arcass with as great relish as they
damned my soul!" (Eumolpus had just started reading the first clauses
when several of his most intimate friends entered the room and catching
sight of the tablets in his hand in which was contained his last will and
testament, besought him earnestly to permit them to hear the contents.
He consented immediately and read the entire instrument from first to
last. But when they had heard that extraordinary stipulation by which
they were under the necessity of devouring his carcass, they were greatly
cast down, but) his reputation for enormous wealth dulled the eyes and
brains of the wretches, (and they were such cringing sycophants that they
dared not complain of the outrage in his hearing. One there was,
nevertheless, named) Gorgias, who was willing to comply, (provided he did
not have too long to wait! To this, Eumolpus made answer:) "I have no
fear that your stomach will turn, it will obey orders; if, for one hour
of nausea you promise it a plethora of good things: just shut your eyes
and pretend that it's not human guts you've bolted, but ten million
sesterces! And beside, we will find some condiment which will disguise
the taste! No flesh is palatable of itself, it must be seasoned by art
and reconciled to the unwilling stomach. And, if you desire to fortify
the plan by precedents, the Saguntines ate human flesh when besieged by
Hannibal, and they had no legacy in prospect! In stress of famine, the
inhabitants of Petelia did the same and gained nothing from the diet
except that they were not hungry! When Numantia was taken by Scipio,
mothers, with the half-eaten bodies of their babes in their bosoms, were
found! (Therefore, since it is only the thought of eating human flesh
that makes you squeamish, you must try to overcome your aversion, with
all your heart, so that you may come into the immense legacies I have put
you down for!" So carelessly did Eumolpus reel off these extravagances
that the fortune-hunters began to lose faith in the validity of his
promises and subjected our words and actions to a closer scrutiny
immediately; their suspicions grew with their experience and they came
to the conclusion that we were out and out grafters, and thereupon those
who had been put to the greatest expense for our entertainment resolved
to seize us and take it out in just revenge; but Chrysis, who was privy
to all their scheming, informed me of the designs which the Crotonians
had h