Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

MARTIAL'S EPIGRAMS

A debtor may withhold your dues,
Deny perhaps a debt is owing,
Or sullen ploughlands may refuse
To yield a harvest to your sowing.
A cunning trollop of the town
May make your agent rob his master,
Or waters of the ocean drown
Your goods and ship in one disaster.
But give to friends whate'er you may,
'Tis safe from fortune's worst endeavour:
The riches that you give away,
These only shall be yours for ever.
* XLIII
THE CHANGE
MOLL'S teeth are black, while Susan's white have grown.
The reason. Sue's are bought, but Moll's her own.
XLIV
THE PA RA SITE
DENTO, what means this sudden change
Four times of late-'tis passing strangeYou have refused to dine; to-day
I followed and you rushed away
From me whom once you tried to meet
In bath, in theatre, or street.
The reason I can well divine,
You've found a richer board than mine,
And dogs like you will always creep
Towards the fattest midden heap;
But soon your host, beyond a doubt,
Will find you-aye and kick you out:
Then you will fawn in currish wise
For scraps of what you now despise.
XLV
TO BASSA
You say that you are fair, of spotless fame:
Bassa, to state is not to prove a claim.
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