Page:The Satyricon of Petronius Arbiter (1922), vol. 1.djvu/189

 there anyone else who knows how to make this malleable glass? Think now! And when he denied that anyone else knew the secret, Cæsar ordered his head chopped off, because if this should get out, we would think no more of gold than we would of dirt.

  “And when it comes to silver, I’m a connoisseur; I have goblets as big as wine-jars, a hundred of ’em more or less, with engraving that shows how Cassandra killed her sons, and the dead boys are lying so naturally that you’d think ’em alive. I own a thousand bowls which Mummius left to my patron, where Dedalus is shown shutting Niobe up in the Trojan horse, and I also have cups engraved with the gladiatorial contests of Hermeros and Petraites: they’re all heavy, too. I wouldn’t sell my taste in these matters for any money!” A slave dropped a cup while he was running on in this fashion. Glaring at him, Trimalchio said, “Go hang yourself, since you’re so care- Rh