He has gone away from here, and has entrusted to me the most important concern of catering. Immortal Gods how I shall now be slicing necks off of sides; how vast a downfall will befall the gammonBefall the gammon: An alliteration is employed in these two lines, which cannot be well kept up in a literal translation. As, however, in the translation an attempt is made to give the spirit of the passage, the literal meaning may be here stated. Pernis pestis,a plague to the gammons;labes larido,a fail for the bacon;sumini absumedo,a consumption of udder;callo calamitas,destruction to the brawn; and laniis lassitudo, weariness to the butchers. Sows’ udder, with the milk in it, first dried, and then cooked in some peculiar manner, was considered a great delicacy by the Roman epicures.; how vast a belabouring the bacon! How great a using-up of udders, how vast a bewailing for the brawn! How great a bestirring for the butchers, how great a preparation for the porksellers! But if I were to enumerate the rest of the things which minister to the supply of the stomach, ‘twould be sheer delay. Now will I go off to my government, to give laws to the bacon, and, those gammons that are hanging uncondemned,Hanging uncondemned: He’ll commute the punishment of the gammons and hams, for they shall hang no longer. to give aid to them. (Goes into the house.)

(Enter a LAD, a servant of HEGIO.)A LAD May Jupiter and the Deities confound you, Ergasilus, and your stomach, and all Parasites, and every one who henceforth shall give a dinner to Parasites. Destruction and devastation and ruin have just now entered our house. I was afraid that he would be making an attack on me, as though he had been an hungry wolf. And very dreadfully, upon my faith, was I frightened at him; he made such a gnashing with his teeth. On his arrival, the whole larder, with the meat, he turned upside down. He seized a knife, and first cut off the kernels of the neckThe kernels of the neck: The glandia were the kernels or tonsils of the throat, situate just below the root of the tongue. These portions of the dead pig seem to have been much prized as delicate eating. Judging from the present passage, the whole side of the pig, including the half-head, was salted and dried in one piece. The first thing that the Parasite does, is to cut the kernels from off of three sides, which he has relieved from the punishment of hanging. from three sides. All the pots and cups he broke, except those that held a couple of gallonsA couple of gallons: Modiales. Literally, containing a modius, which contained sixteen sextarii, something more than a peck of drymeasure English.; of the cook he made enquiry whether the salting pans could be set on the fire to be made hot. All the cellars in the house he has broken into, and has laid the store-closetThe store-closet: Armarium was so called because it was originally a place for keeping arms. It afterwards came to signify a cupboard in a wall, in which clothes, books, money, and other articles of value, were placed. It was generally in the atrium, or principal room of the house. In this instance it evidently means the store-closet, distinguished from the arder and the cellars. open. (At the door.) Watch him, servants, if you please; I’ll go to meet the old gentleman. I’ll tell him to get ready some provisions for his own self, if, indeed, he wishes himself to make use of any. For in this place, as this man, indeed, is managing, either there’s nothing already, or very soon there will be nothing.