DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.53553#0261
227
tonio, and by what other names you chose to call those great
historians, pass for gospel with you; and for why?—Why
because they belong to what you are pleased to call classic
authors! Classic indeed! to invent the disgusting1 accounts
of such beastliness (beastialita), which, instead of being
put into the hands of young students, ought to be burnt by
the common hangman.—Pray tell me how these know-
ing gentlemen got at all the secret scandal they relate of
this emperor? Were they some chamberlain or gentleman
usher in the palace ? You say no ! Then does it not stand
to reason, that a man gifted with the cunning which you say
Tiberius poscssed, would know how to keep pranks like these
from the rest of the world, particularly in an island like this,
expressly selected, as they themselves alledge, for the pur-
pose of secrecy ? Poor devil, he might as well have played
off his tricks and fancies in the streets of Rome at noon-day,
as be at so much pains for nothing at all. Nonsense! I’ll
tell you what I think of the matter; This Signor Don Sue-
tonio took a particular delight in fabricating stories of the
kind for no other reason than because they agreed with his
own disposition, and no doubt he will find readers who
delight equally in the perusal of them. I look upon such
things”., ....
In “ looking upon such things,” the argumentative ea-
gerness of poor Don Michele had made him forget to look
upon the bare root of a venerable chesnut-tree, which pro-
jected across his path. An unfortunate faux pas had very
nigh consigned him down a precipice about twelve yards
in depth, had I not luckily caught the skirt of his silken
frock, by which means he escaped with a slight contusion
of the great extensor of the right arm, and a small rend of
the skirt, which, in this instance, had proved the saviour of
his invaluable person. The damage being thus trifling, I
own I secretly rejoiced in the accident which alone could
g g 2 have
tonio, and by what other names you chose to call those great
historians, pass for gospel with you; and for why?—Why
because they belong to what you are pleased to call classic
authors! Classic indeed! to invent the disgusting1 accounts
of such beastliness (beastialita), which, instead of being
put into the hands of young students, ought to be burnt by
the common hangman.—Pray tell me how these know-
ing gentlemen got at all the secret scandal they relate of
this emperor? Were they some chamberlain or gentleman
usher in the palace ? You say no ! Then does it not stand
to reason, that a man gifted with the cunning which you say
Tiberius poscssed, would know how to keep pranks like these
from the rest of the world, particularly in an island like this,
expressly selected, as they themselves alledge, for the pur-
pose of secrecy ? Poor devil, he might as well have played
off his tricks and fancies in the streets of Rome at noon-day,
as be at so much pains for nothing at all. Nonsense! I’ll
tell you what I think of the matter; This Signor Don Sue-
tonio took a particular delight in fabricating stories of the
kind for no other reason than because they agreed with his
own disposition, and no doubt he will find readers who
delight equally in the perusal of them. I look upon such
things”., ....
In “ looking upon such things,” the argumentative ea-
gerness of poor Don Michele had made him forget to look
upon the bare root of a venerable chesnut-tree, which pro-
jected across his path. An unfortunate faux pas had very
nigh consigned him down a precipice about twelve yards
in depth, had I not luckily caught the skirt of his silken
frock, by which means he escaped with a slight contusion
of the great extensor of the right arm, and a small rend of
the skirt, which, in this instance, had proved the saviour of
his invaluable person. The damage being thus trifling, I
own I secretly rejoiced in the accident which alone could
g g 2 have