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Still in Act III of Casina! Lysidamus has finally gotten his neighbor’s house cleared out, but as he wonders why he’s so unlucky in love, he hears a strange noise over in his own house...
Act 3, Scene 5
[Pardalisca enters! If you’ve forgotten who she is, that’s because she had a single line so far, and is Cleostrata’s slave. Also, she is singing this whole speech, but I’m not going to try to transcribe it as such.]
PARDALISCA: I’m done for, I’m done for, I am completely, completely dead. My heart is dead with fear, my limbs tremble from misery. I don’t know where I would find or even look for any source of help, protection, refuge. But I saw such astonishing things done inside, in such astonishing ways, strange and unheard of audacity.
Be careful, Cleostrata! Get away from that woman, I beg you, lest she do anything bad to you with her excited anger. Get that sword away from her, since her spirit’s out of control.
LYSIDAMUS: Now why is it that this terrified and fearful woman is leaping about here? Pardalisca!
PARDALISCA: I’m dead; from where did my ears seize upon some sound?*
LYSIDAMUS: Just look at me.
PARDALISCA: Oh, my lord!
LYSIDAMUS: What’s up with you? Why are you afraid?
PARDALISCA: I’m dead.
LYSIDAMUS: What, you’re dead?
PARDALISCA: I’m dead; and you’re dead.
LYSIDAMUS: Wait, I’m dead? How?
PARDALISCA: Alas for you!
LYSIDAMUS: Surely that ‘alas’ is for you.
PARDALISCA: So that I don’t die, please, hold me!
LYSIDAMUS: Whatever it is, tell me quickly.
PARDALISCA: Hold me up by my chest; I’m like a flame in the wind.**
LYSIDAMUS: I’m afraid of what this business maybe, unless this woman has somehow concussed herself with the unmixed flower of Liberus.***
PARDALISCA: Hold my ears, please.^
LYSIDAMUS: Get away from me, into a cruel torture! May the gods ruin your chest, ears, head, and you! For unless I swiftly learn from you whatever this is, I’ll dash out your brains now, you snake, you worst of women who’s made a joke of me with this.
PARDALISCA: My lord--
LYSIDAMUS: What do you want, my slave-girl?
PARDALISCA: You’re raging too much.
LYSIDAMUS: You’re speaking too quickly. But say this, whatever it is, share it briefly: what was that uproar inside?
PARDALISCA: You’ll learn, now listen: your slave-girl, inside your house, began to commence a bad thing, a very bad thing, over this agreement, which is not at all seemly to one of Greek upbringing.
LYSIDAMUS: What is it?
PARDALISCA: Terror shackles the spoken words of my tongue.
LYSIDAMUS: Can I find out from you what this business is?
PARDALISCA: I will tell you. Your slave-girl, whom you and your steward wish to marry, well, inside, she--
LYSIDAMUS: Inside, what? She what?
PARDALISCA: She imitated the wicked upbringing of wicked men, and she made threats toward her husband, the life--
LYSIDAMUS: Therefore, what threats?
PARDALISCA: Oh!
LYSIDAMUS: What is it?
PARDALISCA: She said she wished to threaten a life. So, the sword--
LYSIDAMUS: What?
PARDALISCA: The sword--
LYSIDAMUS: What about a sword?
PARDALISCA: She holds it.
LYSIDAMUS: Oh, wretched me! Why does she have it?
PARDALISCA: She was chasing everyone in the house through the buildings, and no one dared get near to her; everyone’s lying hidden under chests and under beds, mute with fear.
LYSIDAMUS: I’m perishing and I’m dying. What terrible thing is her purpose so suddenly?
PARDALISCA: She’s gone mad.
LYSIDAMUS: I believe I am the wickedest man.
PARDALISCA: If only you knew the words she spoke today!
LYSIDAMUS: I long to know. What did she say?
PARDALISCA: Listen. She swore by all the gods and goddesses to kill whoever should sleep with her tonight.
LYSIDAMUS: She’ll kill me?
PARDALISCA: But what in the world does this have to do with you?
LYSIDAMUS: Oh!
PARDALISCA: What sort of business do you have with her?
LYSIDAMUS: I made a mistake; I meant to say “the steward”, there.
PARDALISCA: You’re knowingly wandering off the road.^^
LYSIDAMUS: Now what’s gone wrong for me?
PARDALISCA: She’s disturbed about you more than anyone else.
LYSIDAMUS: Why?
PARDALISCA: Because you would give her as a wife to Olympio; and [she swears that] she will not allow your life nor her own to come forth again by dawn tomorrow. I was sent here to you to tell you, so that you can guard yourself from her.
LYSIDAMUS: By Hercules, I’m a dead wretch.
PARDALISCA: You’re worthy.
LYSIDAMUS: There exist no old lover, nor has there existed one, as miserable as I am.
PARDALISCA: (I’m mocking this man skillfully; for what I said had happened, all of this I said falsely. My lady and this neighbor of hers carried out this trickery; I was sent here to mock him.)
LYSIDAMUS: Hey, Pardalisca!
PARDALISCA: What is it?
