Martial: EPIGRAMMATON LIBRI

1. Spero me secutum in libellis meis tale temperamentum ut de illis queri non possit quisquis de se bene senserit, cum salua infirmarum quoque personarum reuerentia ludant; quae adeo antiquis auctoribus defuit ut nominibus non tantum ueris abusi sint, sed et magnis. 2. Mihi fama uilius constet et probetur in me nouissimum ingenium. 3. Absit a iocorum nostrorum simplicitate malignus interpres nec epigrammata mea scribat: inprobe facit qui in alieno libro ingeniosus est.

1. I hope I have followed in my little books such a moderation that whoever has thought well of himself cannot complain of them, while the reverence of even weaker persons remains intact as they play; which so much was lacking to the ancient authors that they abused not only true names, but great ones as well. 2. Let fame cost me more cheaply, and let the most recent wit be approved in me. 3. Let a malign interpreter be far from the simplicity of our jests, nor let him write my epigrams: he acts improperly who is ingenious in another man’s book.

4. Lasciuam uerborum ueritatem, id est epigrammaton linguam, excusarem, si meum esset exemplum: sic scribit Catullus, sic Marsus, sic Pedo, sic Gaetulicus, sic quicumque perlegitur. 5. Si quis tamen tam ambitiose tristis est ut apud illum in nulla pagina latine loqui fas sit, potest epistola uel potius titulo contentus esse. 6. Epigrammata illis scribuntur qui solent spectare Florales.

4. I would excuse the lascivious verity of words, that is, the language of epigrams, if it were my example: thus writes Catullus, thus Marsus, thus Pedo, thus Gaetulicus, thus whoever is read through. 5. If anyone, however, is so ambitiously grim that with him it is permitted on no page to speak Latin, he can be content with the epistle—or rather, with the title. 6. Epigrams are written for those who are wont to spectate the Floralia.

7. Non intret Cato theatrum meum, aut si intrauerit, spectet. 8. Videor mihi meo iure facturus si epistolam uersibus clusero:

7. Let Cato not enter my theater, or if he has entered, let him watch. 8. I seem to myself to be acting by my own right if I shall have closed the epistle with verses:

Nosses iocosae dulce cum sacrum Florae
festosque lusus et licentiam uolgi,
cur in theatrum, Cato seuere, uenisti?
an ideo tantum ueneras, ut exires?

Had you known the sweet sacred rite of playful Flora
and the festive games and the license of the crowd,
why did you come into the theater, severe Cato?
or had you come for this alone, so that you might go out?

Hic est quem legis ille, quem requiris,
toto notus in orbe Martialis
argutis epigrammaton libellis:
cui, lector studiose, quod dedisti
uiuenti decus atque sentienti, 5
rari post cineres habent poetae.

This is he whom you read, whom you seek—
Martial, known in the whole world
for the witty little books of epigrams:
to whom, studious reader, the honor which you gave
while living and perceiving, poets rarely have after their ashes. 5

Qui tecum cupis esse meos ubicumque libellos
     et comites longae quaeris habere uiae,
hos eme, quos artat breuibus membrana tabellis:
     scrinia da magnis, me manus una capit.
Ne tamen ignores ubi sim uenalis et erres
     urbe uagus tota, me duce certus eris:
libertum docti Lucensis quaere Secundum
     limina post Pacis Palladiumque forum.

You who desire my little books to be with you wherever you are,
     and seek to have companions for a long journey,
buy these, which the parchment compresses in brief little tablets:
     give book-chests to the great ones; one hand holds me.
Yet lest you not know where I am on sale and wander
     vagrant through the whole city, with me as your guide you will be certain:
seek Secundus, the freedman of the learned Lucensis,
     just past the thresholds of Peace and the Palladium Forum.

Argiletanas mauis habitare tabernas,
     cum tibi, parue liber, scrinia nostra uacent.
Nescis, heu, nescis dominae fastidia Romae:
     crede mihi, nimium Martia turba sapit.
Maiores nusquam rhonchi: iuuenesque senesque              5
     et pueri nasum rhinocerotis habent.

You prefer to dwell in the Argiletan shops,
     when for you, little book, my book-cases lie vacant.
You do not know, alas, you do not know the fastidiousness of mistress Rome:
     believe me, the Martial throng is too sapient.
Nowhere are the snorts greater: both youths and old men              5
     and boys have the nose of a rhinoceros.

Audieris cum grande sophos, dum basia iactas,
     ibis ab excusso missus in astra sago.
Sed tu ne totiens domini patiare lituras
     neue notet lusus tristis harundo tuos,              10
aetherias, lasciue, cupis uolitare per auras:
     i, fuge; sed poteras tutior esse domi.

You will hear a great “sophos” while you toss kisses,
     you will go, launched to the stars from a shaken-out cloak.
But you—do not so often suffer the master’s erasures,
     nor let the grim reed note your games,              10
you, lascivious one, long to flit through aetherial airs:
     go, flee; yet you could have been safer at home.

Contigeris nostros, Caesar, si forte libellos,
     terrarum dominum pone supercilium.
Consueuere iocos uestri quoque ferre triumphi,
     materiam dictis nec pudet esse ducem.
Qua Thymelen spectas derisoremque Latinum,              5
     illa fronte precor carmina nostra legas.

If by chance you touch upon our little books, Caesar,
     lay aside the brow of the lord of the lands.
Your triumphs too have been accustomed to bear jokes,
     nor is the leader ashamed to be material for sayings.
With that brow with which you watch Thymelé and the mocker Latinus,              5
     with that brow, I pray, read our songs.

Innocuos censura potest permittere lusus:
lasciua est nobis pagina, uita proba.

Censorship can permit innocuous amusements:
our page is lascivious, our life upright.

Do tibi naumachiam, tu das epigrammata nobis:
uis, puto, cum libro, Marce, natare tuo.

I give you a naumachia; you give us epigrams:
you wish, I think, Marcus, to swim with your book.

Aetherias aquila puerum portante per auras
     inlaesum timidis unguibus haesit onus:
nunc sua Caesareos exorat praeda leones
     tutus et ingenti ludit in ore lepus.
Quae maiora putas miracula? summus utrisque              5
     auctor adest: haec sunt Caesaris, illa Iouis.

With an eagle carrying a boy through aetherial airs,
     the burden hung unharmed on its timid talons:
now his own prey beseeches the Caesarean lions,
     and, safe, the hare plays in a vast mouth.
Which miracles do you think greater? The highest author attends to each,              5
     these are Caesar’s, those Jove’s.

Stellae delicium mei columba,
Verona licet audiente dicam,
uicit, Maxime, passerem Catulli.
Tanto Stella meus tuo Catullo
quanto passere maior est columba. 5

The dove, the pet of my Stella,
though Verona is listening, I will say it,
has conquered, Maximus, Catullus’ sparrow.
By as much my Stella is greater than your Catullus
as much as a dove is greater than a sparrow. 5

Quod magni Thraseae consummatique Catonis
     dogmata sic sequeris saluos ut esse uelis,
pectore nec nudo strictos incurris in ensis,
     quod fecisse uelim te, Deciane, facis.
Nolo uirum facili redemit qui sanguine famam,              5
     hunc uolo, laudari qui sine morte potest.

Because you follow the dogmas of great Thrasea and of consummate Cato
     in such a way that you wish to be safe,
and you do not rush upon drawn swords with bare breast,
     what I would wish you to have done, Decianus, you do.
I do not want the man who redeemed his fame with easy blood,              5
     I want the one who can be praised without death.

Bellus homo et magnus uis idem, Cotta, uideri:
sed qui bellus homo est, Cotta, pusillus homo est.

A pretty man and great you likewise wish to seem, Cotta;
but the man who is a pretty man, Cotta, is a petty man.

Petit Gemellus nuptias Maronillae
et cupit et instat et precatur et donat.
Adeone pulchra est? Immo foedius nil est.

Gemellus seeks the nuptials of Maronilla,
and he desires and presses and prays and gives gifts.
Is she so beautiful? On the contrary, nothing is uglier.

Quid ergo in illa petitur et placet? Tussit.

What then is sought and pleases in her? She coughs.

Cum data sint equiti bis quina nomismata, quare
bis decies solus, Sextiliane, bibis?
Iam defecisset portantis calda ministros,
si non potares, Sextiliane, merum.

Since twice five coins have been given to the knight, why
do you alone, Sextilianus, drink twice ten?
The attendants carrying the hot water would already have run out,
if you were not drinking unmixed wine, Sextilianus.

Itur ad Herculei gelidas qua Tiburis arces
     canaque sulphureis Albula fumat aquis,
rura nemusque sacrum dilectaque iugera Musis
     signat uicina quartus ab urbe lapis.
Hic rudis aestiuas praestabat porticus umbras,              5
     heu quam paene nouum porticus ausa nefas!
nam subito conlapsa ruit, cum mole sub illa
     gestatus biiugis Regulus esset equis.

One goes to where the icy citadels of Herculean Tibur
     and the hoary Albula smokes with sulphurous waters,
the fields and the sacred grove and the acres beloved of the Muses
     the fourth stone from the City marks as neighboring.
Here a rough portico provided estival shades,              5
     alas how nearly the portico dared a new nefarious deed!
for suddenly, collapsing, it fell, when beneath that mass
     Regulus was being borne by a two-horse team.

Nimirum timuit nostras Fortuna querelas,
quae par tam magnae non erat inuidiae. 10
Nunc et damna iuuant; sunt ipsa pericula tanti:
stantia non poterant tecta probare deos.

Surely Fortune feared our complaints,
who was not equal to so great envy. 10
Now even the losses help; the dangers themselves are of such worth:
roofs standing could not prove the gods.

Casta suo gladium cum traderet Arria Paeto,
quem de uisceribus strinxerat ipsa suis,
'Si qua fides, uulnus quod feci non dolet,' inquit,
'sed tu quod facies, hoc mihi, Paete, dolet.'

