Martial, : the twelve books of Epigrams,.

BOOK SIX

LIII
A BAD DREAM
HE bathed and supped with me-how bright he seemed;
Next morn they found him dead. What fell disease
Slew him so suddenly? Alas, he dreamed
That by him stood the quack Hermocrates.
* LIV
THINK BIG
IF John can't use ' so big ' in either gender,
He scarcely can the simplest precis render.
Why's that, you say? Well, I myself surmise
In either gender John admires size.
* LV
TO A FOP
You have always perfume on,
Cassia or cinnamon,
Taken from a phoenix nest
Or from barbers' vials pressed:
And at us poor folk you jeer
Who must unperfumed appear.
Well, I'ld rather scentless be
Than be scented lavishly.
LVI
QUOD tibi crura rigent saetis et pectora uillis,
Uerba putas famae te, Charideme, dare?
Extirpa, mihi crede, pilos de corpore toto
Teque pilare tuas testificare natis.
Quae ratio est? ' inquis. Scis multos dicere multa
Fac pedicari te, Charideme, putent.
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