Juvenal: SATVRAE

Scire uelim quare totiens mihi, Naeuole, tristis
occurras fronte obducta ceu Marsya uictus.
quid tibi cum uultu, qualem deprensus habebat
Rauola dum Rhodopes uda terit inguina barba?
[nos colaphum incutimus lambenti crustula seruo.]

I would like to know why so often you, Naevole, come upon me sorrowful,
your brow drawn over as if Marsyas conquered.
what is with you and that countenance, the very one Rauola wore when seized,
while a wet beard rubs his groin in the Rhodopes?
[we strike a cuff at the cookie‑licking slave.]

non erit hac facie miserabilior Crepereius
Pollio, qui triplicem usuram praestare paratus
circumit et fatuos non inuenit. unde repente
tot rugae? certe modico contentus agebas
uernam equitem, conuiua ioco mordente facetus

No one will look more pitiable in this face than Crepereius Pollio,
he who, ready to pay a triple usury, goes about and finds no fools. Whence suddenly
so many wrinkles? Truly you used to fare, content with little, as a household horseman, a spring servant, a guest witty with a biting jest

et salibus uehemens intra pomeria natis.
omnia nunc contra, uultus grauis, horrida siccae
silua comae, nullus tota nitor in cute, qualem
Bruttia praestabat calidi tibi fascia uisci,
sed fruticante pilo neglecta et squalida crura.

and with salt-stiffened buttocks within the orchards.
all now the contrary: a heavy countenance, the dreadfully dry forest of hair,
no sheen at all on the skin, such as a Bruttian fascia of warm viscum once provided you,
but the legs neglected, bristly with hair and squalid.

quid macies aegri ueteris, quem tempore longo
torret quarta dies olimque domestica febris?
deprendas animi tormenta latentis in aegro
corpore, deprendas et gaudia; sumit utrumque
inde habitum facies. igitur flexisse uideris

what leanness of an old sick man, whom, through long time, the fourth day and once the household fever scorch?
you detect the torments of a mind hidden in a sick body, you detect also its joys; from there the face takes the guise of each. therefore you will seem to have bent

propositum et uitae contrarius ire priori.
nuper enim, ut repeto, fanum Isidis et Ganymedem
Pacis et aduectae secreta Palatia matris
et Cererem (nam quo non prostat femina templo?)
notior Aufidio moechus celebrare solebas,

to set a purpose and to go contrary to your former life.
for not long ago, as I repeat, you were wont to celebrate the shrine of Isis and Ganymede
of Peace and the secret palaces of your imported mother
and Ceres (for in what temple does not a woman appear?)
and to honor the adulterer, more notorious to Aufidius, celebration was your custom,

quodque taces, ipsos etiam inclinare maritos.
'utile et hoc multis uitae genus, at mihi nullum
inde operae pretium. pingues aliquando lacernas,
munimenta togae, duri crassique coloris
et male percussas textoris pectine Galli

and that which you keep silent, even to incline the husbands themselves.
'this way of life is useful to many, but to me of no
worth; no gain from it. sometimes rich cloaks,
bulwarks of the toga, of harsh and coarse colour
and ill-beaten by the weaver's Gallic comb

accipimus, tenue argentum uenaeque secundae.
fata regunt homines, fatum est et partibus illis
quas sinus abscondit. nam si tibi sidera cessant,
nil faciet longi mensura incognita nerui,
quamuis te nudum spumanti Virro labello

we accept thin silver and a favorable vein.
the Fates rule men, there is a fate even for those parts
which the fold conceals. For if the stars forsake you,
the unknown measure of a long sinew will do nothing,
though you naked with a foaming little lip, Virro

uiderit et blandae adsidue densaeque tabellae
sollicitent, autos gar ephelketai andra kinaidos.
quod tamen ulterius monstrum quam mollis auarus?
"haec tribui, deinde illa dedi, mox plura tulisti."
computat et ceuet. ponatur calculus, adsint

