Markets and trade

ἴσμεν γὰρ δήπου ὅτι μυριοπλάσια ἡμῶν ἅπαντα ἔχει ἡ πᾶσα πόλις, ἀλλ’ ὅμως, ὁποῖον ἂν τῶν οἰκετῶν κελεύσῃς πριάμενόν τί σοι ἐξ ἀγορᾶς ἐνεγκεῖν, οὐδεὶς ἀπορήσει, ἀλλὰ πᾶς εἰδὼς φανεῖται ὅποι χρὴ ἐλθόντα λαβεῖν ἕκαστα.

We know that the whole city has ten thousand times more than we do, but still, whichever servant you tell to buy something in the market and bring it, none will be at a loss, but every one will be found knowing where to go to get each thing.

Est interdum praestare mercaturis rem quaerere, nisi tam periculosum sit, et item fenerari, si tam honestum sit. maiores nostri sic habuerunt et ita in legibus posiverunt, furem dupli condemnari, feneratorem quadrupli. quanto peiorem civem existimarint feneratorem quam furem, hinc licet existimare.

It would sometimes pay better to make money in trade, if trade were not so risky, or by lending at interest, if that were as honorable. Our ancestors held this view and wrote it into their laws: a thief was to pay double, but a moneylender fourfold. From this you can judge how much worse a citizen they thought a moneylender than a thief.

mercatorem autem strenuum studiosumque rei quaerendae existimo, verum, ut supra dixi, periculosum et calamitosum.

As for the trader, I count him an energetic man, keen to make money. But his trade, as I said, is risky and full of disasters.

contendunt alii Maiam Mercurii matrem mensi nomen dedisse, hinc maxime probantes, quod hoc mense mercatores omnes Maiae pariter Mercurioque sacrificant.

Others argue that Maia, the mother of Mercury, gave the month its name. Their main proof is that in this month all merchants sacrifice to Maia and Mercury together.

Enn er vára tók, geta þeir at líta einn morgin snemma, at fjǫlði húðkeipa reri sunnan fyrir nesit, sva margir, sem kolum væri sáit, ok var þó veift á hverju skipi trjánum. Þeir brugðu þá skjǫldum upp. ok tóku kaupstefnu sín á millum, ok vildi þat fólk helzt kaupa rautt klæði; þeir vildu ok kaupa sverð ok spjót, enn þat bǫnnuðu þeir Karlsefni ok Snorri.

When spring came, early one morning they saw a great crowd of skin boats rowing up from the south around the headland. There were so many that the bay looked as if it had been sown with charcoal, and on every boat sticks were waved. Then Karlsefni’s people held up their shields, and the two sides began to trade. Those people wanted most of all to buy red cloth. They also wanted to buy swords and spears, but Karlsefni and Snorri forbade it.

þa toku Skrælingiar ofan bagga sina ok leystu ok budu þeim ok uilldu uopn hellzst firir en Kallz efni bannade þeim at selia uopnin ok nu læitar hann rads med þeim hætti at hann bad konur bera vt bunyt at þeim ok þegar er þeir sa bunyt þa villdu þeir kaupa þat en ekki annat. nu uar su kaupfôr Skrælingia at þeir baru sinn varning j brott j môgum sinum. en Kallz efni ok forunautar hans hôfdu eftir bagga þeirra ok skinna uǫru. foru þeir vid suobuit j burt.

Then the Skrælings put down their bundles, untied them, and offered them for trade. Above all they wanted weapons in exchange, but Karlsefni forbade his men to sell any. Then he hit on a plan. He told the women to carry out milk products to them. As soon as the Skrælings saw the milk, they wanted to buy that and nothing else. So the Skrælings’ trading ended with their goods carried off in their stomachs, while Karlsefni and his companions kept their bundles and furs. With that, the Skrælings went away.

Tiene esta ciudad muchas plazas, donde hay continuos mercados y trato de comprar y vender. Tiene otra plaza tan grande como dos veces la de la ciudad de Salamanca, toda cercada de portales al rededor, donde hay cotidianamente arriba de sesenta mil ánimas comprando y vendiendo; donde hay todos los géneros de mercadurías que en todas las tierras se hallan, así de mantenimientos como de vituallas, joyas de oro y de plata, de plomo, de laton, de cobre, de estaño, de piedras, de huesos, de conchas, de caracoles y de plumas; véndese cal, piedra labrada y por labrar, adobes, ladrillos, madera labrada y por labrar de diversas maneras.

This city has many squares, where markets are always going on and people buy and sell. There is one square twice as large as the square of Salamanca, surrounded on every side by arcades. Every day more than sixty thousand people gather there to buy and sell. Every kind of goods found in any land is there: food and provisions, and jewelry of gold and silver, lead, brass, copper, tin, stones, bones, shells, snail shells, and feathers. They sell lime, stone both cut and uncut, adobes, bricks, and timber, both shaped and rough, of many kinds.

