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Petronius Arbiter, 20-66

"The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter"

" We by this time nauseated, were ready to vomit; Trimalchio
also was gotten confoundedly drunk, when behold, a new interlude; he
called for the coronets to come in; and, underset with pillows, and
stretching himself at length on the bed, "suppose me," said he, "now
dead, say somewhat, I beseech you, in praise of me."
Whereupon the coronets sounded as it had been at a funeral; but one
above the rest, a servant of that freed-man of Trimalchio's, that was
best condition'd of 'em all, made such a thundring, that it rais'd the
neighbourhood: On which the watch thinking the house was on fire,
broke open the gate, and making an uproar after their manner, ran in
with water and hatchets: When finding so fair an opportunity, we gave
Agamemnon the slip, and scamper'd off, as if it had been a real fire.

PART TWO

Not a star appear'd to direct us in our way, nor would the dead of the
night give us hopes of meeting a stranger that could; with these, the
wine we had drank, and our ignorance of the place, even in the day
time, conspir'd to mis-direct us. When we had wander'd almost an
hour, with our feet all bloody, over sharp pebbles and broken hills of
gravel, Gito's diligence at last deliver'd us: for the day before,
fearing we might be at a loss, tho' we had the sun to our help, he had
providently mark'd every post and pillar with a chalk, the greatest
darkness was not able to obscure, by whose shineing whiteness we found
our way.


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