When chaste Arria was handing her own sword to Paetus,
which she herself had drawn from her own viscera,
“If there is any faith, the wound that I made does not hurt,” she said,
“but what you will do—this, Paetus, hurts me.”

Delicias, Caesar, lususque iocosque leonum
     uidimus — hoc etiam praestat harena tibi —
cum prensus blando totiens a dente rediret
     et per aperta uagus curreret ora lepus.
Vnde potest auidus captae leo parcere praedae?              5
     Sed tamen esse tuus dicitur: ergo potest.

Delights, Caesar, and the sports and jests of lions we have seen — the arena even provides this for you —
     when a hare, so often seized by the coaxing tooth, returned,
and, roaming, ran through the open jaws.
     How can a ravenous lion spare captured prey?              5
     But nevertheless he is said to be yours: therefore he can.

O mihi post nullos, Iuli, memorande sodales,
     si quid longa fides canaque iura ualent,
bis iam paene tibi consul tricensimus instat,
     et numerat paucos uix tua uita dies.
Non bene distuleris uideas quae posse negari,              5
     et solum hoc ducas, quod fuit, esse tuum.
Exspectant curaeque catenatique labores,
     gaudia non remanent, sed fugitiua uolant.

O Julius, to be remembered by me second to none among comrades,
     if long-standing faith and hoary laws avail anything,
now almost twice over your thirtieth consulship is upon you,
     and your life scarcely counts a few days.
You will not have deferred well the things that you see can be denied,              5
     and you should reckon this alone to be yours, what has been.
Cares and chain-bound labors are waiting,
     joys do not remain, but fly fugitive.

Haec utraque manu conplexuque adsere toto:
saepe fluunt imo sic quoque lapsa sinu. 10
Non est, crede mihi, sapientis dicere'Viuam'
sera nimis uita est crastina: uiue hodie.

Secure these with both hands and with a whole embrace:
often they flow away even thus, slipped from the deepest bosom. 10
It is not, believe me, the part of a wise man to say 'I shall live';
tomorrow’s life is too late: live today.

Sunt bona, sunt quaedam mediocria, sunt mala plura
quae legis hic: aliter non fit, Auite, liber.

There are good things, there are certain mediocre things, there are more bad things
that you read here: otherwise, Avitus, a book is not made.

Cogit me Titus actitare causas
et dicit mihi saepe'Magna res est.'
Res magna est, Tite, quam facit colonus.

Titus compels me to keep pleading causes
and often says to me 'It is a great thing.'
A great thing, Titus, is what the farmer does.

Quid te, Tucca, iuuat uetulo miscere Falerno
in Vaticanis condita musta cadis?
Quid tantum fecere boni tibi pessima uina?
aut quid fecerunt optima uina mali?

Why does it please you, Tucca, to mix with old Falernian
the musts stored in the Vatican casks?
What great good have the worst wines done you?
or what evil have the best wines done?

De nobis facile est, scelus est iugulare Falernum               5
     et dare Campano toxica saeua mero.
Conuiuae meruere tui fortasse perire:
     amphora non meruit tam pretiosa mori.

As for us, that is easy; it is a crime to slaughter Falernian              5
     and to give savage toxins to Campanian neat wine.
Your dinner guests perhaps have deserved to perish:
     so precious an amphora has not deserved to die.

Si memini, fuerant tibi quattuor, Aelia, dentes:
expulit una duos tussis et una duos.
Iam secura potes totis tussire diebus:
nil istic quod agat tertia tussis habet.

If I remember, Aelia, you had four teeth:
one cough expelled two, and another expelled two.
Now, secure, you can cough through entire days:
there, a third cough has nothing to do.

Dic mihi, quis furor est? Turba spectante uocata
solus boletos, Caeciliane, uoras.
Quid dignum tanto tibi uentre gulaque precabor?

Tell me, what madness is this? With the crowd summoned to watch looking on
you alone devour boletes, Caeciliane.
What worthy thing for such a belly and gullet shall I pray for you?

Boletum qualem Claudius edit, edas.

Eat a mushroom such as Claudius ate.

Cum peteret regem, decepta satellite dextra
     ingessit sacris se peritura focis.
Sed tam saeua pius miracula non tulit hostis
     et raptum flammis iussit abire uirum:
urere quam potuit contempto Mucius igne,              5
     hanc spectare manum Porsena non potuit.
Maior deceptae fama est et gloria dextrae:
     si non errasset, fecerat illa minus.

When he was seeking the king, his right hand, deceived by a satellite,
     thrust itself, destined to perish, upon the sacred hearths.
But the pious enemy did not endure such savage marvels,
     and ordered the man, snatched from the flames, to depart:
Mucius, scorning the fire, was able to burn it,              5
     but Porsenna could not bear to look upon this hand.
Greater is the fame and glory of the deceived right hand:
     if it had not erred, it would have done less.

Quid nunc saeua fugis placidi, lepus, ora leonis?
frangere tam paruas non didicere feras.
Seruantur magnis isti ceruicibus ungues
nec gaudet tenui sanguine tanta sitis.

Why now, hare, do you flee the savage jaws of a placid lion?
beasts have not learned to break such small creatures.
Those claws are reserved for great necks
nor does so great a thirst rejoice in thin blood.

Praeda canum lepus est, uastos non implet hiatus: 5
non timeat Dacus Caesaris arma puer.

The hare is the prey of dogs; it does not fill vast yawning gulfs: 5
let the Dacian boy not fear Caesar’s arms.

Inuitas nullum nisi cum quo, Cotta, lauaris
et dant conuiuam balnea sola tibi.
Mirabar quare numquam me, Cotta, uocasses:
iam scio me nudum displicuisse tibi.

You invite no one unless, Cotta, you bathe with him,
and the baths alone give you a dinner guest.
I wondered why you had never, Cotta, invited me:
now I know that I, naked, was displeasing to you.

Aspicis incomptis illum, Deciane, capillis,
cuius et ipse times triste supercilium,
qui loquitur Curios adsertoresque Camillos?
Nolito fronti credere: nupsit heri.

Do you see that fellow with unkempt hair, Decianus,
whose grim brow you yourself even fear,
who talks of the Curii and the Camilli, the assertors?
Do not trust the brow: he got married yesterday.

Ede tuos tandem populo, Faustine, libellos
     et cultum docto pectore profer opus,
quod nec Cecropiae damnent Pandionis arces
     nec sileant nostri praetereantque senes.
Ante fores stantem dubitas admittere Famam               5
     teque piget curae praemia ferre tuae?
Post te uicturae per te quoque uiuere chartae
     incipiant: cineri gloria sera uenit.

Publish at last to the public, Faustinus, your little books,
     and proffer the work cultivated by your learned breast,
which neither the Cecropian citadels of Pandion would condemn
     nor would our elders be silent about and pass by.
Do you hesitate to admit Fame, standing before your doors              5
     and does it weary you to carry off the rewards of your care?
Let the pages that will live after you begin to live through you as well;
     glory comes late to ashes.

Sextiliane, bibis quantum subsellia quinque
     solus: aqua totiens ebrius esse potes;
nec consessorum uicina nomismata tantum,
     aera sed a cuneis ulteriora petis.
Non haec Paelignis agitur uindemia prelis               5
     uua nec in Tuscis nascitur ista iugis,
testa sed antiqui felix siccatur Opimi,
     egerit et nigros Massica cella cados.
A copone tibi faex Laletana petatur,
     si plus quam decies, Sextiliane, bibis.              10

Sextilian, you drink as much as five benches’ worth
     all by yourself: can you be drunk so often on water?
nor only the nearby coins of your fellow-sitters,
     but you seek bronzes from wedges farther off.
This vintage is not worked by Pelignian presses              5
     nor does that grape spring from Tuscan ridges;
but the jar of the ancient Opimian is happily dried out,
     and the Massic cellar has disgorged black jars.
From a tavern-keeper let Laletanian lees be procured for you,
     if you drink more than 10 times, Sextilian.              10

Hesterna tibi nocte dixeramus,
quincunces puto post decem peractos,
cenares hodie, Procille, mecum.
Tu factam tibi rem statim putasti
et non sobria uerba subnotasti 5
exemplo nimium periculoso:
miso mnamona sumpotan, Procille.

Last night we told you,
I think after ten quincunxes were finished,
that you would dine today, Procillus, with me.
You at once thought the matter settled for yourself
and you noted down the not-sober words 5
by a much too dangerous precedent:
I hate a drinking-companion who remembers, Procillus.

Hesterno fetere mero qui credit Acerram,
fallitur: in lucem semper Acerra bibit.

He who believes that Acerra reeks of yesterday’s wine
is mistaken: Acerra always drinks on into daylight.

Fama refert nostros te, Fidentine, libellos
non aliter populo quam recitare tuos.
Si mea uis dici, gratis tibi carmina mittam:
si dici tua uis, hoc eme, ne mea sint.

Rumor reports, Fidentinus, that you recite our little books
to the people not otherwise than as your own.
If you wish them to be called mine, I will send you poems gratis;
if you wish them to be called yours, buy this, so that they may not be mine.

Chirurgus fuerat, nunc est uispillo Diaulus:
coepit quo poterat clinicus esse modo.

Diaulus had been a surgeon; now he is an undertaker:
he began to be a clinician in the way he could.

Hos tibi, Phoebe, uouet totos a uertice crines
     Encolpos, domini centurionis amor,
grata Pudens meriti tulerit cum praemia pili.
     Quam primum longas, Phoebe, recide comas,
dum nulla teneri sordent lanugine uoltus               5
     dumque decent fusae lactea colla iubae;
utque tuis longum dominusque puerque fruantur
     muneribus, tonsum fac cito, sero uirum.

These whole locks from the crown to you, Phoebus, vows
     Encolpos, the darling of his master the centurion,
when Pudens shall have borne the welcome rewards of the merited pilus.
     As soon as possible, Phoebus, cut the long hair,
while the tender face is not soiled by down              5
     and while flowing manes befit a milky neck;
and so that both master and boy may for long enjoy
     your gifts, make him shorn quickly, a man late.

Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere quare:
hoc tantum possum dicere, non amo te.

