If worms and decay must needs be thy lot, my sheet, begin to perish under my verses first. “Rather,” thou sayest, “the worms.” Wisely, my woeful little book, dost thou choose to endure the lesser evil. But I like not to lose the leisure given to the wasteful Muse, who causes loss of slimmer and lamp-oil too. “It had been better to sleep than to lose both slumber and oil.” Well said: but this is my reason for it. I am angry with Proculus 1 whose eloquenee is equal to his rank. He has written reams, but keeps all close. On him I long to be avenged, and a poet has vengeance ready to hand: let him who publishes not his own verse read mine. For him is it to decide whether to bid thee keep thy youth with cedar oil,2 or to be food for cruel worms. To him I commit all that I have to show for my inglorious leisure, either to scan what I shall give him or to ban it. EPIGRAMS ON VARIOUS MATTERS
SI tineas cariemque pati te, charta, necesse est,incipe versiculis ante perire meis.“malo, inquis, tineis.” sapis, aerumnose libelle,perfungi mavis quod leviore malo.ast ego damnosae nolo otia perdere Musae,iacturam somni quae parit atque olei.“utilius dormire fuit, quam perdere somnum”“atque oleum.” bene ais: causa sed ista mihi est:irascor Proculo, cuius facundia tanta est,quantus honos, scripsit plurima, quae cohibet.hune studeo ulcisci; et prompta est ultio vati:qui sua non edit carmina, nostra legat,huius in arbitrio est, seu te invenescere cedro,seu iubeat duris vermibus esse cibum,huic ego. quod nobis superest ignobilis oti,deputo, sive legat, quae dabo, sive tegat.
'TIS said that Agathocles 1 when king dined off earthen plates and that his sideboard oft bare a load of Samian ware, whereas he used to lay his rustic trays with jewelled cups, thus mingling wealth and poverty together. To one who asked his reason he replied: “I, who am king of Sicily, was born a potter's son.” Bear good fortune modestly, whoe'er thou art who from a lowly place shall rise suddenly to riches.
FAMA est fictilibus cenasse Agathoclea regematque abacum Samio saepe onerasse luto,fereula geminatis cum poneret horrida 1 vasiset miseeret opes pauperiemque simul,quaerenti causam respondit: “Rex ego qui sum ”“Sicaniae, figulo sum genitore satus.”fortunam reverenter habe, quicumque repentedives ab exili progrediere loco.
A FAITHLESS wife gave poison to her jealous spouse, but believed that not enough was given to cause death. She added quicksilver of deadly weight, that the poison's redoubled strength might force on a speedy end. If one keep these apart, separate they act as poison; whoso shall drink them together, will take an antidote. Therefore while these baleful draughts strove with each other, the deadly force yielded to the wholesome. Forthwith they sought the void recesses of the belly by the accustomed easy path for swallowed food. Mark well the loving kindness of the gods! A wife too ruthless is a gain, and, when the Fates will, two poisons work for good.
TOXICA zelotypo dedit uxor moecha marito,nec satis ad mortem credidit esse datum,miscuit argenti letalia pondera vivi,cogeret ut celerem vis geminata necem,dividat haec si quis, faciunt discreta venenum;antidotum sumet, qui sociata bibet,ergo inter sese dum noxia pocula certant,cessit letalis noxa salutiferae.protinus et vacuos alvi petiere recessus,lubrica deiectis qua via nota cibis,quam pia cura deum! prodest crudelior uxor:et, cum fata volunt, bina venena iuvant.
EUNOMUS had once pronounced that Gains would die of his sickness. He slipped away, Fate—not the doctor—aiding. A little afterwards the doctor saw, or thought he saw, the man, pale, and in death's very likeness. “Who art thou?” he asked. “Gaius,” he answered. “Art thou alive?” He answered “No.” “And what now dost thou here?” “I come,” said he, “at the behest of Dis, because I still retained knowledge of the world and men, to summon to him doctors.” Eunomus grew stiff with fright. Then Gaius: “Fear nothing, Eunomus: I said, as all men say, that no man who is wise calls you a doctor.”
