A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca

492 From Principate to Monarchy
sooner. Still for fourteen years I was my master's favorite.
And Where's the disgrace in doing what one's master tells
one? All the same I managed to get into my mistress'
Heir to his
master.
Fortunata
his wife.
good graces too. . . .
But by heaven's help I became master in the house and
then I took in my fool of a lord. Next he made me colegatee
with the prince to his property and I got a senator's
fortune. But no one is ever satisfied and I wanted to get
into business. To cut it short, I built five ships and loaded
them with a cargo of wine; it was worth its weight in gold
at that time and I sent it to Rome. You would have
thought I ordered my bad luck: every ship was wrecked,
it's a fact, not a story. In one day Neptune swallowed up
a quarter of a million. Do you think I failed? No, I
swear the loss only whetted my appetite, as if nothing had
ever happened. I built more ships, larger, better, and
luckier ones, so no one could say I was not a bold fellow.
You know, a great ship has great strength in itself. I
loaded them with wine again, bacon, beans, perfumes, and
slaves. At this crisis Fortunata did the pious thing: she
sold all her jewelry and dresses and put in my hands a
hundred gold pieces. This was the leaven which made my
fortunes rise. The gods' wishes are soon fulfilled. By one
trip I cleared a round ninety thousand pounds. I immediately
bought back all the estates that had belonged to
my patron. I built a mansion and bought up beasts to sell
at a profit; everything I touched grew like a honeycomb.
Once I was worth more than all the citizens of my native
town put together, no more of that for me; I withdrew
from the business and started money-lending, financing
freedmen.
I must admit, exactly when I was wanting to
discontinue my trading, I was urged to do so by an astrologer
who had just come to our town, a Greek fellow called