I do not love you, Sabidi, nor can I say why:
this only I can say, I do not love you.

Amissum non flet cum sola est Gellia patrem,
si quis adest iussae prosiliunt lacrimae.
Non luget quisquis laudari, Gellia, quaerit,
ille dolet uere qui sine teste dolet.

Gellia does not weep for her lost father when she is alone,
if anyone is present, on command the tears leap forth.
Whoever seeks to be praised, Gellia, does not mourn;
he truly grieves who grieves without a witness.

Incustoditis et apertis, Lesbia, semper
     liminibus peccas nec tua furta tegis,
et plus spectator quam te delectat adulter
     nec sunt grata tibi gaudia si qua latent.
At meretrix abigit testem ueloque seraque              5
     raraque Submemmi fornice rima patet.
A Chione saltem uel ab Iade disce pudorem:
     abscondunt spurcas et monumenta lupas.

With thresholds unguarded and open, Lesbia, you are always sinning,
     nor do you cover your thefts;
and the spectator delights you more than the adulterer,
     nor are joys pleasing to you if any lie hidden.
But the meretrix drives off the witness, and with veil and bolt              5
     a rare crevice stands open in the Submemmi fornix.
At least from Chione or from Ias learn pudor:
     even the monuments conceal the filthy she-wolves.

Numquid dura tibi nimium censura uidetur?
deprendi ueto te, Lesbia, non futui. 10

Does the censure seem to you too harsh?
I forbid you to be caught, Lesbia, not to fuck. 10

Versus scribere me parum seueros
nec quos praelegat in schola magister,
Corneli, quereris: sed hi libelli,
tamquam coniugibus suis mariti,
non possunt sine mentula placere. 5
Quid si me iubeas thalassionem
uerbis dicere non thalassionis?
quis Floralia uestit et stolatum
permittit meretricibus pudorem?
Lex haec carminibus data est iocosis, 10
ne possint, nisi pruriant, iuuare.

You complain, Cornelius, that I write verses not very severe,
nor such as a master might read aloud in school;
but these little books, like husbands to their wives,
cannot please without a phallus. 5
What if you bid me speak a thalassion
in words not of a thalassion?
who clothes the Floralia and allows to prostitutes
a stola-clad modesty?
This law has been given to jocose songs, 10
that they cannot give delight unless they make one itch.

Quare deposita seueritate
parcas lusibus et iocis rogamus,
nec castrare uelis meos libellos:
Gallo turpis est nihil Priapo. 15

Wherefore, with severity laid aside,
we ask you to spare the games and jests,
and not to castrate my little books:
to a Gallus, nothing about Priapus is shameful. 15

Si, Lucane, tibi uel si tibi, Tulle, darentur
     qualia Ledaei fata Lacones habent,
nobilis haec esset pietatis rixa duobus,
     quod pro fratre mori uellet uterque prior,
diceret infernas et qui prior isset ad umbras:               5
     'Viue tuo, frater, tempore, uiue meo.'

If, Lucan, to you—or if to you, Tullus—there were granted
     such fates as the Ledaean Laconians have,
this would be a noble quarrel of pietas between you two,
     that each would wish to die for his brother first;
and even he who had gone first to the infernal shades would say:              5
     ‘Brother, live out your time—live out mine.’

Ventris onus misero, nec te pudet, excipis auro,
Basse, bibis uitro: carius ergo cacas.

You, miserable man, and it does not shame you, you catch your belly’s burden in gold, Basse;
you drink from glass: therefore you shit more expensively.

Quem recitas meus est, o Fidentine, libellus:
sed male cum recitas, incipit esse tuus.

The little book which you recite is mine, O Fidentine:
but when you recite it badly, it begins to be yours.

Si quis erit raros inter numerandus amicos,
     quales prisca fides famaque nouit anus,
si quis Cecropiae madidus Latiaeque Mineruae
     artibus et uera simplicitate bonus,
si quis erit recti custos, mirator honesti               5
     et nihil arcano qui roget ore deos,
si quis erit magnae subnixus robore mentis:
     dispeream si non hic Decianus erit.

If there shall be anyone to be counted among rare friends,
     such as ancient good faith and the old woman of rumor has known,
if anyone steeped in the arts of Cecropian and Latian Minerva
     and good by true simplicity,
if there will be a custodian of right, an admirer of the honorable              5
     and who would ask the gods for nothing with an arcane mouth,
if there will be one supported by the strength of a great mind:
     may I perish if this is not Decianus.

Qui ducis uultus et non legis ista libenter,
omnibus inuideas, liuide, nemo tibi.

You who wear a long face and do not read these things gladly,
you envy everyone, livid one; no one envies you.

Vrbanus tibi, Caecili, uideris:
non es, crede mihi. Quid ergo? uerna,
hoc quod Transtiberinus ambulator
qui pallentia sulphurata fractis
permutat uitreis, quod otiosae               5
uendit qui madidum cicer coronae,
quod custos dominusque uiperarum,
quod uiles pueri salariorum,
quod fumantia qui tomacla raucus
circumfert tepidis cocus popinis,               10
quod non optimus urbicus poeta,
quod de Gadibus improbus magister,
quod bucca est uetuli dicax cinaedi.
Quare desine iam tibi uideri,
quod soli tibi, Caecili, uideris,               15

Urbane to yourself you seem, Caecilius:
you are not, believe me. What then? a house-born slave,
the same as that Trans-Tiber stroller
who barters pallid sulphur-matches for broken
glass, as the one who sells to the idle crowd soaked chickpeas, 5
as the keeper and master of vipers,
as the cheap boys of the pay-clerks,
as the hoarse cook who carries round smoking sausages
through lukewarm cook-shops, as not the best
town poet, as the shameless teacher from Gades,10
as the saucy mouth of an old pathic.
Therefore stop now seeming to yourself
what you, Caecilius, seem to yourself alone. 15

qui Gabbam salibus tuis et ipsum
posses uincere Tettium Caballum.
Non cuicumque datum est habere nasum:
ludit qui stolida procacitate,
non est Tettius ille, sed caballus. 20

who with your sallies could defeat Gabba and Tettius Caballus himself.
Not to just anyone is it given to have a nose:
he who plays with stolid procacity
is not that Tettius, but a nag. 20

Coniugis audisset fatum cum Porcia Bruti
     et subtracta sibi quareret arma dolor,
'Nondum scitis' ait'mortem non posse negari?
     credideram fatis hoc docuisse patrem.'
Dixit et ardentis auido bibit ore fauillas.               5
     I nunc et ferrum, turba molesta, nega.

When Porcia, wife of Brutus, had heard her husband’s fate,
     and, the weapons taken from her, grief was seeking arms for itself,
“Do you not yet know,” she said, “that death cannot be denied?
     I had believed my father had taught this to the Fates.”
She spoke, and with an avid mouth drank the cinders of the burning coals.              5
     Go now, troublesome crowd, and deny iron.

Bis tibi triceni fuimus, Mancine, uocati
     et positum est nobis nil here praeter aprum;
non quae de tardis seruantur uitibus uuae
     dulcibus aut certant quae melimela fauis;
non pira quae longa pendent religata genesta               5
     aut imitata breuis Punica grana rosas;
rustica lactantis nec misit Sassina metas
     nec de Picenis uenit oliua cadis:
nudus aper, sed et hic minimus qualisque necari
     a non armato pumilione potest.               10
Et nihil inde datum est; tantum spectauimus omnes:
     ponere aprum nobis sic et harena solet.
Ponatur tibi nullus aper post talia facta,
     sed tu ponaris cui Charidemus apro.

Twice we were thirty for you, Mancinus, invited
     and nothing was set before us yesterday except a boar;
not grapes which are kept from the tardy vines,
     sweet ones, nor honey-apples which vie with the combs;
not pears which hang a long time bound with broom,              5
     nor Punic seeds imitating little roses;
nor did rustic Sassina send cones of fresh (milk-laden) cheese,
     nor did olive-oil come from Picenian jars:
a naked boar, and even this a very small one, such as can be killed
     by an unarmed dwarf.               10
And nothing from it was given; we all only looked:
     thus too the arena is accustomed to “set out” a boar for us.
Let no boar be set before you after such deeds,
     but may you be set before the boar to which Charidemus is set.

Lasciuos leporum cursus lususque leonum
quod maior nobis charta minorque gerit
et bis idem facimus, nimium si, Stella, uidetur
hoc tibi, bis leporem tu quoque pone mihi.

Lascivious courses of hares and the sport of lions
which the larger and the smaller sheet carries for us;
and we too do the same twice; if, Stella, this seems
excessive to you, set the hare before me twice as well.

Edita ne breuibus pereat mihi cura libellis,
dicatur potius ton d' apameibomenos.

Lest my care, once published, perish in brief little booklets,
let it rather be said “then answering him.”

Cum dicis 'Propero, fac si facis,' Hedyle, languet
protinus et cessat debilitata Venus.
Expectare iube: uelocius ibo retentus.
Hedyle, si properas, dic mihi ne properem.

When you say “I’m hurrying; do it, if you do,” Hedyle, at once Venus languishes
and, debilitated, ceases.
Order me to wait: I shall go more swiftly when held back.
Hedyle, if you are hurrying, tell me not to hurry.

Nuper erat medicus, nunc est uispillo Diaulus:
quod uispillo facit, fecerat et medicus.

Lately he was a medic; now Diaulus is an undertaker:
what he does as an undertaker, he had also done as a medic.

Rictibus his taurus non eripuere magistri,
     per quos praeda fugax itque reditque lepus;
quodque magis mirum, uelocior exit ab hoste
     nec nihil a tanta nobilitate refert.
Tutior in sola non est cum currit harena,              5
     nec cauea tanta conditur ille fide.
Si uitare canum morsus, lepus improbe, quaeris,
     ad quae confugias ora leonis habes.

