Lost in Pompeii

In the following excerpt from Petronius’s Satyricon (translated by J.P. Sullivan and published by Penguin Classics in 1965), Encolpius, the book’s protagonist, is lost, unable to find his friend Ascyltus. He decides to head back to his lodging and asks an old woman for directions. (The photo shows the street on which the Lupanar is located.)

“I took the opportunity to slip away and started off hastily after Ascyltus. But I was not paying much attention to the way I went, and I had no idea where our lodging was. Whichever direction I took, I came back to the same spot. Finally, worn out with running and dripping with sweat, I went up to an old woman selling fresh vegetables.

‘Excuse me, mother,’ I began, ‘I don’t suppose you know where I’m staying, do you?’

She was amused by my naive politeness.

‘Why shouldn’t I know?’ she said. She got to her feet and set off in front of me. I thought she was uncanny, and followed her. And then, as we reached an out of the way place, the kind old lady threw back a patchwork curtain and said to me:

‘This is where you must be staying.’