De Vetula

XXVIII

Excusare tamen speciem Ludi deciorum

Nituntur, cum quâ deducitur alea pernix:

Ipsam, dicentes, pauco discrimine rerum

Pasci posse diu, tanta est dilatio ludi,

Tanta lucri damnive mora est : successio cujus

Tot parit eventus, quot iactus continet in se,

Fine tenus, ludus, nec solâ sorte, sed arte

Procedunt acies, & inest industria mira.

Praesertim cum multimodè mutatio Ludi

Quolibet in jactu disponi possit, eo quod,

Sicut praecessit jactus, diversificantur

In punctaturâ propriè : quia schema cadendi

Nil operatur in hoc, sed punctatura docet, quid

Lusoris faciat viso solertia jactu.

Quomodo militiam disponat, ibi legit, unde

Transferat et qua quam vel quas ter quinque suarum,

Et combinat eas, ne si capiantur ab hoste

Solivage, cogantur, ut ad sua castra recurrant,

Et numeros perdant impensos, solivagasque

Hostiles capit ad sua castra recurrere cogens,

Damnificansque hostem numeris, quib egerat illas,

Districtusque preoccupat, angustatque meatus,

Ut pateat via tuta suis ad circumeundum,

Atque negetur ei, quibus adversaries uti

Debet. Sed postquam precluserit omnia, néve

Descendat series sua precipitantius eque,

Exponit quasdam capiendas sponte suarum,

Ut renovet, sursumque reciprocet obsidionem,

Restauretque suam, si rupta est fortè, catenam,

Donec tot teneat captivas, quot recipi vix

Possent in castris, etiamsi castra vacarent:

Vel donec, que transierant, ita precipitate,

Sint, vel dissute, quod non possent retinere,

Si quam captivam regredi contingeret illuc.

Yet they try to excuse the nature of the game of dice,

With which keen hazard leads, saying that,

By the slightest change in matters,

One can feed on it for a long time, so great is the delay of the game,

So lengthy is the suspense of profit or loss: a succession

Breeds as many outcomes as throws contained within itself;

The whole game proceeds to the end, not by chance alone, but by skill,

Lines progress and skill is wondrous within.

Especially since the variation of the game can be arranged in many ways

With each throw, for,

Just as a throw has precedence, they differ

In scoring specifically: because the way the dice fall

Has no effect here, but the score teaches

What the player's insight, upon seeing the throw, should do.

How to arrange the campaign, he reads from there, from where

He should transfer and by what means, how or which sets of five of his own,

And he combines them, lest if his pieces are seized by an enemy,

Wandering, they are forced to retreat to their camp

And lose the numbers already spent, and likewise

He compels the enemy’s lone captives to run to their camp,

Causing their loss in numbers, by which they earned,

He confines and blocks the passage,

So that a safe way remains for his to travel around,

And denies the adversary what he should use.

But after he has blocked everything, and stops

His line rushing forward too quickly,

He exposes some of his own pieces to be taken willingly,

To renew and reciprocate the siege,

To restore his chain if it happens to be broken,

Until he holds captive as many as could scarcely be received

In the camp, even if the camp were empty:

Or until those who have passed, so hastily,

Are so scattered, that they could not retain

Any that, if captured, might return there."