From these jaws the trainers have not snatched away a bull,
     through which the fugitive prey, the hare, goes and comes back;
and, what is more marvelous, he exits swifter from the foe,
     nor does he bring back nothing from so great nobility.
He is not safer when he runs on the bare sand alone,              5
     nor is he enclosed in a cage with such great trust.
If you seek to avoid the bites of dogs, shameless hare,
     you have the mouth of the lion to which you may flee.

Vir celtiberis non tacende gentibus
     nostraeque laus Hispaniae,
uidebis altam, Liciniane, Bibilin,
     equis et armis nobilem,
senemque Caium niuibus, et fractis sacrum               5
     Vadaueronem montibus,
et dilicati dulce Boterdi nemus,
     Pomona quod felix amat.
Tepidi natabis lene Congedi uadum
     mollesque Nympharum lacus,              10
quibus remissum corpus adstringes breui
     Salone, qui ferrum gelat.
Praestabit illic ipsa figendas prope
     Voberca prandenti feras;
aestus serenos aureo franges Tago               15

A man not to be silenced among the Celtiberian peoples,
     and the praise of our Hispania,
you will see lofty Bibilis, Licinianus,
     noble in horses and arms,
and old Caius with its snows, and Vadaveron sacred              5
     with its broken mountains,
and the sweet grove of delicate Boterdus,
     which fruitful Pomona loves.
You will swim the gentle ford of the tepid Congedo
     and the soft pools of the Nymphs,              10
with which you will brace your relaxed body in the short Salo,
     which makes iron congeal.
There Voberca itself will supply beasts to be pierced
     nearby for the one lunching;
you will break the serene heats with the golden Tagus.              15

     obscurus umbris arborum;
auidam rigens Dercenna placabit sitim
     et Nutha, quae uincit niues.
At cum December canus et bruma impotens
     Aquilone rauco mugiet,              20
aprica repetes Tarraconis litora
     tuamque Laletaniam.
Ibi inligatatas mollibus dammas plagis
     mactabis et uernas apros
leporemque forti callidum rumpes equo,              25
     ceruos relinques uilico.
Vicina in ipsum silua descendet focum
     infante cinctum sordido;
uocabitur uenator et ueniet tibi
     conuiua clamatus prope;              30

     obscured by the shadows of the trees;
the frost-stiff Dercenna will appease the greedy thirst
     and Nutha, which conquers snows.
But when hoary December and unbridled winter
     will bellow with the hoarse North wind,              20
you will seek again the sunlit shores of Tarraco
     and your Laletania.
There you will slaughter hinds ensnared in soft nets
     and home-bred boars,
and you will run down the cunning hare with a stout horse,              25
     and leave the stags to the steward.
The neighboring forest will descend into the very hearth,
     bound up by a grimy child;
the hunter will be called and will come to you
     a guest, summoned from nearby.              30

lunata nusquam pellis et nusquam toga
     olidaeque uestes murice;
procul horridus Liburnus et querulus cliens,
     imperia uiduarum procul;
non rumpet altum pallidus somnum reus,              35
     sed mane totum dormies.
Mereatur alius grande et insanum sophos:
     miserere tu felicium
ueroque fruere non superbus gaudio,
     dum Sura laudatur tuus.              40
Non inpudenter uita quod relicum est petit,
     cum fama quod satis est habet.

nowhere the crescent-marked pelt and nowhere the toga
     and garments rank with murex-purple;
far off the rough Liburnian and the querulous client,
     far off the commands of widows;
the pale defendant will not break your deep sleep,              35
     but you will sleep all the morning.
Let another earn the grand and insane sophos:
     you, take pity on the fortunate
and enjoy true joy, not arrogantly,
     while your Sura is praised.              40
he does not shamelessly seek what of life remains,
     since in fame he has what is enough.

Si tibi Mistyllos cocus, Aemiliane, uocatur,
dicatur quare non Taratalla mihi?

If your cook is called Mistyllus, Aemilianus,
let it be said why not “Taratalla” for me?

Non facit ad saeuos ceruix, nisi prima, leones:
     quid fugis hos dentes, ambitiose lepus?
Scilicet a magnis ad te descendere tauris
     et quae non cernunt frangere colla uelis.
Desperanda tibi est ingentis gloria fati:              5
     non potes hoc tenuis praeda sub hoste mori.

No neck suits savage lions, unless it is a foremost one:
     why do you flee these teeth, ambitious hare?
Of course you would have them descend from great bulls down to you
     and wish them to break necks which they do not see.
You must despair of the glory of a vast fate:              5
     you cannot die thus, a slight prey, beneath such a foe.

Commendo tibi, Quintiane, nostros —
nostros dicere si tamen libellos
possum, quos recitat tuus poeta —:
si de seruitio graui queruntur,
adsertor uenias satisque praestes, 5
et, cum se dominum uocabit ille,
dicas esse meos manuque missos.
Hoc si terque quaterque clamitaris,
inpones plagiario pudorem.

I commend to you, Quintianus, my —
my little books — if I may still call them mine —
which your poet recites —:
if they complain of heavy servitude,
come as their adsertor and furnish surety enough, 5
and, when that fellow will call himself their master,
say that they are mine and manumitted by my hand.
If you shout this thrice and four times,
you will impose shame on the plagiarist.

Vna est in nostris tua, Fidentine, libellis
pagina, sed certa domini signata figura,
quae tua traducit manifesto carmina furto.
Sic interpositus uillo contaminat uncto
urbica Lingonicus Tyrianthina bardocucullus, 5
sic Arrentinae uiolant crystallina testae,
sic niger in ripis errat cum forte Caystri,
inter Ledaeos ridetur coruus olores,
sic ubi multisona feruet sacer Atthide lucus,
inproba Cecropias offendit pica querelas. 10
Indice non opus est nostris nec iudice libris,
stat contra dicitque tibi tua pagina 'Fur es.'

There is one page of yours, Fidentinus, in my little books,
but stamped with the sure image of the master,
which indicts your songs for manifest theft.
So, when interposed among Tyrian fabrics, a town-bred Lingonian bardocucullus
with its greasy nap contaminates them; 5
so Arretine potsherds violate crystalline glass;
so, when by chance a black crow wanders on the banks of the Cayster,
among Ledaean swans the crow is ridiculed;
so, when the sacred grove in Attica seethes with many-voiced song,
the impudent magpie offends the Cecropian laments. 10
Our books need no informant nor judge:
your page stands opposite and says to you, “You are a thief.”

Si quid, Fusce, uacas adhuc amari —
nam sunt hinc tibi, sunt et hinc amici —
unum, si superest, locum rogamus,
nec me, quod tibi sim nouus, recuses:
omnes hoc ueteres tui fuerunt. 5
Tu tantum inspice qui nouus paratur
an possit fieri uetus sodalis.

If you have any time, Fuscus, still to be loved—
for you have friends on this side and on that—
we ask for one place, if one remains,
and do not refuse me because I am new to you:
all your old friends were once this. 5
Only look whether he who is now being admitted as new
can become an old comrade.

Vota tui breuiter si uis cognoscere Marci,
     clarum militiae, Fronto, togaeque decus,
hoc petit, esse sui nec magni ruris arator,
     sordidaque in paruis otia rebus amat.
Quisquam picta colit Spartani frigora saxi               5
     et matutinum portat ineptus Haue,
cui licet exuuiis nemoris rurisque beato
     ante focum plenas explicuisse plagas
et piscem tremula salientem ducere saeta
flauaque de rubro promere mella cado?              10
pinguis inaequales onerat cui uilica mensas
et sua non emptus praeparat oua cinis?
Non amet hanc uitam quisquis me non amat, opto,
uiuat et urbanis albus in officiis.

If you wish briefly to know the vows of your Marcus,
     renowned in war, Fronto, and an honor of the toga,
this he asks: to be the plowman of his own not-great farm,
     and he loves unpretentious leisure in small things.
Does anyone haunt the painted chill of Spartan stone,              5
     and, a simpleton, carry the morning HAVE,
when it is his lot, rich with the spoils of grove and field,
     to spread out full nets before the hearth,
and to draw a fish leaping by a trembling hair,
and to bring forth blond honey from a red jar?              10
whose farm-mistress loads the unequal tables with richness,
and whose ash, not bought, prepares his own eggs?
Let whoever does not love me not love this life, I pray;
let him live pale in urban duties.

Continuis uexata madet uindemia nimbis:
non potes, ut cupias, uendere, copo, merum.

Vexed by continuous showers, the vintage is soaked:
you cannot, though you may desire it, innkeeper, sell pure wine.

Qualem, Flacce, uelim quaeris nolimque puellam?
nolo nimis facilem difficilemque nimis.
Illud quod medium est atque inter utrumque probamus:
nec uolo quod cruciat nec uolo quod satiat.

What sort of girl, Flaccus, I would wish and would not wish, you ask?
I do not want one too facile nor too difficult.
We approve that which is the middle and between the two:
nor do I want what torments nor do I want what satiates.

Milia pro puero centum me mango poposcit:
     risi ego, sed Phoebus protinus illa dedit.
Hoc dolet et queritur de me mea mentula secum
     laudaturque meam Phoebus in inuidiam.
Sed sestertiolum donauit mentula Phoebo               5
     bis decies: hoc da tu mihi, pluris emam.

The dealer asked me a hundred thousand for the boy:
     I laughed, but Phoebus straightway paid that sum.
This pains my penis, and it complains about me to itself,
     and Phoebus is praised, to my jealousy.
But my penis gave Phoebus a little sesterce-tip twenty times:              5
     give me this, and I will buy at a higher price.

Dat Baiana mihi quadrantes sportula centum:
inter delicias quid facit ista fames?
Redde Lupi nobis tenebrosaque balnea Grylli:
tam male cum cenem, cur bene, Flacce, lauer?

The Baian sportula gives me a hundred quadrantes:
amid delights, what is this hunger doing?
Give back to us the baths of Lupus and the tenebrous baths of Gryllus:
since I dine so badly, why should I bathe well, Flaccus?

Intres ampla licet torui lepus ora leonis,
     esse tamen uacuo se leo dente putat.
Quod ruet in tergum uel quos procumbet in armos,
     alta iuuencorum uolnera figet ubi?
Quid frustra nemorum dominum regemque fatigas?              5
     non nisi delecta pascitur ille fera.

