e no tales to-morrow of vases broken,
and cups miraculously vanished, or thy whole back shall be one pain.
And hark thee! thou knowest thou hast made me pay for those Phrygian
attagens enough, by Hercules, to have feasted a sober man for a year
together--see that they be not one iota over-roasted. The last time, O
Congrio, that I gave a banquet to my friends, when thy vanity did so
boldly undertake the becoming appearance of a Melian crane--thou knowest
it came up like a stone from AEtna--as if all the fires of Phlegethon
had been scorching out its juices. Be modest this time, Congrio--wary
and modest. Modesty is the nurse of great actions; and in all other
things, as in this, if thou wilt not spare thy master's purse, at least
consult thy master's glory.'

'There shall not be such a coena seen at Pompeii since the days of
Hercules.'

'Softly, softly--thy cursed boasting again! But I say, Congrio, yon
homunculus--yon pigmy assailant of my cranes--yon pert-tongued neophyte
of the kitchen, was there aught but insolence on his tongue when he
maligned the comeliness of my sweetmeat shapes? I would not be out of
the fashion, Congrio.'

'It is but the custom of us cooks,' replied Congrio, gravely, to
undervalue our tools, in order to increase the effect of our art. The
sweetmeat shape is a fair shape, and a lovely; but I would recommend my
master, at the first occasion, to purchase some new ones of a...'

'That will suffice,' exclaimed Diomed, who seemed resolved never to
allow his slave to finish his sentences. 'Now, resume thy
charge--shine----eclipse thyself. Let men envy Diomed his cook--let the
slaves of Pompeii style thee Congrio the great! Go! yet stay--thou hast
not spent all the moneys I gave thee for the marketing?' '"All!" alas!
the nightingales' tongues and the Roman tomacula, and the oysters from
Britain, and sundry other things, too numerous now to recite, are yet
left unpaid for. But what matter? every one trusts the Archimagirus of
Diomed the wealthy!'

'Oh, unconscionable prodigal!--what waste!--what profusion!--I am
ruined! But go, hasten--inspect!--taste!--perform!--surpass thyself!
Let the Roman senator not despise the poor Pompeian. Away, slave--and
remember, the Phrygian attagens.'

The chief disappeared within his natural domain, and Diomed rolled back
his portly presence to the more courtly chambers. All was to his
liking--the flowers were fresh, the fountains played briskly, the mos