Hay en esta gran plaza una muy buena casa como de audiencia, donde estan siempre sentadas diez ó doce personas, que son jueces y libran todos los casos y cosas que en el dicho mercado acaecen, y mandan castigar los delincuentes. Hay en la dicha plaza otras personas que andan continuo entre la gente mirando lo que se vende y las medidas con que miden lo que venden, y se ha visto quebrar alguna que estaba falsa.

In this great square there is a very fine building like a courthouse. Ten or twelve people sit there at all times. They are judges, and they decide every case and matter that comes up in the market and order wrongdoers punished. Other officials walk constantly among the crowd, watching what is sold and the measures used to sell it. They have been seen to break a measure that was false.

…[ha]bian prometido, y nos trajeron mucho pescado y de unas raíces que ellos comen, y son como nueces, algunas mayores ó menores; la mayor parte de ellas se sacan de bajo del agua y con mucho trabajo. A la tarde volvieron, y nos trajeron mas pescado y de las mismas raíces, y hicieron venir sus mujeres y hijos para que nos viesen; y ansí, se volvieron ricos de cascabeles y cuentas que les dimos, y otros días nos tornaron á visitar con lo mismo que estotras veces.

[The next morning the Indians came] as they had promised. They brought us a great deal of fish and some roots that they eat, which are like nuts, some bigger and some smaller. Most of them are dug from under the water, with great labor. In the evening they came back and brought us more fish and more of the same roots. They had their wives and children come to see us. So they went home rich with the little bells and beads we gave them. On other days they came back to visit us, bringing the same things as before.

Sell butter and chéese,
good Faires few léese.
At Faires go bie,
home wants to supplie.

Sell butter and cheese; at good fairs few lose. At fairs go buy, to supply what the home wants.

El officio en que mas inclinados estavan es mercaderia, llevando sal, ropa y esclavos a tierra de Ulua y Tavasco, trocandolo todo por cacao y cuentas de piedra que era su moneda, y con esta solian comprar esclavos o otras cuentas con razon que eran finas y buenas, las quales por joyas trayan sobre si en las fiestas los señores. Y tenian otras hechas de ciertas conchas coloradas por moneda y joyas de sus personas. Y lo traian en sus bolsas de red que tenian y en los mercados tratavan de todas quantas cosas avia en essa tierra. Fiavan, prestavan, y pagavan cortesmente y sin usuras.

The trade they liked best was commerce. They carried salt, cloth, and slaves to the lands of Ulua and Tavasco and traded it all for cacao and stone beads, which were their money. With these they bought slaves, or finer and better beads, which the lords wore as jewels at feasts. They also had money made of certain red shells, which they wore as jewelry too. They carried their money in net bags. In the markets they traded in everything there was in that land. They sold on credit, lent, and paid back honorably and without usury.

But this it chanced that entring into a riuer, (which bicause it had no name we called the riuer of the Red crosse, our selues being the first Christians that euer came therein:) the 23 of May as we were rowing vp the same, we espied a smal Canoa with three Indians, which (by the swiftnes of my barge, rowing with eight oares) I ouertooke ere they could crosse the riuer, the rest of the people on the banks shadowed vnder the thicke wood gazed on with a doubtfull conceit what might befall those three which we had taken: But when they perceiued that we offred them no violence, neither entred their Canoa with any of ours, nor tooke out of the Canoa any of theirs, they then began to shew themselues on the banks side, and offred to traffique with vs for such things as they had, and as we drewe neere they all staide, and we came with our barge to the mouth of a little creeke which came from their towne into the great riuer.

But it chanced that we entered a river which, because it had no name, we called the river of the Red Cross, since we were the first Christians who ever came there. On May 23, as we were rowing up it, we spotted a small canoe with three Indians. By the speed of my barge, rowing with eight oars, I overtook them before they could cross the river. The rest of the people on the banks, hidden under the thick woods, looked on, anxiously wondering what might happen to the three we had taken. But when they saw that we did them no violence, and neither boarded their canoe with any of our men nor took any of theirs out of it, they began to show themselves on the riverbank. They offered to trade with us for such things as they had. As we drew near they all stayed, and we came with our barge to the mouth of a little creek which ran from their town into the great river.

Pero el ordinario modo, y trato desta tierra, en orden a rescatar las piezas de que hazen sus armaçones para sacarlas a otras partes, es bien que le aduirtamos, y es, que los vezinos, y moradores de Loanda tienen algunos negros, que llaman Pumberos, que vale cada vno mil pesos: estos se parten en compañia de otros, que llaman cargadores, lleuando a cuestas la hazienda para el rescate, la tierra adentro trecho de ochenta leguas, donde hallan vnas grandes ferias, y juntas, para rescatar en ellas muchos negros, a quienes llaman Genses, que quiere dezir mercaderes, que han venido de mas de docientas y trecientas leguas, con muchos negros de diferentes Reinos, para rescatarlos por varias mercaderias a los Pumberos,

But we should note the ordinary way the trade works in that land, how they buy the “pieces” that make up their cargoes to ship them elsewhere. The citizens and settlers of Luanda own certain Africans whom they call Pumberos, each of them worth a thousand pesos. These men set out with others, called carriers, who carry the trade goods on their backs eighty leagues inland. There they find great fairs and gatherings where they can buy many Africans. The sellers are Africans called Genses, which means merchants, who have come from more than two or three hundred leagues away with many captives from different kingdoms. They trade them to the Pumberos for all kinds of goods.