Though the hare may enter the ample mouth of the grim lion,
     yet the lion thinks his tooth to be empty.
What will fall upon his back, or upon what shoulders will he sink down,
     where will he plant the deep wounds of young bullocks?
Why do you in vain fatigue the lord and king of the groves?              5
     that beast feeds on nothing but selected prey.

Verona docti syllabas amat uatis,
     Marone felix Mantua est,
censetur Aponi Liuio suo tellus
     Stellaque nec Flacco minus,
Apollodoro plaudit imbrifer Nilus,              5
     Nasone Paeligni sonant,
duosque Senecas unicumque Lucanum
     facunda loquitur Corduba,
gaudent iocosae Canio suo Gades,
     Emerita Deciano meo:              10
te, Liciniane, gloriabitur nostra
     nec me tacebit Bilbilis.

Verona loves the syllables of the learned poet,
     Mantua is fortunate in Maro,
the land of Aponus is reckoned by its own Livy
     and for Stella, and no less for Flaccus,
the rain-bringing Nile applauds Apollodorus,              5
     the Paelignians resound with Naso,
the two Senecas and the unique Lucan
     eloquent Corduba proclaims,
playful Gades rejoice in its own Canius,
     and Emerita in my Decianus:              10
of you, Licinianus, our
     Bilbilis will boast, nor will it be silent about me.

Casta nec antiquis cedens Laeuina Sabinis
     et quamuis tetrico tristior ipsa uiro
dum modo Lucrino, modo se demittit Auerno,
     et dum Baianis saepe fouetur aquis,
incidit in flammas: iuuenemque secuta relicto               5
     coniuge Penelope uenit, abit Helene.

Chaste Laevina, yielding not to the ancient Sabine women,
     and, although herself more sad than her austere husband,
while now to the Lucrine, now she lets herself down to Avernus,
     and while she is often warmed by the Baian waters,
she falls into flames: and, having followed a youth, with her husband left behind,              5
     Penelope arrives; Helen departs.

Vt recitem tibi nostra rogas epigrammata. Nolo:
non audire, Celer, sed recitare cupis.

You ask that I recite my epigrams to you. I will not:
you do not want to listen, Celer, but to recite.

Bella es, nouimus, et puella, uerum est,
et diues, quis enim potest negare?
Sed cum te nimium, Fabulla, laudas,
nec diues neque bella nec puella es.

You are beautiful, we know, and a girl, it is true,
and rich—who indeed can deny it?
But when you laud yourself too much, Fabulla,
you are neither rich nor beautiful nor a girl.

Cum dixi ficus, rides quasi barbara uerba
et dici ficos, Caeciliane, iubes.
Dicemus ficus, quas scimus in arbore nasci,
dicemus ficos, Caeciliane, tuos.

When I said “figs,” you laugh as if at barbarous words,
and you order, Caeciliane, that one say “ficos.”
We will say “figs,” which we know are born on a tree,
we will say “ficos,” Caeciliane, yours.

Erras, meorum fur auare librorum,
fieri poetam posse qui putas tanti,
scriptura quanti constet et tomus uilis:
non sex paratur aut decem sophos nummis.
Secreta quaere carmina et rudes curas 5
quas nouit unus scrinioque signatas
custodit ipse uirginis pater chartae,
quae trita duro non inhorruit mento:
mutare dominum non potest liber notus.
Sed pumicata fronte si quis est nondum 10
nec umbilicis cultus atque membrana,
mercare: tales habeo; nec sciet quisquam.

You err, greedy thief of my books,
you who think that a poet can be made for as much
as the writing costs and a cheap tome:
a sage is not procured for six or for ten coins.
Seek out the secret songs and rough cares, 5
which one man alone knows, and he himself, the father
of the maiden sheet, keeps sealed in his scrinium,
which has not shuddered, worn by a hard chin:
a well-known book cannot change its owner.
But if there is any not yet with a pumiced brow, 10
nor adorned with umbilici and a membrane,
buy it: I have such; and no one will know.

Aliena quisquis recitat et petit famam,
non emere librum, sed silentium debet.

Whoever recites another’s work and seeks fame,
owes to buy not the book, but silence.

'Liber homo es nimium' dicis mihi, Ceryle, semper.
In te quis dicit, Ceryle:'Liber homo es?'

'You are too free a man,' you always say to me, Ceryl.
Who says to you, Ceryl:'You are a free man?'

Quidquid agit Rufus, nihil est nisi Naeuia Rufo.
Si gaudet, si flet, si tacet, hanc loquitur.
Cenat, propinat, poscit, negat, innuit: una est
Naeuia; si non sit Naeuia, mutus erit.

Whatever Rufus does, it is nothing but Naevia to Rufus.
If he rejoices, if he weeps, if he is silent, he speaks of her.
He dines, pledges a toast, asks, refuses, signals: there is one
Naevia; if Naevia be not, he will be mute.

Scriberet hesterna patri cum luce salutem,              5
     'Naeuia lux' inquit 'Naeuia lumen, haue.'
Haec legit et ridet demisso Naeuia uultu.
     Naeuia non una est: quid, uir inepte, furis?

When he was writing a greeting to his father yesterday at first light,              5
     ‘Naevia, light,’ he says, ‘Naevia, lumen, hail.’
Naevia reads these things and laughs with a lowered face.
     Naevia is not a single one: why, foolish man, do you rave?

Coepit, Maxime, Pana qui solebat,
nunc ostendere Canium Tarentos.

Pana, Maximus, who used to, has begun now
to exhibit Canius’s Tarentines.

Vade salutatum pro me, liber: ire iuberis
     ad Proculi nitidos, officiose, lares.
Quaeris iter, dicam. Vicinum Castora canae
     transibis Vestae uirgineamque domum;
inde sacro ueneranda petes Palatia cliuo,              5
     plurima qua summi fulget imago ducis.

Go to salute on my behalf, book: you are ordered to go
     to Proculus’s shining Lares, dutifully.
You ask the route, I shall tell. The Castor close to hoary
     Vesta and the virginal house you will pass; then by a sacred slope you will seek the venerable Palatia,              5
     where the image of the supreme leader gleams most.

Nec te detineat miri radiata colossi
     quae Rhodium moles uincere gaudet opus.
Flecte uias hac qua madidi sunt tecta Lyaei
     et Cybeles picto stat Corybante tholus.              10
Protinus a laeua clari tibi fronte Penates
     atriaque excelsae sunt adeunda domus.
Hanc pete: ne metuas fastus limenque superbum:
     nulla magis toto ianua poste patet,
nec propior quam Phoebus amet doctaeque sorores.              15

Let not the radiant marvel of the colossus detain you,
     that mass which rejoices to surpass the Rhodian work.
Bend your ways this way where the wine-drenched roofs of Lyaeus are
     and Cybele’s dome stands with a Corybant painted.              10
Straightway on the left, the Penates with a distinguished front are for you,
     and the atria of a lofty house are to be approached.
Seek this: do not fear haughtiness and a proud threshold:
     no doorway stands more open with its whole jamb,
nor one that Phoebus and the learned Sisters love more closely.              15

Si dicet 'Quare non tamen ipse uenit?',
sic licet excuses 'Quia qualiacumque leguntur
ista, salutator scribere non potuit'.

If he says, 'Why, however, did he not come himself?',
thus you may excuse it: 'Because, whatever sort of things these are that are read,
the saluter could not write them'.

Laeuia sex cyathis, septem Iustina bibatur,
quinque Lycas, Lyde quattuor, Ida tribus.
Omnis ab infuso numeretur amica Falerno,
et quia nulla uenit, tu mihi, Somne, ueni.

Let Laevia be drunk with six cyathi, Justina with seven,
Lycas five, Lyde four, Ida with three.
Let every girlfriend be numbered by the Falernian poured in,
and because none comes, you, Sleep, come to me.

Nostris uersibus esse te poetam,
Fidentine, putas cupisque credi?
Sic dentata sibi uidetur Aegle
emptis ossibus Indicoque cornu;
sic quae nigrior est cadente moro, 5
cerussata sibi placet Lycoris.
Hac et tu ratione qua poeta es,
caluus cum fueris, eris comatus.

By our verses you think yourself to be a poet,
Fidentine, and you long to be believed?
Thus Aegle seems to herself to be toothed
with purchased bones and Indian horn;
thus she who is blacker than the falling mulberry, 5
Lycoris, whitened with ceruse, pleases herself.
By this same reasoning by which you are a poet,
when you are bald, you will be long‑haired.

Nullus in urbe fuit tota qui tangere uellet
uxorem gratis, Caeciliane, tuam,
dum licuit: sed nunc positis custodibus ingens
turba fututorum est: ingeniosus homo es.

No one in the whole city was willing to touch
your wife for free, Caecilianus, while it was permitted;
but now, with guards posted, there is a huge
crowd of would‑be fuckers: you are an ingenious man.

Moechus erat: poteras tamen hoc tu, Paula, negare.
Ecce uir est: numquid, Paula, negare potes?

He was an adulterer; nevertheless you, Paula, could deny this.
Behold, he is a husband: can you, Paula, deny it?

Dimidium donare Lino quam credere totum
qui mauolt, mauolt perdere dimidium.

He who prefers to donate half to Linus rather than entrust him with the whole
prefers to lose half.

O mihi curarum pretium non uile mearum,
     Flacce, Antenorei spes et alumne laris,
Pierios differ cantusque chorosque sororum;
     aes dabit ex istis nulla puella tibi.
Quid petis a Phoebo? nummos habet arca Mineruae;              5
     haec sapit, haec omnes fenerat una deos.

O, no mean reward of my cares,
     Flaccus, hope and nursling of Antenor’s hearth,
put off the Pierian songs and the dances of the sisters;
     from these no girl will give you bronze.
What do you seek from Phoebus? Coins are in Minerva’s chest;              5
     she is the wise one; she alone lends at interest to all the gods.

