188 And now put away cares and cast business to the winds! Present yourself with a welcome holiday, now that you may be idle for the entire day. Let there be no talk of money, and let there be no secret wrath or suspicion in your heart because your wife is wont to go forth at dawn and to come home at night with crumpled hair and flushed face and ears. Cast off straightway before my threshold all that troubles you, all thought of house and slaves, with all that slaves break or lose, and above all put away all thought of thankless friends. 193 Meantime the solemn Idaean rite of the Megalesian napkin is being held; there sits the Praetor in his triumphal state, the prey of horseflesh; and (if I may say so without offence to the vast unnumbered mob) all Rome to-day is in the Circus. A roar strikes upon my ear which tells me that the Green 2 has won; for had it lost, Rome would be as sad and dismayed as when the Consuls were vanquished in the dust of Cannae. Such sights are for the young, whom it befits to shout and make bold wagers with a smart damsel by their side: but let my shrivelled skin drink in the vernal sun, and escape the toga. You may go at once to your bath with no shame on your brow, though it wants a whole hour of mid-day.3 That you could not do for five days continuously, since even such a life has weariness. It is rarity that gives zest to pleasure.1 Green, and Blue. The Green it seems was the popular colour, being usually favoured by the emperor. The bath was usually not taken till the eighth hour. This would seem to be almost a translation from Epictetus (Flor. 6. 59). "The rarest pleasures give most delight." SATVRA XII NATALI, Corvine, die mihi dulcior haec lux, qua festus promissa deis animalia caespes expectat. niveam reginae ducimus agnam, par vellus dabitur pugnanti Gorgone Maura; sed procul extensum petulans quatit hostia funem 5 Tarpeio servata Iovi frontemque coruscat, quippe ferox vitulus templis maturus et arae spargendusque mero, quem iam pudet ubera matris ducere, qui vexat nascenti robora cornu. si res ampla domi similisque adfectibus esset, Nam praeter pelagi casus et fulminis ictus 1 Pallas. 10 15 201 2 The Gorgon (or Gorgons) were supposed to belong to Libya. SATIRE XII HOW CATULLUS ESCAPED SHIPWRECK DEARER to me, Corvinus, is this day, when my festal turf is awaiting the victims vowed to the Gods, than my own birthday. To the Queen of Heaven I offer a snow-white lamb; a fleece as white to the Goddess1 armed with the Moorish Gorgon; hard by is the frolicsome victim destined for Tarpeian Jove, shaking the tight-stretched rope and brandishing his brow; for he is a bold young steer, ripe for temple and for altar, and fit to be sprinkled with wine; it already shames him to suck his mother's milk, and with his budding horn he assails the oaks. Were my fortune large, and as ample as my love, I should have been hauling along a bull fatter than Hispulla, slowfooted from his very bulk; reared on no neighbouring herbage he, but showing in his blood the rich pastures of the Clitumnus, and marching along to to offer his neck to the stroke of the stalwart priest, to celebrate the return of my still trembling friend who has lately gone through such terrors, and now marvels to find himself safe and sound. 17 For besides the perils of the deep he escaped a lightning stroke. A mass of dense black cloud shut out the heavens, and down came a flash of fire upon the yards. Every man believed himself smitten by the bolt, and soon in his terror bethought him that no shipwreck could be so terrible as a ship on fire. All happened in the same way and as frightfully as when a storm arises in a poem, when lo! a new kind of peril came: hear it and give Famed for their breed of white cattle. et miserere iterum, quanquam sint cetera sortis 25 30 35 Accidit et nostro similis fortuna Catullo. cum plenus fluctu medius foret alveus et iam, alternum puppis latus evertentibus undis, arbori1 incertae, nullam prudentia cani rectoris cum ferret opem, decidere iactu coepit cum ventis, imitatus castora, qui se eunuchum ipse facit cupiens evadere damno testiculi; adeo medicatum intellegit inguen. "fundite quae mea sunt," dicebat "cuncta" Catullus, praecipitare volens etiam pulcherrima, vestem purpuream teneris quoque Maecenatibus aptam, atque alias quarum generosi graminis ipsum infecit natura pecus, sed et egregius fons viribus occultis et Baeticus adiuvat aer. ille nec argentum dubitabat mittere, lances Parthenio factas, urnae cratera capacem et dignum sitiente Pholo vel coniuge Fusci ; adde et bascaudas et mille escaria, multum caelati, biberat quo callidus 2 emptor Olynthi. sed quis nunc alius qua mundi parte, quis audet argento praeferre caput rebusque salutem? [non propter vitam faciunt patrimonia quidam, sed vitio caeci propter patrimonia vivunt.] 1 arbori is Lachmann's conj. for the arboris of the MSS. 2 callidus: pallidus PA. 40 45 50 1 i.e. by employing them to paint votive tablets for her temples. 2 Baetica was one of the provinces of Spain, called after the Baetis (Guadalquiver). The wool was famed for its golden colour. your pity once again, though the rest of the tale is all of one piece: a fearful lot, well known to many, and testified by many a votive tablet in our temples. Who knows not that it is Isis who feeds our painters ? 1 29 A fate like to these befell our friend Catullus also. For when the hold was half full of water, and the waves rocked the hull from side to side, so that the white-haired skipper, with all his skill, could bring no succour to the labouring mast, he resolved to compound with the winds like the beaver, who gives up one part of his body that he may keep the rest; so conscious is he of the drug which he carries in his groin. "Overboard with everything!" shouted Catullus, ready to cast headlong his finest wares: purple garments, such as would have befitted a soft Maecenas, with other fabrics dyed on the sheep's back by the noble nature of the herbage -though doubtless the hidden virtues of the water and air of Baetica 2 also lent their aid. Nor did he hesitate to throw over pieces of silver platechargers wrought by Parthenius, and bowls holding three gallons, fit to slake the thirst of the Centaur Pholus 4 or the wife of Fuscus. Besides these were baskets and dishes without number, and much chased work out of which the crafty purchaser of Olynthus 5 had slaked his thirst. What other man is there, in what part of the world, who would dare to value his life above his plate, or his safety above his property? Some men are so blinded and depraved that, instead of making fortunes for the sake of living, they live for their fortunes' sake. 3 An engraver, otherwise unknown. The Centaurs were famed for their drinking capacity. 5 Philip of Macedon. |