amīcōsque nostrōs rogā ut ad frūmentum metendum nōs crās adiuvent.’ Haec ubi dīxit, discessit.
“Mātrī, cum redīsset, pullī perterritī omnia nārrāvērunt, ac vehementer eam ōrābant ut statim tūtum in locum dēdūcerentur. Illa autem eōs ōtiōsō animō esse iussit: ‘nam,’ inquit, ‘sī amīcōrum operam dominus exspectat, nec crās frūmentum metētur, neque[1] hodiē necesse est ut vōs in alium locum dēdūcam.’
“Posterō diē dominus māne in agrīs praestō erat. Sōl fervet,[2] it diēs,[3] amīcī autem nūllī[4] veniunt. Tum ille rūrsus fīliō: ‘Abī,’ inquit; ‘cognātōs et adfīnēs[5] rogā, ut crās prīmā lūce ad metendum adsint.’
“Haec quoque mātrī pullī nūntiant; illa autem eōs hortātur ut sine metū sint. Nec rēs eam fefellit; nam cognātī et adfīnēs nihilō[6] alacrius ad metendum vēnērunt.
“Quārē fīliō dominus īrātus: ‘Valeant,’[7] inquit, ‘amīcī et propinquī. Tū autem crās prīmā lūce falcēs[8] duās dēprōme. Nōs ipsī frūmentum nostrīs manibus metēmus.’
“Haec ubi ex pullīs māter audīvit: ‘Tempus est abeundī,’[9] inquit; ‘nam sine dubiō id nunc fīet, quod ille dīxit.’”
“Ista certē est fābula īnsolita,” inquit Sextus; “nec satis intellegō, quō illa[10] pertineat. Quid significat, obsecrō?”
“Tribus verbīs,” inquit Onēsimus, “fābula haec docet: ‘Suam[11] quisque rem optimē cūrat’; nam neque amīcī nec propinquī dominum segetum tantī[12] faciēbant, ut frūmentum eius metere vellent. Sed nunc eāmus; nam raeda, ut vidētur, paene refecta est.”
Quōs cum appropinquantēs animadverteret, Drūsilla omnīs
- ↑ nec … neque, neither ... nor.
- ↑ ferveō, -ēre, intr., glow.
- ↑ it diēs, time passes.
- ↑ nūllī: i.e., not at all.
- ↑ cognātōs et adfīnēs, (blood) relations and connections (by marriage).
- ↑ nihilō: strictly, abl. of degree of difference.
- ↑ Valeant, freely, a fig for; (represents valēte shifted to third person).
- ↑ falx, falcis, f., scythe.
- ↑ abeundī: i.e., to move.
- ↑ quō illa, etc., what its bearing is; cf. quō, III, 82.
- ↑ Suam, his own.
- ↑ tantī: cf. minimī, l. 18.
