Intravit itaque rex et Aman, ut biberent cum regina.

So met they once again, the king and Aman, over the queen’s wine.

So the king and Aman went in, to drink with the queen.

Dixitque ei rex etiam secunda die, postquam vino incaluerat: Quæ est petitio tua, Esther, ut detur tibi? et quid vis fieri? etiam si dimidiam partem regni mei petieris, impetrabis.

And once again, his heart warmed by drinking, Assuerus would know what Esther’s mind might be; what was it she would have? Half of his kingdom should be hers for the asking.

And the king said to her again the second day, after he was warm with wine: What is thy petition, Esther, that it may be granted thee? and what wilt thou have done: although thou ask the half of my kingdom, thou shalt have it.

Ad quem illa respondit: Si inveni gratiam in oculis tuis o rex, et si tibi placet, dona mihi animam meam pro qua rogo, et populum meum pro quo obsecro.

My lord king, she said, if this is indeed thy gracious pleasure, one gift I would ask, my life; one boon, the preservation of my people.

Then she answered: If I have found favour in thy sight, O king, and if it please thee, give me my life for which I ask, and my people for which I request.

Traditi enim sumus ego et populus meus, ut conteramur, jugulemur, et pereamus. Atque utinam in servos et famulas venderemur: esset tolerabile malum, et gemens tacerem: nunc autem hostis noster est, cujus crudelitas redundat in regem.

Must we be crushed to nothing, I and my people; must we perish by massacre? To that we are doomed. If we were only marked down for slaves and bondwomen, our lot should be bravely borne; I would have nursed my grief in silence. But here is an enemy whose cruel designs concern the king’s grace.

For we are given up, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. And would God we were sold for bondmen and bondwomen: the evil might be borne with, and I would have mourned in silence: but now we have an enemy, whose cruelty redoundeth upon the king.

Respondensque rex Assuerus, ait: Quis est iste, et cujus potentiæ, ut hæc audeat facere?

Who is this man? Assuerus asked. Where is the insolence to be found that would make such an attempt as this?

And king Assuerus answered and said: Who is this, and of what power, that he should do these things?

Dixitque Esther: Hostis et inimicus noster pessimus iste est Aman. Quod ille audiens, illico obstupuit, vultum regis ac reginæ ferre non sustinens.

One enemy we have, said Esther, one schemer’s malice we fear, and he is here in thy presence; Aman.Upon hearing this, Aman was struck dumb, and could look neither king nor queen in the eyes.

And Esther said: It is this Aman that is our adversary and most wicked enemy. Aman hearing this was forthwith astonished, not being able to bear the countenance of the king and of the queen.

Rex autem iratus surrexit, et de loco convivii intravit in hortum arboribus consitum. Aman quoque surrexit ut rogaret Esther reginam pro anima sua: intellexit enim a rege sibi paratum malum.

The king rose angrily from his place, left the banqueting-room, and went out to walk in the garden, among his trees. With that, Aman rose too, intent on winning his pardon from queen Esther; doubt he might not that the king was bent on his undoing.

But the king being angry rose up, and went from the place of the banquet into the garden set with trees. Aman also rose up to entreat Esther the queen for his life, for he understood that evil was prepared for him by the king.

Qui cum reversus esset de horto nemoribus consito, et intrasset convivii locum, reperit Aman super lectulum corruisse in quo jacebat Esther, et ait: Etiam reginam vult opprimere, me præsente, in domo mea. Necdum verbum de ore regis exierat, et statim operuerunt faciem ejus.

Thus minded, he fell sprawling across the couch on which Esther lay; and so the king found him, when he returned from garden to banqueting-room. What, cried he, will he ravish the queen before my eyes, and in my own house? And before the words were out of his mouth Aman was gagged and blindfold.

And when the king came back out of the garden set with trees, and entered into the place of the banquet, he found Aman was fallen upon the bed on which Esther lay, and he said: He will force the queen also in my presence, in my own house. The word was not yet gone out of the king’s mouth, and immediately they covered his face.

Dixitque Harbona, unus de eunuchis, qui stabant in ministerio regis: En lignum quod paraverat Mardochæo, qui locutus est pro rege, stat in domo Aman, habens altitudinis quinquaginta cubitos. Cui dixit rex: Appendite eum in eo.

And now Harbona, one of the chamberlains in attendance on the king’s person, came forward; What of the gallows, said he, fifty cubits high, that stands there by Aman’s house, ready for Mardochaeus, that saved the king’s life? Let Aman himself hang on it, said the king.

And Harbona, one of the eunuchs that stood waiting on the king, said: Behold the gibbet which he hath prepared for Mardochai, who spoke for the king, standeth in Aman’s house, being fifty cubits high. And the king said to him: Hang him upon it.

Suspensus est itaque Aman in patibulo quod paraverat Mardochæo: et regis ira quievit.

So Aman was hanged on the gallows he had raised for Mardochaeus; and with that, the king’s angry mood was appeased.

So Aman was hanged on the gibbet, which he had prepared for Mardochai: and the king’s wrath ceased.