Petronius: Satires and the Book of Priapeia

it, and began to examine the cloak more diligently. Ascyltos L

cast a glance over the shoulders of the rustic buyer and was suddenly struck dumb, as if dead. And I myself did not look at the man without some agitation, for he seemed to me to be the one who had found the tunic in the wilderness. It was clearly the same man. But since Ascyltos feared the 5

trustworthiness of his eyes, he approached closer, as if a buyer, to avoid doing anything rashly, and pulled the garment from the shoulders and examined it more closely. Oh, the wondrous play of fortune! For the rustic had not yet laid his curious hands upon the seams, but was selling it, even fastidiously, like the spoil of a beggar. 10

After Ascyltos saw that the deposit remained inviolate and the character of the seller was contemptible, he led me a little away from the crowd and said, “Do you know, brother, that the treasure I was complaining about has returned to us? It is that little tunic, still, as it appears, full of intact gold coins. What, therefore, shall we do, or by what right 15

do we claim our property?” 14

I was exhilarated, not only because I saw the plunder, but also because fortune had cleared me of a most shameful suspicion. I argued that we should not go about it in a roundabout way, but should fight it out clearly by civil law, so that if they were unwilling to return the other person's property to the owner, they might come to an 20

interdict A legal order for the restoration of possession.. Conversely, Ascyltos feared the laws and said, “Who in this place knows us, or who will believe us if we speak? It clearly pleases me to buy it, even though we recognize it as our own, and to recover the treasure with a little money rather than descend into an ambiguous lawsuit:

LO

What can laws do, where money alone reigns,
or where poverty can conquer nothing? 25

Those who carry their lives in a Cynic’s Referring to the simple wallet or bag of the Cynic philosophers. wallet,
are sometimes accustomed to sell truth for coins.
Therefore, judgment is nothing but a public commodity,
and the knight who sits in court approves what is bought.” 30

L

But except for a single dipondium a two-as coin, with which we had intended to buy chickpeas and lupines, there was nothing at hand. Therefore, so that the prey would not depart in the meantime, it seemed best to sell the cloak for less and make the loss of a larger gain lighter. As soon, therefore, as we unfolded the merchandise, the woman with her head covered, who had been standing with the rustic, looked at the marks more closely, threw both hands upon the garment, and with great shouting, cried out, “Thieves!” The text "tenere" is likely a marginal interpolation.
On the other hand, we, disturbed so we would not seem to be doing nothing, also began to hold the torn and filthy tunic and proclaim with the same indignation that it was our spoil that they were possessing. But in no way was the cause equal, for the cooks who had flocked to the shouting were naturally laughing at our greed, because on one side they were claiming a most precious garment, and on the other a rag not even worthy of good patches. From this, Ascyltos skillfully dispersed the laughter; silence having been made, he said, “We see that to everyone his own thing is most dear; let them return our tunic to us and receive their cloak.” Although the exchange pleased the rustic and the woman, the advocates, who were by now almost nocturnal Meaning perhaps 'nocturnal scavengers' or hangers-on. and who wanted to make a profit from the cloak, demanded that both be deposited with them and that a judge inspect the complaint the next day. They claimed that not only the things being seen were in controversy, but that something far different was being sought, since on both sides there was, of course, the suspicion of theft. Already sequestrators were being settled upon, and I know not which of the cooks, bald, with a most bumpy forehead, who was also accustomed to plead cases at times, had seized the cloak and affirmed he would exhibit it on the morrow. But it was apparent that nothing else was being sought than that the garment, once deposited, would be snatched up by the robbers, and we would not come to the appointment out of fear of a criminal charge.