LANGUENTEM Gaium moriturum dixerat olimEunomus. evasit fati ope, non medici.paulo post ipsum videt, aut vidisse putavit,pallentem et multa mortis in effigie.“Quis tu?” “Gaius,” ait. “Vivisne?” hic abnuit. “Et quidnunc agis hic?” “Missu Ditis, ait, venio,ut, quia notitiam rerumque hominumque tenerem,accirem medicos.” Eunomus obriguit.tum Gaius: “Metuas nihil, Eunome. dixi ego et omnes,nullum, qui saperet, dicere te medicum.”
WHELPS' barking, horses' neighing thou dost copy, and imitate the bleating of herds of goats and woolly flocks, and a man would say asses were braying, when thou, Marcus, wouldst mimic the Arcadian herd.1 The cock's crow, the raven's throaty caw and whatever cry is uttered by beast or bird—though these thou canst imitate so naturally that no one believes them feigned, thou canst not command the sound of the human voice.
LATRATUS catulorum, hinnitus fingis equorum,caprigenumque pecus lanigerosque gregeshabitu adsimulas; asinos quoque rudere dicas,cum vis Arcadicum fingere, Marce, pecus,gallorum cantus et ovantes gutture corvoset quidquid vocum belua et ales habet,omnia cum simules ita vere. ut ficta negentur.non potes humanae vocis habere sonum.
HOW can a master speak a word correctly who cannot utter his own name without mistake? “Auxilium” 2 (a help) callest thou thyself forsooth, ignorant usher? Give the nominative: straightway thou wilt be a solecism!
EMENDATA potest quaenam vox esse magistri,nomen qui proprium cum vitio loquitur?auxilium te nempe vocas, inseite magister?da rectum casum: iam solicismus eris.
BECAUSE with purchased books thy library is crammed, dost think thyself a learned man and scholarly, Philomusus? After this sort thou will lay up strings, keys, and lyres, and, having purchased all, to-morrow thou wilt be a musician.
EMPTIS quod libris tibi bibliotheca referta est,doctum et grammaticum te, Philomuse, putas?hoc genere et chordas et plectra et barbita condes:omnia mercatus eras citharoedus eris.
REMINISCO, 1 wrote Rufus in his verse: so then the verse—nay, Rufus—has no cor (wit).
“reminisco” Rufus dixit in versu suo:cor ergo versus, immo Rufus, non habet.
THIS is a statue of Rufus the Rhetorician; nothing more life-like: 'tis the man himself, so much lacks it tongue and brain. 'Tis stiff and dumb and sees not: in these points it tallies. One single point of difference is there—he was a little softer.
RUETORIS haec Rufi statua est: nil verius: ipse est,ipse, adeo linguam non habet et cerebrum.et riget et surda est et non videt: haec sibi constant;unum dissimile est: mollior ille fuit.
“WITH lips so fair and lips so dumb, wouldst know who I am?” “I would.” “I am a figure of Rufus the Pictavian rhetorician.” “Nay, I would have the rhetorician tell me this himself.” “He cannot.” “Why?” “The real rhetorician is an image of this image.”
“ORE pulero, et ore muto, scire vis quae sim?” “Volo.”“Imago Rufi rhetoris Pictavici.”“Diceret set ipse, vellem, rhetor hoc mi.” “Non potest.”“Cur?” “Ipse rhetor est imago imaginis.”
“IS this a statue of Rufus the rhetorician?” “If 'tis of stone, 'tis Rufus's.” “Why sayest thou so?” “Rufus himself Mas always made of stone.” VOL. II M
“RHETORIS haec Rufi statua est?” “Si saxea, Rufi.”“Cur id ais?” “Semper saxeus ipse fuit.”
