Terence,
Andria 804-805 (Crito and Mysis; tr. John Sargeaunt):
CRI And you others? how do you get on here? pretty
well?
MYS So so, Sir: as the saying is, we do as we can since
we can't as we would.
CRI quid vos? quo pacto hic? satine recte?
MYS nosne? sic:
ut quimus, aiunt, quando ut volumus non licet.
Sidney G. Ashmore on line 805:
A proverb, as aiunt (= "as the saying runs") shows.
Cf. the fuller
id quod aiunt and quod aiunt in Phorm. 506 and 768. Among the fragments
of Menander (Mein. vol. iv. p. 84) the
line appears with slight variation:
ζῶμεν γὰρ οὐχ ὡς θέλομεν, ἀλλ ' ὡς δυνάμεθα; and among those of Caecilius are
the words (Ribbeck, Com. Lat. Rel. p. 56), uiuas ut possis, quando non quia
ut uelis.
In modern numbering this is Menander, fragment 47 Kassel and Austin.