Quid possunt hederae Bacchi dare? Pallados arbor
inclinat uarias pondere nigra comas.
Praeter aquas Helicon et serta lyrasque dearum
nil habet et magnum, sed perinane sophos. 10
Quid tibi cum Cirrha?

What can the ivies of Bacchus give? The black tree of Pallas
bends its various tresses with its weight.
Beyond the waters of Helicon and the garlands and lyres of the goddesses
it has nothing great, but a very empty “sophos.” 10
What have you to do with Cirrha?

quid cum Permesside nuda?
Romanum propius diuitiusque forum est.
Illic aera sonant: at circum pulpita nostra
et steriles cathedras basia sola crepant.

what business have you with the nude Permessis-nymph?
the Roman forum is nearer and richer.
There the bronzes ring; but around our platforms
and the sterile chairs only kisses crackle.

Pulchre ualet Charinus et tamen pallet.
Parce bibit Charinus et tamen pallet.
Bene concoquit Charinus et tamen pallet.

Charinus is in fine health, and yet he is pale.
Charinus drinks sparingly, and yet he is pale.
Charinus digests well, and yet he is pale.

Sole utitur Charinus et tamen pallet.
Tingit cutem Charinus et tamen pallet. 5
Cunnum Charinus lingit et tamen pallet.

Charinus makes use of the sun and yet he is pale.
Charinus tints his skin and yet he is pale. 5
Charinus licks the cunt and yet he is pale.

Indignas premeret pestis cum tabida fauces
     inque ipsos uultus serperet atra lues,
siccis ipse genis flentes hortatus amicos
     decreuit Stygios Festus adire lacus.
Nec tamen obscuro pia polluit ora ueneno               5
     aut torsit lenta tristia fata fame,
sanctam Romana uitam sed morte peregit
     dimisitque animam nobiliore rogo.
Hanc mortem fatis magni praeferre Catonis
     fama potest: huius Caesar amicus erat.              10

When a wasting pest was pressing his undeserving throat,
     and the black pestilence was creeping into his very features,
with dry cheeks he himself, having encouraged his weeping friends,
     Festus resolved to approach the Stygian lakes.
Nor yet did he defile his pious lips with secret poison,              5
     or torment his sad fates with slow famine,
but he completed the sacred Roman life by death
     and dismissed his spirit on a more noble pyre.
Fame can set this death before the fates of great Cato—
     of this man Caesar was a friend.              10

Semper agis causas et res agis, Attale, semper:
est, non est quod agas, Attale, semper agis.
Si res et causae desunt, agis, Attale, mulas.
Attale, ne quod agas desit, agas animam.

You are always pleading causes and prosecuting affairs, Attalus, always:
whether there is, or is not, something to do, Attalus, you are always acting.
If affairs and causes are lacking, you drive mules, Attalus.
Attalus, lest there be a lack of something for you to “drive,” drive your soul.

Sportula, Cane, tibi suprema nocte petita est.
Occidit puto te, Cane, quod una fuit.

Sportula, Cane, was sought for you on the final night.
I think it killed you, Cane, because it was only a single one.

A seruo scis te genitum blandeque fateris,
cum dicis dominum, Sosibiane, patrem.

From a slave you know yourself begotten, and you blandly confess it,
when you call your master, Sosibiane, father.

Haec quae puluere dissipata multo
longas porticus explicat ruinas,
en quanto iacet absoluta casu!
Tectis nam modo Regulus sub illis
gestatus fuerat recesseratque, 5
uicta est pondere cum suo repente,
et, postquam domino nihil timebat,
securo ruit incruenta damno.
Tantae, Regule, post metum querelae
quis curam neget esse te deorum, 10
propter quem fuit innocens ruina?

This, which, scattered with much dust,
unfolds the long ruins of the portico—
behold how greatly it lies undone by downfall!
For just now Regulus had been borne beneath those roofs
and had withdrawn, when suddenly it was conquered by its own weight, 5
and, after it feared nothing for its lord,
it collapsed, bloodless in its damage, with him secure.
After so great a fear of complaint, Regulus,
who would deny that you are a care of the gods,
because of whom the ruin was innocent? 10

Os et labra tibi lingit, Manneia, catellus:
non miror, merdas si libet esse cani.

A little dog licks your mouth and lips, Manneia:
I do not marvel, if excrement pleases the dog.

Vxorem habendam non putat Quirinalis,
cum uelit habere filios, et inuenit
quo possit istud more: futuit ancillas
domumque et agros implet equitibus uernis.
Pater familiae uerus est Quirinalis. 5

Quirinalis does not think a wife should be had,
though he wants to have sons, and he has found
by what custom he can do that: he fucks the maidservants
and fills house and fields with homeborn equestrians.
Quirinalis is a true paterfamilias. 5

Venderet excultos colles cum praeco facetus
     atque suburbani iugera pulchra soli,
'Errat' ait 'si quis Mario putat esse necesse
     uendere: nil debet, fenerat immo magis.'
'Quae ratio est igitur?' 'Seruos ibi perdidit omnes               5
     et pecus et fructus; non amat inde locum.'
Quis faceret pretium nisi qui sua perdere uellet
     omnia? Sic Mario noxius haeret ager.

While a witty auctioneer was selling cultivated hills
     and the fair acres of suburban soil,
“He is mistaken,” he said, “if anyone thinks it is necessary
     for Marius to sell: he owes nothing; on the contrary, he even lends at interest.”
“What then is the reason?” “There he lost all his slaves              5
     and his cattle and his produce; he does not love the place from that.”
Who would set a price, unless someone who wanted to lose
     all his own? Thus the field, noxious to Marius, sticks fast.

Vicinus meus est manuque tangi
de nostris Nouius potest fenestris.
Quis non inuideat mihi putetque
horis omnibus esse me beatum,
iuncto cui liceat frui sodale? 5
Tam longe est mihi quam Terentianus,
qui nunc Niliacam regit Syenen.
Non conuiuere, nec uidere saltem,
non audire licet, nec urbe tota
quisquam est tam prope tam proculque nobis. 10
Migrandum est mihi longius uel illi.

Novius is my neighbor and can be touched by hand
from our windows.
Who would not envy me and think
that I am blessed at all hours,
to whom it is permitted to enjoy a joined companion? 5
He is as far from me as Terentianus,
who now rules Nilotic Syene.
Not to dine together, nor even to see,
nor to hear is allowed; and in the whole city
no one is so near and so far to us. 10
I must move farther away, or he must.

Vicinus Nouio uel inquilinus
sit, si quis Nouium uidere non uolt.

Let him be Novius’s neighbor or tenant
if anyone does not wish to see Novius.

Ne grauis hesterno fragres, Fescennia, uino,
     pastillos Cosmi luxuriosa uoras.
Ista linunt dentes iantacula, sed nihil obstant,
     extremo ructus cum redit a barathro.
Quid quod olet grauius mixtum diapasmate uirus               5
     atque duplex animae longius exit odor?

Do not reek of yesterday’s wine, Fescennia,
     you luxuriously devour Cosmus’s pastilles.
Those little breakfast-bites smear the teeth, but they do nothing to obstruct,
     when the belch returns from the uttermost abyss.
What of the fact that the taint, mixed with diapasm, smells more rank              5
     and a double odor of the breath goes farther out?

Notas ergo nimis fraudes deprensaque furta
iam tollas et sis ebria simpliciter.

Therefore now remove your too well-known frauds and detected thefts,
and be simply drunk.

Alcime, quem raptum domino crescentibus annis
     Labicana leui caespite uelat humus,
accipe non Pario nutantia pondera saxo,
     quae cineri uanus dat ruitura labor,
sed faciles buxos et opacas palmitis umbras               5
     quaeque uirent lacrimis roscida prata meis
accipe, care puer, nostri monimenta doloris:
     hic tibi perpetuo tempore uiuet honor.
Cum mihi supremos Lachesis perneuerit annos,
     non aliter cineres mando iacere meos.              10

Alcimus, whom, snatched from your master in your growing years,
     the Labican earth veils with light turf,
receive not the nodding weights of Parian stone,
     which a vain labor gives to ash, destined to collapse,
but the easy-growing boxwoods and the shady shades of the vine-shoot,              5
     and the dewy meadows that grow green with my tears—
receive, dear boy, the monuments of our grief:
     here honor for you will live for perpetual time.
When for me Lachesis has spun out my final years,
     I command my ashes to lie no otherwise.              10

Garris in aurem semper omnibus, Cinna,
garrire et illud teste quod licet turba.
Rides in aurem, quereris, arguis, ploras,
cantas in aurem, iudicas, taces, clamas,
adeoque penitus sedit hic tibi morbus, 5
ut saepe in aurem, Cinna, Caesarem laudes.

You gabble in the ear always to everyone, Cinna,
you gabble even what it is permitted to say with the crowd as witness.
You laugh in the ear, you complain, you argue, you weep,
you sing in the ear, you judge, you are silent, you shout,
and so deeply has this disease settled in you, 5
that often in the ear, Cinna, you praise Caesar.

Quod numquam maribus iunctam te, Bassa, uidebam
     quodque tibi moechum fabula nulla dabat,
omne sed officium circa te semper obibat
     turba tui sexus, non adeunte uiro,
esse uidebaris, fateor, Lucretia nobis:              5
     at tu, pro facinus, Bassa, fututor eras.
Inter se geminos audes committere cunnos
     mentiturque uirum prodigiosa Venus.
Commenta es dignum Thebano aenigmate monstrum,
     hic ubi uir non est, ut sit adulterium.              10

Because I never saw you joined to males, Bassa,
     and because no rumor assigned to you an adulterer,
but every service about you was always performed
     by a throng of your own sex, with no man approaching,
you seemed, I confess, to us a Lucretia;              5
     but you—oh, what a crime—Bassa, were a fucker.
You dare to set twin cunts against each other,
     and prodigious Venus counterfeits a man.
You have devised a monster worthy of the Theban riddle—
     here, where there is no man, there is adultery.              10

Cum tua non edas, carpis mea carmina, Laeli.
Carpere uel noli nostra uel ede tua.