WHO painted thee, Rufus, tongue-tied, in the likeness of a speaking man? Tell me, Rufus. Thou art silent? Nothing is more like you.
ELINGUEM quis te dicentis imagine pinxit?dic mihi, Rufe. taces? nil tibi tam simile est.
“THIS is a picture of Rufus.” “Nothing more lifelike. Where is Rufus himself?” “In his chair.” “What is he doing?” “The same as in the picture.”
“HAEC Rufi tabula est.” “Nil verius. ipse nbi Rufus?”“In eathedra.” “Quid agit?” “Hoc, quod et in tabula.”
HE MEANT TO HANG HIMSELF (FROM THE GREEK) 2 HE who was knotting a halter for his own neck, found gold and buried the halter in the treasure's place. But he who had hidden the gold, not finding it, fitted about his neck the halter which he found.
LAQUEO VELLET SUSPENDERE ⟨ex Graeco⟩QUI laqueum collo nectebat, repperit aurumthesaurique loco deposuit laqueum.at qui condiderat, postquam non repperit aurum,aptavit collo quem repetit laqueum.
The beginning is half the whole.3 BEGIN: to have commenced is half the deed. Half yet remains: begin again on this and thou wilt finish all.
ἀρχὴ δέ τοι ἥμιδυ παντόσINCIPE: dimidium facti est coepisse, superfitdimidium: rursum hoc incipe et efficies.
“Favours slow-fooled are unfavoured favours.” FAVOURS which tarry meet small favour. For a favour when it hastes to be performed, is a favour more favoured.5
ὑ χάρισ βραδύπουσ ἄχαρισ χάρισGRATIA, quae tarda est, ingrata est. gratia namquecum fieri properat, gratia grata magis.
IF thou doest aught good, do it quickly. For what is done quickly will be acceptable. Favours slow granted are unfavourably received.
SI bene quid facias, facias, cito. nam cito factumgratum erit. ingratum gratia tarda facit.
AS CAPANEUS A HAPPY chance combined with a fault in skill: a tumbler, dancing the part of Capaneus, fell to the ground.1
DECEPTAE felix casus se miscuit arti:histrio, saltabat qui Capanea, ruit.
Dodra 2 (“nines”) is from dodrans (nine-twelfths). Thus compound: broth, Mater. Mine, salt, oil, bread, honey, pepper, herbs: there's nine!
DODRA ex dodrante est. sic collige: ius, aqua, vinum,sal, oleum, panis, mel, piper, herba: novem.
“I AM called dodra.” “Why so?” “1 am made of nine ingredients.” “What are they?” “Broth, water, honey, Mine, bread, pepper, herbs, oil, salt.”
“DODRA vocor.” “Quae causa?” “Novem species gero.” “Quae sunt?”“Ius. aqua. mel, vinum, panis, piper, herba, oleum. sal.”
I, dodra, brew and number both, contain honey, wine, oil, bread, salt, herbs, broth, water, pepper.
Δόδρα ποτὸν καὶ ἀρτθμός, ἔλω μέλι, οἶνον, ἔλαιον.ἄρτου, ἅλας. βοτάνην, ξωμόν. ὕδωρ, πέπερι.
“I LOVE one girl who hates me. and again another who loves me I hate. Settle the trouble between us, sweet Venus, if thou canst.” “Right easily will I: I will change thy leanings and thy loves; the one shall hate, the other love.” “Again I shall suffer the same fate.” “Wouldst love them both?” “If both should love me, I would.” “Bestow this, Mareus, on thyself: to be beloved, love.”
“HANC amo quae me odit. contra illam quae me amat, odi.compone inter nos, si potes, alma Venus!”“Perfacile id faciam: mores mutabo et amores;oderit haec, amet haec.” “Rursus idem patiar.”“Vis ambas ut ames?” “Si diligat utraque, vellem.”“Hoc tibi tu praesta, Marce: ut amens, ama.”
