Page:The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter (1922), vol. 2.djvu/15

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PETRONIUS ARBITER
 

enraged at the disappointment of her lecherous passion, Tryphæna upbraided me violently, and with many threats she hurried out to find Lycas for the purpose of exasperating him further against me and of joining forces with him to be revenged upon me. Now you must know that I had formerly held a very high place in this waiting-maid’s esteem, while I was prosecuting my intrigue with her mistress, and for that reason she took it very hard when she surprised me with Tryphæna, and sobbed very bitterly I pressed her earnestly to tell me the reason for her sobs) and after pretending to be reluctant she broke out: “You will think no more of her than of a common prostitute if you have a drop of decent blood in your veins! You will not resort to that female catamite, if you are a man!” This disturbed my mind but what exercised me most was the fear that Eumolpus would find out what was going on and, being a very sarcastic individual, might revenge my supposed injury in

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