This text is part of:
Search the Perseus Catalog for:
[47]
Gossip of this kind was in the air, when Trimalchio
came in mopping his brow, and washed his hands in scent. After a short pause, he
said, “You will excuse me, gentlemen? My bowels have not been working for
several days. All the doctors are puzzled. Still, I found pomegranate rind
useful, and pinewood boiled in vinegar. I hope now my stomach will learn to
observe its old decencies. Besides, I have such rumblings inside me you would
think there was a bull there. So if any of you gentlemen wishes to retire there
is no need to be shy about it. We were none of us born quite solid. I cannot
imagine any torture like holding oneself in. The one thing Jupiter himself
cannot forbid[p. 83] is that we should have relief. Why do you laugh,
Fortunata; it is you who are always keeping me awake all night. Of course, as
far as I am concerned, anyone may relieve himself in the dining-room. The
doctors forbid retention. But if the matter is serious, everything is ready
outside: water, towels, and all the other little comforts. Take my word for it,
vapours go to the brain and make a disturbance throughout the body. I know many
people have died this way, by refusing to admit the truth to themselves.”
We thanked him for his generosity and kindness, and then tried to suppress our
laughter by drinking hard and fast. We did not yet realize that we had only got
halfway through the delicacies, and still had an uphill task before us, as they say.
The tables were cleared to the sound of music, and three white pigs, adorned with
muzzles and bells, were led into the dining-room. One was two years old, the keeper
said, the second three, and the other as much as six. I thought some ropewalkers had
come in, and that the pigs would perform some wonderful tricks, as they do for
crowds in the streets. Trimalchio ended our suspense by saying, “Now, which of
them would you like turned into a dinner this minute? Any country hand can turn
out a fowl or a Pentheus1 hash, or trifles of that kind. My cooks are quite used
to serving whole calves done in a cauldron.” Then he told them to fetch a
cook at once, and without waiting for our opinion ordered the eldest pig to be
killed, and said in a loud voice,“Which division of the household do you
belong to?” The man said he came from the fortieth. “Were you
purchased or born on the estate?”
“Neither; I was left to you under Pansa's will.”
“Well then,” said[p. 85] Trimalchio,
“mind you serve this carefully, or I will have you degraded to the
messengers' division.”
1 Pentheus, king of Thebes, was torn in pieces by the Bacchae.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.