Petronius: Satires and the Book of Priapeia (1882) - Page 25

H [they] might have.

"The Iliad and the Odyssey,"
he said, |
"and the gladiatorial games of Laenas."
It is not permitted to consider them in detail. 30

HL We had already reached the dining room, in the first part of which the steward was receiving accounts. And what I marveled at especially, on the doorposts of the dining room were fasces bundles of rods with an axe, symbolizing magisterial authority fixed with axes, one part of which was finished like the bronze ram of a ship the pointed prow used to strike enemy vessels, on which was written:

"To Gaius Pompeius Trimalchio, Sevir Augustalis a priest of the imperial cult, typically a freedman, Cinnamus the steward."
Under the same title, a two-wick lamp hung from the ceiling, and two tablets were fixed to each doorpost, the one of which, if I remember correctly, had this inscribed:
"On the 3rd and the day before the Kalends of January, our Gaius dines out."
The other had the course of the moon and the images of the seven stars painted, and which days were lucky and which unlucky were noted by a distinguishing knob a small pin or peg used on a calendar.

H | Filled with these delights, as we were trying to enter the dining room, 15 one of the boys, who was placed in charge of this duty, shouted:

"Right foot first."
Without doubt, we hesitated for a little while, lest HL one of us might cross the threshold against the rule. | However, as we moved our right feet in unison, a slave stripped of his clothing fell at our feet and began to beg that we rescue him from punishment: saying his sin was not great for which he was in danger; for the steward's clothes had been stolen from him in the bath, which would have been worth scarcely ten sesterces. We therefore withdrew our right feet and begged the steward, who was counting gold in the atrium, to remit the punishment for the slave. That arrogant man lifted his face and 25 said,
"It is not the loss that moves me so much as the negligence of a most worthless slave. He lost my dining clothes, which a certain client had given me on my birthday, Tyrian dyed with precious Tyrian purple without a doubt, but already washed once. What then? I give him to you."
31

Obligated by such a great favor, when we had entered the dining room, 30 that same slave for whom we had asked met us, and while we stood amazed, he showered us with thick kisses, thanking us for our kindness. In short,

"Immediately you will know,"
he said,
"to whom you have given a favor. The master's wine is thanks to the server."

Finally, therefore, we reclined, with Alexandrian boys pouring iced water over our 35 hands, and others following at our feet and trimming our hangnails paronychia ingrown nails or hangnails with immense precision. And not even while performing this annoying duty were they silent, but they sang along the way. I...