Noctem illam duxit rex insomnem, jussitque sibi afferri historias et annales priorum temporum. Quæ cum illo præsente legerentur,

All that night the king could not sleep; so he would have the annals of his reign brought to him, the record of times past, and they began to read these out in his presence.

That night the king passed without sleep, and he commanded the histories and chronicles of former times to be brought him. And when they were reading them before him,

ventum est ad illum locum ubi scriptum erat quomodo nuntiasset Mardochæus insidias Bagathan et Thares eunuchorum, regem Assuerum jugulare cupientium.

In the reading of them, they came upon the story of the plot made by two chamberlains, Bagathan and Thares, to murder the king, and how Mardochaeus gave information of it.

They came to that place where it was written, how Mardochai had discovered the treason of Bagathan and Thares the eunuchs, who sought to kill king Assuerus.

Quod cum audisset rex, ait: Quid pro hac fide honoris ac præmii Mardochæus consecutus est? Dixerunt ei servi illius ac ministri: Nihil omnino mercedis accepit.

And for this loyalty, the king asked, what honours or rewards were given to Mardochaeus? But page and courtier were agreed, Mardochaeus was never the better for it.

And when the king heard this, he said: What honour and reward hath Mardochai received for this fidelity? His servants and ministers said to him: He hath received no reward at all.

Statimque rex: Quis est, inquit, in atrio? Aman quippe interius atrium domus regiæ intraverat, ut suggereret regi, et juberet Mardochæum affigi patibulo, quod ei fuerat præparatum.

Who is out there in the court? the king asked. It was Aman, come into the inner court to find audience with the king, and have Mardochaeus hanged on his gallows;

And the king said immediately: Who is in the court? for Aman was coming in to the inner court of the king’s house, to speak to the king, that he might order Mardochai to be hanged upon the gibbet which was prepared for him.

Responderunt pueri: Aman stat in atrio. Dixitque rex: Ingrediatur.

so when they told him it was Aman, Let him come in, the king said.

The servants answered: Aman standeth in the court, and the king said: Let him come in.

Cumque esset ingressus, ait illi: Quid debet fieri viro, quem rex honorare desiderat? Cogitans autem in corde suo Aman, et reputans quod nullum alium rex, nisi se, vellet honorare,

Aman, said Assuerus, when he came in, what should a king do, if his heart is set on raising one of his subjects to great honour? And Aman, casting about in his mind, could think of no other man that would be so marked out for the royal favour, but himself.

And when he was come in, he said to him: What ought to be done to the man whom the king is desirous to honour? But Aman thinking in his heart, and supposing that the king would honour no other but himself,

respondit: Homo, quem rex honorare cupit,

Why, said he, if such a man is to be honoured indeed,

Answered: The man whom the king desireth to honour,

debet indui vestibus regiis, et imponi super equum, qui de sella regis est, et accipere regium diadema super caput suum:

he should be dressed in royal robes, mounted on the king’s own horse, and crowned with the royal crown;

Ought to be clothed with the king’s apparel, and to be set upon the horse that the king rideth upon, and to have the royal crown upon his head,

et primus de regiis principibus ac tyrannis teneat equum ejus, et per plateam civitatis incedens clamet, et dicat: Sic honorabitur, quemcumque voluerit rex honorare.

and let him ride through the city streets, with the noblest of all the king’s vassals crying out at his bridle-rein, So he rides, whom most the king would honour.

And let the first of the king’s princes and nobles hold his horse, and going through the street of the city, proclaim before him and say: Thus shall he be honoured, whom the king hath a mind to honour.

Dixitque ei rex: Festina, et sumpta stola et equo, fac, ut locutus es, Mardochæo Judæo, qui sedet ante fores palatii. Cave ne quidquam de his, quæ locutus es, prætermittas.

Lose no time, then, the king answered; bring robe and horse, and do as much thyself for the Jew Mardochaeus, that sits there at the palace gates. And have a care that none of the ceremonies thou speakest of goes unobserved.

And the king said to him: Make haste and take the robe and the horse, and do as thou hast spoken to Mardochai the Jew, who sitteth before the gates of the palace. Beware thou pass over any of those things which thou hast spoken.

Tulit itaque Aman stolam et equum, indutumque Mardochæum in platea civitatis, et impositum equo præcedebat, atque clamabat: Hoc honore condignus est, quemcumque rex voluerit honorare.

So Aman must bring robe and horse, must dress Mardochaeus and mount him, and then go through the city streets at his bridle-rein, crying out, So he rides, whom most the king would honour.

So Aman took the robe and the horse, and arraying Mardochai in the street of the city, and setting him on the horse, went before him, and proclaimed: This honour is he worthy of, whom the king hath a mind to honour.

Reversusque est Mardochæus ad januam palatii: et Aman festinavit ire in domum suam, lugens et operto capite:

That done, Mardochaeus went back to his post at the palace gates, while Aman made the best of his way home, weeping loud and hiding away his head.

But Mardochai returned to the palace gate: and Aman made haste to go to his house, mourning and having his head covered:

narravitque Zares uxori suæ, et amicis, omnia quæ evenissent sibi. Cui responderunt sapientes quos habebat in consilio, et uxor ejus: Si de semine Judæorum est Mardochæus, ante quem cadere cœpisti, non poteris ei resistere, sed cades in conspectu ejus.

To his wife Zares and to all his friends he told the story of what befell; but from wife and counsellors he could get no comfort. If he is of the Jewish race, they said, this Mardochaeus who has begun to outmatch thee, thou wilt never get the better of him; yield to him thou must.

And he told Zares his wife, and his friends, all that had befallen him. And the wise men whom he had in counsel, and his wife answered him: If Mardochai be of the seed of the Jews, before whom thou hast begun to fall, thou canst not resist him, but thou shalt fall in his sight.

Adhuc illis loquentibus, venerunt eunuchi regis, et cito eum ad convivium, quod regina paraverat, pergere compulerunt.

And even as they spoke, in came the royal chamberlains, and hurried him off to the feast the queen had prepared for him.

As they were yet speaking, the king’s eunuchs came, and compelled him to go quickly to the banquet which the queen had prepared.