PETRONIUS ARBITER
Three times I grasped the two-edged blade
The recreant to cut away;
Three times by Fear my hand was stayed
And palsied Terror said me nay!
That which I might have done before
’Twas now impossible to do;
For, cold with Fear, the wretch withdrew
Into a thousand-wrinkled maze,
And shrank in shame before my gaze
Nor would his head uncover more.
But though the scamp in terror skulked,
With words I flayed him as he sulked.
The recreant to cut away;
Three times by Fear my hand was stayed
And palsied Terror said me nay!
That which I might have done before
’Twas now impossible to do;
For, cold with Fear, the wretch withdrew
Into a thousand-wrinkled maze,
And shrank in shame before my gaze
Nor would his head uncover more.
But though the scamp in terror skulked,
With words I flayed him as he sulked.
Raising myself upon my elbow I rebuked the shirker in some such terms as these: “What have you to say for yourself, you disgrace to gods and men,” I demanded, “for your name must never be mentioned among refined people. Did I deserve to be lifted up to heaven and then dragged down to hell by you? Was it right for you to slander my flourishing and vigorous years and land me in the shadows and lassitude of decrepit old age? Give me some sign, however faint, I beg of you, that
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