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The Wonderful History of Virgilius the Sorcerer of Rome
The Wonderful History of Virgilius the Sorcerer of Rome Author:Virgil Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER X. " Ovo mira novo sic ovo non Tuber ovo Dorica castra cluens Tutor Temerare tiraeto." (Enigma of fourteenth century). " O sommo vate, quanto mal ... more »facesti A venir qui; non t'era me' morire A Pietola cola dove nacesti Quando la mosca, per 1'altre fuggire In tal loco ponesti Ov' ogni vespa doveria venire A punger quei che su n£ boschi stanne." Great prophet-poet, how wast thou mistaken In coming hither ; better sure to die In Pietola, where thou to life didst waken, Than in such place to mount the fateful fly, Which by its kindred truly is forsaken, But whither every wasp may freely come To drive its sting in woodland wand'rers home. Now when Virgilius had thus carried away the Soldan's daughter from Rome to Babylon, he cherished her with tender care, for truly she was the loveliest creature ever seen, and desiring in his fond affection to dower her richly from his great possessions by sea and land, he built for her a city whose foundations stood upon eggs buried away down in the depths of the sea. In this city Virgilius built a square castletower, and upon its roof he set a rod of iron, and across the rod he laid a bottle, and on the bottle he placed an egg, and from the egg there hung by a chain fastened to its stem an apple, which hangs there to this day, and which no man may disturb; and when the egg shakes the city quakes, and when the egg shall be broken the city shall be destroyed. Virgilius built likewise a market for his city, and in one of its walls he inserted a piece of meat which possessed the virtue of keeping all provisions brought within the market fresh for the space of six weeks. At the great gate of the city, moreover, he made a causeway, curiously paved, and beneath it he banished and shut up all hurtful reptiles and insects, insom...« less