ABSTRACT
I will speak, then, beginning at the beginning, about the life that I used to provide for mortals.
First of all, like water over the hands,125 there was peace. The earth bore no plagues and no terrors; everything that was
needed came of its own accord. Every brook flowed with wine; barley-cakes fought with loaves for access to men’s mouths, begging them to swallow the whitest, if they liked. Fish roasted themselves to a turn on the way home, and lay ready on the tables. A river of broth flowed past the dining-couches, rolling down hot
meat, and there were channels of sauces for these for anyone who wanted
them, so it was easy to moisten the stuff till it was tender and swallow it
down. There were < > in little bowls, sprinkled with seasonings. Roast thrushes with little milk-cakes flew down your throat, and the flat-cakes jostling round your jaws made a right
hullabaloo! The boys would play dice with slices and titbits of sow’s womb.126
Men were fat then, real giants of people.
