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.
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