Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

MARTIAL'S EPIGRAMS

* XLII
THE PERFECT BATH
IF you never have bathed with Etruscus, my friend,
Then you'll die still unbathed when you come to your end.
No waters are quite soalluring, you'll own:
Not the founts of Aponus to maidens unknown,
Or soft Sinuessa, or Passer's hot stream,
Proud Anxur, or Phoebus, or Baiae supreme.
Nowhere so serene is the light the sun pours,
Nowhere does the day last for so many hours.
Green slabs from Taygetus and African stone
Contend with the marble in Phrygia hewn,
While rich alabaster deliciously warm
Adds its glow to the snake-stone's peculiar charm.
If you like Spartan methods, first try their dry heat,
Then a plunge where the Virgo and Marcia meet;
For the water's so bright and the stone shines so clear
You would never suspect any water was there.
Here, dash it: wake up: listen: don't shut your eye.
Very well: you will never have bathed when you die.
XLIII
A QUIET RETREAT
'MID luxury in Baiae's sun you bask,
Fair Naiads call you to their healing pool,
To me my country cot gives all I ask,
No burdensome broad acres there I rule.
Here is my sunshine, here my waters cool,
My priceless luxury-I went in quest
Of pleasure once to waters of renown
What time long travel gave but added zest;
But now I hate to journey far from town
And only seek for comfort and for rest.
XLIV
TO CALLIODORUS
COARSE jokes you think are Attic salt,
That you are gay and debonair,
That clownish insults must exalt
Your reputation everywhere.
I78