Satyricon, vol 5, Crotona Affairs | Page 8

green bark
wickerwork, a jar Stained by the lifeblood of the God of Wine; The
walls around with chaff and spattered clay Were covered. Flanging
from protruding nails Were slender stalks of the green rush; and then
Suspended from the smoky beam, the stores Of this poor cottage.
Service berries soft, Entwined in fragrant wreaths hung down, Dried
savory and raisins by the bunch. An hostess here like she on Attic soil,
Of Hecate's pure worship worthy she! Whose fame Kallimachos so
grandly sang 'Twill live forever through the speaking years.

CHAPTER THE
ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIXTH.
In the meantime, (having shelled the beans,) she took a mouthful of the
meat and with the fork was replacing the pig's cheek, which was coeval
with herself, upon the meat-hook, when the rotten stool, which she was
using to augment her height, broke down under the old lady's weight
and let her fall upon the hearth. The neck of the pot was broken, putting
out the fire, which was just getting a good start, her elbow was burned
by a flaming brand, and her whole face was covered by the ashes raised
by her fall. I jumped up in dismay and, not without laughing, helped the
old lady to her feet. She hastily scurried out into the neighborhood to
replenish the fire, for fear anything should delay the sacrifice. I was on
my way to the door of the cell when lo! and behold! three sacred geese
which were accustomed, I suppose, to demand their feed from the old

woman at midday, made a rush at me and, surrounding me, made me
nervous with their abominable rabid cackling. One tore at my tunic,
another undid the lacings of my sandals and tugged at them, but one in
particular, the ringleader and moving spirit of this savage attack, did
not hesitate to worry at my leg with his serrated bill. Unable to see the
joke, I twisted off one of the legs of the little table and, thus armed,
began to belabor the pugnacious brute. Nor did I rest content with a
light blow, I avenged myself by the death of the goose.
'Twas thus, I ween, the birds of Stymphalus To heaven fled, by
Herakles impelled; The Harpies, too, whose reeking pinions held That
poison which the feast of Phineus Contaminated. All the air above With
their unwonted lamentations shook, The heavens in uproar and
confusion move {The Stars, in dread, their orbits then forsook!}
By this time the two remaining geese had picked up the beans which
had been scattered all over the floor and bereft, I suppose, of their
leader, had gone back into the temple; and I, well content with my
revenge and my booty, threw the dead goose behind the cot and bathed
the trifling wound in my leg with vinegar: then, fearing a scolding, I
made up my mind to run away and, collecting together all my
belongings, started to leave the house. I had not yet stepped over the
threshold of the cell, however, when I caught sight of OEnothea
returning with an earthen vessel full of live coals. Thereupon I retraced
my steps and, throwing off my garments, I took my stand just inside the
door, as if I were awaiting her return. She banked her fire with broken
reeds, piled some pieces of wood on top, and began to excuse her delay
on the ground that her friend would not permit her to leave until after
the customary three drinks had been taken. "But what were you up to in
my absence?" she demanded. "Where are the beans?" Thinking that I
had done a thing worthy of all praise, I informed her of the battle in all
its details and, that she might not be downcast any longer, I produced
the dead goose in payment for her loss. When the old lady laid eyes
upon that, she raised such a clamor that you would have thought that
the geese had invaded the room again. Confounded and thunderstruck
at the novelty of my crime, I asked her why she was so angry and why
she pitied the goose rather than myself.

CHAPTER THE

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY SEVENTH.
But, beating her palms together, "You villain, are you so brazen that
you can speak?" she shrieked. "Don't you know what a serious crime
you've committed? You have slaughtered the delight of Priapus, a
goose, the very darling of married women! And for fear you think that
nothing serious has happened, if the magistrates find this out you'll go
to the cross! Until this day my dwelling has been inviolate and you
have polluted it with blood! You have conducted yourself in such a
manner that any enemy I have can turn me out of the priesthood!"