There is another story to the effect that he had been reprimanded by Moreau for having written a loose song and that he exculpated himself by assuring the general that it was but a new fragment of Petronius which he had translated.

Two days later he had the fragment ready to prove his contention.
This is the account given by his Spanish biographer.

In his preface, dedicated to the Army of the Rhine, he states that he found the fragment in a manuscript of the work of St.Gennadius on the Duties of Priests, probably of the XI Century.

A close examination revealed the fact that it was a palimpsest which, after treatment, permitted the restoration of this fragment.

It is supposed to supply the gap in Chapter 26 after the word "verberabant." Its obscenity outrivals that of the preceding text, and the grammar, style, and curiosa felicitas Petroniana make it an almost perfect imitation.