The Life of the Weevil 



the piece of money with my finger-nail, I 

 carefully strip it of its earthy rind, I ex- 

 amine it with the magnifying-glass, I try to 

 decipher its lettering. And my satisfaction 

 is no small one when the bronze or silver 

 disk has spoken. For then I have read a 

 page of humanity, not in books, which are 

 chroniclers open to suspicion, but in records 

 which are, in a manner, living and which 

 were contemporary with the persons and the 

 facts. 



This bit of silver, flattened with the die, 

 speaks to me of the Vocontii. x 



"VOOC . . . VOCUNT," says the in- 

 scription. 



It comes from the small neighbouring 

 town of Vaison, where Pliny the naturalist 2 

 sometimes spent a holiday. Here perhaps, 

 at his host's table, the celebrated compiler 



1 The Vocontii were a nation of Gauls inhabiting the 

 Viennaise, between the Allobroges on the north, the 

 Caturiges and the estates of King Cottius on the east, the 

 Cavares on the west and the Memini and Vulgientes on 

 the south. Vasio (Vocontia), now Vaison, was their 

 capital. Translator's Note, 



2 Caius Plinius Secundus (23-79), known as Pliny the 

 Elder, or the Naturalist, to distinguish him from his 

 nephew Caius Plinius Caecilius Secundus (61-0115), 

 commonly called Pliny the younger, the historian. He 

 was the author of the famous Naturalis Historia. 

 Translator's Note. 



2 



