Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

MARTIAL'S EPIGRAMS
IV
THE DISGUISE
THE fumes of over-frequent cups to hide
With scented bay her wine is qualified,
For simple water suits not Myrtale;
But when full veins and staggering gait you see,
You need not say, by outward signs misled,
' She looks on Bacchus' wine when it is red.'
'Tis just as true and more polite to say,
' Our lady friend doth love Apollo's bay.'
V
TO SEXTUS, KEEPER OF THE
PALA TINE LIBRARY
'Tis yours to worship at Minerva's shrine,
And yours to share a Caesar's thought divine,
To read his secret soul and watch the birth
Of cares that move the guardian of the earth.
I pray you find a corner for my work,
Where Pedo, Marsus, and Catullus lurk;
No book, save it be Virgil's, dares to stand
Beside the epic of the Master hand.
VI
THE AUTHOR'S PETITION
ONE easy favour grant, ye heavenly nine,
Say to Parthenius-is he not your friend?'Thine be long life with happy age, and thine,
While Caesar still doth reign, a happy end;
And thou shalt live by envy unmaligned;
Right soon thy babe shall know his father's worth,
If for this modest book a place thou find
Within the holiest chamber on the earth.
Thou know'st when, 'mid the labours of a throne
Our Jove doth pause to rest him of his task,
And beams with kindly glances all his own
To grant the boons that lowly suppliants ask.
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