Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

MARTIAL'S EPIGRAMS

* LVII
A SLIP OF THE TONGUE
THOUGH I called you ' My lord,' you've no reason for pride:
For so to your slaves I have often replied.
* LVIII
TO POSTUM1US
'TO-MIORROW, to-morrow I mean to start living 'So you say, but to-morrow's some time in arriving.
Where is your ' to-morrow,' where can it be found,
In Armenia or Parthia or hid underground?
It's as ancient as Priam or Nestor of old.
How much would it fetch if you wanted it sold?
'To-morrow':-nay, do not this moment delay.
The wise man is he who has lived yesterday.
LIX
TO STELLA
DEAR poet friend, desirous to befriend you
It is not gold or silver that I send you,
For costly gifts demand a costly guerdon
My pretty gift shall free you from a burden.
* LX
TO A.4 JEALOUS RIVAL
You may bark at me always and snarl and attack,
But I mean to deny you the fame that you lack;
And I do not intend that your name should be read
In my books and thereby through the wide world be spread.
Why you should be heard of? There's no reason why;
Unknown you have lived and unknown you may die.
One or two men in Rome, or perhaps three or four,
Will play ' dog bite dog,' if it is in their power;
But I, let me tell you, am not one of these,
And my nails I shall keep off your scabs, if you please.
156