Satyricon, vol 4, Escape by Sea | Page 9

of
every calling agreed that here shone the one solitary example of
chastity and of love! In the meantime the governor of the province had
ordered some robbers crucified near the little vault in which the lady
was bewailing her recent loss. On the following night, a soldier who
was standing guard over the crosses for fear someone might drag down
one of the bodies for burial, saw a light shining brightly among the
tombs, and heard the sobs of someone grieving. A weakness common
to mankind made him curious to know who was there and what was
going on, so he descended into the tomb and, catching sight of a most
beautiful woman, he stood still, afraid at first that it was some
apparition or spirit from the infernal regions; but he finally
comprehended the true state of affairs as his eye took in the corpse
lying there, and as he noted the tears and the face lacerated by the
finger-nails, he understood that the lady was unable to endure the loss
of the dear departed. He then brought his own scanty ration into the
vault and exhorted the sobbing mourner not to persevere in useless
grief, or rend her bosom with unavailing sobs; the same end awaited us
all, the same last resting place: and other platitudes by which anguished
minds are recalled to sanity. But oblivious to sympathy, she beat and
lacerated her bosom more vehemently than before and, tearing out her
hair, she strewed it upon the breast of the corpse. Notwithstanding this,
the soldier would not leave off, but persisted in exhorting the
unfortunate lady to eat, until the maid, seduced by the smell of the wine,
I suppose, was herself overcome and stretched out her hand to receive
the bounty of their host. Refreshed by food and drink, she then began to
attack the obstinacy of her mistress. 'What good will it do you to die of
hunger?' she asked, 'or to bury yourself alive'? Or to surrender an
uncondemned spirit before the fates demand it? 'Think you the ashes or
sepultured dead can feel aught of thy woe! Would you recall the dead
from the reluctant fates? Why not shake off this womanish weakness
and enjoy the blessings of light while you can? The very corpse lying
there ought to convince you that your duty is to live!' When pressed to

eat or to live, no one listens unwillingly, and the lady, thirsty after an
abstinence of several days, finally permitted her obstinacy to be
overcome; nor did she take her fill of nourishment with less avidity
than had the maid who had surrendered first."

CHAPTER THE
ONE HUNDRED AND TWELFTH.
"But to make a long story short, you know the temptations that beset a
full stomach: the soldier laid siege to her virtue with the selfsame
blandishments by which he had persuaded her that she ought to live.
Nor, to her modest eye, did the young man seem uncouth or wanting in
address. The maid pled in his behalf and kept repeating:
Why will you fight with a passion that to you is pleasure,
Remembering not in whose lands you are taking your leisure?
"But why should I keep you longer in suspense? The lady observed the
same abstinence when it came to this part of her body, and the
victorious soldier won both of his objectives; so they lay together, not
only that night, in which they pledged their vows, but also the next, and
even the third, shutting the doors of the vault, of course, so that anyone,
acquaintance or stranger, coming to the tomb, would be convinced that
this most virtuous of wives had expired upon the body of her husband.
As for the soldier, so delighted was he with the beauty of his mistress
and the secrecy of the intrigue, that he purchased all the delicacies his
pay permitted and smuggled them into the vault as soon as darkness fell.
Meanwhile, the parents of one, of the crucified criminals, observing the
laxness of the watch, dragged the hanging corpse down at night and
performed the last rite. The soldier was hoodwinked while absent from
his post of duty, and when on the following day he caught sight of one
of the crosses without its corpse, he was in terror of punishment and
explained to the lady what had taken place: He would await no
sentence of court-martial, but would punish his neglect of duty with his
own sword! Let her prepare a place for one about to die, let that fatal
vault serve both the lover and the husband! 'Not that,' cried out the lady,
no less merciful than chaste, 'the gods forbid that I should look at the
same time upon the corpses of the two men