Pagina:Ad Alpes.djvu/52

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“Hospitēs nihil suspicantēs discessērunt, homō vērō celeriter domum sē contulit. Hora cōnstitūtā ad aedēs cīvis locuplētis rediērunt peregrīnī; unde dērīsī in dēversōrium rūrsus sē recipere coāctī sunt.

“Postrīdiē in forō hominem vīdērunt, eumque incūsāvērunt. Ille autem dīxit eōs similitūdine aedium dēceptōs esse, sēque domī multam ad noctem[1] exspectāsse.

“Interim servō suō imperāverat ut ā vīcīnō vāsa, vestīmenta, et eius modī alia ūtenda[2] rogāret. Quae cum comparāta esse putāret, hospitēs domum dēdūxit, cum simulāret[3] sē maiōrēs aedēs suās amīcō cuidam ad nūptiās commodāsse.

“Dum ibi cēnant, subitō puer[4] nūntiat argentum repetī; nam sollicitus factus erat is, quī id commodāverat. ‘Apage’’ inquit cīvis noster ēgregius; ‘aedēs commodāvī, familiam[5] dedī. Argentum quoque vult? Etsī hospitēs habeō, tamen id quoque commodābō; nōs interim Samiīs[6] dēlectābimur.’”

“Hahahae!” inquit mercātor. ‘Spērō hospitēs miserōs cēnam saltem gustāsse, priusquam ea quoque auferrētur.”

“Nihil amplius adeptī sunt,” inquit Cornēlius; ‘et iūre exīstimāvērunt sēcum male āctum esse.”

At alter:[7] ‘Hīs[8] audītīs etiam magis mē omnium peregrinōrum īnfēlīcium miseret. Et maximē doleō exīstimātiōnem[9] populī Rōmānī pendēre cōgī tālibus ex cīvibus, quālem tū modo dīcēbās.”[10] Quae cum dīxisset, in sōle cōnsēdit; Cornēlius autem cum fīliīs ambulāre persevērāvit, dōnec accessit Cornēlia, quae: “Exīstimō,” inquit, “mē avēs quāsdam volantēs procul cernere. Eāsne vidēs, Sexte?”

“Paucās cernere mihi videor,” inquit Sextus. ‘Ex altō[11]

  1. multam ad noctem, until far into the night; cf. extrēmam, II, 43.
  2. ūtenda, as a loan; cf. exhibendas, II, 30.
  3. cum simulāret: cf. I, 61.
  4. puer: the slave.
  5. familiam, household slaves.
  6. Samiīs: ie., earthenware; sc. vāsīs; abl. case.
  7. alter: i.e., the trader.
  8. Hīs: sc. verbīs.
  9. exīstimātiō, -ōnis, f., reputation.
  10. dīcēbās, mentioned
  11. altō: cf. English ‘the deep’.