As a
preparation, for your return march he bids you rest and feast; and, that
all may feast, he has lavishly provided food and wine, which you will find
ready at your quarters, and with that provision an ample force of cooks
and servitors to prepare and distribute your banquet. Caesar now goes to
dine and bids you disperse to dine. I have spoken for Caesar. Obey!"
Less heartily, perhaps, but universally, this haughty speech was responded
to by loud, tumultuous and long-lasting cheers. More cheers saluted the
Emperor when he stood up and followed him till he had vanished with his
retinue, at full gallop. The men even continued to cheer until Cleander's
wife and Marcia had entered their gilded carriages and been driven off in
the wake of the Imperial cortege.
Our evening meal was truly, as Cleander had called it, a feast and a
banquet. When we reached our quarters the food was ready and just ready
and our repast began at once. It was calculated, in every particular, to
induce gluttonous gorging and guzzling. Before our hunger was really
satisfied, before we had more than barely begun to drink the temptingly
excellent wine, Agathemer whispered in Greek:
"This banquet is an attempt to make all of us sleep far too soundly.
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