“LO, Venus, thou hast persuaded me to love two girls, a luckless lover. Each hates me: give me another counsel now.” “Overcome both with gifts.” “Fain would I: but scant is my store at home.” “Tempt them with promises.” “A poor man has no credit.” “Swear by the gods.” “But 'twere a sin to deceive the gods.” “Keep watch before their doors.” “I fear to be caught at night.” “Write sonnets.” “I cannot, having no skill of the Muses and Apollo.” “Break down their doors.” “I fear the legal penalties.” “Fool, thou dost let thyself be killed by love: wouldst thou not die for love?” “I would rather be called poor fellow than poor prisoner.” “I have advised thee all I can: now take others' counsel.” “Tell me whose?” “Phaedra and Elissa will give the advice they gave themselves, Canace, too, and Phyllis, and she whom Phaon scorned.” “Do you give this counsel? Such is given to the unhappy!”
“SUASISTI, Venus, ecce, duas dyseros ut amarem.odit utraque: aliud da modo consilium.”“Vince datis ambas.” “Cupio: verum arta domi res.”“Pelliee promissis.” “Nulla fides inopi.”“Antestare deos.” “Nec fas mihi fallere divos.”“Pervigila ante fores.” “Nocte capi metuo.”“Scribe elegos.” “Nequeo, Musarum et Apollinis expers.”“Frange fores.” “Poenas iudicii metuo.”“Stulte, ab amore mori pateris: non vis ob amorem?”“Malo miser dici, quam miser atque reus.”“Suasi, quod potui: tu alios modo consule.” “Dic quos?”“Quod sibi suaserunt, Phaedra et Elissa dabunt,quod Canace Phyllisque et fastidita Phaoni.” 1“Hoc das consilium? tale datur miseris.”
BREAK IN PIECES A HUMAN SKULL. THE bare skull of an unburied man lay cast away where three roads met—a bald thing now stripped of skin. Other men wept: by weeping all unmoved. Achilas even struck and cleft it with a stone. And so the avenging stone, glancing from the skull, flew back and caught the face and eyes of him who threw it. So may an impious hand ever aim it* deadly blows, that the weapon may rebound and smite the wielder.
ANIECTA in triviis inhumati glabra iaccbattesta hominis, nudum iam cute calvitium.fleverunt alii: fletu non motus Aehilas,insuper et silicis verbere dissicuit.eminus ergo icto rediit lapis ultor ab osseauctorisque sui frontem oculosque petit,sic utinam certos manus impia dirigat ictus,auctorem ut feriant tela retorta suum.II
HERE is what thou mayest read at morn, here also what at eve; I have mingled grave with gay, each to give pleasure at its season. Life wears not one hue, nor has my verse one reader only; each page has its due season; mitred Venus approves this, helmed Minerva that; the Stoic loves this part, Epicurus that. So long as the code of ancient maimers remains by me unbroken, let the grave Muse applaud at lawful jests.
EST quod mane legas, est et quod vespere; laetisseria miscuimus, tempore uti placeant,non unus vitae color est nec carminis unuslector; habet tempus pagina quaeque suum;hoc mitrata Venus, probat hoc galeata Minerva;Stoicus has partes, has Epicurus amat;salva mihi veterum maneat dum regula morum,plaudat permissis sobria musa iocis.