Since you do not publish your own, you carp at my poems, Laelius.
Either do not carp at mine, or publish your own.

Saepe mihi queritur non siccis Cestos ocellis,
     tangi se digito, Mamuriane, tuo.
Non opus est digito: totum tibi Ceston habeto,
     si dest nil aliud, Mamuriane, tibi.
Sed si nec focus est nudi nec sponda grabati               5
     nec curtus Chiones Antiopesue calix,
cerea si pendet lumbis et scripta lacerna
     dimidiasque nates Gallica paeda tegit,
pasceris et nigrae solo nidore culinae
     et bibis inmundam cum cane pronus aquam:              10
non culum, neque enim est culus, qui non cacat olim,
     sed fodiam digito qui superest oculum;
nec me zelotypum nec dixeris esse malignum.

Often Cestos complains to me with not-dry little eyes,
     that he is touched by your finger, Mamurianus.
There is no need of a finger: have all of Cestos for yourself,
     if nothing else is lacking to you, Mamurianus.
But if you have neither a hearth nor the frame of a naked pallet              5
     nor a chipped chalice of Chian or Antiopean wine,
if a waxen and inscribed lacerna hangs from your loins
     and a Gallic paeda covers your half-buttocks,
and you are fed on the mere reek of a blackened kitchen
     and you drink unclean water, prone, with a dog:              10
not the ass—for indeed he is not an ass who does not defecate sometime—,
     but I will gouge with my finger the eye which remains;
nor shall you call me jealous nor say that I am malicious.

Denique pedica, Mamuriane, satur.

In the end, bugger him, Mamurianus, till you are sated.

Fabricio iunctus fido requiescit Aquinus,
     qui prior Elysias gaudet adisse domos.
Ara duplex primi testatur munera pili:
     plus tamen est, titulo quod breuiore legis:
'Iunctus uterque sacro laudatae foedere uitae,              5
     famaque quod raro nouit, amicus erat.'

Aquinus, joined with faithful Fabricius, rests,
     who earlier rejoices to have gone to the Elysian homes.
The double altar attests the honors of the primus pilus:
     yet greater is what you read in the briefer title:
'Each was joined by the sacred covenant of a praised life,              5
     and, what fame rarely knows, was a friend.'

Cantasti male, dum fututa es, Aegle.
Iam cantas bene: basianda non es.

You sang badly while you were fucked, Aegle.
Now you sing well: you are not to be kissed.

Quod clamas semper, quod agentibus obstrepis, Aeli,
non facis hoc gratis: accipis, ut taceas.

That you always shout, that you are obstreperous to those doing business, Aelius,
you do not do this gratis: you receive payment so that you may be silent.

Si non molestum est teque non piget, scazon,
nostro rogamus pauca uerba Materno
dicas in aurem sic ut audiat solus.
Amator ille tristium lacernarum
et baeticatus atque leucophaeatus, 5
qui coccinatos non putat uiros esse
amethystinasque mulierum uocat uestes,
natiua laudet, habeat et licet semper
fuscos colores, galbinos habet mores.
Rogabit unde suspicer uirum mollem.

If it is not troublesome and you are not loath, scazon,
we ask that you say a few words to our Maternus
into his ear, so that he alone may hear.
That lover of dreary cloaks
and Baetican-clad and light‑gray‑clad, 5
who does not think the scarlet‑clad are men
and calls amethystine garments women’s clothes,
let him praise the native, and let him, if he likes, always have
dusky colors—he has galbine (yellow‑green) morals.
He will ask whence I suspect the man effeminate.

Vna lauamur: aspicit nihil sursum, 10
sed spectat oculis deuorantibus draucos
nec otiosis mentulas uidet labris.
Quaeris quis hic sit? Excidit mihi nomen.

We bathe together: he looks at nothing upward, 10
but with devouring eyes he stares at the hunks,
nor does he view the penises with idle lips.
You ask who this is? The name has slipped my mind.

Cum clamat omnes, loqueris tunc, Naeuole, tantum,
et te patronum causidicumque putas.
Hac ratione potest nemo non esse disertus.
Ecce, tacent omnes: Naeuole, dic aliquid.

When everyone is shouting, only then, Naevolus, do you speak,
and you suppose yourself a patron and an advocate.
By this method, no one can fail to be eloquent.
Look, all are silent: Naevolus, say something.

Litigat et podagra Diodorus, Flacce, laborat.
Sed nil patrono porrigit: haec cheragra est.

Diodorus litigates and suffers from podagra, Flaccus.
But he extends nothing to his patron: this is hand‑gout.

Non plenum modo uicies habebas,
sed tam prodigus atque liberalis
et tam lautus eras, Calene, ut omnes
optarent tibi centies amici.
Audit uota deus precesque nostras               5
atque intra, puto, septimas Kalendas
mortes hoc tibi quattuor dederunt.
At tu sic quasi non foret relictum,
sed raptum tibi centies, abisti
in tantam miser esuritionem,              10
ut conuiuia sumptusiora,
toto quae semel apparas in anno,
nigrae sordibus explices monetae,
et septem ueteres tui sodales
constemus tibi plumbea selibra.              15

You had not only a full twenty-times,
but were so prodigal and liberal
and so luxurious, Calenus, that all
your friends wished you a hundred-times.
God heard the vows and our prayers, and within, I think, the seventh day before the Kalends, 5
four deaths gave you this.
But you, as if the hundred-times had not been left to you
but snatched from you, went off
into so wretched a hunger,
that the more sumptuous banquets, 10
which you prepare once in the whole year,
you spread out with the grime of black coin,
and we, your seven old comrades,
cost you a lead half‑pound.

Quid dignum meritis precemur istis?
Optamus tibi milies, Calene.
Hoc si contigerit, fame peribis.

What, worthy of such merits, should we pray?
We wish you a thousand times, Calene.
If this befalls, you will perish of famine.

100

Mammas atque tatas habet Afra, sed ipsa tatarum
dici et mammarum maxima mamma potest.

Afra has mammas and tatas, but she herself can be called the tata of tatas,
and the greatest mamma of mammas.

101

Illa manus quondam studiorum fida meorum
     et felix domino notaque Caesaribus,
destituit primos uiridis Demetrius annos:
     quarta tribus lustris addita messis erat.
Ne tamen ad Stygias famulus descenderet umbras,              5
     ureret implicitum cum scelerata lues,
cauimus et domini ius omne remisimus aegro:
     munere dignus erat conualuisse meo.
Sensit deficiens sua praemia meque patronum
dixit ad infernas liber iturus aquas.               10

That hand once faithful to my studies,
     and fortunate for its master and known to the Caesars,
youthful Demetrius broke off his earliest years:
     a fourth harvest had been added to three lustrums.
Yet, so that the servant not descend to the Stygian shades,              5
     when the accursed plague was burning him, caught fast,
we took precautions and remitted all the master’s right over the sick man:
     he was worthy to have recovered by my gift.
Dying, he perceived his rewards, and called me his patron,
saying he would go free to the infernal waters.              10

102

Qui pinxit Venerem tuam, Lycori,
blanditus, puto, pictor est Mineruae.

He who painted your Venus, Lycoris—
flattering, I think—is a painter of Minerva.

103

'Si dederint superi decies mihi milia centum'
     dicebas nondum, Scaeuola, iustus eques,
'qualiter o uiuam, quam large quamque beate!'
     Riserunt faciles et tribuere dei.
Sordidior multo post hoc toga, paenula peior,              5
     calceus est sarta terque quaterque cute:
deque decem plures semper seruantur oliuae,
     explicat et cenas unica mensa duas,
et Veientani bibitur faex crassa rubelli,
     asse cicer tepidum constat et asse Venus.              10
In ius, o fallax atque infitiator, eamus:
     aut uiue aut decies, Scaeuola, redde deis.

'If the gods should give me a million'
     you used to say, not yet a rightful knight, Scaevola,
'how I will live—how large, and how blessed!'
     The easy gods laughed and granted it.
Much filthier after this your toga, your paenula worse,              5
     your shoe is stitched with hide three and four times:
and out of ten olives more are always kept back,
     and a single table spreads two dinners,
and the thick dregs of rather ruddy Veientane is drunk,
     tepid chickpea costs an as, and at an as, Venus.              10
Into court, O deceitful one and denier, let us go:
     either live—or pay the gods their million, Scaevola.

104

Picto quod iuga delicata collo
pardus sustinet inprobaeque tigres
indulgent patientiam flagello,
mordent aurea quod lupata cerui,
quod frenis Libyci domantur ursi               5
et, quantum Calydon tulisse fertur,
paret purpureis aper capistris,
turpes esseda quod trahunt uisontes
et molles dare iussa quod choreas
nigro belua non negat magistro:              10
quis spectacula non putet deorum?
Haec transit tamen, ut minora, quisquis
uenatus humiles uidet leonum,
quos uelox leporum timor fatigat.
Dimittunt, repetunt, amantque captos,              15

That the leopard sustains delicate yokes upon a painted neck,
that shameless tigers indulge patience to the lash,
that stags bite golden wolf‑toothed curb‑bits,
that Libyan bears are tamed by reins,              5
and that, as great as Calydon is said to have borne,
the boar obeys purple halters,
that unsightly wisents draw chariots,
and that, ordered to give soft dances,
the beast does not refuse a black master:              10
who would not think these spectacles of the gods?
Yet one passes these by, as lesser things, whoever
beholds the lowly hunts of lions,
whom the swift fear of hares wearies.
They let go, they take back, and they love their captives.              15

et securior est in ore praeda,
laxos cui dare peruiosque rictus
gaudent et timidos tenere dentes,
mollem frangere dum pudet rapinam,
cum modo uenerint iuuencis.stratis 20
Haec clementia non paratur arte,
sed norunt cui seruiant leones.

and the prey is more secure in the mouth,
to which to grant lax and pervious gapes
they rejoice, and to keep their teeth timid,
while they are ashamed to break tender prey,
when just now they have come with the young bulls.laid low 20
This clemency is not prepared by art,
but the lions know whom they serve.

