A seller had an image of Mercury and claimed it gave riches. When asked why he was selling he said he needed riches now and not later when the image worked.
When you lie, you often have to expand the lie.
Townsend version
A certain man made a wooden image of Mercury and offered it for sale. When no one appeared willing to buy it, in order to attract purchasers, he cried out that he had the statue to sell of a benefactor who bestowed wealth and helped to heap up riches. One of the bystanders said to him, “My good fellow, why do you sell him, being such a one as you describe, when you may yourself enjoy the good things he has to give?” “Why,” he replied, “I am in need of immediate help, and he is wont to give his good gifts very slowly.”
Venditor Simulacri
Cum quidam Mercurii simulacrum ex ligno fecisset, ipsum venum proposuit. Sed cum nullus emptor accederet, is, emptores alliciendi causa, clamare coepit, aiens se Deum beneficum ac divitiarum datorem venumdare. Quidam tunc ex iis qui forte aderant, “Ecquid,” inquit, “amice, Deum talem divendis, cum tute ipse tot tantisque eius beneficiis frui possis?” Cui ille “Ego quidem,” ait, “celeri subsidio indigeo; hic autem tarde divitias ferre solet.”
Perry #099
