Ave Roma Immortalis, Vol. 1: Studies from the Chronicles of RomeCrawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion)
History
Ave Roma Immortalis, Vol. 1: Studies from the Chronicles of Rome
Crawford, F. Marion (Francis Marion)
Rome (Italy) -- Description and travel
So morning warms to broad noon, and hunger makes it dinner-time, and the
young kinsmen who have strolled abroad come home, one of them with his
hand bound up in a white rag that has drops of blood on it, for he has
picked a quarrel in the street and steel has been out, as usual, though
no one has been killed, because the 'bargello' and his men were in
sight, down there near the Orsini's theatre-fortress. And at dinner when
the priest has blessed the table, the young men laugh about the
scrimmage, while the Baron himself, who has killed a dozen men in
battle, with his own hand, rebukes his sons and nephews with all the
useless austerity which worn-out age wears in the face of unbroken
youth. The meal is long, and they eat much, for there will be nothing
more till night; they eat meat broth, thick with many vegetables and
broken bread and lumps of boiled meat, and there are roasted meats and
huge earthen bowls of salad, and there is cheese in great blocks, and
vast quantities of bread, with wine in abundance, poured for each man by
the butler into little earthen jugs from big earthenware flagons. They
eat from trenchers of wood, well scoured with ashes; forks they have
none, and most of the men use their own knives or daggers when they are
not satisfied with the carving done for them by the carver. Each man,
when he has picked a bone, throws it under the table to the house-dogs
lying in wait on the floor, and from time to time a basin is passed and
a little water poured upon the fingers. The Baron has a napkin of his
own; there is one napkin for all the other men; the women generally eat
by themselves in their own apartments, the so-called 'gentlemen' in the
'tinello,' and the men-at-arms and grooms, and all the rest, in the big
lower halls near the kitchens, whence their food is passed out to them
through the wheel.
After dinner, if it be summer and the weather hot, the gates are barred,
the windows shut, and the whole household sleeps. Early or late, as the
case may be, the lords and ladies and children take the air, guarded by
scores of mounted men, riding towards that part of the city where they
may neither meet their enemies nor catch a fever in the warm months. In
rainy weather they pass the time as they can, with telling of many
tales, short, dramatic and strong as the framework of a good play, with
music, sometimes, and with songs, and with discussing of such news as
there may be in such times. And at dusk the great bells ring to
even-song, the oil lamp is swung up in the great staircase, the windows
and gates are shut again, the torches and candles and little lamps are
lit for supper, and at last, with rushlights, each finds the way along
the ghostly corridors to bed and sleep. That was the day's round, and
there was little to vary it in more peaceful times.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account