Explanation: Rome was a very story-oriented culture, but not necessarily in the same way later literary cultures were. While reading is associated with silence in many later European cultures, as part of the wider monastic and religious tradition of Christian contemplation integrated into even processing secular literature, the Romans were all about reading aloud. Fancy dinner parties often included a younger relative showing their skill at recitation - or a specialized slave with the same skill (less prestigious, but just as fun for the listeners) - reciting lines from poetry or literature while the guests ate. The equivalent of putting on a movie during dinner!

Recently, I walked up to a co-worker and said,

“The time has come,’ the Walrus said, To talk of many things: Of shoes — and ships — and sealing-wax — Of cabbages — and kings — And why the sea is boiling hot — And whether pigs have wings”

She just gave me a blank stare, like, I was absolutely fucking possessed for reciting a tiny little fraction of Alice in Wonderland to her.

And I admit that it was rather impromptu, but when I asked her about it afterwards, she had no idea what the fuck I was talking about.

She had even seen the Disney animated Alice in Wonderland and had no memory of the Walrus and the Carpenter.