LYSIDAMUS: It is--
PARDALISCA: What?
LYSIDAMUS: It is what I want to investigate with your help.
PARDALISCA: You’re making me wait.
LYSIDAMUS: But you’re making me weep. Does Casina have the sword even now?
PARDALISCA: She has, but two of them.
LYSIDAMUS: What, two?
PARDALISCA: She says today she’ll kill you with one, and the steward with the other.
LYSIDAMUS: I’m the deadest man of all who are living. I think it’s best that I wear a breastplate. What about my wife? She hasn’t approached [Casina] and taken them away?
PARDALISCA: No one dares to get close.
LYSIDAMUS: She should persuade her.
PARDALISCA: I beg you; she says she truly won’t act in any other way, unless she knows she won’t be given to the steward.
LYSIDAMUS: By this ingratitude, since she doesn’t want to, she’ll marry today. For why should I not achieve what I began, that she should marry me--I wanted to say this, my steward.
PARDALISCA: You make that mistake a little often.
LYSIDAMUS: Fear tangles up my words. But I beg you, tell my wife that I’m asking her to persuade that girl to put away the sword, and let me go inside when it’s possible.
PARDALISCA: I’ll tell her.
LYSIDAMUS: And ask her!
PARDALISCA: And I’ll ask her.
LYSIDAMUS: But ask her nicely, as you usually do. But listen:
If you bring this about,
I will give to you
slippers, and a golden ring
on your finger, and
more good things.^^^
PARDALISCA: I’ll work on it.
LYSIDAMUS: See you get it done.
PARDALISCA: I’ll speak inside,
unless anyone
should delay me.
LYSIDAMUS: Go and take care.
[Pardalisca goes back inside the house.]
LYSIDAMUS: Look, my helper has returned for the catering; he’s leading a parade.
---
* Much of Pardalisca’s dialogue here is written as parody of tragic drama, which leads to some odd and roundabout constructions in places.
** I have almost certainly mistranslated this, but I finally went with something that made vague sense in context instead of trying for accuracy.
*** That is, strong wine. Mm.
^ That is, “Kiss me.” Or so my notes claim; I’d be more inclined to take the “take hold” + “with ears” to mean “Listen closely!”, but I’m not the Latin scholar writing notes, here.
^^ Literally, “going away from the road onto the footpath,” but the “road” sense is that of a straight one vs. a meandering path for the “footpath”.
^^^ In its most basic interpretation, the promised slippers are just more comfortable than standard slave footwear. In a broader interpretation, slippers and a golden ring, being the sorts of things free people wear, mean that he’s implying he’d free Pardalisca. This set of lines, down until Pardalisca leaves, are all sung.
Act 3, Scene 5
[Pardalisca enters! If you’ve forgotten who she is, that’s because she had a single line so far, and is Cleostrata’s slave. Also, she is singing this whole speech, but I’m not going to try to transcribe it as such.]
PARDALISCA: I’m done for, I’m done for, I am completely, completely dead. My heart is dead with fear, my limbs tremble from misery. I don’t know where I would find or even look for any source of help, protection, refuge. But I saw such astonishing things done inside, in such astonishing ways, strange and unheard of audacity.
Be careful, Cleostrata! Get away from that woman, I beg you, lest she do anything bad to you with her excited anger. Get that sword away from her, since her spirit’s out of control.
LYSIDAMUS: Now why is it that this terrified and fearful woman is leaping about here? Pardalisca!
PARDALISCA: I’m dead; from where did my ears seize upon some sound?*
LYSIDAMUS: Just look at me.
PARDALISCA: Oh, my lord!
LYSIDAMUS: What’s up with you? Why are you afraid?
PARDALISCA: I’m dead.
LYSIDAMUS: What, you’re dead?
PARDALISCA: I’m dead; and you’re dead.
LYSIDAMUS: Wait, I’m dead? How?
PARDALISCA: Alas for you!
LYSIDAMUS: Surely that ‘alas’ is for you.
PARDALISCA: So that I don’t die, please, hold me!
LYSIDAMUS: Whatever it is, tell me quickly.
PARDALISCA: Hold me up by my chest; I’m like a flame in the wind.**
LYSIDAMUS: I’m afraid of what this business maybe, unless this woman has somehow concussed herself with the unmixed flower of Liberus.***
PARDALISCA: Hold my ears, please.^
LYSIDAMUS: Get away from me, into a cruel torture! May the gods ruin your chest, ears, head, and you! For unless I swiftly learn from you whatever this is, I’ll dash out your brains now, you snake, you worst of women who’s made a joke of me with this.
PARDALISCA: My lord--
LYSIDAMUS: What do you want, my slave-girl?
PARDALISCA: You’re raging too much.
LYSIDAMUS: You’re speaking too quickly. But say this, whatever it is, share it briefly: what was that uproar inside?
PARDALISCA: You’ll learn, now listen: your slave-girl, inside your house, began to commence a bad thing, a very bad thing, over this agreement, which is not at all seemly to one of Greek upbringing.
LYSIDAMUS: What is it?
PARDALISCA: Terror shackles the spoken words of my tongue.
