ae f.: Galatea, woman's name
pecūlium –ī n.: money managed more or less as his own by a person incapable of legal ownership, esp. a slave
victima –ae f.: a sacrifice, a victim
saepta –ōrum n.: a fence, pen
pinguis pingue: fat, rich
cāseus –ī m.: cheese
dextra dextera f.: right hand