lively, prattling girl seemed to have completely vanished. On the table
between them stood a large bottle containing Falernian wine, and a vase
filled with a little watery soup, in the middle of which floated a small
dough cake, sparingly sprinkled with common herbs. As for the usual
accompaniments of Vetranio's luxurious privacy, they were nowhere to be
seen. Poems, pictures, trinkets, lutes, all were absent. Even the
'inestimable kitten of the breed most worshipped by the ancient
Egyptians' appeared no more. It had been stolen, cooked, and eaten by a
runaway slave, who had already bartered its ruby collar for a lean
parrot and the unroasted half of the carcase of a dog.

'I lament to confess it, O estimable patron, but my mission has failed,'
observed Carrio, producing from his cloak several bags of money and
boxes of jewels, which he carefully deposited on the table. 'The
Prefect has himself assisted in searching the public and private
granaries, and has arrived at the conclusion that not a handful of corn
is left in the city. I offered publicly in the market-place five
thousand sestertii for a living cock and hen, but was told that the race
had long since been exterminated, and that, as money would no longer buy
food, money was no longer desired by the poorest beggar in Rome. There
is no more even of the hay I yesterday purchased to be obtained for the
most extravagant bribes. Those still possessing the smallest supplies
of provision guard and hide them with the most jealous care. I have
done nothing but obtain for the consumption of the few slaves who yet
remain faithful in the house this small store of dogs' hides, reserved
from the public distribution of some days since in the square of the
Basilica of St. John.'


And the freedman, with an air of mingled triumph and disgust, produced