Lewis & Short

hem (also em, and often confounded in MSS. and edd. with em and en, q. v.), interj., an expression of surprise, in a good or bad sense; of admiration, joy, of grief, indignation, etc. (like the intensive ehem, an expression of joyful surprise), oho! indeed! well! well to be sure! hah! alas! alack! Ag. Ego sum ipsus, quem tu quaeris. Ha. Hem! quid ego audio? Plaut. Poen. 5, 2, 86; cf. Ter. And. 3, 1, 4: hem, Pamphile, optime te mihi offers, id. ib. 4, 2, 3: Er. Itane Chrysis? hem! My. Nos quidem pol miseras perdidit, Ter. And. 4, 5, 8; cf. id. Eun. 5, 1, 11: miserum me! quanto haec dixi cum dolore! hem, Postume, tune es, etc., Cic. Rab. Post. 17, 45: occepi mecum cogitare: hem, biduum hic Manendum est soli sine illa, Ter. Eun. 4, 2, 8: hem tibi maledictis pro istis, Plaut. Curc. 1, 3, 39; cf. id. Ps. 1, 2, 22: hem, quid ais, scelus? Ter. And. 4, 1, 42; cf.: audistin’, obsecro? hem scelera, id. ib. 4, 4, 47: hem nos homunculi indignamur, si quis, etc., Sulp. ap. Cic. Fam. 4, 5, 4; Ter. Phorm. 4, 4, 7.