LYSIDAMUS: Can I find out from you what this business is?
PARDALISCA: I will tell you. Your slave-girl, whom you and your steward wish to marry, well, inside, she--
LYSIDAMUS: Inside, what? She what?
PARDALISCA: She imitated the wicked upbringing of wicked men, and she made threats toward her husband, the life--
LYSIDAMUS: Therefore, what threats?
PARDALISCA: Oh!
LYSIDAMUS: What is it?
PARDALISCA: She said she wished to threaten a life. So, the sword--
LYSIDAMUS: What?
PARDALISCA: The sword--
LYSIDAMUS: What about a sword?
PARDALISCA: She holds it.
LYSIDAMUS: Oh, wretched me! Why does she have it?
PARDALISCA: She was chasing everyone in the house through the buildings, and no one dared get near to her; everyone’s lying hidden under chests and under beds, mute with fear.
LYSIDAMUS: I’m perishing and I’m dying. What terrible thing is her purpose so suddenly?
PARDALISCA: She’s gone mad.
LYSIDAMUS: I believe I am the wickedest man.
PARDALISCA: If only you knew the words she spoke today!
LYSIDAMUS: I long to know. What did she say?
PARDALISCA: Listen. She swore by all the gods and goddesses to kill whoever should sleep with her tonight.
LYSIDAMUS: She’ll kill me?
PARDALISCA: But what in the world does this have to do with you?
LYSIDAMUS: Oh!
PARDALISCA: What sort of business do you have with her?
LYSIDAMUS: I made a mistake; I meant to say “the steward”, there.
PARDALISCA: You’re knowingly wandering off the road.^^
LYSIDAMUS: Now what’s gone wrong for me?
PARDALISCA: She’s disturbed about you more than anyone else.
LYSIDAMUS: Why?
PARDALISCA: Because you would give her as a wife to Olympio; and [she swears that] she will not allow your life nor her own to come forth again by dawn tomorrow. I was sent here to you to tell you, so that you can guard yourself from her.
LYSIDAMUS: By Hercules, I’m a dead wretch.
PARDALISCA: You’re worthy.
LYSIDAMUS: There exist no old lover, nor has there existed one, as miserable as I am.
PARDALISCA: (I’m mocking this man skillfully; for what I said had happened, all of this I said falsely. My lady and this neighbor of hers carried out this trickery; I was sent here to mock him.)
LYSIDAMUS: Hey, Pardalisca!
PARDALISCA: What is it?
LYSIDAMUS: It is--
PARDALISCA: What?
LYSIDAMUS: It is what I want to investigate with your help.
PARDALISCA: You’re making me wait.
LYSIDAMUS: But you’re making me weep. Does Casina have the sword even now?
PARDALISCA: She has, but two of them.
LYSIDAMUS: What, two?
PARDALISCA: She says today she’ll kill you with one, and the steward with the other.
LYSIDAMUS: I’m the deadest man of all who are living. I think it’s best that I wear a breastplate. What about my wife? She hasn’t approached [Casina] and taken them away?
PARDALISCA: No one dares to get close.
LYSIDAMUS: She should persuade her.
PARDALISCA: I beg you; she says she truly won’t act in any other way, unless she knows she won’t be given to the steward.
LYSIDAMUS: By this ingratitude, since she doesn’t want to, she’ll marry today. For why should I not achieve what I began, that she should marry me--I wanted to say this, my steward.
PARDALISCA: You make that mistake a little often.
LYSIDAMUS: Fear tangles up my words. But I beg you, tell my wife that I’m asking her to persuade that girl to put away the sword, and let me go inside when it’s possible.
PARDALISCA: I’ll tell her.
LYSIDAMUS: And ask her!
PARDALISCA: And I’ll ask her.
LYSIDAMUS: But ask her nicely, as you usually do. But listen:
If you bring this about,
I will give to you
slippers, and a golden ring
on your finger, and
more good things.^^^
PARDALISCA: I’ll work on it.
LYSIDAMUS: See you get it done.
PARDALISCA: I’ll speak inside,
unless anyone
should delay me.
LYSIDAMUS: Go and take care.
[Pardalisca goes back inside the house.]
LYSIDAMUS: Look, my helper has returned for the catering; he’s leading a parade.
---
* Much of Pardalisca’s dialogue here is written as parody of tragic drama, which leads to some odd and roundabout constructions in places.
** I have almost certainly mistranslated this, but I finally went with something that made vague sense in context instead of trying for accuracy.
*** That is, strong wine. Mm.
^ That is, “Kiss me.” Or so my notes claim; I’d be more inclined to take the “take hold” + “with ears” to mean “Listen closely!”, but I’m not the Latin scholar writing notes, here.
^^ Literally, “going away from the road onto the footpath,” but the “road” sense is that of a straight one vs. a meandering path for the “footpath”.
^^^ In its most basic interpretation, the promised slippers are just more comfortable than standard slave footwear. In a broader interpretation, slippers and a golden ring, being the sorts of things free people wear, mean that he’s implying he’d free Pardalisca. This set of lines, down until Pardalisca leaves, are all sung.