No roasting for the umpire now—his was an easy lot.
But here the pitcher whirled again—was that a rifle shot?
A whack! a crack! and out through space the leather pellet flew—
A blot against the distant sky, a speck against the blue.
Above the fence in center field, in rapid whirling flight
The sphere sailed on; the blot grew dim and then was lost to sight.
Ten thousand hats were thrown in air, ten thousand threw a fit;
But no one ever found the ball that mighty Casey hit!
Oh, somewhere in this favored land dark clouds may hide the sun,
And somewhere bands no longer play and children have no fun;
And somewhere over blighted lives there hangs a heavy pall;
But Mudville hearts are happy now—for Casey hit the ball!—Exchange.
A Course From Trimalchio's Dinner.
By GAIUS PETRONIUS.
Translated from the Latin by HARRY THURSTON PECK, Professor of Latin, Columbia University.
The first realistic novel of which any portion has been preserved to modern times is the so-called "Satyricon" of Gaius Petronius, who lived at Rome in the early part of the first century a.d. Petronius was the favorite courtier of the Emperor Nero. Men knew him as one who set the fashions in dress and manners, so that he had been compared to Beau Brummel. He was, however, under all his foppishness, a person of much intellect, which he showed both as an administrator in high political office and as an author. Enemies who were jealous of him accused him to the emperor of treason; and, knowing that his condemnation was certain, he resolved to die by his own hands. He therefore opened a vein and slowly bled to death, checking, however, the flow of blood from time to time, and down to the very last chatting and joking with his friends. A very interesting and probably accurate pen-picture of him is given by Henryk Sienkiewicz in his famous novel "Quo Vadis."
The "Satyricon" of Petronius was originally a lengthy novel of which there remains to us only about a hundred pages. The book related the adventures of two disreputable sharpers who lived by their wits; and the portion which we still have gives many glimpses of vagabond existence in ancient Italy. The selection here reprinted contains part of the account of a lavish dinner given by a vulgar old millionaire named Trimalchio, and the guests are mainly ignorant and boastful friends of the host, who talk and brag after their own fashion. This passage is remarkable because it contains the only continuous specimen of Latin slang which we now possess, and which differs decidedly from the elegant Latin of literature. It bears many resemblances to the English and American slang of the present day, and makes the ancient Romans appear almost modern. The translation is that of Professor Harry Thurston Peck in his "Trimalchio's Dinner," and is reprinted here by the courteous permission of Messrs. Dodd, Mead & Co.
Copyright, 1898, by Dodd, Mead & Co., New York.