'Eat another tartlet.'

'No, no! My grief chokes me!'

'Take him to bed said the freedman; and, Sallust's head now declining
fairly on his breast, they bore him off to his cubiculum, still
muttering lamentations for Glaucus, and imprecations on the unfeeling
overtures of ladies of pleasure.

Meanwhile Sosia strode indignantly homeward. 'Pimp, indeed!' quoth he
to himself. 'Pimp! a scurvy-tongued fellow that Sallust! Had I been
called knave, or thief. I could have forgiven it; but pimp! Faugh!
There is something in the word which the toughest stomach in the world
would rise against. A knave is a knave for his own pleasure, and a
thief a thief for his own profit; and there is something honorable and
philosophical in being a rascal for one's own sake: that is doing things
upon principle--upon a grand scale. But a pimp is a thing that defiles
itself for another--a pipkin that is put on the fire for another man's
pottage! a napkin, that every guest wipes his hands upon! and the
scullion says, "by your leave" too. A pimp! I would rather he had called
me parricide! But the man was drunk, and did not know what he said;
and, besides, I disguised myself. Had he seen it had been Sosia who
addressed him, it would have been "honest Sosia!" and, "worthy man!" I
warrant. Nevertheless, the trinkets have been won easily--that's some
comfort! and, O goddess Feronia! I shall be a freedman soon! and then I
should like to see who'll call me pimp!--unless, indeed, he pay me
pretty handsomely for it!'

While Sosia was soliloquising in this high-minded and generous vein, his
path lay along a narrow lane that led towards the amphitheatre and its
adjacent palaces. Suddenly, as he turned a sharp corner he found
himself in the midst of a considerable crowd. Men, women, and children,
all were hurrying or laughing, talking, gesticulating; and, ere he was
aware of it, the worthy Sosia was borne away with the noisy stream.

'What now?' he asked of his nearest neighbor, a young artificer; 'what
now? Where are all these good folks thronging?' Does any rich patron
give away alms or viands to-night?'

'Not so, man--better still,' replied the artificer; 'the noble
Pansa--the people's friend--has granted the public leave to see the
beasts in their vivaria. By Hercules! they will not be seen so safely
by some persons to-morrow.'

'Tis a pretty sight,' said the slave, yielding to the throng that
impelled him onward; 'and since I may