105

In Nomentanis, Ouidi, quod nascitur aruis,
accepit quotiens tempora longa, merum
exuit annosa mores nomenque senecta:
et quidquid uoluit, testa uocatur anus.

In the Nomentan fields, Ovid, what is born,
whenever it has taken on long seasons, the pure wine
casts off, with year-laden senectitude, its character and its name:
and whatever it has wished, the old jar is called.

106

Interponis aquam subinde, Rufe,
et si cogeris a sodale, raram
diluti bibis unciam Falerni.
Numquid pollicita est tibi beatam
noctem Naeuia sobriasque mauis 5
certae nequitias fututionis?
Suspiras, retices, gemis: negauit.

You keep interposing water again and again, Rufus,
and even if you are compelled by a companion, you drink a scant
ounce of diluted Falernian.
Has Naevia promised you a blessed
night, and do you prefer the sober naughtiness of sure copulation? 5
You sigh, keep silent, groan: she refused.

Crebros ergo licet bibas trientes
et durum iugules mero dolorem.
Quid parcis tibi, Rufe? dormiendum est. 10

Therefore, even if you drink frequent third‑cups (trients)
and jugulate the hard pain with neat wine.
Why do you spare yourself, Rufus? One must sleep. 10

107

Saepe mihi dicis, Luci carissime Iuli,
     'scribe aliquid magnum: desidiosus homo es.'
Otia da nobis, sed qualia fecerat olim
     Maecenas Flacco Vergilioque suo:
condere uicturas temptem per saecula curas               5
     et nomen flammis eripuisse meum.
In steriles nolunt campos iuga ferre iuuenci:
     pingue solum lassat, sed iuuat ipse labor.

Often you say to me, dearest Lucius Julius,
     'write something great: you are an idle man.'
Grant us leisures, but such as Maecenas once provided
     for his Flaccus and his Vergil:
let me attempt to found cares that will live through the ages,              5
     and to have snatched my name from the flames.
Young bullocks do not wish to bear yokes into sterile fields:
     rich soil wearies, but the labor itself delights.

108

Est tibi — sitque precor multos crescatque per annos —
     pulchra quidem, uerum Transtiberina domus:
at mea Vipsanas spectant cenacula laurus,
     factus in hac ego sum iam regione senex.
Migrandum est, ut mane domi te, Galle, salutem:              5
     est tanti, uel si longius illa foret.
Sed tibi non multum est unum si praesto togatum:
     multum est, hunc unum si mihi, Galle, nego.

You have—and may it be, I pray, and grow through many years—
     a house fair indeed, yet Trans-Tiberine:
but my upper rooms look toward the Vipsanian laurels,
     and in this quarter I have already grown old.
I must move, so that in the morning I may salute you at home, Gallus:              5
     it is worth it, even if it were farther.
But to you it is not much if one toga-clad man is in attendance:
     it is much, if I, Gallus, deny myself this one.

Ipse salutabo decuma te saepius hora:
mane tibi pro me dicet hauere liber. 10

I myself will salute you more often at the tenth hour:
in the morning the book will say 'hail' to you on my behalf. 10

109

Issa est passere nequior Catulli,
Issa est purior osculo columbae,
Issa est blandior omnibus puellis,
Issa est carior Indicis lapillis,
Issa est deliciae catella Publi.              5
Hanc tu, si queritur, loqui putabis;
sentit tristitiamque gaudiumque.
Collo nixa cubat capitque somnos,
ut suspiria nulla sentiantur;
et desiderio coacta uentris               10
gutta pallia non fefellit ulla,
sed blando pede suscitat toroque
deponi monet et rogat leuari.
Castae tantus inest pudor catellae,
ignorat Venerem; nec inuenimus               15

Issa is naughtier than Catullus’s sparrow,
Issa is purer than a dove’s kiss,
Issa is more winning than all maidens,
Issa is dearer than Indian gems,
Issa is the darling puppy of Publius.              5
You will think that she speaks, if she complains;
she feels both sadness and joy.
Leaning on the neck she lies and takes sleep,
so that no sighs are perceived;
and, compelled by the need of the belly               10
no drop has deceived the coverlets,
but with a coaxing paw she rouses and from the couch
admonishes to be set down and begs to be relieved.
So great a modesty is in the chaste little dog,
she knows not Venus; nor do we find               15

dignum tam tenera uirum puella.
Hanc ne lux rapiat suprema totam,
picta Publius exprimit tabella,
in qua tam similem uidebis Issam,
ut sit tam similis sibi nec ipsa. 20
Issam denique pone cum tabella:
aut utramque putabis esse ueram,
aut utramque putabis esse pictam.

a man worthy of so tender a girl.
Lest the last light seize her entirely,
Publius expresses her in a painted tablet,
in which you will see Issa so similar,
that not even she herself is so similar to herself. 20
Finally place Issa beside the tablet:
you will think either both are real,
or you will think both are painted.

110

Scribere me quereris, Velox, epigrammata longa.
Ipse nihil scribis: tu breuiora facis.

You complain that I write long epigrams, Velox.
You yourself write nothing: you make shorter ones.

111

Cum tibi sit sophia par fama et cura deorum,
ingenio pietas nec minor ipsa tuo:
ignorat meritis dare munera, qui tibi librum
et qui mitatur, Regule, tura dari.

Since for you wisdom is on a par with your fame and with the care of the gods,
and piety itself is no less than your genius:

he does not know how to give gifts to match merits, who to you a book
gives, Regulus, and who has incense sent to be given.

112

Cum te non nossem, dominum regemque uocabam;
nunc bene te noui: iam mihi Priscus eris.

When I did not know you, I was calling you lord and king;
now I know you well: now you will be Priscus to me.

113

Quaecumque lusi iuuenis et puer quodam
apinasque nostras, quas nec ipse iam noui,
male conlocare si bonas uoles horas
et inuidebis otio tuo, lector,
a Valeriano Pollio petes Quinto, 5
per quem perire non licet meis nugis.

Whatever I played as a young man and once as a boy,
and our antics, which not even I myself now know,
if you will wish to mis-spend your good hours
and will begrudge your own leisure, reader,
you will ask from Quintus Valerianus Pollio, 5
by whom it is not permitted for my trifles to perish

114

Hos tibi uicinos, Faustine, Telesphorus hortos
     Faenius et breue rus udaque prata tenet.
Condidit hic natae cineres nomenque sacrauit
     quod legis Antullae, dignior ipse legi.
Ad Stygias aequum fuerat pater isset ut umbras:              5
     quod quia non licuit, uiuat, ut ossa colat.

These gardens neighboring to you, Faustinus, Faenius Telesphorus holds,
     a little estate and dewy meadows as well.
Here he interred his daughter’s ashes and consecrated the name
     which you read, of Antulla—he himself more worthy to be read.
It would have been just that the father should have gone to the Stygian shades:              5
     since that was not permitted, let him live, that he may tend the bones.

115

Quaedam me cupit,— inuide, Procille!—
loto candidior puella cycno,
argento, niue, lilio, ligustro:
sed quandam uolo nocte nigriorem,
formica, pice, graculo, cicada. 5
Iam suspendia saeua cogitabas:
si noui bene te, Procille, uiues.

A certain girl wants me,—be envious, Procillus!—
a girl whiter than a bathed swan,
than silver, snow, lily, privet:
but I want one darker than night,
than an ant, pitch, a jackdaw, a cicada. 5
Already you were pondering savage hangings:
if I know you well, Procillus, you will live.

116

Hoc nemus aeterno cinerum sacrauit honori
     Faenius et culti iugera pulchra soli.
Hoc tegitur cito rapta suis Antulla sepulcro,
     hoc erit Antullae mixtus uterque parens.
Si cupit hunc aliquis, moneo, ne speret agellum:              5
     perpetuo dominis seruiet iste suis.

This grove has been consecrated to the eternal honor of ashes
     by Faenius, and the fair acres of cultivated soil.
Here Antulla, swiftly snatched from her own, is covered by a sepulcher;
     here each parent will be mingled with Antulla.
If anyone desires this little plot, I warn him: let him not hope for it;              5
     perpetually it will serve its own masters.

117

Occurris quotiens, Luperce, nobis,
'Vis mittam puerum' subinde dicis,
'cui tradas epigrammaton libellum,
lectum quem tibi protinus remittam?'
Non est quod puerum, Luperce, uexes. 5
Longum est, si uelit ad Pirum uenire,
et scalis habito tribus, sed altis.
Quod quaeris propius petas licebit.
Argi nempe soles subire Letum:
contra Caesaris est forum taberna 10
scriptis postibus hinc et inde totis,
omnis ut cito perlegas poetas:
illinc me pete.

Whenever you run into me, Lupercus,
you keep saying, "Shall I send a boy,
to whom you may hand over the little book of epigrams,
which, once read, I will send back to you at once?"
There is no reason to trouble the boy, Lupercus. 5
It’s a long way, if he wants to come to the Pear-tree,
and I live up three flights of stairs, but high ones.
What you seek you may ask for closer by.
You are, to be sure, accustomed to go along the Argiletum:
opposite Caesar’s Forum there is a bookshop 10
with its doorposts written over on both sides entirely,
so that you may quickly read through all the poets:
from there, ask for me.

+Nec+ roges Atrectum —
hoc nomen dominus gerit tabernae —;
de primo dabit alteroue nido 15

+Nor+ ask for Atrectus —
this is the name the master of the shop bears —;
from the first or from the other pigeonhole he will give it 15

rasum pumice purpuraque cultum
denaris tibi quinque Martialem.
'Tanti non es' ais? Sapis, Luperce.

pumice-polished and adorned with purple,
a Martial for five denarii for you.
'You are not worth so much,' you say? You are wise, Luperce.

118

Cui legisse satis non est epigrammata centum,
nil illi satis est, Caediciane, mali.

For whom it is not enough to have read a hundred epigrams,
no amount of ill is enough for that man, Caedicianus.