olim Romae mercibus socioque fidele mercator pervenit. hic nonnullum tempum habens, multo laetus erat. sed in una die gratia deorum perdita ei, mercator custodem quidam ad pergulam aggredientem vidit.
Once upon a time, a merchant came to Rome with his wares and his faithful assistant. And he lived there for quite some time, very content. But one day he lost favour with the gods, and that was the day he saw a guard approaching his stall.
et ei dixit: "Es mercator ille, Pesan in nomine?"
The guard said to him: "Are you the merchant named Pesan?"
"Vero, ego sum --- 'mercator', tamen, nomen nimium excelsum humili raporum auctori est."
"Indeed I am -- though merchant is rather too lofty a title for a humble seller of turnips."
"Quid dicis? Raporum auctor?"
"What? A seller of turnips?"
"Certe," dixit Pesan c** vultu candido, "vendo rapa undique et in tota urbe optima. Ostendam tibi illos?" Manum extendit sed statim custos eum desivit.
"That's right," Pesan said with a smile, "I sell turnips from every place and they are the best in the entire city. Shall I show you them?" He reached out a hand but the guard halted him at once.
"Non veni huc rapulis -- "
"I didn't come here for turnips -- "
"Benest, si non rapum tibi placet, sic forsitan aut bunias aut genus alienius -- "
"That's fine, if a normal turnip doesn't please, perhaps a French turnip or a more exotic type -- "
"Fac taceas, mastigia." iratior, mercas huc illucque turbans, aliquid quaesivit.
"Shut your mouth, scoundrel." Growing angry, the guard shoved the wares around the table, searching for something.
"Si places, dice me quid te quaerere," trepidus dixit, "et iuvabo, hercule, quomodo."
"Please, tell me what you're looking for," Pesan said nervously, "and I'll help, I swear, any way you like."
custos tristi fronte respondit: "Speculum est."
Frowning, the guard answered: "A mirror."
"Quale?" ridens cito, "Si ullum habeo, quod mirum sit..."
"What sort?" And adding a quick laugh, "If I have any, however strange that would be..."
sed custos, nec animadvertens nec inquisitionem desinens, voce magno speculum quidam cepit. "Sic tu illa vendis?"
But the guard, neither paying attention to him nor pausing his search, seized a mirror with loud exclamation. "So you do sell these?"
"Haud -- ignosco quare illum adest --- numquam prius vidi, et vero non meus -- "
"Not at all! I don't know how that got here -- I've never seen it before and it certainly doesn't belong to me -- "
"Satis," custos tonuit. "Veni mecum."
"That's enough," the guard thundered. "Come with me."
Pesan, fugere cupiens, multis tristisque verbis precatus est, sed nihil misereri movit. custos eum captum in viam traxit. iam perditus, Pesan praemium ei liberando praebuit; c** hoc etiam defuit, saltem eius facinus cognoscere imploravit.
Pesan, wanting to escape, beseeched the guard with pleading words, but nothing moved the guard to pity him. The guard grabbed him and pulled him into the street. Now desperate, Pesan offered the guard a reward for releasing him; when that too failed, he begged at least to know what crime he had committed.
"Nonne iam audivisti? Imperator infectus est, speculo aurato simili hoc."
"Haven't you heard already? The emperor was poisoned, by a gilded mirror like this one."
"Nugae! Quomodo speculum aliquem inficere potest?"
"Nonense! How could a mirror poison anyone?"
"Veneno infectum, circum extrema."
"Its edges were coated with poison."
"Eheu!" Pesan manum supra corde posuit. "O nefas infandum! Dice, oro, aut imperatorem tantum vivere?"
"Oh!" Pesan placed his hand over his heart. "What unspeakable treason! Tell me, I beg you, does the emperor still live?"
"Adhuc." Custos, non plus loqui cupiens, per viam detraxit.
"For now." The guard, done with talking, dragged him down the street.
"Sed mane, mane! Dice me plus rem unam, Iove deisque!"
"But wait, wait! Tell me one more thing, by Jupiter and the gods!"
iratus, rogavit: "Quid iam?"
Irritated, he asked, "What now?"
"Quando hoc facinus incidit?"
"When did this crime occur?"
"Hodie, paulum ante mane."
"Today, just before dawn."
"Va!" vultus Pesanis calore fulsit. "Mi amice carissime, ego non illud speculum maleficentissimum vendere potuit, nec -- non quod minus est -- illud venenum."
"Aha!" Pesan beamed. "My dearest friend, I cannot have sold that most foul mirror, nor --- no less important --- that poison."
"Cur?"
"How's that?"
"Mihi, Romae meridie modo perveni; potes quisquam praesens rogare. Ah, puella venusta, si me amas, dices virum bellum quando perveneram?"
"Well, I arrived in Rome only at noon; you can ask anyone here. Ah, lovely lady, please, will you tell this gentleman when I arrived?"
puellula adgrediens, cui corium nigrum et coma brevis est, dixit: "Verumst. Hic prandio rapa exhibuit, et illud tempum est primum eum vidi."
A young girl, with dark skin and short hair, approached and said, "It's true. He was offering turnips for lunch, and that was the first time I saw him."
"Heia!" Pesan exsultavit, "ego non reus, deis gratias."
"What a relief!" Pesan rejoiced. "I'm not guilty, thank the gods."
non tamen credens, custos confusus eum solvit, Pesane rursum per viam properante. custodi gratias ob diligentia magna et felicitatem pro scelerem inveniendo egit. tunc, custode ex acie cedente, Pesan demum se ridere sivit. Nisha, minus laeta, eum plausit et dixit: "Sine me, es morturus."
Though he didn't believe him, the baffled guard let him go, and Pesan quickly hurried back the way they came. He thanked the guard for his great diligence and wished him luck in finding the criminal. Then, after the guard had left his sight, Pesan finally allowed himself to laugh. Nisha, less amused, whacked him and said, "Without me, you'd be dead in a minute."
"St, mi arca carissima. omnia est absolutissime bonus, nonne?"
"Hush, my darling treasure. Everything's perfectly fine now, isn't it?"
