Clodius Eprius

Clodius Eprius was a Roman who owned a villa in the town of Vesunna in Aquitaine. In 160 AD, he was approached by two itinerant booksellers named Lucius and Marcus who indicated they had a proposition he might find interesting. He agreed to meet with them alone in his villa so he sent his servants to his country estate and gave his valet Titus the evening off.

After supper, Lucius indicated that they had heard a rumour that Eprius owned a copy of Sophokles' Aleadai. Eprius confirmed this and agreed to show them his copy. Lucius read through it and confirmed it was genuine which irked Eprius' sense of honor. Lucius then offered seventy-five aurei which was many times the going rate for even a rare book. Eprius remained suspicious but the sight of all that gold in his hand convinced him they were sincere. He apologized for his suspicions and then offered to take the scroll to Aemilius Ruso, the local copyist. In a week's time the two could have either the copy or the original, as they pleased.

Lucius indicated that was not satisfactory since a condition of sale was that it be done with absolute privacy. He then offered to sweeten the price to one hundred aurei. This insulted Eprius who saw no reason to not share the book but would not give it up. He refilled the purse and threw it at Lucius' feet and held out his hand for the play.

As Lucius began to return it, Marcus stopped him and said "I think we keep this". Eprius began shouting at them and lashed out with his stout walking stick striking a hard blow on Marcus' shoulder. This caused him to drop the play but then hit Eprius a blow to the head which stunned him momentarily. He recovered and as he continued to swing his stick at the two he shouted "thieves, thieves" at the top of his lungs.

Marcus' hand snaked under his tunic and emerged with a curiously shaped metal object. His finger twitched and Eprius heard a barking roar as something sledged his forehead. He never saw or heard anything again.