So my poor wife rose by five o’clock in the morning, before day, and went to market and bought fowls and many other things for dinner, with which I was highly pleased, and the chine of beef was down also before six o’clock, and my own jack, of which I was doubtfull, do carry it very well. Things being put in order, and the cook come, I went to the office, where we sat till noon and then broke up, and I home, whither by and by comes Dr. Clerke and his lady, his sister, and a she-cozen, and Mr. Pierce and his wife, which was all my guests. I had for them, after oysters, at first course, a hash of rabbits, a lamb, and a rare chine of beef. Next a great dish of roasted fowl, cost me about 30s., and a tart, and then fruit and cheese.

So my poor wife rose by five o’clock in the morning, before daylight, and went to market and bought fowls and many other things for dinner, which pleased me greatly. And the chine of beef was down [at the fire] before six o’clock too, and my own jack, which I had doubts about, turns it very well. Things being put in order, and the cook come, I went to the office, where we sat till noon and then broke up. And I [went] home, where by and by came Dr. Clerke and his lady, his sister, and a she-cousin, and Mr. Pierce and his wife; these were all my guests. I had for them, after oysters, at the first course, a hash of rabbits, a lamb, and a fine chine of beef. Next, a great dish of roasted fowl, which cost me about 30 shillings, and a tart, and then fruit and cheese.

Up and all the morning at the office. At noon to the ‘Change, where, after business done, Sir W. Rider and Cutler took me to the Old James and there did give me a good dish of mackerell, the first I have seen this year, very good, and good discourse.

Up, and all the morning at the office. At noon to the ’Change, where, after business was done, Sir W. Rider and Cutler took me to the Old James and gave me a good dish of mackerel there, the first I have seen this year, very good; and good conversation.

But, Lord! how sad a sight it is to see the streets empty of people, and very few upon the ‘Change. Jealous of every door that one sees shut up, lest it should be the plague; and about us two shops in three, if not more, generally shut up.

But, Lord! how sad a sight it is to see the streets empty of people, and very few upon the ’Change. Jealous of every door that one sees shut up, lest it should be the plague; and about us two shops in three, if not more, generally shut up.

Aussi le Bonheur des Dames, dès huit heures, flambait-il aux rayons de ce clair soleil, dans la gloire de sa grande mise en vente des nouveautés d'hiver. Des drapeaux flottaient à la porte, des pièces de lainage battaient l'air frais du matin, animant la place Gaillon d'un vacarme de fête foraine; tandis que, sur les deux rues, les vitrines développaient des symphonies d'étalages, dont la netteté des glaces avivait encore les tons éclatants. C'était comme une débauche de couleurs, une joie de la rue qui crevait là, tout un coin de consommation largement ouvert, et où chacun pouvait aller se réjouir les yeux.

So from eight o'clock the Bonheur des Dames was blazing in the sunshine, in all the glory of its great sale of new winter goods. Flags flew at the door. Lengths of woolen cloth flapped in the cool morning air and filled the Place Gaillon with the noise of a fair. Along the two streets, the windows unfolded symphonies of displays, and the clean plate glass made their bright colors brighter still. It was an orgy of color, a joy that burst out into the street. A whole corner of the city was thrown open for buying, and anyone could come and feast their eyes.

Cette tente de pacha somptueux était meublée de fauteuils et de divans, faits avec des sacs de chameau, les uns coupés de losanges bariolés, les autres plantés de roses naïves. La Turquie, l'Arabie, la Perse, les Indes étaient là. On avait vidé les palais, dévalisé les mosquées et les bazars. L'or fauve dominait, dans l'effacement des tapis anciens, dont les teintes fanées gardaient une chaleur sombre, un fondu de fournaise éteinte, d'une belle couleur cuite de vieux maître. Et des visions d'Orient flottaient sous le luxe de cet art barbare, au milieu de l'odeur forte que les vieilles laines avaient gardée du pays de la vermine et du soleil.

This tent for a rich pasha was furnished with armchairs and divans made from camel bags. Some had brightly colored diamonds; others were sprinkled with simple roses. Turkey, Arabia, Persia, and the Indies were all there. Palaces had been emptied, mosques and bazaars plundered. Tawny gold was the main color in the faded old carpets. Their worn tints kept a dark warmth, like a furnace gone out, the fine baked color of an old master's painting. And visions of the Orient floated in the luxury of this barbaric art, amid the strong smell the old wool still kept of the land of vermin and sun.