The Satyricon of Petronius ArbiterPetronius Arbiter
General
The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter
Petronius Arbiter
Rome -- Fiction; Satire, Latin -- Translations into English
At this Philaos grew troublesome, and cryed out, "Let us remember the
living: He had what was due to him; as he liv'd so he dy'd; and what
has he now that any man moans the want of it? He came from nothing,
and to his dying-day would have taken a farthing from a dunghil with
his teeth; therefore as he grew up, he grew like a honey-comb. He
dy'd worth the Lord knows what, all ready money. But to the matter; I
have eaten a dog's tongue and dare speak truth: He had a foul mouth,
was all babble; a very make-bate, not a man. His brother was a brave
fellow, a friend to his friends, of an open hand, and kept a full
table: He did not order his affairs so well at first as he might have
done; but the first vintage made him up again; for he sold what wine
he would; and what kept up his chin was the expectation of a
reversion; the credit of which brought him more than was left him; for
his brother taking a pelt at him, devised the estate to I know not
whose bastard: He flies far that flies his relations. Besides, this
brother of his had whisperers about him, that were back-friends to the
other: but he shall never do right that is quick of belief, especially
in matter of business; and yet 'tis true, he'll be counted wise while
he lives, to whom the thing whatever it be is given, nor he that ought
to have had it. He was without doubt, one of fortune's sons; lead in
his hand would turn to gold, and without trouble too, where there are
not rubbs in the way. And how many years think ye he liv'd?
Seventy-odd: but he was as hard as horn, bore his age well, and as
black as a crow.
"I knew him some years ago an oilman, and to his last a good womans
man; but withal such a miser, that (so help me Hercules) I think he
left not a dogg in his house. He was also a great whore-master, and a
jack of all trades; nor do I condemn him for't, for this was the only
secret he kept to himself and carry'd with him."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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