and the coaxing tablets, constant and thick, will continually entice him,
for he himself is drawn to a cinaedus-man.
what, however, is a greater monster than a soft, effeminate miser?
"I assigned these, then I gave those, soon you took away more."
he reckons and tallies. Let a counting-token be set down, let them be present

cum tabula pueri; numera sestertia quinque
omnibus in rebus, numerentur deinde labores.
an facile et pronum est agere intra uiscera penem
legitimum atque illic hesternae occurrere cenae?
seruus erit minus ille miser qui foderit agrum

with the boy’s tablet; count out five sesterces
for everything, then let the labors be reckoned.
is it easy and ready to thrust a legitimate penis
into the entrails and there encounter yesterday’s supper?
that slave will be the less miserable who has dug the field

quam dominum. sed tu sane tenerum et puerum te
et pulchrum et dignum cyatho caeloque putabas.
uos humili adseculae, uos indulgebitis umquam
cultori, iam nec morbo donare parati?
en cui tu uiridem umbellam, cui sucina mittas

than a master. But you indeed thought yourself tender and a boy,
and beautiful and worthy of the cup and of the sky.
you, humble attendants, will you ever indulge the cultivator?
now are you not even ready to give because of sickness?
behold to whom you send a green umbel, to whom you send amber

grandia, natalis quotiens redit aut madidum uer
incipit et strata positus longaque cathedra
munera femineis tractat secreta kalendis.
dic, passer, cui tot montis, tot praedia seruas
Apula, tot miluos intra tua pascua lassas?

great things—whenever his natal day returns or the moist spring
begins—and, reclining on the spread couch and long seat,
he handles gifts and feminine secrets at the Kalends.
Tell me, sparrow, whom do you guard so many mountains, so many Apulian estates,
so many kites within your pastures, wearing them out?

te Trifolinus ager fecundis uitibus implet
suspectumque iugum Cumis et Gaurus inanis—
nam quis plura linit uicturo dolia musto?—
quantum erat exhausti lumbos donare clientis
iugeribus paucis! meliusne hic rusticus infans

the Trifolian field fills you with fruitful vines
and the ridge, distrusted by Cumae and barren Gaurus—
for who coats more vats with must that will live?—
what was it but to hand over the exhausted loins of a client for a few acres! Is this rustic child better

cum matre et casulis et conlusore catello
cymbala pulsantis legatum fiet amici?
"improbus es cum poscis" ait. sed pensio clamat
"posce," sed appellat puer unicus ut Polyphemi
lata acies per quam sollers euasit Vlixes.

with his mother and little huts and a frolicking pup
will he be made the legate of a cymbal‑beating friend?
"you are shameless when you beg," he says. But the pensioner cries
"ask," and the only boy calls out like Polyphemus’ wide eye
through which clever Ulixes escaped.

alter emendus erit, namque hic non sufficit, ambo
pascendi. quid agam bruma spirante? quid, oro,
quid dicam scapulis puerorum aquilone Decembri
et pedibus?

another must be bought, for this one does not suffice, both to be pastured. What shall I do with winter breathing? what, I pray, what shall I say about the boys’ shoulders to December’s north wind
and their feet?

"durate atque expectate cicadas"?
uerum, ut dissimules, ut mittas cetera, quanto

"Endure and await, cicadas?"
Truly, that you may dissemble, that you may dismiss the rest, by how much

metiris pretio quod, ni tibi deditus essem
deuotusque cliens, uxor tua uirgo maneret?
scis certe quibus ista modis, quam saepe rogaris
et quae pollicitus. fugientem saepe puellam
amplexu rapui; tabulas quoque ruperat et iam

do you measure by price that thing which, had I not been devoted to you and your devoted client, your wife would have remained a virgin?
you certainly know by what ways those things, how often you are entreated and what you promised. often I snatched the fleeing girl in an embrace; she had also torn up the tablets and now

signabat; tota uix hoc ego nocte redemi
te plorante foris. testis mihi lectulus et tu,
ad quem peruenit lecti sonus et dominae uox.
instabile ac dirimi coeptum et iam paene solutum
coniugium in multis domibus seruauit adulter.

