Titus Maccius Plautus — Amphitryo (1519)

Who at this time of night has aroused [me] from the port
Against my will.
Could he not have sent [me] here in the light of day?
For a wealthy man, servitude is not a laborious servitude.
[That is] to say, he is more miserable, the slave of a rich man.
Night and day, constantly, it is enough and more than enough.
By some deed or word, there is a task, so that you may not be quiet.
He himself, rich, is devoid of work and labor,
Whatever happens to a man, he thinks he can be free [to think].
He thinks it is just, he does not consider what labor is.
Nor will the rich master think whether it is equitable or iniquitous that he commands.
Therefore, in servitude many unjust things are sought,
This work must be held and endured with labor.
[Mercury:] It were better for me than it was today in servitude, than that I had been free.
This father [Jupiter] complains that he is a slave rather than a home-born servant.
[Sosia:] I am truly a home-born servant by word. Now truly it was in my mind,
To give divine thanks for the merits upon my arrival.
That they [the gods] might send someone, if they wish to repay me according to my merit,
Who might strike my face well as I arrive.
Because the good things which they have done for me, I have held them ungrateful and vain.
[Mercury:] He does well, that one, which our master is not wont to do for all of us, so that he might know that he himself is worthy.
[Sosia:] What I never opined, nor any other of the citizens,
That it would happen to him, that has happened, that we might return safe to our country home,
Victors, with our enemies conquered, the legions return home
With the great war finished, and the enemies slaughtered.
Who brought many bitter deaths upon the Theban people,