opsoPHAay. 545 



But for the Virros keeps a special store 

 Of loaves Cribrariaji, made of whitest flour ; 

 Erom bread Kke that thy swift right-hand restrain, 

 Or, dost thou venture, thou hast snatch'd in vain. 

 Wilt thou be pleased once more, bold guest, to see 

 The colour of the bread design'd for thee ; 

 Shouldst move a lip in trust of fancied claims 

 Of Roman freedom and three Eoman names P 

 Go quick, and cool thy courage in the street, 

 Or stay, and kicks and cuffs like Cacus meet. 

 And thou deserv'st them all ; thy host is wise. 

 If such a host thou know'st not to despise. 

 Who can bear aU things, all things ought to bear ; 

 Tarry a little longer, and he'U dare. 

 Poor humble slave, thy shaven crown to smite ; 

 And thou shalt bear the blow, perhaps invite, 

 Think nothing hard, thy back to scourges lend, 

 Worthy of such a feast and such a friend. 



of barley, which was still coarser, a sort of convict bread, given to 

 gladiators — Whence called hordiarii, i. e. barley-men — and to sol- 

 diers who had lost their standards in battle : it would be in strict 

 keeping with the rest of his fare to suppose that Viento baited 

 his poor client upon this last. The Romans were by no means so 

 nice as we are with regard to the purity of the flour, provided the 

 loaf looked white and fair at table. Pliny, having spoken of the 

 mixture of chalk as conducive to this end, adds the following cu- 

 rious passage by way of exemplification : — ' Now this chalk occurs 

 in great abundance on the side of a hill called Leucogseum, or 

 white earth, which lies between Puteoli and Naples, of which 

 the Neapolitans made good account in the days of Augustus 

 Caesar ; for when that Emperor first colonized Capua with Ro- 

 man subjects, he decreed to pay them from the treasury the sum 

 of twenty thousand denarii for the use of this chalk hill,' with- 

 out which adulteration, the bakers of Capua, as elsewhere, seem 

 to have insinuated that it was quite impossible to make good 

 fwrmety. 