he was sealing; scarcely in this whole night did I recover this while you wept outside.
my little bed is witness and you,
to whom the sound of the bed and the lady's voice reached.
the adulterer preserved the marriage—unstable, begun to be sundered, and now almost dissolved—

quo te circumagas? quae prima aut ultima ponas?
nullum ergo meritum est, ingrate ac perfide, nullum
quod tibi filiolus uel filia nascitur ex me?
tollis enim et libris actorum spargere gaudes
argumenta uiri.

Around whom do you range? whom do you set first or last?
therefore there is no merit, ungrateful and perfidious one, none
that a little son or a daughter is born to you from me?
for you even take delight in scattering, in books, the proofs
of a husband's deeds.

foribus suspende coronas:

hang crowns on the doors:

iam pater es, dedimus quod famae opponere possis.
iura parentis habes, propter me scriberis heres,
legatum omne capis nec non et dulce caducum.
commoda praeterea iungentur multa caducis,
si numerum, si tres impleuero.' iusta doloris,

Now you are father; we have given what you may oppose to fame.
You have the rights of a parent; on my account you will be written heir,
you receive every legacy and likewise the sweet perishable thing.
Moreover many benefits will be joined to the heirs,
if I fill the number, if I shall complete the three.' the just things of grief,

Naeuole, causa tui; contra tamen ille quid adfert?
'neglegit atque alium bipedem sibi quaerit asellum.
haec soli commissa tibi celare memento
et tacitus nostras intra te fige querellas;
nam res mortifera est inimicus pumice leuis.

Naeuole, for your sake; but what does he bring in answer?
'He neglects it and seeks another two‑footed little ass for himself.
remember to conceal these things committed to you alone
and silently fix our complaints within you;
for the affair is deadly, an enemy easily worn away by pumice.

qui modo secretum commiserat, ardet et odit,
tamquam prodiderim quidquid scio. sumere ferrum,
fuste aperire caput, candelam adponere ualuis
non dubitat. nec contemnas aut despicias quod
his opibus numquam cara est annona ueneni.

he who but now entrusted the secret burns and hates,
as if I had betrayed whatever I know. he does not hesitate to seize a blade,
to split open the skull with a cudgel, to press a candle to the shutters
nor scorn or despise that, for to these resources the market‑price of poison is never dear.

100

ergo occulta teges ut curia Martis Athenis.'
o Corydon, Corydon, secretum diuitis ullum
esse putas? serui ut taceant, iumenta loquentur
et canis et postes et marmora. claude fenestras,
uela tegant rimas, iunge ostia, tollite lumen,

therefore you hide your secrets as the curia of Mars at Athens.'
O Corydon, Corydon, do you think any secret of the rich exists?
so that slaves may be silent, beasts will speak — both dog and doorposts and marble. shut the windows,
let veils cover the cracks, fasten the doors, extinguish the light,

105

e medio fac eant omnes, prope nemo recumbat;
quod tamen ad cantum galli facit ille secundi
proximus ante diem caupo sciet, audiet et quae
finxerunt pariter libarius, archimagiri,
carptores. quod enim dubitant componere crimen

See that all go forth from the middle, let almost no one recline;
but this the innkeeper next to the second crow of the cock brings about—
the innkeeper nearest before day will know, will hear, and also the things
which together the cupbearer, the head-cook, the carvers have invented.
for what they hesitate to compose into a crime

