At the same time, however, the plaguy
scoundrel devised a trick which was really clever
and not what one would expect of your ordinary
swindler. In opening and reading the forwarded
scrolls, if he found anything dangerous and venturesome in the questions, he would keep them himself
and not send them back, in order to hold the
senders in subjection and all but in slavery because
of their fear, since they remembered what it was
that they had asked. You understand what
questions are likely to be put by men who are rich
and very powerful. So he used to derive much gain
from those men, who knew that he had them in his
net.