PHOEBUS, thou lord of song and thou, Tritonia, queen of war, thou also, Victory, down-swooping in dizzy flight, deck with a two-fold diadem an unknitted brow 2: bring garlands, those which are gifts in peace, those which are prizes in fight. Mighty in war and eloquence, Augustus 3 doubly wins renown, so that he claims a two-fold title, since by the Muses' aid he allays wars and by Apollo's restrains the Getie Mars. 'Midst arms and Huns ferocious and Sauromatae dangerous in stealth, whatever rest he has from hours of war, in camp he lavishes it all upon the Clarian 1 Muses. Scarce has he laid aside his swift arrows, those whirring darts: 'tis to the Muses' shafts he turns his hand, repose he knows not, and setting the reed to new employ essays a song: yet 'tis a song not soft of strain; the frightful wars of Odrysian Mars and the prowess of the Thracian warrior-maid he treats anew. Rejoice, thou son of Aeacus! Thou art sung once more by a lofty bard and thou art blessed with a Roman Homer.2
PHOEBE potens numeris, praeses Tritonia bellis,tu quoque ab aerio praepes Victoria lapsu,come serenatum duplici diademate frontemserta ferens, quae dona togae, quae praemia pugnae,bellandi fandique potens Augustus honoiembis meret, ut geminet titulos, qui proelia Musistemperat et Getieum moderatur Apolline Martem.arma inter Chunosque truces furtoque nocentesSauromatas, quantum cessat de tempore belli,indulget Clariis tantum inter castra Camenis.vix posuit volucres stridentia tela sagittas:Musarum ad calamos fertur manus, otia nescitet commutata meditatur arundine carmen:sed carmen non molle modis; bella horrida MartisOdrysii Thraessaeque viraginis arma retractat.exulta, Aeacide: celebrans vate superborursum Romanusque tibi contingit Homerus.
THE beast which knows not how to yield when pierced with the broad steel, but hurls itself upon the gory spear of a full-armed man, how marvellous the death it surfers from a tiny wound, showing that on the hand alone death's might depends. Men wonder at swift disasters and sudden downfalls …..........and not content to drive its deadly course through the stricken limbs, a single arrow deals two deaths at once. If full many deaths come from one lightning stroke, these wounds also thou mayest deem sent from heaven.
Cedere quae lato nescit fera saucia ferroarmatique urget tela cruenta viri,quam grandes parvo patitur sub vulnere morteset solam leti vim probat esse manum!mirantur casusque novos subitasque ruinas:nec contenta ictos letaliter ire per artus,coniungit mortes una sagitta duas.plurima communi pereunt si fulminis ictu,haec quoque de caelo vulnera missa putes.
LORD among streams of Illyricum, next to thee in greatness, O Nile, I, Danube, from my source put forth my head in joy. I bid the Emperors hail, father and son,1 whom I have nurtured amid the sword-wearing Pannonians. As herald to the Euxine Sea even now I long to speed, that Valens, who is Heaven's next care, may learn of this—that with slaughter, flight, and fire the Swabians 2 are hurled to destruction, and Rhine no longer is accounted the frontier of Gaul. But if at the sea's behest my stream should flow backwards may I hither bring from there news that the Goths are vanquished.
Illyricis regnator aquis, tibi, Nile, secundusDanuvius laetum pro fero fonte caput.salvere Augustus iubeo, natumque patremque,armiferis alvi quos ego Pannoniis.nuntius Euxiuo iam nunc volo currere ponto,ut sciat hoc superum cura secunda Valens,caede, fuga, flammis stratos periisse Suebosnec Rhenum Gallis limitis esse loco.quod si lege maris refluus mihi curreret amnis.huc possem victos inde referre Gothos.
MARBLE STATUE Now we have made thee of marble, as our means afford: but when thine Emperor-brother is returned, he thou of gold.3
NUNC te marmoreum pro sumptu fecimus: at cumAugustus frater remeaverit, aureus esto.
The death which the lion suffers through so frail a reed is due, not to the weapon's power, but to the wielder's.
GRATIANO OCCISIS ESTQuod leo tam tenui patitur sub harundine letum,non vires ferri, sed ferientis agunt.
OF THE EMPEROR VALENTINIAN I, DANUBE, whose head was once concealed in lands remote, now How at full length under your sway: where 'midst the Suebi I pour forth my chill source, where I divide the Pannonias pregnant with empire,1 and where with wealth of waters I open my mouth to the Scythian sea, all my streams I cause to pass beneath your Roman yoke. To Augustus shall the chief palm be given, but the next to Valens: lie too shall find out sources—even thine, O Nile.
