" I marvel," said I,
"whether they be all mash'd together or made of loam; for in a
Saturnal at Rome, my self saw the like imaginary shew of a supper."
Nor had I scarce said it, when--quoth Trimalchio, "Let me so grow in
estate, not bulk, as my cook made all of this out of one hog; there is
not an excellenter fellow than himself; he shall, if he please, make
ye a poll of ling of a sows tripe; a wood-culver of fat bacon; a
turtle of a spring of pork; and a hen of a collar of brawn; and
therefore of my own fancy, I gave him a name proper to him, for he is
called D?¦dalus: And because he understands his business, I had
chopping-knives of the best steel brought him from Rome"; and with
that, calling for them, he turn'd them over, and admiring them,
offered us the liberty of trying their edge on his cheek.
On this came in two servants as quarrelling about their collars, at
which each of them had a large earthen pot hanging; and when
Trimalchio determined the matter between them, neither of them stood
to his sentence, but fell to club-law, and broke each others pots.
This drunken presumption put us out of order; yet casting an eye on
the combatants, we saw oisters and scallops running from the pots, and
another boy receiving them in a charger, which he carried round the
guests.
Nor was the cook's ingenuity short of the rest, for he brought us a
dish of grill'd snails on a silver gridiron, and with a shrill
unpleasant voice, sang as he went.
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