110

in dominos, quotiens rumoribus ulciscuntur
baltea? nec derit qui te per compita quaerat
nolentem et miseram uinosus inebriet aurem.
illos ergo roges quidquid paulo ante petebas
a nobis, taceant illi. sed prodere malunt

against the masters, how often do the baltea avenge themselves by rumors?
nor will there be lacking one who seeks you through the crossroads — a wine-sodden man who will intoxicate the unwilling and miserable ear.
therefore you will ask those men that whatever a little while before you were asking of us, let them be silent. but they prefer to betray

115

arcanum quam subrepti potare Falerni
pro populo faciens quantum Saufeia bibebat.
uiuendum recte, cum propter plurima, ~tunc est~
idcirco ut possis linguam contemnere serui.
[praecipue causis, ut linguas mancipiorum

the secret of how to drink stolen Falernian
for the people, doing as much as Saufeia drank.
to live rightly, since on account of very many things, ~tunc est~
therefore that you may be able to despise the tongue of a slave.
[especially for reasons, that the tongues of mancipia ]

120

contemnas; nam lingua mali pars pessima serui.
deterior tamen hic qui liber non erit illis
quorum animas et farre suo custodit et aere.]
'utile consilium modo, sed commune, dedisti.
nunc mihi quid suades post damnum temporis et spes

despise it; for the tongue of evil is the very worst part of a slave.
yet worse is he who will not be free to those
whose souls he guards both with his own grain and with his money.]
'you have given a useful counsel, indeed, but a common one.
now what do you advise me after the loss of time and hope

125

deceptas? festinat enim decurrere uelox
flosculus angustae miseraeque breuissima uitae
portio; dum bibimus, dum serta, unguenta, puellas
poscimus, obrepit non intellecta senectus.'
ne trepida, numquam pathicus tibi derit amicus

deceived? for a swift little flower hastens to fall
the blossom, the portion of a narrow and wretched and very brief life;
while we drink, while we ask for garlands, perfumes, girls,
unperceived old age steals upon us.'
be not fearful, a pathic friend will never be wanting to you

130

stantibus et saluis his collibus; undique ad illos
conuenient et carpentis et nauibus omnes
qui digito scalpunt uno caput. altera maior
spes superest, tu tantum erucis inprime dentem.
[gratus eris, tu tantum erucis inprime dentem.] 134a
'haec exempla para felicibus; at mea Clotho
et Lachesis gaudent, si pascitur inguine uenter.

with these hills standing and safe; on every side to them will assemble both carts and all ships
who with a single finger carve a head. Another, greater hope remains: you only press the caterpillar’s tooth.
[you will be welcome, you only press the caterpillar’s tooth.] 134a
'set out these examples for the fortunate; but my Clotho and Lachesis exult, if the belly is fed by the groin.

o parui nostrique Lares, quos ture minuto
aut farre et tenui soleo exorare corona,
quando ego figam aliquid quo sit mihi tuta senectus
a tegete et baculo? uiginti milia fenus

O little Lares of ours, whom with crushed incense
or with spelt and a thin garland I am wont to beseech,
when shall I set something by which old age may be safe for me
from roof and from staff? twenty thousand as a loan

140

pigneribus positis, argenti uascula puri,
sed quae Fabricius censor notet, et duo fortes
de grege Moesorum, qui me ceruice locata
securum iubeant clamoso insistere circo;
sit mihi praeterea curuus caelator, et alter

with pledges laid down, little vessels of pure silver,
but what Fabricius the censor may note, and two stout men
from the flock of the Moesians, who with neck placed
bid me, safe, to stand firm in the shouting circus;
let there be for me furthermore a crooked engraver, and another

145

qui multas facies pingit cito; sufficiunt haec.
quando ego pauper ero? uotum miserabile, nec spes
his saltem; nam cum pro me Fortuna uocatur,
adfixit ceras illa de naue petitas
quae Siculos cantus effugit remige surdo.'

who quickly paints many faces; these suffice.
when shall I be poor? a miserable vow, nor is there even hope in these; for when Fortuna is invoked for me,
she affixed the wax tablets sought from the ship
which Sicilian songs flee from the deaf remige.