(He was still speaking, when in came a) matron of the most exclusive social set, Philumene by name, who had often, when young, extorted many a legacy by means of her charms, but an old woman now, the flower of her beauty faded, she threw her son and daughter in the way of childless old men and through this substitution she contrived to continue her established policy. She came to Eumolpus, both to commend her children to his practical judgment and to entrust herself and her hopes to his good nature, he being the only one in all the world who could daily instruct young children in healthy precepts. In short, she left her children in Eumolpus' house in order that they might hear the words that dropped from his lips, as this was the only legacy she could leave to them. Nor did she do otherwise than as she had promised, but left in his bed chamber a very beautiful daughter and her brother, a lad, and pretended that she herself was compelled to go out to a temple to offer up her vows. Eumolpus, who was so continent that even I was a boy in his eyes, lost no time in inviting the damsel to sacrifice to the Aversa Venus; but, as he had told everyone that he was gouty and that his back was weak, and as he stood in danger of upsetting the whole farce if he did not carefully live up to the pretence, he therefore, that the imposture might be kept up, prevailed upon the young lady to seat herself upon that goodness which had been commended to her, and ordered Corax to crawl under the bed upon which he himself was lying and after bracing himself by putting his hands upon the floor, to hoist his master up and down with his own back. Corax carried out the order in full and skillfully seconded the wriggling of the girl with a corresponding seesaw. Then, when the crisis was about due, Eumolpus, in a ringing voice, called out to Corax to increase the cadence. And thus the old lecher, suspended between his servant and his mistress, enjoyed himself just as if he were in a swing. Time and again Eumolpus repeated this performance, to the accompaniment of ringing laughter in which he himself joined. At last, fearing I might lose an opportunity through lack of application, I also made advances to the brother who was enjoying the gymnastics of his sister through the keyhole, to see if he would prove amenable to assault. Nor did this well trained lad reject my advances; but alas! I discovered that the God was still my enemy. (However, I was not so blue over this failure as I had been over those before, and my virility returned a little later and, suddenly finding myself in better fettle I cried out,) "Great are the gods who have made me whole again! In his loving kindness, Mercury, who conducts and reconducts the souls, has restored to me that which a hostile hand had cut away. Look! You will find that I am more graciously endowed than was Protestilaus or any other of the heroes of old!" So saying, I lifted up my tunic and showed Eumolpus that I was whole. At first he was startled, then, that he might believe his own eyes, he handled this pledge of the good will of the gods with both hands. (Our good humor was revived by this blessing and we laughed at the diplomacy of Philumene and at the skill with which her children plied their calling, little likely to profit them much with us, however, as it was only in hopes of coming into a legacy that she had abandoned the boy and girl to us. Meditating upon this unscrupulous method of getting around childless old men, I began to take thought of the present state of our own affairs and made use of the occasion to warn Eumolpus that he might be bitten in biting the biters. "Everything that we do," I said, "should be dictated by Prudence.) Socrates, {whose judgment was riper than that} of the gods or of men used to boast that he had never looked into a tavern nor believed the evidence of his own eyes in any crowded assembly which was disorderly: so nothing is more in keeping than always conversing with wisdom.
Live coals are more readily held in men's mouths than a secret!
Whatever you talk of at home will fly forth in an instant,
Become a swift rumor and beat at the walls of your city.
Nor is it enough that your confidence thus has been broken,
As rumor but grows in the telling and strives to embellish.
The covetous servant who feared to make public his knowledge
A hole in the ground dug, and therein did whisper his secret
That told of a king's hidden ears: this the earth straightway echoed,
And rustling reeds added that Midas was king in the story.
"Every word of this is true," I insisted, "and no one deserves to get into
trouble more quickly than he who covets the goods of others! How could
cheats and swindlers live unless they threw purses or little bags
clinking with money into the crowd for bait? Just as dumb brutes are
enticed by food, human beings are not to be caught unless they have
something in the way of hope at which to nibble! (That was the reason
that the Crotonians gave us such a satisfactory reception, but) the ship
does not arrive, from Africa, with your money and your slaves, as you
promised. The patience of the fortune-hunters is worn out and they have
already cut down their liberality so that, either I am mistaken, or else
our usual luck is about to return to punish you!"
("I have thought up a scheme," replied Eumolpus, "which will embarrass
our fortune-hunting friends sorely," and as he said this, he drew his
tablets from his wallet and read his last wishes aloud, as follows:)
"All who are down for legacies under my will, my freedmen only excepted,
shall come into what I bequeath them subject to this condition, that they
do cut my body into pieces and devour said pieces in sight of the crowd:
{nor need they be inordinately shocked} for among some peoples, the law
ordaining that the dead shall be devoured by their relatives is still in
force; nay, even the sick are often abused because they render their own
flesh worse! I admonish my friends, by these presents, lest they refuse
what I command, that they devour my carcass with as great relish as they
damned my soul!" (Eumolpus had just started reading the first clauses
when several of his most intimate friends entered the room and catching
sight of the tablets in his hand in which was contained his last will and
testament, besought him earnestly to permit them to hear the contents.
He consented immediately and read the entire instrument from first to
last. But when they had heard that extraordinary stipulation by which
they were under the necessity of devouring his carcass, they were greatly
cast down, but) his reputation for enormous wealth dulled the eyes and
brains of the wretches, (and they were such cringing sycophants that they
dared not complain of the outrage in his hearing. One there was,
nevertheless, named) Gorgias, who was willing to comply, (provided he did
not have too long to wait! To this, Eumolpus made answer:) "I have no
fear that your stomach will turn, it will obey orders; if, for one hour
of nausea you promise it a plethora of good things: just shut your eyes
and pretend that it's not human guts you've bolted, but ten million
sesterces! And beside, we will find some condiment which will disguise
the taste! No flesh is palatable of itself, it must be seasoned by art
and reconciled to the unwilling stomach. And, if you desire to fortify
the plan by precedents, the Saguntines ate human flesh when besieged by
Hannibal, and they had no legacy in prospect! In stress of famine, the
inhabitants of Petelia did the same and gained nothing from the diet
except that they were not hungry! When Numantia was taken by Scipio,
mothers, with the half-eaten bodies of their babes in their bosoms, were
found! (Therefore, since it is only the thought of eating human flesh
that makes you squeamish, you must try to overcome your aversion, with
all your heart, so that you may come into the immense legacies I have put
you down for!" So carelessly did Eumolpus reel off these extravagances
that the fortune-hunters began to lose faith in the validity of his
promises and subjected our words and actions to a closer scrutiny
immediately; their suspicions grew with their experience and they came
to the conclusion that we were out and out grafters, and thereupon those
who had been put to the greatest expense for our entertainment resolved
to seize us and take it out in just revenge; but Chrysis, who was privy
to all their scheming, informed me of the designs which the Crotonians
had hatched; and when I heard this news, I was so terrified that I fled
instantly, with Giton, and left Eumolpus to his fate. I learned, a few
days later, that the Crotonians, furious because the old fox had lived
so long and so sumptuously at the public expense, had put him to death
in the Massilian manner. That you may comprehend what this means, know
that) whenever the Massilians were ravaged by the plague, one of the poor
would offer himself to be fed for a whole year upon choice food at public
charge; after which, decked out with olive branches and sacred vestments,
he was led out through the entire city, loaded with imprecations so that
he might take to himself the evils from which the city suffered, and then
thrown headlong (from the cliff.)
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