Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

MARTIAL'S EPIGRAMS
* XIX
THE BRONZE BEAR
WHERE beasts in effigy the plane-grove grace,
Hard by the 'Hundred Columns' has its place
A bear in bronze. Young Hylas in its jaw
Thrust his fair hand to try the gaping maw.
But lo, a viper grim was lurking there,
Alert and far more deadly than the bear.
The boy knew nothing till he felt the sting.
Shame that the bear was not a living thing!
* XX
THE MERRY SOUL
TELL me, my Muse, what Canius does this morn.
Does he record for ages yet unborn
The deeds of Claudius, or is his theme
The screeds that foolish scribblers Nero's deem?
Does he the jests of naughty Phaedrus try,
Epic severe and wanton elegy,
And don the buskin of, great Sophocles,
Or in the ' Poet's Corner' loll at ease
Telling gay stories full of Attic grace,
Or in the porch of Isis' temple pace,
Or idly stroll along the portico,
Where Jason and his men their pictures show?
Perchance some bathhouse sees him take a dipper,
Titus or Tigellinus or Agrippa;
Or else he sits and walks quite free from care
Amid the box-trees where Europa fair
Enjoys the sun; or in some snug retreat
He and Lucanus and friend Tullus meet.
It may be that near Baiae's steaming bay
He idly sails the Lucrine all the day,
Or drives with Pollio those four short miles'Do you want to know what Canius does? He smiles.'
* XXI
GOOD FOR EVIL
THE slave he'd branded saved his proscribed lord,
Or rather shamed him: that's the better word.
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