Horace: EPISTULAE

Prima dicte mihi, summa dicende Camena,
spectatum satis et donatum iam rude quaeris,
Maecenas, iterum antiquo me includere ludo?
Non eadem est aetas, non mens. Veianius armis
Herculis ad postem fixis latet abditus agro,

Camena, first addressed by me, last to be addressed,
do you seek, Maecenas, to shut me again into the old training‑school,
me already sufficiently tried and now given the rudis?
It is not the same age, not the same mind. Veianius, with his arms
nailed to Hercules’ post, lies hidden, withdrawn in the countryside,

ne populum extrema totiens exoret harena.
Est mihi purgatum crebro qui personet aurem:
'Solue senescentem mature sanus equum, ne
peccet ad extremum ridendus et ilia ducat.'
Nunc itaque et uersus et cetera ludicra pono,

lest he so often entreat the populace from the farthest arena.
I have one who frequently makes my ear resound with well-purged counsel:
‘Release the aging horse in good time, while sane, lest
at the very end he blunder, a laughing-stock, and drag his guts.’
Now therefore I set aside both verses and the other ludic amusements,

quid uerum atque decens, curo et rogo et omnis in hoc sum;
condo et compono quae mox depromere possim.
Ac ne forte roges quo me duce, quo Lare tuter;
nullius addictus iurare in uerba magistri,
quo me cumque rapit tempestas, deferor hospes.

what is true and decent, I care about and I ask, and I am wholly in this;
I store up and compose things which I may soon be able to draw forth.
And lest by chance you ask by what guide, by what hearth I am kept safe;
addicted to swear to the words of no master, wherever the tempest carries me, I am borne as a guest.

Nunc agilis fio et mersor ciuilibus undis,
uirtutis uerae custos rigidusque satelles;
nunc in Aristippi furtim praecepta relabor
et mihi res, non me rebus subiungere conor.
Vt nox longa quibus mentitur amica, diesque

Now I become agile and am immersed in civil waves,
a custodian of true virtue and a rigid satellite;
now I stealthily slip back into the precepts of Aristippus
and I strive to subject things to me, not myself to things.
As the night is long for those to whom a mistress lies, and the day

longa uidetur opus debentibus, ut piger annus
pupillis quos dura premit custodia matrum,
sic mihi tarda fluunt ingrataque tempora quae spem
consiliumque morantur agendi nauiter id quod
aeque pauperibus prodest, lucupletibus aeque,

long it seems to those who owe their work, as a sluggish year to wards whom the hard custody of mothers presses,
thus for me the times flow slow and ungrateful, which delay the hope and the counsel of acting nimbly in that which
profits the poor equally, and the wealthy equally,

aeque neglectum pueris senibusque nocebit.
Restat ut his ego me ipse regam solerque elementis.
Non possis oculo quantum contendere Lynceus,
non tamen idcirco contemnas lippus inungui;
nec, quia desperes inuicti membra Glyconis,

equally neglected it will injure boys and old men.
It remains that by these I govern myself and be practiced in the elements.
You cannot rival Lynceus in the eye,
yet for that reason, being bleary-eyed, do not scorn to be anointed;
nor, because you despair of the limbs of unconquered Glycon,

nodosa corpus nolis prohibere cheragra.
Est quadam prodire tenus, si non datur ultra.
Feruet auaritia miseroque cupidine pectus:
sunt uerba et uoces quibus hunc lenire dolorem
possis et magnam morbi deponere partem.

do not wish to hamper your body with knotted chiragra.
There is a certain point to advance to, if it is not given to go beyond.
The breast seethes with avarice and with wretched cupidity:
there are words and utterances by which you can soothe this pain
and lay aside a great part of the disease.

Laudis amore tumes: sunt certa piacula quae te
ter pure lecto poterunt recreare libello.
Inuidus, iracundus, iners, uinosus, amator,
nemo adeo ferus est, ut non mitescere possit,
si modo culturae patientem commodet aurem.

You swell with love of praise: there are sure expiations which,
with a little booklet read purely thrice, will be able to refresh you.
Envious, irascible, inert, vinous, a lover—
no one is so fierce that he cannot grow mild,
if only he lends a patient ear to culture.

Virtus est uitium fugere et sapientia prima
stultitia caruisse. Vides, quae maxima credis
esse mala, exiguum censum turpemque repulsam,
quanto deuites animi capitisque labore;
impiger extremos curris mercator ad Indos,

Virtue is to flee vice, and the first wisdom is to have been without stupidity.
You see, those things which you believe to be the greatest evils—exiguous means and a shameful repulse—
with how great a labor of mind and of head you avoid;
indefatigable, as a merchant you run to the farthest Indians,

per mare pauperiem fugiens, per saxa, per ignes;
ne cures ea quae stulte miraris et optas,
discere et audire et meliori credere non uis?
Quis circum pagos et circum compita pugnax
magna coronari contemnat Olympia, cui spes,

fleeing poverty over the sea, through rocks, through fires;
will you not stop caring about the things which you foolishly marvel at and desire,
do you not wish to learn and to listen and to credit the better?
Who, pugnacious around the villages and around the crossroads,
would disdain to be crowned at great Olympia, for whom the hope,

cui sit condicio dulcis sine puluere palmae?
Vilius argentum est auro, uirtutibus aurum.
'O ciues, ciues, quaerenda pecunia primum est;
uirtus post nummos!' Haec Ianus summus ab imo
prodocet, haec recinunt iuuenes dictata senesque

for whom is the condition of a sweet palm without dust?
Silver is cheaper than gold, gold than virtues.
'O citizens, citizens, money must first be sought;
virtue after coins!' These things Janus proclaims from top to bottom,
these the young and the old sing back as dictated lessons

laeuo suspensi loculos tabulamque lacerto.
Est animus tibi, sunt mores, est lingua fidesque,
sed quadringentis sex septem milia desunt:
plebs eris. At pueri ludentes: 'Rex eris' aiunt,
'si recte facies': hic murus aeneus esto

with purse and tablet suspended from the left upper arm.
You have spirit, you have morals, you have a tongue and fidelity,
but six or seven thousand are lacking to the 400,000:
you will be plebs. But boys at play say: 'You will be king,' they say,
'if you do rightly': let this be a brazen wall

nil conscire sibi, nulla pallescere culpa.
Roscia, dic sodes, melior lex an puerorum est
nenia, quae regnum recte facientibus offert,
et maribus Curiis et decantata Camillis?
Isne tibi melius suadet, qui 'rem facias, rem,

to be conscious to oneself of no wrong, to grow pale at no fault.
Roscian, say, please, is the law better, or is it the boys’ ditty
which offers a kingdom to those who do right,
and has been oft chanted to men like Curius and Camillus?
Does he advise you better, who says, ‘Make money, money,’

si possis, recte, si non, quocumque modo rem,'
ut propius spectes lacrimosa poemata Pupi,
an qui Fortunae te responsare subperbae
liberum et erectum praesens hortatur et aptat?
Quodsi me populus Romanus forte roget, cur

“if you can, rightly; if not, by whatever way, money,”
so that you may look more closely at the tearful poems of Pupius,
or he who urges you to answer back to over-proud Fortune,
present, encourages and fits you out free and erect?
But if by chance the Roman People should ask me why

non ut porticibus sic iudiciis fruar isdem,
nec sequar aut fugiam quae diligit ipse uel odit,
olim quod uolpes aegroto cauta leoni
respondit, referam: 'Quia me uestigia terrent,
omnia te aduersum spectantia, nulla retrorsum.'

not that I may enjoy the same porticoes and likewise the same judgments,
nor that I should follow or flee what he himself loves or hates,
I will relate what once the cautious fox
answered to the ailing lion: 'Because the footprints frighten me,
all of them facing toward you, none backward.'

Belua multorum es capitum. Nam quid sequar aut quem?
Pars hominum gestit conducere publica; sunt qui
frustis et pomis uiduas uenentur auaras
excipiantque senes, quos in uiuaria mittant;
multis occulto crescit res fenore. Verum

Beast of many heads you are. For what should I follow, or whom?
A portion of men is eager to take on public contracts; there are those who
with scraps and apples hunt miserly widows,
and entrap old men, whom they send into preserves;
for many the estate grows by hidden usury. But

esto aliis alios rebus studiisque teneri:
idem eadem possunt horam durare probantes?
'Nullus in orbe sinus Bais praelucet amoenis',
si dixit diues, lacus et mare sentit amorem
festinantis eri; cui si uitiosa libido

grant that different men are held by different things and studies:
can the same men, approving the same things, endure an hour?
'No bay in the orb outshines pleasant Baiae,'
if a rich man has said it, the lake and the sea feel the love
of a hastening master; to whom, if a vicious libido

fecerit auspicium, cras ferramenta Teanum
tolletis, fabri. Lectus genialis in aula est:
nil ait esse prius, melius nil caelibe uita;
si non est, iurat bene solis esse maritis.
Quo teneam uoltus mutantem Protea nodo?

if a vicious libido has made the auspice, tomorrow you will lift the iron-tools to Teanum, smiths. The nuptial couch is in the hall: he says nothing is earlier, nothing is better than a celibate life; if it is not, he swears that it is well only for husbands. With what knot shall I hold Proteus changing his faces?

Quid pauper? Ride: mutat cenacula, lectos,
balnea, tonsores, conducto nauigio aeque
nauseat ac locuples, quem ducit priua triremis.
Si curatus inaequali tonsore capillos
occurri, rides; si forte subucula pexae

What of the poor man? Laugh: he changes his upper rooms, beds, baths, barbers; in a hired vessel he is equally seasick as the opulent man, whom a private trireme conveys. If, with my hair tended by an uneven barber, I happened to meet you, you laugh; if by chance the under‑tunic is of brushed fabric

trita subest tunicae, uel si toga dissidet impar,
rides: quid, mea cum pugnat sententia secum,
quod petiit spernit, repetit quod nuper omisit,
aestuat et uitae disconuenit ordine toto,
diruit, aedificat, mutat quadrata rotundis?

a worn undergarment is beneath the tunic, or if the toga sits apart, unequal,
you laugh: what then, when my opinion fights with itself,
what it sought it spurns, it seeks again what it lately omitted,
it seethes and is out of accord with the whole order of life,
he demolishes, he builds, he changes squares into rounds?

100

Insanire putas sollemnia me neque rides
nec medici credis nec curatoris egere
a praetore dati, rerum tutela mearum
cum sis et praue sectum stomacheris ob unguem
de te pendentis, te respicientis amici.

You think me to be insane in the customary way and you do not laugh,
nor do you believe I need a physician nor a curator appointed by the praetor,
since you are the tutelage of my affairs, and you are vexed at a thing cut awry to the fingernail
in a friend depending on you, looking toward you.

105

Ad summam: sapiens uno minor est Ioue, diues,
liber, honoratus, pulcher, rex denique regum,
praecipue sanus, nisi cum pituita molesta est.

To sum up: the wise man is one less than Jove, rich,
free, honored, handsome, finally a king of kings,
especially sane, unless when phlegm is troublesome.

Troiani belli scriptorem, Maxime Lolli,
dum tu declamas Romae, Praeneste relegi;
qui, quid sit pulchrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non,
plenius ac melius Chrysippo et Crantore dicit.
Cur ita crediderim, nisi quid te distinet, audi.

The writer of the Trojan War, Maximus Lollius, while you declaim at Rome, at Praeneste I re-read; who says, more fully and better than Chrysippus and Crantor, what is beautiful, what shameful, what useful, what not. Why I have believed thus, unless something detains you, listen.

