A jest: the thief who turned the tables on the mercer
A facetia of trick and counter-trick beside tables of proportional ratios
The left column carries a facetia (jest): a thief breaks into an acquaintance mercer's shop at midnight, is locked in from outside when the mercer spots his light through the door cracks, and, trapped while the officers are fetched, lights two candlesticks and scatters playing cards to fake a gambling scene. When the constable arrives the thief accuses the mercer of shutting him in to dodge a gambling debt, grabs at his purse, and the constable makes the mercer hand over the money as if it were the thief's winnings. The right side of the page holds bracket diagrams of numerical ratios labelled with the classical terms dupla, sesquialtera and equal-multiple, built on the sequences 8, 4, 2 and 12, 6, 3.
On this page
Facetia of the thief and the mercer
A thief who knew a mercer acquaintance kept much money in a chest broke into his shop at midnight, but was spotted and locked in from outside while the mercer ran for the magistrate's officers. Trapped, the thief lit two candlesticks, laid out playing cards to feign a game, and when the officers came accused the mercer of locking him in to avoid paying gambling losses. Grabbing at the mercer's purse, he so convinced the constable that the mercer was made to hand over the money as the thief's own.
Tables of dupla, sesquialtera and equal-multiple ratios
Bracket diagrams pair the sequences 8, 4, 2 and 12, 6, 3 (and 16, 6, 3) and label the ratios between their terms as dupla (double), sesquialteran and equal-multiple. The linked braces trace how each ratio carries across the two rows.
