Page:Statius (Mozley 1928) v1.djvu/303

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SILVAE, IV. ix, 31–55

no eggs even, or fine flour, or coarse spelt? not the slimy shell of a curving snail that had strayed far on the Cinyphian plains?[1] no rancid fat or gristly ham? no sausage, no tough haggis? no salt, no pickle, no cheese? or cakes of green saltpetre? or raisin-wine boiled grapes and all? or must made muddy by sweet lees? How unkind, not to give me smelly candles, or a knife, or a tiny notebook! Pray, could you not have sent some tinned grapes, or some plates turned on the wheel at Cumae?[2] or even one set[3]—why do you start?—of white cups and pots? No, like a fair dealer with a correct scale, you dock nothing, but give me exactly equal weight. But look! I get up betimes, feeling rather queasy, and bring you my morning greeting: are you to return it at my house? you have regaled me with a luxurious feast: do you expect a similar repast yourself? I am angry with you, Grypus! However, farewell! only do not with your usual wit send me back gibing verses by return of post!

  1. ↑ i.e., African snails, which were often shell-less.
  2. ↑ The cheapest kind of pottery was that of Cumae.
  3. ↑ The point of this is that “synthesis” can also mean a set of wearing-apparel, usually of a costly kind, as in Mart. ii. 46. 4.

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