Plinivs - Vol. 1 Ch. 7 - Palatinus

[MangaDex]

 

[sylvacoer]

Yeah, Romans don't care if theft isn't a crime where that guy comes from - he dead if the constabulary catch him.
And of course Nero is out on the streets with that wedding scare he just got.

 

[boldmonkey]

In what country is theft not a crime?

 

[Suben]

I'm a bit surprised that it's showing Nero being a little more sympathetic towards Octavia considering from the sources we have he pretty much hated her guts. But Octavia's life has always been kind of a fascination for me because of how utterly tragic it is; the kind of thing that itself (with some dramatic liberties) would make for a good story.

 

[Thelele]

Oh no, people zeroed in on a couple of ambiguous readings..."無知" is usually "ignorant" but I used "modest" as
A) it's the word used in the Octavia and Tacitus to describe her and carries an ambiguity of whether modesty or ambition is more prized to Nero; Octavia was promoted as an arranged political marriage by Agrippina--therefore it would have a connotation of being the safe, B-O-R-I-N-G choice he wants to rebel against
B) A play on her being of "modest intelligence"
C) It flows naturally into Poppaea's line about not tarnishing Rome's good name with her actions
D) It fit in the bubble

"Crime" ("罪") could also be translated as "sin," but this usage is less common--perhaps the anachronistic "taboo"? Those barbarians make vice a virtue...

The only deliberate addition I made is reinstating "is fitly believed to be a deity" to Pliny's monologue, as his Stoic pantheism is nonsensical without it.

Edit: I went ahead and corrected these instances with less-ambiguous words (maybe)

 

[Markgraf]

@Thelele Thanks so much for your diligence in trying to stay as true to the original source material as well as the mangaka's story. This is one ambitious bit of translation work. Please continue your efforts; they're highly appreciated.

 

[sssr]

@boldmonkey Sparta. Boys of the elite citizen class raised in the agoge were intentionally underfed to encourage them to steal from the helots. Romans admired this idea (although they themselves didn't practice it) and the custom was well-known to the Roman upper class. By the time of this story, the Spartan agoge system had become a sort of elite boarding school for Greeks (and grecophile Romans) and the Spartan state had become a backwater tourist attraction, but Romans still loved that Lycurgic institution.

 

[Thelele]

Laverna was the goddess of thieves so at least some people out there must've considered thievery an act of piety

+thx Mark