Book 28
4.34
The greater number of these gentry, given over to over-stuffing themselves with food,Cf. xxii. 12, 6, for similar language. led by the charm of the odour of cookingCf. Suet., Claud., 33, 1, ictus nidore prandii. and by the shrill voices of the women, like a flock of peacocks screaming with hunger, stand even from cockcrow beside the potsWagner and T.L.L. take aulis = ollis, which suits the context; cf. Gell. xvii. 8, 2, 3, etc. on tip-toe and gnaw the ends of their fingersCf. Plaut., Pseud. 881 ff. ego ita convivis cenam conditam dabo . . . ut quisque quidque conditum gustaverit, ipsus sibi faciam ut digitos praerodat suos. as they wait for the dishes to cool. Others hang over the nauseous mass of half-raw meat, while it is cooking, watching it so intently that one would think that DemocritusThe famous Greek physical philosopher, from Abdera; cf. xv. 1, 4; xiv. 5, 1. There is a word-play on anatomis and anatomicis; see p. 97, note 2. with other dissectors was examining the internal organs of dismembered animals and showing by what means future generations might be cured of internal pains.
4.35
But enough for the present of this account of affairs in the city. Now let us return to the other events which were caused by various incidents in the provinces.
