cumque pransuro Sardanapallicum in morem panis daretur e Leontina segete confectus, insuper dapes cultae ferculis cultioribus apponerentur, spumarent Falerno gemmae capaces inque crystallis calerent unguenta glacialibus, huc suffita cinnamo ac ture cenatio spargeret peregrinos naribus odores et madescentes nardo capillos circumfusa florum serta siccarent, coepit supra tergum sic recumbentis repente vibrari mucro destrictus e lacunaribus, qui videbatur in iugulum purpurati iam iamque ruiturus; nam filo equinae saetae ligatus et ita pondere minax ut acumine gulam formidolosi Tantaleo frenabat exemplo, ne cibi ingressi per ora per vulnera exirent.
He was preparing to dine in the fashion of Sardanapallus; bread was handed him baked from the harvest of Leontini, and choice meats were set before him on dishes still more choice; large jewelled cups foamed with Falernian wine, and warm perfume lay in icy crystal; the reek of cinnamon and frankincense pervaded the dining-hall, wafting foreign scents to the nostrils; the encircling garlands of flowers were drying up the guests nard-soaked hair. But suddenly, as he thus reposed, a naked sword which hung from the panelled ceiling began to shake over his shoulders, and seemed each moment about to fall upon the throat of our man in purple; for it was fastened only with a thread of horsehair, and being alarming equally by its weight and by its sharp point it frustrated the appetite of the scared guest as if he had been Tantalus, for he feared that the food that entered by his mouth might find its exit through a gaping wound.
final_alignments\Sidonius_Letters_Book2.json