AUGUSTIDANUNIUS penitis caput occultatus in oristotus sub vestra iam dicione fluo:qua gelidum fontem mediis effundo Suebis,imperiis gravidas qua seco Pannonias,et qua dives aquis Scythico solvo ostia ponto, 5omnia sub vestrum flumina mitto iugum.Augusto dabitur sed proxima palma Valenti:inveniet fontes hic quoque, Nile, tuos.
Fond painter, why dost thou essay to limn my face, and vex a goddess whom eyes never saw? I am the daughter of Air and Speech, mother of empty utterance, in that I have a voice without a mind. From their dying close I bring back failing strains and in mimicry repeat the words of strangers with my own. I am Echo, dwelling in the recesses of your ears: and if thou wouldst paint my likeness, paint sound.
Vane, quid adfectus faciem mihi ponere, pictor,ignotamque oculis sollicitare deam?Aeris et Linguae sum filia, mater inanisindicii, vocem quae sine mente gero.extremos pereunte modos a fine reducens,ludificata sequor verba aliena meis.auribus in vestris habito penetrabilis Echo:et, si vis similem pingere, pinge sonum.
“Whose work art thou?” “Pheidias's: his who made Pallas' statue, who made Jove's: his third masterpiece am I. I am a goddess seldom found and known to few, Opportunity my name.” “Why stand'st thou on a wheel?” “I cannot stand still.” “Why wearest thou winged sandals?” “I am ever flying. The gifts which Mercury scatters at random I bestow when I will.” “Thou coverest thy face with thy hair.” “I would not be recognised.” “But—what!—art thou bald at the back of thy head?” “That none may catch me as 1 flee.” “Who is she who bears thee company?” “Let her tell thee.” “Tell me, I beg, who thou art.” “I am a goddess to whom not even Cicero himself gave a name. I am a goddess who exacts penalties for what is done and what undone, to cause repentance. So I am called Metanoea.1" " Do thou 2 now tell me what does she along with thee?” “When I have flown away she remains: she is retained by those I have passed by. Thou also whilst thou keepest asking, whilst thou tarriest with questioning wilt say that I have slipped away out of thy hands.”
Cuius opus? Phidiae: qui signum Pallados, eiusquique Iovem fecit; tertia palma ego sum. sumdea quae rara et paucis occasio nota.quid rotulae insistis? stare loco nequeo,quid talaria habes? volucris sum. Mercurius quaefortunare solet, trado ego, cum volui,crine tegis faciem, cognosci nolo. sed heus tuoccipiti calvo es? ne tenear fugiens,quae tibi iuncta comes? dicat tibi. dic rogo, quae sis.sum dea, cui nomen nec Cicero ipse dedit.sum dea, quae factique et non facti exigo poenas,nempe ut paeniteat, sic METANOEA vocor.tu modo dic, quid agat tecum, quandoque volavi,haec manet; hanc retinent, quos ego praeterii.tu quoque dum rogitas, dum percontando moraris, 15elapsam dices me tibi de manibus.
I USED to say to thee: “Galla, we grow old, Time Hies away, enjoy thy life: a chaste girl is an old woman.” Thou didst scorn my warning. Age has crept upon thee unperceived, nor canst thou call back the days that are gone. Now thou art sorry and dost lament, either because then thou wert disinclined, or because now thou hast not that former beauty. Yet give me thine embrace and share forgotten joys with me. Give: I will take, albeit not what I would, yet what I once would.
DICEBAM tibi: “Galla, senescimus; effugit aetas,utere rene tuo: casta puella anus est.”sprevisti. obrepsit non intellecta senectusnec revocare potes, qui periere, dies.nunc piget et querens, quod non aut ista voluntastunc fuit, aut non est nunc ea forma tibi.da tamen amplexus oblitaque gaudia iungeda: fruar, et si non quod volo, quod volui.