Fabula, qua Paridis propter narratur amorem
Graecia barbariae lento conlisa duello,
stultorum regum et populorum continet aestum.
Antenor censet belli praecidere causam;
quid Paris? Vt saluus regnet uiuatque beatus

The fable, by which on account of Paris’s love
Greece, collided with barbarism in a slow duel, is narrated,
contains the heat of foolish kings and peoples.
Antenor opines that the cause of the war should be cut off;
what of Paris? That, safe, he may reign and live blessed

cogi posse negat. Nestor componere litis
inter Pelidem festinat et inter Atriden;
hunc amor, ira quidem communiter urit utrumque.
Qucquid delirant reges, plectuntur Achiui.
Seditione, dolis, scelere atque libidine et ira

he denies that he can be compelled. Nestor hastens to compose the strife
between the Peleid and between the Atreid;
love burns this one; anger indeed burns both in common.
Whatever the kings rave, the Achaeans are punished.
by sedition, by deceits, by crime and by libido and by ire

Iliacos intra muros peccatur et extra.
Rursus, quid uirtus et quid sapientia possit,
utile proposuit nobis exemplar Vlixen,
qui domitor Troiae multorum prouidus urbes,
et mores hominum inspexit, latumque per aequor,

Within Ilian walls and outside, sin is committed.
Again, what virtue and what wisdom can do,
a useful exemplar set before us—Ulysses,
who, tamer of Troy, prudent in many things, inspected many cities
and the manners of men, and over the broad sea,

dum sibi, dum sociis reditum parat, aspera multa
pertulit, aduersis rerum inmersabilis undis.
Sirenum uoces et Circae pocula nosti;
quae si cum sociis stultus cupidusque bibisset,
sub domina meretrice fuisset turpis et excors,

while for himself, while for his comrades he prepares the return, many harsh things
he endured, unsinkable amid the adverse waves of circumstances.
You know the voices of the Sirens and Circe’s cups;
which, if, foolish and desirous, he had drunk with his comrades,
under a harlot-mistress he would have been base and witless.

uixisset canis inmundus uel amica luto sus.
Nos numerus sumus et fruges consumere nati,
sponsi Penelopae nebulones Alcinoique
in cute curanda plus aequo operata iuuentus,
cui pulchrum fuit in medios dormire dies et

he would have lived as an unclean dog or a sow, a friend to mud.
We are a mere number, and born to consume the fruits,
the suitors of Penelope and the good-for-nothings of Alcinous,
a youth over-busy in caring for the skin more than is right,
to whom it was fair to sleep into the middle of the day and

ad strepitum citharae cessatum ducere curam.
Vt iugulent hominem surgunt de nocte latrones;
ut te ipsum serues, non expergisceris? Atqui
si noles sanus, curres hydropicus; et ni
posces ante diem librum cum lumine, si non

to go idle at the din of the cithara, to lead care away.
As robbers rise by night to cut a man’s throat;
to save yourself, will you not wake up? And yet
if you will not while sound, you will run when dropsical; and unless
you call for a book with a light before daybreak, if you do not

intendes animum studiis et rebus honestis,
inuidia uel amore uigil torquebere. Nam cur,
quae laedunt oculum, festinas demere, siquid
est animum, differs curandi tempus in annum?
Dimidium facti, qui coepit, habet; sapere aude,

if you do not intend your mind to studies and to honest things,
wakeful, you will be racked by envy or by love. For why,
do you hasten to remove what harms the eye, if anything
harms the mind, why do you defer the time of curing to a year?
Half of the deed has he who has begun; dare to be wise,

incipe. Viuendi qui recte prorogat horam,
rusticus expectat dum defluat amnis; at ille
labitur et labetur in omne uolubilis aeuum.
Quaeritur argentum puerisque beata creandis
uxor, et incultae pacantur uomere siluae;

begin. He who defers the hour of living rightly,
a rustic waits until the river has flowed away; but it
glides and will glide, rolling, into all the age.
Silver is sought, and a wife blessed for sons to be procreated,
and the untilled woods are pacified by the plowshare;

quod satis est cui contingit, nil amplius optet.
Non domus et fundus, non aeris aceruus et auri
aegroto domini deduxit corpore febris,
non animo curas; ualeat possessor oportet,
si comportatis rebus bene cogitat uti.

he to whom what is enough falls, let him wish for nothing more.
not house and estate, not a heap of bronze and of gold
has drawn the fevers from the sick body of the master,
nor the cares from his mind; the possessor ought to be hale,
if he thinks to use the things he has comported together well.

Qui cupit aut metuit, iuuat illum sic domus et res
ut lippum pictae tabulae, fomenta podagram,
auriculas citharae collecta sorde dolentis.
Sincerum est nisi uas, quodcumque infundis acescit.
Sperne uoluptates; nocet empta dolore uoluptas.

He who desires or fears, a house and goods help him thus
as painted panels a blear-eyed man, poultices the gout,
the cithara the little ears aching with collected filth.
Unless the vessel is pure, whatever you pour in turns sour.
Spurn pleasures; a pleasure purchased with pain harms.

Semper auarus eget; certum uoto pete finem.
Inuidus alterius macrescit rebus opimis;
inuidia Siculi non inuenere tyranni
maius tormentum. Qui non moderabitur irae,
infectum uolet esse, dolor quod suaserit et mens,

The avaricious man always lacks; by a vow seek a fixed end.
The envious one grows lean at another’s opulent affairs;
the Sicilian tyrants have not found a greater torment than envy.
He who will not moderate anger will wish to have undone what pain and mind have urged,

dum poenas odio per uim festinat inulto.
Ira furor breuis est; animum rege, qui nisi paret,
imperat, hunc frenis, hunc tu compesce catena.
Fingit equum tenera docilem ceruice magister
ire uiam qua monstret eques; uenaticus, ex quo

while it hastens by force to exact penalties for unavenged hatred.
Anger is a brief madness; rule your spirit, which, unless it obeys,
commands; curb it with reins, restrain it with a chain.
The trainer fashions the horse, docile with a tender neck,
to go the way where the horseman shows; the hunting hound, from the time when

tempore ceruinam pellem latrauit in aula,
militat in siluis catulus. Nunc adbibe puro
pectore uerba puer, nunc te melioribus offer;
quo semel est imbuta recens, seruabit odorem
testa diu. Quodsi cessas aut strenuus anteis,

since the time he barked at a cervine hide in the hall,
the whelp serves as a soldier in the forests. Now imbibe with a pure heart
the words, boy; now offer yourself to your betters;
the jar, once freshly imbued, will long keep the odor.
But if you loiter or, strenuous, you go on ahead,

nec tardum opperior nec praecedentibus insto.

I neither wait for the tardy nor press upon those preceding.

III

Iule Flore, quibus terrarum militet oris
Claudius Augusti priuignus, scire laboro.
Thracane uos Hebrusque niuali compede uinctus,
an freta uicinas inter currentia turris,
an pingues Asiae campi collesque morantur?

Iulus Florus, I strive to know on which shores of the earth the stepson of Augustus, Claudius, serves as a soldier.
Do Thrace and the Hebrus, bound with a snowy fetter, detain you,
or the straits running between neighboring towers,
or do the fat fields and the hills of Asia delay you?

Quid studiosa cohors operum struit? Hoc quoque curo.
Quis sibi res gestas Augusti scribere sumit?

What works is the studious cohort contriving? This too I care about.
Who takes upon himself to write the deeds of Augustus?

Bella quis et paces longum diffundit in aeuum?
Quid Titius, Romana breui uenturus in ora,
Pindarici fontis qui non expalluit haustus,

Who spreads wars and peaces into a long aeon?
What of Titius, soon to come upon Roman lips,
who did not grow pale at a draught of the Pindaric fountain,

fastidire lacus et riuos ausus apertos?
Vt ualet? Vt meminit nostri?

having dared to disdain lakes and open rivulets?
How is he? How does he remember us?

Fidibusne Latinis
Thebanos aptare modos studet auspice Musa,
an tragica desaeuit et ampullatur in arte?
Quid mihi Celsus agit? Monitus multumque monendus,

Does he with Latin strings
strive to fit Theban modes, under the auspice of the Muse,
or does he rage and ampullate with bombast in the tragic art?
What is Celsus doing for me? Warned, and much to be warned,

priuatas ut quaeret opes et tangere uitet
scripta, Palatinus quaecumque recepit Apollo,
ne, si forte suas repetitum uenerit olim
grex auium plumas, moueat cornicula risum
furtiuis nudata coloribus. Ipse quid audes?

that he may seek private wealth and avoid touching the writings, whatever the Palatine Apollo has received,
lest, if by chance the flock of birds should someday come to retrieve their feathers,
the little crow, stripped of its stolen colors, move laughter.
What do you yourself dare?

Quae circumuolitas agilis thyma? Non tibi paruom
ingenium, non incultum est et turpiter hirtum;
seu linguam causis acuis seu ciuica iura
respondere paras seu condis amabile carmen,
prima feres hederae uictricis praemia. Quod si

What agile one flits around the thyme? Your genius is not small, nor is it uncultivated and shamefully hirsute;
whether you sharpen your tongue for cases or you prepare to respond to civic laws or you compose an amiable song,
you will bear the first prizes of the victorious ivy. But if

frigida curarum fomenta relinquere posses,
quo te caelestis sapientia duceret, ires.
Hoc opus, hoc studium parui properemus et ampli,
si patriae uolumus, si nobis uiuere cari.
Debes hoc etiam rescribere, sit tibi curae

you could leave behind the cold fomentations of cares,
where celestial wisdom would lead you, you would go.
This is the work, this the study; let us hasten, both small and great,
if we wish to live for the fatherland, if to live dear to ourselves.
Debes You ought also to write this back; let it be a care to you

quantae conueniat Munatius? An male sarta
gratia nequiquam coit et rescinditur, ac uos
seu calidus sanguis seu rerum inscitia uexat
indomita ceruice feros? Vbicumque locorum
uiuitis, indigni fraternum rumpere foedus,

what terms befit Munatius? Or is goodwill, ill-patched, coming together in vain and being rescinded, and are you, whether hot blood or ignorance of affairs harasses you, fierce with an untamed neck? Wherever in the world you live, you are unworthy to break the fraternal covenant,

pascitur in uestrum reditum uotiua iuuenca.

a votive heifer is being pastured for your return.

Albi, nostrorum sermonum candide iudex,
quid nunc te dicam facere in regione Pedana?
Scribere quod Cassi Parmensis opuscula uincat,
an tacitum siluas inter reptare salubris,
curantem quicquid dignum sapiente bonoque est?

Albius, candid judge of our discourses,
what am I now to say that you are doing in the region of Pedana?
Writing something that may surpass the opuscules of Cassius of Parma,
or, silent, to creep among the healthful woods,
caring for whatever is worthy of a wise and good man?

Non tu corpus eras sine pectore; di tibi formam,
di tibi diuitias dederunt artemque fruendi.
Quid uoueat dulci nutricula maius alumno,
qui sapere et fari possit quae sentiat, et cui
gratia, fama, ualetudo contingat abunde,

You were not a body without a breast; the gods to you gave form,
the gods to you gave riches and the art of enjoying.
What greater thing might a sweet nurse vow for her ward,
who can be wise and speak what he perceives, and to whom
grace, fame, and health befall in abundance,

et mundus uictus non deficiente crumina?
Inter spem curamque, timores inter et iras
omnem crede diem tibi diluxisse supremum;
grata superueniet quae non sperabitur hora.
Me pinguem et nitidum bene curata cute uises,

and neat fare, with the purse not failing?
Between hope and care, between fears and ire,
believe that every day has dawned for you as the last;
a welcome hour will supervene which will not be hoped for.
You will see me plump and shining, with well-cared-for skin,

cum ridere uoles, Epicuri de grege porcum.

when you want to laugh, a pig from the herd of Epicurus.

Si potes Archiacis conuiua recumbere lectis
nec modica cenare times holus omne patella,
supremo te sole domi, Torquate, manebo.
Vina bibes iterum Tauro diffusa palustris
inter Minturnas Sinuessanumque Petrinum.

If you can, as a dinner-guest, recline upon Arician couches,
and you do not fear to dine on all-vegetable fare in a modest little dish,
at the setting sun I will await you at home, Torquatus.
You will drink wines again, poured forth from the press,
between marshy Minturnae and the Petrinum of Sinuessa.

Si melius quid habes, arcesse uel imperium fer.
Iamdudum splendet focus et tibi munda supellex.
Mitte leuis spes et certamina diuitiarum
et Moschi causam; cras nato Caesare festus
dat ueniam somnumque dies; impune licebit

If you have anything better, summon it, or issue the command.
For some time now the hearth is shining, and the clean furnishings for you.
Put away light hopes and the contests of wealth,
and Moschus’s case; tomorrow, with Caesar born, the festive day
grants pardon and sleep; it will be permitted with impunity

aestiuam sermone benigno tendere noctem.
Quo mihi fortunam, si non conceditur uti?
Parcus ob heredis curam nimiumque seuerus
adsidet insano; potare et spargere flores
incipiam patiarque uel inconsultus haberi.

to extend the summer night with benign discourse.
What is fortune to me, if it is not conceded to use it?
The sparing man, out of concern for heirship and too severe,
sits beside the insane; to drink and to scatter flowers
I will begin, and I will allow myself even to be held inconsiderate.

Quid non ebrietas dissignat? Operta recludit,
spes iubet esse ratas, ad proelia trudit inertem,
sollicitis animis onus eximit, addocet artis.
Fecundi calices quem non fecere disertum,
contracta quem non in parpertate solutum?

What does ebriety not designate? It opens hidden things,
bids hopes be ratified, thrusts the inert to battles,
removes the onus from solicitous minds, instructs in the arts.
Whom have fecund chalices not made eloquent,
whom, contracted in poverty, have they not unloosed?

Haec ego procurare et idoneus imperor et non
inuitus, ne turpe toral, ne sordida mappa
conruget naris, ne non et cantharus et lanx
ostendat tibi te, ne fidos inter amicos
sit qui dicta foras eliminet, ut coeat par

These things I am commanded, as idoneous, to procure—and not unwilling—lest the couch-cover be shameful, lest a sordid napkin wrinkle the nostrils, lest not both the cantharus and the platter show you yourself, lest among faithful friends there be one who eliminates words out-of-doors, so that an equal set may cohere

iungaturque pari. Butram tibi Septiciumque,
et nisi cena prior potiorque puella Sabinum
detinet, adsumam. Locus est et pluribus umbris,
sed nimis arta premunt olidae conuiuia caprae.
Tu quotus esse uelis rescribe, et rebus omissis

and let it be joined with an equal. Butra and Septicius for you,
and, unless an earlier and more preferable dinner, or a girl, detains Sabinus,
I will add him. There is space also for more shades,
but overly cramped banquets of a rancid she-goat are oppressive.
Write back at what number you wish to be, and, matters set aside

atria seruantem postico falle clientem.

trick the client keeping watch in the atria by the back door.

Nil admirari prope res est una, Numici,
solaque quae possit facere et seruare beatum.
Hunc solem et stellas et decedentia certis
tempora momentis sunt qui formidine nulla
imbuti spectent. Quid censes munera terrae,

To admire nothing is nearly the one thing, Numicius,
and the sole thing which can make and preserve one blessed.
There are those who, imbued with no fear, look upon this sun and the stars and the times departing at fixed
moments. What do you assess of the gifts of the earth,

quid maris extremos Arabas ditantis et Indos?
Ludicra quid, plausus et amici dona Quiritis?
Quo spectanda modo, quo sensu credis et ore?
Qui timet his aduersa, fere miratur eodem
quo cupiens pacto; pauor est utrubique molestus,

what of the sea enriching the farthest Arabs and Indians?
What of spectacles, applause and the gifts of the friendly Quirite?
In what manner are they to be looked upon, with what sense do you think, and with what countenance?
He who fears adverse things from these, generally admires in the same fashion
as one desiring; fear is troublesome on both sides,

inprouisa simul species exterret utrumque.
Gaudeat an doleat, cupiat metuatne, quid ad rem,
si, quicquid uidit melius peiusue sua spe,
defixis oculis animoque et corpore torpet?
Insani sapiens nomen ferat, aequus iniqui,

the unexpected appearance at once terrifies both.
Whether he should rejoice or grieve, desire or fear, what is it to the matter,
if, whatever he has seen, better or worse than his own hope,
with eyes fixed, he is torpid in mind and body?
Insani sapiens nomen ferat, aequus iniqui,

ultra quam satis est uirtutem si petat ipsam.
I nunc, argentum et marmor uetus aeraque et artis
suspice, cum gemmis Tyrios mirare colores;
gaude quod spectant oculi te mille loquentem;
nauus mane forum et uespertinus pete tectum,

if he seeks virtue herself beyond what is enough.
Go now, look up to silver and old marble and bronzes and the arts;
marvel, together with gems, at Tyrian colors;
rejoice that a thousand eyes behold you speaking;
busy in the morning seek the forum, and at evening seek the roof,

ne plus frumenti dotalibus emetat agris
Mutus et (indignum, quod sit peioribus ortus)
hic tibi sit potius quam tu mirabilis illi.
Quicquid sub terra est, in apricum proferet aetas,
defodiet condetque nitentia. Cum bene notum

lest he buy up more grain from dowry-fields;
Mutus too (disgraceful, that he is sprung from worse men)
let this fellow be to you rather than you be marvelous to him.
Whatever is under the earth, time will bring forth into the open sun,
it will bury and hide away things that shine. When well known

porticus Agrippae et uia te conspexerit Appi,
ire tamen restat, Numa quo deuenit et Ancus.
Si latus aut renes morbo temptantur acuto,
quaere fugam morbi. Vis recte uiuere (quis non?):
si uirtus hoc una potest dare, fortis omissis

when the Portico of Agrippa and the Appian Way have caught sight of you,
it still remains to go, to where Numa and Ancus have descended.
If your side or kidneys are assailed by an acute disease,
seek a flight from the disease. You wish to live rightly (who does not?):
if virtue alone can grant this, the brave man, with other things omitted

hoc age deliciis. Virtutem uerba putas et
lucum ligna: caue ne portus occupet alter,
ne Cibyratica, ne Bithyna negotia perdas;
mille talenta rotundentur, totidem altera, porro et
tertia succedant et quae pars quadret aceruum.

set yourself to this, with delights set aside. You think virtue to be words, and a sacred grove to be lumber: beware lest another seize the harbor, lest you lose the Cibyratic, lest the Bithynian ventures; let a thousand talents be rounded off, another just as many, and furthermore let a third succeed, and let the portion that squares the heap be added.

Scilicet uxorem cum dote fidemque et amicos
et genus et formam regina Pecunia donat,
ac bene nummatum decorat Suadela Venusque.
Mancupiis locuples eget aeris Cappadocum rex;
ne fueris hic tu. Chlamydes Lucullus, ut aiunt,

Of course queen Pecunia grants a wife with a dowry, and trust and friends,
and lineage and form; and Suadela and Venus adorn the well‑moneyed.
Rich in chattels (slaves), the king of the Cappadocians lacks bronze (ready cash);
do not you be this man. Lucullus’s cloaks, as they say,

si posset centum scaenae praebere rogatus,
'Qui possum tot?' ait; 'tamen et quaeram et quot habebo
mittam'; post paulo scribit sibi milia quinque
esse domi chlamydum; partem uel tolleret omnis.
Exilis domus est, ubi non et multa supersunt

if, asked whether he could provide a hundred for the stage,
'How can I provide so many?' he says; 'yet I will both seek and send as many as I shall have';
a little later he writes that he has 5,000 chlamydes at home;
he might take a part, or even all.
It is a meager house, where not even many things are left over as superfluous.

et dominum fallunt et prosunt furibus. Ergo
si res sola potest facere et seruare beatum,
hoc primus repetas opus, hoc postremus omittas.
Si fortunatum species et gratia parestat,
mercemur seruum, qui dictet nomina, laeuum

and they deceive the master and profit thieves. Therefore
if wealth alone can make and preserve one happy,
this work you should first pursue, this last you should omit.
If appearance and grace guarantee one as fortunate,
let us hire a slave to dictate the names, a left-handed one

qui fodicet latus et cogat trans pondera dextram
porrigere: 'Hic multum in Fabia ualet, ille Velina;
cui libet hic fascis dabit eripietque curule
cui uolet inportunus ebur. 'Frater', 'Pater' adde;
ut cuique est aetas, ita quemque facetus adopta.

who may jab your side and compel you to stretch your right hand across the burdens:
'This man has much influence in the Fabian [tribe], that one in the Velinian;
this importunate man will give the fasces to whom he pleases and will snatch away the curule
ivory from whom he wishes. Add 'Brother', 'Father';
as each one’s age is, so wittily adopt each.'

Si bene qui cenat bene uiuit, lucet, eamus
quo ducit gula, piscemur, uenemur, ut olim
Gargilius, qui mane plagas, uenabula, seruos
differtum transire forum populumque iubebat,
unus ut e multis populo spectante referret

If he who dines well lives well, it is clear; let us go
where the gullet leads, let us fish, let us hunt, as once
Gargilius, who in the morning used to order nets, hunting-spears, slaves
to pass across the Forum crammed full and the populace,
so that one out of many, with the people spectating, might bring back

emptum mulus aprum. Crudi tumidique lauemur,
quid deceat, quid non obliti, Caerite cera
digni, remigium uitiosum Ithacensis Vlixei,
cui potior patria fuit interdicta uoluptas.
Si, Mimnermus uti censet, sine amore iocisque
nil est iucundum, uiuas in amore iocisque.

a boar purchased by the mule. Let us bathe undigested and swollen,
forgetful of what befits and what not, worthy of the Caeretan wax,
a faulty crew of the Ithacan Ulysses,
for whom the interdicted pleasure was dearer than fatherland.
If, as Mimnermus judges, without love and jests nothing is pleasant,
live in love and jests.

Viue, uale. Siquid nouisti rectius istis,
candidus inperti; si nil, his utere mecum.

Live, farewell. If you know anything more correct than these, candidly impart; if nothing, use these with me.

VII

Quinque dies tibi pollicitus me rure futurum,
Sextilem totum mendax desideror. Atqui,
si me uiuere uis sanum recteque ualentem,
quam mihi das aegro, dabis aegrotare timenti,
Maecenas, ueniam, dum ficus prima calorque

Having promised you that I would be in the country for five days,
I, a liar, am missed for the whole of Sextilis. And yet,
if you wish me to live sound and rightly in good health,
the indulgence you give me when ill, you will give to me, fearing to fall ill,
Maecenas, indulgence, while the first figs and the heat

dissignatorem decorat lictoribus atris,
dum pueris omnis pater et matercula pallet.
Officiosaque sedulitas et opella forensis
adducit febris et testamenta resignat.
Quodsi bruma niues Albanis inlinet agris,

it adorns the undertaker with black lictors,
while every father and little mother turns pale for the boys.
and dutiful sedulity and forensic drudgery
bring on fevers and unseal testaments.
but if winter smears snows on the Alban fields,

ad mare descendet uates tuus et sibi parcet
contractusque leget; te, dulcis amice, reuiset
cum Zephyris, si concedes, et hirundine prima.
Non quo more piris uesci Calaber iubet hospes
tu me fecisti locupletem. 'Vescere, sodes.'

to the sea your poet will descend and will spare himself
and, contracted, will read; he will revisit you, sweet friend,
with the Zephyrs, if you concede, and with the first swallow.
Not in the manner in which the Calabrian host bids to feed on pears
you have made me wealthy. 'Feed, I pray.'

'Iam satis est.' 'At tu, quantum uis, tolle.' 'Benigne.'
'Non inuisa feres pueris munuscula paruis.'
'Tam teneor dono quam si dimittar onustus.'
'Vt libet; haec porcis hodie comedenda relinques.'
Prodigus et stultus donat quae spernit et odit;

'Now it is enough.' 'But you, take as much as you wish.' 'Benign, indeed.'
'You will bear little gifts not hated by the small boys.'
'I am as held by the gift as if I were sent away laden.'
'As you please; you will leave these things today to be eaten by the pigs.'
The prodigal and the foolish gives what he scorns and hates;

haec seges ingratos tulit et feret omnibus annis.
Vir bonus et sapiens dignis ait esse paratus,
nec tamen ignorat quid distent aera lupinis;
dignum praestabo me etiam pro laude merentis.
Quodsi me noles usquam discedere, reddes

this crop has borne ingrates and will bear in every year.
A good and wise man says he is prepared for the worthy,
nor, however, is he ignorant how bronze coins differ from lupines;
I will show myself worthy also in proportion to the merit of one deserving praise.
But if you do not wish me to depart anywhere, you will give back

forte latus, nigros angusta fronte capillos,
reddes dulce loqui, reddes ridere decorum et
inter uina fugam Cinarae maerere proteruae.
Forte per angustam tenuis uolpecula rimam
repserat in cumeram frumenti, pastaque rursus

perhaps sturdy in build, with black hair and a narrow brow,
you will make it sweet to speak, you will make laughing decorous, and
amid wines to mourn the flight of petulant Cinara.
By chance through a narrow crack a slender little fox
had crept into a grain-bin of grain, and, having fed, again

ire foras pleno tendebat corpore frustra;
cui mustela procul: 'Si uis' ait 'effugere istinc,
macra cauum repetes artum, quem macra subisti.'
Hac ego si compellor imagine, cuncta resigno;
nec somnum plebis laudo satur altilium nec

to go out he was striving with his body full, in vain;
to whom a weasel from afar: 'If you wish,' she says, 'to escape from there,
lean you will return to the tight hollow, which, lean, you entered.'
If by this image I am addressed, I resign all things;
nor, sated with fat fowl, do I praise the sleep of the plebs, nor

otia diuitiis Arabum liberrima muto.
Saepe uerecundum laudasti rexque paterque
audisti coram nec uerbo parcius absens;
inspice si possum donata reponere laetus.
Haud male Telemachus, proles patientis Vlixei:

nor do I exchange the freest leisures for the riches of the Arabs.
Often you have praised the modest man, and both as king and as father
you have heard me face to face, nor were you more sparing in word when absent;
inspect whether I can restore what was given with gladness.
Not badly did Telemachus, the progeny of patient Ulysses:

'Non est aptus equis Ithace locus, ut neque planis
porrectus spatiis nec multae prodigus herbae;
Atride, magis apta tibi tua dona relinquam.'
Paruum parua decent; mihi iam non regia Roma,
sed uacuum Tibur placet aut inbelle Tarentum.

'The place of Ithaca is not apt for horses, since it is neither stretched out with level expanses nor prodigal of much herbage;
Atrides, I will rather leave to you your gifts more apt for you.'
Small things befit the small; for me now not regal Rome,
but empty Tibur pleases, or unwarlike Tarentum.

Strenuus et fortis causisque Philippus agendis
clarus, ab officiis octauam circite horam
dum redit atque foro nimium distare Carinas
iam grandis natu queritur, conspexit, ut aiunt,
adrasum quendam uacua tonsoris in umbra

Strenuous and stout, and illustrious in prosecuting causes, Philippus,
while returning from his offices about the eighth hour,
and complaining, now well on in years, that the Carinae were too far from the Forum,
caught sight, as they say,
a certain close-shaven fellow in the empty shade of a barber

cultello proprios purgantem leniter unguis.
'Demetri', (puer hic non laeue iussa Philippi
accipiebat) 'abi, quaere et refer, unde domo, quis,
cuius fortunae, quo sit patre quoue patrono.'
It, redit et narrat Volteium nomine Menam,

gently cleansing his own nails with a little knife.
'Demetrius,' (this boy did not take Philip's commands lightly) 'go, seek and report, from what house, who he is, of what fortune, from what father or from what patron.'
He goes, returns, and reports that he is Volteius Mena by name,

praeconem, tenui censu, sine crimine, notum
et properare loco et cessare, et quaerere et uti,
gaudentem paruisque sodalibus et lare certo
et ludis et post decisa negotia Campo.
'Scitari libet ex ipso quodcumque refers; dic

a crier, of slender census, without reproach, known
both to hurry from a place and to loiter, and to seek and to use,
enjoying, with small companions and a sure hearth,
and in games and, after business settled, the Field.
'I would like to inquire from himself about whatever you report; say

ad cenam ueniat.' Non sane credere Mena,
mirari secum tacitus. Quid multa? 'Benigne,'
respondet.

'let him come to dinner.' Mena did not really believe it,
marveling to himself in silence. Why say more? 'Kindly,'
he answers.

'Neget ille mihi?' 'Negat improbus et te
neglegit aut horret.' Volteium mane Philippus
uilia uendentem tunicato scruta popello

'Will he deny me?' 'The shameless fellow denies and either neglects you or abhors you.' Philippus in the morning saw Volteius vending cheap odds-and-ends to the tunic-clad little populace

occupat et saluere iubet prior; ille Philippo
excusare laborem et mercennaria uincla,
quod non mane domum uenisset, denique quod non
prouidisset eum. 'Sic ignouisse putato
me tibi, si cenas hodie mecum.' 'Vt libet.' 'Ergo

He forestalls him and bids him hail first; he begins to excuse to Philippus his toil and mercenary bonds, because he had not come home in the morning, and finally because he had not foreseen him. 'So reckon me to have forgiven you, if you dine with me today.' 'As it pleases.' 'Then

post nonam uenies; nunc i, rem strenuus auge.'
Vt uentum ad cenam est, dicenda tacenda locutus
tandem dormitum dimittitur. Hic ubi saepe
occultum uisus decurrere piscis ad hamum,
mane cliens et iam certus conuiua, iubetur

after the ninth hour you will come; now go, as a strenuous man, augment the affair.'
When it was come to dinner, having spoken the things to be said and the things to be kept silent
at last he is dismissed to sleep. Here, where he often seemed to see a hidden fish run down to the hook,
in the morning the client, and now a sure guest, is bidden

rura suburbana indictis comes ire Latinis.
Impositus mannis aruum caelumque Sabinum
non cessat laudare. Videt ridetque Philippus,
et sibi dum requiem, dum risus undique quaerit,
dum septem donat sestertia, mutua septem

to go as a companion to the suburban fields when the Latin festival is proclaimed.
Mounted on little ponies, he does not cease to praise the Sabine field and sky.
Philippus sees and laughs,
and while he seeks for himself respite, while he seeks laughter on every side,
while he gives 7 sestertia, he borrows 7

promittit, persuadet uti mercetur agellum.
Mercatur. Ne te longis ambagibus ultra
quam satis est morer, ex nitido fit rusticus atque
sulcos et uineta crepat mera, praeparat ulmos,
inmoritur studiis et amore senescit habendi.

he promises, he persuades him to buy a little field.
He buys. So that I may not delay you with long circumlocutions
more than is enough, from a polished fellow he becomes a rustic, and
he rattles on of furrows and vineyards, purely; he prepares elms,
he all but dies into his pursuits and grows old with a love of having.

Verum ubi oues furto, morbo periere capellae,
spem mentita seges, bos est enectus arando,
offensu damnis media de nocte caballum
arripit iratusque Philippi tendit ad aedis.
Quem simul aspexit scabrum intonsumque Philippus:

But when the sheep have perished by theft, the she-goats by disease,
the crop having lied to expectation, the ox has been done to death by plowing,
stung by the offense of the losses, in the middle of the night a nag
he seizes, and, angered, he tends toward Philippus’s house.
Whom, as soon as Philippus saw, rough and unshorn:

'Durus' ait, 'Voltei, nimis attentusque uideris
esse mihi.' 'Pol, me miserum, patrone, uocares,
si uelles' inquit 'uerum mihi ponere nomen.
Quod te per Genium dextramque deosque Penatis
obsecro et obtestor, uitae me redde priori.'

'Hard,' he says, 'Volteius, and too attentive you seem
to be toward me.' 'By Pollux, wretched me, patron, you would call me,
if you wished to put my true name upon me,' he says. 'Which thing I beseech
and adjure you by your Genius and your right hand and the Penate gods:
restore me to my former life.'

Qui semel aspexit quantum dimissa petitis
praestent, mature redeat repetatque relicta.
Metiri se quemque suo modulo ad pede uerum est.

He who has once seen how much the things dismissed surpass the things sought,
let him promptly return and seek again the things left behind.
It is true that each should measure himself by his own module and foot.

VIII

Celso gaudere et bene rem gerere Albinouano
Musa rogata refer, comiti scribaeque Neronis.
Si quaeret quid agam, dic multa et pulchra minantem
uiuere nec recte nec suauiter, haud quia grando
contunderit uitis oleamque momorderit aestus,

Muse, being asked, report to Celsus Albinovanus,
companion and scribe of Nero, that I rejoice and conduct my affairs well.
If he asks what I am doing, say that, threatening many and fair things,
I live neither rightly nor sweetly, not because hail has bruised the vines
and the heat has nibbled the olive,

nec quia longinquis armentum aegrotet in agris,
sed quia mente minus ualidus quam corpore toto
nil audire uelim, nil discere, quod leuet aegrum,
fidis offendar medicis, irascar amicis,
cur me funesto properent arcere ueterno,

nor because the herd is sick in far-off fields,
but because, less sound in mind than in my whole body,
i would wish to hear nothing, to learn nothing that might lighten the sick man,
i take offense at faithful physicians, i grow angry with friends,
because they hurry to ward me off from deadly lethargy,

quae nocuere sequar, fugiam quae profore credam,
Romae Tibur amem, uentosus Tibure Romam.
Post haec, ut ualeat, quo pacto rem gerat et se,
ut placeat iuueni, percontare, utque cohorti.
Si dicet 'recte', primum gaudere, subinde

I will follow the things that have harmed, I will flee what I would believe to be profitable,
at Rome I may love Tibur, and, wind-blown, at Tibur, Rome.
After this, ask how he is, in what way he manages his business and himself,
how he pleases the young man, inquire, and likewise the cohort.
If he says "well," first to rejoice, thereafter

praeceptum auriculis hoc instillare memento:
'Vt tu fortunam, sic nos te, Celse, feremus.'

remember to instill this precept into his ears:
'As you bear fortune, so we shall bear you, Celsus.'

Septimius, Claudi, nimirum intellegit unus,
quanti me facias; nam cum rogat et prece cogit,
scilicet ut tibi se laudare et tradere coner,
dignum mente domoque legentis honesta Neronis,
munere cum fungi propioris censet amici,

Septimius, Claudius, surely alone understands,
how much you make of me; for when he asks and with prayer compels,
to wit that I try to praise him to you and to hand him over,
as worthy of the mind and the house of Nero the honorable reader,
since he judges that he is discharging the office of a closer friend,

quid possim uidet ac nouit me ualdius ipso.
Multa quidem dixi cur excusatus abirem,
sed timui mea ne finxisse minora putarer,
dissimulator opis propriae, mihi commodus uni.
Sic ego, maioris fugiens opprobria culpae,

he sees what I can and knows it more fully than I myself.
I did indeed say many things as to why I might depart excused,
but I feared lest I be thought to have feigned my own as lesser,
a dissimulator of my own resource, commodious to me alone.
Thus I, fleeing the opprobria of a greater fault,

frontis ad urbanae descendi praemia. Quodsi
depositum laudas ob amici iussa pudorem,
scribe tui gregis hunc et fortem crede bonumque.

I descended to the rewards of an urbane brow. But if
you praise the modesty laid aside at a friend’s orders,
inscribe this man among your flock and believe him brave and good.

Vrbis amatorem Fuscum saluere iubemus
ruris amatores, hac in re scilicet una
multum dissimiles, ad cetera paene gemelli
fraternis animis, quicquid negat alter, et alter,
adnuimus pariter, uetuli notique columbi.

We lovers of the countryside bid Fuscus, a lover of the City, be well—of course in this one matter very dissimilar, but in the rest almost twins, with fraternal spirits: whatever the one denies, so does the other; we nod in unison, like old and well-known doves.

Tu nidum seruas, ego laudo ruris amoeni
riuos et musco circumlita saxa nemusque.
Quid quaeris? Viuo et regno, simul ista reliqui
quae uos ad caelum fertis rumore secundo,
utque sacerdotis fugitiuus liba recuso,

You keep the nest; I praise the streams of the pleasant countryside
and the stones encrusted with moss, and the grove.
What do you ask? I live and reign, once I left those things
which you all bear to the sky with favorable rumor,
and, like a priest’s fugitive, I refuse the sacrificial cakes,

pane egeo iam mellitis potiore placentis.
Viuere naturae si conuenienter oportet,
ponendaeque domo quaerenda est area primum,
nouistine locum potiorem rure beato?
Est ubi plus tepeant hiemes, ubi gratior aura

i am in need of bread now, preferable to honeyed cakes.
if one ought to live in conformity with Nature,
and, for a house to be set, the site must first be sought,
do you know a place preferable to the blessed countryside?
there is where winters grow warmer, where the breeze is more pleasing

leniat et rabiem Canis et momenta Leonis,
cum semel accepit Solem furibundus acutum?
Est ubi diuellat somnos minus inuida cura?
Deterius Libycis olet aut nitet herba lapillis?
Purior in uicis aqua tendit rumpere plumbum

and softens both the rage of the Dog and the moments of the Lion,
when once the frenzied Dog has received the keen Sun?
Is there where a less invidious care tears sleep asunder?
Does the grass smell worse, or shine less, than Libyan pebbles?
Purer in the streets does the water tend to burst the lead

quam quae per pronum trepidat cum murmure riuum?
Nempe inter uarias nutritur silua columnas,
laudaturque domus longos quae prospicit agros.
Naturam expelles furca, tamen usque recurret
et mala perrumpet furtim fastidia uictrix.

than that which, down a slope, quivers with a murmur along the brook?
Surely a grove is nurtured among various columns,
and the house is praised which looks out over long fields.
You may expel Nature with a pitchfork, yet she will ever return
and, victorious, will stealthily break through wicked fastidiousness.

Non qui Sidonio contendere callidus ostro
nescit Aquinatem potantia uellera fucum
certius accipiet damnum propiusue medullis
quam qui non poterit uero distinguere falsum.
Quem res plus nimio delectauere secundae,

Not he who, clever to contend with Sidonian purple,
and who does not know that Aquinate fleeces overpower the dye,
will receive a loss more surely and nearer to the marrow
than he who cannot distinguish the false from the true.
He whom prosperous circumstances have delighted beyond too much,

mutatae quatient. Siquid mirabere, pones
inuitus. Fuge magna; licet sub paupere tecto
reges et regum uita praecurrere amicos.
Ceruus equum pugna melior communibus herbis
pellebat, donec minor in certamine longo

changed will shake him. If you marvel at anything, you will lay it aside
unwilling. Flee great things; it is permitted under a poor roof
to outstrip kings and the friends of kings in life.
The stag, better in battle over the common herbage
was driving the horse off, until, the lesser in the long contest

implorauit opes hominis frenumque recepit;
sed postquam uictor uiolens discessit ab hoste,
non equitem dorso, non frenum depulit ore.
Sic, qui pauperiem ueritus potiore metallis
libertate caret, dominum uehet improbus atque

he implored a man's aid and received the bridle;
but after the violent victor departed from the enemy,
he drove off neither the rider from his back nor the bridle from his mouth.
Thus, he who, having feared poverty, lacks a freedom preferable to metals,
will shamelessly carry a master, and

seruiet aeternum, quia paruo nesciet uti.
Cui non conueniet sua res, ut calceus olim
si pede maior erit, subuertet, si minor, uret.
Laetus sorte tua uiues sapienter, Aristi,
nec me dimittes incastigatum, ubi plura

he will serve eternally, because he will not know how to use little.
For whom his own estate will not be fitting, as with a shoe: if it will be larger than the foot, it will overturn, if smaller, it will burn.
Happy with your lot you will live wisely, Aristi,
nor will you dismiss me unchastised, when more

cogere quam satis est ac non cessare uidebor.
Imperat aut seruit collecta pecunia cuique,
tortum digna sequi potius quam ducere funem.
Haec tibi dictabam post fanum putre Vacunae,
excepto quod non simul esses cetera laetus.

I shall seem to press more than is enough and not to cease.
Collected money either commands or serves each person,
worthy to follow rather than to lead the twisted rope.
These things I was dictating to you behind the crumbling shrine of Vacuna,
except that you were not there at the same time; in other respects, happy.

Quid tibi uisa Chios, Bullati, notaque Lesbos,
quid concinna Samos, quid Croesi regia Sardis,
Zmyrna quid et Colophon? Maiora minoraue fama,
cunctane prae Campo et Tiberino flumine sordent?
An uenit in uotum Attalicis ex urbibus una?

How did Chios seem to you, Bullatius, and well-known Lesbos,
what of trim Samos, what of Sardis, the royal seat of Croesus,
what of Smyrna and Colophon? Greater or lesser in fame,
do they all, in comparison with the Campus and the Tiberine river, look shabby?
Or has one, from the Attalic cities, come into your heart’s desire?

An Lebedum laudas odio maris atque uiarum?
Scis Lebedus quid sit: Gabiis desertior atque
Fidenis uicus; tamen illic uiuere uellem,
oblitusque meorum, obliuiscendus et illis,
Neptunum procul e terra spectare furentem.

Or do you praise Lebedus out of hatred of the sea and the roads?
You know what Lebedus is: a village more deserted than Gabii and Fidenae;
yet there I would wish to live,
oblivious of my own, and to be consigned to oblivion by them,
to behold Neptune raging from afar, from the land.

Sed neque qui Capua Romam petit, imbre lutoque
aspersus uolet in caupona uiuere; nec qui
frigus collegit, furnos et balnea laudat
ut fortunatam plene praestantia uitam;
nec si te ualidus iactauerit Auster in alto,

But neither he who from Capua seeks Rome, sprinkled with rain and mud, will wish to live in a tavern; nor he who has caught a chill praises ovens and baths as affording a fully fortunate life; nor, if the strong Auster has tossed you on the deep,

idcirco nauem trans Aegaeum mare uendas.
Incolumi Rhodos et Mytilene pulchra facit quod
paenula solstitio, campestre niualibus auris,
per brumam Tiberis, Sextili mense caminus.
Dum licet ac uoltum seruat Fortuna benignum,

would you for that reason sell your ship off across the Aegean Sea.
When all is sound, Rhodes and fair Mytilene do what
a cloak at the solstice, a loincloth in snowy winds,
the Tiber through midwinter, a hearth in the month of Sextilis.
While it is permitted and Fortune keeps a benign countenance,

Romae laudetur Samos et Chios et Rhodos absens.
Tu quamcumque deus tibi fortunauerit horam
grata sume manu neu dulcia differ in annum,
ut quocumque loco fueris uixisse libenter
te dicas; nam si ratio et prudentia curas,

At Rome let Samos and Chios and Rhodes, absent, be praised.
You, whatever hour the god shall have made fortunate for you,
take with a grateful hand, and do not defer sweet things into a year,
so that, in whatever place you are, you may say you have lived gladly;
for if reason and prudence take care of your concerns,

non locus effusi late maris arbiter aufert,
caelum, non animum mutant, qui trans mare currunt.
Strenua non exercet inertia; nauibus atque
quadrigis petimus bene uiuere. Quod petis, hic est,
est Vlubris, animus si te non deficit aequus.

no place—the arbiter of the sea poured out far and wide—removes cares,
they change the sky, not the mind, who run across the sea.
Energetic inertia does not exercise; by ships and
four-horse chariots we seek to live well. What you seek is here,
it is at Ulubris, if an equable spirit does not fail you.

XII

Fructibus Agrippae Siculis quos colligis, Icci,
si recte frueris, non est ut copia maior
ab Ioue donari possit tibi; tolle querellas;
pauper enim non est cui rerum suppetit usus.
Si uentri bene, si lateri est pedibusque tuis, nil

From Agrippa’s Sicilian fruits which you gather, Iccius,
if you enjoy them rightly, there is no greater abundance
that could be bestowed on you by Jove; put away complaints;
for he is not poor to whom the use of things suffices.
If it is well with your belly, if with your flank and with your feet, nothing

diuitiae poterunt regales addere maius.
Si forte in medio positorum abstemius herbis
uiuis et urtica, sic uiues protinus, ut te
confestim liquidus Fortunae riuus inauret,
uel quia naturam mutare pecunia nescit

royal riches will be able to add something greater.
If by chance, abstemious of the herbs set in the middle,
you live, even on nettle, thus you will live forthwith, so that
at once the liquid rivulet of Fortune may gild you,
or because money does not know how to change nature

uel quia cuncta putas una uirtute minora.
Miramur, si Democriti pecus edit agellos
cultaque, dum peregre est animus sine corpore uelox,
cum tu inter scabiem tantam et contagia lucri
nil paruum sapias et adhuc sublimia cures;

or because you think all things lesser than the single virtue.
Do we marvel, if Democritus’s herd eats up little fields
and tilled lands, while the mind, swift, is abroad without the body,
when you, amid so great an itch and the contagions of lucre,
taste nothing small and yet still care for sublime things;

quae mare compescant causae, quid temperet annum,
stellae sponte sua iussaene uagentur et errent,
quid premat obscurum lunae, quid proferat orbem,
quid uelit et possit rerum concordia discors,
Empedocles an Stertinium deliret acumen?

what causes restrain the sea, what tempers the year,
whether the stars roam and err by their own accord or by orders,
what presses the obscurity of the moon, what brings forth its orb,
what the discordant concord of things wants and is able,
whether Empedocles’ or Stertinius’ acumen is delirious?

Verum, seu piscis seu porrum et caepe trucidas,
utere Pompeio Grospho et, siquid petet, ultro
defer; nil Grosphus nisi uerum orabit et aequum.
Vilis amicorum est annona, bonis ubi quid dest.
Ne tamen ignores quo sit Romana loco res,

But, whether you hack up fish or leek and onion,
make use of Pompeius Grosphus and, if he asks anything, proffer it unasked;
Grosphus will petition nothing except what is true and equitable.
Cheap is the annona of friends, when something is lacking to the good.
Yet do not be unaware in what place the Roman situation stands,

Cantaber Agrippae, Claudi uirtute Neronis
Armenius cecidit; ius imperiumque Prahates
Caesaris accepit genibus minor; aurea fruges
Italiae pleno defundit Copia cornu.

The Cantabrian fell to Agrippa, the Armenian by the virtue of Nero Claudius; Phraates received the ius and imperium of Caesar, the lesser at his knees; Plenty for Italy pours out golden grain from her full horn.

XIII

Vt proficiscentem docui te saepe diuque,
Augusto reddes signata uolumina, Vinni,
si ualidus, si laetus erit, si denique poscet;
ne studio nostri pecces odiumque libellis
sedulus inportes opera uehemente minister.

As, setting out, I have taught you often and long,
you will deliver to Augustus the sealed volumes, Vinni,
if he is hale, if he is cheerful, if finally he requests;
lest by zeal for me you err and import odium upon the little books,
as a diligent minister with vehement effort.

Si te forte meae grauis uret sarcina chartae,
abicito potius quam quo perferre iuberis
clitellas ferus inpingas Asinaeque paternum
cognomen uertas in risum et fabula fias.
Viribus uteris per cliuos, flumina, lamas.

If by chance the heavy burden of my paper will scorch you,
cast it off rather than, where you are ordered to carry it,
you, like a savage, ram the pack-saddles on and turn your paternal
cognomen “Asina” into laughter and become a byword.
Use your strength through slopes, rivers, bogs.

Victor propositi simul ac perueneris illuc,
sic positum seruabis onus, ne forte sub ala
fasciculum portes librorum, ut rusticus agnum,
ut uinosa glomus furtiuae Pyrria lanae,
ut cum pilleolo soleas conuiua tribulis.

Victorious of your purpose, as soon as you have arrived there,
you will keep the burden so placed, lest by chance under your wing
you carry a fascicle of books, like a rustic a lamb,
like Pyrria, vinous, a ball of stolen wool,
like a dinner-guest, a fellow-tribesman, sandals together with his little cap.

Ne uolgo narres te sudauisse ferendo
carmina quae possint oculos aurisque morari
Caesaris; oratus multa prece, nitere porro.
Vade, uale, caue ne titubes mandataque frangas.

Do not narrate to the vulgar that you have sweated in bearing
songs which can detain the eyes and ears
of Caesar; having been implored with much prayer, shine further.
Go, farewell; beware lest you stumble and break the mandates.

XIV

Vilice siluarum et mihi me reddentis agelli,
quem tu fastidis habitatum quinque focis et
quinque bonos solitum Variam dimittere patres,
certemus spinas animone ego fortius an tu
euellas agro, et melior sit Horatius an res.

Steward of the woods and of the little field that gives me back to myself,
which you disdain as inhabited by five hearths and
accustomed to send to Varia five good fathers,
let us contend whether I, with spirit, more stoutly, or you
pull out the thorns from the field, and whether Horace or the estate be better.

Me quamuis Lamiae pietas et cura moratur,
fratrem maerentis, rapto de fratre dolentis
insolabiliter, tamen istuc mens animusque
fert et amat spatiis obstantia rumpere claustra.
Rure ego uiuentem, tu dicis in urbe beatum;

Though the piety and care of Lamia detain me—mourning his brother, grieving inconsolably for a brother snatched away—yet my mind and spirit bear me thither and love to break the barriers that stand in the way across the spaces.
I deem the man living in the countryside happy; you say the one in the city is happy.

cui placet alterius, sua nimirum est odio sors,
stultus uterque locum inmeritum causatur inique;
in culpa est animus, qui se non effugit umquam.
Tu mediastinus tacita prece rura petebas,
nunc urbem et ludos et balnea uilicus optas;

he to whom another’s pleases, surely his own lot is in hatred;
both fools unjustly accuse a place undeserving;
the fault is in the mind, which never flees itself.
You, a menial, with a silent prayer were seeking the country,
now, as a farm-steward, you desire the city and the games and the baths;

me constare mihi scis et discedere tristem,
quandocumque trahunt inuisa negotia Romam.
Non eadem miramur; eo disconuenit inter
meque et te; nam quae deserta et inhospita tesqua
credis, amoena uocat mecum qui sentit, et odit

you know that I stand consistent with myself and depart sad,
whenever odious business drags me to Rome.
We do not marvel at the same things; therefore it is at variance between
me and you; for what you deem deserts and inhospitable wastes
he who feels with me calls pleasant, and he hates

quae te pulchra putas. Fornix tibi et uncta popina
incutiunt urbis desiderium, uideo, et quod
angulus iste feret piper et tus ocius uua,
nec uicina subest uinum praebere taberna
quae possit tibi, nec meretrix tibicina, cuius

what you think beautiful. The brothel-arch and the greasy cookshop
strike into you a desire for the city, I see, and that
this little corner will bring pepper and incense quicker than a grape,
nor is there a nearby tavern at hand to serve you wine,
nor a flute-girl prostitute, whose

ad strepitum salias terrae grauis; et tamen urges
iampridem non tacta ligonibus arua bouemque
disiunctum curas et strictis frondibus exples;
addit opus pigro riuus, si decidit imber,
multa mole docendus aprico parcere prato.

at a clatter you leap, heavy with earth; and yet you press on
fields long not touched by hoes, and you tend the unyoked ox
and fill him with stripped leaves; a rivulet adds work to the sluggard,
if a rain-shower has fallen, a thing that must be taught with much effort
to spare the sunny meadow.

Nunc age, quid nostrum concentum diuidat, audi.
Quem tenues decuere togae nitidique capilli,
quem scis immunem Cinarae placuisse rapaci,
quem bibulum liquidi media de luce Falerni,
cena breuis iuuat et prope riuum somnus in herba;

Now come, hear what divides our concert.
He whom slender togas and gleaming hair have suited,
whom you know, immune, to have pleased rapacious Cinara,
who is bibulous of liquid Falernian in the midst of daylight,
a brief dinner delights, and sleep near the stream on the grass;

nec lusisse pudet, sed non incidere ludum.
Non istic obliquo oculo mea commoda quisquam
limat, non odio obscuro morsuque uenenat;
rident uicini glaebas et saxa mouentem.
Cum seruis urbana diaria rodere mauis;

nor am I ashamed to have played, but to not cut short the game.
There no one with an oblique eye files down my advantages,
nor poisons them with obscure hatred and with a bite;
the neighbors laugh at me as I move clods and stones.
You prefer, with your slaves, to gnaw the urban daily rations;

horum tu in numerum uoto ruis, inuidet usum
lignorum et pecoris tibi calo argutus et horti.
Optat ephippia bos piger, optat arare caballus;
quam scit uterque, libens, censebo, exerceat artem.

into the number of these you, by a wish, rush; the sharp-tongued farmhand envies you the use
of wood and of cattle and of garden.
The lazy ox longs for the saddle, the nag longs to plough;
what art each knows, gladly, I reckon, let him exercise.

Quae sit hiems Veliae, quod caelum, Vala, Salerni,
quorum hominum regio et qualis uia (nam mihi Baias
Musa superuacuas Antonius, et tamen illis
me facit inuisum, gelida cum perluor unda
per medium frigus; sane murteta relinqui

What the winter is at Velia, what the sky/climate at Salernum, Vala, what sort of people’s region and what sort of road (for to me Antonius Musa has made Baiae superfluous, and yet he makes me odious to them, when I am thoroughly bathed with a gelid wave in the midst of cold; indeed the myrtle-groves are to be left

dictaque cessantem neruis elidere morbum
sulpura contemni uicus gemit, inuidus aegris
qui caput et stomachum supponere fontibus audent
Clusinis Gabiosque petunt et frigida rura.
Mutandus locus est et deuersoria nota

and, as prescribed, to beat down the lingering illness with the sinews,
the village groans that the sulphurs are scorned, jealous of the sick
who dare to put head and stomach beneath the springs;
they make for the Clusine waters and Gabii and the cold fields.
The place must be changed, and the familiar lodgings.

praeteragendus equus. 'Quo tendis? Non mihi Cumas
est iter aut Baias', laeua stomachosus habena
dicet eques; sed equi frenato est auris in ore);
maior utrum populum frumenti copia pascat,
collectosne bibant imbres puteosne perennis

the horse must be ridden past. 'Where are you tending? My route is not to Cumae or to Baiae,' choleric with the left rein the horseman will say; (but the horse, when bridled, has his ear in his mouth); whether a greater abundance of grain feeds the populace, whether they drink gathered rains or perennial wells

iugis aquae (nam uina nihil moror illius orae;
rure meo possum quiduis perferre patique;
ad mare cum ueni, generosum et lene requiro,
quod curas abigat, quod cum spe diuite manet
in uenas animumque meum, quod uerba ministret,

ever-flowing waters (for the wines of that coast I care nothing;
on my farm I can endure and suffer anything;
when I come to the sea, I seek what is generous and mellow,
which drives cares away, which, with rich hope, remains within
my veins and my spirit, which ministers words,

quod me Lucanae iuuenem commendet amicae);
tractus uter pluris lepores, uter educet apros,
utra magis piscis et echinos aequora celent,
pinguis ut inde domum possim Phaeaxque reuerti,
scribere te nobis, tibi nos adcredere par est.

which may commend me, a young man, to a Lucanian girlfriend);
which tract will yield more hares, which will bring out boars,
which seas hide fish and sea-urchins more,
so that from there I may be able to revert home plump and a Phaeacian,
it is proper for you to write to us, and for us to accredit ourselves to you.

Maenius, ut tebus maternis atque paternis
fortiter absumptis urbanus coepit haberi
scurra, uagus non qui certum praesepe teneret,
inpransus non qui ciuem dinosceret hoste,
quaelibet in quemuis opprobria fingere saeuus,

Maenius, when, with his maternal and paternal resources
bravely squandered, began to be considered an urban buffoon,
a vagrant, not one who kept a fixed stall,
unlunched, not one who could discern a citizen from an enemy,
savage to forge any opprobrious reproaches against anyone,

pernicies et tempestas barathrumque macelli,
quicquid quaesierat, uentri donabat auaro.
Hic ubi nequitiae fautoribus et timidis nil
aut paulum abstulerat, patinas cenabat omasi,
uilis et agninae, tribus ursis quod satis esset,

the ruin and the tempest and the abyss of the meat‑market,
whatever he had acquired, he donated to his greedy belly.
Here, when from the favorers of knavery and the timid he had taken nothing
or only a little, he dined on platters of omasum,
and on cheap lamb, enough to suffice for three bears,

scilicet ut uentres lamna candente nepotum
diceret urendos correctus Bestius. Idem,
quicquid erat nactus praedae maioris, ubi omne
uerterat in fumum et cinerem: 'Non hercule miror',
aiebat, 'si qui comedunt bona, cum sit obeso

no doubt so that Bestius, corrected, would say that the bellies of grandsons ought to be seared with a glowing plate. The same man, whatever he had gotten of greater prey, when he had turned it all into smoke and cinder: “By Hercules, I do not wonder,” he used to say, “if there are those who eat up their goods, since, with an obese

nil melius turdo, nil uolua pulchrius ampla'.
Nimirum hic ego sum; nam tuta et paruola laudo,
cum res deficiunt, satis inter uilia fortis;
uerum ubi quid melius contingit et unctius, idem
uos sapere et solos aio bene uiuere, quorum

‘nothing better than a thrush, nothing more comely than a broad sow’s womb’.
Surely, here I am; for I praise the safe and small,
when resources fail, stout enough among cheap things;
but when something better and more unctuous befalls, that same I
declare you to be wise and you alone to live well, of whom

conspicitur nitidis fundata pecunia uillis.

the money, invested in shining villas, is conspicuous.

XVI

Ne perconteris, fundus meus, optime Quincti,
aruo pascat erum an bacis opulentet oliuae,
pomisne et pratis an amicta uitibus ulmo,
scribetur tibi forma loquaciter et situs agri.
Continui montes, ni dissocientur opaca

Do not inquire about my farm, most excellent Quinctius,
whether with arable it feeds its master, or whether the olive enriches him with berries,
with fruits and meadows, or with an elm clothed with vines,
its form and the site of the field will be written to you loquaciously.
Continuous mountains, unless they are disjoined by the shady

ualle, sed ut ueniens dextrum latus aspiciat sol,
laeuum discedens curru fugiente uaporet.
Temperiem laudes. Quid, si rubicunda benigni
corna uepres et pruna ferant, si quercus et ilex
multa fruge pecus, multa dominum iuuet umbra?

by a valley, but so that, as he comes, the sun may look upon the right side,
and, as he departs in his fleeing chariot, may parch the left.
You will praise the temperateness. What if, benignly,
the brambles bear ruddy cornels and plums; if the oak and the ilex (holm-oak)
aid the flock with much mast, the master with much shade?

Dicas adductum propius frondere Tarentum.
Fons etiam riuo dare nomen idoneus, ut nec
frigidior Thraecam nec purior ambiat Hebrus,
infirmo capiti fluit utilis, utilis aluo.
Hae latebrae dulces et, iam si credis, amoenae

You might say Tarentum, brought nearer, is in leaf.
Also a spring fit to give its name to a stream, such that neither
colder nor purer does the Hebrus bathe Thrace,
it flows useful to an infirm head, useful to the belly.
These hiding-places are sweet and, now if you believe it, pleasant

incolumem tibi me praestant septembribus horis.
Tu recte uiuis, si curas esse quod audis.
Iactamus iampridem omnis te Roma beatum;
sed uereor, ne cui de te plus quam tibi credas
neue putes alium sapiente bonoque beatum,

the September hours present me to you unharmed.
You live rightly, if you care to be what you are reputed to be.
All Rome has long been vaunting you as blessed;
but I fear, lest you believe someone about yourself more than you do yourself,
nor suppose another man blessed by a wise and good man,

neu, si te populus sanum recteque ualentem
dictitet, occultam febrem sub tempus edendi
dissimules, donec manibus tremor incidat unctis.
Stultorum incurata pudor malus ulcera celat.
Siquis bella tibi terra pugnata marique

nor, if the populace keeps calling you sane and in good health,
do you conceal a hidden fever at the time of eating,
until a tremor falls upon your oiled hands.
The bad shame of fools hides uncured ulcers.
If anyone to you relates wars fought by land and by sea

dicat et his uerbis uacuas permulceat auris:
'Tene magis saluum populus uelit an populum tu,
seruet in ambiguo qui consulit et tibi et urbi
Iuppiter', Augusti laudes adgnoscere possis;
cum pateris sapiens emendatusque uocari,

let him say and with these words soothe empty ears:
'Would the people rather have you safe, or you the people,
may Jupiter, who consults both for you and for the city, keep it in ambiguity,'
you could recognize the praises of Augustus;
when you allow yourself to be called wise and emended,

respondesne tuo, dic sodes, nomine? 'Nempe
uir bonus et prudens dici delector ego ac tu.'
Qui dedit hoc hodie, cras si uolet auferet, ut, si
detulerit fasces indigno, detrahet idem.
Pone, meum est,' inquit; pono tristisque recedo.

Do you answer, pray tell, in your own name? 'Of course:
I am delighted— and you— to be called a good and prudent man.'
He who gave this today, tomorrow if he wills will take it away, just as, if
he has conferred the fasces upon an unworthy man, the same will strip them off.
Put it down; it is mine,' he says; I put it down and go away sad.

35'
Idem si clamet furem, neget esse pudicum,
contendat laqueo collum pressisse paternum,
mordear opprobriis falsis mutemque colores?
Falsus honor iuuat et mendax infamia terret
quem nisi mendosum et medicandum? Vir bonus est quis?

35'
If that same man should cry, “Thief!”, deny that I am pudic,
contend that I pressed my father’s neck with a noose,
should I be bitten by false opprobrium and change my colors?
False honor helps and mendacious infamy terrifies whom except one faulty and needing to be medicated?
Who is a good man?

'Qui consulta patrum, qui leges iuraque seruat,
quo multae magnaeque secantur iudice lites,
quo res sponsore et quo causae teste tenentur.'
Sed uidet hunc omnis domus et uicinia tota
introrsum turpem, speciosum pelle decora.

'He who observes the decrees of the Fathers, who keeps the laws and rights,
by whose judgment many and great lawsuits are decided,
by whose sponsorship matters and by whose witness causes are sustained.'
But the whole household and the entire neighborhood see this man
foul within, specious in a comely skin.

'Nec furtum feci nec fugi,' si mihi dicat
seruos: 'Habes pretium, loris non ureris', aio.
'Non hominem occidi.' 'Non pasces in cruce coruos.'
'Sum bonus et frugi.' Renuit negitatque Sabellus.
Cautus enim metuit foueam lupus accipiterque

'I have neither committed theft nor fled,' if a slave should say to me:
'You have the compensation; you will not be seared with thongs,' I say.
'I have not killed a man.' 'You will not feed crows on the cross.'
'I am good and frugal.' The Sabellian refuses and keeps saying no.
For the cautious wolf and the hawk fear the pit

suspectos laqueos et opertum miluus hamum.
Oderunt peccare boni uirtutis amore;
tu nihil admittes in te formidine poenae;
sit spes fallendi, miscebis sacra profanis.
Nam de mille fabae modiis cum subripis unum,

the kite [fears] suspicious snares and the covered hook.
The good hate to sin from love of virtue;
you will commit nothing out of dread of penalty;
if there be hope of deceiving, you will mix sacred things with profane.
For when from a thousand modii of beans you surreptitiously snatch one,

damnum est, non facinus mihi pacto lenius isto.
Vir bonus, omne forum quem spectat et omne tribunal,
quandocumque deos uel porco uel boue placat:
'Iane pater!' clare, clare cum dixit: 'Apollo!'
labra mouet, metuens audiri: 'Pulchra Lauerna,

it is a loss, not a crime—by this pact a milder thing to me.
The good man, whom every forum and every tribunal regards,
whenever he placates the gods with either a pig or an ox:
'Father Janus!' aloud, aloud when he has said: 'Apollo!'
he moves his lips, fearing to be heard: 'Fair Laverna,

da mihi fallere, da iusto sanctoque uideri,
noctem peccatis et fraudibus obice nubem.'
Qui melior seruo, qui liberior sit auarus,
in triuiis fixum cum se demittit ob assem,
non uideo; nam qui cupiet, metuet quoque, porro

grant me to deceive, grant me to seem just and saintly,
pile up a cloud of night against sins and frauds.'
In what is an avaricious man better than a slave, in what is he freer,
when, at the crossroads, fixed, he lowers himself for a penny,
I do not see; for he who will desire will also fear, furthermore

qui metuens uiuet, liber mihi non erit umquam.
Perdidit arma, locum uirtutis deseruit, qui
semper in augenda festinat et obruitur re.
Vendere cum possis captiuum, occidere noli;
seruiet utiliter; sine pascat durus aretque,

he who lives in fear will never be free to me.
He has lost his arms, he has deserted the post of virtue, who
always hastens in augmenting and is overwhelmed by the thing.
When you can sell a captive, do not kill;
he will serve usefully; allow him to pasture and, tough, to plow,

nauiget ac mediis hiemet mercator in undis,
annonae prosit, portet frumenta penusque.
Vir bonus et sapiens audebit dicere: 'Pentheu,
rector Thebarum, quid me perferre patique
indignum coges?' 'Adimam bona.' 'Nempe pecus, rem,

let the merchant sail and winter in the midst of the waves,
let him be of use to the annona, let him carry grains and provisions.
A good and wise man will dare to say: 'Pentheus,
rector of Thebes, what will you compel me to bear and to suffer
that is unworthy?' 'I will take away your goods.' 'Surely herds, property,

lectos, argentum; tollas licet.' 'In manicis et
compedibus saeuo te sub custode tenebo.'
'Ipse deus, simul atque uolam, me soluet.' Opinor,
hoc sentit: 'Moriar'. Mors ultima linea rerum est.

‘couches, silver; you may take them away.’ ‘In manacles and
fetters I will hold you under a savage guard.’
‘The god himself, as soon as I wish, will release me.’ I opine,
he means this: ‘I shall die.’ Death is the ultimate line of things.

XVII

Quamuis, Scaeua, satis per te tibi consulis et scis,
quo tandem pacto deceat maioribus uti,
disce, docendus adhuc quae censet amiculus, ut si
caecus iter monstrare uelit; tamen aspice, siquid
et nos, quod cures proprium fecisse, loquamur.

Although, Scaeva, you sufficiently consult for yourself on your own and you know in what fashion, at length, it befits to make use of your ancestors, learn what your little friend, still needing to be taught, judges—just as if a blind man should wish to point out the road; yet look, whether we too say anything which you would care to have made your own.

Si te grata quies et primam somnus in horam
delectat, si te puluis strepitusque rotarum,
si laedit caupona, Ferentinum ire iubebo;
nam neque diuitibus contingunt gaudia solis,
nec uixit male, qui natus moriensque fefellit.

If welcome repose and sleep in the first hour delights you,
if the dust and the clatter of wheels,
if the inn offends, I shall bid you go to Ferentinum;
for joys do not befall the rich alone,
nor has he lived badly who, in being born and in dying, has cheated notice.

Si prodesse tuis pauloque benignus ipsum
te tractare uoles, accedes siccus ad unctum.
'Si pranderet holus patienter, regibus uti,
nollet Aristippus.' 'Si sciret regibus uti,
fastidiret holus qui me notat.' Vtrius horum

If you will to be of use to your own and, somewhat benign, to handle yourself, you will approach dry to the unctuous.
'If he would lunch on greens patiently, Aristippus would not wish to make use of kings.' 'If he knew how to make use of kings, the one who marks me would disdain greens.' Which of these

uerba probes et facta, doce, uel iunior audi
cur sit Aristippi potior sententia. Namque
mordacem Cynicum sic eludebat, ut aiunt:
'Scurror ego ipse mihi,populo tu; rectius hoc et
splendidius multo est. Equus ut me portet, alat rex,

approve the words and the deeds, teach, or as a younger man listen
why Aristippus’s sententia is preferable. For
he was thus playing out the mordacious Cynic, as they say:
‘I am a jester for myself, you for the people; this is more correct and
much more splendid. So that a horse may carry me, let the king sustain me,

officium facio; tu poscis uilia, uerum
dante minor, quamuis fers te nullius egentem.'
Omnis Aristippum decuit color et status et res,
temptantem maiora fere, praesentibus aequum,
contra, quem duplici panno patientia uelat,

I do an office; you demand cheap things, in truth,
but lesser as a giver, though you bear yourself as needing nothing.'
Every color and status and circumstance suited Aristippus,
commonly attempting greater things, yet equal to present things,
in contrast, the one whom patience veils with a double patchwork cloak,

mirabor, uitae uia si conuersa decebit.
Alter purpureum non expectabit amictum;
quidlibet indutus celeberrima per loca uadet
personamque feret, non inconcinnus utramque;
alter Mileti textam cane peius et angui

i shall marvel, if the way of life, turned about, will be becoming.
the one will not wait for a purple mantle;
clad in whatever, he will go through the most frequented places
and will bear the persona, not ill-matched to either;
the other will rail at a garment woven at Miletus worse than a dog and a snake

uitabit chlanidem, morietur frigore, si non
rettuleris pannum; refer et sine uiuat ineptus.
Res gerere et captos ostendere ciuibus hostis
attingit solium Iouis et caelestia temptat;
principibus placuisse uiris non ultima laus est.

He will avoid the chlanis-cloak, he will die of cold, if you do not
bring back a rag; bring it back and let the inept fellow live.
To conduct affairs and to display to the citizens enemies taken captive
touches the throne of Jove and attempts the celestial things;
to have pleased princely men is not the least praise.

Non cuiuis homini contingit adire Corinthum.
Sedit qui timuit ne non succederet; esto;
quid? Qui peruenit, fecitne uiriliter?

Not for just any man does it befall to go to Corinth.
He sat still who feared lest it should not succeed; granted;
what then? He who arrived, did he act manfully?

Atqui
hic est aut nusquam quod quaerimus. Hic onus horret,
ut paruis animis et paruo corpore maius;

And yet
here is what we seek, or nowhere. Here the burden recoils,
as greater than small spirits and a small body;

hic subit et perfert. Aut uirtus nomen inane est,
aut decus et pretium recte petit experiens uir.
Coram rege suo de paupertate tacentes
plus poscente ferent; distat, sumasne prudenter
an rapias; atqui rerum caput hoc erat, hic fons.

this one undertakes and carries it through. Either Virtue is an empty name, or the experienced man rightly seeks honor and price/reward.
Before his king, those keeping silent about their poverty will carry off more than one who asks; it differs whether you take prudently or snatch; and yet this was the head of things, this the fountain.

'Indotata mihi soror est, paupercula mater,
et fundus nec uendibilis nec pascere firmus',
qui dicit, clamat: 'Victum date!'; succinit alter:
'Et mihi'; diuiduo findetur munere quadra.
Sed tacitus pasci si posset coruus, haberet

'My sister is undowered, my mother rather pauperish,
and the farm neither vendible nor firm for grazing,'
he who says this cries out: 'Give victuals!'; another seconds him:
'And for me'; the quarter will be split by a divided dole.
But if the crow could be fed in silence, he would have it

plus dapis et rixae multo minus inuidiaeque.
Brundisium comes aut Surrentum ductus amoenum
qui queritur salebras et acerbum frigus et imbres,
aut cistam effractam et subducta uiatica plorat,
nota refert meretricis acumina, saepe catellam,

more of feast and of brawl, much less of envy.
a companion led to Brundisium or pleasant Surrentum
who complains of ruts and bitter cold and rains,
or laments a chest broken open and travel-funds stolen,
recounts the familiar sharp practices of a courtesan, often a little dog,

saepe periscelidem raptam sibi flentis, uti mox
nulla fides damnis uerisque doloribus adsit.
Nec semel inrisus triuiis attollere curat
fracto crure planum, licet illi plurima manet
lacrima, per sanctum iuratus dicat Osirim:

often a garter snatched, with her weeping that it was taken from herself, so that soon
no credence be present for losses and true pains.
Nor, mocked more than once at the crossroads, does he care to lift up
from the level ground a man with a broken leg, although for him there remains
many a tear, even though, sworn by holy Osiris, he should say:

'Credite, non ludo; crudeles, tollite claudum.'
'Quaere peregrinum', uicinia rauca reclamat.

'Believe me, I am not playing; cruel ones, lift the lame man.'
'Seek a peregrine (foreigner),' the raucous vicinity shouts back.

XVIII

Si bene te noui, metues, liberrime Lolli,
scurrantis speciem praebere, professus amicum.
Vt matrona meretrici dispar erit atque
discolor, infido scurrae distabit amicus.
Est huic diuersum uitio uitium prope maius,

If I know you well, most free Lollius, you will fear to present the appearance of a scurrilous buffoon, having professed yourself a friend.
As a matron will be unlike and of a different hue from a courtesan,
so a friend will stand apart from a faithless buffoon.
Est huic, diverse from this vice, a vice nearly greater,

asperitas agrestis et inconcinna grauisque,
quae se commendat tonsa cute, dentibus atris,
dum uolt libertas dici mera ueraque uirtus.
Virtus est medium uitiorum et utrimque reductum.
Alter in obsequium plus aequo pronus et imi

the rustic asperity, incongruous and heavy,
which commends itself by a shorn skin, with black teeth,
while it wants “liberty” to be called the pure and true virtue.
Virtue is the mean of vices and drawn back from both sides.
One man, into compliance more than is fair, is prone, and of the lowest

derisor lecti sic nutum diuitis horret,
sic iterat uoces et uerba cadentia tollit,
ut puerum saeuo credas dictata magistro
reddere uel partis mimum tractare secundas;
alter rixatur de lana saepe caprina,

the couch-jester thus dreads the rich man’s nod,
thus he repeats the voices and lifts the falling words,
so that you would believe a boy to be giving back dictations to a savage teacher,
or to be handling the second parts of a mime;
another often wrangles about caprine wool,

propugnat nugis armatus: 'Scilicet, ut non
sit mihi prima fides et, uere quod placet, ut non
acriter elatrem? Pretium aetas altera sordet.'
Ambigitur quid enim? Castor sciat an Docilis plus,
Brundisium Minuci melius uia ducat an Appi.

He champions trifles, armed for battle: 'Of course—as if first credence should not be mine, and, what truly pleases, as if I should not bark out keenly? The worth of the other age is sordid.'
What, after all, is in dispute? Whether Castor or Docilis knows more,
whether Minucius’s road or Appius’s leads better to Brundisium.

Quem damnosa Venus, quem praeceps alea nudat,
gloria quem supra uires et uestit et unguit,
quem tenet argenti sitis inportuna famesque,
quem paupertatis pudor et fuga, diues amicus,
saepe decem uitiis instructior, odit et horret,

Whom ruinous Venus, whom headlong dice strip naked,
whom glory beyond his strengths both clothes and anoints,
whom the importunate thirst and hunger for silver holds,
whom shame of poverty and the flight from it, the rich friend,
often more furnished with ten vices, hates and shudders,

aut, si non odit, regit ac ueluti pia mater
plus quam se sapere et uirtutibus esse priorem
uolt et ait prope uera: 'Meae (contendere noli)
stultitiam patiuntur opes; tibi paruola res est;
arta decet sanum comitem toga; desine mecum

or, if he does not hate, he directs and, as a pious mother,
wants him to be wiser than himself and to be prior in virtues,
and says things almost true: ‘My opulence (do not contend)
puts up with my stupidity; for you, your estate is very small;
a tight toga befits a sound companion; stop being with me

certare.' Eutrapelus cuicumque nocere uolebat
uestimenta dabat pretiosa; beatus enim iam
cum pulchris tunicis sumet noua consilia et spes,
dormiet in lucem, scorto postponet honestum
officium, nummos alienos pascet, ad imum

'to contend.' Eutrapelus, to whomever he wanted to harm,
used to give precious garments; for, now blessed,
with beautiful tunics he will take up new counsels and hopes,
he will sleep into the daylight, he will postpone honorable
duty for a courtesan, he will fatten other men’s coins, to the bottom

Thraex erit aut holitoris aget mercede caballum.
Arcanum neque tu scrutaberis illius umquam,
commissumque teges et uino tortus et ira;
nec tua laudabis studia aut aliena reprendes,
nec, cum uenari uolet ille, poemata panges.

He will be a Thracian gladiator, or will drive a nag for a greengrocer for hire.
Nor will you ever pry into his arcanum,
and you will cover what is committed, even when tortured by wine and by ire;
nor will you praise your own studies or reprehend another’s;
nor, when he wishes to hunt, will you be hammering out poems.

Gratia sic fratrum geminorum, Amphionis atque
Zethi dissiluit, donec suspecta seuero
conticuit lyra. Fraternis cessisse putatur
moribus Amphion; tu cede potentis amici
lenibus imperiis, quotiensque educet in agros

Thus the favor of the twin brothers, Amphion and
Zethus, split apart, until the lyre, suspect to the severe one,
fell silent. Amphion is thought to have yielded
to his brother’s morals; you yield to the gentle commands
of a powerful friend, and whenever he leads out into the fields

Aetolis onerata plagis iumenta canesque,
surge et inhumanae senium depone Camenae,
cenes ut pariter pulmenta laboribus empta;
Romanis sollemne uiris opus, utile famae
uitaeque et membris, praesertim cum ualeas et

pack-animals and dogs burdened with Aetolian toils,
rise, and lay aside the dotage of the inhuman Camena,
that you may dine as well on relishes purchased by labors;
a work solemn to Roman men, useful to fame
and to life and to the limbs, especially when you are in health and

uel cursu superare canem uel uiribus aprum
possis. Adde, uirilia quod speciosius arma
non est qui tractet; scis quo clamore coronae
proelia sustineas campestria. Denique saeuam
militiam puer et Cantabrica bella tulisti

either in running you could outstrip the hound or in strength the boar.
Add, that there is no one who wields virile arms more splendidly
than you; you know with what clamor of the crowd-ring
you sustain field contests. Finally, even as a boy you bore
savage military service and the Cantabrian wars

sub duce qui templis Parthorum signa refigit
nunc et, siquid abest, Italis adiudicat armis.
Ac ne te retrahas et inexcusabilis absis,
quamuis nil extra numerum fecisse modumque
curas, interdum nugaris rure paterno:

under a leader who unfastens the standards from the temples of the Parthians
now also, if anything is lacking, he adjudges it to Italian arms.
And lest you draw back and be inexcusably absent,
although you are careful to have done nothing beyond number and measure,
at times you trifle in your paternal countryside:

partitur lintres exercitus, Actia pugna
te duce per pueros hostili more refertur;
aduersarius est frater, lacus Hadria, donec
alterutrum uelox Victoria fronde coronet.
Consentire suis studiis qui crediderit te,

the army parcels out the skiffs; the Actian battle
with you as leader is reenacted by the boys in hostile fashion;
the adversary is a brother, the lake is the Adriatic, until
swift Victory crowns one or the other with a frond.
Whoever has believed you to consent to his pursuits,

fautor utroque tuum laudabit pollice ludum.
Protinus ut moneam, siquid monitoris eges tu,
quid de quoque uiro et cui dicas, saepe uideto.
Percontatorem fugito; nam garrulus idem est,
nec retinent patulae commissa fideliter aures,

a supporter will praise your game with both thumbs.
Straightway, that I may admonish, if you need anything of a monitor, you,
see often what, about each man, and to whom, you should say.
Shun the interrogator; for he is likewise garrulous,
nor do gaping ears faithfully keep entrusted matters.

et semel emissum uolat inreuocabile uerbum.
Non ancilla tuum iecur ulceret ulla puerue
intra marmoreum uenerandi limen amici,
ne dominus pueri pulchri caraeue puellae
munere te paruo beet aut incommodus angat.

and once emitted the irrevocable word flies.
Let no maidservant nor any boy ulcerate your liver
within the marble threshold of a venerable friend,
lest the master of the handsome boy or dear girl
bless you with a small gift or, incommodious, vex you.

Qualem commendes, etiam atque etiam aspice, ne mox
incutiant aliena tibi peccata pudorem.
Fallimur et quondam non dignum tradimus; ergo
quem sua culpa premet, deceptus omitte tueri,
ut penitus notum, si temptent crimina, serues

Look again and again at what sort you commend, lest soon another’s sins strike shame into you.
We are deceived, and sometimes we hand over one not worthy; therefore
the man whom his own fault will press, having been deceived, cease to protect,
so that one known through and through, if crimes test him, you may preserve

tuterisque tuo fidentem praesidio; qui
dente Theonino cum circumroditur, ecquid
ad te post paulo uentura pericula sentis?
Nam tua res agitur, paries cum proximus ardet,
et neglecta solent incendia sumere uires.

and you guard the one confident in your protection; who
when he is being gnawed all around by the Theonine tooth, do you at all
perceive the perils that before long are going to come to you?
For your affair is at stake, when the neighboring wall is burning,
and fires, when neglected, are wont to take on strength.

Dulcia inexpertis cultura potentis amici;
expertus metuit. Tu, dum tua nauis in alto est,
hoc age, ne mutata retrorsum te ferat aura.
Oderunt hilarem tristes tristemque iocosi,
sedatum celeres, agilem nauumque remissi;

Sweet to the untried is the cultivation of a powerful friend;
the experienced fears. You, while your ship is on the deep,
see to this, lest a changed breeze carry you backward.
The gloomy hate the cheerful, and the jocose the gloomy,
the swift the sedate, the remiss the agile and industrious;

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
oderunt porrecta negantem pocula, quamuis
nocturnos iures te formidare tepores;
deme supercilio nubem; plerumque modestus
occupat obscuri speciem, taciturnus acerbi.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
they hate the one refusing proffered cups, although
you may swear that you dread nocturnal warmths;
remove the cloud from your brow; often the modest
assumes the appearance of the obscure, and the taciturn that of the acerbic.

Inter cuncta leges et percontabere doctos,
qua ratione queas traducere leniter aeuum,
num te semper inops agitet uexetque cupido,
num pauor et rerum mediocriter utilium spes,
uirtutem doctrina paret naturane donet,

Among all things you will read and you will inquire of the learned,
by what rationale you may be able to conduct your lifetime gently across,
whether cupidity, ever needy, always agitates and vexes you,
whether fear and the hope of things of mediocre utility,
whether doctrine begets virtue or nature donates it,

100

quid minuat curas, quid te tibi reddat amicum,
quid pure tanquillet, honos an dulce lucellum,
an secretum iter et fallentis semita uitae.
Me quotiens reficit gelidus Digentia riuus,
quem Mandela bibit, rugosus frigore pagus

what lessens cares, what makes you a friend to yourself,
what purely tranquillizes—honor or sweet little lucre,
or a secret way and the footpath of a life that escapes notice.
As often as the icy stream of Digentia refreshes me,
which Mandela drinks, a village wrinkled by the cold

105

quid sentire putas, quid credis, amice, precari?
'Sit mihi quod nunc est, etiam minus, et mihi uiuam
quod superest aeui, siquid superesse uolunt di;
sit bona librorum et prouisae frugis in annum
copia, neu fluitem dubiae spe pendulus horae.'

what do you think he feels, what do you believe, friend, he prays for?
'Let what I have now be mine, even less, and let me live for myself
what remains of my age, if the gods will that anything remain;
let there be a good supply of books and of grain provided for the year,
and let me not drift, pendulous in hope upon the hope of a doubtful hour.'

110

Sed satis est orare Iouem quae ponit et aufert;
det uitam, det opes; aequum mi animum ipse parabo.

But it is enough to pray to Jove, who puts and takes away;
let him grant life, let him grant wealth; I myself will prepare equanimity for myself.

XIX

Prisco si credis, Maecenas docte, Cratino,
nulla placere diu nec uiuere carmina possunt
quae scribuntur aquae potoribus; ut male sanos
adscripsit Liber Satyris Faunisque poetas,
uina fere dulces oluerunt mane Camenae;

If you believe old Cratinus, learned Maecenas,
no poems can please for long nor live
that are written by water-drinkers; since, as not quite sane,
Liber enrolled poets among Satyrs and Fauns,
the sweet Camenae generally smelled of wine in the morning;

laudibus arguitur uini uinosus Homerus;
Ennius ipse pater numquam nisi potus ad arma
prosiluit dicenda. 'Forum putealque Libonis
mandabo siccis, adimam cantare seueris':
hoc simul edixi, non cessuere poetae

by praises of wine, vinous Homer is proved;
Ennius the father himself never, unless drunk, sprang forth to the arms to be spoken. 'The Forum and the Puteal of Libo I will entrust to the dry, I will take away singing from the severe':
no sooner had I thus proclaimed this than the poets did not desist.

nocturno certare mero, putere diurno.
Quid? Siquis uoltu toruo ferus et pede nudo
exiguaeque togae simulet textore Catonem,
uirtutemne repraesentet moresque Catonis?
Rupit Iarbitam Timagenis aemula lingua

to contend at night with unmixed wine, to reek by day.
What? If someone, fierce with a grim countenance and with bare foot,
and with the weaver of a meager toga should simulate Cato,
does he represent the virtue and the mores of Cato?
Timagenes’s emulous tongue shattered Iarbita

dum studet urbanus tenditque disertus haberi.
Decipit exemplar uitiis imitabile; quodsi
pallere casu, biberent exsangue cuminum.
O imatatores, seruom pecus, ut mihi saepe
bilem, saepe iocum uestri mouere tumultus!

while he strives to be accounted urbane and to be held disert.
The exemplar, imitable in its vices, deceives; and if he chanced to be pale, they would drink cumin to be bloodless.
O imitators, servile herd, how often your tumults have stirred bile in me, often jest!

Libera per uacuum posui uestigia princeps,
non aliena meo pressi pede. Qui sibi fidet,
dux reget examen. Parios ego primus iambos
ostendi Latio, numeros animosque secutus
Archilochi, non res et agentia uerba Lycamben;

Free, through the void I set my footsteps as a pioneer,
I did not press with my foot on another’s. He who trusts himself,
as leader will rule the swarm. I, the first, displayed Parian iambics
to Latium, following the numbers and the spirit of Archilochus,
not the subjects and the words that assailed Lycambes;

ac ne me foliis ideo breuioribus ornes
quod timui mutare modos et carminis artem,
temperat Archilochi Musam pede mascula Sappho,
temperat Alcaeus, sed rebus et ordine dispar,
nec socerum quaerit, quem uersibus oblinat atris,

and do not therefore adorn me with shorter leaves because I feared to change the modes and the art of song,
masculine Sappho tempers the Muse of Archilochus with her foot,
Alcaeus tempers it, yet unlike in matters and in order,
nor does he seek a father-in-law to besmear with black verses,

nec sponsae laqueum famoso carmine nectit.
Hunc ego, non alio dictum prius ore, Latinus
uolgaui fidicen; iuuat inmemorata ferentem
ingenuis oculisque legi manibusque teneri.
Scire uelis, mea cur ingratus opuscula lector

nor does he knot a noose for a bride with infamous song.
This I, a Latin lyre-player, have made public, not earlier spoken by another mouth;
it delights me, as one bearing unremembered things, to be read by freeborn eyes and to be held in hands.
You would wish to know, my ungrateful reader, why my opuscules

laudet ametque domi, premat extra limen iniquus;
non ego uentosae plebis suffragia uenor
inpensis cenarum et tritae munere uestis;
non ego nobilium scriptorum auditor et ultor
grammaticas ambire tribus et pulpita dignor.

let him praise and love it at home; let the unfair man suppress it beyond the threshold;
I do not hunt the suffrages of the windy populace
by the expenses of dinners and by the gift of a worn vestment;
nor, as an auditor and avenger of noble writers, do I deign
to court the grammarians’ tribes and their pulpits.

Hinc illae lacrimae... 'Spissis indigna theatris
scripta pudet recitare et nugis addere pondus,'
si dixi: 'Rides' ait, 'et Iouis auribus ista
seruas; fidis enim manare poetica mella
te solum, tibi pulcher.' Ad haec ego naribus uti

Hence those tears... 'It shames me to recite writings unworthy of packed theatres and to add weight to trifles,' if I said: 'You laugh,' he says, 'and you reserve those things for the ears of Jove; for you trust that poetic honeys flow for you alone—handsome to yourself.' To this I proceed to make use of my nostrils

formido et, luctantis acuto ne secer ungui,
'Displicet iste locus' clamo et diludia posco.
Ludus enim genuit trepidum certamen et iram,
ira truces inimicitias et funebre bellum.

I am afraid, and, lest I slash the wrestler with a sharp nail,
'I dislike that spot' I shout, and I demand truces.
For the game has begotten a trembling contest and wrath,
wrath, truculent enmities, and funereal war.

Vortumnum Ianumque, liber, spectare uideris,
scilicet ut prostes Sosiorum pumice mundus.
Odisti clauis et grata sigilla pudico,
paucis ostendi gemis et communia laudas,
non ita nutritus. Fuge quo descendere gestis;

You seem, book, to gaze at Vortumnus and Janus,
clearly so that you may stand for sale, neat with the Sosii’s pumice.
You dislike keys and the little seals pleasing to the modest;
you groan at being shown to a few and you praise the common,
not so were you nourished. Flee the place where you are eager to descend;

non erit emisso reditus tibi: 'Quid miser egi?
Quid uolui?' dices, ubi quid te laeserit; et scis
in breue te cogi, cum plenus languet amator.
Quodsi non odio peccantis desipit augur,
carus eris Romae donec te deserat aetas;

there will be no return for you once sent out: 'What, wretch, have I done?
What did I want?' you will say, when something has hurt you; and you know
you are forced into brevity, when the amator, full, languishes.
But if the augur does not play the fool from hatred of the one sinning,
you will be dear in Rome until age deserts you;

contrectatus ubi manibus sordescere uolgi
coeperis, aut tineas pasces taciturnus inertis
aut fugies Vticam aut uinctus mitteris Ilerdam.
Ridebit monitor non exauditus, ut ille
qui male parentem in rupes protrusit asellum

when, once handled by the hands of the mob, you begin to grow filthy,
either, taciturn, you will feed sluggish moths,
or you will flee to Utica, or, bound, you will be sent to Ilerda.
the monitor, not heard, will laugh, like that fellow
who ill-advisedly shoved a parent donkey onto the rocks

iratus; quis enim inuitum seruare laboret?
Hoc quoque te manet, ut pueros elementa docentem
occupet extremis in uicis balba senectus.
Cum tibi sol tepidus pluris admouerit auris,
me libertino natum patre et in tenui re

angry; for who would labor to preserve one unwilling?
This too awaits you: that, teaching boys their elements,
stammering old age may overtake you in the farthest lanes.
When the tepid sun shall have brought nearer more ears to you,
me, born from a freedman father and in slender estate

maiores pinnas nido extendisse loqueris,
ut quantum generi demas, uirtutibus addas;
me primis urbis belli placuisse domique,
corporis exigui, praecanum, solibus aptum,
irasci celerem, tamen ut placabilis essem.

You say that you have extended pinions larger than the nest,
so that as much as you take away from my lineage, you add to my virtues;
that I have pleased the foremost men of the city in war and at home,
a man of exiguous body, prematurely gray, apt for the suns,
swift to anger, yet such that I was placable.

Forte meum siquis te percontabitur aeuum,
me quater undenos sciat impleuisse Decembris
collegam Lepidum quo duxit Lollius anno.

By chance, if anyone asks you about my age,
let him know I have completed forty-four Decembers,
in the year in which Lollius took Lepidus as colleague.