Petronius: Satires and the Book of Priapeia

HL beginning to be formed; let us try, however, if they are still drinkable." We take up spoons weighing no less than half a pound and crack open the eggs made of rich pastry. I myself almost threw away my portion, for it seemed to me that it had already congealed into a chick. Then, as I heard an old guest: "This must be something good," I examined the shell with my hand and found a very fat figpecker ficedula small songbird considered a delicacy surrounded by peppered egg yolk.

34 Now Trimalchio, having interrupted the game, had demanded all these same things and had given permission with a loud voice, if any of us wanted to take honeyed wine again, when suddenly a signal is given by the music and the appetizer dishes are snatched away by the singing chorus. However, in the commotion, when a dish happened to fall and a boy had picked it up from where it lay, Trimalchio noticed and ordered the boy to be scolded with blows and to throw the dish down again. A litter-bearer followed and began to sweep the silver out among the rest of the refuse with a broom. | Immediately two long-haired Ethiopians entered with small leather bottles, such as those who sprinkle sand in an amphitheater, and they poured wine on our hands; for no one offered water.

HL | The master, praised for his elegance, said, "Mars the god of war loves fairness. Therefore I ordered that a table be assigned to each person. By the way, even the most loathsome slaves will make less heat for us with their crowding."

Immediately, glass amphorae two-handled jars carefully sealed with gypsum were brought, on the necks of which labels were attached with this title: "Opimian Falernian, one hundred years old." While we read the labels, Trimalchio clapped his hands and said, "Alas, so wine lives longer than a puny little man. Therefore, let us have a drinking bout tengomenas slang for a drinking session. Life is wine. Truly, the Opimian is ready. Yesterday I did not serve such good wine, and much more honorable men were dining." As we were drinking and admiring the luxuries with great care, a slave brought in a silver skeleton, so constructed that its joints and vertebrae could be bent in every direction. When he had thrown it onto the table once or twice, and the movable chain-work expressed several figures, Trimalchio added:

"Alas for us poor wretches, how much a puny little man is nothing.
Thus shall we all be, after Orcus the Underworld/Death carries us off.
Therefore let us live, while it is allowed to be well."

35 A course followed the eulogy, clearly not as large as expected; however, its novelty turned everyone’s eyes. A round...