ONCE on the strand of Sicily a sea-dog snapped up a hare speeding before the hounds. Then said the hare: “Against me both sea and land direct their ravages, perchance heaven also; since there is a Dog among the stars.”
TRINACUM quondam currentem in litoris oraante canes leporem caeruleus rapuit,at lepus: “In me omnis terrae pelagique rapina est,forsitan et caeli; si canis astra tenet.”
AS lazy a scribe as a sluggish runner, thou, Pergamus, didst run away and wert caught at the first lap. Therefore thou hast felt letters 1 branded, Pergamus, upon thy face, and those which thy right hand neglected thy brow endures.
CAPTUS FUERNTTAM segnis scriptor, quam lentus, Pergame, cursor,fugisti et primo captus es in stadio.ergo notas scripto tolerasti, Pergame, vultuet quas neglexit dextera, frons patitur.
PERGAMUS, when thou wast punished't was not just thy brow should bear the penalty which thy slow hands earned. Nay, do thou, their master, control thy errant limbs: it is unfair to torment those not really guilty. Either mark that right hand which will not make a mark, or shackle those errant feet with an iron weight.
PERGAME, non recte punitus fronte subistisupplicium, lentae quod meruere manus.at tu, qui dominus, peccantia membra coherce:iniustum falsos excruciare reos.aut inscribe istam, quae non vult scribere, dextram,aut profugos ferri pondere nocte pedes.
HOAR-HEADED Myron asked Lais for an assignation, and was refused outright: he understood the cause, and dyed his white poll with black soot. In face— though not in hair—the selfsame Myron, he begged what he had begged before. But she, contrasting his features with his hair, and thinking him like, though not the same (perchance even thinking him the same, but wishing to enjoy the jest), thus addressed the artful gallant: “Fool, why askest thou what I have refused? I have already rejected thy father.”
CANUS rogabat Laidis noctem Myron:tulit repulsam protinuscausamque sensit et caput fuliginefucavit atra candidum,idemque vultu, crine non idem Myronorabat oratum prius,sed illa formam cum capillo comparatissimilemque, non ipsum, rata(fortasse et ipsum, sed volens ludo frui)sic est adorta callidum:“Inepte, quid me, quod recusari, rogas?patri negavi iam tuo.”
OF Lais and Glyeera, ladies of naughty fame, whene'er my wife read in my verse, she said 1 did but play and feign strange loves in jest. Such is her confidence in my integrity.
EIUS UXORLAIDAS et Glyceras, lascivae nomina famae.coniunx in nostro carmine eum legeret,ludere me dixit falsoque in amore iocari.tanta illi nostra est de probitate fides.
DEAR wife, as we have lived, so let us live and keep the names we took when first we wedded: let no day ever make us change in lapse of time; but I will be thy “Lad” still and thou wilt be my “Lass.” Though I should outlive Nestor, and thou too shouldst outstrip Deiphobe of Cumae 1 in rivalry of years, let us refuse to know the meaning of ripe age. Better to know Time's worth than count his years.
UXOR, vivamus quod viximus, et teneamusnomina, quae primo sumpsimus in thalamo:nec ferat ulla dies, ut commutemur in aevo;quin tibi sim iuvenis tuque puella mihi.Nestore sim quamvis provectior aemulaque annisvincas Cumauam tu quoque Deiphoben;nos ignoremus, quid sit matura senectus.scire aevi meritum, non numerare decet.
