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CHAPTER THE SEVENTY-EIGHTH.
Petronius Arbiter · about 2 minutes
CHAPTER THE SEVENTY-EIGHTH.
It was not long before Stychus brought a white shroud and a purple-bordered toga into the dining-room, and Trimalchio requested us to feel them and see if they were pure wool. Then, with a smile, “Take care, Stychus, that the mice don’t get at these things and gnaw them, or the moths either. I’ll burn you alive if they do. I want to be carried out in all my glory so all the people will wish me well.” Then, opening a jar of nard, he had us all anointed. “I hope I’ll enjoy this as well when I’m dead,” he remarked, “as I do while I’m alive.” He then ordered wine to be poured into the punch-bowl. “Pretend,” said he, “that you’re invited to my funeral feast.” The thing had grown positively nauseating, when Trimalchio, beastly drunk by now, bethought himself of a new and singular diversion and ordered some horn-blowers brought into the dining-room. Then, propped up by many cushions, he stretched himself out upon the couch. “Let on that I’m dead,” said he, “and say something nice about me.” The horn-blowers sounded off a loud funeral march together, and one in particular, a slave belonging to an undertaker, made such a fanfare that he roused the whole neighborhood, and the watch, which was patrolling the vicinity, thinking Trimalchio’s house was afire, suddenly smashed in the door and rushed in with their water and axes, as is their right, raising a rumpus all their own. We availed ourselves of this happy circumstance and, leaving Agamemnon in the lurch, we took to our heels, as though we were running away from a real conflagration.
ETEXT EDITOR’S BOOKMARKS:
Affairs start to go wrong, your friends will stand from under Doctor’s not good for anything except for a consolation Everybody’s business is nobody’s business He can teach you more than he knows himself Learning’s a fine thing, and a trade won’t starve Men are lions at home and foxes abroad No one can show a dead man a good time The loser’s always the winner in arguments Too many doctors did away with him We know that you’re only a fool with a lot of learning Whenever you learn a thing, it’s yours Believes, on the spot, every tale You can spot a louse on someone else
VOLUME 3.--FURTHER ADVENTURES OF ENCOLPIUS AND HIS COMPANIONS