We prolonged our meal all we could, but there was no shaking them off.
Agathemer ordered more wine, Falernian, and had it mixed with only one
measure of water. Watching his opportunity he threw at me, in a whisper,
two Greek words which advised me, since they were the first in a well-
known quotation from Menander, that our only hope was to drink our
tormentors dead drunk.
It turned out to be a question whether we would drink them drunk or they
us. Certainly they showed no hesitation about pouring down the wine as
fast as it was mixed and served, nor did either of them appear to notice
that we drank less than they; they seemed able to hold any amount and stay
sober and keep on drinking. As dusk deepened and the waiter-boys lit the
inn lamps, I found myself perilously near sliding off my chair to the
floor and very doubtful whether, if I did, I should be able to get up
again or to resist my tendency to go to sleep then and there.
I was, in fact, just about to give up any attempt to resist my impulse to
collapse when Summanus collapsed, slid to the floor, rolled over, spread
out and snored.
Clitellus thickly objurgated his comrade and all weak-heads, worthless
fellows who could not drink a few goblets without getting drunk.
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