WHO first compounded thee thy name, Meroe, he for Hippolytus, Theseus' son, compounded a name. For 'tis divining to make such a name as betokens lot, or character, or death. So, Protesilaus, the Fates gave thee thy name, because thou wert to be Troy's first victim.2 When men call a poet Idmon,3 a physician Iapyx,4 the names anticipate the arts they are to learn. Even so art thou Meroe, not because thou art dusky-hued as one born in Nile-washed Meroe.; but because thou never slakest wine with water, being used to drink draughts unallayed of wine, pure wine.1
QUI primus, MEROE, nomen tibi condidit, illeThesidae nomen condidit Hippolyto,nam divinare est, nomen componere, quod sitfortunae et morum vel necis indicium.Protesilae, tibi nomen sic fata dederunt,victima quod Troiae prima futurus eras.ldmona quod vatem, medicum quod Iapyga dicunt,discendas artes nomina praeveniunt.et tu sic Meroe, non quod sis atra colore,ut quae Niliaea nascitur in Meroe;infusum sed quod vinum non diluis undis,potare imnixtum sueta merumque merum.
AS a stone the Persians once brought me here to be a trophy of war; now am I Nemesis. And even as I stand here a trophy of Greek victory., so as Nemesis I requite the idly-boasting Persians.3
ME lapidem quondam Persae advexere, tropaeumut fierem bello: nunc ego sum Nemesis.ac sicut Graecis victoribus adsto tropaeum,punio sic Persas vaniloquos Nemesis.
FELL FIGHTING MOST BRAVELY 4 THAT thou receivest seven gashes all in front, that thou art borne, Thrasybulus, upon thy shield, this grieves not thy sire, but adds greater glory to Pitana.5 Rare is the opportunity of so fair a death. After thy comrades laid thee upon the mournful bier, these words did thy stout-hearted sire pronounce: “Weep ye for others: a son needs not any tears, being mine, so glorious, and a Spartan.”
EXCIPS adverso quod pectore vulnera septem,arma super velleris quod, Thrasybule, tua,non dolor hic patris est, Pitanae sed gloria maior.rarum, tam pulchro funere posse frui.quem postquam maesto socii posuere feretro,talia magnanimus edidit orsa pater:“Flete alios, natus lacrimis non indiget ullis.et meus, et talis, et Lacedaemonio.”
A Spartan mother slinging her son's shield, “Return with this,” said she, “or upon it.”
MAGNANIMAMATER Lacaena clipeo obarmans filium,“Cum hoc,” inquit, “aut in hoc redi.”
A fellow, purse-proud and swollen-headed, high born in words alone, scorns the illustrious names of the current age, hankering after an ancient pedigree and claiming Mars, Remus, and Romulus our founder as his own special forebears. Their figures he bids be woven in his silken robes, theirs he chases on his massy plate, or paints in encaustic on his threshold and on the ceiling of his halls. True for him! For his father was not known and his mother surely is a bitch.
QUIDAM superbus opibus et fastu tumenstantumque verbis nobilisspernit vigentis clara saecli nomina,antiqua captans stemmata,Martem Remumque et conditorem Romulumprivos parentes nuneupans.hos ille Serum veste contexi iubet:hos caelat argento gravi,ceris inurens ianuarum liminaet atriorum pegmata.credo, quod illi nec pater certus fuitet mater est vere lupa.
“I AM the first discoverer of the Cynic rule.” “How can that be? Men say Alcides 1 long preceded thee.” “Once 1 was second with Alcides for my master; now I am the first Cynic and he a god.”
INVENTOR primus Cynices ego. “Quae ratio istaecAlcides multo dicitur esse prior.”Alcida quondam fueram doctore secundus:nunc ego sum Cynices primus, et ille deus.
NONE had a better pupil or a better master in virtue and the Cynic lore. He knows that I speak truth who knows each of the two. Alcides the god and Diogenes the dog (Cynic).
DISCIPULUS melior nulli meliorve magisterεἰσ ἀρετὴν συνέβη καὶ Κυνικὴν σοφίην.dicere me novit verum, qui novit utrumque,καὶ θεὸν Ἀλκείδην, καὶ κύνα Διογένην.