Any
one wish to see it? No? Then we will take it as read. I know that in
such a matter, my patrons, my word is enough for you.
"Now I am about to come to business, with the remark that the more
liberal your bidding the better will our glorious general, Titus Caesar,
be pleased; the better will the poor and the invalided soldiers, who
deserve so well at your hands, be pleased; the better will the girl
herself be pleased, who I am sure will know how to reward a generous
appreciation of her worth; and the better shall I, your humble friend
and servant, be pleased, because, as I may inform you in strict secrecy,
I am paid, not by a fixed salary, but by commission.
"Now, gentlemen, what may I say? A thousand sestertia to begin with? Oh!
don't laugh, I expect more than that. What! Fifty? You are joking, my
friend. However, the acorn grows into the oak, doesn't it? and I am told
that you can stop the sources of the Tiber with your hat; so I'll start
with fifty. Fifty--a hundred. Come, bid up, gentlemen, or we shall
never get home to supper. Two hundred--three, four, five, six, seven,
eight--ah! that's better. What are you stopping for?" and he addressed
a hatchet-faced man who had thrust himself forward over the rope of the
ring.
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