Since it is still safe to assume things, I will go on to suggest to
you that the _Satyricon_ was planned, on the Homeric model, in
twenty-four books, and will leave you to--in the striking words used
recently by _The Times_ of the Japanese earthquake--"grope for
analogies" between the text which follows and the fifteenth and
sixteenth books of the Odyssey, which you have, doubtless, by heart.
But, if I know you at all, you are more likely to be groping for
analogies between the characters in Petronius and those you will come
across in the first months of your new London life. Quartilla you
will hardly escape, or Tryph?“na either; Fortunata will pester you
with her invitations, and, if you visit the National Gallery (though I
hear they intend, now, to close it) or the Turkish Baths, you must
beware of Eumolpus: while if the others cross your path by night you
will do well to bear in mind the warning given to an earlier poet by a
greater Roman even than Petronius:
Questi non hanno speranza di morte,
E la lor cieca vita e tanto bassa,
Che invidiosi son d'ogni altra sorte.
Fama di loro il mondo esser non lassa,
Misericordia e giustizia gli sdegna:
Non ragioniam di lor, ma guarda e passa.
On which high note I shall leave you to enjoy the _Satyricon_, and
shall hope to hear from you, presently, what your opinion of it is.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25