Not a star appear'd to direct us in our way, nor would the dead of the night give us hopes of meeting a stranger that could; with these, the wine we had drank, and our ignorance of the place, even in the day time, conspir'd to mis-direct us. When we had wander'd almost an hour, with our feet all bloody, over sharp pebbles and broken hills of gravel, Gito's diligence at last deliver'd us: for the day before, fearing we might be at a loss, tho' we had the sun to our help, he had providently mark'd every post and pillar with a chalk, the greatest darkness was not able to obscure, by whose shineing whiteness we found our way. But we had as many fears after we got to an inn; for the hostess, having drank a little too long with her guests, had so intirely lost her senses, a burning could not have made her feel; that perhaps, we had been forc'd to have taken up our lodging in the street, if a letter-carrier that belong'd to Trimalchio, with ten carriages of his master's revenue, had not come in the mean time; who without much ado beat down the door, and let us in at the same gap.
After we enter'd the bed-chamber, having plentifully feasted; prest by impatient nature, I took my Gito aside; and wrapt in pleasures, spent the night.
Who can the charms of that blest night declare,
How soft ye gods! our warm embraces were?
We hugg'd, we cling'd, and thro' each other's lips,
Our souls, like meeting streams, together mixt;
Farewell the world, and all its pageantry!
When I, a mortal! so begin to dye.
'Tis without reason I hug myself; Ascyltos, omnis iniuriae inventor, subduxit mihi nocte puerum et in lectum transtulit suum, volutatusque liberius cum fratre non suo, sive non sentiente iniuriam sive dissimulante, indormivit alienis amplexibus oblitus iuris humani. Itaque ego ut experrectus pertrectavi gaudio despoliatum torum. Si qua est amantibus fides, ego dubitavi, an utrumque traicerem gladio somnumque morti iungerem. Tutius dein secutus consilium Gitona quidem verberibus excitavi, and looking as sternly as I cou'd upon Ascyltos, thus address'd my self: "Since you've play'd the villain by your treachery, and breaking the common laws of friendship, pack up your matters quickly, and find another comrade to abuse."
Ascyltos consented; and, after we had made an exact division of our booty; "Now," says he, "let's share the boy too": I believ'd it a jest at parting, but, he with a murderous resolution, drew his sword; "nor shall you," added he, "think to ingross this prize, which should, like the rest, be common to us both. I must have my share, or with this sword will be content to take it." Upon which, on the other side, having twisted my gown under my arm, I made advances to ingage.
The unhappy boy rush'd between, and kissing both our knees, with tears, entreated that we would not expose our selves in a pitiful alehouse, nor with our blood pollute the rites of so dear a friendship: but, raising his voice, says he, "if there must be murder, behold my naked bosom, hither direct your fury: 'Tis I deserve death, who violated the sacred laws of friendship."
Upon which we sheath'd our swords; and first Ascyltos, "I'll," says he, "end the difference: Let the boy himself follow the man he likes, that, in chusing a friend, at least, he may have an unquestion'd liberty."
I, that presum'd so long an acquaintance, had made no slight impressions on his nature, was so far from fearing, that with an eager haste I accepted the proffer, and to the judge committed the dispute: Gito, that he might not seem to consider, at my consent jump'd up, and chose Ascyltos.
I, like one thunderstruck, at the sentence, void of defence, fell upon the bed, and had not surviv'd the loss, if envy of my rival had not stopp'd my sword.
Ascyltos, proud of the conquest, goes off with the prize, leaving me expos'd in a strange place, that before he caress'd as a friend and sharer of his fortune: