Juvenal: SATVRAE

Si te propositi nondum pudet atque eadem est mens,
ut bona summa putes aliena uiuere quadra,
si potes illa pati quae nec Sarmentus iniquas
Caesaris ad mensas nec uilis Gabba tulisset,
quamuis iurato metuam tibi credere testi.

If you are not yet ashamed of your purpose and your mind is the same,
so as to think the summum bonum is to live on an alien trencher,
if you can endure those things which neither Sarmentus would have borne at Caesar’s iniquitous tables
nor cheap Gabba,
although I should fear to credit you as a witness even under oath.

uentre nihil noui frugalius; hoc tamen ipsum
defecisse puta, quod inani sufficit aluo:
nulla crepido uacat? nusquam pons et tegetis pars
dimidia breuior? tantine iniuria cenae,
tam ieiuna fames, cum possit honestius illic

nothing newer more frugal than the belly; yet suppose this very thing
to have failed, that which suffices for an empty belly:
is no kerb free? nowhere a bridge and a piece of matting
shorter by half? is the injury of a dinner worth so much,
so fasting a hunger, when it can more honestly there

et tremere et sordes farris mordere canini?
primo fige loco, quod tu discumbere iussus
mercedem solidam ueterum capis officiorum.
fructus amicitiae magnae cibus: inputat hunc rex,
et quamuis rarum tamen inputat. ergo duos post

and to shiver and to gnaw the filth of spelt with a canine bite?
first fix in place, that you, bidden to recline,
take the solid wage of former services.
the food is the fruit of great friendship: the king enters this to the account,
and although rare, yet he enters it to the account. therefore two after—

si libuit menses neglectum adhibere clientem,
tertia ne uacuo cessaret culcita lecto,
'una simus' ait. uotorum summa. quid ultra
quaeris? habet Trebius propter quod rumpere somnum
debeat et ligulas dimittere, sollicitus ne

if it has pleased him to invite the client neglected for months,
lest the third cushion should be idle on an empty couch,
'let us be one,' he says. The sum of prayers. What beyond
do you seek? Trebius has something on account of which he ought to break his sleep
and let loose his little straps, anxious lest

tota salutatrix iam turba peregerit orbem,
sideribus dubiis aut illo tempore quo se
frigida circumagunt pigri serraca Bootae.
qualis cena tamen! uinum quod sucida nolit
lana pati: de conuiua Corybanta uidebis.

the whole saluting throng will already have completed the circuit,
with the stars uncertain, or at that time when the cold
wagons of sluggish Boötes are turned about.
yet what a dinner, nevertheless! wine that unscoured wool would not
be willing to endure: out of a dinner guest you will see a Corybant.

iurgia proludunt, sed mox et pocula torques
saucius et rubra deterges uulnera mappa,
inter uos quotiens libertorumque cohortem
pugna Saguntina feruet commissa lagona.
ipse capillato diffusum consule potat

the wranglings do a prelude, but soon you even hurl cups,
wounded, and you wipe red wounds with a red napkin,
how often between you and the cohort of freedmen
the Saguntine battle seethes, the fight joined over a flagon.
he himself drinks the diluted wine from the time of a long‑haired consul

calcatamque tenet bellis socialibus uuam.
cardiaco numquam cyathum missurus amico
cras bibet Albanis aliquid de montibus aut de
Setinis, cuius patriam titulumque senectus
deleuit multa ueteris fuligine testae,

and he holds a grape trodden in the Social wars.
never going to send a cyathus to a cardiac friend
tomorrow he will drink something from the Alban mountains or from
Setine, whose homeland and title old age
has effaced with much soot of the old earthen jar,

quale coronati Thrasea Heluidiusque bibebant
Brutorum et Cassi natalibus. ipse capaces
Heliadum crustas et inaequales berullo
Virro tenet phialas: tibi non committitur aurum,
uel, si quando datur, custos adfixus ibidem,

the kind that Thrasea and Helvidius, garlanded, used to drink on the birthdays of the Bruti and of Cassius. He himself, Virro, holds capacious bowls with the Heliads’ incrustations and uneven with beryl: gold is not entrusted to you, or, if ever it is given, a guard is fastened right there,

qui numeret gemmas, ungues obseruet acutos.
da ueniam: praeclara illi laudatur iaspis.
nam Virro, ut multi, gemmas ad pocula transfert
a digitis, quas in uaginae fronte solebat
ponere zelotypo iuuenis praelatus Iarbae.

who may count the gems, observe the sharp nails.
grant pardon: a splendid jasper is lauded to him.
for Virro, as many do, transfers gems to the cups
from his fingers, which a youth preferred to jealous Iarbas
used to place on the front of the sheath.

tu Beneuentani sutoris nomen habentem
siccabis calicem nasorum quattuor ac iam
quassatum et rupto poscentem sulpura uitro.
si stomachus domini feruet uinoque ciboque,
frigidior Geticis petitur decocta pruinis.

you will drain a cup bearing the name of a Beneventan cobbler
a chalice of four noses, and already
shaken and, with the glass broken, asking for sulfur.
if the master’s stomach seethes with wine and with food,
a decoction is sought, colder than Getic frosts.

non eadem uobis poni modo uina querebar?
uos aliam potatis aquam. tibi pocula cursor
Gaetulus dabit aut nigri manus ossea Mauri
et cui per mediam nolis occurrere noctem,
cliuosae ueheris dum per monumenta Latinae.

was I not just complaining that the same wines are not being set before you?
you drink a different water. to you the Gaetulian runner will hand the cups, or the bony hand of a black Moor,
and one whom you would not wish to meet in the middle of the night,
while you are borne along past the monuments of the steep Latina Way.

flos Asiae ante ipsum, pretio maiore paratus
quam fuit et Tulli census pugnacis et Anci
et, ne te teneam, Romanorum omnia regum
friuola. quod cum ita sit, tu Gaetulum Ganymedem
respice, cum sities. nescit tot milibus emptus

the flower of Asia before him, procured at a price greater
than was the census (estate) of pugnacious Tullus and of Ancus,
and, not to detain you, than all the frivolities of the Roman kings.
Since this is so, you, when you are thirsty, look to a Gaetulian Ganymede.
he, bought for so many thousands, does not know

pauperibus miscere puer, sed forma, sed aetas
digna supercilio. quando ad te peruenit ille?
quando rogatus adest calidae gelidaeque minister?

a boy to mix for the poor; but his form, but his age,
worthy of a supercilious brow. When does that one arrive at you?
when, when bidden, is he present as minister of hot and cold?

quippe indignatur ueteri parere clienti
quodque aliquid poscas et quod se stante recumbas.

indeed he is indignant to obey his old client, and that you ask for anything, and that you recline while he stands.

[maxima quaeque domus seruis est plena superbis.]
ecce alius quanto porrexit murmure panem
uix fractum, solidae iam mucida frusta farinae,
quae genuinum agitent, non admittentia morsum.
sed tener et niueus mollique siligine fictus

[The very greatest house is full of haughty slaves.]
Behold, another proffered the bread with how great a mutter,
scarcely broken, now moldy chunks of solidified meal,
which would shake a molar, not admit a bite.
but tender and snow-white and fashioned from soft fine wheaten flour

seruatur domino. dextram cohibere memento;
salua sit artoptae reuerentia. finge tamen te
inprobulum, superest illic qui ponere cogat:
'uis tu consuetis, audax conuiua, canistris
impleri panisque tui nouisse colorem?'

it is kept for the master. remember to restrain your right hand;
let the reverence of the bread-pan be preserved. yet suppose yourself
shameless—there is someone there who will force you to set it down:
‘do you wish, audacious convive, from the customary canisters
to be filled, and to come to know the color of your bread?’

'scilicet hoc fuerat, propter quod saepe relicta
coniuge per montem aduersum gelidasque cucurri
Esquilias, fremeret saeua cum grandine uernus
Iuppiter et multo stillaret paenula nimbo.'
aspice quam longo distinguat pectore lancem

'Of course this was it, on account of which, my spouse often left behind,
I ran over the adverse slope and the icy Esquiline,
when vernal Jupiter roared with savage hail
and the paenula dripped with much nimbus (rain).'
look how, with an out-thrust chest, he marks off the platter

quae fertur domino squilla, et quibus undique saepta
asparagis qua despiciat conuiuia cauda,
dum uenit excelsi manibus sublata ministri.
sed tibi dimidio constrictus cammarus ouo
ponitur exigua feralis cena patella.

what lobster is borne to the master, and, hedged on every side with asparagus,
with its tail by which it may look down upon the banquets,
while it comes, lifted in the hands of a lofty attendant.
but for you a shrimp, constricted in half an egg,
is set on a tiny dish— a funereal dinner.

ipse Venafrano piscem perfundit, at hic qui
pallidus adfertur misero tibi caulis olebit
lanternam; illud enim uestris datur alueolis quod
canna Micipsarum prora subuexit acuta,
propter quod Romae cum Boccare nemo lauatur,

he himself drenches his fish with Venafran oil, but this stalk which,
pale, is brought to you, poor wretch, will smell of a lantern;
for to your little basins is given that which
the sharp prow of the Micipsas’ reed-boat has brought up,
on account of which in Rome no one bathes with Boccar,

quod tutos etiam facit a serpentibus atris.
mullus erit domini, quem misit Corsica uel quem
Tauromenitanae rupes, quando omne peractum est
et iam defecit nostrum mare, dum gula saeuit,
retibus adsiduis penitus scrutante macello

which even makes you safe from black serpents.
the mullet will be the master’s, one which Corsica sent, or which
the Tauromenitan rocks sent, since all is accomplished
and now our sea has failed, while gluttony rages,
with assiduous nets the market scrutinizing the depths

proxima, nec patimur Tyrrhenum crescere piscem.
instruit ergo focum prouincia, sumitur illinc
quod captator emat Laenas, Aurelia uendat.
Virroni muraena datur, quae maxima uenit
gurgite de Siculo; nam dum se continet Auster,

the nearest, nor do we allow the Tyrrhenian fish to grow.
therefore the province outfits the hearth; from there is taken
what the legacy-hunter Laenas may buy, what Aurelia may sell.
for Virro a muraena is given, which, the largest, comes
from the Sicilian gulf; for while the South Wind restrains itself,

100

dum sedet et siccat madidas in carcere pinnas,
contemnunt mediam temeraria lina Charybdim:
uos anguilla manet longae cognata colubrae
aut ~glacie aspersus~ maculis Tiberinus et ipse
uernula riparum, pinguis torrente cloaca

while it sits and dries its soaked fins in the prison,
the reckless lines scorn mid Charybdis:
for you an eel awaits, akin to the long serpent,
or the Tiber-dweller itself, ~sprinkled with ice~, with spots,
a homeborn slave of the riverbanks, fattened by the torrenting sewer

105

et solitus mediae cryptam penetrare Suburae.
ipsi pauca uelim, facilem si praebeat aurem.
nemo petit, modicis quae mittebantur amicis
a Seneca, quae Piso bonus, quae Cotta solebat
largiri; namque et titulis et fascibus olim

and accustomed to penetrate the vaulted arcade of mid-Subura.
To the man himself I would wish to say a few things, if he would offer an easy ear.
no one asks for what used to be sent to modest friends
by Seneca, what the good Piso, what Cotta used
to bestow; for both in titles and in fasces formerly

110

maior habebatur donandi gloria. solum
poscimus ut cenes ciuiliter. hoc face et esto,
esto, ut nunc multi, diues tibi, pauper amicis.
anseris ante ipsum magni iecur, anseribus par
altilis, et flaui dignus ferro Meleagri

greater was held the glory of giving. only
we ask that you dine civilly. do this and be,
be, as many now, rich to yourself, poor to your friends.
the liver of a great goose right before you, a fattened fowl equal
to geese, and worthy of the iron of blond Meleager

115

spumat aper. post hunc tradentur tubera, si uer
tunc erit et facient optata tonitrua cenas
maiores. 'tibi habe frumentum' Alledius inquit,
'o Libye, disiunge boues, dum tubera mittas.'
structorem interea, ne qua indignatio desit,

the boar foams. after this truffles will be handed over, if it will be spring then, and the thunderings longed-for will make the dinners greater. ‘keep the grain for yourself,’ says Alledius, ‘o Libya, disjoin the oxen, so long as you send truffles.’ meanwhile the carver, so that no indignation be lacking,

120

saltantem spectes et chironomunta uolanti
cultello, donec peragat dictata magistri
omnia; nec minimo sane discrimine refert
quo gestu lepores et quo gallina secetur.
duceris planta uelut ictus ab Hercule Cacus

you watch him dancing and cheironomizing with the flying little knife,
until he completes all the master’s dictations entirely;
nor, surely, is it a matter of the slightest discrimination
with what gesture hares, and with what a hen, are cut up.
you will be dragged by the sole, like Cacus struck by Hercules

125

et ponere foris, si quid temptaueris umquam
hiscere tamquam habeas tria nomina. quando propinat
Virro tibi sumitue tuis contacta labellis
pocula? quis uestrum temerarius usque adeo, quis
perditus, ut dicat regi 'bibe'? plurima sunt quae

and to set you outside, if you ever attempt at any time
to open your mouth as though you had three names. When does Virro
pledge you a toast, or take up cups touched by your lips?
Which of you is so reckless to that degree, who so lost, as
to say to the king 'drink'? there are very many things which

130

non audent homines pertusa dicere laena.
quadringenta tibi si quis deus aut similis dis
et melior fatis donaret homuncio, quantus
ex nihilo, quantus fieres Virronis amicus!
'da Trebio, pone ad Trebium. uis, frater, ab ipsis

men do not dare to speak in a threadbare cloak.
if some god or a man similar to the gods and better than the fates were to grant you four hundred (sestertia), little man, how great from nothing, how great you would become, a friend of Virro!
‘give to Trebius, set it down by Trebius. do you wish, brother, from the very

135

ilibus?' o nummi, uobis hunc praestat honorem,
uos estis frater. dominus tamen et domini rex
si uis tunc fieri, nullus tibi paruulus aula
luserit Aeneas nec filia dulcior illo.
[iucundum et carum sterilis facit uxor amicum.]

the very entrails?' O coins, to you he grants this honor,
you are the brother. Yet if you then wish to become a master and a king of masters,
let no tiny Aeneas play in your hall, nor a daughter sweeter than he.
[a sterile wife makes a friend pleasant and dear.]

140

sed tua nunc Mycale pariat licet et pueros tres
in gremium patris fundat semel, ipse loquaci
gaudebit nido, uiridem thoraca iubebit
adferri minimasque nuces assemque rogatum,
ad mensam quotiens parasitus uenerit infans.

but even if your Mycale now should bear and at once pour three boys
into their father's bosom, he himself will rejoice in the loquacious
nest; he will order a green corselet to be brought, and the tiniest nuts and a penny when asked,
whenever the infant parasite shall come to the table.

145

uilibus ancipites fungi ponentur amicis,
boletus domino, sed quales Claudius edit
ante illum uxoris, post quem nihil amplius edit.
Virro sibi et reliquis Virronibus illa iubebit
poma dari, quorum solo pascaris odore,

for cheap friends perilous mushrooms will be set,
a boletus for the master, but such as Claudius ate
from his wife before him, after which he ate nothing more.
Virro will bid those fruits be given to himself
and to the other Virros, on whose odor alone you may feed,

150

qualia perpetuus Phaeacum autumnus habebat,
credere quae possis subrepta sororibus Afris:
tu scabie frueris mali, quod in aggere rodit
qui tegitur parma et galea metuensque flagelli
discit ab hirsuta iaculum torquere capella.

such as the perpetual autumn of the Phaeacians possessed,
which you might believe to have been stolen from the African sisters;
you enjoy the scab of an apple, which on the rampart is gnawed
by the one who is covered with buckler and helmet and, fearing the lash,
learns to whirl the javelin at a shaggy she-goat.

155

forsitan inpensae Virronem parcere credas.
hoc agit, ut doleas; nam quae comoedia, mimus
quis melior plorante gula? ergo omnia fiunt,
si nescis, ut per lacrimas effundere bilem
cogaris pressoque diu stridere molari.

perhaps you think Virro spares the expense.
this is what he aims at, that you may grieve; for what comedy, what mime
is better than a weeping gullet? therefore everything is done,
if you do not know, so that through tears you may be compelled to pour out bile
and to grate with your molar long pressed.

160

tu tibi liber homo et regis conuiua uideris:
captum te nidore suae putat ille culinae,
nec male coniectat; quis enim tam nudus, ut illum
bis ferat, Etruscum puero si contigit aurum
uel nodus tantum et signum de paupere loro?

you to yourself seem a free man and a king’s dinner-guest:
he thinks you captured by the odor of his kitchen,
nor does he conjecture badly; for who is so naked as to bear him twice,
if there has fallen to the boy Etruscan gold,
or only a knot and a sign from a poor leather thong?

165

spes bene cenandi uos decipit. 'ecce dabit iam
semesum leporem atque aliquid de clunibus apri,
ad nos iam ueniet minor altilis.' inde parato
intactoque omnes et stricto pane tacetis.
ille sapit, qui te sic utitur.

the hope of dining well deceives you. 'look, he will now give a half-eaten hare and something from the haunches of a boar; to us now will come the lesser fattened bird.' then, with the dish prepared and untouched, you all are silent, with bread drawn ready. he is wise, who uses you thus.

omnia ferre

to bear all things

170

si potes, et debes. pulsandum uertice raso
praebebis quandoque caput nec dura timebis
flagra pati, his epulis et tali dignus amico.

if you can, and you ought. you will someday offer your head, with shaven crown, to be beaten,
nor will you fear to suffer hard flagellations,
worthy of these banquets and of such a friend.