Deep grief gnaws at my vitals and drags me down almost to the very doors ofdeath itself moans Quartrilla drawing near Encolpius her eyes glistening.I am afraid ... » 

Deep grief gnaws at my vitals and drags me down almost to the very doors ofdeath itself moans Quartrilla drawing near Encolpius her eyes glistening.I am afraid that with the careless impulsiveness of youth you may divulgeto the common herd what you witnessed in the shrine of Priapus and revealthe rites of the Gods to the rabble. I stretch out my suppliant hands toyour knees. I beg and pray you do not make a mockery and a joke of ournocturnal rites . . . nor lay bare the secrets of so many years she whispers and tells the young man how he must pay . . . by curing her body of theills besetting her. The Rabelaisian Satyricon of Petronius one of themost infamous books of all time follows the rogue Encolpius and his servingboy Giton as they engage in fortunehunting adventure amorous misadventure andextravagant feasting in the Rome of the first century in the time of Neroscourt. «