Benedictiones from the plays of Plautus

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)