Page:The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter (1922), vol. 2.djvu/89

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PETRONIUS ARBITER
 

Gouty patients swear at their feet, rheumatics at their hands, blear-eyed people at their eyes, and do not those who often stub their toes blame their feet for all their pain?


“Why will our Catos with their frowning brows
Condemn a work of fresh simplicity?
A cheerful kindness my pure speech endows;
What people do, I write, to my capacity.
For who knows not the pleasures Venus gives?
Who will not in a warm bed tease his members?
Great Epicurus taught a truth that lives;
Love and enjoy life! All the rest is embers.


Nothing can be more insincere than the silly prejudices of mankind, and nothing sillier than the morality of bigotry.”


CHAPTER THE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-THIRD. I called Giton when I had finished my meditation: “Tell me, little brother,” I demanded, “tell me, on your honor: Did Ascyltos stay awake until he had exacted his will of you, the night he stole you away from me? Or was he content to spend the night

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