Trinummus is a comedic Latin play by the early Roman playwright Titus Maccius Plautus.
“You cannot eat your cake and have it too, unless you think your money is immortal. The fool too late, his substance eaten up, reckons the cost. (translator Thornton)”
Non tibi illud apparere, si sumas, potest, nisi tu immortale rere esse argentum tibi. Sero atque stulte, prius quod cautum oportuit, postquam comedit rem, post rationem putat.
Trinummus, Act II, scene 4, lines 12
Trinummus (The Three Coins)
“These things are not for the best, nor as I think they ought to be; but still they are better than that which is downright bad. (translator Henry Thomas Riley)”
Non optuma haec sunt neque ut ego aequom censeo : verum meliora sunt quam quae deterruma.
Trinummus, Act II, sc. 2, line 111; reported in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. (1919).
Alternate translation : This is not the best thing possible, nor what I consider proper ; but it is better than the worst. (translator A. H. Evans)
Trinummus (The Three Coins)
“That expression, "He means well," is useless unless he does well.”
Nequam illud verbum‘st, Bene vult, nisi qui bene facit.
Trinummus, Act II, sc. 4, line 37.
Trinummus (The Three Coins)
“You should not speak ill of an absent friend.”
Ne male loquare absenti amico.
Trinummus, Act IV, sc. 2, line 81.
Trinummus (The Three Coins)
“Not by age but by capacity is wisdom acquired.”
Non aetate, verum ingenio apiscitur sapientia.
Trinummus, Act II, sc. 2, line 88.
Trinummus (The Three Coins)
“Keep what you’ve got; the evil that we know is best. (translator Thornton)”
Habeus ut nactus ; nota mala res optima’st.
Trinummus, Act I, scene 2, lines 25
Trinummus (The Three Coins)
“For what is yours is mine, and mine is yours.”
Quod tuum’st, meum’st; omne meum est autem tuum.
Trinummus, Act II, sc. 2, line 47.
Trinummus (The Three Coins)
“Ne male loquare absenti amico.”
You should not speak ill of an absent friend.
Trinummus, Act IV, sc. 2, line 81.
Trinummus (The Three Coins)
