Pugio Bruti

[john abshire]

"Non pugionem," respondit caupo, "sed aliquid melius habeo..." Et gradum magnum ad eam fecit.
Terentia e caupona fugit. Neque eo redire cogitabat: Noctu Romae non tantum viae sed etiam cauponae periculosae erant.
The innkeeper responded, "I do not have the dagger, but someone better..." and made a big step towards her.
Terentia fled from the inn. She was considering not to return to there: At night the roads of Rome were not dangerous so much but the inns were dangerous.
??

 

[john abshire]

Caupo scelesto similis subrisit.
“Non”, inquit, “sed si virum capillo nigro vis, ecce me.”
Tum Terentia irata, “quid tandem?” inquit, “tune habes pugionem meum?

the innkeeper smiled a crooked smile.
He said, “if you do not desire a man with black hair, look at me.”
Then angry Terentia said, “What?” “Do you have my dagger?”
??

 

[Bitmap]

The innkeeper responded, "I do not have the dagger, but someone better..." and made a big step towards her.

something.

At night the roads of Rome were not dangerous so much but the inns were dangerous.

non tantum ... sed etiam = not only, but also

the innkeeper smiled a crooked smile.

smiled like a crook.

He said, “if you do not desire a man with black hair, look at me.”

I don't have the context, but the sentence sound like "no, but if you want a man with black hair, look at me."

 

[cinefactus]

i was asking about both sentences together, really, if my translation captured the meaning. Pacifica said my translation was “literally correct”, and by that, I thought I may have missed the meaning.

I think she was referring to the second sentence.

 

[Pacifica]

I think she was referring to the second sentence.

Yes, because it was literally correct but not something that would tend to come very naturally to an English speaker.

She was considering not to return to there

Rather "she wasn't planning to return there" or "she didn't intend to return there".

 

[john abshire]

Dorippa, ancilla eius, in conclave celeriter venit et tunicam sumpsit; abibat cum Terentia “Dorippa,” clamavit “mane! E caupona egressa quo abiisti?”

Dorippa, her servant, quickly came in the room and took up the tunic; she went away with Terentia “Dorippa” she exclaimed “Wait! Did he leave by way of the inn?”
??

 

[cinefactus]

abibat is imperfect. It describes what Dorippa was doing when (cum) Terentia clamavit

egressa is the perfect tense of a deponent verb. The -a ending tells you the sex of the person who went out.
quo means where
abiisti is short for abivisti